Putting this together on Tuesday because we’re driving all day Wednesday. Not sure if I’ll get to any updates on Thursday. Somehow, I don’t think this will be of concern to anyone.
Birthdays: July 6: an actor known for playing eccentric characters; a philosopher who carries some of his beliefs to their logical conclusion; July 8: a beast of a rugby league play (some demonstrations here); an actor who seemed to be everywhere on TV in my younger years; July 10: one of the great All Blacks, remembered for this iconic moment (the “dummy” [fake] pass at 5:04 is one of the best of all time); July 11: a politician who was one of my heroes when I was much younger and had not been exposed to Glibertarian wisdom (here he is with one of the best ever pieces of unrehearsed political theater); July 12: a guy who combined true belief and grifting before it was fashionable; July 15: another one of those guys who displayed courage that I can’t even imagine; July 16: the only Australian to ever win the Masters; one of the great batters of all time; one of the all-time great tennis players whose later life is proof that you should only speak your mind if the well-connected agree with you.
This week in Antipodean history:
- 1853, July 14: first general election in New Zealand
- 1900, July 9: Commonwealth of Australia officially founded.
- 1916, July 7: NZ Labour Party formed.
- 1963, July 13: Bob Charles wins British Open. The first lefty and the first Kiwi to win a major.
- 1974, July 7: NZ imposes blanket ban on all South African sports teams.
- 1979, July 11: the USA dumps on Australia
- 1985, July 10: France practices an act of state terrorism in New Zealand
- 2022, July 10: an Australian wins the Australian Open after 44 years (bonus covid stupidity reminder from the clip).
What’s going on down under
- Covered already but mushroom cook found guilty of murder. What I found morbidly fascinating is that it took the judge four days to read 365 pages of instructions to the jury.
- Balance has been restored to the Australian sporting world.
- A German tourist gets damn lucky.
- Australia’s national broadcaster addressing the serious questions
- AGW strikes again.
- This is a significant health story. My wife has some suggestions as to what’s going on.
- Two-for-one story: conservative leader goes back on promise, liberal media plays gotcha.
- National health care: the gift that keeps on giving.
This week’s music: it is difficult to explain just what a shock Skyhooks were when they burst onto the Australian music scene in 1975. Weird costumes, gender-bender, outrageous (for 1975) lyrics (six of the ten songs on their debut album were banned from broadcast). This is the first national performance on a weekly music show. It made their name and it made the show’s name.
¡sʞuᴉl ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ sʞuɐɥ┴ ¡uǝʌɐɹ ᴉH
Don’t think your links have covered it before but this seems Aussie-relevant.
https://x.com/lowlandsapien/status/1945403154092171415?t=P7HguylWW3J0j3FhCSfjxg&s=19
Pretty insane, most of the comments have it right. Herding dogs herd 24/7, they don’t know how to do anything else. Put them in a crowd of people and they herd the people. They don’t have to be told to work, if there are animals to herd, they will herd.
I have it on good authority that genetics don’t mean anything. Herding is just a social construct, these dogs were incorrectly assigned as working at birth.
I recently saw a video from a home security cam. While homeowner was out the front door somehow was not shut or got opened. Her herding dog got out, rounded up a dozen sheep and herded them all back into the house. When Mom got home she found…well, you can imagine.
It’s “dog of herding”, Shitlord!
“There are certainly other local places very much part of the tourist trail … but certainly this one wouldn’t be one that people would visit normally, no.”
And for good reason.
There are few obvious campsites in the expansive Karroun Hill Nature Reserve. There’s barely a track.
Ms Wilga’s van was found half a kilometre as the crow flies from what would be even considered a worn path.
Well, I guess now we know what could possibly go wrong.
I know I’m not alone in having a child who refuses to wear appropriate clothing — particularly jumpers, socks and headwear — when the temperature drops.
Do Aussies freak out when the temperature drops below 70 degrees the way that Brits get apoplectic when the mercury goes above 80?
So two totally different but July related freakouts?
It is wintertime there.
It is wintertime there.
Dry season in the northern parts of the country.
I was in Darwin at the beginning of the dry season. It was about 90 every day, but not humid.
When I was in Sydney on that trip, I think it didn’t get above 70 any day I was in Sydney. High 60s during the day I think it was? I didn’t see anyone apoplectic.
