The pond has done its level best to avoid coverage of the recent event in the UK - the pond is at one with Media Watch on the matter of excessive, hysterical coverage - but couldn't resist this note by Charlie Lewis in his Crikey piece 'The eternal miracle of the Crown' - the most OTT responses from monarchists to the queen's death (paywall).
Charlie began with Ming the merciless's infamous poem recitation, then went on...
The obsequiousness radiating from that speech has powered a lot of monarchist thinking in the country ever since. Since Elizabeth passed away last week at the age of 96, that cohort has been coping as well as one might expect.
Tony Abbott lead with a piece in The Australian which argued: “Probably not a single death in human history will be as widely felt as that of Queen Elizabeth II.” Which is a pretty wild sentiment for someone who believes Jesus Christ sacrificed his life to atone for the sins of humanity. Nick Cater, Australian columnist and Menzies Research Centre executive director, marvelled at “the eternal miracle of the Crown” and closed with another Menzies quote:
The present Queen, who is the most remarkable monarch since the first Elizabeth, has done so much to strengthen the position of the Crown and to inspire general respect for it that I am constantly horrified to find that some alleged intellectuals in Australia want to have a republic. I hope they fail dismally. I am proud to name myself a loyal servant of the Queen.
Never mind the thoughts of a third rate sociology student, what a burn of the onion muncher.
Et tu onion muncher, you and Judas?
But at least it served as an intro to this delightful Wilcox cartoon ...
All those years of hearing "god save our gracious queen" for naught ...
Luckily after that flurry, the pond could turn to Dame Groan for a dinkum old fashioned groaning...
What else? Well with Dame Groan, there's usually a bottom line, down there with the overall picture, but perhaps before we get to the bottom line, we should get that tipping point graph ...
There's a faster gun
Coming over yonder
When tomorrow comes
Let me tell you, buddy
And it won't be long
'Til you find yourself singing
Your last cowboy song
Yippee-ki-iy-ay
When the round-up ends
Yippee-ki-iy-ay
And the campfire dims
Yippee-ki-iy-ay
He shouts and he sings
When a cowboy trades his spurs for wings
When they wrap my body
In the thin linen sheet
And they take my six irons
Pull the boots from my feet
Unsaddle my pony
She'll be itching to roam
I'll be halfway to heaven
Under horsepower of my own
Yippee-ki-iy-ay
When the round-up ends
Yippee-ki-iy-ay
And the campfire dims
And on that uplifting note, with the pond wondering if Dame Groan will ever hang up her spurs, at this point, the pond would usually turn to another reptile offering, but this day drew a blank ...
The top of the page was full of more hysterical coverage ...
What a weird snap in the revolving fickle finger of reptile fame, but the pond wasn't lured in by the reptile talk of a jump-start to the republican drive.
They only want that to happen so they can give it a good dissing and sell more tree killer copies ...
And there was all this in the comments section, and still the pond wasn't tempted ...
Oh come on George, the pond can't waste time on that sort of """ stupidity.
All your foolish frippery and foppery means is that the reptiles can pick off the voice and the republic one at a time ... and frankly as for the matter of the sinking subs, the pond is over it. Where's the bromancer when he's needed? The pond can't waste time on a Jennings doing the usual ...
It was all the more tragic because the pond likes a bonus so that it can run interstitials of the loon kind, like this epic featuring the handiwork of a loon recently featured in the lizard Oz, and thus the pond, as the salvation of that lobster mobster Guy and the Victorian Liberal party ...
Not to worry, the pond will do it anyway ...
You see at one point, the pond had intended to run this clip from the Daily Beast and its cheat sheet ...
And perhaps for the first time in recorded history - quite unique, as the BBC's world service suggested this morning on the ABC's news radio - the pond found it agreeing with the lizard Oz editorialist ... because for once Xi and Orwellian sat together nicely on Animal Farm ...
And so fascism grows by the day, even in Sweden ...
Well at least it seems that Vlad the impaler is continuing to get a good thrashing ...
But the pond only slipped that in to ensure a decent spacing between the infallible Pope and the immortal Rowe ...
Now a bit more spacing, come on mango Mussolini, you can do it ... delight us all ...
The pond had also thought of running this richly celebratory snap ...
But enough with the comedy already ...
And so the pond can end with the immortal Rowe, returning the pond to the top of the page and that excess of hysterical coverage ... which resulted in the pond offering a short measure reptile serve this day ...
Sheesh, that's good, in a bleak and bony way ...
Finally a word of explanation as to the context of "quite unique", mentioned as appearing on the wireless this day (oh wireless, what an antique word).
It came amidst a "truly unique" insight into the death of photographer and artistic all-rounder William Klein and you can find ten of his "quite unique" snaps here - the pond would settle for "unique" - including this one ... with the pond wondering if this uniquely unique approach to the English language will ever end? Here's pointing at you, ABC and BBC ...
