Open Thread – Weekend 20 Aug 2022


Woman with a rake, Jean-François Millet, 1857

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JC
JC
August 22, 2022 6:44 pm

My local IGA didn’t install self service checkouts -the owners said providing jobs for the young people of the town was more important.

Ignore it. It’s just a marketing gimmick to suggest they reary reary care.

Roger
Roger
August 22, 2022 6:47 pm

I love our culture.

Truro Cathedral.

St John’s in Brisbane is by the same English architect.

If visiting, ignore the interior vandalism inflicted by the current Dean and imagine what it was meant to look like, and indeed did until relatively recent & unhappy times.

flyingduk
flyingduk
August 22, 2022 6:53 pm

SATP – I don’t use them on principle. Two reasons. One is that they’re an invitation to stealing: literally billions worth each year is the estimate. And two the checkout chicks need the work.

Add to that the fact that many are now ‘card only’

flyingduk
flyingduk
August 22, 2022 6:55 pm

It looks like the theory of T cell damage from the jabs is being verified.

‘Diverse adverse events’

Go woke……

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
August 22, 2022 6:55 pm

Self checkout, FMD. I will never use self checkout unless I get paid the casual rate for shop staff with a 4 hour minimum.
I was in Kmart one day and they had no checkout staff, a nice employee said she would help me, I left my trolley where it was and went to another shop.

Entropy
Entropy
August 22, 2022 6:56 pm

I was sitting at a work presentation today, and realised within a very short timeframe all the workers in my field will be female, and this in a field that services farmers. Not one of the recruits in beef extension were male.
I started wondering where the boys will find work, and realised they will all have to be tradies.

JC
JC
August 22, 2022 6:56 pm

This dog is smarter than a quite a few commenters here.

https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1560263956135944192

Roger
Roger
August 22, 2022 6:58 pm

I think this would be a wonderful opportunity to pause for a moment and give
thanks for the great contributions of the black community to our society.

Their peaceful and generous nature makes them ideal neighbors

I think Thomas Sowell would make an excellent neighbour.

Cassie of Sydney
August 22, 2022 7:05 pm

“The Paywallian’s fat slag Alice Workman, “

Wonder where she’s going? The Malcolm Guardian? The Stinking Morning Herald?

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 7:11 pm

I think Thomas Sowell would make an excellent neighbour.

Yes. Unlikely to put the Christmas prawn heads in your bin.

Roger
Roger
August 22, 2022 7:13 pm

Yes. Unlikely to put the Christmas prawn heads in your bin.

Not to mention some very stimulating conversation around the BBQ.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
August 22, 2022 7:14 pm

Big_Nambassays:
August 22, 2022 at 6:55 pm
Self checkout, FMD. I will never use self checkout unless I get paid the casual rate for shop staff with a 4 hour minimum.

The prices the supermarket charges will inevitably reflect its costs, and a lowering of costs should produce cheaper prices anywhere where there’s an element of competition going on (i.e. mightn’t work in a one supermarket town).
If self checkout is cheaper, a supermarket with more self checkout will have cheaper prices than the ones with more checkout staff. Ultimately a supermarket with 100% self checkout would have lower prices than anywhere with checkout staff.
So in a sense you do get paid for self-checkout, by cheaper prices.
And in any case, is it that much quicker to watch a checkout chick do it? Are you really saving any time?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 7:16 pm

The Stinking Morning Herald?

Aka The “Sydney Moaning Hemorrhoid” on the Cat.

Indolent
Indolent
August 22, 2022 7:17 pm
Vicki
Vicki
August 22, 2022 7:19 pm

I was sitting at a work presentation today, and realised within a very short timeframe all the workers in my field will be female, and this in a field that services farmers. Not one of the recruits in beef extension were male.
I started wondering where the boys will find work, and realised they will all have to be tradies.

Husband and I have been discussing this very issue. The so-called “gender equality” is destroying the concept and value of “capability.” We see so many women who are unsuited for the work they are doing, yet it is clear that the gender card has been their special card in the pack.

Just another fictional claim to equality which is degrading real excellence.

Rabz
August 22, 2022 7:21 pm

Anyone seen House of the Dragon yet? I’ll be watching it at 8:30pm.

Anyway if the story’s crap, at least it should (hopefully) look good.

