Open Thread – Mon 18 Dec 2023


The pilot’s jetty, Le Havre, Camille Pissarro, 1903

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MatrixTransform
December 19, 2023 9:51 am

A fanatical neo-religiosity has swept through public life, ostensibly secular in character but religious in function, and it hates you. All that time planting trees, “the shade of which you will never see”, just to watch them woodchipped in front of you.

Liberalism with Marxist Characteristics

— Christopher Jolliffe, on quadrant

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 19, 2023 9:52 am

Travel
Stunning backdrops in Napoleon blockbuster
Penny ThomasThe West Australian
Sun, 10 December 2023 5:09PM

Director Ridley Scott’s latest film Napoleon hit cinemas last month, providing movie-goers with multiple large-scale battle sequences that can best be described as a visual spectacle.

The film — which runs for two hours and thirty-eight minutes — follows the rise and ruin of Napoleon Bonaparte (played by Joaquin Phoenix), and his relationship with his wife Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).

Despite some critics and scholars taking aim at parts of the film’s historical veracity, it’s epic battle scenes set against stunning backdrops make it a worthwhile viewing experience.

With that in mind, here are some of the scenic film locations used to re-tell the tale of Napoleon.

If you thought a big-budget biopic about one of France’s most infamous historical figures during the French revolution would be filmed in France, think again.

Ridley Scott and the production team working on Napoleon shot the majority of the film in the UK, with only a handful of scenes filmed in Paris.
UNITED KINGDOM

Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire

First built in 1072, Lincoln Cathedral is one of the world’s great medieval cathedrals. Every nook and cranny seems to echo with the whispers of centuries past, making it the perfect setting for the main coronation scene.

Standing tall over the city of Lincoln for thousands of years, the spectacular cathedral has featured in a bunch of other high-value film productions, including The King with Timothee Chalamet, Young Victoria written by Julian Fellowes with Emily Blunt in the lead role, and The Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks.

Lincoln Cathedral is open to the public with daily tours available from Monday to Saturday.

Boughton House, Northamptonshire

Often referred to as the English Versailles, Boughton House is one of Britain’s grandest and best-preserved stately homes with stunning 18th century landscaped gardens.

Akin to a chateau in France, the film’s production team chose to feature it as Napoleon’s personal estate in the latest blockbuster.

The house contains an outstanding collection of fine art, which visitors can discover on a guided tour (bookings required).

Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

Surprisingly, scenes set inside Napoleon’s staterooms at the Fontainebleau and Tuileries Palaces weren’t actually filmed in France. Instead, they were shot in the United Kingdom at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, which is home to the 12th Duke of Marlborough and was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Built between 1705 and 1722, the UNESCO World Heritage Site has also served as a backdrop for other star-studded productions, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the James Bond movie Spectre, Transformers, Cinderella, Gulliver’s Travels, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Bourne Woods, Surrey

Key scenes from the battle of Austerlitz were filmed at Bourne Woods in Surrey, which is where Ridley Scott previously filmed the iconic opening battle for Gladiator more than 20 years ago.

Petworth House, West Sussex

This 17th-century house in West Sussex is where Josephine is shown meeting Napoleon in the Marble Hall.

Petworth House was inspired by the Baroque-style palaces of Europe, with stately rooms designed to display wealth, taste and royal connections.

Today, it is home to one of the finest art collections in the care of the UK’s National Trust. There’s also some great little antique shops and a smart gastropub called the Angel Inn located in the nearby market town of Petworth.
MALTA

Fort Ricasoli

In Napoleon, this 17th century fort in Kalkara stands in for the French port of Toulon, which Napoleon seized in 1793.

Viewers might also recognise Fort Ricasoli from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, and from television series Game of Thrones.
MOROCCO
Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon
Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon Credit: Sony/Apple TV/Apple TV

Merzouga Desert

Several scenes in the film were also shot in the desert area of Merzouga in Morocco, which stood in for Egypt.

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 9:53 am

Apparently BOM moved all or most of their NQ staff to Brisbane a few years ago, assuring locals everything could be monitored remotely.

If it can be done from Brisbane it can be done from Lahore or Manila. We don’t need anybody at BOM for that matter.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 9:55 am

Dot
Dec 19, 2023 9:42 AM
Which one is it?

The oil market is fake because the price came down and petrol hasn’t moved or the Suez is blocked and the market is fake because oil hasn’t gone up enough?

Chances are people are frustrated they can’t understand everything beyond the price.

The price shows (probably) that the Suez isn’t as important as it used to be and Australia has low capacity, high taxes and low levels of local competition.

Dot,

I would still love an explanation from Labor & AlboSleezy as to why

Shell Coles Express South Yarra U91 is currently 169.9c per l (was 166.9c per l last Saturday at 1200 as I drove past)

https://petrolspy.com.au/map/latlng/-37.8400982/144.9954424

and

Shell Coles Express Neutral Bay Cnr Ben Boyd Rd & Earnest St U91 is currently 219.9c
per l

https://petrolspy.com.au/map/latlng/-33.829073569074936/151.22100809620724

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 19, 2023 9:55 am

I’m thinking Mark Dreyfus would like to head off for a cycling tour through regional France in the Liar tradition too shortly.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 19, 2023 9:55 am

On Sunday sitting outside in the courtyard, wife decides to put the japanese irises in the pond, places them in the pond then decides to move two of them. A slow topple into the pond, she puts her hand out to sto herself which makes the balance worse and her head is under the water. Was it wrong of me to laugh before asking if she was ok. Come to think off it, I didn’t ask and am still laughing.

Delta A
Delta A
December 19, 2023 9:57 am

Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed indeed, Gez.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
December 19, 2023 9:58 am

there is some unwritten policy or expectation in place in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that if any person alleges they have been sexually assaulted, the case should be prosecuted so as to let the jury decide rather than be rationally interrogated

This state of affairs will continue until the exact moment one of Sally Dowling’s brothers, sons or office managers becomes subject to one of these complaints.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 10:00 am

If it can be done from Brisbane it can be done from Lahore or Manila. We don’t need anybody at BOM for that matter.

Might want to first ask Optus how moving technical stuff overseas worked out.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 10:01 am

New York Times article is sniffing the wind:

it is worth remembering that during his presidency, Mr. Trump’s often intemperate rhetoric and erratic behavior ended up accompanying a host of moderate policies. On matters ranging from health care and entitlements to foreign policy and trade, Mr. Trump routinely rejected the most unpopular ideas of both political parties. Voters seem to have noticed this reality: When asked whether Mr. Trump was too conservative, not conservative enough or “not too far either way,” 57 percent of voters in a recent poll picked “not too far either way.” Only 27 percent of voters regarded him as too conservative.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 10:02 am

Gentleman comes in from a good round of golf at the new course and heads straight to the bar/restaurant area of the clubhouse.

As he passes through the doors, he spots a sign hanging over the bar that reads:

COLD BEER……………….$2.50
HAMBURGER……………..$3.50
CHEESEBURGER……….$4.25
CHICKEN SANDWICH…$4.75
HAND JOB……………. $150.00

Checking his wallet to be sure he has the necessary money, Gentleman walks/struts up to the bar & beckons to the exceptionally attractive female bartender who is serving drinks to a couple of sun-wrinkled golfers.

She glides down behind the bar to the new golfer. “Yes?” she inquires with a wide, knowing smile. “May I help you, sir?”

Gentleman leans over the bar and whispers, “I was wondering, young lady, are you the one who gives the hand jobs around here?”

She looks into his wrinkled eyes and, with a wide smile, purrs, “Yes, sir, I sure am. I give the best hand jobs around.”

Gentleman leans in even closer and into her left ear and says softly, “Well then, be sure to wash your hands real good because I want a cheeseburger.”

P
P
December 19, 2023 10:03 am

Jorge
Dec 19, 2023 9:25 AM

Jimmy Lai’s trial in HK has implications for everyone.

‘Stalinesque Show Trial’ of Jimmy Lai Opens in Hong Kong
NCR – Edward Pentin – December 18, 2023

The self-made media mogul has already been detained for more than 1,000 days and faces the possibility of life in prison if he is found guilty.

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed authorities have been accused of staging a show trial “worthy of Stalin,” as Catholic entrepreneur Jimmy Lai went on trial Monday on charges of breaching national security and colluding with foreign forces.
.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a Dec. 17 statement that he was “gravely concerned” for those facing prosecution under the national security law, especially Lai, who holds dual British and Hong Kong citizenship.

From the ‘Comments’ – WHERE ARE YOU, YOUR HOLINESS?!

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 10:04 am

Farmer Gez

But, but, that would mean Phiiiiiillllip “a manatee was my mother” Adddddams is a know nothing gentry farmer rather than a hands on horny handed man of the soil.

https://twitter.com/PhillipAdams_1/status/1736651834566328474

The mongs supporting Phiiiiil say mong things like “well what not build it in the desert then” ignoring the transmission costs…
Tards, so many tards.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 10:05 am

The price shows (probably) that the Suez isn’t as important as it used to be…

The crude oil price has in fact moved up on announcement of curtailment by BP, Maersk etc. But not by much.

Similar to events in 2021 when the Ever Given grounded in the canal and blocked shipping, the oil market takes time to work out the supply/logistics issues. Particularly with US production running at high rates and the current loading/shipping issues with Russian crude.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 19, 2023 10:09 am

Never paid attention to Queensland politics, saw the new premier on skah last night. He looks like a longtimetime APS4 whose been promoted above his competence. Couldn’t string a sentence together. Is incompetence a prerequisite for politicians to further their career. Don’t answer I already know.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 10:09 am

If it can be done from Brisbane it can be done from Lahore or Manila. We don’t need anybody at BOM for that matter.

In two years time, the BOM and all its works will be able to be done by ChatGPT and a spotty teenager.

