Interesting stuff

A mate was asked a couple weeks ago to crew that flight from Japan with the cruise ship passengers. They said we will give you two grand, he said no but I’d do it for five. When they rang back again they said they can go to three, so he said it’s six now hahaha

Not interested....

5K for the flight, 50K for the subsequent medical expenses... how much are AIDS drugs?

And, from 26Feb:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-26/melbourne-uni-offers-coronavirus-...

Don't forget to blow a raspberry at these people

I heard the other day that UTS is losing $2 million a day, which, while what the unis are attempting to do is "morally indefensible", as the article says, can kinda be understood from the enormity of their losses.

Can't remember who posted the quote from James Patterson, he of the weak chin and strong hair gel, where he singled out the unis for being over-reliant on China while ignoring every other industry for doing the same.

It's the govt that set the framework for this transactional state of affairs at our universities. Note also how the govt has made concessions to China in mining, imports, investment and utility sales, tourism, land sales, and now they're hinting they'll bail out some, but not all, of those industries.

So why the disparity? Why punish some industries for acting how the government wanted them to do but rewarding others?

Maybe they could colour-code a spreadsheet to explain it for us?

Sypkan's linked article was really a decent read. I'd like to remind you of similar recent analysis by Charles Hugh Smith:

https://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct19/working-class-abandoned10-19.html

The 'protected class' is his monniker for them.

"4. The Protected Class with secure income/earnings and benefits: this includes the nomenklatura of government employees, mid-level technocrat / managerial employees in academia, government-funded non-profits, etc., and retirees with Medicare, Social Security and other income (pensions, unearned investment income, etc.) and family assets (home owned free and clear, substantial 401K nest eggs, etc.)"

It's of interest to me as I studied this kind of thing (leadup to French Revolution for example) at an undergraduate level - and reading pieces like these I'm stunned at the similarity of class relationships today, wheras before I thought we were all in democracy and all the hard-won gains had led to a much better place. When the protected class acts much like the clergy/1st estate did (cue: criticisms of 'religious' zeal of big tech or research or intelligensia) all of a sudden I go "whoa!" and realise we're far closer to repeating history, rather than have moved on from it. btw I am a protected species in my own way as you know, so am reluctant to outright criticise...

My 2c? A feature of feudalism was the eventual development of Castles, siege warfare, etc. It will happen again, though it may look a little different. Make sure you can defend your keep. Blowin go take a look for PLEs.

One thing I am happy to have a shot at, however, is MMT, which is just another form of Marxism. Central banks are gonna print until their keyboards wear away, and the finance system will contend with capital consumption via negative rates, at accelerating rates. In the meantime, there will rain free stuff.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/02/claudio-grass/modern-monetary-theory...

I walked out on the rocks at midday yesterday, just as that S'ly change hit.

first cast I had a fat tailor on the rocks.
5 casts later, I had 6.

More than a feed, enough to barter with.

that took less than 5 minutes.

One fish for one bog roll

yeah, I'll have to concede there.

whats your poison?

"They’re reducing the accessibility for domestic students."

Sorry mate...but that's just patently not right, there's never been more local kids in university courses, by number or per capita.

Some of your other stuff is right, though I suspect none of it is researched, more on the feelz, but precisely zero matters because the universities followed the "invisible hand" same as every other economic entity.

If the populace dont wont that, or if the govt dont want that, as they've now indicated after the fact, then they'll have to make an ideological decision and eschew their free market / laissez faire stance, but this govt is shit scared to do anythiong, least of all appear ideological.

2 fish if it's double sided.

Was in Murwillumbah Coles Monday and the woman in front of me at the checkout had half her trolley full with dunny paper.

That article doesn't say anything about absolute numbers getting in. Perecentages against int'l, sure, but that's not the same.

Anyway, it's besides the point: government sets the framework, if they dont like it, change the framework. 

It's piss weak that they can criticise an industry for acting exactly as intended, and all because they want to be seen as 'hands off', 'biz as usual' etc.

Anyway, I'm ducking the shops. Anyone need a crate of bog paper?

the number of domestic students has been increasing at a crazy rate. every year sees a drop in the ATAR score needed to attend university courses.

Can anyone explain the rush on bog roll??? I mean there is a myriad of alternatives around.

Cornholio? Not much in relative supply with a fast turnover - gets overwhelmed?

Mum said on the phone last night they had newspaper in the outdoor dunny growing up in regional QLD... She said the only problem was that you were wiping lead on your arse, to which I replied "Didn't affect you too much", haha!

