No video today because I’m honouring the YouTube walkout. You can read more about that at (Pharyngula), (Stderr), (Great American Satan) or at one of FTB’s newest blogs, (Impossible Me).
In the meantime, here is an adorable puppy named Narwhal who was abandoned and is currently being cared for by Mac’s Mission, an animal rescue in Missouri. There is no shortage of people who would like to adopt him, but the rescue wants to make sure he’s fit and healthy before letting him go to a forever family. The tail doesn’t wag and is not of any health concern.
The usual rules apply – don’t be an asshole.
Anne,
Belated Happy Birthday! I’m glad you had a good day. Freshly baked scones sound wonderful.
I can’t wait to turn 65 -- where I live, they cover the cost of drugs for people over 65. Right now, I have to pay out of pocket for all my prescriptions which cost about $7,000.00 per year.
Chigau,
I’m glad the batteries haven’t plotted against you yet. Stay safe.
StevoR,
Well said and generally how I feel myself, but I’d like to know more about how we arrive at “better” and maybe even what your definition of “better” is. As a secular person, I’d like to know more about how you decide what’s ethical and moral, aside from being generally a kind and generous nice person. This makes me wonder if there is ever a time or reason that being kind or generous could be seen as immoral, for example doing everything for someone who should be doing more for themselves or giving a person something harmful, like a free trip to a casino for a gambler or a puppy to someone who isn’t able to care for it properly? What about the opposite, for example, if a child is murdered, but his death helps pass new laws to protect other children?
I guess I’m wondering if you think there is an objective morality or if it’s all just subjective interpretation of events (moral nihilism)?
I do not understand how the British electorate can be so fucking stupid. I’m veering between fear, fury and despair; fear at what the Tories will do to the NHS and the remains of the Welfare State, fury that people are taken in by the shysters yet again and desair that there will be no way back from the decisions they will take
@2 Jazzlet
They, the Conservative voters, are crowing about it. All they care about is the right people being hurt. The cruelty is the point.
Jazzlet,
I’m sorry about the election results. I hope the NHS and the British social safety net manage to survive, and that you won’t be too personally affected. It must be a terrible worry for you. I think you’re bang on that once something is taken away it won’t come back. It infuriates me that the people affected by cutbacks are the least able to fight back. Sometimes I feel like the conservatives are sharks, and the rest of us are all just little fish fodder. I agree with abbeycadabra -- I think the bastards get off on the cruelty.
Hey folks
I hope you are having a nice quiet Sunday.
Here, things have been busy. In school both kids and teachers have been “crawling on their gums” as we say in German towards the christmas break. My back has been giving me trouble again and in between the christmas shopping and shit like dentist appointment and all that stuff I’ve been exhausted beyond anything. I’ve decided that the next person who wishes me a “contemplative advent” as it is custom in Germany will get punched so hard they land right in Easter already.
Also, after the very delicious meal my friend cooked last night i really remember why I don#t eat soy sauce anymore.
+++
A belated happy birthday to you, Anne. Scones sound wonderful.
+++
Jazz
My condolences for the election. The general reactionary rollback is aided by the awefulness that is your election system. I think the only thing decent people can do now is to forge strong alliances, organise communities and try to shield the most vulnerable from the worst to come. I’m already reading about (increased) incidences of racial abuse in the UK on Twitter.
I’m mildly amused by English folks reacting to Sturgeon’s announcement to hold a second Scottish referendum by saying that you can’t just leave because Westminster decides all your matters for you.
++++
To me that isn’t kindness. Like with kids I always ask myself “what do they want, and what do they need?”, and if the two of them are in conflict they get what they need. There are so many parents who look at their kids royally fucking up and who say with surprise and despair “I don’t know why they’re doing that, I always did everything for them and gave them everything!”
It’s not like mine aren’t “spoilt”, we have tons of privilege, especially financial privilege that of course we pass on, but still they don’t get whatever they want, especially not a “housecleaning and restaurant service by mum”.
Belated Happy Birthday, Anne!