Frank
Frank
December 19, 2023 10:12 am

Was it wrong of me to laugh before asking if she was ok.

Depends. Did she hear the onset of sniggering?

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 10:12 am

He looks like a longtimetime APS4 whose been promoted above his competence. Couldn’t string a sentence together.

I’ll have you know he has a PhD…in trade unionism.

(Yes, seriously; this is not a joke.)

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 10:16 am

Now scientists say your breathing might affect the climate

By Jo Nova

Someone just realized that humans emit methane (like cows, camels, mammals, and ancient herds of bison).

Headline, humans are fuelling global warming just by breathing.

The new study shows that humans are generating methane, just like the awful Planet Wrecking Cows. But the truth is that all mammals have probably always produced some methane, and that includes the massive herds of herbivores that used to roam the Earth, when the climate was “perfect”.

The new paper in PLOS One assessed 104 people and found 31% were methane producers like the cows. They calculated the 67 million homo sapiens in the United Kingdom increase the national methane and N2O emissions by as much as… golly, 0.05 – 0.1%. (Despite this trivial and predictable outcome, somehow, they had no trouble getting grants or getting published for studying methane-angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin).

The main thing we learn from this paper is how easy it is to get money to study climate inanities compared to how hard it is to get grants to audit the IPCC or investigate the sun’s role in climate change.

If belches of methane can cause a climate crisis, how, we marvel, did the planet not boil away when 30 million bison roamed the plains of North America? Why was the climate ideal (apparently) when the vast herds of Wildebeest roamed Africa, and Aurochs stretched across Europe?

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
December 19, 2023 10:16 am

WHERE ARE YOU, YOUR HOLINESS

. At the moment, while there is an elected Pope, he is not the Vicar of Christ on Earth, nor is the current elected Pope worthy of being called ” Your Holiness’ – as far as I am concerned Jorge Bergolio is not a holy man, he is Satan’s cypher.

Viva
Viva
December 19, 2023 10:17 am

Britney retires in her twenties to a French village near Paris courtesy the Australian taxpayer leaving behind a trail of destruction.

There is a lesson here somewhere

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 19, 2023 10:21 am

The Pony Club has slid a long way from the low tax bastion of freedom and corruption under Joh. It’s basically Victoriastan with sunshine (in parts) now. Da bruvvas running da show now – and have been for some time.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
December 19, 2023 10:24 am

Maybe if Hoggins had packed off for a Kon Tiki Euro-Boinko Tour at the age of nineteen, instead of being promised the new version of the old Public Service Exam highway where if you look the part and say the hashtags out loud, you’re given the wheel of the gubmint, we wouldn’t be mopping up this mess.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 10:25 am

Britney retires in her twenties to a French village near Paris courtesy the Australian taxpayer leaving behind a trail of destruction.

There is a lesson here somewhere

Perhaps the NACC will be able to discern it.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 10:27 am
calli
calli
December 19, 2023 10:27 am

Lunas is just out of Montpellier, the local Big Smoke.

I’m not convinced it will be their landing pad at all. More like a conveniently “remote” location to keep the hounds at bay. My guess is that they’ll move either westwards towards Bordeaux or east and into Provence. Much more their style and a place you can easily get lost in.

P
P
December 19, 2023 10:27 am

Vatican says priests can bless same-sex couples without condoning their lifestyles
CNA – By Jonathan Liedl – Rome Newsroom, Dec 18, 2023

But the ruling — the latest in a flurry of documents published by the DDF since Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Pope Francis’ longtime theological adviser, took over as prefect in September — is likely to generate further controversy on the issue, with both proponents and critics seeing it as a possible opening to additional changes down the road.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 10:28 am

Da bruvvas running da show now – and have been for some time.

Rumour has it that the head of the nurses’ union was unofficially the chief adviser on hospitals to the Minister for Health during covid.

We’re still dealing with the clinical and theatre backlogs.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 19, 2023 10:30 am

With Martin Bennett still on the case in WA it won’t be all pinot grigio on the terrace in 2024.

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 10:32 am

My agent in the field writes:

“Transport for NSW has:

16 on $504,757
118 on $362,689
746 on $257,516
3116 on between $125,001 and $150,000

You’d be surprised how few of these positions have anything to do with road construction or maintenance in their day to day tasks.

In fact it’s almost certainly inversely proportional – the more you have to do with road building the less you get paid.”

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 10:33 am

Nasa’s Voyager 1 spacecraft sending gobbledygook data back to Earth

Nasa’s Voyager 1 space probe has started sending nonsensical data back to Earth after making a journey of billions of miles and travelling for nearly 50 years in space.

First launched in 1977, the spacecraft was originally on a five year mission to fly past Jupiter and Saturn but has continued to venture further into space for the past 46 years, becoming the first human-made object to leave the solar system.

Amazing to think that this craft is still functioning using less computer grunt and ~10% of the power of a microwave oven.

They built things tough in the 1970’s. For most of the craft’s life, it has been drifting through near absolute zero space vacuum – warmed only by the waste heat from its dinky 200W thermoelectric generator.

An interstellar Land Rover.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 10:34 am

for those wanting to see the livestream of the defence tackling brown, not till midday EST will the stream start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvFhdUOIYJc

Former Liberal staffer Fiona Brown arrives at court to be cross-examined

Former Liberal staffer Fiona Brown has arrived at the federal court in Sydney to continue being cross-examined by Sue Chrysanthou SC, who is acting for Lisa Wilkinson.

Wilkinson is in court again today.

The public gallery is packed with accredited media as the live stream of the proceedings has been disabled until midday.

Brown requested to give her evidence without the live stream because of her mental health.

Justice Michael Lee has said he determined yesterday that it was in the interests of justice that the evidence be “streamed but not live streamed”.

After Brown’s evidence is complete the court will hear from UK-based lip reader Tim Reedy.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 10:35 am

Starting now.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 19, 2023 10:35 am

Daily Mail.

Brittany Higgins’ parting message to Australia as she jets out for France with David Sharaz after $2.4m taxpayer payout

“Goodbye, and thanks for the three million quid.”

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 10:36 am

If it can be done from Brisbane it can be done from Lahore or Manila. We don’t need anybody at BOM for that matter.

I suspect Lahore forecasts might be more accurate also. The Indians don’t believe in climate fairies.

The warmist models are atrocious at modelling cloud cover and the water cycle, and since POAMA is built on the Hadley Centre model (which was notoriously fingered in Climategate) I would not be surprised if their rainfall modeling is isn’t great. But I haven’t looked at such things, I defer to farming Cats on that subject.

The problem is if they fixed modelling of clouds they’d prove CO2 is harmless.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 19, 2023 10:36 am

It’s still not a Sydney celebrity trial till Richo takes the stand.

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 10:37 am

I’m not an EMH fanatic but markets nearly always get it right. Saying the market is fake because you have an apparent conundrum without a very comprehensive analysis is short sighted to say the least.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 10:37 am

WHERE ARE YOU, YOUR HOLINESS?!

He’s keeping busy:

Pope Francis Approves Blessing Same-Sex Couples (Dec 18)

Perhaps it’s time to stop calling him Your Holiness.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 10:38 am

Stream of Browns evidence will be delayed till tomorrow, so we might only be getting this opening and the lipreader later on today.

Media can still report and be present.

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 10:39 am

Transport for NSW needs to meet Chainsaw Man.

Liberty moves forward, you sons of bitches!

Jorge
Jorge
December 19, 2023 10:41 am

Explaining the price of oil may not be easy.

Supermarket prices on the other hand …

Apparently there is a group organising a boycott of Coles and Woolies this weekend as a protest against price gouging.

That’s why you’ll now see many, many specials on the shelves.

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 10:44 am

Apparently there is a group organising a boycott of Coles and Woolies this weekend as a protest against price gouging.

Have these people tried the competition or lived in a small town?

It does get better and a lot worse.

Top Ender
Top Ender
December 19, 2023 10:47 am

I wonder if Nickerless and Token Bloke have really left Oz.

Living in a village of 500 or so in France will pale quickly.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 10:47 am

And off till the afternoon with the lip reader…

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
December 19, 2023 10:49 am

Saudis and Emirates missing.

And Australia.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 10:52 am

Apparently there is a group organising a boycott of Coles and Woolies this weekend as a protest against price gouging.

Where? Alice Springs?

Sad reason this city’s Coles has been transformed into a fortress at night (19 Dec)

The electricity price also must figure, since their stores are air conditioned and have lots of fridges. Plus the enforced very expensive changes to refrigeration due to supposed mega global warming-causing refrigerants.

On the other hand the shoplifting due to robot checkouts is all their own fault. Much harder to get anything past a checkout chick.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 10:52 am

Yessss, because damaging auto fine equipment is an act of terrorism…

Counter-terrorism arrests after Ulez camera blown up in London

Whereas thousands of people engaged in the festivals of Jew hate are a bridge too far..

The Ulez scheme aims to improve air quality by charging a £12.50 daily fee to enter the zone for vehicles that do not meet emissions standards – broadly, petrol cars from before 2005 and pre-2015 diesels. It is enforced by a network of numberplate recognition cameras.

Khan’s decision to expand the Ulez area to cover the whole of Greater London from 29 August has faced intense opposition from the government, Conservative MPs and parts of the media.

The scheme has also prompted a surge in vandalism. Figures released by the Met in November showed there had been nearly 1,000 recorded crimes connected to the cameras being stolen or vandalised in the past seven months.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 19, 2023 10:56 am

True Crime Australia
Police & Courts Victoria

Abdul Nacer Benbrika to be released on an extended supervision order

The Victorian Supreme Court has ruled that one of Australia’s most notorious terrorists, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, can be released into the community

From the Hun “Hello, Mossad. Do you do contract work, and what’s your fee?”

