Author Archives: Pete

Minnie

Minnie 10 July 2012
Ha! 1 second previously, there was a bird on this twig, protesting loudly at Minnie
Lemon tree very pretty.
I saw the bank yesterday. Reverse mortgage approved today. Documents for me to take to my solicitor Thursday. Fast work. Easy.

Pushing them away

An Australian offshore island    © PJ Croft 2012
Yesterday I sent an email to a Liberal member of our Federal Parliament who seemed to be showing some empathy with the plight of boat people, refugees who try to reach Australia from Indonesian ports and often die in the process.
I’m angry about people who call these refugees “illegals”. It is NOT illegal to seek refugee status and constant repetition of the word does not make it so. One of my long term “friends” says it repeatedly and he’d better be aware that he risks getting the hot coffee he cadges off me thrown in his face next time.
The federal opposition under the Dear Leader Tony Abbott has stated that they will FORCE boat people back to Indonesian ports, using our Navy personnel to do it.
I sent the following to this Liberal Party MHR:

I was encouraged by your show of emotion about asylum seekers (and xxx my [local] member; Oh, wondrous heaven, will miracles never cease?)

But you are blindly showing allegiance to your leader who is preaching words to the Armed Forces akin to sedition! [No, wrong word, it’s not sedition. Incitement to mutiny?] He is saying he (you) will command the Navy to force the refugee boats back inside Indonesian territorial waters, inside the 12 mile limit. Command.

Oh yes?

Indonesia has already made plain that they can not and will not take action to stop the boats leaving, nor will they take them back to Indonesian ports. (I don’t like it but I can understand it.)

Therefore the Australian Navy has the task of physically pushing or towing the boats back into Indonesian waters or to Indonesian ports (or Malaysian ports, for that matter).

Our Navy commanders have an obligation under the Law of the Sea to render assistance to boats in distress. They have already said they may have to disobey orders if these requirements conflict.

If they continue to push boats back to Indonesia, and Indonesia objects and tries to force the boats back to sea, what happens then? Naval confrontations between our nations on the sea border?

Your leader says “The Navy must obey me.” Admiral Chris Barry says doing this may involve the Navy in conflict and endanger life, something the Navy does not want to do.

How do you propose to reconcile this? Order the captains to obey their orders no matter what? I predict they won’t.

How does this fit with your expressions of compassion? To me, it cannot.

Peter Croft 

Next step

I looked at my watch and it was quarter to twelve
She said “Come now” so I made my job shelve
And I went, reelin’ and a’rockin’
Rollin’ to the CBA.
I looked at my watch and it was quarter to one
The time for my appointment had just about come
So I went, reelin’ and rockin’
Rollin’ to the CBA.
I looked at my watch and it was right on time
To see the loans man and an interview, fine,
So I went, reelin’ and a’rockin’
Rollin’ to the CBA
I looked at my watch and we’d done the job
He done the paperwork and my uncle’s Bob
So it’s done, reelin’ and a’rockin’
Mortgage from the CBA!
Thanks Chuck Berry.
I’ve just come home from seeing the loans officer at the bank, and it’s all happening. Seniors’ Equity Unlock, they call it, and the papers are in for approval. I should have the contract to study (not sign, not yet) later this week. A valuer will be here Wednesday, I hope, to value the house for the bank. He’s not a bank employee – it’s an independent valuation, even if commissioned by the bank.
Assuming there are no hitches, it should all be done by the end of next week.
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I think the bank loans officer was suitably impressed by my grasp of figures. Every time he asked about credit cards, account details, driver’s licence (for ID), shares, etc etc, I just reeled off the figures and numbers from memory. Talk about reelin’ and rockin’ – I have all these things in my head, no problem.
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I have been toying with the idea of a tablet/phone, the Samsung Note in particular. I’m not prepared to buy Apple, so those are out, and I think a 10″ tablet would sit at home unused.
I’m also finding the mechanical QWERTY keys on my Nokia phone too small, even though useful for texting.
The happy medium seems to be the Note, a phone with a 5.3″ OLED touch display that works just like a tablet. I think it may be usable as a newspaper reader for the new world of on-line news.  It’s $599, less on a plan. Maybe, given I’m paying about $30 a month for my pay as you go SIM card and $49 a month for my Vivid modem data allowance, I could combine the two for less?
However, now that South Korea has said it’s going to hunt whales, I feel like boycotting Korean products. That means Samsung. Hmmm.