OFFS!
I have never seen such an attribute for any other celebrity or sports figure. I wonder what opinion of Margaret Court Wikipedia wants us to walk away with.
Apparently she is associated with Prosperity Theology, which is pretty fucking stupid.
I lived in Darwin for two years. In the two dry seasons I was there it rained once, for about ten minutes. Every guy in church went racing out when it started to wind up the windows in their cars.
I’m in my home office (the dining room) and I can hear the sounds of the county fair about a mile down the road. Happy summer everyone.
An easy walk. Just the thing if they have decent beer.
RC. Are you picking on TOK again?
He’s going to have to roll on down!
That ain’t how TOK rolls
I wonder what else she has “proven”. Should make the divorce interesting. Also should be an interesting board meeting.
Astronomer CEO Andy Byron gushed about Kristin Cabot’s hiring — months before getting caught on Coldplay’s kiss cam
I do enjoy Top Man rules are for little people hubris.
Tanya Tay Posobiec ☦️
@realTanyaTay
just imagine casually finding out your husband’s been living a double life.. as a Coldplay fan
https://x.com/realTanyaTay/status/1945946008317235430
That’s good.
I feel like the Babylon Bee is too quiet about this issue.
That is terrifying.
And the obligatory “oopsie” post…
I like how he blames Coldplay and the existence of Kiss Cam. “I’m in a public place having a public display of affection with my side piece. No fair showing my face.”
If he hadn’t made such a spectacle, no one would have noticed either.
Too bad she didn’t put the extra effort in, like that other kiss cam girl did.
Play more golfs
President Trump has been diagnosed with a “benign and common” vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency after he noticed swelling in his legs, the White House said Thursday.
The president’s physician, Sean Barbabella, said in a memo that the president underwent a thorough health examination after he noticed mild swelling in his legs, and it revealed no evidence of a more serious condition like deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read the memo at Thursday’s press briefing, and the White House later released it.
No carts.
Caddy. I imagine that has to be interesting to do for him at his club.
See? Unfit for office. Time for the 25th.
Gravity giveth, and gravity taketh away
Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner died on Thursday while paragliding in Italy, the Austrian Foreign Ministry and Italian fire brigade confirmed to dpa, citing Italian authorities.
The 56-year-old, who made international headlines in 2012 for his historic skydive from the edge of space, crashed in the seaside resort of Porto Sant’Elpidio on the Adriatic coast, they said.
Hyundai forced to give up fuel economy for reliability. What works in small German cars does not work on cheaply made large vehicles.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65436635/2026-hyundai-santa-fe-transmission-change/
Plus you don’t need a quick shifting SUV.
They should bring back the Genesis R-spec (I think nowadays it would be the G-80 R spec).
G70 with a manual… I’d be first in line if it wasn’t gonna be more than $80K.
Unfortunately Hyundai killed the G70 with a manual in 2022.
How’s the view from up there on that cross?
One day after being fired by the Justice Department, Maurene Comey told her former colleagues that “fear is the tool of a tyrant,” appearing to take aim at the upper ranks of DOJ and perhaps the president, according to a copy of a message she sent to the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that was shared with POLITICO.
Referring to the office’s longstanding motto of operating “without fear or favor,” Comey, who is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey and who prosecuted both Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, told her former colleagues in a note Thursday that “[w]e have entered a new phase where ‘without fear’ may be the challenge.”
“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen,” she wrote. “Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.”
Strictly personal and confidential; definitely never intended to appear in a national political news-and-views publication.
No Democrat or Democrat-appointed person can ever be fired for any reason.
Pay no mind to the taxpayer funded Diddy prosecutorial flameout.
Your ‘career’, Maurene, has so far consisted of blowing three high-profile prosecutions. That’s two more than a prosecutor, who doesn’t have an ex-FBI director daddy, could expect.
You might give Starbucks a try.
You don’t know what it’s like out there! I’ve WORKED in the private sector. They expect *results*.
She blew more than Diddy did.
She just “succeeded” in helping lead the most expensive prosecution for prostitution in human history. Yeah!
Weird. I recall vast swathes of US Attorneys being replaced when administrations change.