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 10:57 am

Operation Prosperity Guardian is bringing together multiple countries to … jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Surely the New Zealand Navy can spare one of its two tinnies?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 19, 2023 11:02 am

Living in a village of 500 or so in France will pale quickly.

Dunno – once the notoriety of being “Mademoiselle la Knickerless” wears off.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 11:04 am

Living in a village of 500 or so in France will pale quickly.

Dunno – once the notoriety of being “Mademoiselle la Knickerless” wears off.

I guess it depends how long the locals are prepared to tolerate the knickerazzi.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:04 am

I dream of a Palestinian Province of Greater Israel, along the old Roman style, with an Israeli Consul in charge

That would have to be a Proconsul, Lizzie – at least if it reflects the republican period. The Proconsul would govern a major province for a year (with one year extensions, if necessary) following his Consulship in Rome.

I would suggest that such an arrangement would be not only rejected out of hand, but entirely inappropriate, as in Roman times it was recognised as the government of a conquered people by their conqueror.

Yes, Vicki, proconsul it would be. “In 395 the proconsul of Asia, Aurelianus, wrote to the emperor Arcadius … asking for an imperial rescript on the definition of heresy.” (from Freeman, “381 AD, Heretics, Pagans and the Christian State” p.142, Pimlico, 2008). This rescript is little known but I’ve used it to explain something quite significant in the work of Gildas. So I should have remembered the correct terminology for a provincial governorship. Mea culpa.

I don’t demur from seeing the Palestinians post this war as in the same situation as a conquered people though. They have to face facts. They will be, certainly in the immediate aftermath. They will also be in no strong position to argue.

In fact, in discussion with Hairy late last night re something like a separate province as a solution to the war’s immediate aftermath, he liked the suggestion of a formalised set of guiding rulers, who would be ‘consuls’ in a joint authority until some self-determination could emerge, democratically made by Palestinians already resident. His suggestion was to have two consuls, one from Israel responsible for law and order, and another from Egypt for social administration; or even a triumvirate of three, such as the consuls, including himself, that Napoleon originally put in France after the fall of Robespierre. One thing is certain, there will need to be law enforcement and social welfare immediately and planning for rebuilding.

Trump, Hairy assures me, would nut out such a solution in half a day.

Bruce
Bruce
December 19, 2023 11:04 am

@ Roger:

“I’ll have you know he has a PhD…in trade unionism.”

Quite often, PhD really stands for

“Piled higher and Deeper”

And I got that one from a bloke with a PhD in biochemistry.

Vicki
Vicki
December 19, 2023 11:11 am

The oil market is fake because the price came down and petrol hasn’t moved or the Suez is blocked and the market is fake because oil hasn’t gone up enough?

What we find strange in the local petrol prices is that, contrary to the “old days”, petrol and diesel is cheaper in our regional locality than in Sydney. It used to be dearer in the country because petrol retailers claimed that cartage had to be added on.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:12 am

Biden’s hopelessly weak suggestion of the current Palestinian Authority is totally unacceptable to Israel, as the PA are simply Hamas supporters who would effect no useful administration or change, especially re law and order.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 11:13 am

On the other hand the shoplifting due to robot checkouts is all their own fault. Much harder to get anything past a checkout chick.

Interesting that both Coles and Woolworths now have facial recognition cameras on their self checkouts.

It’s not clear whether they are actually using facial recognition nor how they might use it in future. So many questions:

Are known, or suspected shoplifters going to be banned?

If so are they being shoved onto someone else?

Are the stores going to exchange information about naughty faces?

How do we get taken off the list if we are wrongly face-identified as naughty?

Do we have a future where an AI checkout refuses to let us go to another store to buy a second unhealthy Kit Kat for the day?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 11:14 am

LOL. Electric cars in a place as cold as Canada are dodos waiting for Darwin.

Canada will require all new cars to be zero emissions vehicles by 2035 (18 Dec)

All new cars in Canada will have to be zero emissions by 2035, the government will announce next week when it unveils new vehicle regulations, the Star has learned.

Turn the heating on and your range will go to zero very rapidly. On the other hand this should do wonders for ICE used car prices.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 11:15 am

Counter-terrorism arrests after Ulez camera blown up in London

There’s a simpler, non-violent way.

Don’t register for auto charge, don’t download the app and don’t pay the fees.

Governments – in this instance the GLC – actually don’t have many options when faced with civil disobedience on a mass scale.

areff
areff
December 19, 2023 11:16 am

According to Wikipedia, for what it’s worth:

Extradition shall not be granted by France when the offense for which extradition is requested is considered by France as a political offense or as an offense connected with a political offense or as an offense inspired by political motives.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 11:18 am

Inside the machine, it is hard to take stock of its qualities.

(Christopher Jolliffe – Quadrant as linked by Matrix at the top o’
the page).

Inside the gulag, we will fight others to remain within. For outside the gulag, there is nothing: a void. A person existing in nothing is no-one. Our biggest fear is to be revealed as a no-one. WITHIN the gulag, however, one can hide that fear. Escaping from the gulag, then, would be self-destructive. Remain within and bury your fears like all the other millions of someone no-ones. The gulag offers comfort. For which, of course, there is a price.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 11:21 am

Biden’s hopelessly weak suggestion of the current Palestinian Authority is totally unacceptable to Israel…

And probably to the Gazans.

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 11:21 am

Roger
Dec 19, 2023 10:00 AM
If it can be done from Brisbane it can be done from Lahore or Manila. We don’t need anybody at BOM for that matter.

Might want to first ask Optus how moving technical stuff overseas worked out.

That’s what I mean, their work is no better than that of outsourced labour.

P
P
December 19, 2023 11:21 am

THE LEGACY OF BENEDICT XVI
by Roberto Regoli
12 . 18 . 23

Benedict himself gave an assessment of his pontificate on February 27, 2013, the day before the sede vacante:

It has been a portion of the Church’s journey which has had moments of joy and light, but also moments which were not easy; I have felt like Saint Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us so many days of sun and of light winds, days when the catch was abundant; there were also moments when the waters were rough and the winds against us, as throughout Church history, and the Lord seemed to be sleeping. But I have always known that the Lord is in the boat, and I have always known that the boat of the Church is not mine but his. Nor does the Lord let it sink; it is he who guides it, surely also through those whom he has chosen, because he so wished. This has been, and is, a certainty which nothing can shake.

Benedict XVI’s legacy is thus one of radical faith in God. Moreover, in a tired and self-destructive era that exalts man but, in the end, continuously humiliates him, Benedict XVI chose both faith in God and in man. He chose the harmony between faith and reason. This is his legacy.

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 11:23 am

Thanks areff. And now we know.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 11:23 am

Interesting that both Coles and Woolworths now have facial recognition cameras on their self checkouts.

That would be very naughty of them, given their repeated public denials that such cameras are used for that purpose.

areff
areff
December 19, 2023 11:23 am

An interstellar Land Rover.

Reliability and LandRover don’t belong in the same sentence unless it’s to reliably expect replacements of broken axles.

John H.
John H.
December 19, 2023 11:24 am

Do remember that this is a non linear, coupled, chaotic system you are trying to forecast so under many circumstances it runs off the rails not too far into the future.

And yet we have seasons.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:25 am

“Goodbye, and thanks for the three million quid.”

At the exchange rate for the Euro it won’t go far.

Britnee might end up eating less. So it’s a health kick.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 11:25 am

That’s what I mean, their work is no better than that of outsourced labour.

Say what you will about BOM, but I don’t think they’ve ever had a major tech failure that resulted in days of no forecasts.

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 11:27 am

When asked whether Mr. Trump was too conservative, not conservative enough or “not too far either way,” 57 percent of voters in a recent poll picked “not too far either way.” Only 27 percent of voters regarded him as too conservative.

The ones who find him too conservative would, no doubt, live in the DC area. I read somewhere that 96% of Washington DC voted against him.

shatterzzz
December 19, 2023 11:27 am

Interesting that both Coles and Woolworths now have facial recognition cameras on their self checkouts.

Local Coles now has an auto gate exit at the self serve check-outs .. shopping this morning and gate(s) wouldn’t budge .. had to yell for an assistant to use a keycard to open .. apparently having something else in the trolley, bought elsewhere & not recognized, locks the auto open system …….
Starting to get ridiculous compared to the, once, simple select, pay, leave method ………..

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:28 am

And yet we have seasons.

Of course we do; it’s seasonal. It’s axial. Axiomatic even. 🙂

The earth’s spin axis is tilted with respect to its orbital plane. This is what causes the seasons. When the earth’s axis points towards the sun, it is summer for that hemisphere. When the earth’s axis points away, winter can be expected.

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 11:28 am

Extradition shall not be granted by France when the offense for which extradition is requested is considered by France as a political offense or as an offense connected with a political offense or as an offense inspired by political motives.

Oh my.

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 11:29 am

From the ‘Comments’ – WHERE ARE YOU, YOUR HOLINESS?!

Reports are that he is too busy authorising blessing same sex unions. The Holy Spirit needs to intervene.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
December 19, 2023 11:30 am

Muddy mused:

I fear that conservatives place far too much reliance on the magical emergence of a saviour, a ‘warrior king’ who will single-handedly slay every enemy without the gold-class-seating front row audience being spattered with anything more distasteful than sweat.

“[Soviet writers of the lower classes] made the same mistake that revolutionaries continually make: ascribing the vices of the upper class to the class itself and not to humanity as a whole.”

“The leadership of your country… , will perhaps have to bear a burden greater than ever before in American history… May God grant that in those times you will have at the helm personalities as great as those who created your country.”

– Solzhenitsyn

These two quotes may appear somewhat contradictory, ascribing responsibility first to the average person and then to national leaders. How could it be otherwise when trying to describe a self-frustrating animal such as the human?
But they are not contradictory. The problems begin in each and every person, with regards to what conditions they will support, accept, or ignore. And at the same time the leadership hierarchy everywhere, in government and outside of it, may use their influence for better or for worse.

