Back in the day, the pond vividly remembers its first stay in Sydney, free of parents or the need to pander to the rellies out Kogarah way (as much losers as the current St George thugby league team).
In order to do some research at the Mitchell library, the pond decided to stay, as rustic folk were wont to do, at the Gresham, an elaborate Miss Havingsham kind of Victorian wedding cake concoction ...
It's since been rebadged and repurposed.
It was dirt cheap, suitable to a student budget, but that meant the rooms were rustic basic, and when checking under the bed to see nothing had escaped when packing to leave, the pond discovered a used condom.
This was big smoke sophistication at its finest, and the pond felt quite Parisian, in a brothel sort of way.
The pond relived that rustic spirit the last time it was in Sydney, preferring the downmarket vibe of the Great Southern Hotel to expensive inns with a harbour view.
The pond knows this is the sort of place that cockies, squatters and Tamworth types like to stay ... and it pretty much still looks like it did back in the 1940s ...
It has a twenty bucks all-in bacon and eggs breakfast, and a shower and toilet cubicle of a size to give anyone claustrophobia.
And it has a sub-Shining vibe - the lobby/foyer area is littered with snaps of the hotel in its grand 1940 era, and there are still some hints of the past.
The night the pond stayed, there was a giant exhaust fan blasting away, perhaps for the restaurant downstairs, but it shut down early enough in the night to allow a little sleep (unless you had a fear of being trapped in the rabbit warren if a fire broke out). (After all, country folk must eat no later than seven, and be in bed by eight, in order to get up with the sun).
The noise reminded the pond of the air conditioner racket that ran all night when the pond stayed at the Tamworth Hotel (just across the way from the railway station).
That too was a bit of nostalgia, because the pond's father had paid for that hotel back in the day when it was known as the Town Talk (aka the Railway), brick by brick, fermenting ale glass by glass, until he was completely awash in amber fluid ...
And the pond is staying at the Great Southern again, it being the cheapest, price friendly, home away from home available to rustics and tourists, and that's why the pond isn't able to offer an update this day for herpetologists devoted to the lizard Oz.
Enough of exploring ancient remnants of near forgotten Sydney, at least the pond can offer a token distraction before hopefully returning to the real business at hand tomorrow.
How about another serve of Akker Dakker?
Though the pond has shamefully ignored him in recent years, back in ancient times the pond always had a taste for the Gresham hotel-like festoonings that littered the Akker Dakker brain.
He was big on fear and loathing of the NBN ...
Akker Dakker tried every scare and bit of fear-mongering imaginable - the cables ruining the fine aesthetics of inner west Sydney, death stalking the land ...
Since the pond has moved to the mighty 'Gong, it's experienced the joys of fibre to the home, what with an earlier Labor government pandering to its base by making the 'Gong a trial run, and what a mighty fine thing it is ...
The pond now looks with pity on those who were deprived of the real thing by the shameless Malware doing it down on orders from the onion muncher and News Corp (desperate to see its box model for streaming survive in the new age. Silly reptiles).
The pond hesitates to provide a link to this Akker Dakker outing, what with it hooking up with news.com.au, but some might want more ...
And so on. 2009, and a visionary even then!
Others have been devoted to Akker Dakker.
Here he is in a piece by Graham Readfearn back on Wednesday 30th March 2022, under the header A cut-and-paste attack on electric vehicle batteries and renewables is spanning the globe. But is it right?
Those younglings are just the sort to give Akker Dakker nightmares - but then Akker Dakker's always been a 'green nightmares, we must nuke the country to save the planet' sort of reptile ...
We've been there before, and still go there each day ...
There wasn't anything Akker Dakker wouldn't tackle in order to keep the country back in the Mesozoic era ...
The Finkel report will burn us just like a Canadian wildfire? Or perhaps like the forthcoming Australian summer bushfire season?
Such a visionary.
Wait, the pond should probably finish off that other Akker Dakker outing ... especially as it evoked memories of that ancient dinosaur, Shane Stone ...
The fat owl of the remove was possibly shattered when the NRRA was merged with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with Stone ankling his baby, and with Murray Watt eventually coming to hold ministerial responsibility for it ...
Sic transit Akker Dakker, knock 'em down Humpty Dumpty glory ...
