It isn't the same as a jigsaw puzzle - quick, rush out to a store now for your supplies - nor is it remotely entertaining, but reptile watching has its joys, even on a slow day when the reptiles are completely uxorious, and head over heels in love with SloMo …
Oh, they were all at it, with the bouffant one leading the way …
There was Troy, smiting the enemy and discovering rats in the ranks, with vile treason and gunpowder plots hovering in the air …
Sheesh, all that meant was that the pond had to use up its immortal Rowe cartoon early (others might rush off for more here) …
Sure, our Adam was his usual discontented self, and ready to punish filthy rich pensioners …
But it left the pond in something of a jigsaw quandary. What could possibly match the delights of a jigsaw puzzle?
Yes, the pond could have returned, like a dog to its vomit, to the dog botherer yesterday …
But once you've left the dog botherer on the bedpost overnight, it completely loses its flavour … though many will argue it always tastes of horseshit and isn't worth the saving anyway …
Besides, the pond was as wildly excited at the arrival of socialism down under as the reptiles, and so it felt the need to stay with the theme of the day …
But what exactly is the new normal?
And here an important column by contributor """, one Damian Eales set a sterling example …
It immediately reminded the pond of one of its favourite tunes …
It’s been waiting down there, waiting half the day
They never ever see it from the top
It gets pushed around, knocked to the ground
Facebook and Google just love to pound
It gets to his feet and it says
What about me, it isn't fair
I've had enough now I want my share
Can't you see I wanna live
But you just take more than you give
And all at once the pond knew what the "new normal" meant.
Government action, government intervention, government taking steps, government protecting Chairman Rupert, government not forgetting the reptiles, government doing their thing for the lizard Oz, and government doing all it could to help all the chairman's works and deeds …
Frankly, the pond was moved to tears. Even though it won't see a cracker from all the government largesse itself, of course the government should move to support the reptiles …
Yes, the reptiles are hurting, if you listen to Media Watch here ...
News Corp flags redundancies, executives take pay cut due to COVID-19
… executive chairman Michael Miller said the company would look at reducing costs across the entire business by making more staff part-time, encouraging annual leave, introducing nine-day fortnights and forced leave over Easter.
- The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 March, 2020
Meanwhile, subscribers are already fleeing Foxtel and Kayo — both owned by News Corp — as sport shuts down around the nation, and the AFL, NRL and a host of other competitions blow the final whistle.
Which is why the pond joins in the cry of "socialism for all", because we are all socialists now …
Say what? The Bolter is alarmed by all this Marxism in the air?
We must get back to work at once, within the Donald's two weeks, and he personally has volunteered to dump his keyboard and join the garbos or perhaps become a checkout chick to deliver vital services, or a nurse to tend the sick, since what they do is vastly more important than his current job, which involves churning out endless drivel ...
No, no, no, remember the song, and sing along with Damian, a name which either invokes horror movies or millennials, because forget all that, goodbye to all that, things are looking up, things are on the up, the reptiles are doing tremendously well ...
Indeed, indeed, who will challenge Fox News on its many falsities, and who will provide a platform for climate science denialism of the dog botherer kind if the lizard Oz goes down?
Thank the long absent lord that the Bolter remains as keen as mustard to do the right thing, and show how important it is that decent journalism, full of integrity, survives …
But enough Bolter excitement, and his desire to take a turn as a garbologist, because daily garbage in the HUN has lost its point, if it ever had any …
Instead the pond thought it might also visit the heart of lizard Oz wisdom, the font of insight …the lizard Oz editorialist ... because in its simple-minded way, the pond had thought all this talk of government intervention and government action was a classic example of FDR new dealism, of socialism with Australian characteristics (even if SloMo had copied the Poms, sort of) …
Little did the pond understand, little did the pond realise how urgently it was in need of thought correction …
Of course, of course, all that talk of government intervention to save the reptiles was capitalism at its finest …it seems we're all capitalists now, even when we wear government intervention socialist caps …
"We are fashioning an evolving strain of crisis capitalism with Australian characteristics".
And you wanted a jigsaw puzzle for entertainment! Please, do go on ...
Ah yes, it's all thanks to our effective public institutions. Government lives … which explains why many reptiles have been calling for the slashing of payment to public servants to teach them an egalitarian lesson …
Why only yesterday the selfless recovering reformed feminist the Oreo was explaining how public servants would have their front-line morale improved by slashing their pay …
By the end of it all, the pond was more confused than if it had failed, as it usually does, when attempting a jigsaw puzzle or some other tricky game…
And so to a final disappointment for the day.
