Impressions

[Mugwump]

Yes, poor Zimbabwe. I have never been there, but I have been to Nigeria a few times. It does seem, sometimes, as though the people who are the poorest, with the most to complain of, are unaccountably happy, while those of us who live in fairly clean and functioning democracies are perennially cynical and whingeing.

The British Empire had many faults, as empires always do, but perhaps few were as grievous as the way it cut and ran, leaving much of Africa in the hands of monsters like Mugabe.

[stui magpie]

It's still a 14 minute walk from my home to Chambers. Where do you guys live? Gippsland?

All these years and you haven't improved your time?

[stui magpie]

^ ive. Even here about 2.5 weeks. I've done a FIFO for about a week each 12-18 months for many years, but having semi-retired now I will be back for about 8 weeks this time, going back to London mid August. I grew up here, in Vermont, and left when I was 29. Since you're always where you were brought up, this'll always be home, but I'm struck by the change from the relatively safe and egalitarian Melbourne of my early adulthood and the edginess and inequality now. it's still high functioning by world standards, no doubt, ad its growing Asianness is both necessary and very positive - but i think the drive to become a megacity has had some real costs, and i wonder if oir politicians understand the direction of travel and the risk of urban dissolution.

You'd notice a difference in vermont. Been down the Manhattan for a few ales?

The frog boiling is a useful analogy, you don't really notice the change that much until you stop and look back. I live in Watsonia and can really see the amount of change in the last 20 years around me and north of me.

I rarely go into the city anymore. I used to be quite comfortable strolling around alone, half cut, after midnight. Now I'm not so sure.

Change is change, we can't stay the way we were. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, a lot of it has been poorly planned and anticipated and the pace of change, with technology driving some of it, is increasing.

Straya mate. It's fkn shit, but it's still the best fkn country in the world.

[Mugwump]

^ not really in Vermont nowadays, in fact staying down on the Peninsula, which has changed mightily. But I drove down Whitehorse Rd yesterday and past the mega tower - it was certainly hard to connect it with the sleepy old strip I remember....

Change is always inevitable, but it still amazes me how much of it happens over the heads of people who live in the place, and how fatalistic we are about it. No one should want to live in the past, but it'd be nice to think that we can actually choose the future rather than have it done to us. And while many things are immeasurably improved (food and streetlife, quality of some new-build housing), a hell of a lot has become edgier, costlier, more debt-based, and more of a hassle.

[stui magpie]

Yeah, I spend my work days between Ringwood and Box hill.

Box Hill is unrecognisable from 20 years ago.

How did we get where we are? Not sure, not sure if I care. It is what it is.

[Mugwump]

^ indeed the past is the past, but the trouble is, if it starts to move in the direction of urban decay, (see the interesting news item tonight showing the attack on a barbers shop in Footscray for a canary in the mine example) will you/we be able to recognise and influence it ? Australia is quite capable of becoming America or worse in fifteen years time, as assaults on public-sector workers show.

[Pies4shaw]

Yeah, I spend my work days between Ringwood and Box hill.

Box Hill is unrecognisable from 20 years ago.

How did we get where we are? Not sure, not sure if I care. It is what it is.

In your case, google suggests that there's a train line.

[think positive]

^ indeed the past is the past, but the trouble is, if it starts to move in the direction of urban decay, (see the interesting news item tonight showing the attack on a barbers shop in Footscray for a canary in the mine example) will you/we be able to recognise and influence it ? Australia is quite capable of becoming America or worse in fifteen years time, as assaults on public-sector workers show.

And doing it without the guns. I've thought the same thing lately.

I used to be a rep in the Footscray area, loved the mall and the foreign bakeries, and wandering around the old forges. The Mall is a horrible place now. I guess with highpoint not far away, it's almost obsolete. Be fantastic if they could turn it into a 'yarraville' or 'williamstown' like shopping strip.

I took my father in law there yesterday to his eye specialist, seems to get worse every time I go there. I stay as alert as if I'm walking down the street in Miami at night. Sad.

[Mugwump]

^ indeed the past is the past, but the trouble is, if it starts to move in the direction of urban decay, (see the interesting news item tonight showing the attack on a barbers shop in Footscray for a canary in the mine example) will you/we be able to recognise and influence it ? Australia is quite capable of becoming America or worse in fifteen years time, as assaults on public-sector workers show.

