The pond started the week quietly, secure in the knowledge that it had saved some part of Newtown from a fate worse than death.
A wretched creature, apparently they realised that they'd perpetrated an act of enormous stupidity by actually buying a copy of nattering "Ned's" The March of Patriots, had doubled-down by tossing it into the street library, whereby some unsuspecting soul might pick it up for free, and think they'd scored a bargain. The pond disapproves of any kind of bomb, let alone street bombs of this kind, and naturally confiscated it, to save stray readers from a fate worse than death.
A wretched creature, apparently they realised that they'd perpetrated an act of enormous stupidity by actually buying a copy of nattering "Ned's" The March of Patriots, had doubled-down by tossing it into the street library, whereby some unsuspecting soul might pick it up for free, and think they'd scored a bargain. The pond disapproves of any kind of bomb, let alone street bombs of this kind, and naturally confiscated it, to save stray readers from a fate worse than death.
To pick just one random example, there's a chapter on East Timor which is full of hagiographic claptrap about little Johnny as an international statesman, and Lord Downer as a liberator. Now we have a Star Chamber trial conducted in utmost secrecy, so that the stench of spying on the East Timorese in order to screw them can be kept out of sight, and so out of mind …
But stay, the pond's mission this day isn't the follies of "Ned", little Johnny, Lord Downer and the like, and their perfidious ways.
The Caterist is on hand to kick off the reptiles on a Monday - apparently the Major is taking a quiet day off in his cage, pecking at sunflower seeds. He might turn up later, long after the pond has gone on to useful things, and if he doesn't, would anyone care if a tree fell in the forest?
The Caterist is on hand to kick off the reptiles on a Monday - apparently the Major is taking a quiet day off in his cage, pecking at sunflower seeds. He might turn up later, long after the pond has gone on to useful things, and if he doesn't, would anyone care if a tree fell in the forest?
But what what a typically Caterist question to get things going. Are young graduates ready for rigours of life?
Oh yes, indeedy, indeedy do.
Have young graduates sufficiently studied the movement of flood waters in quarries? Have they examined climate science and determined it a hoax? Have they made love to dinkum clean Oz coal with its thrusting manly ways or do they remain callow virgins?
Can young graduates bring on a decent defamation action, one they're certain to lose, but the size of the judgement certain to produce respect amongst peers? Can young graduates work out how to fill out an application form so that their institute might receive a cash in the paw grant from the federal government, year in, year out?
Have young graduates sufficiently studied the movement of flood waters in quarries? Have they examined climate science and determined it a hoax? Have they made love to dinkum clean Oz coal with its thrusting manly ways or do they remain callow virgins?
Can young graduates bring on a decent defamation action, one they're certain to lose, but the size of the judgement certain to produce respect amongst peers? Can young graduates work out how to fill out an application form so that their institute might receive a cash in the paw grant from the federal government, year in, year out?
Difficult, tricky questions, requiring expert Caterist experience to be able to answer them ...
Phew, what a relief that the Caterist and the Menzies Research Centre know how to keep the wolf from the door by sticking out the paw and getting a generous federal government subsidy.
The thought of the Caterist going rabbit-trapping fills the pond with horror. Would he know how to avoid getting human scent on the paper, the sort of stench that warns rabbits and readers of the lizard Oz that nonsense is out and about?
The thought of the Caterist going rabbit-trapping fills the pond with horror. Would he know how to avoid getting human scent on the paper, the sort of stench that warns rabbits and readers of the lizard Oz that nonsense is out and about?
And if not a celebrity handyman, how about a juggler doing gee whizz things …
As usual, once on a reptile roll, the Caterist can't help going on, gloating at unseemly length, peddling the bullshit line that he's some sort of tough guy, a wise guy in the ways of the world, as if filling out a government grant form was an exceptional skill, as opposed to being an exceptional suck...
As usual, once on a reptile roll, the Caterist can't help going on, gloating at unseemly length, peddling the bullshit line that he's some sort of tough guy, a wise guy in the ways of the world, as if filling out a government grant form was an exceptional skill, as opposed to being an exceptional suck...
How astonishingly predictable, Frank Furedi and a jab at Greta, and a blather about struggling to bestow the values of previous generations on the young … when so far as the pond can see, the value best exemplified by the Caterist is a capacity for ignorance, stupidity, and malice, resulting in a defamation settlement which might make some mouths water …
But let us celebrate the trade-offs required in democracy …
And let us celebrate that a half-arsed graduate in sociology might somehow ship himself abroad, in the way that the convicts of old came from the mother country, transform himself into a pundit down under, dress himself up in style as befits a bludger on the government, and lo, become an expert defamer, a man worldly wise in court and conflict and litigation ...
