Category: General Musings

THE Australian Greens will introduce legislation that would stop Japanese whalers being allowed access to Australian services such as surveillance craft.

In short, they want the Australian people to support an environmental terrorist. I’ve posted on the leader of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Paul Watson before and from my reading can only class him as a dangerous enviro-whacker who should be behind bars.

But that of course will never happen, particularly while we have people listening to the likes of Garret and Brown.

Update: Well last night’s news went over a treat for the eco-terrorists. They managed to position their ‘Stealth Boat’ in such a manner as to make it impossible for the Jap trawler to miss it. The ensuing publicity will boost their coffers for another season particularly while the Government and the media are giving Watson uncritical TV exposure every chance they get. No one, and I mean no one in the government or media are questioning what the hell they are dong there risking life and limb and vessels at sea in what is basically a publicity stunt.

Garret and Gillard are talking absolute rubbish. Gillard is even saying they, the Government, are going to seek legal advice on the hiring of planes to monitor the eco-terrorists. I’ll save the government money – it is completely legal for an entity to hire planes to monitor situations that, by experience, are dangerous to ships and crews going about a legal business.

It’s not about whaling folks. It’s about publicity, fund raising and hatred of humans who eat sea or land creatures.

The bastard should be in gaol, not on TV.

Update II Ady Gil crewman tells of Japanese whaling vessel terror. Bloody Hippie freak. I hope you have nightmares and wet the bed well into your 60s from the terror caused by yourself and the crew.

My Wife, Daughter and self went to the movies last night and saw Avatar in 3D. I had read many critiques on the politics of the film but being a computer nut, I was keen to see the graphics in 3D.

It was worth it but my first thoughts were Star Wars 7

Being a conservative and hater of all things Left I had to smile at several of the cliches used.  Fighting terrorism with terrorism was one that stood out as an ideologically insertion as no one was using terrorist tactics and the portrayal of the US military as evil versus the local indigenous Noble Savage Na’vi would warm the hearts of any Lefty.  All the trees and animals, including the Na’vi’,  enjoy access to a cache of neuronal connectors that emanate from their heads, that pass through their plaits or their extra appendages .  Mother Gaia writ large for the Greenies in the audience. An ideal world, they would think….. if only it was true on Earth.

There are some that actually believe that is the case now…weird.

Sigourney Weaver had a scene where she is giving instructions to Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) as she settles him in a Avatar link machine. “Just empty your mind…that shouldn’t be hard to do!” Ha ha, that had the anti US/Military component of the audience giggling and nodding their heads wisely.

Ah yes, the stupid soldier!

But having said all the above it didn’t take me long to develop empathy with the locals and I enjoyed the final outcome.

Some of that empathy could have come from the near naked delightful, athletic form of the women and the way animators had them moving but that could just be the limbic part of my brain gaining ascendancy for a moment.

The Motion Capture, Virtual Camera, Digital 3D Fusion Camera System is going to be very hard to beat for years to come.  In an aside to my daughter I remarked I am so lucky to live in this age with computer graphics bringing to life computer generated actors, plants and animals that are so believable yet so removed from any known form. Our imagination is now the only limit on story telling.

The film stands out as graphically extraordinary, particularly when viewed through 3D specs.  Reality invaded the theatre with animals and jelly fish like seeds from the Holy Tree causing me to duck to avoid them and the terrifying heights of floating mountains had me clinging to my seat lest I fall thousands of feet below.  Colour and shape of local flora and fauna was brilliant, often drawing me to just look and enjoy the scenery when the script became a bit hard to accept.

Do yourself a favour, and go see but make sure it’s 3D. Ignore the political ideology and just go with the flow…you won’t be disappointed.

On my recent trip (5 states, 68 days and 14,000km) I stopped off at a small town south of Adelaide and looked up a cyber mate.  He is into remote controlled model airplanes and I had an enjoyable day or two playing with big boys toys.  I particularly like the helicopters  and spoke (fantasized) about slinging a sawn-off 10/22 ruger under a chopper and sorting out the local crows.

As I left to go further West my mate gave me a model chopper to take back to Queensland for his nephew with the instructions that I had to learn how to fly it so I could teach him on hand-over.

As I struggled to get control of the little beast I remembered my childhood where my toy of choice and necessity was a 6in length of 3×4 with a Sunshine milk tin nailed to the top to simulate a petrol tanker. This was way beyond that and my son (late thirties) and I took turns to pilot the thing.

Flying a chopper is very difficult – toy or real, it ain’t easy (read Chickenhawke CH 1 if you don’t believe me) so I now have to find the local model airplane shop to buy new rotors damaged by thirty of fourty prangs.

Being a Top Gear fan I was therefore interested in this little item (pictured) that I came across while reading The London Times. A  Stig Copter for 50 Pounds (can’t find the pound symbol) that includes a gyroscope to stabalize the machine thus saving all the damage.

Now where did I hide that 10/22?