Rabz
August 22, 2022 7:23 pm

The “Sydney Moaning Haemorrhoid”

Ahem, ZK2A, it’s the “Silly Moaning Haemorrhoid”.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
August 22, 2022 7:23 pm

Add to that the fact that many are now ‘card only’

That has pretty much stopped me using them.
I’m strictly cash.
Where I shop & how much I spent is not the business of; a bank, the govt, any cop with a warrant, anyone going through my rubbish & reading old statements, & so on.

rickw
rickw
August 22, 2022 7:23 pm

‘Diverse adverse events’

Go woke……

Who would have thought that injecting people with experimental shit would end this badly?!

It’s going to be a very pock marked wall on spring street. Right near the entrance so future politicians and bureaucrats have a constant reminder.

rosie
rosie
August 22, 2022 7:24 pm

Mirabella was the victim of a very cunning campaign, she held a ministry which naturally came with broad responsibilities and was therefore accused of neglecting her electorate, obviously in some eyes, local members are only there for the pork barrelling.
Not putting up with rudeness and harassment from locals? More opportunities for slurs from left-wing gossips.

Rabz
August 22, 2022 7:26 pm

Mirabella was the victim of a very cunning campaign

But she did gift us that legendary incident when she recoiled in horror at the Sheikh having a “medical moment” on Q&ALPBC.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
August 22, 2022 7:27 pm

My local IGA did install 3 self service checkouts but they are hardly ever used. Just kids in the after school rush to buy sweets.
However they are a constant source of amusement for shoppers and a pain in the neck for the nearby cashiers – to exit the store you have to pass close by. So a thousand robotic “hello”s per hour echo around the pathway as moving shoppers activate the start sequence.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 7:29 pm

Ahem, ZK2A, it’s the “Silly Moaning Haemorrhoid”.

Thank you, Squire, I stand corrected.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 7:29 pm

Well I just had a bottle of Greenook Creek Four Cuttings Shiraz.

I have a little game I like to play where I guess the alcohol content of wine.

It is not a ‘taste’ thing, you understand. You look at the wines’…legs.

Tilt the glass, let the wine run up against it, right the glass again and look at how distinct the edges of wine running back down the sides. The more distinct, the higher the alcohol content.

I am probably 60% accurate within 0.25% – being able to distinguish 13% from 13.5%.

But this one got me. I thought 14% – maybe – just maybe -14.5%.

15%.

And I’m full as a goog.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 7:32 pm

Full as a goog on a local burger chain.

Not hammered.

After all, it’s Monday.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
August 22, 2022 7:33 pm

all the workers in my field will be female, and this in a field that services farmers

Phrasing.

rosie
rosie
August 22, 2022 7:33 pm

And when she refused to say sorry and boycotted Rudd’s stolen generation apology.

rickw
rickw
August 22, 2022 7:35 pm
Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 7:35 pm

Phrasing

FWIW, season 12 of Archer hits Netflix on Friday.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
August 22, 2022 7:40 pm

Typo alert.
It’s not the Voice.
It’s the Invoice.
Munni, yum.

Gold, the invoice — like ‘their’ Voice but our shout — don’t know who said this but well done that Cat, and thank you

Cassie of Sydney
August 22, 2022 7:41 pm

“Mirabella was the victim of a very cunning campaign, she held a ministry which naturally came with broad responsibilities and was therefore accused of neglecting her electorate, obviously in some eyes, local members are only there for the pork barrelling.
Not putting up with rudeness and harassment from locals? More opportunities for slurs from left-wing gossips.”

Correct….as I wrote earlier, the vicious campaign against Mirabella in Indi was a template and has been used since, strangely only against sitting Liberals. Hmm, why could that be?. The accusation of Mirabella neglecting her electorate was also recently used in Goldstein against Tim Wilson, he too was accused on “neglecting his electorate”. It’s a formula, and it’ll be used in forthcoming state elections. Watch the Teal in Caulfield and her tactics against Southwick. Now Southwick might not be perfect but he’s a hell of a lot better than the Teal who’ll running.

Roger
Roger
August 22, 2022 7:45 pm
H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 7:56 pm

But she did gift us that legendary incident when she recoiled in horror at the Sheikh having a “medical moment” on Q&ALPBC.