One fears that unlike removing a dangerous random book from a street library, it might not be possible to isolate the Caterist in a safe space, and some deluded young 'un might stumble across this nonsense and take it for seemly advice …
Meanwhile, the pond has only a word of praise for the excellent efforts of simplistic Simon and others this day in the reptile world …
How to respond? Well not by actually reading simplistic Simon's drivel, which turns up daily and can be safely ignored …
Why not instead celebrate an infallible Pope, which turned up late last week, but is never too late to be honoured by the pond ...
Why not instead celebrate an infallible Pope, which turned up late last week, but is never too late to be honoured by the pond ...
As for comrade Bill's imminent return, besides celebrating the reptile capacity for mischief-making - to infinity and beyond - it brought to mind the days when the onion muncher dreamed of a return to glory … and the infallible Pope celebrated …
And so to an astonishing discovery by the lizards of Oz …
Ah, a new weapon … indeed, indeed …
How does that old song go … get out your old white mask, your tap shoes and tails, don't throw the past away, everything old is new again … and there's a brand new weapon in town at the Surry Hills 'leet HQ ...
Really, reptiles? You'd sell out the Donald and his minions with that sort of fatuous flip nonsense? Stand proud, stand by your kissing cousins in the States …
And so to a final word on the dismissal.
The pond had resolved never to speak of it again, not after its Polonial whimsy had been misconstrued as some sort of love of the blowhard bully from Victoria …
On the other hand, the incompetent Kennett does produce interesting correspondence, so perhaps it wasn't in vain, and perhaps the pond should have another go, thanks to the able George …
Again with that pic? Why can't the reptiles ever show the G-G at the gee gees?
And so to the deeds and works of the drunk …
Yes, yes, but as a kindly correspondent agreed, how did the fix get installed in the first place? By what reserve powers did the British monarchy reserve things?
...the letters that Kerr sent to the queen, through her private secretary, about the crisis and any replies, have not been released because they have been treated as “private” correspondence owned by Kerr, and subject to the conditions he placed on them.
The conditions were that they be opened 60 years after Kerr ceased to be governor-general, after “consultation” with the monarch’s private secretary and the official secretary to the governor-general. This was later unilaterally changed, on the queen’s instructions, to 50 years, but with the “approval” (rather than consultation) of the representatives of the monarch and the governor-general. It remains unclear what power the queen had to change and control conditions on access, if the documents belonged to Kerr, as it is claimed, and not the queen.
This change in the deposit conditions is critical, because we now know that the Palace is refusing access to correspondence with any of the queen’s former governors-general, even when the 50 years is up, for a period until at least five years after the death of the queen, and then only if the new monarch agrees.
This means it may never be released, or may be redacted or released only in part.
More at The Conversation here, and thankfully the High Court dismissed all this claptrap, but right there is a scandal of the first water … unilaterally canned on the Queen's instructions, and with malodorous instructions to the colonials to mind their place, and ignore the G-G communing with the Queen …because they all knew it would show that the drunk had been communing with the palace, and that the palace had looked the other way while they drove old Gough down … oh yes, sing a long, they day they drove old Gough down … (now don't get started on political correctness and what the original song was on about).
Meanwhile, George is still arguing about the reserve powers, apparently unaware that the monarch had unilateral powers when it came to the correspondence of a G-G, allegedly able to be appointed and dismissed on advice by the government of the day ...
Oh fucketty fuck, do we really need to change the Constitution to make it clear?
Wouldn't it just be simpler to tell the Royals and the G-G to piss off?
How about we become a republic, and just tell Chuck the weird, Andrew the creepy, the refugees in North America, and all the other Brexiting Poms to just sod off and live their lives with Boris at the helm?
Apparently not in the pond's lifetime, but at least the pond can enjoy the works and deeds of emperors in other places, with garments provided by Rowe, and with more Rowe dressings to be found here...
The pond's sympathy to Melburnians because there are morons thick as two bricks everywhere, and not just the US emperor …
My Source tells me that subscribers were doubly blessed by the Menzies Research Centre this day. Apart from contribution from the Executive Director (Frank Furedi?!), there was some of that prophecy of doom that so concerned the Henry on Friday. It came from the Communications Director at that same Menzies Research Centre, was headed ‘White pointer truth sinks in a sea of paperwork’ - and you can guess at the implicit ‘analysis’.