But as stated above, that was the last generation to live without plenty in the West...

blowin: pioneer little europe. That should trigger apoplectic rage here, but as a strategy for whomever, it might just be the thing in the modern virus world

Well, when the zombie apocalypse happens, I intend to use bog rolls as my weapon of choice. I expect similar scenes to the movie Shaun of the Dead.

I've played cricket with them.

back to quillette article, before I get busy for the day, I found a few paragraphs really explain what's gone on in these forums over the last few years - explains the biggest divisions quite well. It's the split in the middle class into 'yeomanry' (makes stuff, private enterprise) and 'clerisy' (makes regulations or researches or teaches). Also explains everything from Yellow vests to brexit - and ON votes getting Scomo across the line, and Unions abandoning working class locals, to Dutch farmers shutting down cities with tractors - and all the climate angst, quite well too:

"The decline of the yeomanry threatens the future of democracy as we have known it. Faced with growing assaults on their businesses, and in some cases, their communities, they have begun to fight back against many of the policies, notably climate policy, that are widely supported by the oligarchs and the clerisy. A policy to force the rapid replacement of fossil fuels with heavily subsidized renewables requires the development of the kind of largely unaccountable bureaucracies that both employ and empower the clerisy while providing the oligarchs both in the US and Europe with a unique opportunity to cash in on energy “transitions.”

In contrast, for large parts of the yeomanry, a call for a rapid, radical shift towards renewables imposes much higher energy prices. It also threatens to diminish industries in which many of them work and undercut the sustenance to the Main Street merchants in smaller cities and the countryside. Already attempts to impose such policies have led to yeoman rebellions in a number of countries.

President Emmanuel Macron’s energy price rise may be popular in the salons of the Paris elite, but not so much among the vast majority, notably the 90 percent of regional residents, who work outside the central district as well as the habitués of the smaller cities and towns of La France Périphérique. The massive gilets jaunes protests in France last year sparked similar protests in normally quieter countries like Norway and the Netherlands. Steady energy price rises from green policies, as well as boosts in subway fares, have resulted in major protests around Chile’s capital Santiago, with 20 deaths and 1,200 injured.

Similarly ultra-green policies—favored by the clerisy and their oligarchal allies—have been resoundingly rejected by voters in Australia, allowing for a surprise conservative victory, and in places like Ontario and Alberta, Canada, where green regulations impact basic industries, such as oil and manufacturing, critical to the yeomanry. Calls for a radical “Green New Deal,” endorsed by a number of leading Democrats, are likely to spur a similar response in the vast American “oil patch” from the Appalachians to west Texas.

But the chasm between the yeomanry and the clerisy also extends to broader issues, from border control to national identity, immigration, and the locus of political control. For the most part, the yeomanry favor local authority over more distant rule, while the clerisy favors the opposite. This was evident in the Brexit vote and the recent UK parliamentary elections, where the cosmopolitan clerisy, London-based and highly educated, largely rejected Brexit while the middle, as well as much of the working class, particularly outside the South-East, and property owners, favored Brexit and its implementer, Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A remarkable 57 percent of people who owned their own home supported Johnson compared to barely 22 percent for Labour."

An insightful article, it's like reading a history text, only it's contemporary.

Of course in Indo they wash their ass rather than use toilet paper. Very sensible if you ask me.

thank you and fuck you universities of australia and smoko....

".. This comes after Queensland recorded a new case of the virus on Tuesday.

A Chinese uni student infected with the coronavirus “self-quarantined” himself for two weeks in Dubai before flying to Brisbane.

The 20-year-old man has been confirmed as the 10th person to be infected by the coronavirus in Queensland.

He is in a stable condition in isolation in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

The University of Queensland student had travelled to Dubai for at least 14 days before entering Australia, via Brisbane, on February 23.

He became unwell two days later.

He spent two weeks in Dubai before boarding a flight to Australia — a 14-day “self-quarantine” period which allows travellers from China to beat the coronavirus travel ban by arriving in Australia via third countries.

Federal government figures show 1477 students arrived in Australia on Friday and Saturday using this loophole."