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PS: Brrrrrrrr! I’m cold. I gather it’s not just me – why are we feeling so cold, given that temps don’t seem unusually low?

I got my electricity account today –  how many people can say their electricity cost went down last quarter? A $4 drop to $166 for the quarter! Since electricity prices are increasing, I must be doing something right, ie switching all unnecessary lights off and doing quick, efficient cooking and washing.

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The Federal opposition are so sick I can’t believe it. They’ve been trying to blame every price rise on the “Carbon Tax” since the beginning of the month, but when they’ve found there haven’t been any rises, they are saying businesses are too frightened to raise prices by threats from the ACCC!!

This is sophistry of the highest order. These sleazebags are trying to talk the economy down so as to blame the government, using any negative story they can make up.

In the past week or two, I’ve been leaving comments on the web pages of the good guys – Dr Craig Emerson, Tony Windsor, one or two others. I’ve also made some critical comments on two Liberal MPs sites.

It’s very noticeable that the good guys have personally emailed me back thanking me for the comments etc. But from the Libs, nothing, except an automatic reply inviting me to join the Liberal Party’s Newsletter!   Piss off!!!

Shooting for the Moon

Moon 8 July 12 Sigma @ 400mm (600mm eq.) hand held
Once in a blue moon, I realise I can change something that’s been holding me back. For years, I’ve been thinking I can’t change my car because I need a station wagon to transport Minnie. As a side issue, the car pongs of dog smell. I can’t smell it at all, but I think others can.
Yesterday, I realised that I don’t transport Minnie in the back any more. She can’t get up there, even on my ramp, and there’s no way I can lift her. She doesn’t want to leave the yard these days, content to sleep most of the time.
Therefore I’m not tied to this car any more! It’s 11 years old and in great condition, but I’ve always wanted one of these:
Ford Probe
The Probe was a US version of Mazda’s MX6 (not the MX5) only sold between 1994 and 1997. It’s a fuel injected alloy V6 with all the goodies, available with auto transmission for old guys like me, and now down to a second hand price of around $4,000. They were over $50,000 new in the 90s but are unfashionable now.
Or one of these:
Lexus Soarer
Lexus Soarer
The Soarer was on the market in Australia from about 1991 to 2000. They were sold as Toyotas but moved into the Lexus range as the Soarer SC430. They were very expensive then, but are now down to about $7,000 used.
The thing is, they are a twin turbo V8 with all the luxury that the Lexus brand implies, and made to Lexus standards, ie extremely well and extremely reliable. That huge lazy V8 is not stressed – it’s a boulevard cruiser, not a hoon car. All leather, everything electronic, Merc quality.
My Magna should be worth around $5,000 on the second hand market, which basically covers the cost of a Probe or Soarer. People with these cars usually look after them well – they’re an enthusiast’s car and reliability is pretty good these days for Japanese made cars.
So, maybe the time is coming? Free at last to make the change.
The other thing is that most of the second hand ones come up in Brisbane or the Gold Coast dealers. Must have been the White Shoe Brigade guys who owned them.
Therefore, maybe I should do what I wanted to do about eight years ago: use Frequent Flyer points to go to Brisbane, look at the candidates and buy a good one, then drive it back to Perth. Make a trip of it. It would need to be September/October/November, I think, before the heat and flood season on the east side.
GPS makes touring around so easy these days, so navigating with a map on your knee is not required any more.
Additionally, I think it’s time I made the trip as my alter ego. This’ll see who’s reading this.
Hmmm.

Big day!

Sigma APO zoom at 600mm hand held!
NB: those dotted power lines are not in the original photo. They are artifacts of the size reduction.
Fremantle  Pentax 70mm
Freo Fire Station  Sigma 10-20mm @ 20mm
[I have film images of the same locations from 30 years ago. Asap, I’ll post comparisons.]