The pond searched high and low - well at least six commentaries - in search of the Lobbecke of the day, because of the incessant demand for distraction, interpretation and worship, way more useful in these troubled times than a jigsaw puzzle or a return to 1851 … and could only come up with a pale imitation, at the top of a grand challenge…
With the greatest respect to Tom, he isn't the master … and the pond isn't up to a grant challenge, and decided to leave it there …
Never mind, perhaps a touch of comedy to end …
And here's one for the Bolter, bless his garbo socks …
And that of course is a grand excuse for a few Hokusai, some of which still litter the pond's walls …
Oh, DP: "But once you've left the dog botherer on the bedpost overnight, it completely loses its flavour..."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6bFTVi0hHs
Whilst not, as I may have confessed, being a real paintings kind of person, I have always enjoyed that 'waves and boats' Hokusai.
DeleteOh to be in the IPA board room this morning (yes thankyou, absolutely essential service).
ReplyDeleteItem 1.
SMALLER GOVERNMENT
Item 2.
DEFUND THE ABC
Item 3
FREE THE MARKETS FROM RESTRICTIONS!
< tumbleweeds>
silence.....
I hesitate to be a petty nitpicker, vc, but shouldn't Item 2 be:
DeletePRIVATISE THE ABC AT A BARGAIN PRICE SO ROOPIE CAN BUY IT
I nearly choked on my smashed avocado on toast when the prime minister observed that Oz has a low level of government debt.
DeleteWhat's next? Maybe the national finances don't work like a household budget?
It all leads me to wonder how the reptiles can possibly spin this when, and if, we ever emerge from this shitstorm.
Errr - that's government debt, don't ever mention household debt!
DeleteThe real point about debt, government, corporate or private is that it doesn't actually have to be paid. Just declare bankruptcy like Trump (3 times ?) and do a phoenix-like rebirth and start all over again.
DeleteHave a look at a list of all the nations that have defaulted on debts since 1557:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_debt_crises
Did you notice how many times the United States appears in the list.
Of course, for us powerless individuals, being declared bankrupt can be a problem, but not for corporations or nations so much.
They are among the repeat offenders, aren't they? It also seems like a common disease in the Americas.
DeleteIt feels like we have been time-warped back to 2007. All the same issues like the deficiencies of mainstream economics, the liquidity of banks and how to deal with debt.
No lessons learned, no real changes made and you can bet that at the first glimpse of sunlight it will be back to business as usual.
(Negative interest rates and bail-in could add some excitement we don't need however)
The over 65’s are such a burden in 2020. If Corona doesn’t top them, Adam has a few alternatives. :)))
Deletehttps://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/coronavirus-perks-and-loopholes-cant-endure-as-we-run-up-debt/news-story/544881ae9626b1d9588e118ae1d7b231
So many burdens, burdens everywhere! Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC9Rb8G03es&list=RDXC9Rb8G03es&start_radio=1#t=74
We are all socialists now,..... with solid gold pink bats and Carrara marble school halls and an armada of kitchen sinks.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the ‘exclusive’ 4 inch vermillion red banner headlines? Nada, just a gushing SloMo love feast.
And nothing, basically anywhere about the total fuck up with the Virus Princess. It’s like when journalists were all embargoed from talking about the Hawaii lounging not hosing tour. Talk about see what ya wanna see. It’s like these shonks bathe in Teflon every night. i.e. the latest Sen.McDonald and Berreta love in. Grrr! Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W25_jgiY51I
Hi DP,
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the Jellett illustration/diagram. He just couldn’t rise to the task. There is a distinct lack of the Puzzlemeister’s zany mish-moshery and distorted juxtaposition in this pedestrian offering. It’s basic Tech Drawing 1B; a plain orthographic rendering of various drab industrial components. At the very least he could have made those shadows de Chiricoesque...and the use of amber and teal consonance is such a passé device.
Where’s the strangely satisfying confused reading of the headline? Where’s the purple sea-mine virus…the psychedelic ventilator fan…the challenging boxing gloves?
I do wonder where he got the specs for all those 'industrial components' - it couldn't possibly have been creative imagination, now could it.
DeleteYes, Kez, a fair reading of this and the previous Lobbecke, and sadly, it seems your stern analysis has forced them into hiding or into exotic locations in today's lizard Oz
DeleteWell, quite a start to the day from Troy: "The Labor leader is playing a risky game and damaging our country in the process."
ReplyDeleteQue ? There's just no doubt about it, how those frightful Labor people whilst wielding no power at all, can somehow pull off all those terrible things that reptiles just have to blame them for. And isn't that truly "information they can trust" ?
Which brings us to Damian's requiem for the passing of the country press: "Countless communities will be bereft of news and information they can trust. The stories that matter most to them will not be told."
