A quiet day early Monday morning at the lizard Oz, with a new topic for the day, and the Major in his preferred perch at the top of the digital edition, in the much favoured, highly desired, hotly contested, much esteemed far right part of the page ...
Relax, the pond scanned solo Rice on the Lehrmann matter (first offered last night, no matter the alleged time), and there's no mention of Dame Slap, so time to take a break from all that ...
There was further movement on the nuking the country front with the reptiles enlisting a coal baron to urge it on, but the pond thinks it's done more than enough for the moment to help the reptile and coalition cause ...
Down below there was a strange holdover, in the form of prattling Polonius ...
Polonius was of course offering a pre-emptive strike on the Four Corners show tonight, which being the perverse nature of cardigan wearers, strikes at the very heart of the reptile response to the Gaza genocide ...
Do look away is the reptile mantra and that philosophy saw the the quarry flood waters whisperer turn his attention to education, there simply not being enough money poured into the study of creationism and that classic guide to relationships, Adam and Eve (what happened to the complimentary women of yore? Luckily the United States is busy joining the Taliban to bring them back, to the delight of angry Sydney Anglicans).
Naturally there will be no mention in what follows of the quisling, lickspittle lackey, fellow travelling, pandering appeaser, the current Pope,busy offering the white flag to Vlad the Impaler, nor will there be any mention of that nasty matter relating to a private school ...
Deeply weird, but it's an eastern suburbs matter, but the pond never goes there, for fear of the dragons and the filthy rich.
Instead, thanks be unto the Caterist, we're dealing here with perfidious greenies and the need for creationist studies to bolster the Craterer's science credentials ...
The Commission possibly also didn't mention pissing taxpayer's money away on quango mango think tanks of the Menzies research centre kind, designed to keep the Caterist's mob in indolent luxury with time to squawk and carry on, but there you go ... it's always the mote in thine own eye that seems to go unnoticed ...
The pond always loves the justificatory lines embedded in that summary, but back to railing at the greenies scoring government cash in the paw ...
Yes, the pond has reached the final gobbet ... but don't panic, there's more reptile hectoring and lecturing on education to come ...
The pond fancies itself as being up with all the latest cults and conspiracies and weirdnesses - there is some benefit in having initial training in the Catholic cult - but this was a doozy that had flown right over the pond until it came across it in The Daily Beast... courtesy of Robert Silverman (paywall) ...
Does a conspiracy theory exist that is so implausible, so floridly bonkers that noted conspiracy theorist and future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t at least consider it? Apparently not, if Rodgers’ recent podcast appearance is any indication.
The New York Jets signal-caller—who missed nearly all of the 2023 season with an Achilles tear and spent his free time musing about Jimmy Kimmel’s nonexistent connections to Jeffrey Epstein—seems to believe that architecture isn’t real.
The revelation came last month during an appearance on a podcast hosted by jujitsu magnate and QAnon promoter Eddie Bravo, where the pair stumped on behalf of the Tartarian conspiracy.
Briefly, once upon a time, and not that long ago, there existed the nation-state of Tartaria. This utopian and highly technologically advanced civilization was founded somewhere in central Asia, possibly created by giants or aliens, and spanned the entire globe. Life in Tartaria was an abundant paradise, powered by unlimited renewable energy, and jam-packed with architectural marvels, the likes of which humans at that time could never dream of erecting.
As was the case with Atlantis, some undefinable cataclysmic event wiped Tartaria off the face of the earth–an apocalyptic flood of mud, or perhaps a super-charged electrical storm of some sort, according to Bravo—leaving zero concrete proof it ever existed. Or almost no proof. Namely: sumptuous cathedrals, spires that seemed to reach the heavens, the Beaux-Arts buildings, and any pre-modern structures, really, ranging from the Pyramids to the White House.
Tartaria’s destruction was a boon for the people left behind, who simply stole the now-abandoned buildings and asserted they were responsible for creating them, reaping untold riches to boot. How all of human history prior to 1900—books, newspapers, scholarly works, photographs, oil paintings, everything—could have been rewritten or scrubbed to hide the greatest act of theft ever perpetrated is never clearly explained.