I’ve been busy with both the last assignments for the courses I’ve taken this semester (one deadline to go, one exam to go, still, but today I got one big assignment off my hands) and my Master’s thesis start (title, the scope of the work, literature review, introduction chapter, scheduling/planning).
However, on Saturday I took a small break and went to sauna and swimming. Waves were relatively big for Gulf of Finland even though there wasn’t a storm. I didn’t dare to venture far from the stairs or too close to the shore (the shore is made of concrete blocks, as the place is on land reclaimed from sea).
My condolences on the election as well, Jazzlet.
Giliell, I’m hoping the back issues will subside as soon as possible, by medical help, rest or exercise (or sauna, that does relax the back muscles, if they are the problem).
Giliell,
I’m sorry to hear your back is acting up. Maybe you need to go hang upside down for a while. Either that, or slow down, which isn’t bloody likely before Christmas. I hope you can find some relief.
I agree that doing everything for someone isn’t kindness, but a lot of people would disagree. They can’t see past their own need to be needed.
Just seen this
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-17/sa-twilght-race-meet-to-go-ahead-despite-heatwave/11806516
Oh. You.Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me. For .. Pity’s.. Sake!
This is gross animal cruelty. It is wrong. How can they even..?!
But then there’s already :
WARNING ;Video there contains graphic and confronting images of animal cruelty and death.
https://animalsaustralia.org/issues/horse_racing.php
Wonder if they’ll race dogs (greyhounds) too. Wonder if they’d let people race? Dunno.
I am sorry. But .. this needs stopping. Somehow.
Oh and over here, where I live it was the first day of what’s forecast to be a long and dreadful heatwave.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-15/bom-forecasts-extreme-heatwave-for-parts-of-south-and-east/11800976?section=health
We reached 42.1 degrees celsius today. (105.98)
44 C = 111 Fahrenheit. Even if the temperatures have dropped a bit it’ll still be .. I shudder to think or feel or imagine. (Expletives!)
Horse racing~wise one more youtube clip that sums it up perfectly :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsbWoWPn9U
WARNING : Animal cruelty and death refs.
If I may please.
Look at the top illustration of this story:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/dec/17/neolithic-dna-ancient-chewing-gum-denmark
I just love Tom Björklund’s prehistoric illustrations -- I recently saw a whole book of them, relating to Ice Age ecosystems (not available in English, I think).
Giliell
I hope your back is feeling better
Stevo
Stay safe, that is killing heat, I really do not envy you.
Iumipuna
That is such a cool bit of science, and a great illustration.
I am spending a lot of time sleeping, a lot being furious at the state of the NHS, both as a whole, and as it impinges on me. I have been waiting for eight weeks for a letter about one of the assessments I undertook, it should tell my GP to increase one of the meds I’m on which should mean I stop acting like I’m narcoleptic. I’m going to have to go and see my GP about this as it’s really not good for my mental health so I’m going to take even more resources up because one person can’t or won’t do their job, I’d be less angry if I didn’t know from other people in the mental health field that this person is an uncaring fuckwit, yet has managed to keep their job despite some serious complaints Urgh it’s all a fucking mess.
On a lighter note Jake has taken to insisting he gets double scritches from both humans, using both of their hands at the same time, something Thorn used to do, but that he didn’t, he gets what he want as he is so cute about asking.
@ ^ Jazzlet thanks. we’ve just broken the national records here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/bom-says-tuesday-was-australia-hottest-day-on-record/11810632
& my phone was telling me its 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 F) outside earlier with the likely hottest time of day yet to come. :-(
***
@1. Voyager : First my apologies as I’ve only just seen your comment and reply to me now.
Thanks. That’s a good question and point. It is kinda nebulous I’ll admit. I guess it depends on the context of what’s involved and for “better” I think things need to be fairer, give more people more of a chance to accomplish what they want to do without hurting others and be as happy as they can be without hurting others. Its a sort of “know it when you see it” type thing which i fear doesn’t really help much.
