Friday, May 11, 2007

Random pix

I keep seeing this George Brandis clone in inline ads on some of the commercial sites.

And, by the way, check out my favourite of the political cartoons of the past week.

Goat Friday

click to enlarge
image source ClassicalMythology.tk

The Infant Jupiter Nurtured by the Goat Amalthea (1638)
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)

o_O_o

Clover is in patagonian pocket goat hospital and recovering well. She will hopefully return soon with more of her endearing antics.

For this week, here’s a well-worn classic gag:

A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be in Information Technology,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the woman, “how did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is probably technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information and the fact is, I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman below responded, “You must be in Management.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my f**king fault.”

(via email)

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Howard-counting obsession recurs

The Muftim Tim Blair has suffered a recurrence of an obsessive condition in which he compulsively counts the number of times Australian Prime Minister John Howard is mentioned at Tim Dunlop’s Blogocracy blog.

It will be recalled that Mr Blair last performed such an ‘audit’ on February 15, in which he noted the number of mentions of Howard at 115. He now notes that the mentions have “declined” to 41.

If this obsession recurs yet again, Mr Blair may be well advised to seek help in suppressing these compulsive episodes. There’s a danger that the condition could become a full-blown mania, in which the compulsion broadens to counting mentions of Howard by other political commentators, such as Michelle Grattan, Matt Price and Dennis Shanahan.

The poor man would simply burn himself out.

Mojo lost

In the paper today, Guy Blackman asserts that Brisbane band Powderfinger “famously described John Howard as Like a Dog on their 2000 album Odyssey Number 5.”

Mr Blackman clearly hasn’t paid attention to the song’s lyrics:

In all that he takes, in all that he shows
The higher the stakes, the lower the blows
And all the mistakes that he’s never known
Whatever it takes, he’ll be stealing the show

Now he nervously shakes as we rattle his stage
But he’s happy to be stuck back in his halcyon days
Now we’re trying hard to reconcile a history of shame
But he reinforced the barriers that keep it the same

If you treat me like a dog
And keep me locked in a cage
I’m not relaxed or comfortable
I’m aggravation and shame
But it’s a fine fine time for the people in the lucky land

If you treat me like a dog
And keep me locked in a cage
I’m not relaxed or comfortable
I’m aggravation and rage

While the song is quite patently ‘anti-Howard’, the chorus has the singer objecting in the first-person to being “treated like a dog”, particularly under the Howard Government’s regressive policies on Aboriginal reconciliation.

Get it right, Blackman dude, your street-cred is losing its mojo.