Indeed the Muncher displays the usual state of mind which simply fails to believe in the mortal life of the last 1/3rd of God. But when Wilcox has it that Bill thinks "God had clearly failed to save his gracious queen" then that's just gross ignorance: God did save the Queen and she is now in a state of bliss in heaven singing, along with about 110billion others in the history to date of homo sapiens sapiens, the eternal praises of God.
ReplyDeleteThat is, if St Thomas Aquinas had it right "that some souls do go straight to heaven or hell. Souls of those who die without any guilt or unpaid debt for even venial sins on their souls will immediately rise to heaven." and that Her Ex-Maj qualifies.
https://catholic-link.org/souls-heaven-hell-die/
The pond was immediately entranced by your heavenly vision, GB, and immediately realised its most grievous error, and will join Wilcox in fiery damnation for all eternity ... because nothing can expunge the guilt, the unpaid debts, and the mortal and venial sins arising from reading the reptiles ...
DeleteAnd if I had any idea what a "venial sin" is, I might joinyou, DP. But the God of Three Parts has seen fit to keep that knowledge from me. At least I hope they have.
DeleteQuestion:
DeleteWhat are some examples of venial sins?
Answer:
The Catechism describes two main types of venial sin. First, one commits venial sin when “in a less serious matter [than mortal sin], he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law” (CCC 1862). In other words, if one does something immoral but the matter is not serious enough to be gravely immoral, he commits only venial sin.
For example, deliberate hatred can be venial sin or mortal sin depending on the seriousness of the hatred. The Catechism explains, “Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm” (CCC 2303).
Another example is abusive language. “Abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment but would be a grave offense only as a result of circumstances or the offender’s intention” (CCC 2073).
The second type of venial sin involves situations in which the matter is serious enough to be gravely immoral, but the offense lacks at least one of the other essential elements required for mortal sin. The Catechism explains that one commits only venial sin “when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter but without full knowledge or without complete consent” (CCC 1862).
An example of this could be masturbation. The Catechism explains:
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility [for masturbation] . . . one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability. (CCC 2352)
The pond fears the wankers at the lizard Oz are in mortal peril ...
https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-are-some-examples-of-venial-sins
And is it a 'venial sin' never to have heard about the Catechism of the Catholic Church ? Well at least nit by an obviously affectionate abbreviation - CCC - anyway.
DeleteAs to masturbation, I thought it was only an act of Onanistic spilling of seed upon the ground instead of impregnating your dead (slain by Yahweh) brother's widow. So Yahweh slayed Onan too, but did Onan's soul go immediately to hell, or is he still 'asleep' awaiting the Second Coming ?
Some of us really need to know.
The moany Groaner: "with many [coal] plants ageing and the price of coal rising steeply, the likely effect of more renewable energy is to hasten the exit of plants" Has there ever been a better argument for closing down coal plants asap ? Replace them with gas - fossil gas in the short term being rapidly replaced by 'green hydrogen' which we now know we can get either from the oceans or from atmospheric water vapour.
ReplyDeleteBecause if we don't do this, the total cost - not merely of domestic electricity - will be horrendous, and is starting towards that with increasing rapidity. Very long, very hot summers everybody ?
But hey: "Transmission and distribution costs amount to 40 per cent of the retail price, with the wholesale price another 25 per cent and the remainder [ie 35 per cent] mainly the retail margin." And remind me again: what exactly do we get for our 35 per cent "retail margin" cost ?
“And remind me again: what exactly do we get for our 35 per cent "retail margin" cost ?” Billing, advertising and the illusion of competition in this free market thingy.
DeleteI note that Groany is not too keen on the free market when it settles on the “wrong” solution.
Oh yes, "competition" Bef: the supreme universal truth.
DeleteBut there is no such thing as a "wrong" solution in the omnipotent, omniscient and immanent free market, is there ? Slightly suboptimal maybe, but never actually "wrong" surely ?
From the daze Mr Ed: "All contravene the Basic Law China pledged to maintain at the time pf Hong Kong's 1997 handover by Britain." Thick as many planks is Mr Ed. "China" did no such thing, because "China" is not a person capable of making "pledges" - but Xi Jinping is the annointed Son of Heaven and thus he, personally, is China. And he has clearly "pledged" to maintain the imperial authority of China - as defined by him and duly appointed minions - whilst soever he shall live.
ReplyDeleteWake up and sniff the opioids, Ed.