I guess again, context and yes, giving a free trip to a casino to a gambler or a puppy to someone who can’t look after it are certainly not ethical things to do unless you are doing more eg. say the gambler was dying and it was their last wish and you provided them with money to do the thing they loved one last time but with set limits or you gave the puppy to a child or person who can’t look after it but you kept watch and looked after it when they couldn’t as a sort of co-ownership deal or stuff along those lines.
That example would be where you’re making some good coming out of something awful and I think the awful thing remains awful even if it eventually leads to good. For another instance, the sinking of the Titanic changed laws regarding number of lifeboats, etc .. which was a good step afterwards and good thing but the sinking with its massive loss of life was still intrinsically tragic. Or, if hopefully, political reforms are made to the USA’s system to prevent someone like Trump ever taking power again it still doesn’t mean that Trump becoming POTUS now is anything but a nightmare.
I do think there’s some form of objective morality / ethics. I guess it comes from empathy towards others and rational (?) thought about the consequences for the world if you do X or Y. There’s almost definitely (99.999 to the power of some whopping huge number %!) no supernatural source for objective morality (ethics) so deriving exactly where and what it is can probly only be determined by our subjective interpretations and the epistemology -- the how we can know and be sure -- here is awkward but ..yeah,, not sure. I’ll have to think some more about that. I’m not a nihilist and I do think empathy for others and the world needs to be the priority but I guess that’s stating the premise again isn’t it? It seems axiomatic to me.
***
Our horrendous, sociopathic SkyNews imposed excuse for a PM has left the country whilst a lot of it is ablaze or choking in the smoke from our bushfires -- good article on that here :
https://theaimn.com/where-is-scott-morrison-and-why-is-it-a-secret/
Which also links to this discussion here of our PM’s pentecostal beliefs and their policy implications :
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/february/1548939600/james-boyce/devil-and-scott-morrison
The journalists here (& globally I guess) have given Morriscum a far softer ride and haven’t publicly asked that last question there or a whole lot of other relevant ones given his sadistic mistreatment of refugees and so much more.
One key article via Dana Hunter’s fb page on Trump’s impeachment -- he’s now legally unpardonable and this could be a key thing in the future :
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-impeached-house-literally-unpardonable-1475096
So I gather the Democratic party is thinking of not doing the Senate trial -- at least not for a while. Think they can do this and just have it hanging over Trump which may well be the right move? Guess we’ll see.
Imagine Trump demanding a trial in his Rapeublican baised Senate and being told “No. Not till we’re ready and it is not going to be a political exercise but instead be a fair, real trial.” Imagine how much horror the effect of those two words will have on him and his cultists. (Yeah, I’m calling it, Trump is a cult leader and his followers are cult followers.)
I kinda like that notion. Then imagine Trump losing the election and then afterwards being convicted in a newly Democratic Senate ..& he cannot then be pardoned too. ;-)
I don’t know if it will (can?) work out like this -- but I really hope it does. Could this happen? What are the possibilities & likelihoods now?
Testing.
Well, that was not a fun day. Had to drive down to the city for an appointment where it was 44°C and blowing like hell. Got home at lunch time and could see big smoke clouds some ways away. Luckily nothing near our place but 30km away it was mayhem. We’ll find out in the morning if our friends out there have still got homes. The news doesn’t report any deaths for our area but one driver died when he crashed into a tree way down south and started a fresh fire. The temperature has dropped all the way down to around 19°C now and the wind has swung around to drive the fire further away from us. The fire crews will be in for a long night.
How fragile is the safety of your own home.
stevoR,
Thanks for the info on horse racing. And your thoughtful reply regarding ethics. Stay safe.
Jazzlet,
I hope you get your meds sorted out soon. Unfortunately, we have to be our own advocates these days, and that will become even more critical when services are cut back even further.
Lumipuna,
That is a fabulous illustration and an interesting story. Thanks for sharing.
Lofty,
30 km isn’t far at all, especially with how quickly a fire can turn and move. Stay safe.
Lofty
I hope you are safe and the firefighters can get the fire under control.
+++
Hey folks
Sorry for being absent once again. The kids were both sick, and at work we hat 13 people on sick leave with a total of 40 teachers. On Thursday The Puke caught up with me, I left early and went straight to bed so I could go to work yesterday. Thankfully it only really lasted for a day. Now the holidays have started and we have three days to catch up with cleaning, but as my colleague said, it’s Santa who’s coming, not the health inspectors.
