I'm not opinionated, but...

Petrol prices: Without doubt petrol companies are profiteering during this world wide oil problems, solely caused by #47. The 'outrageous prices' of the Biden era don't seem so outrageous now. The retailers and the supplying companies are making a bomb, and no one is talking about that.

Lachie Neale: Creepy Australian football player who on camera punched another player in the guts. He was suspended for one match, but it was the Grand Final match, so naturally a way was found to let him play. For mine, he should have been charged with assault by the police.

A US AI company attacked an Australian medical system to seek information. Another AI company took that as being an ok thing to do, so it attacked too. Bring back the old days when there was only Google and Wikipedia. Matters of the tech have never scared me, but they are starting to now. 

'Ave a good one', (day). Suddenly English as a second language supermarket staff are using such slang as you thank them after paying. I don't mind it, but is clearly coming from management, with the hope that they are seen as dinky di Australians. 

Data centres: Massive buildings that from within consume huge amounts of electricity and water. Every year before summer we are warned by doomsayers that there will be electricity blackouts over summer because there won't be enough electricity to power our cooling. I think it did happen once in the teen years, but that was I think due to coal power station failures. One data centre can use as much power as a town with 127,000 residents. This is a huge issue to be addressed. And so is the water consumption, when in times of drought and water restrictions for households. There will be a huge pile on against the data centres and governments if the use of resources is not addressed and ensured they are renewable.

Electricity supply for data centres: Nah, we're not paying for underground cables. We'll, just put enormously tall high voltage power poles down your quiet and leafy suburban street. They did in one street and after another street saw that happen, they blockaded their own street by parking cars to stop the works. Already dug holes have been filled in. Who knows what Plan B will be.

A terrorist plot in England foiled by a farmer returning home after being at a party? Well done that girl, but was it? Much to the dissatisfaction of #47 and his bitch boi Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, the accused have been released on bail. I would assume the English authorities know what they are doing and such a decision wasn't taken lightly, and they don't need interference from across the Atlantic. 

Miss Manners in public: No one wants to hear your phone videos playing on public transport (young people), and no one wants to hear your phone on loudspeaker with what should be a private conversation (old people). 

The rights and the wrongs

Three years ago the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked very innocent Israeli musical festival goers. Many died, many were taken hostage, and then dying. It was so awful to comprehend. 

Israel then attacked Palestine itself, with far many more innocent Palestinians killed, and those that weren't survived with great deprivation of food, housing and medical care.

Being so personally directed, the attack on Israelis seems worse to me than instantly dying by an Israeli bomb or bullet. A moot point really. Israel has just gone too far, and as I see it, Israeli settlers moving into Palestinian land and targeting resident Palestinians and being allowed to do so by the the government of Israel is a disgrace.

So, now a rapper in the US, as a support act, seems like he has brought down a tour by British musician Ed Sheeran. Although with a history of being anti Israel, he spoke a few words at a concert concluding with 'Free Palestine'.

He was banned from future performances by the owner of the venue, who owns other venues, and he was banned from them too. So much for the US First amendment, mentioning freedom of speech (I am not a great one for the absolute right to free speech). 

Subsequently other support act musicians have withdrawn for Sheeran's tour. What a bloody god damn disaster.

It is disappointing that the very rich Sheeran is sitting on the fence about the matter. In a more minor way, similar has happened here in Australia. 

I am not anti Jewish, as you long time readers will know. But I am very anti the extremist right wing Netanyahu Israeli government. Rather than my rant, you read about it here at The Guardian. 

Bullion Bother

The is scary, especially for US citizens. The gold was removed by secret flights in unrecorded and unidentified planes. Only a small amount was removed from Ottawa, it being collateral damage. What on Earth has that Orange McNugget done to the world?

This comes from a Substack called I ***king Love Australia. Please do not ask me what a Substack is, nor Discord. I do not know. The former requires and age check here, and Discord confuses me. I am just getting to understanding Reddit, quite a useful site but also one that should have age restrictions. Actually, I think it does.  

Experts also say the recent spike in bond yields reflects rising concerns about the immense levels of debt across the developed world and, especially, in the United States.

