Interesting stuff
That would be horrendous, lucky girl. Glad all is well, it's scary when things comes out of nowhere.
indo-dreaming wrote:Cracker of a real life story "Bloke had a 4 month bender spending 1.6 Million Dollars with magic keycard"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmMI7YtYp2Y
That was wild
Imagine the #groundyafterdark stories if our faithful correspondent had gotten his hands on that card…
Fark eh...He He
I dunno, just buy a house, by the time they catch up with you and you're out of community service use the equity appreciation above what you pay back to go on a bender of your own funding.
Was told a story many eons ago about a smart cookie who programmed ATMs and noticed there was a fraction of a cent every transaction that just disappeared. Programmed a transfer to an account they set up... Urban legend?
Great story btw, his recounting is so open and very humourous. He's right there's a personality type that loves figuring out how to best manipulate systems!
Actually he only had 4 months, not 4 years. Forget deploying, just live! I like how he wondered if they'd actually come around and get him, nothing happened, so he thought he'd go to the media to speed things along. Nothing happened, so A Current Affair lol
guilty until proven innocent...
this is how we do it now
This is how the establishment media is covering Russell Brand. It only allows for a single, driven narrative without even so much as a voice of dissension. He’s declared guilty, without a trial.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 17, 2023
Tell me there isn’t a media conspiracy to take him down. pic.twitter.com/mYxxCvUomt
Russell Brand. pic.twitter.com/iL3i5anRUX
— Sam Avery (@sam__avery) September 17, 2023
sypkan wrote:guilty until proven innocent...
this is how we do it now
What do you mean "now". Are you insinuating that he's being treated differently to the innumerable other people who've been taken down by the media without trial?
I'm sure there are much better AU political equivalents, but... eleven and a half years ago:
(and gee, didn't James Ashby's political career evolve considerably after this!)
https://theconversation.com/is-press-freedom-a-licence-for-unfair-and-un...
Geez he is going to be worked ...
If innocent, feel for him.
Russ will be okay, he has Andrew Tate in his corner.
it's usually the grubby gratuitous right doing the taking down...
there's clearly some glee here from people I'd like to think haven't totally lost perspective
(not referring to the swellnet jury in particular)
"it's usually the grubby gratuitous right doing the taking down..."
Except that's been the main complaint levelled at the "woke left".
Ugly politics across the board.
It’s not exactly unprecedented for media exposes to lead to a criminal investigation though is it? Doesn’t excuse a trial by media, but from reading the article he was offered the right of reply by the investigation.
Also, not entirely unfathomable that a self-described lothario with substance abuse and ‘sex addiction issues’, might, at the height of fame, have taken liberties with women, and that given said fame might have had a degree of protection and enablement by those that benefited from his continued success is it?
While legal in the jurisdiction that it’s alleged to have occurred, there’s certainly nothing particularly great about a 29 year old engaging in an extended sexual relationship with 16 year old school girl is there?
I trust that those that have made allegations will follow up with complaints to allow appropriate investigations to be made.
Great to see you on the crusade against trial by media though syppo.
"I trust that those that have made allegations will follow up with complaints to allow appropriate investigations to be made."
and this the key
we will see...
appropriate investigation or not... its 'misinformation' and smear 101...
where the 'scoop' is distributed world wide in a 48 hour frenzy, before any semblance of reality is even available...
nevermind able to change perspectives
anybody who goes to media first without a police complaint... well...
ya gotta wonder...
Let's not overlook the key word in that headline: "accused". Its salacious but not an unusual situation for anyone "famous".
Geoffrey Rush won his defamation case but I wonder how his career is going these days.
I expect mud sticks.
"On 2 July 2020, Geoffrey Roy Rush was awarded a record $2.9m in damages by the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia after Nationwide News Pty Limited (“Nationwide News”) lost its appeal against a significant defamation ruling. Mr Rush now stands as the record holder for the largest defamation payout to an individual in Australia."
https://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/civil/defamation/case-study-geoffrey-rush/
"...Mr Rush now stands as the record holder for the largest defamation payout to an individual in Australia..."
with no career
credibility
or life...