We can’t make the world better by saying “No”, but we can stop the backslide by saying “No” more often. This will necessarily begin with saying “no” to ourselves before we begin saying “no” to others.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 11:32 am

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Dec 19, 2023 11:12 AM

Biden’s hopelessly weak suggestion of the current Palestinian Authority is totally unacceptable to Israel, as the PA are simply Hamas supporters who would effect no useful administration or change, especially re law and order.

Meanwhile in Gaza Land

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research releases new findings…

What do Palestinians believe about what transpired on October 7? Do they endorse the attack? Who, if anyone, has committed war crimes? And whom do they support to be their leaders in the the future?

When asked which political party or political trend they support, the largest percentage selected Hamas (43%), followed by Fatah (17%), while 12% selected other or third-party groups, and 28% said none of them or did not know.

Three months ago, support for Hamas stood at 22% and Fatah at 26%.

In the West Bank, support for Hamas today stands at 44% (compared to 12% three months ago), and for Fatah at 16% (compared to 26% three months ago).

In the Gaza Strip, support for Hamas today stands at 42% (compared to 38% three months ago) and support for Fatah at 18% (compared to 25% three months ago).

John H.
John H.
December 19, 2023 11:36 am

A fanatical neo-religiosity has swept through public life, ostensibly secular in character but religious in function, and it hates you. All that time planting trees, “the shade of which you will never see”, just to watch them woodchipped in front of you.

“You can take away a man’s gods but only to give him others in return.”

Jung.

That’s the problem with progressives, they despise religion but have created their own. Feeling oppressed and gaining some influence they go for …

“The slave starts by begging for justice and ending up want to wear a crown, he too wants to dominate.”

Camus

It is always the same with human beings. We’re better than them! LeMay stated that if the USA had lost the war he would have been charged with war crimes. He had a point. He took the most advanced aircraft of WW2, the B29, designed to fly so high it was beyond the reach of enemy defenses, and had it flown at 5,000 feet to drop incendiaries that burnt out 80% of Japan cities. A terrible way to kill children … .
https://poemanalysis.com/dylan-thomas/a-refusal-to-mourn-the-death-by-fire-of-a-child-in-london/

MatrixTransform
December 19, 2023 11:36 am

muddy,

dealing with the silliness of post-everything’s ephemera is like trying to grasp a fistful of water

Jolliffe’s writing is informative but it is also very funny .

Of this mutual collision, we must concede that liberalism got the better of it. After all, it was Che Guevara’s face that ended up on millions of T-shirts around the world, enriching the profits of investor-capitalists.

that bit made me chuckle

actually there were quite a few good chuckles in there

LB2
LB2
December 19, 2023 11:37 am

Britnee might end up eating less. So it’s a health kick.

Can we assume the D. Juris has been successfully completed cum laude*?

* I know, phrasing …

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 11:38 am

Science is amazing.

Barbie should expand her range of medical and scientific professions, suggests study (Phys.org, 18 Dec)

Barbie should consider expanding her medical and scientific careers into areas where women and other under-represented groups remain a minority, suggests a study published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

But no previous studies have analyzed Barbie medical professional and scientist dolls to determine the kinds of professions they hold and their professional accuracy.

To fill this knowledge gap, researcher Katherine Klamer set out to identify the kinds of medical and scientific fields that Barbie dolls worked in compared with other career dolls and to determine whether they met clinical and laboratory safety standards.

Her findings are based on analysis of 92 Barbie brand career dolls (53 doctors, 10 scientists, two science educators, 15 nurses, 11 dentists, and one paramedic) and a comparison group of 65 non-Barbie brand career dolls (26 doctors, 27 scientists, seven nurses, two dentists, two engineers and one MRI technician) from July to November 2023.

Ken is not mentioned anywhere in the article, but then I wouldn’t expect too many science and engineering Ken dolls. He’s not very bright.

John H.
John H.
December 19, 2023 11:39 am

Bruce
Dec 19, 2023 11:04 AM
@ Roger:

“I’ll have you know he has a PhD…in trade unionism.”

Quite often, PhD really stands for

“Piled higher and Deeper”

And I got that one from a bloke with a PhD in biochemistry.

“The average Phd thesis is nothing but a transference of bones from one graveyard to another.”
J. Frank Dobie

Cassie of Sydney
December 19, 2023 11:40 am

In the West Bank, support for Hamas today stands at 44% (compared to 12% three months ago),

Well of course, because of what happened on 7 October 2023. They love it when Palestinian Muslims rape and murder Jews.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:41 am

I’m waiting with bated breath to hear of other solutions to the post-war Palestinian situation.

I do not see a solution that reduces Israel’s security being acceptable to Israel.
And there has to be a period of ‘rule from elsewhere’ in the war-torn territories.

If you downtick then please put the case as to why you disagree.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:43 am

Well of course, because of what happened on 7 October 2023. They love it when Palestinian Muslims rape and murder Jews.

And this is the mindset that the people in this area have to be dragged kicking and screaming to reject. It was done in Germany in 1945 and can/should be done here.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 11:46 am

We Can Either Go Medieval on Terrorists or Kiss Prosperity Goodbye

“Remember we have only to be lucky once, you will have to be lucky always,” the IRA warned the world after an assassination bombing at Brighton’s Grand Hotel barely missed killing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984.

The same story is being told today in the vital lanes of the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are waging a missile war against the world’s shipping — and major shippers are getting out before their luck runs out.

Oil giant BP is just the latest firm to announce it will “pause” all shipments through the Red Sea due to the “deteriorating security situation,” according to a company statement.

Taiwan-based Evergreen Line made a similar announcement, “For the safety of ships and crew, Evergreen Line has decided to temporarily stop accepting Israeli cargo with immediate effect, and has instructed its container ships to suspend navigation through the Red Sea until further notice.”

Those announcements came on the heels of similar decisions made over the weekend. On Saturday, two other major shipping firms — Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM — ceased Red Sea operations. “The CMA CGM Group is deeply concerned about the recent attacks on commercial vessels unfolding in the Red Sea Region.

The situation is further deteriorating and concern of safety is increasing,” one statement said.

All of their ships currently in passage have been instructed to “reach safe areas and pause their journey in safe waters with immediate effect until further notice.”

The BBC explained Monday that Houthis are “targeting ships traveling through the Bab al-Mandab Strait – also known as the Gate of Tears – which is a channel 20 miles (32km) wide, and known for being perilous to navigate.”

One or two American guided missile destroyers — dispatched from a navy that is already stretched too thin — is not enough to shoot down every Houthi missile.

Shipping firms understand this and are skedaddling accordingly.

For my isolationist-minded readers who are certain this is just “a quarrel in a faraway land between people of which we know nothing,” nothing could be further from the truth.

The Red Sea — and the Suez Canal that connects it to the Mediterranean — is one of the world’s most vital sea lanes.

Oil prices are up — way up — on the news. That quarrel in a faraway land is about to make itself felt at your neighborhood gas pump, and that has nothing to do with a lack of production in this country.

Oil is a global commodity, so a disruption anywhere leads to higher prices everywhere.

About one in six container ships travels through the Suez Canal, carrying everything from crude oil to consumer goods. Supply chain expert Chris Rogers told CNN today, “Consumer goods will face the largest impact, though current disruptions are occurring during the off-peak shipping season.”

But the world’s wealthy trading nations can either get as Medieval on terrorists and pirates as they are on us, or we can kiss our prosperity goodbye.

duncanm
duncanm
December 19, 2023 11:47 am

Amazing to think that this craft is still functioning using less computer grunt and ~10% of the power of a microwave oven.

more amazingly, its only just broken after being exposed to almost 50 years of cosmic rays – which don’t do good stuff to electronics.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 11:49 am

More amazing science.

Scientists collect aardvark poop to understand how the species is impacted by climate in Africa (Phys.org, 18 Dec)

In a first-of-its-kind study of aardvarks, Oregon State University researchers spent months in sub-Saharan Africa collecting poop from the animal and concluded that aridification of the landscape is isolating them, which they say could have implications for their long-term survival.

Epps learned to recognize aardvark tracks and poop (which they bury) when working as post-doctoral researcher nearly 20 years ago in Tanzania. …. Epps said. “With aridity expected to increase in southern-most Africa under most climate change scenarios, the need for further research is clear.”

We must find and dig up aardvark crap to save the planet.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:50 am

Old Ozzie, rising support for Hamas is not unsurprising due to the war and the sense of retaliation for nursed hurts that Palestinians still express about Oct 7th. But putting a Hamas supporting Palestinian Authority in place to keep unstable control would do nothing to diminish this support, which would be bad news for everyone, as a terrorism ideology is no foundation for rebuilding a good life after a war.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 11:51 am

And this is the mindset that the people in this area have to be dragged kicking and screaming to reject. It was done in Germany in 1945 and can/should be done here.

I dare say denazifying the Germans was a walk in the park compared to deradicalising the Palestinian Muslims.

Boambee John
Boambee John
December 19, 2023 11:52 am

Muddy
Dec 18, 2023 9:29 PM
Boambee John.

Thanks for the best wishes.
Yes, Australians of a particular New Guinea campaign in WWII. I have the list and can access photos of perhaps 60% of them via the National Archives’ online database.

It’s not a commercially viable project, but designed to be a reference guide for libraries and similar institutions. No glamour or fame will result, but I feel it my duty to reveal at least some of the names etched in stone.

One of the other volunteers at the AWM completed a project to list every Australian nurse who served overseas during the First World War. Also not commercially viable, but useful to researchers.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 11:52 am

We Stayed Out of Your Bedroom, Now Stay Out of Our Senate Chambers

KEVIN DOWNEY JR.