And in the meantime:
ReplyDelete"David Neal, whose IFM Investors manages $200bn, says global heating could slash portfolios by up to 40%" Only 40%, that's nothing really, is it:
You can’t stock-pick your way out of environmental collapse, superannuation boss warns
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/13/you-cant-stock-pick-your-way-out-of-environmental-collapse-superannuation-boss-warns
J K Galbraith indulged himself with a little satire. For a book that amused many economists in the 90s, he created a character, ‘A Tenured Professor’ - which is the title of the book - whose thesis had been on the pricing of refrigerators.
ReplyDeleteThe amusement came from the wide understanding that there was no economic explanation for the pricing of whitegoods at that time. The entire understanding was that items came on the market at a price - and pretty much sold at that price for their entire life, which, for some models was remarkably long. For example, we know families where the mother, of our generation, bought a H..ver twin-tub washer, and one or other of her offspring bought one, looking identical to the first, but 20-some years later, and within a dollar or three the same price - yes, even after the ‘deal of a lifetime’ offered by the saleshark on late-night TV.
Anyway, pricing of whitegoods is one of those economic transactions for which there is no coherent theory - along with pricing of rides at ‘the show’, and there are others.
I suspect that pricing of electricity from a network has moved into that category. Corporations involved in generating the stuff, employ supposedly sharp mathematicians to calculate spot costs, which they can wave at another lot of sharp mathematicians in another part of the corporation who supposedly apply risk assessments to the projected prices, before passing all that on to ‘customer service’, where another lot of etc. are required to prepare tables of tariffs in a way that they almost certainly cannot be compared with what other corporations might offer, within the same national economy, probably for the same time period.
And our Dame not only pretends to understand this - but makes free to chastise others who have taken degrees in economics, because they concede that they do not understand.
The acquisition of wisdom in public administration often follows the understanding that you may not be able to see cause and effect in the minutiae of a system, but you do know the fundamental parameters that will direct its path.
It's always nice to know that one's failure to see and/or understand isn't due to personal inability, but just due to the absence of anything that can be seen or understood. So, refrigerator sales pricing is just a small manufacturing industry example of the many economics equivalents to string theory.
DeleteMost apt, GB. That could open up discussion and exchange of experiences that would run for days, but it is Dorothy's site, so I will just thank her for giving us the distillation of Dame Groan for this day.
DeleteSplendid reference Chadders, and the pond must chase it up ...
DeleteThe book chronicles the rise to fame of one Montgomery Marvin, a professor of economics who, as an academic teacher, keeps a low profile but who nevertheless is given tenure quite early in his career. While outwardly concerning himself with unspectacular research focusing on "Mathematical Paradigms in an Approach to Refrigerator Pricing" (which is also the title of his Ph.D. thesis), Marvin's extracurricular activities centre on becoming very rich in a very short time. For that purpose, Marvin has devised a new formula—a stock forecasting model by means of which he and his wife can cash in on people's euphoria, greed and, as they call it, dementia. Eventually, while everyone loses money in the wake of the "Black Monday" stock market crash of October 19, 1987, the Marvins gain an awful lot. (See also Michael Milken and leveraged buyout.)
They decide to spend their money wisely, according to their liberal agenda. Intent on strictly observing the code of business ethics, they start to make use of the "positive power of wealth" and embark on a life of philanthropy. They fund a number of chairs in peace studies to be established at, of all places, military academies. They also secure legislation by which companies are required to label their products according to the percentage of female executives employed by them. After they have launched several of their projects, their operations are increasingly considered un-American and officially put under surveillance. But whatever will happen - Marvin knows that he will be able to nourish his family, as he has been accorded tenure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tenured_Professor
Tenure does seem to be a big deal in academe, as does your place in the pecking order.
DeleteOur Dame does seem to have a very vague understanding of how things actually work. What we have here is a narrative recycling ideas that were once widely believed, seemed likely at the time, or just suited planet Groaning but it didn't pan out that way in the real world. The amount of gas needed as a transition fuel, duration and cost of storage, and the uptake of renewables all worked out differently in the real world.
This article about storage rather contradicts the generalisations in our Dame's offering
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/canadian-builder-says-investors-will-back-hydro-20220908-p5bgh8
"Long-duration lithium-ion batteries could also out-compete these projects within a few years, he (Dylan McConnell) said, citing an eight-hour Californian battery which had just been installed in the US state and generation price differences."
"The eight-hour mark was the competitive switch point between the two technologies, he added, with the Kidston project working out to be $3100/kilowatt."
"According to the AEMO and CSIRO Gencosts report, the 2021-22 cost for an eight-hour lithium-ion battery is $2638/kW. That would fall to $1593/kW by 2026-27."
So it goes.
Time, tide and technology waits for no man, nor Groaner.
DeleteNow if our Bjorn-again could tell us what components that we already have of the 'new technology' we will need to fix climate change whereof he preaches, and what therefore remains to be invented, it would be a great help.