I imagine those $mils don't actually feel so sweet
Geoffrey Rush never traded on being a ‘pants man’ though. Which made the claims against him (Rush) even more damaging.
Promiscuity is/was a central part of Brand’s ‘brand’.
Looks like there are contemporaneous notes / records of some of these incidents (such as treatment at a rape trauma centre in one case), if not police reports..
Not to excuse any chance of vexatious claims, but given the trend of defamation cases going against media, and the significance of the target of the allegations, I’d certainly hope that the Times have done their due diligence on this case.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this.
Having read his books it sounds like he certainly gave it a good nudge for quite a while
Taking the high line…
https://m.
Interesting perspectives on the importance of the father's role in parenting - counter to the more recent popular narrative that they are sort of superfluous (and if advertising was taken literally - sort of stupid - copywriter thought process - "need a punchline for ad, who is the safe butt for jokes .... run through the list of options without being politically incorrect... end up with a list of two: Dads and red heads). It begins way back in evolutionary history.
Even if the mother thinks they don't need a partner, the child needs a father / grandfather...
This is not new to my experience or observations but is at odds with angles the media and certain movements like to push.
Short summary. Be involved. Stay involved. Dad's (and grandads) matter. Involvement and engagement may not be instant like a mum but starts with small stuff and grows naturally from there into something powerful, fulfilling important needs for both the child and the father.
?feature=shared Yeah that discrimination against red heads is just bad racism of the worst kind
It does give red headed actors jobs though...
Good link Frog, completely agree. If I got one thing right, I decided to be there.
Just as a bit of yt portmanteau of Frog's link and the Brand discussion above, there's this
and this
now the reason as to why these absolutely remarkable stats are occurring is probably the intersection of a few trends, but one reason might be the threat of accusation, which has been empowered in recent years both in the workplace ('Mike Pence Rule') and the dating market. Who knows, maybe it's a US thing? The other things the men say is that life is peaceful, they have ample money for their reduced needs, and get to pursue their own hobbies, interests, fitness. They figure if society is after them, they can go their own way (I'll spare you the plethora of tik tok generated vids, but you get the idea).
This stuff seems remarkably different to life in the 1990s, there is no way I'd believe claims like 2/3 of men between 18 and 35 want to remain alone, or that 7 million men have dropped out of the US labour force.
The flip side is marriage rates plummeting (cited are legal fallout if it goes wrong), bridal stores going bust, 'singles' nights with only one gender rocking up, and more remarkable claims like 50% of women 30-40 will not be projected to have children. Is this how the mouse experiment ends?
Great vid frog…
And good observations vj.
- lack of good strong male role models aplenty…
But plenty of options out there, and more than a few trends ;)
https://m.
Haha, I dunno if it's like that out there really... What's it like crew? I bailed in 2007, remember applications where they liked you had related experience chemistry for eg, remember the pay negotiations, looks like I've missed quite a few interesting developments.
Frog, great link, back in the 90's we didn't have much internet but Steve Biddulph's book 'Manhood' was a very good starting point, the idea of basing masculinity in nature is a very nice dovetail to 'just go surfing' actually (which saved me). I surveyed the urban landscape with it's malls and private school kids shooting up in the underground car park, and the more natural path was an easy choice to immerse the kids in and our travels were full of this. The poet Robert Bly gets a mention in Steve's book with the idea of 'nourishment in ashes', which to roughly paraphrase when everything seems completely stuffed in a man's life, he can lie down in this wreckage for a while and emerge much stronger with an iron will for where he wants to go in his life and what is important to him - phoenix like.
