The Daily Blog Open Mic – 3rd January 2024

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The Daily Blog
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Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog,  3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.

All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section.

EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird bullshit about the UN taking over the world  and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

19 COMMENTS

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zhj_-LLWQU
    Lawfare Archive from Dan Carlin 44.51m
    Benjamin Wittes began listening to a podcast called Hardcore History, which is the brainchild of a fellow named Dan Carlin. Carlin was doing a series of episodes on World War I, and Hardcore History is—let’s just say—a different sort of podcast. The episodes are very long, very involved, and to Ben at least, completely riveting. Ben can’t recommend it highly enough. Carlin, a former radio talk show host, also runs a podcast called Common Sense, which focuses on contemporary political issues…

    Past history raconteur Carlin seems to be considered to be giving a reasonably accurate background and it seems he is worth listening to.

    Ep, 25 The Long View 1:12:08
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYAn-1HE9Y8

    183 History’s Biggest Questions with Dan Carlin Part 1 56.41
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylsWR-AXJlM
    Chatty history info discussion etc.

  2. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/506040/rhythm-and-vines-attendees-leave-gisborne-road-covered-in-rubbish
    I haven’t looked to see how old this shocked resident is. But the mess and other problems are the cost of doing business en masse with people who I hope spent money in Gisborne – an area that has had many impoverishing climate events etc over previous months and years.

    NZs who want to live in a land where people can have a life and a family and be part of a bustling throbbing! country supporting itself will have to get behind any business that brings activity and money to their corner or they will find themselves painted into it
    !. Note – an attempt at humour there – after Christmas I am finding light moments wherever they are hiding and dragging them out in the sunlight. The country is depressing in its bland unconcern about our future as a place of honest endeavour and work for reasonable reward, whether monetary or gratitude for help and odd jobs (or anything.) Get behind your country while some of it is still yours and be encouraging not whingeing – do something for someone, who wants it, every day. Don’t however be like the helpful boy scout who ushered an old lady standing at a kerb, across the road. She said nicely, “Thank you dear, but I was waiting for my taxi. Now will you take me back again.”

  3. What matters — climate change. Everything else is that dimple hill on the isthmus to Miramar they’re removing. The very far second thing is the neediest we’ve neglected for 40 years. We don’t vote for these things. ‘Cos we neglected the neediest for 40 years!

    Trotter’s columns for Israel recently are disgusting. He’s come back with truths about Labour’s piss-poorness. But the previous are difficult to forgive.

  6. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/506096/jeffrey-epstein-documents-have-been-unsealed-by-a-us-judge-what-you-need-to-know
    Need to know? What a hypocritical sleazy lot the middle and upper class are if they are invested greatly in this charade. Pretence of sexual purity or probity in the midst of dirty little war/s and involved in vicious dishonourable behaviour politically, economically, socially and in international agreements that involve behaviour similar to piracy. Extolling Grace Mullane as a victim after having gone to so much trouble to gain freedom in the 60’s! What about Julian Assange embedded in some honey trap about lacking in proper bedding etiquette in Sweden FGS?

    It’s no wonder that Prince A looks stunned and sullen. And the rosy cheeked women who were teenage escorts then, thrilled no doubt, are now gaining notoriety and spurious power in their mature years. Is there a definitive book of our threadbare Age to match the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire?
    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
    Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_History_of_the_…
    According to Gibbon, the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in large part due to the gradual loss of civic virtue among its citizens…

  8. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/506133/david-soul-starsky-and-hutch-actor-dies-aged-80

    Interesting background on artist David Soul. so much more than a star of a cop show.
    He was I think searching for the Meaning of Lif, as I think people who come to this blog are. And discovering human fickleness – gaining an audience when he appeared as a masked man as part of his shtick – when the mask was put aside the audience dwindled. Hey-ho.

    There are thoughtful, humane creatives seeking out the recipe for humanity out there – quick have another killing war before enough manage to find out something important, hold onto it and share it. There have been people with an advanced semi-divine streak before, with guidelines limiting authoritarianism, and some made a good impact for a while!
    For 2024 – Random act of kindness and senseless act of beauty – one a day as a goal could be a start.

