bamboo - what's not to love

Um, simply throwing in an idea. Yep, have looked at this remarkable, multi-purpose, fast growing grass.
No, won't give any links - research it yourself.

once upon a time ..

ROME: was the Greatest Empire within written history. (well, apart from Egypt - but that Empire sort of lost the plot a bit, because it could not write words in Latin; mainly because they had 3 or four thousand years of history before Rome was even a glimmer in Romulus or Remuses eye. ).

 Babylon ... nah , an Empire long before Saul of Tarsus had his 'falling off the donkey' moment - and decided that alliance with the Roman Imperial Army might be better option than becoming nailed to a tree.

 Mohmmet ... mmm,,. have no real notion from where He 'derived His ideas'; but will continue to remind readers the "written Word" of Mahomet (Yhw rest his soul) came 600 years after the notion of "Yeshua ben Yoseph).


(yep, this is a sort of jest, but based on written and scientific archeological History).


Might actually continue this post ... later ... since it was actually prompted by my memories of actual work experience with Griffin Press, South Australia. A Book printing factory some time back in the 1970's ?

Worked on the 'bookbinding' machines; paperback and 'hardback" for three or four years . Also had the opportunity to wander among all the other complex machinery and disciplines of "printing" a "book".

And yes, way back then, disquiet and wonder - how could it be possible to "Print", Bookbind, AND TRANSPORT a book back to Australia cheaper than WE could produce?

Which brings me, now, to what sort of Australia the young people will 'believe in'.
Every "movie' and Television station broadcast is from America - do we really need a society that 'smashes' every motor vehicle and building in it's way?

Do WE really need to teach our children that it's OK to play "computer games" where it's possible  to "get shot" several times, become dead , then click "reset; start again"???

Seriously where are the 'computer games' where if you "crash a car" you are damaged and a whole heap of 'support services" turn up

.... and you "lose" points as long as you "really" stay in any 'publicly funded hospital'.


Do they REALLY understand this REAL concept?

Which sort of reminds about  the Drumf version of this planet .
There is no help out there. Ya wanna climb Mountains - go fer it but do not blame me if ya fall off. DO NOT expect rescue. There IS no community support if you are not in the Donald Drumpf House of tinsel and gold plate.

Fascinating. However i still have faith that this planet, and the peoples on it have more native intelligence, and more resilience than anyone in the smallish patch of ground between Canada and Mexico ...meh

update for no real reason

Yep, have been to see local Docs. They have everything they need to know about my innards.

Um, my physical innards.
Who can guess what is contained within my genetic and 'psychological' innards?

Curious conundrum.

"Let them eat cake"

Lookit up ... perhaps a real quote, perhaps not. Belongs to a period in the history of what we now know as France.

Another quote - probably paraphrased. "those who refuse to understand history; are condemned to repeat it".

Meh.

"Let them eat cake"

Lookit up ... perhaps a real quote, perhaps not. Belongs to a period in the history of what we now know as France.

Another quote - probably paraphrased. "those who refuse to understand history; are condemned to repeat it".

Meh.

"Let them eat cake"

Lookit up ... perhaps a real quote, perhaps not. Belongs to a period in the history of what we now know as France.

Another quote - probably paraphrased. "those who refuse to understand history; are condemned to repeat it".

Meh.

"Let them eat cake"

Lookit up ... perhaps a real quote, perhaps not. Belongs to a period in the history of what we now know as France.

Another quote - probably paraphrased. "those who refuse to understand history; are condemned to repeat it".

Meh.

Ogd moves in mysterious ways

um, i don't generally comment on "news headlines" these days .. but "Ratzinger resigns" sort of tickled my funnybone.

Dunno about you lot - but self was sort of under the impression that the Supreme Papa (aka Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was 'appointed' by Ogd -  fer life!   Oy, it's not a "job", laddie; ya can't just get voted in 'find yerself there' by the Grace of Ogd, get a bit weary .. then piss orf into a secure and very comfortable retirement.

Think of the millions of subscribers believers.  Are you telling them that Ogd can do that? Get a bit "tired", collect subscribers funds;  then vanish into some "otherworld"?

Bah, humbug.

respect

Interesting word.
What does it mean.

methinks, without it - civilisations
  fall.

History repeats?

There is, somewhere, an aphorism that says something along the lines of  .. those who know not history are bound to repeat it..

The story of Hypatia

It's a sad story, one hopes that the "male traditions", "beliefs" emanating from the northern hemisphere "middle east",  haven't really "taken root" in a country like Australia .. a small, isolated continent below, and apart from, the knowledge and concept of "religious" "founding fathers" .. perhaps they have ... perhaps not ..

fact? or TRUTH!

An interesting philosophical idea. What is a 'fact', and what is a 'truth'.

Have, some years ago, stood on a 'theatrical' stage. That is a fact; but not 'all' of the facts.
What does 'theatrical' actually mean?

Could publish a list of venues, times, dates, people, places - but unless you were "actually" there, or were in personal contact with someone who had "seen" ( now becomes 'hearsay') whatever it was, or if i 'wrote' about something that 'happened' 30 years ago  - would you 'believe' me?

Interesting concept

QUID PRO QUO

interesting concept.

HMAS Adelaide

A proud ship.

HMAS Adelaide.

 Rest, in Peace.

apropos nothing

mm, whatever, might just ramble. No real reason .. bits 'n' pieces (why does "i" have to come before "e" before "c" .. ? Or is it 'peaces' after 'see'?

anyway, local feuds .. whateverever. One of these days will begin to understand.

campaign by "getup"

Rather than pester everyone on my email address list (so you can read who's on it) will just copy and paste for those readers who are vaguely interested.