Plus you don’t need a quick shifting SUV.
If Mom can’t do full throttle tire-chirping upshifts across the school
Too buzzed to go to bed on time (for tomorrow’s day off) – 4 beers plus a “moscowril” (Moscow Mule beer cocktail – like the beermosas I got at Lake Placid) at a local place. Very nice….
Took most of this “weekend’ period of days off (wed-fri) to figure out that I can’t work on my miniatures in my “workspace” due to it being too hot even with a fan – seasonal issues. However, I have a new space set up with a new folding table right underneath the living room A/C. I’ll take a shot at doing more painting after my next 4 day shift (Sat-Tues). Slower than expected…but what can you do….I did commission a painted figure from a guy in the UK – hopefully delivered soon. Looked great in pics.
This concert (for ROK mobile game Nikke: Goddess of Victory”) isn’t nearly as good as the Arknights annual mobile game concerts I’ve posted before – but for a first attempt, it ain’t bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCCBk6TD784&list=RDhCCBk6TD784&start_radio=1 Arknights has set a massively high bar for character tracks, background music, and general good themes – that is almost unbeatable at this point.
Also hope to pick up some spray cans of primer on base tomorrow – some of these things you take for granted with amazon, etc – when you’re stateside – are vastly more complicated to acquire overseas.
May as well work on my daily “horse racing waifu” mobile game playthrough while I’m waiting to sober up. The Japanese have some interesting ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCaWqXP54Mc (pretty funny that all the race horses, even the male ones – are presented as cute school girls). Never did finish the first season of the anime, but I might need to now. Even better that they captured actual events in the anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P26Opa7F5g0
LCDR_Fish:
Saw your recommendation to MS earlier about an Italian beer here in the states, unfortunately, there’s little (that I’ve seen) making it’s way over here from Italy for beers. Other than Peroni, I think I’ve seen two other Italian breweries on the shelves around here. Outside of Germany, Belgium, and the UK, there’s only a handful of breweries that make the leap over to the states from Western Europe.
Erps
If Mom can’t do full throttle tire-chirping upshifts across the school parking lot when she picks the kids up what’s the point?
After due consideration
“After over a decade of failures, CHSRA’s mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget,” Duffy said in a statement. “It’s time for this boondoggle to die.”
Stop sugarcoating it.
China is going to eat our lunch unless people can go from Bakersfield to Merced in less than 2 hours.
Speaking of CCP high speed rail: https://www.youtube.com/live/f7T7VymSYhI?si=_-4nn1dZvtJCo7WO&t=181
ADV China bros doing the Lord’s work.
The high-speed rail efforts began in 2009 with the goal of building a train that could travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours. Newsom trimmed that vision a decade later, setting out to connect just a 170-mile stretch of land between Merced and Bakersfield.
Pared down to absolute peak economic benefit.
Pared down to a demonstration project to justify more funding.
So, an empty train to nowhere. Amazing.
The question no one is asking: What is the next grift they have up their sleeve?
We need at least 6 more trains to nowhere to catch up to China! They are beating us!
We need to build fake cities? That might catch us up.
That too. Write up a business case, and then cut yourself in for 10%. Some random government department will approve it.
Apropos of literally nothing. I got a big kick out of this “Milky Highway” independent animation a year or two ago.
The sequel/follow-up: Milky Subway is in the process of being released (3 mini episodes so far). I think what I enjoy about it the most (even in Japanese with subs) is that it really seems to capture/replicate the sort of screwball, high speed dialog/jokes from classic comedies – particularly bouncing each character off another (going back to the original animation too). Very fun.
The question no one is asking: What is the next grift they have up their sleeve?
Re-imagining Los Angeles. A better more equitable socially just monument to what is best about civil society post-inferno Los Angeles.
The rain is fucking killing me this year.
I run an adult baseball league. This is as rainy a summer as I can remember. Normally our dry season would have set in by now, but outside of a couple of weeks of HOT (during which there were no games because of the local dead period wherein schools can’t rent their facilities), all it’s done is fucking rain. A game cancelled yesterday was rescheduled for today, only to get rained out again. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP FUCKING RAINING.
“A serious piece of bush,” is how one local described it.
I take that to mean the local was speaking of the local terrain, not the tourist.