Too much soy.

vr
vr
August 22, 2022 7:57 pm

My family live in David Southwick’s electorate. He has be helpful and they will vote for him again.

sfw
sfw
August 22, 2022 8:14 pm

Cassie and Rosie, I told you I live in Indi and Mirabella was a crap member, however you choose to believe stories about ‘green subterfuge’ and lack of ‘pork barrelling’, I guess you think I’m lying, all I can say is both of you have gone down in my estimation. Keep it up and you can join JC and others in the box labelled ‘Do not read’.

Some people, even short fat Italian women can be bad at their job.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 8:16 pm

Fun reading:

Thanks. Points to the utter futility of thinking man can influence the climate.

calli
calli
August 22, 2022 8:16 pm

I believe Greenock Wines has changed ownership in the past couple of years, but the winemaker stayed on.

We stayed at Miriam’s Cottage, owned by the winery, and they had a bottle of Alice’s Shiraz as part of their local cache of goodies for guests. At 17%, it nearly took our heads off. Good stuff, but it turned out to be the last of the tribe, no more to buy from the cellar door.

Naturally we bought a bit more when we swung past earlier in the year. But no Alice. She was well and truly through the looking glass.

Cassie of Sydney
August 22, 2022 8:17 pm

“Some people, even short fat Italian women can be bad at their job.”

Sophie Mirabella is not Italian, she’s of Greek heritage.

Bar Beach Swimmer
August 22, 2022 8:17 pm

Lysandersays:
August 22, 2022 at 5:34 pm

In any of that process does anyone in any of those meetings and discussions actually read what is being proposed?

If we take as an example Morrison’s reaction to the invoking of s. 475 of the Biosecurity Act, and the unlimited power that the Health Minister would be granted at that moment, it would seem not.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 8:17 pm

Unless they are going to pass legislation preventing the poles from moving.

calli
calli
August 22, 2022 8:18 pm

That would be “cache of local goodies”. Even stone cold sober memories have me mixing up my words.

cohenite
August 22, 2022 8:22 pm

And the bullshit drops down further; we’re not at rock bottom yet. From the Law Society:

The benefits of neurodiversity
and creating an inclusive workplace
One of my priorities this year is to raise awareness around the benefits of neurodiversity and the ways in which workplaces can become more inclusive. There was a fantastic article in SMH recently which highlighted ways in which workplaces can foster inclusivity and why hiring neurodiverse talent makes good business sense.

Interestingly, as the article highlights, the attributes that can come with autism; thinking outside the box, intense focus, dogged persistence and attention to detail, are highly sought-after skills in the legal profession.

The 2021 Annual Profile of Solicitors in NSW confirmed that 8 per cent of our profession identifies as having a disability or long-term illness. Among these are autism spectrum disorder (which now includes Asperger’s Syndrome) and ADHD.

ABS data from 2018 shows that 34.1 per cent of autistic people are unemployed. That’s three times higher than that of people with any type of disability and almost eight times that of those without a disability. An estimated 1 in 70 people are on the autism spectrum and a quarter of National Disability Insurance Scheme plans name autism as the primary disability. It’s not hard to see why our profession can benefit from identifying and harnessing the benefits of neurodiverse talent early on.

There is going to be a huge number of people who are young and looking for jobs who are autistic. There is a skills shortage and diversity of thought drives innovation.

sfw
sfw
August 22, 2022 8:23 pm

“Sophie Mirabella is not Italian, she’s of Greek heritage.”

Well I got that wrong, so I suppose in your book that short fat Greek Women cannot be poor politicians and local members.

It seems to some here that a seat that was Country Party and Liberal for almost all it’s time in a rural area can be turned green by some green activists. Being a crap MP had nothing to do with it.

Bar Beach Swimmer
August 22, 2022 8:23 pm

callisays:
August 22, 2022 at 4:17 pm

I bet there’s white supremacy somewhere in that.

calli
calli
August 22, 2022 8:25 pm

I can keep people employed at the self-service checkout with little effort. I always mess the thing up and require assistance. Either put the bag down too late or not at all, or do something that the programmers didn’t anticipate.

The lurking assistant assists. It’s all so ridiculous.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 8:30 pm

At 17%, it nearly took our heads off.

At 17% it qualifies as trial by ordeal.

There will be people accused of murder who would drink a glass of that and juggle knives to prove they are innocent.