    Meanwhile back in the boondocks. Life happens while you are planning other things. But are you? Or just looking at your devices, playing another video game, watching another sports match – your brain there but in neutral and going gradually rusty or the human equivalent of batteries running low; get an injection of something then – drugs, transistors, or lithium pellets???? The sports match to watch – It’s the Human Race!
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/506107/ai-is-our-promethean-fire-using-it-wisely-means-knowing-its-true-nature

  9. What a ‘killing’ summary of Australian realpolitik? About it’s stumblings under the narcotic effect of western imperialistic politics. Do I know what those words mean? I’m not 100% sure, but it’s what my brain produced and I think it means something, so I pass it on.

    Binoy Kampmark: Funding The Imperium: Australia Subsidises US Nuclear Submarines –

    AUKUS, the trilateral pact between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, was a steal for all except one of the partners. Australia, given the illusion of protection even as its aggressive stance (acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, becoming a forward base for the US military) aggravated other countries; the feeling of superiority, even as it was surrendering itself to a foreign power as never before, was the loser in the bargain.
    Last month, Australians woke up to the sad reminder that their government’s capitulation to Washington has been so total as to render any further talk about independence an embarrassment…

  10. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/506161/gareth-morgan-leaves-his-mark-on-transmission-gully
    Rivalling Gibbs Farm.
    The wealthy want to collect all the credits, goods and promises that are inherent in money and invest it in…people…spiritual, practically supportive, moral and joyful outcomes… no, in structures that put their stamp on the Earth, larger than life.

    Easter Island! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island

    Easter Island, a Chilean territory, is a remote volcanic island in Polynesia. Its native name is Rapa Nui. It’s famed for archaeological sites, including nearly 900 monumental statues called moai, created by inhabitants during the 13th–16th centuries. The moai are carved human figures with oversize heads, often resting on massive stone pedestals called ahus. Ahu Tongariki has the largest group of upright moai…
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/polynesia-things-to-see-natural-wonders

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias
    Ozymandias
    By Percy Bysshe Shelley
    I met a traveller from an antique land,
    Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
    And on the pedestal, these words appear:
    My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
    Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
    Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
    Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
    The lone and level sands stretch far away.

    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias
    …Ozymandias Pharaoh Rameses II (reigned 1279-1213 BCE). According to the OED, the statue was once 57 feet tall., King of Kings;.

  12. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/506250/a-75-percent-majority-of-residents-support-waiho-flat-abandonment
    This is a good thorough look at a South island West Coast problem – Franz Joseph (Josef) and Waiho (Waiau) and flooding and retreating glaciers with stone rolling down into the Waiau River. Moving back taking out stopbanks so that Franz Joseph itself doesn’t get drowned, covered.

    Graham Berry bought his 160ha dairy farm on the south side 18 years ago and battled for years for resource consent to build a hydro power scheme on the land.
    He realised the south side would have to be sacrificed after the Tonkin + Taylor review in 2017…
    As a member of the town’s Civil Defence team, he knew the dangers.
    He said the limbo dragging on for years had played havoc with people’s mental health and he was working with the West Coast Rural Support Trust to offer counselling to those affected.
    https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350099159/can-franz-josef-be-saved

    (Note the firm Tonkin and Taylor which seems to be the go-to for ascertaining future land and water movement in all NZ. Do they get listened to? Are they giving good advice? Where is the competition to what appears to be a monopoly? Appears to be, note.

    Looking for plain interactive map of area that is available to public, should be from local body. Can not find a better one than from Topo maps but that tells me off for my Adblocker. All others are tied up with companies. Where is the local input from those who live in the area as their own place? Local tourist information belonging to area, the nation?

    https://www.intercity.co.nz/south-island-buses/bus-greymouth-to-franz-josef This from bus company. I guess it is up to date? I had a friend who happened to be on the last bus in the service to a west coast area, and was informed as she got out; there will be no bus out, the timetable you saw is now no more. You will have to find your way out.

    That is the sloppy way we have been doing everything in this country. Cowboys. So I hope that there will be an end to that now and things will be planned in joined up systems. My friend hitch-hiked out by the way. However don’t let us forget there have been hitching murders on the West Coast. Clark got annoyed and called them ‘feral; about one aspect. Was she right overall?)

    Gnarly, but the sort of thing that alive NZs have to think about in a serious and intelligent and fair fashion. Is that mental climate still hovering over the country? We need a new birth of sorts in a new year of 2024.