The American government is spending more money on servicing its US$40tn debt pile than it is on defence. In fact, net interest payments of US$1.2tn a year make it the second biggest spending item in the US budget.

Nobody thinks the Americans are about to default on their debt, but the developed world’s borrowing burden is chipping away at trust in governments’ capacity to manage their budgets, and bond investors are demanding a higher interest rate to account for that.

the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) recently finished moving 86 tonnes of gold out of North America (the US and Canada) to the Bank of England in London. [1, 2]

The operation concluded in August 2026 after several months of coordination. [1]

Why the Gold Was Relocated

Crisis Preparedness: The Dutch central bank explicitly stated the move was made to handle "increasing geopolitical unrest" and ensure the country is better prepared for severe global crises. [1, 2]
Market Liquidity: London hosts the world's largest over-the-counter gold market. Keeping the gold in the Bank of England vaults allows the Netherlands to buy, sell, or trade the bullion much faster if an economic shock happens. [1, 2]
Strategic Shift: This matches a broader trend of European nations pulling assets out of the US; France similarly removed its gold reserves from US soil earlier in the

Just Sayin' 'Bout Climate Change

A decade or so ago we stayed in a Fairmont Hotel next to Lake Louise. Feeding down to the lake was the impressive Victoria Glacier. Within the hotel were some historical photos from the 1920s. Back then the glacier was wider and came much further down the its carved valley to the lake than what I could now see for ourselves.

Nothing had really hit me so personally about climate change until seeing that photo as my eyes alternated between the photo and what I could see. I knew about climate change, I believed in the science but here seemed to be living proof of a much reduced glacier.

It is early days in terrible raging river destruction in Nepal and Tibet, with a horrendous loss of life, include dual figures of Australians killed. It is also early days to call the cause of the flood being a result of climate change, but I'd put pretty good money on it being warming glacial ice breaking away and causing the flood.

Most of the world is making good noises and some even taking lots of action to stem climate change, but Fuckwit #47 has pulled back on clear climate science in his country. Just one more reason to despair about the future of the US.

Rising sea levels are already shrinking the shores of low lying South Pacific islands. It's gonna be us, Australia and New Zealand, who will have to pick up the pieces of no long inhabitable islands. We can call them Climate Change Refugees. We can't let them drown. Well, it won't be slowly rising seas that does them in. It will be events of nature, cyclones, sea storms, high tides etc, all making island living more dangerous.

Note to Bone Doctor

A few weeks ago Bone Doctor stayed after a doctor's conference and then drinks and socialising afterwards. She arrived back here after I had gone to bed. I left her notes on a small notepad. I would just put the original here, and while I don't have much shame in life, I am ashamed of my wobbly handwriting, so I'll just type it.

Note 1: I meant to leave you a wee dram (Scotch) to help you sleep but alas it disappeared. Sleep well, and see you in the morning. There is some port on the trolley.

Note 2: Chuck over the side of the bed whatever pillows or stuffed toys you don't want and cuddle the toy you do like.  

Note 3: If you are hungry, take an old age pensioner's meals on wheels sandwich from the fridge. 

Sister called last night, right as the 6pm tv news began. She has no respect for the life of her older brother. She and her wife will stay next Thursday night before going to a football match at 10.00am, scheduled to suit American tv audiences. 

Let me investigate. NFL, what is that?   The NFL's first-ever regular season game in Australia will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday 11 September 2026

The Los Angeles Rams will play against the San Fran Cisco 69ers 49ers. I still don't know what NFL is. National Football League? Yes. I will guess this is the slow football with players wearing a huge amount of protective gear. I've seen bits of it on tv, and it's even less interesting to me than Australia's own football and soccer. How can you identify a hot and sexy football player in such garb, and helmets, whereby you can't even see their faces.

Different strokes for different folks. 

A #47 win?

If you care to, can you check your Google Maps and see what Gulf of Mexico brings up for you, especially if you are in the Americas. Here is what I see in Australia. Place name changing is a bit topical in North America at the moment. If it is hard to see, my view says Gulf of Mexico and in brackets, Gulf of America.

In memory of Dolly

 Melbourne, Australia, 26th August 2026

By Explore Melbourne

The good, the bad and the fugly.