Cassie of Sydney
August 22, 2022 8:30 pm

“short fat Greek Women cannot”

She’s of Greek extraction, she’s not Greek, she’s Australian. And don’t be so touchy. The fact is that she was the recipient of a coordinated campaign to get rid of her and that template has been used since. She might have been a lacklustre or poor member, so what, it doesn’t make the smear campaign against her right. The ABC, Nine Newspapers and others went all out to assist McGowan in her campaign against Mirabella. And the fawning over McGowan and later Haines has made it very hard for the Nats or the Liberals to reclaim Indi. And this will be the same with the Teals in electorates like mine, Wentworth. Oh and are you telling me that McGowan and Haines have been better than Mirabella?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
August 22, 2022 8:33 pm

Bar Beach Swimmer says: August 22, 2022 at 7:48 pm

Sal @ 12:42 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/25/scott-morrison-backs-vaccine-passports-saying-businesses-have-right-to-refuse-entry

Well spotted.
Should also @Cassie on this, for it is she who stated that Scott (“he stands with Dan”) Morrison was missing in action when the NKVD was being sooled onto us.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 22, 2022 8:34 pm

House of the Dragon’s first episode was decent.
A lot of fan servicing going on.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 8:34 pm

I think we are looking at this wrong.

Instead of focusing on the evil of white supremacy, perhaps we should look at relative worth of white supremacy versus all the others.

You know, because we are being constantly bombarded with black supremacy, gay supremacy, trans supremacy, vagina supremacy etc etc.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
August 22, 2022 8:35 pm

Sophie Mirabella

nee Panapolous
FIFY.

Yep, ladies of Greek heritage haven’t done themselves proud at all in the past few years in Oz politics.

Boambee John
Boambee John
August 22, 2022 8:38 pm

Bar Beach Swimmersays:
August 22, 2022 at 8:17 pm
Lysandersays:
August 22, 2022 at 5:34 pm

In any of that process does anyone in any of those meetings and discussions actually read what is being proposed?

Of course not. The public service would never give bad advice.

I have mentioned before being tasked to draft a response to a local member, complaining about the effect of FBT on a subset of his constituents. My boss deleted all reference to said MP’s role in the Labor government that introduced the tax.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
August 22, 2022 8:39 pm

From Wikipedia re McGowan:
In 2004 she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia “for service to the community through raising awareness of and stimulating debate about issues affecting women in regional, rural and remote areas.”

AO for grievance mongering and identity politics.

JC
JC
August 22, 2022 8:39 pm

Keep it up and you can join JC and others in the box labelled ‘Do not read’.

Stop lying sfw. Of course you do.

rosie
rosie
August 22, 2022 8:43 pm

All very well sfw but I have several family members who live in Indi, a couple who got actively involved in campaigning for McGowan (absolutely no surprise as they lean heavily left) and others who stuck with Mirabella, I heard plenty.
I also thought she was a decent shadow minister who given the opportunity might have gone places. She served 12 years but it was only in 2013 as a shadow minister the whispering campaign started.
McGowan even had Van Badham writing for her iirc.

As for being on your scroll list, tell someone who cares.
(And there was the Voices twitter account that suddenly got deleted when questions regarding electoral fraud started being asked.)
‘nofibs’ tells the Indi story “The 12 of us would go to as many sessions as we could to explain ourselves; the more of us who turned up the more legitimate the project seemed”

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
August 22, 2022 8:45 pm

I can keep people employed at the self-service checkout with little effort. I always mess the thing up and require assistance.

Self service hold ups are guaranteed when others are:
trying to navigate the vegetable screen;
putting an extra store bag across the reader – must all be done at the beginning;
inability to find the barcode;
barcodes unrecognisable because of creasing/ice/hand written markdowns.
I could go on but you get the drift.

rosie
rosie
August 22, 2022 8:46 pm

In particular; the smears about her relationship with her former lecturer.

Bar Beach Swimmer
August 22, 2022 8:48 pm

ML, sorry, if I confused you – or maybe it’s that lovely bottle of plonk that did it – but that was a joke about the very confusing English language.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 22, 2022 8:53 pm

Recently I’ve started using the Coles click & collect.
It’s far better than booking a slot for delivery & having them miss it by 2 hours.
Click & collect means they pop in in the boot & away you go.

Bar Beach Swimmer
August 22, 2022 8:58 pm

cohenitesays:
August 22, 2022 at 8:22 pm

cohenite, you sure that’s not a Tatiana McGrath-style taking the mickey of the Law Society readership?