  13. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/506289/gallery-owner-defends-selling-historical-photos-back-to-nz
    Dame Whina Cooper’s daughter says a treasure trove of historic photos – including images of her late mother – should never have left Aotearoa.
    The photos are part of the Fairfax newspaper archive, which was shipped to America as part of an ill-fated digitisation project and almost ended up in landfill after the US company went under.
    The Duncan Miller Gallery in Los Angeles – which specialises in 20th and 21st century photos – saved the images and has been working since to restore and return them to New Zealand….

    The Gallery shows as an actor with integrity attempting to conserve and save NZ/AO – that is what is needed in a large number of people in NZ who honour our country and its values which have been of worth.

  14. 2024 Song for NZ/Aotearoa – idea from older person with memories of a better time…slipping away.
    “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”

    It’s getting to the point where I’m no fun anymore
    I am sorry
    Sometimes it hurts so badly I must cry out loud
    I am lonely
    I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are
    You make it hard

    Remember what we’ve said and done and felt about each other
    Oh, babe have mercy
    Don’t let the past remind us of what we are not now
    I am not dreaming

    I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are
    You make it hard…

    Tearing yourself away from me now you are free
    And I am crying
    This does not mean I don’t love you I do that’s forever
    Yes and for always
    I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are
    You make it hard

    Something inside is telling me that I’ve got your secret
    Are you still listening?
    Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart
    And I love you

    I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are
    You make it hard
    And you make it hard
    And you make it hard
    And you make it hard

    Friday evening
    Sunday in the afternoon
    What have you got to lose?
    Tuesday morning
    Please be gone I’m tired of you
    What have you got to lose?

    Can I tell it like it is? (Help me I’m sufferin’)
    Listen to me baby
    It’s my heart that’s a sufferin’ it’s a dyin’ (Help me I’m dyin’)
    And that’s what I have to lose (To lose)

    I’ve got an answer
    I’m going to fly away
    What have I got to lose?
    Will you come see me
    Thursdays and Saturdays?
    What have you got to lose?

    Chestnut-brown canary
    Ruby-throated sparrow
    Sing a song, don’t be long
    Thrill me to the marrow
    Voices of the angels
    Ring around the moonlight
    Asking me said she so free
    How can you catch the sparrow?

    Lacy-lilting lyric
    Losing-love lamenting
    Change my life, make it right
    Be my lady…
    Writer(s): Stephen A Stills
    https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/crosbystillsnash/suitejudyblueeyes.html
    The musician/poet in Stephen Stills kept on – can we be like him?

    Congenitally deaf in one ear and now partially deaf in the other, Stills is brave to attempt his own “Bluebird,” with its difficult singing,..2017; https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/08/17/aint-it-always-stephen-stills/
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xGsR7Vi93A

  15. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8425058/
    Brexit – The Uncivil War
    starring Benedict Cumberbatch
    Details –
    Political strategist Dominic Cummings leads a popular but controversial campaign to convince British voters to leave the European Union from 2015 up until the present day.
    Director
    Toby Haynes
    Writer
    James Graham
    Stars
    Benedict Cumberbatch Sarah Belcher Malcolm Freeman

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit:_The_Uncivil_War
    (Have a look mate and see what your betters are likely to be doing in your name – and for .?…benefit.)

  16. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/506334/invercargill-mayor-pleased-to-be-recovering-at-home-after-heart-surgery
    An interesting exercise – Mayor has had heart surgery and his constituents are now certain he has one. Perhaps the same procedure should be carried out on Mayor Brown in Auckland. In these days of avatars and AI robotics we may have to perform tests of some sort to ensure that we are not being run entirely by algorithm etc.
    Song for the occasion”
    ‘The Rhythm of Life’ with words on screen. Keep up, life is fast moving these days especially so when there are multi-mega-bucks pushing things along.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVs_s1IbrU

    People singing this with style – The Kings Singers – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbiwz-q5b7I

  19. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/506316/robertson-keen-on-having-overseas-based-players-considered-for-all-blacks
    Careful about the All Blacks – try to keep it NZ content eh. If they have signed up with France, Japan then they are out of the running to represent NZ/AO. Leave something for NZs to feel proud about here that business interests haven’t spoiled.

    And don’t give too much power to the armchair potentates of the sport type. I lost respect for them since finding that they didn’t welcome Peter Snell back to the country, probably he wasn’t subservient enough or something. The retired and the clued-up admins like those guys that overseas ran FiFa like a fiefdom, they make one think ‘it’s just not cricket’.

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