As you can see, I’ve been to Freo. It happened because, due to the non-delivery of a package by DHL yesterday, I had to go out to DHL’s office at Perth International Airport this morning. Grrrrr!

What a saga. It started out as a very pleasant drive. Warm sunny morning, smooth clear road (Reid Highway/Tonkin Highway) and a happy goal to pick up my new Sigma 120-400mm APO zoom lens.
I got lost! Even with a GPS navigator, I couldn’t find DHL at the International Airport area. I followed a new sign To International Terminal and found myself winding through bushland, overshooting the turnoff.
I tried to go back and start again, but turned left, SE, onto Tonkin Highway and couldn’t get off!
I had to drive about 5Km SE trying to find a way to turn around, seeing all the tyre tracks where others had the same problem, and eventually did a U-turn across the dirt to go back. I was fed up!
Long story, I eventually got back on Horrie Miller Drive, looking for Grogan Rd leading to Dawson Rd, and a DHL sign. NO! Could not see a way in to DHL’s office. Could not find Dawson Rd, despite a GPS navigator. Pulled in to DHL’s car park to find a sign saying This is not DHL Express! Go this way. I even considered driving over the moat dividing DHL’s buildings from H. Miller Drive.
But I still couldn’t find the open DHL office. I had to stop and ask a guy. “Oh, yes, we always have to direct people. Go up there near that tiny street sign and turn left.” Ha ha, big joke.
After finding the office I got my package and relaxed. But I was busting for a piss, so I pissed on their garden, behind a shrub. Serve ’em right.
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I’m 35Km from home on a warm sunny morning with a new lens – BUT the lens is COLD, aircraft hold cold. If I try to use it, I’ll get condensation. So I plot a route home via Fremantle. I want to check and test the lens, as Sigma’s QC reputation is not good, especially for this lens. A US firm, Lens Rentals, won’t stock this lens as it tests so variably. If they rent it out, they get customer comebacks. Phew, I took the risk.
I needn’t have worried. About an hour later I’m at Freo and you can see the shots above. More:
Fremantle Bridge  Sigma 120-400mm @ 600mm (eq.) hand held
NB: dashed power lines not in original photo
ditto
Looking for de-centering, different res between L&R sides. None evident, good.
So it was a good morning. By lunchtime I was a bit fatigued so completed the circuit along W. Coast Hwy – about 70Km round trip. Smooth roads, good smooth car, warm sunny day. Nice.
Oh, btw, I took the new Olympus E-PL2 as well and tried to use it once: NO CARD. Errrr. The equivalent of forgetting to load film in the camera. What a droob.
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When I got home to Minnie, I defrosted two slices of a sourdough loaf with seeds, spread them with Tzatziki dip, then  added some Tassie smoked salmon I’ve had in the fridge since April last year. Yes, Use By Date May 2011. It’s been held at near ice temperature in a sealed package all this time and I’m here now to tell you it’s fine. Delicious!
For dinner, last night and tonight I’ve made delicious curries, using two huge slabs of steak I got from IGA marked Dog Food Only at $2.99 each. They were a bit discoloured and slightly on the nose, but I stuck ’em on ice and used them for curries, ie slow cooked and cooked thoroughly.
Delicious! Melt in the mouth. From each piece I got four meals (ie I eat one serve and freeze the rest.) Good value. I’ve done this often before. We worry too much. Asian people eat off meat all the time. That’s what curries, spices and chilis are for.
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I watch ABC TV almost exclusively and Friday night’s Silent Witness is a long time favourite. But what are they doing?!

If horror is the food of ratings, rave on. They give us excess of it, that, surfeiting, we

might watch next week.

No, no, no. It used to be one of the most intelligent, subtle, medically based shows and I loved it. Now it’s a horror show. I just can’t believe the characters act that way any more.

Last night’s episode included a prison guard beating another, so horrifying that I turned away. The previous weeks’ episodes included the den of a depraved serial killer in graphic detail.