Bar Beach Swimmer
August 22, 2022 9:00 pm

My boss deleted all reference to said MP’s role in the Labor government that introduced the tax.

BJ, that’s what I think of Barnaby Joyce.

Cassie of Sydney
August 22, 2022 9:00 pm

“I also thought she was a decent shadow minister who given the opportunity might have gone places. “

Yep, I also note that she was a close ally of Tony Abbott…sorry sfw, I know the mention of Abbott’s name triggers you, apologies. However, since Abbott’s assassination back in September 2015, there has been a systematic purge of conservatives from the Liberal party, orchestrated by Turdbull and finished by Scumbag. So, by last year there wasn’t a flank of strong conservatives to counter the wets, particularly the suicidal decision last year to commit to net zero emissions. Stoker’s gone, Abetz is gone, Clare Chandler remains in the senate but for how long (Chandler’s a great asset).

Anyway, you reckon Mirabella was a shoddy local member, fair enough, you’re entitled to your opinion and I respect that but what do you think of McGowan and Haines? For all Mirabella’s faults, I daresay she’s was a lot better than either Green McGowan and Green Haines and being part of government or a strong opposition meant that she had more of a say than some independent. So we now have a situation where once strong Liberal electorates are now in the hands of mint Greens and they’re going to be near impossible to budge.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 9:02 pm

Sorry BBS.

I was having a go at the generic fallback of ‘white supremacy’.

Not your playful take on Calli’s post.

I am a big fan of playful.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
August 22, 2022 9:10 pm

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing pressure to address the dire skills shortage in Australia – which is currently ranked second last in the developed world.

Secretary General of Elbownia will centrally plan the economy and, where all others have failed, Elbow will be victorious.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 22, 2022 9:14 pm

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing pressure to address the dire skills shortage in Australia

As I see it, Elbow has no choice in light of this issue other than to accuse Morrison of wearing a merkin as a toupee.

cohenite
August 22, 2022 9:22 pm

Bar Beach Swimmersays:
August 22, 2022 at 8:58 pm
cohenitesays:
August 22, 2022 at 8:22 pm

cohenite, you sure that’s not a Tatiana McGrath-style taking the mickey of the Law Society readership?

Its the Law Society President.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
August 22, 2022 9:22 pm

Whether Sophie Mirabella was good or bad, one thing’s for sure – since she got married she’s never had to buy another lightbulb.

MatrixTransform
August 22, 2022 9:25 pm

So in a sense you do get paid for self-checkout, by cheaper prices.

To speed things up, and minimise revenue leakage, Wesfarmers shareholders would prefer you were already micro-chipped

miltonf
miltonf
August 22, 2022 9:30 pm

I used to think Sophie Mirrabella was pretty good and I’d take her in preference to vinegar tits filth any day.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
August 22, 2022 9:32 pm

SovCit News, from the NT News:

A WOMAN who was allegedly involved in the abduction of Darwin five-year-old Grace Hughes has been granted bail despite fears her release could compromise the ongoing police investigation.

Juliet Marie Oldroyd faced the Darwin Local Court on Monday where she stands charged with abducting Grace from an address in Berrimah on August 7.

During the rowdy hearing, repeatedly interrupted by Oldroyd’s supporters, Flinders University law student, John Quaremba, an associate of her husband’s, sought leave to speak on Oldroyd’s behalf.

This is the bloke who, during this woman’s initial court appearance last week fronted the bar table and said he didn’t need qualifications to represent his client. Which is a bit like Liability Bob doing his pro bono work. Anyway:

But judge Dick Wallace refused his application after she [Oldroyd] told Mr Quaremba “I don’t know who you are” and threatened to hold him in contempt if he did not leave the bar table.

“Stop talking and get back out of the bar table or I will have you locked up.”

She got bail, despite coming out with this:

Oldroyd insisted her name was not “not Ms Oldroyd, it’s Juliet Maree” and had been denied an opportunity to speak to a lawyer, had not had access to pain medication and had had little sleep.

“I am an internationally recognised human rights advocate, and according to universal principles of international law, while I’m acting in the office as a human rights advocate I’m immune to prosecution,” she said.

But Oldroyd conceded that “obviously I would like to get out on bail, yes”.