I am not sure where this cartoon came from but it inspired this post. 

I recently learnt about trucks, lorries if you like, world wide. Flat faced trucks are the standard in the UK and Europe. The driver has good visibility in front of them.

American trucks have a big engine sticking out in front of the cab and very poor visibility immediately in front of the driver's cab. With advent of cameras, radar and auto braking, this is probably not a huge issue now with new American trucks but it certainly was in the past when the drivers couldn't see immediately in front of them.

As Australia does, at times in picks up on the best from overseas, and the worst. We have a mix of both types of trucks but our inland long distance trucks are certainly like the one above. But we do also have long European style trucks.

On our outback roads, this style dominates.

GM is the US has made some horribly aggressive looking SUVs.

Now Japan has taken on the look, as you can in my parking garage. What is making cars look aggressive all about? We already know they are killing machines. Now they are looking more the part of a killing machine.

There's a whole lot more of these aggressive looking cars than these two in the car park.

My fingers run away

Phyllis has an excellent command of written and spoken English, and even without the usual Indian accent.

Kosov has excellent written English but his speaking is quirky. He struggles to explain anything complicated. But then I probably do too. At times I have had to restart explaining something. 

Neither of them have good mental arithmetic. If they want an instant answer to simple arithmetic, they ask me. And my mental arithmetic is far from perfect but faster than theirs, and more accurate.

When a new calendar arrives each year, Phyllis marks the calendar when the fortnightly rent is to be paid. I picked up that he mucked that up during the change from last year's calendar. He wasn't trying to cheat me, as his mistake was in my favour by one week. They are now paying rent four weeks in advance, but again Phyllis mucked up, and marked the calendar one month after he last paid four weeks rent. No, no. That short changes me by a few days each month. He understood and realised his mistake. I have no doubt it was unintentional. He knows I am smart with minor amounts of money, just not so smart with larger amounts. Yep, I look after pennies, not necessarily the pounds.

Speaking of pennies, for a long time I've wondered why Americans refer to coins as pennies. Aren't they cents? Aren't dollars and cents the standard?

Some good news here today. Food delivery drivers will now receive an hourly wage of around AU$31 an hour while they are working, plus some accident and personal injury insurance paid for by their employing companies. My lads never look to the future about shopping and we had run out of cat litter, which is not in my job description. Kosov didn't want to go out to get some after being told to do so, so he had it delivered from Aldi, for a fee of $4.50. That is simply a ridiculously low delivery fee. It may rise now that proper wages have to be paid to delivery drivers. Good.

What a horrible business in England, where a professor was driven to suicide, mostly by the Murdoch media. I can never remember an academic being attacked by media as he was. 

In Israel, Netanyahu is trying to build bridges with far right parliamentary members who want to bomb Arab countries to bits before a forthcoming election, while #47 continues his nonsense, now having being humiliated by Iran. Yeah, all about oil, but #47, you have huge problems in your own country. Yet the fuckwit is against his own citizens and businesses who use and promote renewable energy, thus reducing the reliance on Middle Eastern oil. Follow the money for him and his corrupt cronies and you will find out why.

Now Kosov has his Master's degree and no longer a student, he had to apply for a two year post study visa. My god, how Australia rips off overseas students. Now it is an AU$500 for a medical check and chest x-ray. He has spent many hours online applying for his visa. Stepping out of my personal interest in having them stay, they are hard working, decent and honest young men, in a committed relationship. As much as they are taking from Australia, they are giving more back to the country. 

Oh yes, the three of us had a very nice couple of hours out with HH last Friday night. I was going to insist on paying for my two glasses of wine but I knew what her reaction would be, so it was pointless. She can certainly talk, but I noticed her conversational skills, by the way she engaged Phyllis and Kosov in conversations. You'd be surprised how well an 80 year old straight white Australian woman could talk with two Indian born gay overseas former students who have lived in Australia for a couple of years.

Quiz

My couple of efforts at a quiz were ok, but not nearly as sophisticated as YP's.

This quiz is simple and without hints, eh.

Canada doesn't have counties like England, nor states like many counties have, including my country, Australia. Canada has provinces, I expect related back to its strong French connection, eh.

