How odd. No one seems to be commenting or posting, but there seems to be a bit of a racket going on down our street, people shouting and stuff.
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Strange…very quiet here in Brum…
Start of the great uprising perhaps? All the proles in their hovels planning sedition and perhaps a spot of “breaking wind in the palaces of the mighty”.
Lots of Saltires flying today, maybe the jocks have taken their desire for independence to its logical conclusion and invaded blighty!
Everyone still hungover from Lions celebrations?
You were in the wrong place. About a thousand enjoying the sun in my local park here in Bristol, watching jugglers, tight-rope walkers and clowns. They were all staring at their mobile phones and punching the air occasionally though, and it wasn’t about the antics of the clowns.
What a wonderfully nice and altruistic people we Brits are… we invent a game and then continue to provide a world class tournament for foreigners to win at, for 77 years! But it’s bloody nice to win sometimes, eh?
Now then, if You Tube would deign to put up the full match in HD of the Lions victory over Australia in the 3rd test ( I don’t have Sky), my sporting weekend will be complete. Huh! British and Irish Lions my arse… It wuz the Welsh wot won it! 😉
RAB,
Calling Bogans Forreners?
Remember Strayans are a sub-species of moron so we’re impervious to slurs.
I have to confess Regional, I had to Google Bogans. Nope they are certainly not foreigners in these parts, in fact I think we probably invented them in the UK then exported them to you.
The great actor Peter Ustinov, was asked by Australian Immigration on his first arrival in the country, whether he had a criminal record…
Well he was a bit tired and pissed off at the very long flight and answered…
I’m sorry, no. I didn’t think one was still nessessary…
Did Peter Ustinov ever play anyone but Peter Ustinov?
PFP, no, no more than did Michael Caine ever play anyone other than Michael Caine.
Ustinov, btw, had some very weird views on the desirability of a One World Government.
Yes, the country is very quiet without Abu Khatada
He’s gone? Not a Tennis fan then? Well that will piss off Channel 4. I thought they had him lined up for the early morning call to Jihad slot during Ramadan?
I thought that the display of porcine aerobatics that took place over London this evening was splendid. They are truly creatures of extraordinary grace.
The Bogan is a distinctly Australian thing. Some of its cultural nuances are beyond the relatively limited abilities of comprehension possessed by the Englishman, alas.
But I’m Welsh Michael. Your travels have never taken you to the Ely Estate outside Cardiff I’m sure. Nuances in a foreign language even. 😉
Besides how much have you had tonight? Is your brain working 20% harder, just like mine?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2357482/Just-pints-beer-week-dull-brain-20-make-harder-react-stimulus.html
More utter bollocks from da experts.
RAB,
Probably in the First Fleet, the Seppos have a shedful of ’em
So Andy Murray entered No. 1 Court at Wimbledon as a Scot and leaves it as a Brit. Quite the transformation…
Next year, it will be 78 years since the Men’s Singles was last won by an Englishman …
Apropos of nothing, SWMBO and I went on a picnic today, down by the ocean, by a lighthouse and some other nice scenery. We’ve relocated to southern California this year, mostly for personal reasons—an illness in my wife’s family— so we decided to celebrate out coming anniversary with a seaside lunch.
We went down a fairly steep trail to the beach, and I sat on a log while she dabbled her feet in the ocean, and waded through a tide pool, and wandered around looking for shells. I was watching people as much as the scenery, and here’s why I’m bothering you with this little meander through my day…
There were dozens of families at this beach/lighthouse/scenic site. Dads were going up and down the cliff carrying all kinds of stuff, and frequently a small child, while moms came along with picnic baskets and other paraphernalia, and kids were running all over the place.
There were whites and blacks, hispanics and orientals, all in all a very California, indeed very US, mixed up bunch of people. Everybody was friendly, having fun, an adventure, a Sunday outing by the sea.
And then I watched a scene that was probably a re-enactment of something prehistoric, something that would have been almost identical on some beach in southern Africa thousands of years ago, being acted out by a very ordinary looking family who never would have imagined how I was perceiving their little excursion.