Let’s see how many sports/sex double entendres I can include in an article about the Senate aide taking it in the back nine. DING — there’s one!

One day, long ago, the left simply asked that we stay out of their bedrooms. Fair enough.

Then they asked for tolerance, followed by acceptance.

Today, I can’t pick up my phone without seeing that now unemployed Senate aide taking a backdoor slider. DING!

Personally, I don’t care what two or more consenting adults do to each other. I just don’t appreciate checking the news and having to see a driver in the pole position. DING!

How did we get here? Aww, you know!

We were scolded and told we were haters.

But straight society evolved and gay people were granted the right to marry.

Everything was supposed to be fine, right?

We were told to stay out of their bedrooms until they wanted us in their bedrooms.

If they want us out of their bedrooms, why do middle-aged, out-of-shape gay dudes walk naked around our cities, flip-floppin’ their johnsons in the name of “pride”? Why are attention-deprived men in dresses shaking their waxed bahookies in the faces of children? Why are blue-haired commie teachers waving dilly-doos at their third-graders?

I kinda think they wanted us “in their bedrooms” the whole time.

No thanks, we’re cool out here. And stay away from the kids.

The video of a man sacking a tight end (DING! DING! Double double entendre!) will be used against us.

In his community, this cornhole champ (DING!) is a hero. Those of us who don’t care to see the penetration in the backfield (DING!) will be labeled “bigots.”

Kevin Downey Jr. Is a comedian, columnist, and radio show host.

When he isn’t writing or performing, he is collecting surf records and practicing his mixologist skills at his tiki bar. His apartment—the Atomic Bunker—looks like it was furnished from George Jetson’s garage sale. You can hear KDJ crush the commies and punish the pedos on “The Kevin Downey, Jr. Show” every Monday-Friday from 10-11 am

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:56 am

“With aridity expected to increase in southern-most Africa under most climate change scenarios, the need for further research is clear.”

Of course it is. I’ve never seen a grant application that doesn’t say that.

Gotta tick the climate box. Always.

I’d worry more about Aardvarks losing their double A placement in the dictionary as the numero uno anteater.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
December 19, 2023 11:58 am

‘Adults in Charge’: Top Nine Degenerate Democrat Scandals Under Joe Biden

1. Democrat Staffer Having Sex in the Senate
2. Porn Web Cam Democrat Virginia Senate Candidate Susanna Gibson
3. Baggy of Cocaine Found in the White House
4. Trans Influencer Rose Montoya Flashes Breasts at White House Picnic
5. Navy Enlists Drag Queen Influencer to Recruit More Sailors
6. Democrat Mayor Arrested on Child-Porn Related Charges
7. Non-Binary Biden Senior Official and BDSM-Practitioner Caught Stealing Luggage
8. Army Colonel Exposed in Pup-Play
9. Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo Faced Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

Democrat Scandals Predating Biden

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:58 am

I dare say denazifying the Germans was a walk in the park compared to deradicalising the Palestinian Muslims.

They’ve gotta learn to walk that park though.
A quick look around Gaza might assist them.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 11:59 am

Catch y’all later.

Christmas is coming.

Top Ender
Top Ender
December 19, 2023 12:00 pm

Yarra Council spent nearly $200,000 on artwork and less than $40,000 on play equipment during a park upgrade which created “Melbourne’s saddest playground”.

Collingwood parents were shocked at the unveiling of the $2 million “upgrade” to Cambridge Street Reserve in October.

A full children’s playground which included a climbing frame, seesaw and slides had been replaced by a single swing and some exercise bars.

The reserve now contains open green space, some picnic tables and artwork — including sculptures of two flying jumpers – and came at a hefty price.

Documents seen by The Herald Sun reveal the council spent $191,600 on the “design, construction and installation of ‘Close Knit’ artwork” from contractor Dishboy Dreaming, otherwise known as sculptor William Eicholtz.

The flying jumpers are part of Close Knit, a work which “references the iconic ‘Aussie’ backyard, symbolized (sic) by washing on a Hills Hoist with strong themes of domesticity and handcrafts,” according to Yarra Council.

One resident said the council’s spending priorities had opened them up to ridicule.

“It’s completely irresponsible, that if they (the council) had reversed the spending and spent $200k on play equipment it would have passed by and nobody would have cared,” Yarra resident Alan Tse said.

Herald-Sun

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
December 19, 2023 12:02 pm

I’m waiting with bated breath to hear of other solutions to the post-war Palestinian situation.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine was proposed by Saudi Arabia in mid 2022.

https://www.jwire.com.au/hashemite-kingdom-of-palestine-offers-gazans-hope-post-war/

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 12:03 pm

P
Dec 19, 2023 10:27 AM
Vatican says priests can bless same-sex couples without condoning their lifestyles

I consider that the same as accepting the proceeds of theft but saying you don’t condone theft. Does not make sense.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 12:05 pm

A quick look around Gaza might assist them.

Evidently not, if the poll cited above is an accurate reflection of current views.

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 12:06 pm

The problem is if they fixed modelling of clouds they’d prove CO2 is harmless.

Bruce, this means we will not get any more useful work out of that outfit. At some point a government will have to either reform BOM or replace it with a commercial contractor.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 12:08 pm

Always fun when a volcano erupts nearly in your backyard.

Photo

The town of Grindavik is lucky, the fissure looks to be about a kilometre to the north. Very easily might have been right through the middle of the town.

Iceland volcano erupts near famous Blue Lagoon (Sky News, 19 Dec)

John H.
John H.
December 19, 2023 12:09 pm

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Dec 19, 2023 11:28 AM
And yet we have seasons.

Of course we do; it’s seasonal. It’s axial. Axiomatic even. ?

The earth’s spin axis is tilted with respect to its orbital plane. This is what causes the seasons. When the earth’s axis points towards the sun, it is summer for that hemisphere. When the earth’s axis points away, winter can be expected.

Earth tilt and orbit are non-linear. Just because a system is non-linear doesn’t mean it is inherently going to lose a rhythmical quality. There may only be minor shifts. It certainly makes prediction difficult but as was argued earlier this year a non-linear system can still be subject to a few key variables which largely control its overall behavior.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 12:11 pm

I consider that the same as accepting the proceeds of theft but saying you don’t condone theft. Does not make sense.

The liturgists have been presented with quite the challenge.

What exactly is the content of the blessing and the Biblical promise that authorises it?

A blessing, after all, is not a pious wish (a common misunderstanding); it is a performative word.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 12:13 pm

Boambee John

One of the other volunteers at the AWM completed a project to list every Australian nurse who served overseas during the First World War. Also not commercially viable, but useful to researchers.

History unrecorded is history that never happened.

I came to the conclusion decades ago that I probably wasn’t going to set the world on fire myself, but without the quiet, unremarkable individuals, the history-makers exist only until frail human memory expires.

Our ability to record, store, retrieve and analyse our experiences, is one of the characteristics that make our species so unique. In a life far from successful, I’ve found my niche as one of those nameless scribes, offering an option to gaze at the past for future generations, should history still be acceptable in polite conversation.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 12:26 pm
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 12:27 pm

Earth tilt and orbit are non-linear. Just because a system is non-linear doesn’t mean it is inherently going to lose a rhythmical quality.

Belly wobbling also.

Challenging assumptions: The 8.5-year rhythm of Earth’s inner core (Phys.org, 18 Dec)

Researchers from China have confirmed the existence of an approximately 8.5-year Inner Core Wobble (ICW) in both polar motion and length-of-day variations, revealing a static tilt of about 0.17 degrees between the Earth’s inner core and mantle, challenging traditional assumptions and providing insights into the Earth’s internal dynamics and density distribution.

The findings of the study are published in Nature Communications.

Interesting to know if this oscillation is related to Earth’s magnetic field flipping every so often. Lately the North Magnetic Pole has been zipping along in a very interesting manner.

Turnip
Turnip
December 19, 2023 12:28 pm

Say what you will about BOM, but I don’t think they’ve ever had a major tech failure that resulted in days of no forecasts.

I’d argue that no information is better than wrong information.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 12:33 pm
bons
bons
December 19, 2023 12:33 pm

Attending our local supermarket at this time of year is like visiting a strip club (so I am told).

I shall ponder this matter and get back to you on whether I consider this to be a bad thing.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 12:33 pm

I’ve found my niche as one of those nameless scribes, offering an option to gaze at the past for future generations, should history still be acceptable in polite conversation.

A book recommendation then.

Fair Shake
December 19, 2023 12:34 pm

Just read an update in the Oz re this mornings Lehrmann v Ch 10 and the wide mouthed frog.
Brown giving evidence.
My heart goes out to Brown. Dealing with that lot of liars and arse coverers must have been a monumental pain in the butt. One of the few to actually take notes of her meetings. Now Chrysanthou pushing Brown…if it wasnt in her notes then it may not have been said. FFS you cannot win with this lot. So far Brown is the most credible and i would put far more weight into what she says vs the rest of those swamp creatures.

Vicki
Vicki
December 19, 2023 12:34 pm

I would love to be excited and relieved that Big Pharma were about to be held to account for the lack of due diligence in their rushed production of mRNA vaccines to combat Covid:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/texas-makes-a-stand-against-big-pharmas-covid-vaccines/news-story/9de3967f03896549a614e6107127c0a1

However, the recent dismissal of a US court of a case of a Pfizer whistleblower employee (Brook Jackson), suggests we shouldn’t get too excited just yet. There is too much at stake for any court to make any bold decisions.

https://bailiwicknews.substack.com/p/transcript-brook-jackson-vs-pfizer?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 19, 2023 12:34 pm

shatterzzz at 11:27 – as soon as on line sales can support it straight from DCs and run off the leases.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 12:35 pm

Interesting that both Coles and Woolworths now have facial recognition cameras on their self checkouts.

That would be very naughty of them, given their repeated public denials that such cameras are used for that purpose.