ReplyDeleteAmusingly, the Communications Director does draw on CSIRO research for points about the White Pointer that suited his devious reasoning, but that simply leads to a conclusion that might be stated broadly as ‘all CISRO research on sharks is dodgy because Peter Ridd’. In the meantime, be afraid, be very afraid - they are coming to get ya. This is completely at odds with the Henry’s supposed assessment of risk from a much smaller life form which imperils our very economy, but that is not the point of this exercise.
Because of his convenient family name, Ridd may enter the lexicon in much the way that Ned Ludd has. Which will also provide a convenient collective term for so many contributors to ‘Quadrant’, and ‘Catallaxy’ and - too much of Limited News - Riddites.
Quite why the Menzies Research Centre concerns itself with sharks, or the finned kind, is not clear, but then its Executive Director did contribute his vast experience in hydrology to national understanding of floodwaters. They are a multi-tasking, multi-talented group, with a bit too much time on their hands.
Chadwick
Actually outside the paywall.
Deletehttps://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/white-pointer-truth-sinks-in-a-sea-of-paperwork/news-story/f9c4c35e5f28cc1828ef26145a856bb8
Whilst I wouldn't want to encourage more clicks for this libellous rag, it does provide textbook examples of how not to assess risk and interpret statistics. It also has a good dose of conspiracy theory.
It seems that all this collection of data is so flawed that we should rely on 'sensible' people guided by anecdote and reporting like that in the Flagship instead.
"Former James Cook University professor Professor Peter Ridd — who a court found last year had been unlawfully sacked — says half of all peer-reviewed reports are flawed. Ridd still faces expensive legal action by his former employer, which is appealing the case because it doesn’t like the fact he broke ranks with his colleagues over the false alarmism about the Great Barrier Reef."
I used to work with a bunch of surfers including one who was an office holder in surf riders club. It was always notable how calm and rational they were about this sort of incident. The hysteria usually came from people that didn't go near the water.
The fear of low-probability, high-impact events provides easy bait for the reptiles. On the other hand, the Oz readers know that they will be lucky and survive the vastly greater likelihood of catching COVID-19. No?
Now, now Chad, it isn't those minute SARS-CoV-2 specks of almost life that is imperilling the world's many economies, it's that much larger, two legged, one (at most) headed creatures that are making up things to do to "stop" the virus which, as just another natural product of the environment of this planet, simply wants to reproduce and increase its numbers. Can't blame it for that, can we.
DeleteSo, you reckon Peter 'Let's be' Ridd is the latest Edward Ludlum of somewhat exaggerated (in)famy. Riddites you reckon. I'd have gone for Ioannidisites myself - he was on about the appalling state of so called 'science' publications long ago. And he's a 'Killer" lad too - we should definitely just "learn to live with it because we can't seem to work out how to live without it", shouldn't we.
But Ioannidis is Greek - can't have him as a Murdoch hero, I guess. And 'sharks' have long been an Aussie obsession despite the vanishingly small number of shark-human interactions. So of course the very unwoke Murdoch press will be on about them - just another example of wingnut universal cancel culture, isn't it.
Unfortunately when I tried to access it, Bef, that Australian page was (back ?) behind the paywall. Sadly though, I have to accord with Ioannidis (not Ridd, not even within a thousand parsecs) that a very great deal of so-called 'scientific research' is of very poor quality and only the process of 'peer review' is worse.
It comes from having millions of scientists around the world: quite sufficient for significant portions of the collective to be dishonest and/or incompetent and/or self-aggrandising. And the very few 'peer reviewers' are in general no better and therefore are often very careless and hurried (and harried) when trying to review the annual millions of scientific papers and publications. And I have absolutely no idea what could be done about that.
For your amusement: Per capita consumption of cheese (US) correlates with Number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets (https://tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=7).
DeleteI note that Vasta, the judge in Ridd's case, was slapped down by an appeal court in a Family Law matter. Apparently this is a common occurrence for Vasta, so Ridd should not be spending his monies while he awaits the appeal.
Faarking cheese - I knew it!
DeleteOK Joe....I’m totally amused! Thank you.
DeleteCA. :))
Befuddled - A quick factoid from the National Coronial Information System’s analysis of causes of death for 2000 - 2011; for actual animal attacks, dogs killed 27 persons, sharks 16 - a number shared with bees.
DeleteHorses were involved in 77 deaths, but that included people falling off them, and hitting them on the road.
Don’t wait up for contributor Pawle’s hypotheses on horse and dog deaths.
Chadwick
Ah yes, Chad, but what was the count for hippopotamuses ?
DeleteBefuddled - not to take this too far from what Dorothy has put before us, but thank you for putting up free link to Mr Pawle's actual words. It is, indeed, a textbook case of how not to assess risk, and use only those data that you find convenient. I also support your caution that you would not encourage clicks for this, or any other 'commentary' that arrives, presumably free of charge to the Chairman, to fill out this day's edition of the Flagship.