The dad stood in the sand by the wave line, but 10 feet into the surf, while 2 little guys, about 4 and 2, ran back and forth toward him when the waves receded, then back to mom when another wave came in. He gestured to them to come out with him, and eventually the older kid did, and then mom walked the smaller one out also.
After that, they all stood in the waves, with the kids still running around, and mom showing them how to dig for shells. I could see their picnic basket and other stuff up on the sand away from the water. They were still there playing and having a good time when we left.
All in all, a completely unremarkable, gentle, prosaic, utterly normal scene of family life.
But I was reading through Insty the other day, and he linked to a thread at Althouse’s blog, and there was a huge, and rather nasty, argument about men and women and kids and how terribly confusing and unfair it all was.
And the other day we were here discussing the possible futures our societies faced, and while discussions here are not usually nasty, for which I am very grateful, there were sharply different opinions about the potentials trials and tribulations we all faced.
And then I saw all those completely ordinary people, out with their families, doing simple, fun things. I saw that father, urging the kids to take a chance and come out in the waves, and mom there, comforting, but also urging them to take a chance and go out to where dad was, and finally leading the smallest one out.
For all those who look around this crazy, often terrible world, and despair, I just want to say—don’t.
There are still many moms and dads around the world who, each day, take their little ones out to the edge of the water line, and urge them to not be afraid, but dip their toes in, even of the waves are running in, and the water is cold at first.
And so I say to all of you, don’t be afraid. Go out in the water, even if it’s a little scary and chilly, it will be okay.
Find the oyster with the pearl of great price, and show your sons and daughters how to find theirs in turn, and don’t ever let anyone take it away from you.
Beautifully said, Very — thank you. And Happy Anniversary! 🙂
veryretired, indeed.
The Althouse kerfuffle was – were, actually – creepy. It all started (for me, anyway) with the description of a predicament into which some guy had gotten himself that ballooned into a two camps of people talking – yelling – past each other. Quite nastily. Both were correct (1. many guys can save themselves a world of trouble by keeping their zippers zipped; 2) the legal system in the US strongly favors women in general, but specifically in family disputes). What really was interesting, fascinating, and weird was that Ms Althouse decided to go “troll” and really tear into a number of her old-time commenters. I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen/read something like this from her. I think she chewed up portions of good will from various persons including Instapundit (perhaps including his wife). I know I’ve looked at Althouse quite differently after she asserted the ability to discern racism telepathically…
… ahem, sorry about that. Anyway, I quite agree (again) with your points. I’ll be a grandpa soon.
jdm, Ann Althouse “asserted the ability to discern racism telepathically…” ???!!!
Really! Wow! (I haven’t kept up with her for quite awhile now.)
Natalia, the answer to your question is ‘YES’.
This reminds me of the time someone wondered aloud if her unborn child would be a boy or a girl. I said ‘Yes, it will be a boy or a girl!’. My answer was correct. Sometimes being a prophet is so easy!
Nick, now I see, I Understand, you have brought to me the Light! Have you ever thought of becoming an itinerant preacher? You’d have to have a fancy meal every year at Passover, and later wear a crown of thorns, of course. :>)))
I blame smite control, of course.
But on a side note, veryretired, I have been a great admirer of yours for years, and regularly do a quick search for your comments:- if none, move on.
Once again, you are absolutely right – there are roles, there’s a place, there are times, things to be passed on.
ADE
Thanks veryretired; I think it will be okay too. Whatever happens, the economy is just people doing things for each other. I think they will still do that.
Well yes, of course. Even when people kill each other in droves, starve, are thrown in jail, tortured, driven out of their homes and lands etc. etc. (the ‘whatever happens’ part, as it were – or may be), they still do things for each other. So no, the human race may not cease to exist, but to say ‘it will be okay’ – well, define ‘okay’? Sorry, but the way things are going right now, I am not optimistic for the future of VR’s children and grandchildren, nor that of my own. Will love to be proven wrong, though.
Nick,
Phone call:
He’s not there is he?
Yes
May I speak with him?
No
Nick,
Phone call:
Can I speak with him?
