Exit the Famous Bearded Media Person

That is how I used to refer to fellow resident Derryn Hinch if I mentioned him.

He lived in our building for around as long as I have, some 24 years. He was always friendly and chatty when we engaged in lift conversations, and expressed his condolences when he knew Ray died. 

His publicly aired opinions were strong and often controversial, and I did not always agree with them. Nevertheless, he was a neighbour doing his job as a media person, just as I did my job. I didn't question him about his and he didn't question me about mine. I thought of him as an essentially a decent person. 

He served gaol time, for contempt of court, and one of home detention (he was allowed to leave his apartment to use our pool and gym), perhaps for the same reason, after naming yet to be convicted paedophiles as a warning to the community. 

He travelled the world in his media role, was a radio broadcaster, tv presenter, charity donor of time and money, made fortunes, lost fortunes, owned a winery and was married five times.

As was said at his funeral, he loved media, women and alcohol. He was a huge drinker of wine, I heard a figure of six bottles a day as a minimum, and this caused problems. Here on his balcony late at night he would burn papers in....... I can't remember the name. It was Japanese outdoor thing you could burn stuffs in? Hibachi? The smoke used to annoy his next door neighbour who liked to have her windows open. The then the body corporate became involved in the neighbour dispute and he was warned more than once.

His drinking also led to liver failure and he received a liver transplant about the same time as our late friend's brother in the Austin Hospital, so they got to know each other. The brother of our friend, a non drinker, is still going and I exchange occasional messages with him. His lovely wife now sadly has dementia.

Derryn owned a ground floor apartment but lived in a rented apartment on an upper level. His PA, and general everything who sorted out his life lived in the apartment he owned, and he eventually bought the apartment where he lived.

He was married five times, twice to the same woman, the famous actor Jackie Weaver. His animal activist girlfriend, Lynda Stoner, from the eighties became his last partner. While he lived here  he met and married Chanel. I knew her rather better than I wanted to, as I, she and the building's cleaner were stuck in a lift for an hour or more in 2009 when a bushfire burnt through a major electrical cable in the north of the state and most of Melbourne lost power. She was pleasant, very glam and to use an old fashioned phrase, of a nervous disposition. She recognised a couple of old queens, Ray and myself, as cool guys, and while aloof with most people, she was over the top friendly with us. She owned a private detective agency. 

They did not live together though. She lived in another apartment, and her parents moved into yet another apartment. Although Derryn once drove around in a Rolls Royce, while he lived here he owned a huge converted to right hand drive black American Cadillac. The carpark in a large building behind the Highrise used to have a car wash facility and Derryn used to have the staff there come and collect his car, clean it thoroughly, and return his car. One staff smashed up his car, and it was off the road for months as parts were hard to obtain. He stopped driving many years ago.

His physical deterioration was quite rapid, and rather sad to see. There was nothing wrong with his mind and he continued to write up until the day before he died in his sleep.

Up until about three years ago, he used the Italian restaurant opposite as his office in the afternoon. With his laptop, he would dine, work, socialise and drink moderately for a couple of hours in the afternoon. The restaurant closed, and so he would be seen less often going out.

After numerous falls and leg infections, he died in his sleep. 

Yesterday he was honoured with a State Funeral, and it was broadcast around the nation by commercial television. At two hours, it was a long watch and I skipped through the music as I watched in a little delay. I seldom praise commercial media, but Channel 9 made it a terrific coverage, without ads. 

My eyes wetted up when Jackie Weaver spoke via video, and his very emotional PA spoke, who obviously I know from lift encounters. Also mentioned and was a pall bearer who was the local resident who organised my repainting and recarpeting two years ago. In the last year or so he put in a huge effort to look after Derryn and his PA.

Oh, I haven't mentioned that he formed his own political party and became a politician in Victoria's upper house, as a member of the the Legislative Council.

Nor did I mention he published 14 books.

Nor that in the early noughties when he was reported in the media, he was described as living in an exclusive St Kilda Road apartment building, which quite amused us and fellow residents who live in the cheap seats of St Kilda Road, but it wasn't always.    