Why, the vibe's just the same, and the pond has always loved ancient vibes ...
Sorry, that's possibly a little too modern for Akker Dakker ...
And still he burbles on, at it again last Sunday in the Terror ... and so at last to the real place marker pablum ...
The header: Piers Akerman: Bowen’s silly electric truck plan running out of road while EV users don’t pay for the damage; Australia would need 14,000 extra trucks on its roads if Chris Bowen’s electric prime mover policy succeeds – and Piers Akerman says that is only part of the problem.
The thing about the fat owl of the remove is that he only manages a couple of minutes for a read, though perhaps even that's stretching the attention span of the rag's thugby league demographic, notoriously known for thinking that a full minute is quality time for a woman.
The reptiles have been down on EVs for some considerable time, so it was inevitable the fat owl of the remove would have a go at trucks ...
A scientific poll conducted under strict guidelines has found Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is the stupidest member of the Albanese Labor government’s cabinet – except for Anthony Albanese.
OK, the poll was probably not that scientific. It involved asking groups at bus stops, in coffee shops, waiting at check-outs and sporting stadiums one question: Who do you rate as the biggest idiot in the government? The answer was Bowen every time, with some saying the Prime Minister was almost as dumb for keeping him in the cabinet.
When further explanation was sought, those who followed up pointed to Bowen’s denial of obvious facts, including the reality the price of electricity has soared since he insisted that rolling out so-called renewables, including wind and solar factories, would reduce energy prices to homeowners and businesses.
As one member of an impromptu focus group said, anyone who thinks the global climate can be altered by increasing taxes, subsidising electric vehicle purchases, importing solar panels and carbon fibre windmill blades from China or eating less red meat, hasn’t a clue.
Classic, sublimely stupid Akker Dakker, a form of self-projection of a kind that can be found throughout his scribbles, because he's a vox pop ssort of dude of the first water, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. In a street poll, Bowen was rated the biggest idiot in the government, with Albanese almost as dumb for keeping him in the cabinet. Picture: NewsWire/Nathan Smith
The pond notes that battery-powered heavy duty trucks still need work.
But the pond can remember the days when reptiles at the lizard Oz tried to introduce range anxiety to the hive mind.
And yet these days Chinese manufacturers are promising EV cars which can do Sydney to Melbourne on a charge.
Too rich for the pond, but dare to dream. Who knows, the next scratchie might be the answer. And if battery technology continues at its current pace, there'll be plenty to drop the cash on.
The pond remembers the days when EV vans were dismissed as out of the question.
And yet when the pond rocks up to IKEA for a charge, there's always a flock of vans on view ...
Ditto buses, at least if the wretchedly inept Minns government ever gets its act together ...
The pond understands that not everyone is ready for an EV, or can afford one, or wants the singular pleasure of hooking up their EV to a trickle charger, and watch the car load up during the day for free courtesy of solar charging ...
But dare to dream, the pond says, in a way that luddites never can ...
Both federal and state governments underwrite the cost of heavy-truck electrification. LinFox received a $19.63m package, $755,000 a vehicle, to cover the gap in truck costs and the upgrade needed for charging stations, for example. Subsidised green financing is spewing money, but trucking firms aren’t convinced EVs are the answer. One trucking company executive bluntly says Bowen’s EV truck policy won’t work west (or east) of the Great Divide.
Akker Dakker was inevitably agitated at the sight of an EV van rocking across the bridge... Subsidised green financing is spewing money, but trucking firms aren’t convinced EVs are the answer.
Worried by the state of the strait of Hormuz? Worried that oil might hereafter be more a political football than a means of getting about?
In Akker Dakker's world, you just suck it up ... (in much the same way that mug punters must do without a FTTH connection) ...
A regular prime mover carries enough fuel for 24 hours of operation. EVs’ hefty batteries put a 9-tonne weight on the front axle; regular diesel-powered prime movers are restricted by regulation to a 6-tonne weight limit.
This is a free pass for EVs, an additional penalty for the majority of trucks that crisscross the country. An articulated vehicle, a semi-trailer or a B-double truck with an electric powertrain weighs five tonnes more than a diesel truck. Logically, a wheat carter driving a single trailer EV could only cart 20 tonnes, a diesel would carry 25 tonnes legally.