I don’t know
Many thanks to those who responded to my comment, whether you agreed or not. I appreciate your kind remarks, and, as someone who has been “out of step” for most of my life, am not upset at disagreements, I expect that in most cases anyway.
I have never said that the struggle to maintain, enlarge, and extend a free society would be easy or without dangers. What I have said many times is that the work will be long, dirty, and frustrating, requiring a level of commitment and devotion surpassing the relentless efforts of the collectivists to expand their power and control.
Many people will be uninvolved, for various reasons, and will choose sides based on any number of factors, some rational, some emotional, some incomprehensible.
But the key for the cause of freedom and individual rights is endurance, both of hope for the future successes we may achieve, and of committment in the face of the inevitable failures we will experience.
Our genetic record shows a time many thousands of years ago when the human race was reduced to only a few thousand people, caught up in challenges and threats beyond our comprehension, and at a level of primitive development we can barely imagine.
It is my personal belief that the survival of what were our mutual ancestors relied on a small group of people who refused to accept that death was unavoidable, who declared to their extended families that the old ways no longer worked, and that a new way forward must be found.
As Prof. Mead has discussed in his series of articles on the collapse of the blue social model, we are in analogous period now, in which the threat is not a natural event or series of events, but the recurring need in human society to re-invent itself when the formulae of the past social order no longer fit the circumstances into which our culture is moving.
Our opponent in this era is not a glacier or volcanic eruption, but the most ancient and ravenous of human desires—the lust for power over others.
Those of us who value the independent mind and the rights that allow that mind to exist and function must find all the venues, great and small, through which that state of freedom can be defended and expanded, and stand up there to do the work which must be done.
Our success is not guaranteed, and failures and setbacks are always certain in any human endeavor, but what better epitaph for any human being than that he or she devoted their life to advancing individual freedom and rights?
I believe the struggle can be won if we are willing to do the difficult and dirty work that must be done, day in and day out, year after year, resilient in the face of failure, and re-energized by any successes for the next days’ inevitable challenges.
What other purpose is so worthy of our best efforts and devotion? Live as a human being, and show others how to do so, rejecting servitude, and demanding liberty to lead a free, rational life.
There is the future, lying in the gutter of collectivism’s deceit and lust for power.
It belongs to you…pick it up.
Indeed, VR.
Julie, Julie, Julie, you should study up on your esoteric history, and your geography. Jesus was initiating the Northern Age of Pisces, the sign of mysticism. You Northerners are now entering the group-hug age of Aquarius, the sign of Majority rule!
Here in Australia, we are entering the opposite Age of Leo (our spring is six-months different to yours), the sign of Individuality! Smorgasbord spirituality is all the rage, in leo’s age! Any wandering preacher would be wise to talk about the man who used his own money as he wanted, and other such parables!
Nick,
Krudd will be swept into office as he’s the quintessential Strayan by his adoring Meeja, no individuals here mate!
But Australia IS the exceptional land! Our animals are unique, we are one of the flattest nations, and the dryest!
At the moment, we are still at a tribalistic, democratic stage of development, but we should be trying to give people absolute property rights, and become staunch defenders of individual rights! We are only just entering the Age of Leo, so it will take some time for individuals to free themselves from group-think patterns, but it can be done.
VeryRetired,
You wrote: “There is the future, lying in the gutter of collectivism’s deceit and lust for power. It belongs to you…pick it up.”
I nominate that for SQOTD.
SD
SD—I appreciate the thought but there are a great many quotable people in this world that have far more interesting things to say than I do.
Anyway, saw a great joke on another site a bit ago—
Heisenberg and Schrodinger are driving down the road and get pulled over by a cop. The cop asks Heisenberg, “Do you know how fast you were going?” Heisenberg says, “No, but I can tell you exactly where we are.”
Then the cop opens the trunk and says, “Did you know there’s a dead cat in here?”
Shrodinger says, “Well, we do NOW!”
Very good, VR. I shall undoubtedly “borrow” that one!
Nick,
Not being pedantic but the nation are the people or in our case sheeple and the landmass the country. Krudd will win in western Sinny because he bought them televisions, he’s a legend, Boganstan will become another Argentina style economy.