tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post209430694909020548..comments2024-03-29T22:18:45.103+11:00Comments on loon pond: In which, as always, nattering "Ned" steals the show and gets into bed with the carnival barking clown ...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-15532872057760607642020-02-16T13:31:41.181+11:002020-02-16T13:31:41.181+11:00Oh yeah, Sat'dy matinees indeed. Endless week...Oh yeah, Sat'dy matinees indeed. Endless weeks of the Flash Gordon serial with a bunch of lost souls parading through the caves (sigh). And singing along to "Here we are again" every interval.<br /><br />But I actually got a lot of my Yanqui vocabulary from the radio: American (and British - does anybody else remember 'Journey Into Space' with the giant recumbent Martian and the Aussie sheep farmer ?).<br /><br />Anyway, the word I had most difficulty explaining to my primary school co-attendees was "lush". Yeah, so you try explaining it to a bunch of suburban 10yos.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-87830699764169775262020-02-16T09:14:46.190+11:002020-02-16T09:14:46.190+11:00Ah, but the pond faithfully attended Saturday mati...Ah, but the pond faithfully attended Saturday matinees at the Capitol theatre, and could fluently speak American, and learn how to deal with dry gulching varmints and gangsters armed with gats (though it can't recollect 'lying dog-faced pony soldier, even if they spoke with forked tongues), while also maintaining a properly British dialogue, saluting the Queen and honouring the flag, thanks to the British empire quota quickies of the extremely Rank kind. There is no linguistic purity in this bastard country ...dorothy parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816807935021738560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-39850619381755059492020-02-16T08:05:26.720+11:002020-02-16T08:05:26.720+11:00All youth is misspent, Kez, and most of post-youth...All youth is misspent, Kez, and most of post-youth as well. Had I but a modicum of talent I'd love to join you, but though I enjoy the product I can't share in the making. So go for it.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-42564797241050576612020-02-15T23:28:22.955+11:002020-02-15T23:28:22.955+11:00Always wondered where batteries came from - batter...Always wondered where batteries came from - battery hens! Keznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-10319289284051458252020-02-15T23:22:27.701+11:002020-02-15T23:22:27.701+11:00Nothing so grand as that GB. It’s simply the refle...Nothing so grand as that GB. It’s simply the reflections of a misspent youth attempting 1960s HSC poetry come back to haunt a semi-ancient rimerer with time on his hands and the Pond for inspiration.<br /><br />In reality it’s more like this… <br /><br />The hovering digit hunts and having pecked proceeds;<br />What may be poetry or wit<br />Adjures me back to edit half the time<br />Not all my ears believe a word of it<br />Keznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-50961803476561061272020-02-15T17:39:07.204+11:002020-02-15T17:39:07.204+11:00Now don't tell me ... but is that the start of...Now don't tell me ... but is that the start of a great modern work The Rubaiyat of Kez ? Yes, yes, I know, a rubaiyat is supposed to rhyme in the structure aaba like this:<br />The moving finger writes and having write moves on;<br />Nor all thy piety nor wit<br />Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,<br />Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.<br /><br />Oops. Oh well, it probably was a rubaiyat until Fitzgerald got hold of it.<br />GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-25711382455716231772020-02-15T16:50:26.597+11:002020-02-15T16:50:26.597+11:00This is what attempting to digest the oleaginous s...This is what attempting to digest the oleaginous sloppy joe burger of the Natterer’s column did to my system this morning...<br /><br /><br />Whilst patrolling the sump<br />Ned called up to Trump<br />For you I must plump<br />How high should I jump?<br /><br />The world you will shake<br />You’re such a Mandrake<br />No need for the brake<br />Just stay on the make<br /><br />You’re the man of the hour<br />We worship the power<br />That streams from your tower<br />And makes Greta glower<br /><br />The lefties are woke<br />They’ll send us all broke<br />Old Bernie will choke<br />And Joe’s a big joke<br /><br />And forget Buttigieg<br />He’s way out on a ledge<br />There’s no need to sledge<br />Just use your sand wedge<br /><br />Their news is all fake<br />So let them eat cake<br />And cop an outbreak<br />Of progressive gutsache<br /><br />Yes I’m but a bump<br />Upon your great rump<br />And though you’re a grump<br />I’ll still be your chump<br />Keznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-59283781273404823662020-02-15T13:24:21.730+11:002020-02-15T13:24:21.730+11:00Nattering Nedster: "Trump and Johnson percei...Nattering Nedster: "<i>Trump and Johnson perceived the weakness and resentment in establishment orthodoxy and secured a political realignment in their countries. How long this lasts defies prediction</i>." <br /><br />So, according to our addicted Natterer, Trump and Johnson "perceived the weakness and resentment" did they ? Well, perhaps we might remember that Trump's "perception" was so very good that he lost the popular - ie democratic - vote by nearly 3 million (2.1%) ! And perhaps we might also remind Ned, and ourselves, that <b>after two years of Triumphant Trump, the Repubs lost the House of Representatives by a significant margin</b>.<br /><br />As to Boris, well, if you check up the British voting, you will notice this: votes for the Tories, just short of 14 million, votes against the Tories (Labour, SNP, Lib Dems), 15.224 million.<br /><br />So, <b>neither Trump nor Johnson appealed to more than half of their respective voting populations</b>. What happened was that in America some number of people didn't vote because of Hillary and in Britain some number of people didn't vote because of Corbyn (Labour's vote was down by 7.8 percentage points compared to the previous election) and they were rewarded by Trump and Johnson respectively. Maybe more of them will vote next time.<br /><br />And do you think that any of those ideas or those numbers will ever get through the muddled mess of Ned's befogged consciousness ? No, neither do I, and as it has been truly said "we don't need no stinkin' mathematics here". Well, certainly not in Ned's universe, anyway.<br /><br />Nonetheless, Ned ploughs on with "<i>But the difference with Morrison is conspicuous</i>."<br /><br />Yes, Ned, sure it is: Australia is a compulsory voting preferential system whereas America and Great Britain are voluntary first past the post systems. As Johnson's victory showed, in a voluntary FPTP system, a small change (a percent or two who don't vote, for instance) can change the result in a lot of electorates. That doesn't happen so much here - it needs quite a few more electors to actually switch their votes. And the most definitive time that happened was in 2007 when a swing of over 5% caused the LNP to lose 22 seats, including the "safe" seat of its political wizard, John Howard.<br /><br />So much for all that "<i>weakness and resentment in establishment orthodoxy</i>". eh.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-62532695616924701662020-02-15T13:11:43.414+11:002020-02-15T13:11:43.414+11:00But Eveready is (was) an American company, DP. He...But Eveready is (was) an American company, DP. Hence American terminology.GrueBleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-22570421257536193922020-02-15T10:46:58.806+11:002020-02-15T10:46:58.806+11:00The pond isn't so sure. See above.The pond isn't so sure. See above.dorothy parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00816807935021738560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1462488453822156883.post-75516683211894493132020-02-15T09:57:00.765+11:002020-02-15T09:57:00.765+11:00'Flashlight'? i suppose now that Lord Mol...'Flashlight'? i suppose now that Lord Moloch is a US citizen he can speak American, but I've always called it a torch. It was a torch where I come from, and I'm pretty sure that's what it would have been called in Tamworth back in the day, DP.Mercurialnoreply@blogger.com