Lofty
I hope your friends are ok
Giliell
That sounds rough, I hope you can have a restful break.
Jake continues to be more affectionate than normal, he is obviously missing Thorn quite as much as we humans. I may have made a break through on training him not to bark without him training me to treat him when he comes after barking, at the moment most of the time he’s … well the best way I can describe it is he is whispering his bark rather than shouting it, which is fine as there is no way it would disturb the neighbours; it’s also very funny. Many German Shepherds are vocal dogs, they will make a running commentary of grunts and vari-toned groans on what is going on, and I think Jake is finally finding his voice which is great -- it’s one of the things I love about the breed as it’s so funny and I’ve missed it as Thorn was rarely confident enough to do it and previously Jake hasn’t seemed to know how.
Well today we learned that one of our friends on the eastern side of the fire is safe, as well as her dogs and horses. Her house and sheds however with everything inside are burnt to the ground. Now the hard part begins, finding a new home. No news yet from friends on the western fringe.
Lofty, Stevo and all of your friends in Australia, I’m hoping you can stay safe and the one who lost their homes can rebuild their lives.
Also, Nightjar, are you safe? Wasn’t there a huge storm or two in Portugal, Spain and parts of Mediterranean area?
Giliell, ouch not the best time for the epidemy, but then again, what time would be? I love the quip about Santa coming, not the health inspectors.
Holy hell, the weather we have between us.
Ice Swimmer
Yeah, I’m safe, thanks for asking. I think there were 3 storms (Daniel, Elsa and Fabien) but I honestly couldn’t tell when one stopped and the other started, it’s not like the winds and rain took a break between them. I think today was the last day of rain, or so we are being promised. There were some problems with some dams upstream of where I live so the city is basically flooded, some roads are closed to traffic and hundreds of people were evacuated yesterday. In a different district two people died and one is still missing. I don’t live close to the river so here in the village everything is mostly fine, except for two houses that are in risk of collapse. Our little stream that dries up in the summer overflowed too and flooded some fields and backyards but nothing serious. The soil just can’t take any more water right now, it’s crazy to thing that just a few months ago we were officially in a drought. Now I would gladly send some of this water to Australia if I could…
Tomorrow I will try to find out if I can make it to work, and on Tuesday I would like to try to find out if I can make it to a waterfall near my house that is usually dry to see how it looks right now. If I can take photos I’ll share them!
Jazzlet, I only caught up with the news about Thorn now, I’m so sorry to hear. Please give Jake some scritches for me, and hugs for you if you want them. I can’t believe you still haven’t got your meds sorted out, if I remember correctly you were already waiting for that last time I was here in TNET and that was too long ago. I hope it doesn’t take much longer. Seriously, what the fuck, I would be furious too.
Stevo asked me to let y’all know he’s safe. His desktop computer died and he can’t comment from his phone.
Good to see Stevo is OK. 87 homes lost in this fire although in NSW they lost more than that in a single day.
Our friends on the western flank of the fire are OK too. Their power is still out and they can see the forested ridge just to their north periodically erupt in flames as another tree succumbs. Still a lot to do for the firies.
Our friend who lost her house is happy that she still has all her animals. We’ve found her an empty church rectory to stay in rent free until she can rebuild. Someone else is putting up a dog yard out the back of the rectory. In a crisis nearly everyone comes together and gets things done, except for the despicable scammers who ring people up to get their bank details, promising them money from a charitable bank. We know which side of the fire line these people belong on.
Thanks for the information, Dana. And good to see you, too.
—
I hope you all had a nice Christmas without too much stress, or at least only the nice kind.
Happy New Year.
Hopefully.
One can hope.
Happy 2020!
2020 is here? Musta slept through the change. The invention of the calendar is both a blessing and a curse.
Happy New Year! I don’t have much hope that it will be a Happy New Decade but I’ll try to cling to whatever hope I can find.
Good to see you are OK, Lofty, I hope Stevo is too.