The conspiracy originated in the late 1970s in the scribblings of a crank Russian mathematician and pseudoscientist. It had been more or less dormant until finding new life online starting in 2016, thanks to YouTube channels and exhaustive subreddits. As Bloomberg reported last year, the combination of a quasi-fascistic longing for antiquity and rejection of anything modern as degenerate—plus a pu-pu platter of narratives and villains to choose from—makes the conspiracy function like the “QAnon of architecture.”
For Rodgers, it’s extremely real.
“It’s very interesting stuff,” Rodgers told Bravo about the theory that a lost, ultra-advanced civilization of maybe aliens or giants built the 1915 World’s Fair or the Singer Building in New York City. “What is actually true that we’ve been told and what is a lie. They go, ‘Why does that fucking matter?’ Because if they can lie about that, what else can they lie about?”
This is far from the first time that Rodgers has partaken in conspiratorial thinking. Prior to 2021, the only non-football stories about Rodgers concerned his estrangement from his family, Page Six-type gossip about his romantic relationships with a Hollywood actress or two, or his earnest desire to become the host of Jeopardy. In fact, he often lent his voice to progressive causes.
Asking him to get vaccinated, apparently, caused Rodgers to go off the deep end. In the summer of 2021, Rodgers equivocated about his vaccination status, telling reporters he was “immunized,” which actually meant seeking out his own alternative treatments. That wasn’t his fault, though. It was everyone else’s for not drilling down.
“Had there been a follow-up to my statement that I’ve been immunized, I would have said, ‘I’m not some sort of anti-vax, flat earther. I am somebody who's a critical thinker,’” Rodgers said at the time. (He also compared himself to Martin Luther King.) Similar to other terminally online rubes, he was receiving medical advice from Joe Rogan. “I consulted with a now good friend of mine, Joe Rogan, after he got COVID, and I’ve been doing a lot of the stuff that he recommended.”
Tartaria! So it wasn't Atlantis or a land above the Faraway Tree as the pond foolishly thought.
At last the mystery has been uncovered. Tartaria is where the pond has actually been living with the reptiles, and what a cue for the Major, and so it's off with the Major for a Tartaric terrific time ...
For the fifth time in just the past eight summers – 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and now 2024 - huge swathes of the Great Barrier Reef are experiencing extreme heat stress that has triggered yet another episode of mass coral bleaching.
Including two earlier heating episodes – in 1998 (which was at the time the hottest year globally on record) and 2002 – this brings the tally to seven such extreme events in the past 26 years.
The most conspicuous impact of unusually high temperatures on tropical and subtropical reefs is wide-scale coral bleaching and death. Sharp spikes in temperature can destroy coral tissue directly even before bleaching unfolds. Consequently, if temperatures exceed 2°C above the normal summer maximum, heat-sensitive corals die very quickly.
And so on and so forth, but the Major was long ago gifted the skill to look away, or to go on hunts for non-existent Order of Lenin medals ...
Instead the pond is forced to gaze on a huge snap of a grinning loon in a salaryman suit ...
Luckily the pond was in a class of 35, occasionally topping 40, so it learned that you need never say practical or talk of prac teaching when you could say 'practicum' in the most pretentious drawl available to the human voice ...
Is there an upside to this Major homily? Well at least there's been no mention of US politics ...
Okay, the pond is long past being a student or being a teacher, and is really only here to note how the reptiles, much like the tangerine tyrant, love the poorly educated ...
Yes, the irony isn't lost, the pond is with the Major. Take it away Major for a final short gobbet ...
The pond guesses that after all this blather about the transforming power of education, it's probably time to get back to nuking the country ....
As usual, it's the detail ...
The Cratered Cater: "...Building the Education Revolution program, a $16.2bn splurge on school infrastructure projects to stave off the recession that never was." Ok, "the recession that never was" appears to mean the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) of 2007-2008 and the Crater appears to be telling us that there never was any such thing.