A while ago someone posted a housing crisis video in the house prices thread. It was from ABC and was pretty good. However, I couldn't help but notice that almost all (if not all) participants were single-parent women. It wasn't the topic of the video (and no one really talked about it) but it clearly showed that Australia, in addition to the housing crisis, also has a male-parent crisis.
velocityjohnno wrote:Just as a bit of yt portmanteau of Frog's link and the Brand discussion above, there's this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDBb-20ae2A
and this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4y6C1Uuhw
now the reason as to why these absolutely remarkable stats are occurring is probably the intersection of a few trends, but one reason might be the threat of accusation, which has been empowered in recent years both in the workplace ('Mike Pence Rule') and the dating market. Who knows, maybe it's a US thing? The other things the men say is that life is peaceful, they have ample money for their reduced needs, and get to pursue their own hobbies, interests, fitness. They figure if society is after them, they can go their own way (I'll spare you the plethora of tik tok generated vids, but you get the idea).
This stuff seems remarkably different to life in the 1990s, there is no way I'd believe claims like 2/3 of men between 18 and 35 want to remain alone, or that 7 million men have dropped out of the US labour force.
The flip side is marriage rates plummeting (cited are legal fallout if it goes wrong), bridal stores going bust, 'singles' nights with only one gender rocking up, and more remarkable claims like 50% of women 30-40 will not be projected to have children. Is this how the mouse experiment ends?
It's a horrible state of affairs. Some of these reasons are ridiculous. Go and ask these same people when they are 60+...
More broadly, I think that many people live in fear of any type of long-term commitment. It's really messed up.
I don't reckon it's as bad as that VJ. My wife and I deal with young people daily, and have two of our own in their 20's. We are both pretty optimistic about the future. The dating scene appears alive and well, it's just consent is a big part of it, as it should be. My biggest worries come from the amount of dreck out there in internet land passing as fact or research of consequence. A bunch of onanists seeking attention.
There could be a huge difference in Australia compared to the US - those vids I linked have concrete numbers that's why I put them up, vs going and putting up one of those opinion rant videos. 2nd link quotes Pew research centre, here's the write up of that organisation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew_Research_Center
Seems legit, not right or left lunatics. The sheer amount of discussion on the topic online suggests it's an experience that is shared by many. The measured marriage rate declines tend to support this for the US.
Flollo I would think life would be vastly more satisfying at 60+ if you know the children you love are out in the world doing well, and have children of their own who are growing well. That would beat more hobby time, but that's just me. I'm not there yet so can't say for sure.
Further, with solid stats:
Nothing wrong with Pew Research, agreed.
my observation of the dating scene, is with older chicks, but what is clear to me - and Im gonna appear a bit 'sexist' here - women are fulfilling what appears to be their innate need to be desired and beautiful through dating apps and social media etc. more widely. through getting attention, chats, and likes, they seem to satisfy a lot of their 'needs', without needing to go the next step
not just my observations either, I saw an abc docco on tinder etc. find the same conclusion
all fine, but it seems women can 'surf' dating sites and social media etc. for an extended period fulfilling, well, something... until potentially it is too late...
meanwhile, seems a lot 'normies' men just give up, as it l all just seems too hard, with the extreme of this being the incels
and at the other end of the spectrum, are the serial narcicists, secret lifers, 'the game'-ers... who are having an absolute field day. manipulating women in the worst possible ways, living double lives, and just playing 'the game' to the absolute extreme...
amazing the smart switched on chicks I've seen fall for this shit, serially...
for an old school feminist like myself, it seems social media has unravvelled decades of feminist progress, appealling to the worst of their inner insecurities and desires
once again, not just my observations, that former fb employee chick blew the whistle on what they were up to big time, and it wasn't by accident...
on a lighter note... when did yoga become to be the most quality camel toe competition?
https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=996300174939746
fb is now pretty much wall to wall soft porn
or is that just me?
hate to be a chick with this barrage of bullshit to contend with, even the smartest, most militant feminist chicks I know get drawn into it in one way or another
VJ, thanks for your reply before. I was walking the dogs so my responses were possibly not my most coherent. I have no issue with the stats, I just question the analysis. That last vid you posted was excellent. I'm not sure it means the end of western civilization as we know it, glass half full and all that. Going back to my initial post, I was not having a dig at you with the internet comment, it's just that most of the wellbeing issues I encounter in the day to day can be traced back to some internet rabbit hole misinformation or social media intrusion. That's the big worry going forward to me. Anyways enjoy the last of this unseasonable weather.
cheers blackers, that's all good. I find the topic interesting, so will do the odd post on it from time to time: the idea of people 'opting out' of workforce/finding a partner/society when we've never been so connected.