And doing it without the guns. I've thought the same thing lately.

I used to be a rep in the Footscray area, loved the mall and the foreign bakeries, and wandering around the old forges. The Mall is a horrible place now. I guess with highpoint not far away, it's almost obsolete. Be fantastic if they could turn it into a 'yarraville' or 'williamstown' like shopping strip.

I took my father in law there yesterday to his eye specialist, seems to get worse every time I go there. I stay as alert as if I'm walking down the street in Miami at night. Sad.

yes, the tighter gun laws here will prevent us going down the US route for now, but gun mania follows from urban breakdown, it does not cause it. America had the same gun laws in the 1950s, but it still had stable families and few drug problems. Since those took off, the guns have become an issue. When you reach a certain stage of civil disorder and libertarian craziness, ordinary citizens cease to trust the forces of law and order and they start demanding guns themselves. We are a long way from that in Australia, but the signs are there.

Loved your Alaska and Canada pics, btw !

[stui magpie]

^

You can still buy guns in Australia, self defence is just not a valid reason.

I have a gun licence and i have a fully legal short barrelled shotgun in the gun safe. This one https://www.berettaaustralia.com.au/sho ... k-tactical

Yeah, if someone breaks in I need to get to the gun safe, open it, get the gun out and load it but if that happens I have some more basic implements that will buy me the time if I need it.

It's my insurance policy.

[think positive]

^

You can still buy guns in Australia, self defence is just not a valid reason.

I have a gun licence and i have a fully legal short barrelled shotgun in the gun safe. This one https://www.berettaaustralia.com.au/sho ... k-tactical

Yeah, if someone breaks in I need to get to the gun safe, open it, get the gun out and load it but if that happens I have some more basic implements that will buy me the time if I need it.

It's my insurance policy.

tacks on the floor? baseball bat? mad mother? oh wait, that gorgeous friendly doggie - or at least he would protect you if you let him in!!!

[stui magpie]

Hah, doggie did his job today. had the building inspector over for the final inspection on the shed that I forgot to organise.

Between the old girl yapping at him, watching where the dog was and watching his feet in case he stepped on one of the dogs landmines, he was obviously too distracted to worry where the downpipes went, so passed the whole thing.

he stays in the yard, the only help he would be against an intruder would be to kill their dog if they were carrying one.

The "implements" are metal, have sharp edges and some weight and look really cool hanging on the wall over the bed.

[Mugwump]

On another note, according to the ABC news this evening, we have responded to the manslaughter of a surgeon by "increasing security at hospitals".

Our capacity to bandage the symptoms without being honest with ourselves about the deep, structural root causes of such tragedy is boundless, it seems.

The restitution of a rules-based society, the firm severity of legitimate authority in the face of lawlessness, and a return to uniform, understood cultural norms and behaviors is the only long term defence against the daily, and growing, toll of violence by the barbarous against the good. The escalation of this in the last 30 years is not a freak of nature, but the result of choices we have wilfully or unwittingly made.

[npalm]

Hi MW, I trust you're enjoying your visit to Melbourne and I hope the Pies do the right thing and win a game for you before you leave.

I don't understand what you have in mind when you refer to the 'cultural norms & behaviours' from 30 years ago. Could you elaborate?

[stui magpie]

On another note, according to the ABC news this evening, we have responded to the manslaughter of a surgeon by "increasing security at hospitals".

Our capacity to bandage the symptoms without being honest with ourselves about the deep, structural root causes of such tragedy is boundless, it seems.

The restitution of a rules-based society, the firm severity of legitimate authority in the face of lawlessness, and a return to uniform, understood cultural norms and behaviors is the only long term defence against the daily, and growing, toll of violence by the barbarous against the good. The escalation of this in the last 30 years is not a freak of nature, but the result of choices we have wilfully or unwittingly made.

Incidents get shanghaied by causes.

Putting more security in ED's is a good idea, has nothing to do with this case as the guy was walking in the main entrance, 100m from the ED.

Messages about violence against health care workers is a good thing. Irrelevant in this case, as above.

There's plenty of work that needs to be done to deal with the increasing level of violence, specifically but not exclusively toward health care workers , it's just a pity that none of it would have changed this situation.