Belated Happy New Year from me as well. School starts again tomorrow, so expect to see more of me again. Mr was home for the whole two weeks and we made good use of it, taking many walks, etc. I hope my Australian friends are safe, there are no words to express anything else about this horror.
+++
Sigh, I’m kind of dreading tomorrow. I’ve got a colleague has a serious mental health problem, only that as often with that kind of disease, she’s the last to notice. She’s constantly missing for a week, or two, doesn’t tell people on time so one time the kids would have been completely alone if I hadn’t noticed that she was supposed to be here but wasn’t. We’re a really great team, and people support each other. One colleague had been missing for more than two months because her mother was terminal and nobody said a word, we all shouldered her load together, but this colleague is so unreliable that people are getting angry. Parents are getting angry. Because when she’s at work she’ll act as if nothing happened, as if we could expect her to turn up tomorrow. This also means that so far we could not plan around her, but before Christmas out principal decided that we could no longer afford not to, so we agreed that I’d set up a test for her class so we could have some marks to base their term reports on. And she told that colleague about this plan, who then got all upset. Now i just hope that she won’t take it out on me tomorrow.
Oh Gilliell that is such a difficult situation, I hope she doesn’t take it out on you and that she will realise she needs help as you are right people with mental health issues often either don’t relise they need help or don’t want to admit they need help, which is so difficult for those around them.
I hope all our Australian friends are safe, I can’t imagine what you are going through, but I am thinking of you, and worrying too.
I am going to see my GP tomorrow to discuss my medication, that’s right it is still not sorted because the fuckwit AP has still not bothered to send a letter to the GP. I am reasonably hopeful, my GP is good, if she doesn’t feel confident changing the does she will talk to a psychiatrist and get an answer quite quickly, so I should have an answer quite soon.
Otherwise I’m just horrified by the lengths Trump is going to to fire up his supporters, it is frightening.
Happy New Year, Everyone. Jack and I are happily home again.
Thanks for letting us know about Stevo. I’ve been worried about him.
The news we see from Australia is heartbreaking and horrible. I hope you all stay safe.
Giliell,
What an awful situation to be in. Hopefully, your colleague will understand the needs of the students must come first. If she doesn’t have marks prepared or tests for her own class, I don’t see how she can blame you. People with mental health issues sometimes struggle with understanding how they contribute to a problem, though, so I’ll hold good thoughts for you.
Jazzlet
Good Luck with your medication change. I hope it helps with the exhaustion.
I’m delighted to hear that Jake is finding his voice. It was the same for Jack. He lived with an alpha female of an older sister for 10 years, and after she died, Jack developed a whole new personality. He’d never asked for anything in his life until Lucy was gone, and then he learned how to ask for things in his own unique ways. We also had to cuddle quietly when Lucy was around, or else she butted in and took over. Jack loves it now when I make silly noises during love-me-ups. He also likes to sing and talk when we go for walks. I didn’t know that until 2 years ago, and Jack will be twelve next month.
I just can’t bring myself to discuss Trump.
The good news is that a vigorous cool change has swept through the fire districts dropping 5 -- 10mm of rain. This has allowed fire fighters and escaping tourists to move about more freely. Temperatures dropped from the mid 40’s to the mid teens and below. The bad news is that the fires still burn. At least our local district’s fires are mostly out but smouldering trees still burst into flame without warning. The only thing to stop the burning is lots and lots of rain and that isn’t on the forecast yet.
Lofty
I’m glad there has been a little respite even if it is not enough to put the fires out completely.
Thank you Voyager. The GP suggested stopping the mirtazipine altogether, but My J is worried about me getting suicidal again so for now we’re halving the dose, we may cut it entirely later. She was clearly most nnoyed with the AP, said she’d emailed and phoned several times with no response, it’s a wonder the AP still has a job, there’s not much point in assessing someone if you don’t bother to tell the relevant professionals your assessment.
I’m not thinking about BJ either, he’s a dumster fire in a different way than Trump or Morrison, but in his own way just as bad, it was Mauritius and floods in his case rather than Hawaii and fires, but the utter misreading of the situation is similar.