Yet, there they are – at least in my home area of inner-Meanjin – with a little monitor on the self-checkout screen showing my handsome visage.

Perhaps they are covertly recording for a ‘Men in Shopping’ calendar.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 12:37 pm

From the grinaids coverage.

Ill add that its updating and covering lightening fast and a lot compared to St Bittleknees depositions.

More at the link..
https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2023/dec/19/bruce-lehrmann-defamation-trial-updates-day-19-fiona-brown-evidence-brittany-higgins-lisa-wilkinson-the-project-ntwnfb#maincontent
Brown is being questioned by Chrysanthou about Lehrmann’s termination letter in which Higgins was not mentioned.

Brown said that leaving a colleague in the office without checking on her welfare was a health and safety issue. Lehrmann said he left the minister’s suite without checking on Higgins.

Chrysanthou suggested that Higgins was deliberately left out of the termination letter despite one of the reasons for his termination being that he left Higgins in Parliament House without checking on her welfare.

Brown disagreed.


Brown is now being asked about the process of finding Higgins another job during the 2019 election campaign.

There was internal discussion about Higgins doing social media for Reynolds in Perth and about her moving to the Gold Coast to be closer to her family, the court heard.

Chrysanthou asked Brown if the discussion about welfare concern was because Higgins had been assaulted.

Brown: “She’d never told me she’d been assaulted”.
….
Brown said she was surprised when she found out that Higgins was proceeding with her complaint of rape with the sexual assault unit.

She said she was surprised Higgins had not told her she’d been assaulted because she had expressed she was happy with the support she had received from her office: “We received almost gushing comments from Higgins”.

“Ms Higgins clearly didn’t not want to tell me or she would have told me,” Brown said.

Brown is being asked questions about Lehrmann’s termination process.

After Lehrmann packed up and left the office after a meeting with Brown he was sent a “show cause” letter about why he should not be sacked after a security breach.

Brown said she recalls Reynolds saying she was dissatisfied with Lehrmann’s response to the letter.

Brown agreed that she was told by Reynolds that the AFP commissioner told the minister on 4 April that a sexual assault had been reported.

Brown said she was not told about this conversation until 5 April.
….
Justice Lee has denied a request from Brown’s legal team that the court be cleared of everyone but accredited media.

Her lawyers interrupted the cross-examination to say non-journalists are wandering “in and out” of the court which is contrary to the understanding that Brown could give her evidence in front of counsel and media only.

Lee said no because he is opposed to closed courts and any citizen was free to see the administration of justice in action.

Bruce Lehrmann is not in court today.

John
John
December 19, 2023 12:38 pm

James Martin, a US Jesuit priest and well-known advocate for LGBTQ believers, said the document was a “major step forward in the church’s ministry to LGBTQ people”.

As the Pope’s influencer implied in the article above, this is the first step in a softening up process.

Real Catholics should resist with a clear message that woke Bishops unambiguously understand. Money talks. This Christmas attend a service presided by one of the notoriously woke Bishops (eg Brisbane, Melbourne, Parramatta, Perth, etc). But instead of making a donation, place an envelope with a message something like this: “You’ve just lost my usual offering of $10 [or whatever you normally give] until you stop blessing sin and persecuting faithful Catholics”.

rosie
rosie
December 19, 2023 12:38 pm
Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 12:40 pm

Yet, there they are – at least in my home area of inner-Meanjin – with a little monitor on the self-checkout screen showing my handsome visage.

Perhaps they are covertly recording for a ‘Men in Shopping’ calenda

It’s a psy-op, Doc.

Coleworths maintains punters inclined to thievery at the self-serve checkouts are deterred from doing so by the knowledge their image may be captured. But there is no recording, unlike the cameras now placed at the entrances and in the aisles.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 12:42 pm

Now Chrysanthou pushing Brown…if it wasnt in her notes then it may not have been said. FFS you cannot win with this lot.

The argument from silence.

Trust me, a barrister will grasp any straw offered.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
December 19, 2023 12:42 pm

An interstellar Land Rover.

The only way I can imagine reconciling this absurd statement with reality is to assume there was once during the 1970s a golden era of Range Rovers which were actually reliable and that the Range Rovers didn’t turn shoddy until later.

Wally Dali
Wally Dali
December 19, 2023 12:43 pm

Catch y’all later.
Christmas is coming.

This is Lizzie’s insider “tell” on social media, she’s being held hostage.
The “bra cash” story last night, for a cat who needs neither, had me suspicious…
Lizzie, gimme one more ping and I’ll send the SWAT team around

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 12:43 pm

A world where feminists have brainwashed women to find their husband’s attraction to theirselves as repulsive is an awful dystopia to suffer life through.

Look at Dworkin. She was a fat, bitter lunatic. She started the “Society for Cutting Up Men” (SCUM).

Ultimately, these women hate themselves.

They are paying rent to a dead, obese, disgusting excuse for a human being.

(Imagine if the woman who posted that with a fake name, profile and bio was Joanna Krupa. That would probably send me, as a millionaire Chad, quite mad and into the looney bin).

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 12:44 pm

Evidently not, if the poll cited above is an accurate reflection of current views.

One could say the same for the Germans in Berlin in 1945, Roger.
Old ideas and leadership exposed for what they were actually worth.
Nothing. A generation dead for it too. A death cult.
People can get sick of death and want to live, not die.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 19, 2023 12:44 pm

Attending our local supermarket at this time of year is like visiting a strip club (so I am told).

Curious. Report back. Given some of the crimes against lycra on the local streets I have my doubts.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 12:45 pm

I love the 21stC. The latest Icelandic volcanic erupt has only been going for about 4 hours and already we have ridiculously gorgeous eye candy. The helicopters must’ve scrambled like MASH ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwbDXAidDyg

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 12:47 pm

Not many Land Rover fans about, Doc.

😀

Lived experience, possibly.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 12:48 pm

Dot
Dec 19, 2023 12:43 PM

And no kids, so no divorce rape for the chap to go through.

There is at least one happy ending to that story.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 12:49 pm

One could say the same for the Germans in Berlin in 1945, Roger.

Anecdotal, but you can see film of Berliners on You Tube removing rubble by hand and bucket with smiles on their faces.

They’re just happy the war is over and they’re not in the Russian sector.

Min
Min
December 19, 2023 12:50 pm

Giorgia Meloni has said it . Cultures that are incompatible as apostasy means death , homosexuality death. Etc. etc. it seems europe is getting the message see her on Michael Smith

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 12:53 pm

This is Lizzie’s insider “tell” on social media, she’s being held hostage.
The “bra cash” story last night, for a cat who needs neither, had me suspicious…

Huh, Wally? I’ve just finished the present list for buying this arvo and then I gift wrapped two round tins of biscuits (you try it, it’s not easy). Re bras, Cassie and I discuss them at length. I have fifteen bras of all types in that drawer so no wonder my stash there gets lost and forgotten.

Like all of us, I am hostage only to fortune. And Hairy. I’ll do anything he says.
Within reason, of course, or it’s Stockholm Syndrome. 🙂

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 12:58 pm

Anecdotal, but you can see film of Berliners on You Tube removing rubble by hand and bucket with smiles on their faces.

Yes, I’d be happy to avoid the Ruskies then. Maybe there’s a bit of smile for the camera and few ciggies in that footage too, Roger?

cohenite
December 19, 2023 1:01 pm

OldOzzie
Dec 19, 2023 9:09 AM
Grandson had mentioned Cane Toads at Byron during Schoolies Week – I had not realised they had got this far South

‘Nightmare fuel’: Cane toads take over Gold Coast town

A picture posted online shows the terrifying reality facing an Australian town, with a pest taking over its streets.

Muzzies are the cane toads of humanity

Vicki
Vicki
December 19, 2023 1:02 pm

BTW it has been conjectured that any case against the vaccine producers will fail if (as has been conjectured) the government contracts provided protection against future litigation for fraud/ invalid clinical trials et al.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 1:03 pm

Chrysanthou suggested that Higgins was deliberately left out of the termination letter despite one of the reasons for his termination being that he left Higgins in Parliament House without checking on her welfare.

Mz Chrysanthou is skating around one of the great mysteries of that fateful $2.4m night.

Through gritted eyes, I can just about imagine how Bruce and Brinny might go back to Parliament House for the risky thrill of some porkage on the Ministerial sofa.

The plot line that I’ve never understood is why Lehrmann, himself on a warning for previously being in PH without cause, would simply bugger off post porking (consensual, or otherwise), knowingly leaving Dr Higgins sparked out and messy in Reynolds’ office. Particularly given they’ve just been escorted to the Love Nest by PH security.

You’d imagine even the stupidest, most reckless, most entitled knobber would realise it was tantamount to career suicide.

Perhaps I’m missing something.

cohenite
December 19, 2023 1:05 pm

A lot of jealous comments previously about Alan Ritchson playing Reacher season 2. Here is the poor guy after 6 months of a diet of wheat grass, cockroaches and garlic fumes. A bit of sympathy and admiration from you low lards is in order.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 1:07 pm

“I just spoke to a young man, Ryan Coogler, who is going to remount ‘The X-Files’ with a diverse cast.

This is “remount” in an animal husbandry sense of the term.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 1:08 pm

Coleworths maintains punters inclined to thievery at the self-serve checkouts are deterred from doing so by the knowledge their image may be captured.

Good to know.
Now I can get back to worry-free shoplifting…

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 19, 2023 1:09 pm

A bit of sympathy and admiration from you low lards is in order.

Cute owl for Cohenite:

Ukrainian tennis star refuses to play against 16-year-old Russian in tournament final (17 Dec)

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 19, 2023 1:11 pm

In a first-of-its-kind study of aardvarks, Oregon State University researchers spent months in sub-Saharan Africa collecting poop from the animal and concluded that aridification of the landscape is isolating them, which they say could have implications for their long-term survival.