No, no, no. BBC, you have turned me away.

You scratch my back …

Olympus E-PL2 with Zuiko 14-150mm @ 90mm
I visited the doctor yesterday and among other things, asked him to check my back for any mole or other nasty things. I’ve had an itch just over my right shoulder for a long time, right where I can’t reach it, and we have a cousin who’s had a near miss from a melanoma recently.
He took one look and said, “Rarely have I seen a back with fewer spots or moles. Clean, clear.” That’s a relief. The itch is just that, an itch, no more. My skin is pure, soft, sexy …
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Not so my legs. Ooowwww! Dry, raw, swollen, itching. Answer: use moisturising cream, up to four times a day if you have to. Same for my hands. They are raw and splitting.
Why now? I’ve never had this before. “Have you changed your soap recently?” Yes, actually, lots of changes, trying to find one that doesn’t rip the oils out but comes off easily too, at a reasonable price. Lots of changes. Maybe I should just go back to Radox Men that I used for years? And get much more serious about rubbing creams into my legs and hands.
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I’ve also been seduced by Dawn Fraser advertising The Circulation Booster for swollen legs and sore tendons (me!) It’s a TENS type foot massager/vibrator designed for my type of problems. $279. I asked HBF, but no, no rebate. No discount at the chemist either. RAC card, maybe? No, sorry. However, I beat ’em down by $20 by saying “web”.
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While at Medicare in the long, slow queue, I met with my old Ch7 mate Less. His name is Les, but I call him that from the early 1980s TV show WKRP Radio, Cincinnati. One of the characters was Les Nessman, pronounced Less on the show, so it stuck. Great show that, a spin off from Welcome Back Kotter, I think, but never repeated even now, to my knowledge.  Anyway, I don’t see much of Less any more. Boom boom.
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Sigma 120-400mm APO zoom

I’m fuming at DHL. I got an email this morning that a lens I’ve ordered from HK is on its way by DHL, but no delivery date. I assumed next week.

When I went out the door at 1pm, I found an Unable to Deliver note stuck in the screen door. It said they’d tried to deliver at 1207pm.
I was here. My car was in the carport. I heard no knock. I heard nothing except a reversing beeper at some time. They hadn’t tried to raise me.
I phoned the DHL 1 800 number and after an age on hold was told they can’t come back today, but my lens will be at the Perth airport depot between 5.30 and 6pm when they close. I can pick it up then. Gee thanks, peak hour traffic to and from the airport with a half hour window on a Friday afternoon!
I said I’d try, but at 3pm it was building a thunderstorm and I thought, no, can’t do it, so I phoned again to ask for delivery Monday. “Oh, we’re open tomorrow (Saturday) morning between 0830-1200.” Well why didn’t they say so before??
NOT impressed. They didn’t try to deliver it when I was home and they won’t ask the driver to call back on a second try. It’s not my fault they didn’t deliver it!
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This Liberal Party attempt to smear Speaker Peter Slipper is the Godwin Grech case all over again! In 2009 the Libs under Malcolm Turnbull tried to make a smear campaign against Kevin Rudd/Labor. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utegate
It turned out to be a crock! The supposed email was forged and Malcolm Turnbull and the Libs were left exposed as liars and fools. I’ve never forgotten seeing Mr Turnbull and his wife Lucy live on television as they received the revelation that the Grech email was a forgery.
The embarrassed/bemused expressions on their faces came near the sneer, the loathing on the face of Sophie Mirrabella last Monday night when Simon Sheikh  collapsed from exhaustion next to her on ABC-TV’s Q&A. She was exposed as uncaring and automatically assuming someone she doesn’t like was pulling a trick. She sat there doing nothing while Greg Combet jumped up and came to his aid, as he does for everyone. Fine Liberal party material, Sophie. Tough on refugees, tough on anyone with a foreign sounding name.
 