I’m taking a break from watching and reading the news. My misanthropic thoughts really do not need a boost right now.
The high tomorrow is to be -16°C with wind
maybe I will stay in and knit sonething
or something
Hi. I read the title of this thread in the sidebar today and for some reason this popped into my head. So I’m sharing. You’re welcome.
Ah well
My mum in law turned 70 this week and us and my BIL and his husband took her and my father in law out for dinner and told them that additionally we’d send them on a holiday for a week.
I wondered at the third round of “I don’t know if I can accept this, I’m not worth this” what would happen if you said “you are right, sorry, silly idea, forget about it”.
@Giliell, saying that once is acceptable as a conditioned display of modesty and/or genuine appreciation, tree-times is just pretentious and obnoxious and fishing for compliments.
______________________________
I am glad that lofty and Stevo are safe. I do not know from the top of my head who from our readers is from Australia, but I hope they all are safe. The bushfires are an ecological disaster. And more will come around the world. Next year forest fires may happen even in here in central Europe, with the forests rapidly dying standing-up these last two years and both surface and groundwater levels being record low.
______________________________
Overall I hope you all are better than I am because this week I went down with either pneumonia or bronchitis or something similar. Breathing feels as if I wore a leaden shirt…
Since it’s been a few weeks since the fires tore through the region I most like to ride in, I thought I’d take advantage of the mild weather and visit again. Mounting my trusty treadly device I rode up to the western flank and spoke to my friends that live there. Further on I observed the patchy nature of the devastation, slopes facing the fire front stripped bare of undergrowth, slopes where the fire ran downhill had patches of green and brown. Many of the houses survived through the efforts of home owners and fire fighters, interspersed by the burnt houses and sheds that got unlucky. Some destroyed homes sported caravans and campers where the owners based themselves to start the work of salvage and recovery.
The tall middle aged eucalypts look like they’ll survive as they often do, the tiny seedlings and the ancient ones not so much. Fallen giants revealed themselves to be as substantial as toilet roll cores, their insides hollowed out and the strong outer layer fatally damaged by fire. Some patches of grass near creeks and rivers was already sprouting green from buried root systems and some light rain.
It will be interesting to see the district recover, life will be permanently changed yet survive in a new form.
What I want to know is, who invited Harry and Meghan to spend half their time in Canada?
And what do they mean by ‘financial independence’?
If they really wanted to stick it up to Harry’s family, they’d just declare Sussex independent.
I’m a bit lost as to why Harry and Meghan aren’t already financially independant as he inherited £20 million from his mum, plus more from his maternal gran. How the hell much do they need to be financially independant?
I have today finally recieved the letter about my assessment appointment back in October, just a day shy of twelve weeks later, and it’s rubbish, a total distortion of what I said. Good thing my GP is on the ball, if she was to rely on what the letter said I’d be getting really inappropriate treatment.
Nightjar,
Thanks, catchy tune. And it will likely play in my head for the rest of the day.
Charly,
Get well soon. It’s awful when you can’t breathe properly.
Lofty,
Thanks for the update, I’m glad that you’re alright. If you should happen to have a camera with you I’d like to see some photos of the changes you’ve described.
Chigau,
I hope the cold snap has eased up for you. Here, the temp has mostly been above zero and we’re getting rain. Lots of rain.
Jazzlet.
I’m glad your GP is on the ball. I underwent psychiatric assessment as part of my disability claim, and the written report had several glaring errors, that I pointed out to the Dr. He raged at me and said he didn’t make mistakes. Then he wrote another letter saying more of less the same thing. So, I took the proof that the report was wrong with me to the appeal hearing, and they had to exclude it, which worked in my favour because he’d also written in his report that Fibromyalgia was not a real condition, which it is. I also had a lot of documentation proving the existence of fibro. Anyway, the tribunal decided in my favour, but that Dr. told lies, hoping that my claim would be denied. (I’m pretty sure that the government gave him some encouragement to limit claims approval)
As for Meghan and Harry, I think they should have to apply to stay in Canada, just like everyone else.