So please name Canada's provinces. There are ten. I knew six of them without checking, and then it was a matter of, how did I forget that, eh. 

If you knew one of the less known ones, or all of them, speak up. Naturally Canadian and US citizens will know them all, eh.

If you don't know, Canada is in the process of ditching its formerly strong connection with the US, and building trade relationships all over the rest of the world. Canadians have stopped visiting the US in large numbers. This is all down to #47 the US Republican Party that's treated the country in the most appalling manner. Guard the Leaf, if you care to. 

Shiny things

I wrote a medium length personal post, but I am not happy with it, so I am holding it over.

I don't know about sport, but what a disgraceful shame it is when for a football (soccer) player receives a red card, must leave the field for the rest of the game and cannot play in the next game. Well that's a bugger for the US soccer team for it's next match. He is an important and skilled player.

It does however seem that FIFA boss Infantino is in an incestuous relationship with #47. The Orange McNugget gave Infantile a call and asked him to fix it, a lo and behold, it was fixed. Team USA will have its important player restored for the next US match.

What an absolute disgrace. Many have called FIFA a very corrupt institution and over the years, a lot of evidence has been gathered and presented, but has much exceeded this blatancy? Every competing team should be outraged by this, and I think diplomatic representations should be made. 

If any country wants to host the World Cup in the future, be careful what you citizens wish for.

Later edit: Well, Belgium certainly sorted the FIFA corruption out well and truly, with a score of 4 goals, 3 more than the US. I don't blame the US; it is FIFA that's the issue here. This book written by an Australia woman about FIFA corruption sounds interesting if football is your thing; Whatever It Takes - the inside story of the FIFA way.

To cheer up this glum post, look at this lovely car, I guess to be used by a wedding party, parked almost across the road at the Royce Hotel. Google says it is a 1949 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith. They don't make 'em like that anymore. 

A good blog but beware of tour guides.

Frogdancer travels rather a lot, and her blog is a good read as she writes with wit, humour and some self deprecation. As I write she is about to visit Machu Picchu by train.

During a recent tour she posted about something a guide told her group. A quick Google and AI check definitely says this is untrue, in spite of how cruel the Spanish were.

The Inca men had long ponytails down to their hips. The Spanish would tie the men’s hands behind their backs, then tie their ponytails to their testicles. Then they’d castrate them.

I can't remember the 'fact' we were told on the open topped New York hop on, hop off bus, but I was suspicious and I checked and it was totally wrong.

This photo taken from the top of the bus, and I don't know what the statue is about, probably in lower Manhattan. Of course I could Google it, but maybe one of you already know. 

Rottnest Island, Western Australia, to paraphrase the tour guide, "We don't have an electricity connection to the island from the mainland, so we generate all of our electricity here on the island, and any excess goes back to Perth (mainland)". I guess that is by osmosis. 

Quokka barrier at the Rottnest Island supermarket. 

The beautiful game

It is World Cup time, football, or soccer as we, NZ and north American know it. The World Cup is this time spread over three countries, the US, Canada and Mexico. I suppose it was the US who bid to host the Cup. Our male team is known as the Socceroos. 

The last World Cup was held in Qatar, and was criticised for its exploitation of migrant workers and anti gay laws, with this Socceroo bloke Jackson Irvine who I just found out about today, being very critical at the time, and stood up and said so. Note his rainbow armband. 

Because of #47's antics, tourism to the US has dropped significantly. Canadians were the main tourists to visit the US and the numbers of them have dropped anywhere between 20% and 50%, depending on your biased source. The so called Snow Birders, that during the Canadian winter fly to Florida and other warm states, has tumbled, and they are selling their US properties. The threat from #47 to make Canada a state of the US rather upset Canadians, as it would. Imposing and increasing tariffs upset them further. 

I could go on, but I'll hand it over to Jackie in Toronto, where some games will be played. Some will played in Vancouver too. Montreal wisely said no to the games, and won't incur the huge cost of hosting games. 

Jackie posted this. 

Astonishingly, people who have been granted ESTAS, an agreement to be able to enter the US, somewhat like a visa, have subsequently been denied entry, either when arriving or a day or two before they were due travel, having paid for tickets to the game, accommodation and of course flights. I hope they have good travel insurance.