Last I heard the little bit extra CO2 was causing sub-Saharan Africa to get noticeably greener.

Alamak!
December 19, 2023 1:11 pm

You’d imagine even the stupidest, most reckless, most entitled knobber would realise it was tantamount to career suicide.

Perhaps I’m missing something.

He had already been pinged for leaving a sensitive doc on a desk in an open office. He was on the way out already .. so he thought a bit of fun on the ministers couch would be his “FU” gesture but didn’t expect Bri to crash so fast.

So there may have been some action on the couch, consensual or otherwise, but definitely he didn’t want to deal with Bri waking up in the office and the s**tstorm to come …

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 1:12 pm

An interstellar Land Rover.

The only way I can imagine reconciling this absurd statement with reality is to assume there was once during the 1970s a golden era of Range Rovers which were actually reliable and that the Range Rovers didn’t turn shoddy until later.

Col B: The other way is by recalling that the Range Rover is an entirely different vehicle to the Land Rover. There never was a time when a working Range Rover was reliable.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 1:13 pm

I gift wrapped two round tins of biscuits (you try it, it’s not easy).

Easy peasy.

(Something from the last WIPs springs to mind. LOL)

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 19, 2023 1:14 pm

Really really cool. At only 70 ive never stopped being amazed at and by nature. Heard dripping wet David Attenborough last night, we’re all going to die. Just in case you don’t know globule warming is a thing. Animals are dying of diseases because of it. Hasn’t affected feeble minded old tossers though.

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 19, 2023 1:15 pm

Yes we have seasons. We aren’t trying to forecast Winter, we are trying to fairly accurately forecast various things like maximum and minimum temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction at a particular place up to several days in advance. Different problem.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 1:17 pm

a book recommendation then.

Mole, I read ‘A Canticle for Liebowicz’ years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Generations of quiet contributors to human understanding, keeping on at it.

Later, in my Arthurian researches (my little piece of history) I came across the book ‘How the Irish Saved Civilisation” and was impressed at the thought of Irish monks quietly beavering away copying, as we do know they did, their saved documents of ancient Greece and Rome. I still like to think on it positively, as I do re Liebowicz (which is fiction) in spite of negative academic responses to it (see below). Academics, as Tony Thomas shows in Quadrant yesterday, can do some shit history.

How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe is a popular history by Irish American author Thomas Cahill, published in 1995. The book argues that Ireland’s conversion to Christianity was instrumental in preserving the remnants of classical culture that survived in Western Europe after the Roman Empire’s demise. The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for two years, and there are 1.3 million copies in print, according to the author’s web site. Cahill earned degrees in classics and philosophy and studied Greek and Latin, which equipped him to work with historical primary sources (documents produced during the period under study).

The book received widespread praise from the popular media upon publication but was criticized by academics. For example, historian Lisa M. Bitel wrote in The Catholic Historical Review, “I cannot begin here to list all the misread texts, over-simplified historical constructs, and biases of this book, but can only kindly suggest that it is not meant to be history, but hagiography. It is, pure and simple, a traditional legend of saints” (Bitel, Lisa. Review. The Catholic Historical Review, 1997).

Boambee John
Boambee John
December 19, 2023 1:18 pm

Muddy
Dec 19, 2023 12:13 PM
Boambee John

One of the other volunteers at the AWM completed a project to list every Australian nurse who served overseas during the First World War. Also not commercially viable, but useful to researchers.

History unrecorded is history that never happened.

That particular volunteer was in his eighties at the time. Another, of a similar age, was attempting to list the details of deaths of some Australian airmen in the Second World War (it might have been only the Bomber Command ones, I did not have much to do with him).

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 19, 2023 1:20 pm

My mate had a Landrover serial no. 72. Got $14k for it 13 years ago. Those Discovery’s were pretty good. You discovered it broke down on a journey.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 1:20 pm

Roger
Dec 19, 2023 12:47 PM
Not many Land Rover fans about, Doc.

?

Lived experience, possibly.

Obviously.
But very softcock-adjacent. There’s not much on a Land Rover you can’t fix with a 1/2” or 5/16” ring spanner.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 1:22 pm

This movie looks like it should be played with the hag Langton, the greens and Elbows mob in the room.
Tell them its a genuine black film.

https://youtu.be/i0MbLCpYJPA

It looks actually clever and funny.

Crossie
Crossie
December 19, 2023 1:23 pm

Her lawyers interrupted the cross-examination to say non-journalists are wandering “in and out” of the court which is contrary to the understanding that Brown could give her evidence in front of counsel and media only.

Lee said no because he is opposed to closed courts and any citizen was free to see the administration of justice in action.

That’s a bit rich considering that the case is against an accredited media corporation and their personalities. Brown has a better chance with normal people and citizen reporters yet does not understand that, she seems to think that we are the enemy.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 1:25 pm

Colonel Crispin Berka
Dec 19, 2023 11:30 AM
…a self-frustrating animal such as the human?

What an apt phrase. Which other animal defers, diverts from, or damages the achievement of its goals? Good grief I waste a lot of (internal) energy!

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
December 19, 2023 1:28 pm

So, Brittany is moving to France.

Do you think she realises that the region called Brittany in France is not called Brittany in France: they call it Breton or some such.

But wasn’t she planning on studying law in Australia? Perhaps I was being cynical but I assumed her intent was to leverage her fame as a ‘rape survivor’ in her legal career as a sort of crusader. But certainly something that would place her within an elevated Brahmin class of Australian society and politics (and no, I did not confuse politics and law there – they overlap in some areas so completely that there is no logical or linguistic test by which they might be distinguished).

Going to a little village in France, where she might desperately hope no one has heard of the internet) is a complete change of tack.

Perhaps she and that fellow of hers have been inspired by the masterful reinvention by Ginge and Whinge of themselves, turning their fall from favour into lustrous, splendid, precious victimhood modelled after an earlier royal mediocrity – the foppish eunuch Edward and his lamprey-like Wallis. Those two always struck me as being like a photograph which seems vivid and exciting when first taken, but as years inevitably pass the colours fade, the fashions look more dated, and the subjects eyes blend and sink into the sick yellowish background.*

Instead of Edward and Wallis Simpson we could have Deadwood and Bollocks Simpleton.

* Did you know that gelded sod Edward did not even use the Windsor knot that people associate with him? He just required that his tie maker to use especially thick materials to make the knots bigger. Grotesque old fraud.

will
will
December 19, 2023 1:30 pm

Jorge
Dec 19, 2023 10:41 AM
Explaining the price of oil may not be easy.

Supermarket prices on the other hand …

Apparently there is a group organising a boycott of Coles and Woolies this weekend as a protest against price gouging.

spoken like a true socialist: blame “capitalism” rather than the government. In fact the price of foodstuff is highly competitive between IGA, ALDI, Coles and Woolworths, due to highly efficient logistics.

Perhaps you prefer the prices at the “Farmers markets”?!!

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 1:30 pm

Brown has a better chance with normal people and citizen reporters yet does not understand that, she seems to think that we are the enemy.

Had any dealings with public servants lately?

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 1:33 pm

But wasn’t she planning on studying law in Australia?

Some discussion of a possible motive for suddenly upping sticks upthread, ML.

Seems the Juris Doctor will have to wait while the feminist icon supports her boyfriend.

You go, girl!

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 1:36 pm

Mole.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I’ve bookmarked it.

Min.
Good to ‘see’ you back here.

B.J.
There is so much information of potential historical interest waiting in the various archives to be examined. The digitalisation of records has very much helped me access sources I would not otherwise have had the finances to view.

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 1:37 pm

No extradition for those France deems as accused of “political” crimes, Mother Lode.

There’s a reason for France as the intended destination.

The village mentioned (pop 650) has two restaurants (closed in winter) one boulangerie, and one mini-mart. A ruined castle, a ruined church, a creek and a bridge. They won’t be there long, if at all.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
December 19, 2023 1:40 pm

Attending our local supermarket at this time of year is like visiting a strip club (so I am told).

I am old fashioned. I still put my money into the sales clerk’s hand, rather than tucking into the top of their panties.

Must be a generational thing.

Also a lot of them are men.

That goes waaaaay beyond generational.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 1:41 pm

Take from them the knowledge of their freedom, and they won’t miss it.

Timcast IRL Live from TPUSA.

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 1:41 pm

I still think they took the party back to PH to snort coke. Had a nose-full, she passes out, he tidies up and splits. She wakes up, vomits, back to bye byes.

Nek mornin on goes the dress, plus the Zampatti jacket and off she goes.

And the rest is history.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 1:44 pm

Re. The legal assault on former POTUS Donald Trump:

Because the media no longer has the ability to shut people up [via labeling them racist, etc.], the state actually has to come in and shut people up.

[Same link as above, but different speaker; I’m not sure who this bloke is].

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 1:45 pm

No extradition for those France deems as accused of “political” crimes, Mother Lode.

Er…

Mr. Sharaz denies all wrongdoing.

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 1:45 pm

The checkout cameras search for items in the trolley. Had that happen at Woollies the other day – bought some wine and beer at BWS, trotted back into the supermarket for food and put it through the scanner.

Bzzzzzzzzt! Contraband! Attempted theft! Fortunately the checkout chick is one of the Beloved’s wontoks, otherwise it would be off to the lockholes for him.

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 1:47 pm

Of course he does. My point is that, should new evidence come to light, or the courts require him for a bit of testimony, the miasma surrounding the case might prove that difficult.

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 19, 2023 1:48 pm

This looks interesting for weather forecasting:
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/ai-weather
Was also mentioned by Marcus House on his Yotube Space channel a few days ago.
I’m not sure how it gets around the number crunching. It may be similar to what human meteorologists did before the models got fast enough and the grid size got small enough.