Eras end, and so has another. Vale the Human Headline, the Mouth from the South and Beast from the East, Derryn.

I can't stop ranting

Tommy Robinson, not his real name, is a far right activist in the UK. I remember lunching at a pub in Whitehall as a protest march passed by, with buses diverted, which I think is quite common in Whitehall. It seemed to be a protest about a certain Tommy Robinson being gaoled. I had no idea who he was. 

More than a decade later, I now know about his far right politics and he has served five prison sentences, for assault, threats, harassment, fraud and contempt of court. He became a bankrupt after racking up a lot of gambling debts. He was sentenced to a community service order of 150 hours, and a three year ban from attending football (soccer) matches.

In August 2025, Robinson shared a video on Twitter of a black man and his brother playing with his white granddaughters in a park in North Yorkshire, falsely accusing them of paedophilia, which resulted in the family being racially abused with false paedophilia accusations. Labour MP for Redcar Anna Turley had to write a reference letter of good behaviour after the victim was suspended by his management. Turley stated that there was "no place for hate in our town" and said she was "heartbroken" for the family "who've been targeted and abused because of Tommy Robinson's poisonous lies"

Nice dude hey. No! A nasty piece of work. He's maybe as bad as #47!

Not my business? It is when an Australian became involved, one popular morning tv host, Karl Stefanovic. 

In a vodcast, Stefanovic became Robinson's best mate and not at all interviewing him in a normal journalistic questioning manner, and ignored Robinson's past. It was all very lovey dovey. From other areas, it seems Stefanovic has become hard right, even though his father, a Serbian, was an immigrant to Australia. 

Stefanovic has been sacked from his television gig and for many of us, is a disgraced person. Public figures may softly indicate where their politics lie, but if they follow extremism, they will accordingly 

be judged. 

Public photography

I can't speak for other countries, but in Australia you are free to take photographs in public spaces. Defining public spaces is difficult, and I would certainly call anywhere government owned as a public space, with restrictions as defined by government law.

Our Spencer Street Station Southern Cross Station is privately operated but it is certainly government owned, so I reckon it is fair game for the public to take photos. After checking, personal and amateur photography is fine. 

What about Museum Melbourne Central Station?  The same as Southern Cross. 

Well, to my surprise this post is going nowhere. My suspicions about photography at private company operated railway stations seems unfounded.

Even at  a car service station where you might fill your car with petrol, while privately owned on privately owned land is considered a public space by Victoria Police.  

This was inspired by an article in an English electric newspaper, https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/use-a-dslr-in-a-railway-station-you-get-questioned-use-a-smartphone-youre-ignored-why/ 

Speaking of English newspapers, their free versions are hideous. The Telegraph had an ad over the text of a news story that didn't disappear, and nor had any usual method to close the ad. Only by refreshing could I read the article. Other electric English papers are just as bad with overwhelming advertising, and the pages jumping around on the screen as you try to read something. If I lived in England and wanted to read newspapers, I think I would buy a hard copy at the corner shop. 

And I thought our own advertising was intrusive enough. 

My Doc

Dr Beng Eu has been my doctor for nigh on  thirty years. Always have a doctor younger than you was the mantra, and I did. But as I haven't aged at all, I've noticed he has. He was a pretty hot and sexy guy when he was younger.

One should not think about one's doctor in any kind of sexual manner, but still... 

Beside him being my GP (general practitioner doctor) he is a bit of a high achiever, with him being an early part owner of the practice, Prahran Market Clinic. While most of the clinic's patients are LBTQ... what ever else, straight people and conventional families also visit the clinic.

https://academicmedicaleducation.com/people/beng-eu-mbbs 

While I used to have to pay a fee, with our government paying about half the cost, now as an old age pensioner, I am no longer pay anything to see my doctor.

He is not afraid of the media.

He was quoted in our local electric newspaper about peptides here just this week, about two thirds down the page. I'll just paste it in.

Dr Beng Eu, a general practitioner and co-director of Prahran Market Clinic, said there had been a sharp increase in patients using experimental peptides for muscle building, skin care or biohacking. These products can be swallowed, injected or rubbed into the skin.