 

Over to this post by Jackie in Toronto. https://junkboattravels.blogspot.com/2026/06/fifa-world-cup.html

Wikipedia A$

I have donated to Wikipedia in the past and I just received this email wanting a recurring monthly donation, which I thought about doing but this got under my skin. A couple of dollars a month is cheap for how often I use Wikipedia.

But I am really pissed orf about the suggested amount.

What is A$? Is it American dollars, and so should be expressed as US$. Or is it Australian dollars, expressed as AU$? US$ and AU$ are very different amounts. US$2.75 is AU$3.83, plus bank charges for buying foreign currency. And isn't there another country that could use A$? Like CA$, Canadian dollars?

The sheer arrogance towards the rest of the world that comes from the US at times is gobsmacking. I wonder if this is a deliberate ploy to make Australians thinking they are paying in Australian dollars, when I think they are probably paying in US dollars. Whatever, Wikipedia is not receiving a donation from me in the immediate future. 

By supporting Wikipedia, you're standing up for something simple but profound: that knowledge should belong to everyone. A recurring donation of even A$2.75‍ a month helps Wikipedia thrive today, tomorrow, and for the next generation.

The good Christians of south eastern US

Melbourne's Burke Road stretches from Caulfield to Ivanhoe, and in the 1970s our then Prime Minister called it the longest street of bible bashing bastards in Australia. No one in the road voted for him, so he had nothing to lose by the statement. 

Step forward to the mid 2020s and many huge houses that contained a family have been demolished for pairs of upmarket townhouses, containing a downsizing elderly couple, widow or widower. This has done nothing for the shortage of housing in our country. 

While I doubt there are too many are church goers now, the residents are still wealthy and will still vote for the conservative party. It's all about the share market and their tax beneficial self managed superannuation funds.  

But for the better, the good burghers of Burke Road would have possibly supported gay marriage, are probably not anti abortion, and truth be told, many would have a social conscience, and like to see their taxes helping the less fortunate in life.

Ok, I am comparing apples to oranges, I think. But could the US bible belt with its social attitudes move on as the demographic residents of Burke Road did?

Could I add to this map the anti abortion protesters too? Is there anything else US citizens could add to this MAGA stronghold? Is this the area of Hillary's 'basket of deplorables'? 

Apologies if I stole this from you, and to whoever you stole it from.

Just once...

Will there be a future when I won't wake up to listen to the ABC ten minute 7.00am radio news bulletin without it beginning with "US President Donald Trump...".

Relief and rant

Ray's relatives left yesterday morning. As lovely as the couple are, it is a bit of a relief, but also very sad as it is unlikely I will ever see them again. I had three dinners out with them and took them out on two long day trips, and they were very appreciative, and I heard about all the people I know in Ray's northern English city. They have flown to Bali, and four days later supposed to fly via Bahrain to England. Their flight has been cancelled, and alternative arrangements will be made.

A huge security guard company recently collapsed and the owner has fled overseas. We are told they underpaid security immigrant and student workers, insisting the students work more hours than they are allowed. There were many who were not paid. Superannuation was not paid, the responsibility of our tax department, and a huge amount was owed in unpaid taxes. There was sexual harassment of staff and eyes turned blind by the companies that used the security company. 

"Has collapsed owing tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands/millions in tax payments to the government", is a phrase we almost hear daily, well maybe weekly. This is an absolute disgrace. It is money lost that will have to made up by all taxpayers. There is really something seriously wrong in our tax department when it lets go unpaid tax and unpaid workers' superannuation for long periods. Never mind that the owner of the company should have had his passport blocked. He won't return to face the music.

I will shop on Thursday before a dental appointment in the afternoon. Otherwise, nothing more this week until Sunday when it will be a great niece's 12th birthday celebration. Ray's and Mother's used to be celebrated at the same time. 

A friend is just about to clear from a Covid infection. It is ages since I've heard of anyone having Covid, but the beast is still with us. She was well vaccinated and so her symptoms were mild.