ReplyDeleteI dived extensively in South Australia. We maintained sensible 'watch' in the water, and had no problems with the aquatic fauna. I was more fearful driving to our dive spots - where the objective probability of an 'event' was much higher, and it was due to the irrational element of the human race.
Chadwick
Mr Pawle writes two sentences in that article which together, are indicative of his reptilian brain:
Delete"But peer-reviewed reports are, unfortunately, an unreliable foundation on which to form policy that has such dreadful life-and-death consequences."
and
"To prove the CSIRO’s report wrong, though, would require replicating years of research to see if the same results were found."
QED?
As someone whose seawater ventures ended long ago, and who almost always swam within fenced 'baths' (mainly Middle Brighton) I can only marvel at the thought of 'open ocean' adventures, and especially of diving when vulnerability must be maximal.
DeleteGB - My experience was of a big difference in personal perception of risk when you can see what is around you, through the water column, rather than being active only on the surface. And never dive alone. Or with spear-fishers.
DeleteI actually think more coastal tourist places should invest in netted swimming areas, but that comes with a commitment to maintain them.
Chadwick
I agree Chad, if we could be bothered to, I'm sure we could quantify the relative risk of the Great White 4WD as opposed to the Great White Shark. Probably a million to one.
DeleteA friend's son is a marine biologist who has done work off the southern coast of WA using baited camera stations to do fish surveys. He hasn't seen a Great White in the water but the camera data showed that, on at least one occasion, one turned up shortly after he left.
It seems like a bit of a conceit to think the shark is focused on us, that it's not us getting in the way when the bait fish are running or we are pulling an injured fish into the boat.
The surfers I referred to could give endless examples of people spearfishing or using kayaks, dragging dead fish behind them in the water. It's really surprising there are so few incidents.
I think it always comes down to questions of 'agency', Bef. People feel they've got more control, more 'agency' in a motor car. And by and large they probably have: what is the rate of fatalities per million km of vehicle driving ?
DeleteWhereas, in the ocean, an environment that most of us are only marginally proficient in, and with creatures such as sharks which are great stealth attackers, most of us feel we have less control, less 'agency'. It's certainly how I feel.
But Chad is describing situations in which he feels capable - much 'agency' in other words. I just would never think, or have ever thought, of joining him.
“The pond started the week quietly, secure in the knowledge that it had saved some part of Newtown from a fate worse than death.
ReplyDeleteA wretched creature, apparently they realised that they'd perpetrated an act of enormous stupidity by actually buying a copy of nattering "Ned's" The March of Patriots, had doubled-down by tossing it into the street library, whereby some unsuspecting soul might pick it up for free, and think they'd scored a bargain. The pond disapproves of any kind of bomb, let alone street bombs of this kind, and naturally confiscated it, to save stray readers from a fate worse than death.
To pick just one random example, there's a chapter on East Timor which is full of hagiographic claptrap about little Johnny as an international statesman, and Lord Downer as a liberator. Now we have a Star Chamber trial conducted in utmost secrecy, so that the stench of spying on the East Timorese in order to screw them can be kept out of sight, and so out of mind …”
Love it........a fine Pond entree!
I’m sure you sanitised your mitts afterwards. We have a street library in the laneway next to our house and I am a bit ambivalent about its Coronability actually.
“And let us celebrate that a half-arsed graduate in sociology might somehow ship himself abroad, in the way that the convicts of old came from the mother country, transform himself into a pundit down under, dress himself up in style as befits a bludger on the government, and lo, become an expert defamer, a man worldly wise in court and conflict and litigation ...”
Even better!..... Cater is, in true Hockey style, the ultimate leaner.
I doubt he would know a hard road unless he tripped off the kerb or fell off his bike and kissed it.
I am waiting for his next book on parenting though.....How to raise a Brat in a Western Quarry using other People’s Money.
Good to see the Ed. so ahead of the virus curve for a change......I can’t wait to see the Sky after Dark panel in masks!
I do hope everyone has seen the Twitter King being grilled on Fox and ordering his minder to get him the... “death list” ....with an air of indignant rage that I imagine will haunt him right up till the election. Amazing!
CA.
Speaking of sharks as an endangered species it is estimated that 60-100 million are killed each year and many of them just for their fins to make shark fin soup.
ReplyDeleteThat would mostly be the smaller, fishlike coastal sharks I'd reckon, Anony. There wouldn't be anywhere near that number of the larger, more oceanic species.
DeleteAnd speaking of which: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmuz0CMd5Jk