The best thing about The Death of Stalin - apart from its representation of Stalin as a clone of Bob Hoskins' east end thug in The Long Good Friday - is that it was banned in Russia …
Others have had much to say about the film - as in The New Yorker here and the NY Times here - but the pond just wanted to use it as an introductory note while congratulating the two delegates who voted against the "Xi for life" clause …
How brave was that? And now humour and memes and Winnie the Pooh are all that's left …
Never mind, the pond discovered some great, and exciting, and redeeming news this morning.
All the lizard oz reptiles have vanished in a sulk up to the rear of the herpetarium behind a large wall, and are refusing to come out.
Somehow the reptiles imagine this is punishing the world, or perhaps even the pond, but it's a dream come true for the pond, and it will see the pond winding down its coverage of the reptiles …
The pond always intended to slow up when (a) the chairman moved on from this world, (b) the lizard Oz abandoned its tree-killer operations and went digital, (c) got sold off, (d) or better still, filed for bankruptcy … but hiding behind a paywall and removing themselves from the conversation is perhaps the best outcome of all.
Sad to say, despite the reptiles' best intentions, the assorted walls are still a little porous, and the pond now must urge the reptiles to tighten up even further …
This morning, for example, the Bolter was out and about in his usual way in the HUN and the Terror ...
The reptiles tightened the Bolter's paywall some time ago, as if the pond cared, but still the pond was astonished that the reptiles had been slack enough to allow the Bolter's latest burst of climate science to escape the cloisters …
Uh huh … because it immediately made the pond wonder whether the Murdochians would ever seize the big chance to confront the Bolter about his astonishing record of dud predictions …
Others have done it … as at Crikey by a Dr Andrew Glikson, who took on ten of the Bolter's claims… (paywall protected)
Others have done it too, with more here …
But the pond is getting ahead of itself, and hasn't even noted the Bolter's piece, which trickled out from behind the paywall …
The Bolter's credentials are cruelly listed at Desmog as "University of Adelaide, incomplete arts degree", and "with no publications in the scientific literature on climate change", along with some examples of his work, while he still bobs up in other locations, as here …
And now for a couple more duds …
And so it's back to the Bolter doing his pot and kettle routine … which left the pond wondering just why the reptiles hadn't locked this rogue in the deepest recesses of the herpetarium, never to see the light of day outside the paywall again …
Will the HUNsters please explain?
No, not the Bolter's climate denialism, but why the Bolter's denialism was allowed to leak out from behind the paywall this morning … it quite ruined things for the pond, and the chance of an early mark and no more homework ever again ...
At the very moment that the pond was dancing with joy at the thought of never reading the Oreo again, the HUNsters had to introduce a Bolter bummer and a downer …
Please reptiles, try harder, remember to tuck everyone out of sight, remove everyone from the general public conversation … turn yourselves into a ghetto of complete irrelevance, and the world and the pond will dance with joy…
It's the right and proper thing to do, and then the pond can tiptoe past on the way to interesting things … while a hush descends on the land …
"...but it's a dream come true for the pond, and it will see the pond winding down its coverage of the reptiles …"
ReplyDeleteNo, no, say it isn't so ! What will I do to fill out my miserable existence without a couple (and sometimes three !) loon landings per day ?
Still, it has been a good run, I guess, and lasted well at a high level of commentary for a goodly time. And I suppose there's still the weekly Speccie with Flinty and Auty et al. You will still target them ?
But no Bromancer, Oreo, Dames Snap and Groan, Shanahans, Kellys and Mitchells - plus oscillating fans and all the other lesser lights too. Life will never be the same again.
It can't be healthy to read too much of this stuff, so if it's paywalled into oblivion that's good. I too have some inexplicable morbid interest, and I'm grateful that you summarize the day's tripe and add a few cartoons so I don't have to waste too much time.
ReplyDeleteBolt's column was paywalled so I don't know how you accessed it. Not that I want to. There is never any thing new, the same way that Henderson is still angry about something Arthur Calwell said to BA Santamaria in 1957. Flannery or Robin Williams said something in 2007 and somehow it's still good for stirring up the 2-minute hate in 2018.
Something that is new is an interactive graph at Aviso: https://www.aviso.altimetry.fr/en/data/products/ocean-indicators-products/mean-sea-level.html
This lets you see the sea level rise for any period you like. For example for the period 1993-2018 the rate is 3.31mm/yr, but for 2010-2018 it is 4.97mm/yr.
Don't think that'll help, NH: the Bolted Dolt can't read graphs. Can't read much of anything, really.
DeleteHe would be looking at the series between June 2010 & March 2011 & claiming there was a cooling trend.
Delete