Chris
Chris
December 19, 2023 1:48 pm

But very softcock-adjacent. There’s not much on a Land Rover you can’t fix with a 1/2” or 5/16” ring spanner.

And you will certainly have to.
Since I entered the mining industry I have almost exclusively used Landcruiser utes, and after that first years in the NT and remote WA I have never needed a ring spanner except for sump plugs.

amortiser
amortiser
December 19, 2023 1:49 pm

The plot line that I’ve never understood is why Lehrmann, himself on a warning for previously being in PH without cause, would simply bugger off post porking (consensual, or otherwise), knowingly leaving Dr Higgins sparked out and messy in Reynolds’ office. Particularly given they’ve just been escorted to the Love Nest by PH security.

My understanding is the first security breach related to leaving a classified file out on his desk not a late night visit to the minister’s office.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 1:50 pm

This country is being sabotaged from within, and it’s only being sabotaged with our acquiescence, with our participation, with us voting for it, with us clicking and ‘liking’ …

[Same source – TPUSA; another bloke I don’t recognise. [I know Tim, Tucker, James, and Charlie, but the other two …?].

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
December 19, 2023 1:52 pm

Had a nose-full, she passes out, he tidies up and splits.

Could be.

As she leaves next morning (nek mornin – who is responsible for that?) the security guards ask her

Guards: Good morning Ms Brittany. What is that white stuff around your. Nostrils?
Britt: ummm…dress!

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
December 19, 2023 1:52 pm

Brittleknees case on in about ten minutes, Brown finished, think its the lipreader now.

And i will say, doing a fair amount of it myself (being part deaf) it can be very accurate.
However its also susceptible to confirmation bias, once someone tells you what you think was lipread thats all you will see it as.

comment image:large

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 1:56 pm

I hope the lipreader signs in Cockney.

nek mornin – who is responsible for that?

The snorter. Still a bit addled.

rosie
rosie
December 19, 2023 1:58 pm
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 1:59 pm

Thank goodness for Quadrant Online. A haven for sane writing and mostly productive commentary.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 2:01 pm

I think Lee has already said the lip reader’s testimony won’t be decisive.

rosie
rosie
December 19, 2023 2:04 pm

For a couple with a car a cheap house in a village in southern France as a home base would be fantastic.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 2:05 pm

Since I entered the mining industry I have almost exclusively used Landcruiser utes…

As have I (exclusively).
Firstly they don’t go wrong very often.
Secondly, if they do, you will find someone to fix them in the back of beyond.

I very much doubt anyone in the Australian mining industry has used Land Rovers over the past 40 years.

Wally Dali
Wally Dali
December 19, 2023 2:08 pm

Would nose candy at PH surely come to the attention of sniffer dogs? IIRC hey’re trained for multiple scents, fruit, food, explosives, ivermectin, rec drugs, bodies, but will identify different substances on different commands.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 2:09 pm

Perhaps I’m missing something.

I think Calli’s right and it is cocaine that’s gone missing.

It would explain why Britnee didn’t go immediately to the police or a hospital.
It is often protocol in both places to do a blood test for drug use and she didn’t want to face the music of that sort of illegal behaviour. Bruce may have shied away fast too because he had cocaine in his system too and didn’t want authorities in the loop.

Vicki
Vicki
December 19, 2023 2:09 pm

I still think they took the party back to PH to snort coke. Had a nose-full, she passes out, he tidies up and splits. She wakes up, vomits, back to bye byes.
Nek mornin on goes the dress, plus the Zampatti jacket and off she goes.
And the rest is history.

No idea about the coke. But I agree with someone else a few days ago on the blog who speculates a fairly straightforward explanation:

Higgins partied too hard, went back to workplace with Sharaz, drank too much (which she admits), had sex with S, passed out & woke up naked. Given that much of this was on camera, she knew that career was under threat, to say the least.

At some time or another she advanced the story that she has been raped. Guaranteed – particularly in a Labor wymineses envirnoment- to, at the least, retain her job. The $2 million plus was unexpected bonus for helping to bring down the Libs.

Roger
Roger
December 19, 2023 2:10 pm

The leading paras in a story featuring heavily in the news today:

Australians are being urged to be extra safe this summer amid a worrying surge in sexually transmissible infections.

Syphilis rates have tripled, gonorrhoea has doubled and chlamydia has risen 12 per cent in the last decade while testing has fallen, leaving experts concerned the trend is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Buried two-thirds of the way down:

Cases were especially prevalent among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 19, 2023 2:11 pm

It’s likely that sexual congress (whether it happened or not) was fairly irrelevant initially and only became used later by Britnee to cover her own druggie tracks.

Wonder what her call to Bruce not long after really said.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 2:11 pm

Mother Lode
Dec 19, 2023 1:40 PM

I am old fashioned. I still put my money into the sales clerk’s hand, rather than tucking into the top of their panties.

Paying by card (in the new fashion) must introduce another level of awkward.

areff
areff
December 19, 2023 2:11 pm

This lip-reader is a ripper!

Three times asked to state his name before he could read counsel’s lips.

And he can decipher grainy TV coverage without error, apparently.

calli
calli
December 19, 2023 2:12 pm

I’m sure they are, Wally. I didn’t see any on duty in the security videos.

If qwertys are having a bit of solitary qwertysex on ministers’ desks, I’m sure that PH isn’t above a little substance abuse also.

There’s a can of worms there that no one wants to open.

duncanm
duncanm
December 19, 2023 2:13 pm

thefrollickingmole
Dec 19, 2023 1:52 PM
However its also susceptible to confirmation bias, once someone tells you what you think was lipread thats all you will see it as.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT4shwU4Yc4

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 2:13 pm

I think Lee has already said the lip reader’s testimony won’t be decisive.

LOL

30% of information can be figured out in the best of conditions, the rest is guessed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3155585/

The results revealed that the mean lip-reading score in visual-only sentence recognition was 12.4% correct with a standard deviation of 6.67%. Figure ?Figure11 shows a box plot of the results where the lines indicate the mean, 75th and 25th percentile, as well as 1.5 times the interquartile range. Two outliers denoted by open circles, each close to 30% correct, are also plotted. The proportion of words identified correctly was not identical across sentence length.

I almost can’t believe they let this crap in court.

duncanm
duncanm
December 19, 2023 2:15 pm
areff
areff
December 19, 2023 2:15 pm

So he has an Auslan interpreter. Is Brit sign language the same as that used in Australia? I know US signing differs from our own.

Suspect this is going to be like Mr Bean testifying.

Alamak!
December 19, 2023 2:15 pm

I still think they took the party back to PH to snort coke. Had a nose-full, she passes out, he tidies up and splits. She wakes up, vomits, back to bye byes.

scenario painted above seems likely, although coke doesn’t have that effect unless Bru/Bri were sold something else.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
December 19, 2023 2:16 pm

The village mentioned (pop 650)

Ha!

She will turn up with her university education, versed in the most current and exclusive haute couture, possess an epicurean talent for resolving foods against countless spectra of flavours, and have a deft savant gift for cocktails – and still be the 651st classiest person in the village.

Will she ever really rise higher than a groupie for a ‘battle of the public service bands’?

areff
areff
December 19, 2023 2:18 pm

she passes out

Doubt that if the blow was any good.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 19, 2023 2:18 pm

I am old fashioned. I still put my money into the sales clerk’s hand, rather than tucking into the top of their panties.

Paying by card (in the new fashion) must introduce another level of awkward.

And holding your phone to the checkout chick’s panty area for Apple Pay is liable to get you thrown out.
Apparently.

Alamak!
December 19, 2023 2:19 pm

Will she ever really rise higher than a groupie for a ‘battle of the public service bands’?

She’s had her 15 mins of fame, shared with Sharazza.

I guess a book (memoir?) and speaking tours will be coming soon for who exactly I cannot guess …

areff
areff
December 19, 2023 2:19 pm

I want to hear that croaky voice say ‘Red rum. Red rum. Red rum….’

Vicki
Vicki
December 19, 2023 2:20 pm

Of course the Higgins case represents the highly contested space of consensual sex. Who is to be believed? The man or the woman?

The courts usually get this right. But in the highly politicised environment of the women’s movement, there is enormous pressure on the judiciary.

duncanm
duncanm
December 19, 2023 2:20 pm

I think the coke line (pun intended) is pretty much confirmed by the ‘take the party back to PH’ text that Brite-knee sent.

Dot
Dot
December 19, 2023 2:20 pm

Keep in mind, the study I looked at didn’t even consider word order.

Scoring was carried out in the following manner: If the participant correctly typed a word in the sentence, then that word was scored as “correct.” The proportion of words correct was scored across sentences. For the sentence “Is your sister in school,” if the participant typed in “Is the…” only the word “Is” would be scored as correct. In this example, one out of five words would be correct, making the proportion correct?=?1?5?=?0.20. Word order was not a critical criterion for a word to be scored as accurate. However, upon inspection of the data, participants almost never switched word order in their responses. Subject responses were manually corrected for any misspellings.

So if at best you get 30% of the data in any order, well, this is ridiculous, never mind the cadence.

“Time that I (mumble) jerk off my course.”

???

Figures
Figures
December 19, 2023 2:21 pm

Whilst, on many different aspects of this case, it makes sense that Higgins and Lehrmann had (consensual) sex (and I certainly agree on the cocaine), I don’t think there is any possibility that sex occurred due to Lehrmann choosing a “no sex happened” defence.

There is no way he could have known Higgins didn’t see a doctor immediately afterwards in which case, if she had (and they had indeed had sex), he would already be rotting in prison. Any lawyer would tell their client that such a defence was a guaranteed loss unless sex didn’t actually occur.

Muddy
Muddy
December 19, 2023 2:21 pm

Maybe that’s the reason for the facial recognition software, Dr. Faustus?

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