ReplyDeleteDoes he mean 'never was any such thing' anywhere in the world, or just 'never was any such thing' in Australia only ? Because if he means in Australia only, doesn't he mean that the "gang of four" (Rudd, Swan, Gillard, Tanner) managed, by judicial government spending and bank guarantees, to stave off a serious recession in Australia that had afflicted most of the rest of the world ? Even if we don't mention 'pink batts'.
There you go again, GB, proposing there's a real world. If you'd only spend a little more time in Tartaria with the reptiles, all would become clear...
DeleteYair, I admit it, DP: ever since I read Alice as a youngish lad, I've always been trying to escape everybody else's Wonderland Worlds. But it never works out, does it ... other than for grinning Cheshire cats anyway.
DeleteYes, the Alice books quite ruined things for the pond, especially when Martin Gardiner's annotated edition confirmed and enhanced the vice. Perhaps that's why the pond still enjoys going down the reptiles' various rabbit holes...
DeleteNow here's a comment on somebody's 'Wonderworld': Ross Gittins:
Delete"Temperatures will be worsened by the “urban heat-island effect”, as materials such as asphalt and concrete amplify heat by as much as 10 degrees during extreme heat.
Melbourne, too, faces double the number of days above 35 degrees by 2050. Will it take that long for the Australian Open to be moved?"
http://www.rossgittins.com/2024/03/climate-change-is-taking-over-news-in.html
To another country ? But which one ?
And ok then, how long before they're frying eggs on Centre Court.
Gittins again: "The great sin in academic economics is to stop seeking the truth because you think you’ve already found it."
DeleteAh, yes - Martin Gardner's 'Annotated Alice'. One of the rare occasions when a subsequent writer has truly enhanced a classic. It has extra interest for y'r h'mble because Gardner shared his enthusiasm for 'Lewis Carroll' with one Martin Burkenroad.
DeleteBurkenroad had the kind of intellect that is somewhere above 'polymath', but for which we seem not to have a specific term - probably because such people are so rare. He made some remarkable deductions in areas of marine biology to which y'r h'mble made modest contributions (not the false modesty evident when Sherlock Holmes referred to his 'modest contributions'.)
Ooh, those naughty, naughty Royals !
ReplyDelete"Picture agencies issue ‘kill notice’ after editing error of the image of Catherine with her children comes to light."
First post-op photo of Princess of Wales withdrawn due to ‘manipulation’
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/10/first-post-op-photo-of-princess-of-wales-withdrawn-due-to-manipulation
Can anybody see what's supposed to be wrong with the picture ? I can't - other than Kate not wearing her God-ordained 'wedding rings', that is.
Your guess is as good as mine, GB. I have minimal interest in the Royals, but this seems one of those cases where their media people have tried to end public speculation but have actually increased it. I suspect that whatever the reality, it will prove to be much duller than the wild speculation and conspiracy theories that the Brit media are doubtless currently pursuing.
DeleteI don't think there's any doubt at all of that, Anony.
DeleteSeems it was all Kate all the way:
DeletePrincess of Wales says she edited family photo recalled by picture agencies
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/11/princess-wales-says-her-edited-family-photo
I still can't see what they were all talking about though. Anybody ?
So after a couple of weeks of pro-nuke propaganda, it’s time to spin the Reptile Wheel of Angertainment once more. This time, it’s… oh look, that old favourite, education! Time to trot out the usual guff; eg Australian students are clearly dumbos, as they can’t be bothered making much effort in pointless international comparison exams, and it’s clearly all the fault of pinko PC atheistic greenie Trot teachers. Naturally the usual IPA stooges are on hand to provide talking points - though it’s pretty much the same guff as last time, and the time before that, and the time before that…..
ReplyDeleteA Polonius Bonus ! Yesterday’s bizarre ABC fantasy clearly was insufficient to drain all of Hendo’s bile for the week. Is it possible that he’s becoming even more jaundiced and obsessive? At this rate he may soon be scribbling a daily column.
ReplyDeleteThe pond should have made it clear that it's another in the weird series where Polonius imagines he's a dog who watches the media. The pond suspects this canine reincarnation was held over as a warning shot for the Four Corners story tonight on Gaza.