And Sypkan it's written in the Vedas that yoga will become the most quality camel toe competition. I think.
China demographics. Interested in your thoughts gsco, VJ, frog?
Haha
… onto a ‘doomgasm’ report ;)
Western propaganda and wishful analysis based on missing data and misinformation.
Must be nice trying to ignore all the political and social degradation of the US and pretend china is collapsing instead…
A career made from talking shit.
- that ukraine flag tie he’s wearing in his profile pic has restricted the blood flow to the brain ;)
Jeez you’re an insecure little fella aren’t you? ;)
Fwiw, I’m sceptical of the constant claims of an imminent China meltdown. But I’m interested in the perspectives of people who I think might have some context / opinion on the data presented.
Didn’t realise that he presented this information as a compare and contrast exercise - might have to rewatch it.
Haha ;)
You called me big fella the other day, and now I’m a little fella…
You certainly do like to pick and choose ;)
I encourage your skepticism.
It’s valid.
That bloke is just another white dude commenting without any real insight into china on the ground.
Stats and figures don’t represent reality, and the perceived lack of data doesn’t do anything but fuel imagined scenarios…
Just like when I asked you about Russia a while back and if you’ve ever been there…
Same goes with China - an experience beyond articles, assumptions, and guesstimates helps gain a proper understanding of a people and the country, and how it is in real time.
Do you think a Chinese person reporting or providing analysis on US affairs has a clear and true perspective ? It would probably be filled with rhetoric that implies falsities and plays to their narrative- coz that’s what they’d want to hear ;)
But, yeah, hold onto your geopolitical insecurities all you want.
Keep flying that flag ;)
The bloke is spouting doomgasm theory. Yes, the birth rate stuff and other points are factual. The thing is… china is a different beast. One we actually can’t fathom.
Go through all your household items. I bet there is a few with a ‘made in you know where’ label on them ;)
- consider the wider net of small businesses, let alone huge multinationals, that (guess what) are totally dependent on China.
Same in the UK. Same in the US. Same in lots of countries around the world.
Your skepticism on the china stuff is worthy.
Time for peter z to go a lil deeper on his criticism of the west instead and the definition of ‘collapsing’…
- might not get as many clicks tho ;)
And it might be traitorous to point out the obvious.
- much easier to ignore that bit and deflect ;)
Oh. And here’s a clip…
You love clips ;)
https://m.
etarip, well I recently went back over with a view to staying for the long term. I rented out my house here in Aus and had a good job lined up, but I realised that I just couldn’t do it again (so now I’m doing a bit of van life, lucky me).
I’m pretty skeptical of what Zeihan says - and I’ve followed some of his commentary on various topics for a while - but not for the reasons JF says. More like garbage in, garbage out:
I think that China feels that it has no obligation to report accurate data and statistics to the rest of the world. It’s very hard to get a read on China by looking at its economic data it reports, and there’s some very good commentators on Twitter/X regularly pointing out clear contradictions and inconsistencies.
My feel from recently going to Guangzhou and Shenzhen was that the place is absolutely fuckin pumping and throbbing with life and energy. It’s business as usual over there in the country’s mission to outdo the west in all facets of life and try to achieve global hegemony.
I don’t think you can believe much of the info coming out of the country. It’s only what the Chinese want us to see.
etarip wrote:Jeez you’re an insecure little fella aren’t you? ;)
Didn’t realise that he presented this information as a compare and contrast exercise - might have to rewatch it.
