Sunset

My sunset tonight.

Tonight’s sunset.

Taken with the flash enabled to reduce the glare time.

The Thin-Skinned Spud

So sue me, you thin-skinned bastard son of a Delaware Desiree and an Apartheid Pontiac!

The World According to Pisces

The Blue Liberal Bus

Marise Payne – Soon to be Prime Minister?

Having been Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Morrison Government since 2018, and was also appointed Minister for Women in 2019, and with a looming leadership crisis within the Federal Liberal Party, there is a possibility that Marise Payne may be elected leader. Although Payne is a Senator there is a precedent. Senator Gorton was elected leader, became Prime Minister and was then successfully elected to the Lower House in a by-election. Good Grief! Was that in 1968? Nearly 50 years ago!

Payne has a number of advantages over Peter Dutton, the obvious Morrison replacement now that Porter has lost his place at the head of the queue.

First and foremost, she is not universally disliked and mistrusted. Peter Dutton carries a lot of very negative baggage and would be a severe electoral disadvantage for the Liberal Party. This would probably still be true even with a major Murdoch campaign to turn him into the guy next door.

Secondly, there is a spreading panic within Liberal Parties across Australia following the McGowan Landslide in Western Australia. The first signs have begun to appear with a snap spill in the Victorian party room.

Thirdly, she is a woman in the midst of a Women-led protest at the age old gender status quo.The potential for her to reclaim the Liberal female vote is great. After all, it worked with Julia Gillard. And Payne is also a redhead!

Fourthly, as the ‘yes-woman’ she has become, the men who will promote her know that she will do as she is told. She may not iron shirts for the party leadership but she would be trusted to keep the seat warm while a more electable male is groomed.

Western Australia Leads The Way

Morrison, Poised Over a Watershed

I think there is a sense that this is a watershed moment for Ali Morrison and his gang of forty thieves.

The press conference held by Christian Porter, redacted AG of this Parish, entitled to many things by birth and education, emphasised that he is also entitled to the presumption of innocence.

I am a follower of a number of Left Wing Facebook groups and a Twitter reader. On both platforms i saw a huge increase in discussion, not only of Porter, but also of the position of the Prime Minister. Adding to the discussion is the apparent willingness of the News Corp media outlets to discuss the matters relating to Linda Reynolds, ‘She is a lying cow’ and Christian Porter. Both are currently on medical leave from their jobs.

It would seem that there is pressure on Scott Morrison to ‘Do something’. Alternatively, in the background, pulling strings, sherpening knives, there is a ‘lean and hungry man’ preparing for the Ides of March.

Yet whatever is happening in the background there seems to be a widespread mood, on both sides of the political fence, that Morrison must go.

The hope on the Right is that only a small number of Coalition Members are involved and that only those few will be removed from the Front Bench in a potentially neat little spill.

The hope on the Left is that those forty thieves will go with the current leadership.

Will the fourth non-election leadership change in the Liberal Party be fatal for Conservative politics? The reaction on both public and mainstream media seems to indicate that it will be.

A Conspiracy Fairy Tale

In a land far away in the bubble of another dimension, a King was growing weaker. People were beginning to notice that his clothes were becoming less visible.This land had begun as a free land but sudden floods of laws had eroded that freedom and foul fires had burnt out the ethical heart of the land and finally a pandemic had broken the will of the people.

Now the Chief of the Secret Police and Dark Arts was looking, once again at the throne. He had tried before and failed when his advisors gave him some bad information. Those advisors had paid a suitable price and the King was told by his own advisors to leave the Secret Police Chief alone as he knew not only where all the bodies were buried but also that he was a vindictive and unforgiving opponent and best left alone.

As the King’s clothes became more and more see-through, the Chief began looking around at the rivals to the throne he coveted. The Doctor is too small and wimpish, he thought. The Plumber and the Farmer had other, much more profitable, interests. The Book-keeper had all the leadership ability of an alopecious lap dog.The Overseer, loud and shrill, with an excellent screech, was a woman and so could be discounted. The swinging dicks of the lesser courtiers could be counted on to reject her.

No! His thoughts turned more and more to the Door-keeper. Popular with the rest of the leadership and having a way with words. With his pedigree and his history, he could well steal the throne from its rightful occupant.

The Chief turned to his Dark Arts.As he gazed upon his crystal ball he saw the past of all under his power as well as those who were not yet under his power. He concentrated his gaze upon the past of the Door-keeper. Looking for something which could damage the foot he had in the door.After weeks of searching and finding only that the Door-Keeper had a superfluity of wives and a number of easily impressed servants, the Chief almost gave up.

Then he found it.

An incident in his youth. Involving a young lady with a lack of appreciation of his high-born droit de seigneur.

The information was noted and acted upon. The Chief organised that the information was passed on to a few selected leaders who could be trusted to reveal to the peasants that the information was there. No names or positions were mentioned in public yet the Door-keeper was able to see the lie of the land. He knew that the peasants were becoming tired of the excessive taxation and punitive actions of this King. They were also very annoyed at the way the Court used their droit de seigneur. He carefully faded into the background.

And the Chief of the Secret Police sharpened his knives and gazed upon the throne and its current occupant.