DeleteSuch is the vanity that Polonius's missive can be found for free on his 'leet institute's website dated 8th March, updated to 9th March by the reptiles ...
https://thesydneyinstitute.com.au/blog/issue-672/
This was then held over a few more days so Polonius could lead off with ...
John Lyons, the ABC’s Global Affairs Editor, is a strident critic of Israel and Israel’s Jewish supporters in Australia. This is evident in his books Balcony over Jerusalem (Harper Collins, 2016) and Dateline Jerusalem: Journalism’s Toughest Assignment (Monash University Publishing, 2021). The latter book was reviewed by Gerard Henderson in The Sydney Institute Review in November 2021.
On 7 March, the ABC’s John Lyons was interviewed about the new edition of Balcony Over Jerusalem on ABC Radio National Breakfast. The interviewer was the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas. It was a soft interview – Quelle Surprise! – in which the author did almost all of the talking, and there were no interruptions.
Woof, woof ...it's hard to know what's weirder. His Canophilia, or his obsession with the ABC. Not sure what philia would apply to that. Cardiganophilia:?
So - is Polonius a Furry? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom
DeleteOintment-ophilla
ReplyDeleteThe Major, "applying ideas, in the sense that you’d apply an ointment."
"The practice travels under the name of “moral clarity”—as if moral clarity were anything, in this world, besides a very rare commodity (I would love to know what Didion thought of the concept), and as if the phrase meant anything other, in this context, than tailoring the evidence to fit one’s pre-existing beliefs. Facts are now subordinated to the “narrative,” a revealing word: first, because it comes from academia (it is one of those clichés); second, because it’s almost always misused, a particle of garbled theory cloned and memed (as the professor would have wanted). When journalists say “narrative,” they mean “idea.” And it is always an idea they’ve received from someone else.
"They think they’re thinking, but they’re wrong. They think that thinking means applying ideas, in the sense that you’d apply an ointment. "
"How Pseudo-Intellectualism Ruined Journalism
A dose of working-class realism can save journalism from groupthink."
WILLIAM DERESIEWICZ
https://www.persuasion.community/p/how-pseudo-intellectualism-ruined
It seems the tag-team arrangement for this day has Sky promoting nuclear, while the Flagship educates us on education. I did look at the Cater contribution, but, oh dear oh long absent deity - he is just so tee-jus, ain’t he?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, earlier in the day we had rambling interview with Littleproud, calling for another ‘mature conversation’, but telling us it was the Nats who were pushing to go nuke, years and years ago, but were blocked by their coalition partners.
Be that as it may - later we had the Dog Bovverer with tame ‘expert’ who assured us that we were doomed to fail as a nation if we did not nuke. Expert was sometime head of ANSTO, one Adrian ‘Adi’ Paterson. According to Adi, it’s all a doddle - you can have big plants operating in less than 10 years, just like they do in the Emirates. Yep - democracy in the Emirates is just like what we have in Australia - sort of.
Now, while Adi’s time with ANSTO is likely to make him a shill for nukes, I thought to try to follow his career. He has a ‘Wiki’ entry. He is from South Africa, and immediately prior to coming to Australia, was General Manager of Business Development Operations at the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company in South Africa, and held the position until December 2008. The Company downsized significantly following his departure. In 2010, Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan described the project in Parliament saying that "between 2005 and 2009, it became increasingly clear that, based on the direct-cycle electricity design, PBMR's potential investor and customer market was severely restricted, and it was unable to acquire either [investors or customers].
There is a separate, detailed, Wiki for Pebble Bed Modular Reactors. There is no indication that, during his time with ANSTO, Adi gave any attention to Pebble Bed Modular Reactors - but, for the Bovverer - he is an ‘expert’, thoroughly plausible, and serves whatever their joint masters demand of them.
Nicely researched, thank you Chad. But basically just another reptile con job getting a 'non expert' to provide supposedly expert opinion. Something that always appeals to wingnuts, doesn't it.
Delete