...I'm not suggesting for a minute that these students, if sick, shouldn't get our help, but you've gotta ask, ...who the fuck is going to pay for all these medical costs and quarrentine arrangements?

especially considering travel insurance is essentially useless. the student's probably have some special deal going on with our system (they do from memory), but shit like recent events has probably never even been considered

...sorry to ask, but I've been trained by 30 odd years of 'user pays' neoliberalisation of our once wonderful free health system

....I've also been bitter-ised and cynical-ised by ridiculously long waiting lists, and poor access generally, to what has become a many tiered, excellent for the 'haves' and a fuck you jack - discrimination by post code - for the 'have nots' system...

https://www.news.com.au/national/new-aussie-virus-case-confirmed/news-st...

...and what a fucking joke we have all become...

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/students-bea...

thank you and fuck you again smoko and co.

"Of course in Indo they wash their ass rather than use toilet paper. Very sensible if you ask me."

...very sensible indeed

...after a month or so in indo I always come back feeling toilet paper is kinda gross and wish I had a butt hose

....or bak (bucket) ...depending on if i've been rocking the exuberant two star or three star accomadation...

...another alternative is sand, picked that one up from a little desert dwelling blackfella, not ideal, but works surprisingly well when you're inhabiting our drier locales....

Panic on the streets of Waurn Ponds,
Claremont, and Adelaide
Where's the TP?
Where's the TP?
Where's the TP?
Where's the TP?

(little birds inform me the former resembles Christmas shopping, or a Zoo)

Can the universities be held legally liable for medical costs of those whom are infected as a result of their decision to bring in infected students via 3rd countries?

the run on toilet paper is easy to explain. it's for the toilet rolls (not the paper) so the kids have crafting material during lock down. i think you'll also find there has been a run on paddle pop sticks and perkin's paste.

the rolls are also excellent for sprouting seeds in, and transferring to the garden :)

Have you read their history?

This part is fascinating: it shows how China prefers to rule by influence, and how the Japanese clans tend to, err, do it differently:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Ryukyu_Islands
overall history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Ryukyu
invasion by the Shimazu clan of Satsuma

and:

https://pacificeagles.net/defending-shanghai-1937/

This was horrific. Somewhere I have a link to a tale (with photos) by a junior officer on HMS Cumberland of the event, it sounds absolutely full on.

Blowin.

Read about the "Rape of Nanking"

They continued the tradition as they overran the Malay Peninsula in WW2.

An uncle of mine enjoyed their hospitality in Changi and on the Burma Railroad. He never spoke about it.

None of it features in Japanese history.

I visited Beijing in 1983 and noticed small billboards around the city displaying military photos of what I was told was the Japanese occupation. Dismembered Chinese, Japs holding severed heads etc, all rather nasty stuff.

The Chinese haven't forgotten what happened, and I suspect are just waiting for an opportunity.

If you have the chance, visit the Changi War Memorial Museum in Singapore. See what the Japs did to not only Military Personnel, but civilians. You'll need a strong stomach.

The Bangka Island Massacre is worth reading about as well.

I should also point out that no apologies of any kind have been expressed by the Japanese for the treatment handed out. PM Abe also makes a point of visiting the graves of convicted Class A War Criminals to pay his respects.

"An insightful article, it's like reading a history text, only it's contemporary."

sure is, it certainly captured my instinct of what's been going on

I feel I could disect just about every sentence of that article, but I won't, that'd be a bit tedious

...for some...

dunno how accurate or doctered this is, but the simpsons being all nostradamus like again?

https://m.facebook.com/MedicineMan2k49/photos/a.1933121423607292/2516902..."1933005110285590"%3A%7B"page_id"%3A1933005110285590%2C"actor_id"%3A1933005110285590%2C"dm"%3A%7B"isShare"%3A0%2C"originalPostOwnerID"%3A0%7D%2C"psn"%3A"EntPhotoUploadBatchNodeBasedEdgeStory"%2C"post_context"%3A%7B"object_fbtype"%3A22%2C"publish_time"%3A1583292883%2C"story_name"%3A"EntPhotoUploadBatchNodeBasedEdgeStory"%2C"story_fbid"%3A%5B2516902318562530%5D%7D%2C"role"%3A1%2C"sl"%3A5%2C"targets"%3A%5B%7B"actor_id"%3A1933005110285590%2C"page_id"%3A1933005110285590%2C"post_id"%3A2516902318562530%2C"role"%3A1%2C"share_id"%3A0%7D%5D%7D%7D&__tn__=EH-R

Salty Dog my great uncle also fought against the IJA at Milne Bay, Kokoda, Bougainville and Borneo I believe; however... I've also visited the atomic bomb museum in Hiroshima, got to see what happened to the other side... brought me to tears. It sucks for everyone.