Yeah, this constant comparison turns me off on these forums. If there is an issue in China it doesn't mean the US is fantastic and vice versa. It feels like one can't analyse things in isolation.
Fair enough.
It’s maybe just the odd fact an american is doing the ‘supposed’ analysis of china… and it’s inaccurate and speculative.
Comparisons or not - it’s fair to say the US is on a slippery slope to collapsing so hence a deserved critique is warranted of why there is a spotlight on a perceived idea of the china situation…
We live in an age where censorship and propaganda rule - and maybe US commentators should focus on US issues instead.
The US, as much as China, fudge information and deflect their real issues to suit the agenda and shape public perception to their liking.
Nothing new there ;)
You're totally right though JF in that it’s also not possible for someone sitting in say the US, reading English language commentary on China, analysing the data coming out of China, etc, to get an accurate picture of the place. Would be better off throwing a dart at a dartboard or asking that octopus that used to predict the World Cup outcome (actually no I think it died).
One really has to step off the plane and put one’s boots on the ground, breath in that pollution (it always goes down well), read the Chinese language economic and financial etc commentary, and speak to actual Chinese people.
https://m.
It's difficult to say, a skepticism of data exists when you look at many countries' data. We also live in a time where information is regarded as a battlefield and so paid shills will be there in all sorts of topics; and it's difficult to say who is who.
What is for certain is that the geopolitical game is in full play now, and both sides are too big to allow themselves to collapse. My feeling is that what we might have previously looked at in making sense profit & loss-wise, it may be better to look at geopolitically. fwiw I'm not paid and my 2c is free. I'll try to be reasonable and I go for Western Civilisation - specialists in taking down tyrants for over two and a half thousand years.
Have any of you been watching the dominoes falling in Africa presently? It's a Russian backed popular uprising against France (very rough summary). I've been going back in the history and finding Russian/Chinese sponsored groups very much were a thing there during the cold war. The more things change...
Gsco - thanks for the points on data. It seems that the info is carefully controlled. Zeihan’s interpretation is that this is being bad news. Why do you think China wants to control this information so tightly?
what do think of John Garnaut’s assessments / perspectives of China? I’ve worked with his team a little bit on a couple of projects. His credentials are pretty solid. He and his team have an extensive network of correspondents in China and the wider diaspora.
Been going through a little bit more on the African situation, these vids are worth a watch:
Here, the monetary history of Franceafrique is fascinating - and brutal at the same time.
And this one is informative too, never knew the scale to which this is going on. Had a decent laugh at this comment under the vid:
"So you're telling me there's a possibility that the Sahel countries might merge into a big conference called Giga Chad?"
Thank you internet.
Etarip,
Peter Zeihan is repeating what I have heard from a number of commentators from financial perspectives including Jeff Snider and Kyle Bass.
The CCP are a parasite that is too big for its host (workers / economy) going forward. Lots of favourable factors were at work enabled the host to grow big and fat. Many of these are now in decline or were one off events (debt bubble and real estate bubbles) with downside aftermaths.
Trouble and strife ahead and the CCP's total focus will be on ensuring its survival by hook or by crook.
Some parts of its economy remain strong and dynamic - e.g. EVs. They have also stockpiled key commodities and developed sourcing under their control. They are trying to build the BRICs block.
But the real estate bubble downside, massive debt and demographics are inescapable problems. The belt and road concept has cost an immense amount and the cost / benefit is mixed. US containment and onshoring is very active.
The CCP understand the risks they face and CCP survival is their number one goal. They are clever and long term thinkers which is an advantage.
But I once heard a China insider expert dispell the myth that Amanda Vanstone put to him in an interview that the Chinese somehow had special powers and could manage and plan their massive economy and huge population like a conductor does an orchestra. He said China is as unwieldy as one would expect with much managed by regional fiefdoms.
Recently most large corporations have had to have a CCP member on their board. That would be an innovation stifler!
Have it cunts