It is currently -31°C. Three more days of similar then on Sunday, +2 and Monday +10.
Who is in charge of this?
Hello my wonderful people
Another week almost done. It was my birthday on Thursday, and my friends will come to celebrate tomorrow. Today we had “Open Doors Day” at school, which meant having to go to work on a Saturday, but in exchange we get Monday off. Now I’m getting ready to go to my godson’s birthday. Haven’t seen him in ages. His mum and I run into one another three times a year, tell each other how busy we are and that we HAVE to go get a coffee together and then we never manage.
chigau
We are in charge, but not in control…
Happy Birthday, Giliell.
Happy Birthday, Giliell!
Happy Birthday Giliell!
Happy birthday Giliell wishing you a great day and many more great days to come!
Finally had my desktop fixed here and good to be back.
PS. Thankyou voyager, Lofty, Charly and others who have been thinking of me. Been okay here and the worst of the bushfires seem to be over for now and mercifully we’ve been having much cooler weather and even some actual rain in the last week. The damage done has been horrific though especially for the wildlife but also for the hundreds of homes lost and tens of human lives lost including firefighters and we still have two months of Summer and a likely dry warm Autumn to go.
It is really worrying and probably the “new normal” here for Oz :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sSJpKTdwFo&lc=z23xhtopmzzog3xxv04t1aokgmhyiltefbaktllgakvubk0h00410.1579370274587837
as with other places nowhere on our pale blue dot being immune. The smoke plumes from our fires have apparently lapped the world already according to NASA and affected the glaciers of Aotearoa / New Zealand among other things.
Our miserable regressive govt of course is only making things worse with their continued though now less loudly proclaimed ideologically motivated and fossil fuel-funded denialism :
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/18/behind-the-smokescreen-the-coalitions-stance-on-climate-change-hasnt-changed-at-all
& revelations of how horribly the LNP misgovernment have betrayed the Australian people and the firefighters are still emerging like this one seen today :
https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-busfires-document-business-case-for-aerial-firefighting-funding/f2905fee-15bc-4465-afe0-673ba5de1f27
Sorry if those links are too depressing to face and understand if folks choose not to click on them. It does all get really overwhelming at times.
Went to a Climate protest on Friday whch was excellent and very well attended with a lot of great people most of them young and led by groups like Uni uni students for climate justice who organised it pushing for Climate Action. Certainly not giving up.
I just watched this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Story_Ever_Told
that is: I was dishwashing, laundrysorting, floorsweeping, etc. while the video was playing.
fukker is four hours long and
te.di.ous
Happy birthday, Giliell. May many more come.
Well the weather has changed, here it’s days of mid 20’s C and 30mm of gentle rain last night. The fire grounds will be greening up soon if this keeps up. Floods and massive hail stones visited the eastern states, luckily not here. Can’t wait for the next bout of wacky weather.
Everybody
Thanks for the birthday wishes. We had friends over yesterday (it was Pokemon Go community day, we always spend those together). After an opulent breakfast we went out to hunt Pokemon, came back for a late lunch and then hung out with each other until after dinner.
Which brings me to: why do some people think they must comment on whatever some innocent stranger is doing in their spare time? Because first some dude needed to remark that we “could talk to each other” (which we actually did, a lot, because we’re able to walk and talk and catch Pokemon and even breathe at the same time) and then a woman remarked loudly to her friend “look at this, how horrible“, at which point I needed to remark just as loudly “yeah, horrible, commenting on the affairs of perfect strangers”. I’d have said “OK, boomer”, but they wouldn’t have gotten that reference.
voyager
I’m glad your assessment went well despite the fucking liar of psychiatrist.
re: Australia
I do think your Prime Minister is trying to be the first Prime Minister killed with pitchforks in modern history.
Oh, also the mouse is dead.