The doctor, who has been studying the rise of peptide use and is pushing for tighter regulations, said many of the substances had not even been tested on humans.

“It’s quite dodgy because they’re relying on studies which have been undertaken on rats,” he said. “There is no real safety data.”

Then there was the time when one of his patients died, but didn't. I can't find the YouTube clip now, but Beng's practice was informed one of its patients had died, Beng was surprised to see the dead person made an appointment to see him, and turned up, alive and well. There was some media coverage. 

Menfolk of a certain age, listen to what Beng has to say about prostate issues on our gay tv channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HHeFnXB3GA&list=PLspznn4QfUteeR8GIT79uwp9bKbm27uB2

Our ABC and the personal

While our ABC is very similar to the BBC, a publicly funded independent media broadcaster, the funding is quite different, with the BBC's funding coming from tv and radio? licences paid by all, in theory. Our ABC is funded from general taxes gathered by our federal government. I don't know how Canada's CBC is funded, but I know some Australian ABC programmes are broadcast by CBC, for which it must pay.

ABC staff have been on strike, and while I am sure their demands are worthy, it is not a great experience for ABC viewers or listeners. I heard the ABC was to use some BBC news content, but I never heard any. It already uses BBC content on News Radio station. I tried to listen to the commercial alternative to ABC Melbourne radio, but it was cringeworthy. 

Being a unionist all of my working life, I judge it as poor management skills when staff are driven to strike and lose pay. I won't win friendship with a certain blogger, but I believe like many organisations, public and private, management is very bloated. 

I, rather my apartment, is slowly drying out. Fans and dehumidifiers are still roaring away and my daily electric bill has risen from $3 to $30. I will attempt to claim from owners' corporation insurance, but I don't fancy my chances. I could always ask the apartment owner for compensation, but I would add more than just the cost of the electric. Last resort, as an old age pensioner, plead for sympathy from the electricity company for this unexpected event and offer to pay back $20 per electric bill to eventually cover what will be an extraordinary bill. 

I knew it wasn't right, in spite of me providing all information as requested. The company who sort out my old age pension warned me last year of this. My pension was overpaid $9,000 in 2024 by our government organisation, Centrelink. That was soon after Ray died and I turned 67, and I inherited a small amount from Ray, and my mother's estate was eventually finalised. My finances were complicated at the time, but as I said, I supplied all information as required.

I am now on repayment plan of $20 per fortnight deducted from my pension. 9,000 divided by 20 equals 450 fortnights, equals 900 weeks, equals 17.3 years. My age, 68 plus 17 equals 85. My arithmetic is probably wrong, but I think the debt will die with me. Will the balance come from my estate? That won't be my problem.

Three weeks ago I visited my cardiologist. All good, but have a precautionary CT scan, see you same time next year. Following that I visited the dentist, teeth are ok, just a clean. Annual full blood tests across the road earlier this week after delaying breakfast to fast, all good. A visit to my GP for script renewals, and an eye test with new glasses ordered, kaching.

Socially, nothing since English family departed and my great niece's birthday, although today I had lunch with Ex Sis in Law. 

I've put a new photo of myself on my profile. I am not sure if I like it or not. It was the most flattering I could find, and there aren't many photos taken of me. I am normally the one who captures moments. 

There is a fierce southerly wind buffeting outside, coming in from the Antarctic, our first really cold evening since summer began. We are heading into the cold, but our cold never restricts me like our summer heat does, never mind that we only had a couple of days over 40/104. I am not sure what the stats say, but it seemed a mild summer to me. 

The Brethren Cult

There are so many wrongs in the world and there always have been. We'll just ignore # 47, as the world is learning to do. Sadly the despot can't be ignored in his own country as the actions of a crazy man continue, and sadly his actions are affecting the world. 

Each day I wake to listen to the radio news with dread at #47 news and it just keeps coming, such as portraying the Obamas as apes. If he didn't do it himself, he employs people who have such an astonishing mindset. that they would even think such a thought. I am not keen on insulting women by calling them bitches, but that is clearly what his press secretary is, one Karoline Leavitt, and a stupid bitch for that matter. If it was a man, I'd call him a bastard.