There are 105,000 articulated vehicles on the road every day, and if the big trucks all went electric, there would need to be an extra 12-15 per cent more vehicles on the road just to carry the same payload as the current fleet.
Regarding the impossibility of it all, why not repeat that line so that the thugby league readership will fall in line, and stay with their gas guzzlerd ... There are 105,000 articulated vehicles on the road every day, and if the big trucks all went electric, there would need to be an extra 12-15 per cent more vehicles on the road to carry the same payload.
Should the pond revert to calling the fat owl full Bunter?
He's always had the same preening, supercilious air about him.
And so to the closing gobbet ...
The huge batteries would need to be changed by forklift vehicles because recharging the monsters would take too long.
Freight costs would soar and the effect on our climate would be zero. The extra cost would ensure greater inflation in almost every productive sector of the economy, and it would be more difficult to compete on the export market because all our agriculture, wheat, rice and cotton rely on road transport.
Our truckies pay for the damage they cause to roads through a 52c-a-litre excise, of which they can reclaim 20c a litre.
EV road users don’t pay for the damage their heavier vehicles cause.
With new Euro-standards being introduced, diesel trucks will use more fuel, pay more tax, and produce fewer emissions.
It’s a big country outside Canberra. Bowen and Albanese need to be reminded.
Hopefully this sort of carry-on will get slotted into the Daily Terror's campaign in favour of tungsten light bulbs.
Hopefully Akker Dakker will meet his match when invited to play a challenging game of chess ...
It's no longer Monday, but it seems like it's always Monday in America ...
Yes, the current reptile riters are not as funny as Akker was, even when they actually try to be. Well, Akker funny up to the point where he thought flinging a typewriter at a member of staff was about quality control in the paper he claimed to edit.
ReplyDeleteFor a time, Houghton at the Curious Snail tried to display something of mythical 'chap' that Akker cultivated, with a hint of 'hrm hrrrm, those stupid lower classes, they never learn', but that probably requires some self belief, which even Houghton could not maintain.
Your mentions this day set y'r h'mbl wondering what had happened to the Dakker döttrar, Tessa and Pia. Seems their early boost up the ladder of opportunity of Limited News did not have many more rungs on offer - the most recent mentions have them as 'Press contacts' for bodies like the City of Glen Eira, or the Justice Reform Initiative. Not quite up there with the Dames, or Ms Ton-yee-nee, and regular bylines.
Acker Dacker used to be a pond 'regular' but even reptiles get marginally better over many years.
DeleteA bit late, but this one's in response to yesterday's Bro piece where he was gushing like a smitten schoolgirl over that "astonishing figure", the couch-humper.
ReplyDeleteNow listen Bro, there’s a good chance
You’re in for a whirlwind bromance
Give Tony the shove
Then declare your true love
For the man of your dreams – JD Vance!
There are scorpion actions... reptiles in the employ of the Murdochracy biting others who float them enabling their cushy lives, whilst they protect tribes and...
ReplyDelete"Akker Dakker tried every scare and bit of fear-mongering imaginable - the cables ruining the fine aesthetics of inner west Sydney, death stalking the land"
As below, a whole new bunch of real scorpions will appear from under Gaza's (insert every war here) rocks, yet also from above, hatching now and acting in plain sight. And as in the brave article below, it shows they will keep their scorpion-ness in future, unleashing bites at the worst possible time in the worst possible way on the least worthy of being inflicted upon. I am a human too, and can't understand why... "our never-ending tolerance of evil is just as banal."
..."New genocides are occurring in the present day, activists and locals are persecuted and killed in Gaza, and killed by people who declare themselves the heirs to resistance to genocide: a remarkable new layer to my local history-book about Srebrenica. The black glow of our darkened humanity; Hannah Arendt wrote of the banality of evil, but our never-ending tolerance of evil is just as banal. The more the affliction is spread, with bigger numbers of victims, the truth ever more obvious, the pain more visible, the silence gets louder while the tolerance gets dumber. The pictures of killings, the words of the victims, they surge like a tidal wave… What happens to our humanity when we beat the people who notice and bear witness?
https://jasminatesanovic.wordpress.com/2026/07/14/scorpions-bite-again/
Via pluralistic