This smear campaign against Mr Slipper is heading in the same direction. Each day brings new evidence and allegations that the “smearer” is a Liberal Party stooge and it’s all designed to get Slipper out of Parliament so that Labor loses the balance of power.
They, the Liberals, are going to be exposed again as desperate, dishonest tricksters, relying on a false witness. Watch this space. There is more sleaze to come.
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Meanwhile, the Brumbys Bakery chain has been exposed as hosting Liberal Party advertising in their shops while telling their franchisees to raise prices and “blame it on the carbon tax”.
People know I’m a Labor voter and I’m proud to say it. We don’t stoop to this kind of bullshit and dishonesty!
Nor do we advocate pushing desperate boat people back to Indonesia and gloating if they drown. Indonesia doesn’t care if they drown, they won’t take them back nor will they tackle the corruption that causes the boats. The Liberal/National Coalition of Australia is so desperate for power that they are prepared to see mass drownings if it advances their cause as being tough on boat people. I am sickened.

Warm, isn’t it?

Olympus E-PL2 with Olympus 14-150mm lens
Hey, look at that. This is an Olympus E-PL2 4/3 camera and lens. It’s obsolete but still good, and I found it at a good price, so I jumped. I had it within 72 hours of ordering from Adelaide.
Olympus E-PL2 with Zeiss Contax 35mm f2 Planar lens!
But this is special. Last year I bought an adapter on eBay from HK to allow my old Contax G lenses from film days to fit a 4/3 body.
These lenses are legendary for their quality. I’ve had them for 10 years since film days. Now, at last, I can use them again. Manual focus and aperture only, but, … good stuff. More pics to come.
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I must be going senile!
I’ve been trying to arrange a breakfast or lunch with some friends and was saying tomorrow, Friday 6 August is an exciting day because at 13:31 the Mars Curiosity Lander spacecraft is due to enter the atmosphere of Mars. I was suggesting we watch it live stream over lunch.
Well, duh! Tomorrow is the 6th of July, not August. I was a month ahead of myself.
It’s lucky everyone was too busy and turned me down.
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I had a doctor’s appointment at Merriwa late today and it was quite a pleasant drive. Each way, 26Km! But it’s an 80Km/h road and not bad, so it was quite pleasant.
Except for the other drivers. It was like an Indie 500 circuit, a Formula 1 race track. All the tradies in their utes, vans and tray-tops, speeding, weaving lane to lane, pushing, overtaking in the emergency lane and the cycle lane, running orange and red lights, tailgating. It is atrocious. And there’s a sign, Report Hoons 131 444 but I can’t use the phone while driving!
Then there are the cars with either none or one out of three brake lights, cars driving after sunset with no lights, cars with trailers with no trailer lights. Speeding, weaving. No-one cares!
Deep breaths, deep breaths.
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I am having to reassess who my friends are. I suppose that explains why the sudden increase in posts here and emails.

Not happy. I have been rocked back in my chair in recent weeks by some of my “friends”. Make no bones about it, I am a person who believes in compassion and the need to help refugees. I’m not advocating open borders, but when someone is so desperate as to pay the criminals to take those dangerous boats to CI, I do not advocate, “Let ’em drown”.

But former friends are gloating! The hostility to boat people, “illegals’, is amazing.  “They shouldn’t have come.”; “Where do they get the money?”; “Why don’t they join the queue?”; “Who knows what diseases they are carrying?”; “Why do they have to bring ’em to Perth?”; “Blood sucking Aussie lawyers are defending them [from taxpayer money].”

I am sickened. I can’t take any more, so I have disengaged.