I am a little sad, but only a little. Apparently our attempts at boxing all the food succeeded and it finally went looking for that Nutella toast in the mouse trap. It was a live catch mouse trap, but apparently it died of a heart attack. And to be honest, if it had survived i would have carried it outside, a nice distance from the house where it would have died just as well without a home or food. It lived a long life for a mouse, had a dry and warm place, ate about a hundred times its own weight in chocolate, spoiled 150 bucks worth of food, made us spend 200 more on mouse proof containers, forced me to wash all the sheets twice and ripped my favourite pyjama pants. I’m only a little sad…
Belated happy birthday, Giliell. Sounds like you had a great time with your friends, comments from intrusive strangers aside.
***
This Gloria storm did more damage here than it was supposed to. Although in part that was because we apparently think “maintenance” is for rich countries, we prefer to let things fall apart first and then deal with the extra damage and costs. Yes, I’m bitter. Me and my friend contacted the university a year ago about a wall we were worried about and thought needed repair. Nothing happened. Until today, when it fell and took two trees with it, damaging a few cars whose repair the university will now have to pay for. Luckily no one was injured. But seriously, this could have been prevented. That wall was so obviously in need of maintenance even a biologist and a biochemist could tell.
Just seen this and yeah, there’s religious refs and, no, my eyes and cheeks are NOT dry now :
https://www.boredpanda.com/tribute-art-to-australian-bushfires/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
Oh and the Platypus is onthe verge of extinction, mybe pastr it and doomed :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-20/platypus-on-the-brink-of-extinction-national-call-to-action/11882584?fbclid=IwAR3To9EstxtPgFZsr2aAef6WXMCXAAtqjwUkZim2PkuOytVOCjsrOnlrNsc
An Aussie icon, going, going.. will people even believe it was ever real when its gone?
Yet still, still this sums us up all too well :
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/01/06/australia-can-only-save-itself-if-it-fixes-the-rot-in-its-political-system/?fbclid=IwAR2GeFTQqxy3vIww9RpNvAMatvrDLRJaVlbtpn8F_nKnkX0lQJ2CxvCMo_0
Will we? Can we? Please?
That first link, sorry : WARNING : Powerful, distressing, moving, confronting, horrific, true material.
Friday night is Climate protest / Refugee vigil night (again) in Adelaide, South Oz. Details in case anyone’s interested :
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Source : https://www.facebook.com/events/182506216287982/ Adelaide vigil for Manus and Nauru facebook (fb) page.
See also : https://adelaidevigil.com/
&&&
Source : https://www.facebook.com/unistudentsforclimatejustice/ Uni students for Climate Justice fb page -- they’re also organising events there in many other places around Australia.
***
Hmm .. I had thought it was another protest like last two weeks with speeches and march from Rundle Mall to Palt house but seems its going to be slightly different this week? Okay, anyhow.
* The self- given nickname for our Climate denying PM Sott “Scotty from Marketing”” Morrison / Morriscum. Apparently he really hates that middle one .. ;-)
I hope you had a good turnout for the prostest.
___
Another week done. A very mixed one. When you try to sweep up the broken pieces the responsible adults caused in the if children’s lives, but you also think that you did some good.
Hi everyone,
Sorry I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve been struggling with extra gravity for the past few weeks, and there’s nothing I can do about it except hope for better weather.
StevoR
Good to see you back. Thanks for the links. I hope you had a good turnout for the protests.
Giliell
I’m sorry I missed your birthday.
So Palestinians? Ultimatum time I’d say FWIW.
Either actual state or equal status & full rights including voting ones. Israel? Choose!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51263815
You can have a specifically Jewish only state with less land and less people and living peacefully alongside an actual Palestinian state.
Or.
You can have a binational state including all of the land and all of its people but treating them equally and giving them all equal rights including citizenship and voting rights.
One or t’other. Up to y’all. But the pretence that you can do both and not choose between those?
Now at last that’s pretty much over. Choose. As you will. Choose wisely.
They’ve updated the video clipb on this old song, I think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-0GKprWTu8
Been a while. Wish it was NOT more relevant than ever. Sadly I cannot say that.
I was able to fend off the winter depression fairly successfully this time, but today it seems to start catching up with me. There is nothing wrong with me except my head is full of fog and I feel incapable of doing anything.
It looks like a new TNET is in order, I shall make one tomorrow.
-new thread-