tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post2730099570561118325..comments2024-03-29T04:12:15.091+11:00Comments on loon pond: It's Friday … so it must be a time for a romp with Giles and the Speccie mob through the glories of Nazi art ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-40615255581730784992018-03-10T13:04:25.798+11:002018-03-10T13:04:25.798+11:00What can I say ? After looking at this morning...What can I say ? After looking at this morning's (Sat 10th) "Ned" then "...<i>Kelly will fairly soon provide some competition for the Flighty Auty</i>" looks like an extreme understatement.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-10982763411583747422018-03-09T17:35:05.667+11:002018-03-09T17:35:05.667+11:00Everyone is a bit rattled by how effectively China...Everyone is a bit rattled by how effectively China has exercised soft power in the third world. Additionally, I don't think there is any secret about them securing access to natural resources by direct purchase or equity stake in other countries (Andrew Robb could probably help explain this).<br /><br />The influence they have bought looks cheap compared the cost of 12 nuclear powered carriers.Befuddledhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16201490489888639207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-18357776245782303532018-03-09T16:13:32.394+11:002018-03-09T16:13:32.394+11:00Yeah, I think that Giles' wiffle-piffle contri...Yeah, I think that Giles' wiffle-piffle contributions (with or without 'I Feel Like A Feather In The Breeze') and your 'more in sorrow' style responses bid fair to entertain us for some time to come.<br /><br />I have to say, though, that I think "Ned" Kelly will fairly soon provide some competition for the Flighty Auty - he just needs a wee touch more senility and a more or less permanent orientation to clouds, and he'll be there.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-29298376401406635342018-03-09T15:01:18.648+11:002018-03-09T15:01:18.648+11:00This is a pretty polonius-level quibble, but I hav...This is a pretty polonius-level quibble, but I have to say how much it irritates me when people like Giles say things like this:<br /><i>"It strikes me sometimes as a fortuitous coincidence that the word communism shares its start with the word compulsion because the two concepts are inextricably intertwined."</i><br />Using 10 dollar words to develop a 10 cent idea, the absence of a comma after "compulsion" creating a certain ambiguity, both minor annoyances. But "coincidence"? No, not a coincidence. They "share a start" because they both use the Latin root <i>cum-</i>, meaning with or together. Compulsion = "together-drive", communism = "together-duty". But of Latin roots in English, <a rel="nofollow">cum-</a> is one of the most common (ooh, there it is again). Giles uses it again in the same sentence - concept = "together-understand" (coincidence is slightly different, but = "together-happen"), and repeatedly through the article - compare, contemporary, accompaniment. Are these things also bad because they share a root with Communist?<br /><br />But for all that, Giles is a special read; calling the <i>Australian</i> weird, reminiscing about European jaunts ("oh, there's my mate Arno, <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Adolf_Hitler,_Eiffel_Tower,_Paris_23_June_1940.jpg" rel="nofollow">second from the left</a>") and ending with one of his "I had an onion on my belt, as was the fashion of the time" stories - tick, tick, tick!FrankDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-32967583230428359652018-03-09T12:42:27.435+11:002018-03-09T12:42:27.435+11:00Yes I was a bit surprised with Clive Hamilton comm...Yes I was a bit surprised with Clive Hamilton comments because when you consider how many countries America have invaded. China are providing finance to underdeveloped countries not only in the Pacific but Africa. And it is not clear at the moment if they are trying to subvert the governments in those countries. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com