Well, what a very accurate description of News Limited. Spot on Damian, you describe so well what the Murdoch Empire has done all over the world. Well, in the US, UK and Australia, anyway.
And then: "With the COVID-19 pandemic changing the lives of every man, woman and child on the planet."
Now that's the kind of story that matters most to us, isn't it - just that good old kind of information we can trust.
Thanks for the Bolter coverage, DP. With nowhere I can get out to in the morning to have my soy latte and read a free Herald Sun, I've quite lost contact with him. Not everywhere is quite closed though: Madelines at Jells is still doing (newspaperless) takeaway.
But back to the Eales: "Building on trust, the art of journalism is now enabled by data science. ... News instincts and data science have combined to reveal what stories to cover, how to cover them, when to run them and how to market them."
Well, what a confession that is. And so every Murdoch media place is just another "data science" based fake news factory. And we all thought it was totally down to Ailes.
Lastly, The Editorialist: Talking about ScottyfromMarketing's stimulus packages, particularly the most recent one, he opines that: "Even though this is a policy move without precedent, it does fit our values."
Really, the reptiles are the most vapidly hypocritical 'attribution-projection' grifters you could hope to meet in a lifetime. And we have.
‘attribution-projection’ grifters...........very nice GB.
DeleteAnd on Eagles, as you note, nice bit of letting the cat out of the bag right there! :))))
While quite morbid I guess, I hope Rowe prints that one on T-shirts coz I will be wearing one right up to the next election.
Then again, SloMo May prefer we be ruled by regulation and a cabinet of mining executives from here on in. Cheers.
Also, on Damian’s requiem for country press, just heard this, sadly. Cheers.
Deletehttps://www.facebook.com/stefanarmbruster.sbsqueensland/posts/10216971823033039
I do wonder from time to time, Anony, whether reptiles really have any understanding at all of what they are saying.
DeleteYeah, lots of good and valuable things will go down the drain until this 'pandemic' ends. I only hope that many, hopefully most, can do a phoenix afterwards.
DP - I was going to limit my comments to simple thanks for the Hokusai prints. And I will start with that message, because it is the most important.
ReplyDeleteBut it being a day when I had finished one book, and not quite started the next, I went back to items you had cited. I noted that one Michael Shoebridge had made a contribution, but - was not endowed with a title. That sparked my curiosity. Easy enough to find that he actually has an important-sounding title with the very important-sounding Australian Strategic Policy Institute. A f a I c t - although it claims to be a ‘think tank’, it is essentially an arm of the Department of Defence.
What has Shoebridge brought out of ASPI? The solution to our need, this week, for ventilators, is for the Government to offer a prize.
To quote - ‘Say $50 million’. If it had been ‘Say $42 million’, it would at least have reflected that great strategic thinker Douglas Adams, and what he found to be the answer to the Ultimate Question. $50 million is more in line with the detailed calculations of Deep Thought Ergas, and his 2/3rds for 1/3rd deal.
But, never mind the money, feel the width. The prize would come with provisos. The gadget had to be manufactured within weeks, in Australia, from locally available components. Hmm - some of that sounds familiar. Department of Defence, contract with such provisos? The word coming to me is - submarines. Yep, ‘Attack’ class submarines. The need for which was expressed around 11 years ago, and an example of which we may see in ten or so years from now.
It would be tedious to go into the ‘Attack’ class story, and who is unlikely to accept blame for any part of it, because the ‘Wiki’ entry covers it much better than I could (and names the Prime Minister who signed-off on it). Oh, one slightly familiar element is that they might cost, ‘Say’ $50 billion. Million, billion - they are all ‘illions’ these days, especially in that ‘real economy’.
So - if administered by the Department of Defence, when might we see this innovative ventilator? My guess is that assessment by Defence boffins against those provisos would consume a couple of years straight off - probably with extra time for revisions as different ‘components’ drifted in and out of local availability.
Yet the real question is - with the IPA and its like praising the free enterprise system, and actively promoting removal of so many alleged ‘impediments’ to innovation, entrepreneurship and productivity to get us out of this unfortunate flirting with socialism just now - why isn’t Limited News making a case that all this can be left to the market? That the duty of all arms of government is to step out of the way of the process that (according to IPA) has brought us all the good things we have, in this best of all possible worlds.
Other Anonymous
"What do you get when ..."
DeleteDifficult navigating all these different number bases :-)
Anyway, why not give a certain Muncher credit for initiating the "competitive evaluation process" that gave us the decision to buy French "designed" (though Australian made) "attack" submarines. Having lost his prime position top left in Dorothy's Crazy List, he needs all the credit he can muster.
By golly the pond is enjoying the comments section these days ...
Delete