• Your WikiLeaks campaign in the News!‏

1:51 PM

  ▼

To : xxx

Dear David,

There's never been a GetUp campaign quite like this. Over 90,000 signatures and $360,000 raised in less than a week. Now your campaign is making headlines on both sides of the Pacific.

In the past few days, GetUp spokespeople appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, dueling with an arch-conservative on the most watched cable show in America, and on The 7.30 Report in Australia to say how you're speaking out on WikiLeaks, Assange and freedom of information. Click here to watch them both:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/WikiLeaksNews

Thanks to GetUp members who chipped in, your message is featuring in a front page and full page ad in The Australian today. It features an image of President Obamareading your statement as it will appear in Thursday's edition of The New York Times.

The ad calls on Prime Minister Gillard to join you in standing up for freedom of information and the rights of Australian citizen, Julian Assange, the way you have by signing the statement. You can check it out in the paper (to appreciate its size and impact) or click here to see it:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/WikiLeaksNews

This is just the beginning. On Thursday your statement will be splashed across a full page of The New York Times. GetUp will also lead a press conference at theNational Press Club in Washington, which will include prominent American figures in the cause of free speech.

As the stories of your impact in the United States hit the airwaves in Australia, it will put mounting pressure on our own Government to do what you have done--stand up for the rights of Australian citizen, Julian Assange, and freedom of information.

Our voice has never carried further or reached as many people as it has this week. Across two continents Australians and Americans are hearing what you have to say, and from Canberra to Washington D.C., political leaders are feeling your impact.

Thank you for believing we could do this,
The GetUp Team

PS - We have developed a 'widget' that can be placed on your website, blog, social-networking page or other web presence. Using the widget, people can sign up to the statement about WikiLeaks and Assange from your very own website. It's a fantastic way to spread the word about this campaign to all those who care about freedom of information. Click here to see it and to get it on to your site. 

---

GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to www.getup.org.au. To unsubscribe from GetUp, please click here.

Authorised by Simon Sheikh, Level 5, 116 Kippax St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Um, not "MY" message, never wrote it, just happen to be on their mailing list. Personally think that it's not about "freedom of information" - more about the legalities involved; their wordings are a bit naive (dare i mention 'juvenile?') .. but their intention seems to be valid.

Noel Pearson - on leadership

Must be getting a bit daft in old age, as several times have come across something interesting and thought "Oh, must put that on the blog" - then forget about it for a couple of weeks. SO, have just remembered.

Some time ago (September 3), was listening to the ABC Radio "Big Ideas" and heard Noel Pearson give the John Button lecture oration at the Melbourne Writers Festival.  Difficult to describe how i felt on hearing it - 'thrilled' sounds a bit twee, but  was  immensely impressed.

So, if you haven't read, or heard it, you should.  Have just discovered that there is a streaming video of it as well. I mention this as, while I will put in a link to the text, as with most 'speeches', the full  flavour comes from hearing and seeing.

Click here to go to the ABC site, and then click on the "video" links on the left hand side under the picture.  Have found that although the satellite link here isn't quite fast enough to view most videos without a considerable wait - the "watch full clip" video (second line down) works quite well.

This bloke really IS quite brilliant and, personally, would like to see him as Prime Minister one day.  May never happen as he probably wouldn't function very well in the 'restricted', 'politically correct' environs of Federal parliament.  And now that I think of it - why IS there no Australian Aborigines Party in Federal politics?

Noel Pearson is an Indigenous leader, thinker and activist. He was born in Cooktown, North Queensland in 1965. He lived in the Hopevale Mission with his family as a child and was sent to a Brisbane boarding school as a young boy. A graduate in law and history from the University of Sydney, he went on to campaign for the rights of Cape York Aboriginal people, working on several successful Native title claims including the important Wik case. Pearson is the Director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership.

essential Kipling

Um, yer, I know - "random snippets".

Was reading Guambat Stew and there's a post about Afghanistan. Was tempted to make the comment that 'USA is not the first "Imperial" power to get lost up the Khyber in that part of the planet' .. but that may have been a bit obscure. That then tempted me to search further and find the origins of the rhyming slang.

Didn't get all that far but found this.

Ga

My world is full of chaos and disorder

http://guambatstew.blogspot.com/2010/04/robots-rules-of-disorder.html#links

Believe it .. or not.

muffled out put

(edited Friday 30 April, 2010 -0800)

um, fascinating concept.

Methought my little cheap 240 volt, 2 stroke generator was having "input" problems. No power.

Pulled it apart, thought it was carburettor, cleaned and rebuilt it.

Fuel problems.

Dismantled, rebuilt, changed fuel mix.l

Nup, no grunt. Changed every input that we could think of.

A mad camper came past, vowed that he could fix any engine.

We had a chat over a campfire.

Two days later, much discussion and rebuilds,

we discovererd that the 'muffler' was cloggged.

Ah, late in the thinking.

(the other mad camper)

So .. the innards of muffler on this little 2 stroke generator

not accessable, could not take it apart

and clear the buildup of carbon clog.

Filled it with found water, put in fire.

Waited.

Cleared coke and crap out of muffler.

Little cheap 2 stroke 240 volt generator

now running sweetly.

Magic and mystery

While yes, the 'archetypical' Aussie bushland is only a few hundred yards further away, this part of the forest fascinates me. The weather is trending toward the 'cool', damp, and have been told that I can expect ice and snow in a few weeks time - so am posting these pics as they sort of remind me of "Europe", and can understand where the notion of 'faeries' and 'goblins' come from.

I also seem to have a fascination with taking pics of toadstools and fungi .. heh.