Oh, my wordy lordy. No mention of birth certificates as currency or 1619 or Maritime Law. Yet.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 9:33 pm

Photographic treasures tell rare story of one man’s war

exclusive
Jacquelin Magnay
Europe Correspondent
@jacquelinmagnay
6:28PM August 22, 2022
1 Comment

Two rare photographs of the only surviving World War I German tank, the Mephisto, which was “recovered’’ by Australians and sent to Brisbane, have been uncovered in France.

Raoul Berthele, a French chemical engineer attached to the medical unit of the French 16th Army Corp stationed in the war as a supply administrator for the ambulance unit, took 3000 images during the time of the Great War as he moved about the French countryside with the medical unit.

When French history teacher Louis Teyssedou, 40, was researching an Amiens 19th-century linen and textile factory that was used as a war hospital he uncovered the photo collection that had been donated by Berthele’s sister Beatrix to the town hall ­archives in Toulouse.

The Mephisto survived the war without being turned into scrap metal, pilfered by Australians under the noses of the Germans and is the prized war trophy on display in the Anzac Legacy Gallery at the Queensland ­Museum in Brisbane.

Over a century ago, Queenslanders had to fend off attempts by the British and Melburnians to claim the war prize for themselves.

“Raoul was attracted by mechanics and innovations,’’ Teyssedou said of Berthele, born in 1886, who had been using his chemistry skills in a Swiss perfume company when war broke out.

“These photographs, which are technically perfect, are a ­vision of his war. It is a treasure, a personal collection which gives a sense of the man and he had a deep instinct for photography.’’

Teyssedou, wrote a book, ­Lautre Guerre, about Berthele’s photographs and believes the picture of the Mephisto tank was taken in September 1918 on a road between Poulainville and Vaux-en-Amienois, north of Amiens.

Also of interest to Australians are photos Berthele took of Corbie, a town on the Western Front where many Australians convalesced from their injuries.

Mr Berthele often used a stereoscopic camera and produced his own images on verascope plates, photographing his many female friends, as well as fascinating images of planes, factories and the work of his medical unit.

The first German tanks were Sturmpanzerwagen A7 tanks, of which only 20 were built. Made with Daimler motors, and with Krupp and Roechling metalwork, they were named after various evil characters. Number 506 was Mephisto, a devil in German folklore.

With its white skull-and-crossbones on the front armour plating underneath a fearsome gun, the Mephisto terrorised the allies at St Quentin on March 21, 1918, and then at Monument Wood near Villers-Bretonneux on April 24, 1918. But on that April day the Mephisto was one of three tanks abandoned by the Germans. It had got stuck in a shell hole.

Several months later Lieutenant Colonel James Alexander Robinson who commanded the 26th Australian Infantry Battalion wanted to souvenir the 60 tonne tank, then situated in no-man’s land. On the night of July 23, under the cover of low-flying planes, two tank crews of Australians and British soldiers attached steel cables and towed the Mephisto 4km behind the frontlines.

Robinson told the Brisbane Telegraph 20 years after the war that the Germans were so displeased they had launched a gas attack against his raiders. He said the 26th Battalion, veterans of Gallipoli, Egypt, and some of the Western Front’s most vicious battles in Pozieres, Bullecourt as well as Menin Road during the Third Battle of Ypres, had come into the Villers-Bretonneux area only days earlier to straighten out the offensive line in preparation for a big attack that was launched on August 8, 1918.

The 26th chalked their name on the Mephisto alongside the 5th Tank Brigade and the 1st Gun Carrier Company, and a rising sun. A British lion was also painted, with a paw resting on a tank.

It appears that just before Berthele took the pictures, the regiment transporting the Mephisto, the 1/13th London Regiment, 56th Infantry Division, added its motto to the side, and various names of soldiers from the 46th Battalion were also graffitied.

After the war the Mephisto was taken to England and there was a verbal battle about its final destination.

Queensland agent-general in London, Sir Thomas Robinson, successfully argued that Australian units be allowed to keep their own captures and they were to be returned to the state from where the units originated.

The 26th, having been raised in Enoggera, Queensland, ensured their prize went to Brisbane, where the tank was moved into position off a steamship using steamrollers in 1919.

Berthele survived the war, but died of the Spanish Flu days ­before Christmas 1918.

Teyssedou said Berthele’s little sister kept the photographs all her life before donating them to the Toulouse authorities.

“She always talked about her big brother, whom she never saw again after he went off to the war,’’ he said.