Holly is in the middle

My old Golden Retreiver has finally succumbed to the ravages of time. The local possums and cats are secure – she never differentiated between them so both species would be confronted with lots of noise and movement. Her problem was she never learned to climb fences or trees, so her doggy fantasies of tearing the invaders to small bite size bits were never realized.  Notwithstanding this small problem they sure as hell knew they weren’t welcome.

I do recall that one litter of possums would definitely have been born pre-traumatised as they were conceived on top of  a very narrow fence with the possum bloke having his way with his girl. Holly was barking her head off jumping up  to within centimeters of the copulating couple trying to tear him (and her) to pieces.  Added to this cacophony was my wife and I, with  torch focussed on the dirty deed, laughing like drains as we admired his tenacity.  How he never fell off we’ll never know but I bet the kittens (or whatever you call baby possums) came out with a phobia about loud dogs.

She gave us all a scare last year but she got another 19 months of loafing around like eldery retreivers do.

She’ll be missed.

HEALTH officials warned yesterday that as many as four million Australians could eventually catch swine flu.

Victoria’s acting chief medical officer, Rosemary Lester, said an eventual infection rate of 20 per cent was a “fair estimate”.

“Next year, this may well be the predominant (influenza virus),” she said.

With 50 confirmed cases so far there is a long way to go.

Does anyone else think we are overreacting just a tad?

On the way to the bank

Something like nearly 300 ml (about 12 inches for metric disadvantage folk) fell on my suburb over the past 24 hours.  Not to be put off I went down to do the banking and had to negotiate some water over the road. I sat for a while and watched other people and their different approaches to the problem.  People with 4WDs didn’t worry and most small sedans turned around to find another way.  One idiot in a Lada sedan (had to be an idiot to buy it) didn’t even slow down…hit the water at about 40 kph, got swamped by the bow wave and then tried to back out.

Gee, his motor stalled.

I drove on.

More at the Courier Mail

When this story broke yesterday I thought it a bit fishy. People are not normally thrown in a cell for stealing a bar mat, even in Thailand. The Thais, particularly those with any sort of power, have a well developed sense of self, are very quick to take offence and will lock westerners up at the drop of a hat.

THE Australian woman arrested in Thailand for allegedly stealing a bar mat denies reports she was abusive towards police.

Annice Smoel’s lawyer Bernard Murphy said his 36-year-old client was upset when police took her into custody but she was not abusive

Rubbish!

I was there many years ago and one night on leave events unfolded thus – in a taxi with US and Aussie servicemen…..saw US MP car…gave them a friendly one fingered salute…didn’t notice the Thai Police Lieutenant on board…screech of tyres…come with me…resist arrest (arm through A pillar of cab)..resolved by ramming .38 cal pistol in my belly…arrested…told by smirking US MP (same rank as me) that the Lt had power to lock me up and I’d better rehearse and deliver a sniveling, heart felt apology.

I did.

Protocol 101 in Asia – don’t put down on the local wallopers.

Even Australia’s Chief Clerk  Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd gets involved;

THE Federal Government will spare no efforts or resources to bring a satisfactory conclusion to the case of an Australian woman arrested in Thailand, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

He said he did not want to underestimate the degree of difficulty involved in the case of Annice Smoel, who has been detained in Thailand for allegedly stealing a bar mat.

I wonder if the PM of the day would have said that about one young Sergeant locked up in Thailand – I doubt it, politicians were more pragmatic then and didn’t say things like “will spare no effort” in saving an Aussie from their own drunk & disorderly behaviour.

Deliver a sniveling, heartfelt apology and you might get off, Annice, but then you might have left it a little late.

UPDATE: Her ordeal is over – she is free to return home. I trust she has learned her lesson.

AUSTRALIANS are being urged to support members of the Australian Defence Force this Anzac Day by posting a message on a dedicated website or by SMS.

A joint initiative between the Australian Defence Force and Telstra has created this website to enable the messages to be posted.

Text and picture messages can be sent to 044 SUPPORT (0447 877 678).

Do something for the troops – go on, you know you owe it to them.

Our US hosts have been upgrading their servers with the result that some posts and comments have been lost, presumable permanently.   I realize that fact won’t impact negatively on the world’s literary inventory but it is annoying just the same, in that I can’t for the life of me remember what I said other than it was about asylum seekers. 

Now I have to worry about another problem..maybe like the servers,  I’m also losing large chunks of memory.

Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

A FORMER soldier, John Radoll, suffering trauma from his time in the army took a loaded gun into a Brisbane nightclub because he wanted to impress women, a court has been told.

It worked – Security evacuated the club.

One woman chatted to Radoll, sat on his lap and had her photo taken with him after she discovered he had a gun secreted down the front of his jeans.

The other called security.

The court was told the gun had been a `”memento” from Radoll’s brief career in the Australian Army, where he served in East Timor.

What do the court think? That the Army issues pistols for ever?

He carries a loaded, concealed weapon into public – into a night club with alcohol and the Beak only gives him one year suspended with no conviction recorded provided that he undergo six counselling sessions with a psychologist.

Strange!