A Salty Dog, i don't want to enter a back and forth on your post but with respect to your last paragraph, a little context is needed. Yasukuni Jinja (shrine) honours all people who gave their lives in the service of Japan. Of the approx. 2.5mil people enshrined there 14 are classified as class A war criminals. Yasukuni was originally called 'Tokyo Shokonsha' which means shrine to summon the souls.

Long story short the Japanese were not happy that the war crims were enshrined there but were allowed to do so after the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco. The Chinese were signatories ironically. Also, the last Emporor to visit Yasukuni was Hirohito in the 70's, he was unaware they had been honoured there- he was unhappy about it and no Emporor has visited since.

Abe and co. have visited not to honour criminals but just like any other country including our own, to honour their own. Sadly the anti-Japanese sentiment has been mostly driven by the nationalist element of South Korea and China and in comparison to Yasukuni's history is reasonably recent.

For the record, i have lost great uncles and uncles in Gallipoli, Flanders, Tobruk, Singapore and PNG. War sucks but I don't look to the past except to hopefully learn from it.

ps- if you're in to the whole 'severed heads' thing, dig up a few photos of the Chinese Boxer rebellion.

Hi VJ,

When I first started work in 1972, many of the older guys were ex WW2 servicemen. They would occasionally tell a story or two but it was always the funny stuff: even then 30 years on, the memories haunted them.

In recent times, while walking our faithful hound, I would often meet a very prominent Kokoda veteran. He told me some of the things that went on, and how the nightmares continued for 60 years. He spent a lot of time giving talks to schoolchildren but always stressed that there were no winners in a war. He finally went into a nursing home but still pops up in the news occasionally. He was barely 20 years old at Kokoda. What a way to start your adult life.

While we're on the military, my great uncle served with Albert Jacka at Gallipoli until his death in August 1915. There is an account of his death on his file in the National Archive: he had more courage than I could muster in a hundred lifetimes.

My paternal grandfather served on the Western Front in WW1. Fromelles was his introduction to modern warfare. Sort of explains why he was a grumpy old bugger who mostly preferred the company of his dog.

My maternal grandfather also served on the Western Front, in the Field Ambulance and at the 3rd Australian Hospital at Abbeville. He died before I was born but my older brother said he was a very quiet man who rarely spoke. They call it PTSD now.

Me??? I've had a very lucky life, for which I am more than grateful.

Cheers!!

Lucky life for me too Salty Dog! From what I recall, the eldest sons were kept at home on the farm (my grandfather) and the younger ones (my great uncle) were drafted. That may be why we are here to tell the tales; however my great uncle went on well into his 90s... Your family has had some incredible (and terrifying) service from it's members. My great uncle was largely deaf in one ear as the .303 was on that side and they spent 3 months in the swamp in the Solomons, with rifle at head height. Older relatives in the UK have a father who was in the fore-turret of the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand for the duration of the First World war, including Jutland. Given the armour fitted to that class (close to none) - they were incredibly lucky!

I have one further anecdote. As a 15yo I was sent on exchange to Japan and stayed with a family in Okayama prefecture. The family were truly wonderful, but it got a bit weird when I met the grandfather. You see, the last white man he had seen had been in 1944 in the Philippines. So he approached, touched my arm, and hair, marveling at the colour. He was smiling, had tears in his eyes, and said something to his son, who disappeared and reappeared with a bottle of sake. Then we all had a drink together. He was a very kind and generous man - there's always hope to reconcile things.

That's true VJ, i'm from a military family- my dad, my brother, several cousins now, a nephew hoping to enlist. My great uncle was something like no. 157 when volunteers were numbered chronologically. He never made it off the beach at Gallipoli.

My mother in law and elderly relatives tell me stories sometimes how they used to have to bolt out of the house and shelter in little caves that were roughly cut into the sandstone that's ubiquitous in the area where i live. They were in primary school and remember being bombed day and night from the air and sea. They told me they used to be starving and all they could eat were grasshoppers and dandelions and maybe a little rice. How confusing would this be to a six year old girl?

My wifes uncle was Kamekaze- you know it's not really true that their last words were banzai. It's actually whispered in intimate Japanese circles that these boys last words were- mama.

VJ-
That sentence of yours about how the oldest Boys were kept on the farm and the younger ones sent off to war really made me stop and think.
As someone with brothers I can’t begin to imagine how terrifying it’d be saying goodbye to them and knowing deep down you may never see them again.
War is such a hideous thing, it’s devastates everyone and everything involved in it