Teyssedou has held an exhibition of Berthele’s photos in Amiens and is planning further exhibitions in Paris and Belgium.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
August 22, 2022 9:36 pm

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing pressure to address the dire skills shortage in Australia – which is currently ranked second last in the developed world.

To prevent hoarding, Elbow will declare that across all supermarkets there will be a maximum of 2 construction site safety supervisors per customer.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 9:38 pm

To speed things up, and minimise revenue leakage, Wesfarmers shareholders would prefer you were already micro-chipped

Excellent idea – speaking as a Wesfarmers shareholder.

P
P
August 22, 2022 9:43 pm

sfw says:
August 22, 2022 at 8:23 pm

It seems to some here that a seat that was Country Party and Liberal for almost all it’s time in a rural area can be turned green by some green activists. Being a crap MP had not hing to do with it.

Those who live in the electorate have better insight into the outcome than those viewing from afar.

In my own electorate many were influenced to vote for their local member, because of their outstanding work and performance in the area, even though they did not favour the party that person represented.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
August 22, 2022 9:46 pm

Those who live in the electorate have better insight into the outcome than those viewing from afar.

Indeed.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
August 22, 2022 9:47 pm

Crickey!
Prue McSween has come on Rita’s show dressed as a Klingon.

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 9:54 pm

Has Cathi McGowan solved global warming, misogyny, magic pudding economics or racism yet with her plucky independence?

rickw
rickw
August 22, 2022 9:56 pm

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing pressure to address the dire skills shortage in Australia – which is currently ranked second last in the developed world.

Let’s see how this plays out. Europeans? Nah, Australia’s now just as bad as Europe at being monstered by the state. Americans, no way, we confirmed their suspicions that we were totally shit. Asians? Not with marauding Africans roaming the street! That leaves us with more Africans! We attract the most skilled goat herders!

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 9:56 pm

A skills shortage eh?

Solved by cutting course fees for lollipop men to $50 instead of $1k, for example.

It’s not a skills shortage it is a problem of legalised racketeering manifesting as economic sabotage.

Bar Beach Swimmer
August 22, 2022 9:57 pm

Cohenite @ 9:22pm

From the link:

Interestingly, as the article highlights, the attributes that can come with autism; thinking outside the box, intense focus, dogged persistence and attention to detail, are highly sought-after skills in the legal profession

But may not.

What’s the risk-benefit of scoring one of these “top” people as your mouthpiece?

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 9:57 pm

For the slow children….

GOBEKLI TEPE…!

P
P
August 22, 2022 10:11 pm

Poso:
Women were not created to do what men can do
Women were created to do what men cannot
12:22 PM · Aug 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1561539401217351683

From the comments:
George Bernard Shaw said “The day women demanded equality, they lost their superiority.”

John H.
John H.
August 22, 2022 10:12 pm

Dotsays:
August 22, 2022 at 9:57 pm
For the slow children….

GOBEKLI TEPE…!

They might have found an older site, by 1,000 years.

https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/new-karahantepe-settlement-may-be-older-than-gobeklitepe/news

Frank
Frank
August 22, 2022 10:27 pm

Isn’t skills shortage code for importing a bunch of Tamil programmers to suppress wages.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 10:29 pm

This is why once a week a bureaucrat should be taken out and put in stocks:

This is why once a week a bureaucrat should be taken out and tarred and feathered.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 10:30 pm

Australia would be getting Tamil programmers if they could get petrol.

Mercurio
Mercurio
August 22, 2022 10:34 pm

Simple and honest question: which skills are we short of?
Remember: more ‘training’ was Labor’s answer to the GFC in 2008.

JC
JC
August 22, 2022 10:37 pm

Gus

Go find a chef or cook.

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 10:39 pm

Sarah, the immigration officer who refused to give her last name, informed Yemini that she came to the decision on her own after reading the story in The New Zealand Herald.

All you can say is “fucken LOL”.

The New Zealand government has a list of undesirable dissidents. In Australia. Who are journos. Who are ignored by the mainstream press.

Arden must be totally convinced by the correctness of her policies and her ability to defend her ideas and mock her critics.

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 10:40 pm

Remember: more ‘training’ was Labor’s answer to the GFC in 2008.

Ticket clipping.

rickw
rickw
August 22, 2022 10:41 pm

Sarah, the immigration officer who refused to give her last name, informed Yemini that she came to the decision on her own after reading the story in The New Zealand Herald.

Mong Force

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 10:42 pm

They might have found an older site, by 1,000 years.