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Bit heavy? I don’t apologise, I just feel things, and feel the need to do right.
Today I visited The Atlantic on-line magazine, as I often do, and saw this:
I started to write a response on their Comments forum, but gave up and didn’t post it. They are too stupid and too right wing to get it. However, I won’t waste my efforts:
I am an Australian, in Australia.
America, you have gone insane! Your answer to everything is violence. You want to kill anyone who crosses you. Australian citizen Julian Assange is right to fear extradition or “rendering” to America – you want to kill an Australian citizen who has committed no crime! All he has done is exercise your Constitutional First Amendment guarantee of Freedom of Speech. Hypocrites!
You drop Hellfire missiles on innocent civilians. You glorify guns, the Famous Right to Bear Arms. You preach violence. You preach piousness, but you practise violence and vengeance and military might. You glorify war. You kill each other, you kill your own weakest and mentally ill. You cheat, lie, defraud, suppress minorities, while at the same time telling the world how God fearing and Righteous you are, always invoking God.
You are a psychologically sick nation and you need to realise that. I pity you.
You are the world’s worst hypocrites. You tell the rest of the world, “If only you were like us, you would be happy”, while generating and exporting most of the Earth’s pornography, violence, murders, drugs, religious crackpots, dishonest bankers, financial fraudsters, …. need I go on? You are sick, mentally ill as a nation.
The news I’m just hearing about Lance Armstrong is the latest evidence of your illness. Again, an American has been shown to be a cheat. He preached one thing but practised another.  Florence Johnson, Flo Jo was the same! She pleaded with us, through her tears to believe her as drug free, but she was lying all along, even through her pleading, and she knew it. This is the great American way.
What’s even worse, you’re infecting us with your sick, violent movies and TV shows and violent, bloodthirsty computer games .
In fact, America is now so FAT, UNHEALTHY and UNFIT that any invader, and I mean China, would roll over you and crush you. Good luck, fools.

What’s worse is that you have your fingers on most of the world’s nuclear triggers, and you think you are in the right, above all others.

I don’t see a solution to this except a holocaust, a cleansing fire, and I know that’s horrible thing to say. You are so sick that only some major action will stand a chance of fixing you.

I fear America more than any other nation on Earth.

Uh oh.

Hoooo boy. What did you think the Euro crisis would mean? I didn’t see this coming:

David Cameron is prepared to override Britain’s historic obligations under EU treaties and impose stringent border controls that would block Greek citizens from entering the United Kingdom, if Greece is forced out of the single currency.
The prime minister told MPs that ministers have examined legal powers that would allow Britain to deprive Greek citizens of their right to free movement across the EU, if the eurozone crisis leads to “stresses and strains”.
In an appearance before senior MPs on the cross-party House of Commons liaison committee, the prime minister confirmed that ministers have drawn up contingency plans for “all sorts of different eventualities”.
The worst-case scenario is understood to cover a Greek exit from the euro, which could trigger a near-collapse of the Greek economy and the flight of hundreds of thousands of its citizens who are currently entitled to settle in any EU country.
The prime minister said Britain is prepared to take measures to avoid a major influx of Greek citizens. “I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to keep our country safe, to keep our banking system strong, to keep our economy robust. At the end of the day, as prime minister, that is your first and foremost duty.”

The Guardian, London, today.

What a day!

It was a beautiful, warm, windless day today and this is Minnie lying asleep in the sun. She’s fine, but you can see the lump in her side and the tumour on her right cheek.
I really don’t think she’s in pain. She doesn’t show any signs of pain except occasional rubbing of her face. When I go near her in this sunny position, she immediately rises and lifts her head and paw, asking for a pat and cuddle. She’s old, but she’s OK and everything is working. She still has appetite, taste, smell, hearing, sight, all her teeth in good condition and a good digestion system. She’s healthy and she’s got a while to go yet.
However, she isn’t coming to the door for her 6.30pm dinner so much now. I give her a meaty bone at 5pm and she’s got dry food, so if she doesn’t want dinner, that’s good as she should be eating less. It’s a bit worrying, all the same.
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What a day?
  • Higgs Boson confirmed. Bit esoteric but it opens up new theories in physics and stimulates scientists all over the world – they did it!
  • London bank scandal widens to show even the Bank of England may be implicated in rigging interest rates.
  • I finally got some wood varnishing done and can now install my new table and towel rails.
  • I made a start on detailing all the jobs to be done once I get the reverse mortgage going.
  • I seem to have volunteered myself to have a broadcast 1″ C-format VTR here to dub old videotape to digital for preservation. Ha! I said to the guy, “I thought I’d got away from all that, but I never thought it would chase me back to my home!” I may even have to get back into replacing heads on this VTR. Like riding a bike, you never forget.
  • and more…
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About the Higgs Boson — notice how the TV journos are calling it the Higgs Bosun, as in the sailor’s term, bo’sun, short for boatswain. It doesn’t matter to them that the scientist being interviewed says bow-sonne, as in low-con. The interviewer has decided it’s bow sun and she won’t be persuaded. She regards herself as above a mere scientist.
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The word is boson, pronounced bow sonne, rhyming with low con. That’s too hard for a TV journalist! No matter what a scientist says, a TV journalist has to put his or her own spin on it, which considering this is physics, has an even deeper meaning, but they wouldn’t understand that allusion either.
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It’s the contrast I see, between those who do things, those who are getting stuck in and doing the hard science and engineering and all the rest of it, and the parasites in banking who are literally stealing from us, because they can get away with it. Huge salaries, beyond any reasonable numbers, because they can bullshit and muscle their way and get away with it.
At the same time, the SAS soldier who died in Afghanistan on his seventh tour of duty! He was regarded as a real good guy, one of the best of humankind and he’s dead, dying for the cause. His family will really struggle now, financially and in every other way, while the bank parasites get their new Mercs and laugh at the rest of us. This is WRONG!