And no one lived happily ever after.

Owning Christians

I admit that in my younger years I owned several Christians but after an ethical crisis, I released them back into the wild.

Sadly, here in Australia, with no natural predators, they have now reached plague proportions and are considered an imported pest.

Smart Kid

A Kindergarten teacher in the Shire, is explaining to her class that she is a Liberal and how nice it is that a Liberal Prime Minister has taken office. Especially since he comes from the Shire.

She asks her students to raise their hands if they, too, are Liberals and support Scott Morrison.

Everyone in class raises their hands except one little girl.

“Mary,” asks the teacher with surprise, “why didn’t you raise your hand?”

“Because I’m not a Liberal,” says Mary.“Well, what are you?” asks the teacher.“I’m a Green and proud of it,” replies the little girl.

The teacher cannot believe her ears. “My goodness, Mary, why are you a Green?” she asks.

“Well, my mother and father are Greens, so I’m a Green, too.”

“Well,” says the teacher in an annoyed tone, “that’s no reason for you to be a Green. You don’t always have to be like your parents. What if your mother was a criminal and your father was a criminal, too, what would you be then?”

Mary smiled. “Then we’d be Liberals.”

This day in science history: Leonardo da Vinci’s “helicopter”

January 14, 1493

Leonardo da Vinci is remembered as one of history’s most extraordinary artists and scientists. He even created that painting of a woman who almost smiled (it was hundreds of years until someone completely smiled in any work of art).

But his most misunderstood invention might be the “helicopter” he created.

Thanks to the journals of patron Lorenzo de Midici, we know the device’s true purpose.

Today, I took counsel with Leonardo, who showed me a proposal for a new creation that has sprung forth from his fertile mind. I have transcribed our discussion of it.

Midici: What wonder have you presented to me today, Leonardo?

Leonardo: My dear Lorenzo, it is the perfect spinner for pizza dough. You put the dough on the top and spin the base. The angle is perfection.

Midici: You’re joking.

Leonardo: No, my lord, the spinner creates a perfect thickness and circle for the dough.

Midici: Uh, I’m paying you for this? This is such a stereotypical Italian joke. This is like a joke the Flemish would make. You know how I feel about Flemland.

Leonardo: Uh, I was just kidding. I don’t love delicious pizza.

Midici: I’m not saying pizza’s bad, I’m saying that I fund your lavish lifestyle and I want something super cool. Just give me something war-like, and not offensive to Italians.

Leonardo: Fine. This pizza spinner doesn’t carry dough in the air.

Midici: What does it carry?

Leonardo: Steak?

Midici: I think you should go…

Leonardo: People! It carries people!

Midici: Amazing! I’m going to write this word for word in my journal now.

Leonardo’s helicopter never did fly, but years later, it inspired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ favorite food: the pizza that Leonardo longed to create.

 

Fake Science

A Currant Affair

Winning Elections

In the November Presidential election, ‘Orange Man Bad’ worked.

The equivalent here would be ‘Morrison cruel’.

We have seen what putting policies out does. The Murdoch insanity will find ways to re-label any policy, destroy any credibility.

Do NOT give Murdoch and his corrupt mates the chance to create the rumours of a carbon tax or a death tax. That is fatal.

And winning is all. The only way to be able to do anything for Australia is to beat this corrupt mis-Government! Concentrate on destroying Morrison and the rest of his cabinet falls with him.

The ALP has an ingrained sense of playing the ball and not the man. Now is the time to play the man and pick up the ball after the man has been put out of the game.

Once the Left holds power is the time to find policies!

CEREMONY UPON CANDLEMAS EVE

Near to Twelfth Night, I thought to give warning using the words of Robert Herrick.

Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the bays and misletoe;
Down with the holly, ivy, all
Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas hall;
That so the superstitious find
No one least branch there left behind;
For look, how many leaves there be
Neglected there, maids, trust to me,
So many goblins you shall see.

The Loon Balloon

For the past couple of days I have been watching an unusual item on the Flight Radar site.

Normally I see aircraft of various types; fixed wing and rotary wing as well as the occasional glider.

This is something completely different.

A big yellow blob which turns red with a red flight path when clicked on. That indicates a very high object as aircraft run through a spectrum from yellow to purple as they gain height. I had never seen a red flightpath before.

Then I discovered it was a balloon from Loon. Not being in the business, I had only heard vague rumours of this development but Wikipedia helped.

Anyways, I have continued to watch this balloon’s progress across Australia. It is now over the deserts in Western Australia, travelling East. At speeds ranging from 9kmh to 60kmh.

Which all leads to the question, ‘WHY?’

My immediate thought was that it was heading to Fiji to help with post cyclonic recovery. Then I began to wonder if Loon knew of an impending cyclone in the Queensland area. Then I discovered Huawei is one of the ‘partners’ in the Loon project.

Perhaps the balloon is wandering towards the Chinese harbour of Darwin.

UPDATE –

Last seen it was nearing Kintore in the NT. Sadly, it keeps disappearing as it moves out of range of the sparse monitors in the outback. It is invisible at the moment – 7.45am AWST 21.12.2020 – but hopefully will drift into range again soon.

It did – – – Monday 21.12.2020 4pm AWST