Absolutely amazing.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 10:43 pm

Arden must be totally convinced by the correctness of her policies and her ability to defend her ideas and mock her critics.

Arden is trying to walk away from this one…

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 10:44 pm

Go find a chef or cook.

JC is still waiting for his mains.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 10:46 pm

Sarah, the immigration officer who refused to give her last name, informed Yemini that she came to the decision on her own after reading the story in The New Zealand Herald.

Ve haf lists.

JC
JC
August 22, 2022 10:47 pm

I ordered two starters on Saturday evening, Bear.

I mentioned last night that restaurants are unable function because of staff shortages. No matter, I was told, go cook your own food. Interesting comment.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 10:50 pm

I ordered two starters on Saturday evening, Bear.

Well played.

Bruce in WA
Bruce in WA
August 22, 2022 10:56 pm

Re self-serve checkouts.

Have a friend whose 30-ish daughter is very much a “bring down da Man” type.

Her favourite trick is to go into Coles or Woolies when they’re very busy, and buy a kilo of smoked salmon or prawns or both from the deli. At the self-serve checkout, instead of scanning the barcode, she drops them on the scales and enters them as “carrots” or “potatoes”. She point blank refuses to concede she’s doing anything wrong.

yackman
yackman
August 22, 2022 11:02 pm

re Indi;
the 2019 results were fairly close but not 2022.
The area from Baranduda to Beechworth including Yackandandah & the Indigo Valley area are heavily into Green philosophy and becoming more so with growth of that demographic.
It is highly probable that Bill Tilley will lose his seat of Benambra to another “Independent” who did well in 2018 and is standing again.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 22, 2022 11:02 pm

She point blank refuses to concede she’s doing anything wrong.

Bet she screams her tits off if she thinks she’s been “exploited.”

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
August 22, 2022 11:03 pm

Dot says: August 22, 2022 at 9:56 pm

It’s not a skills shortage it is a problem of legalised racketeering manifesting as economic sabotage.

Mercurio says: August 22, 2022 at 10:34 pm

Remember: more ‘training’ was Labor’s answer to the GFC in 2008.

https://youtu.be/_l6trtH0kdk?t=89
“The first priority needs to be to get our skills sector training people for the jobs that are there.” – Labor MP Mulino, 22 August 2022.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 11:04 pm

Bruce in WA – I think that was fairly common with avocados until changes in price moved the risk/reward ratio.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 22, 2022 11:07 pm

It is highly probable that Bill Tilley will lose his seat of Benambra to another “Independent” who did well in 2018 and is standing again.

You almost feel sorry for the Lieborals.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
August 22, 2022 11:10 pm

JCsays:

August 22, 2022 at 8:39 pm

Keep it up and you can join JC and others in the box labelled ‘Do not read’.

Stop lying sfw. Of course you do.

I think I have been put on the “Do Not Read” list five times.
Maybe six.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
August 22, 2022 11:14 pm

Sarah, the immigration officer who refused to give her last name, informed Yemini that she came to the decision on her own after reading the story in The New Zealand Herald.

NZ immigration is stupider than Australian immigration.
Something I did not think was possible.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
August 22, 2022 11:15 pm

Frank says: August 22, 2022 at 10:27 pm

Isn’t skills shortage code for importing a bunch of Tamil programmers to suppress wages.

Skills shortage is code for….. skills shortage.

MatrixTransform
August 22, 2022 11:15 pm

Mong Force

Darth Mong

Dot
Dot
August 22, 2022 11:16 pm

A solar powered NDIS childcare training technology company.

It would be a perpetual motion machine of OPM, the corporate logo could be a “reverse ouroboros”, spinning forever like a wobbly 20 c piece … 🙂 .

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
August 22, 2022 11:19 pm

KD at 9:32.
So.
Ms Oldroyd didn’t identify as the Queen of Norway, then?

Tom
Tom
August 23, 2022 4:03 am
Old Lefty
Old Lefty
August 24, 2022 4:36 pm

The ABC is having a gloat about the judge’s ruling in Victoria that the father of the deceased choirboy can sue the Catholic Church – over an offence that, according to the High Court, could not have happened.

No surprise that the judge in question turns out to have a union background:

https://www.whiteandmason.com.au/leave-no-stone-unturned/

And of course the timing of the case has nothing to do with the approach of Victorian election!

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