I’m becoming convinced that there are a few groups in this world, groups of people.
  • The first group is those who put in the hard work, learn the science or technology, the doctors, pharmacists, scientists, engineers, teachers, technicians, medical people, mechanics, craftsmen, artisans, workmen, builders and so on.
  • The second is the carers: nurses, pathologists, hospital staff, ambos, paramedics, geriatric nurses, all the people who go through a hellish life at times at low pay but do it because they care.
  • The third is the artists: those we need to support because they enrich our lives in non-financial ways.
  • The fourth is the people who try to keep us safe: police, military, customs, quarantine, all those who, again, do an often thankless job for low pay but do it from a sense of duty.
  • I don’t exclude politicians. People deride them, but if it’s so easy, why don’t you take a job as an MP? High pay, big super, o/s trips, chauffered car, allowances. Go on, it’s easy.
    No it’s not. It’s very, very hard work, from 5am to midnight, 7 days a week. If it’s so easy, you do it, otherwise, shut up!

But there are also those who are parasites, feeding off the rest of society.

  • bankers
  • lawyers
  • business people who rake in profits for little effort
  • financial “professionals”
  • casino owners
  • religious professionals
  • many, many journalists
  • sales “professionals”
  • public relations “professionals”, publicists
  • big business owners in non-manufacturing fields, who don’t actually make things
  • TV and radio station owners
  • newspaper owners
I’ll expand this list as I go.
These are the people who didn’t put much effort into getting where they are; those who found the easy path of making money; those who learned that people are easily parted from their money; those who excel at smooth talk; those who don’t actually make anything or do anything, but who think they are providing jobs for others so it’s OK.
Years ago I got riled at Kerry Packer. He was a man who inherited his wealth and power, and believed that it was enough that he paid people wages to do his work for him. He didn’t think he should pay tax as well, because he employed so many people who paid taxes.
I got so angry that I sat down one day and compiled a list (I’m good at that) of all the ways the Australian tax base supported him. I still have that list, quite easily found, but it’s over 50 items long, too long to reproduce here. But just a few examples:
  • his employees were educated at taxpayer expense to do his work
  • he flew in his own aircraft, but on tax funded runways, using tax funded air navigation aids. His plane used tax funded air traffic control.
  • he owned cattle stations, using tax funded quarantine and vet services and agricultural research
  • he used tax funded hospitals and ambulances
  • he was good at publicising his generosity to medical causes, after he found he needed them
  • he was chauffered around on tax funded roads using tax funded traffic controls
  • John Howard gave him a State Funeral, at tax funded expense!! For what??
Very convenient memory Kezza. Your son James is doing the same thing, enriching himself and patting himself on the back as a great Aussie icon, while sucking his wealth out of gambling addicts, those who can’t stop gambling and losing their families’ pay packets to you.  You Slime-bag!