Why does one Yarra Trams tram driver ring the gong seven different times when passing by (to warn flying bats I guess) and the next driver does not ring the gong at all? Yarra Trams provided an excellent service for attendees at the Grand Prix, but bugger the locals. It was awful to try to get anywhere by tram. Thank goodness for the new Metro tunnel train. 

The Chinese cult 'religion' Falun Gong has a performance called Shen Yun happening around Australia, in Melbourne at a place I didn't know, but what we call Jeff's Shed. I am bombarded by advertising for the show on YouTube. But let me tell you the organisers, if you want to advertise in Australia, at the very least use Australian voices to promote the show, and not American. I can wear American car advertisements with the steering wheel on the wrong side as the cars travel along beautiful coastal roads, because there is an Australian voice over, and I know the the ads cost a lot to make.  It may be an urban myth, but I remember a remark from Germany. 'If you want to buy something from us, we speak perfect English. If you want to sell us something, sorry, we don't understand English'. Not using an Australian voice over for Shen Yun really pisses me off.                                                                               

Hopefully something less whiny tomorrow.

Media Lies

About a week ago I came across this video. I immediately wondered why I had not heard of this? How come there weren't alerts on my phone? How come it is not a news flash interrupting our normal tv? 

I watched on and my disbelief heightened. I checked online and I couldn't see anything about the matter.

I reported it to YouTube for being false report pretending to be genuine news. I phrased my report with great care, but there wasn't a response. I tried again and the second time I did receive a pro forma response.

I noted others had already done so, yet it still is online a week later. While YouTube gives me much pleasure, it is clearly not a responsible media organisation, or tech company if you like. 

Could Canada close its airspace to US airlines? I don't know, but I do think the repercussions would be as huge as described.

YouTube leaves lies like this report online for a week, and clearly longer, what a disgrace. Just the headline of Canada closing air space to the US should have triggered something at YouTube to verify the report. 

Update: According to YouTube, the video has now been removed. I am sure it wasn't just me alone who protested. Better still, the account has been suspended. While I didn't look at them, there were other videos at the same site, no doubt in a similar vein. 

Not very princely

You will have all seen the photo of Andy Mountbatten slumped in the rear of the police car. Andy is no longer a  prince, and instead of being prince like, sitting up straight and looking straight ahead, he thought he could outsmart the best paparazzi in the world, providing great grist to the media mill worldwide. It just proves what a tosser he is. 

One commentator said he was the first royal to be involved with police since the Princess Anne dog biting incident. I seem to remember Princess Anne being intercepted by police for speeding in her younger years, let alone Prince Phillip's car crash where he was at fault, and stripped of his driving licence.

I made a comment on someone's blog that I had a rethink about and concluded I was wrong. My thinking was maybe Andy Mountbatten might be caught out by providing information to foreign sources. Kind of like Al Capone was caught out by the US tax department. He went to gaol, but not for many other crimes he committed. If Andy Mountbatten goes befores courts and receives a conviction for some corruption issues, does it matter if he is convicted and serves gaol time, just not for the other crimes he might have committed, with the suggestions those could be trafficked and underage women.

I conclude it matters big time. From US #47 to Andy Mountbatten, and all those others who took advantage of Epstein's and Maxwell's 'hospitality', investigate them and charge them with crimes they have committed, starting with #47 but don't leave Mountbatten out. 

In other news, I gave Kosov a driving lesson today, and he drove on big roads and busy roads and while there is a long way to go, he didn't do too badly.

Phyllis was emptying the dishwasher and broke my port decanter. At least is wasn't my Waterford crystal sherry decanter. He was so upset and sorry, and I was pleased that he took on total fault at his carelessness and did not try to blame anyone or anything else. We'll find a new decanter in a charity shop, or I'll just guzzle from the bottle.

He also repainted my fingernail, so that it looks nice for when Ray's nephew and wife arrive next week. Two coats of quick drying polish, with a slow drying protecting kind of coat on top. That with my pedicure today makes me feel rather good. 

 

Ten years ago

Almost ten years ago, that is.

These were quite interesting clips, the first in Alaska, the second in Minnesota and the third in Toronto. The post may be a little slow to load. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20160219012656/http://highriser.blogspot.com/

And, happy Valentine's Day. Luv youse all.