I'd better get to the point, that's the Plymouth Brethren cult, as our right honourable Prime Minister has called it. But he has done nothing about removing the cult's faux status as a religion, and hence it is able to receive tax exemptions for its various large income streams.

You can do your own research about the evils of this 'church', but let me assure you, I've followed the reporting about this cult for many years in great detail, and it is a baddun. 

The members of the cult were called to arms to support the conservative party at the last election, whereby they aggressively harassed people at polling booths, as I experienced myself when I voted. Normally the interaction between opposing party supporters who hand out how to vote cards is friendly banter. It was not so this time. Tension sat over the queue of those lining up to vote. 

So, you get what the Brethren is about, and don't underestimate its power. 

But hey, it has charity arm, the Rapid Relief Team, that turns up at national disasters to help, in what manner I am not sure that is not already done by locals, governments and fantastic Sikhs who just feed people, and yes perhaps attempting to ingratiate themselves into Australian society. They are going the right way about it. 

From The Age:

The Exclusive Brethren’s Australian-based charity, the Rapid Relief Team, is suing a former member who escaped the church aged 17 after what she says was years of childhood sexual abuse.

has complained to police in her home town in Canada that she was sexually abused between the ages of about three and 12 by an elder of what’s now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

produced a podcast on YouTube called Get a Life: Ex-Cult Conversations. The podcast focuses on what they say is widespread abuse and mistreatment within the church, which is run out of Sydney by so-called “Man of God” Bruce Hales.

Now the Rapid Relief Team (RRT), the church’s public-facing charity, alleges Bawtinheimer infringed its copyright in some of those videos. The Brethren charity is demanding a jury trial in California, unspecified financial damages, and that a number of Bawtinheimer’s videos be taken down.

The Argus, aka my battery soldering building

The electronic shop where my bollard battery wires were soldered was within The Argus building. What is The Argus, you may ask. Well, The Argus newspaper operated out of this very handsome building, purpose built in 1926. 

In the late 90s or earlier 2000s it was abandoned, although obviously still owned. That is when my nephew and a couple of mates 'investigated' the building. One night they reached the top and took photos and perhaps put them out on whatever social media was around then. 

The Argus was a Melbourne morning newspaper, first published in 1846 and closed in 1957. It's main competitor was  the very conservative The Age. The Argus was less conservative and became quite liberal at some point in its life. You can read more about The Argus at Wikipedia. 

Who owns the building now? The Melbourne Institute of Technology is a private education company. Here is a snip from Wikipedia. We can be quite grateful to Mr Ghale for the renovations and recreating it as a viable and I assume profitable building. At street level there are many different businesses. I might just venture inside the main building one day, if I can. 

In 2004 La Trobe University bought the Argus Building for $8 million with the intention to redevelop the building to house its legal and business schools as well as a ground-floor shopping precinct.^[6] Owing to the high estimated cost of renovating the building, La Trobe University sold the site for $15 million in 2010 to Shesh Ghale, owner of the Melbourne Institute of Technology, who converted the site into its Melbourne campus which re-opened in October 2016. 

All links in this post were my work. While I was a little impressed by the Blogger's linking feature, you can't single click to remove the links. You have to do so link by link yourself. 

More on gay royals and celebs

There were a couple of thought provoking comments on my post about Royal gays.

From a young age I was very attracted to men in a way I did not initially understand but at puberty it became quite clear but without any kind of physical clarity. I wanted men, but I did not know in what manner and what was involved. 

At some point I realised that there was a connection between limp wristed effeminate men on tv to my desires, but that did not seem to be me.

I realised gay sex between men was illegal in most Australian states and was then and is illegal now in many parts of the world.  

When I was a young gay man, gay men, and certainly me, were always seeking validation of their sexuality. A public figure coming out as gay was so important. It was a case of 'I'm not the only one in the world. Even famous people can be gay'. Every actor, every musician, every judge, every politician, every sportsperson, every famous person, dead or alive who was gay, gave me a validation for who I am.

And now even in my senior years, I still seek that affirmation that being gay is ok, and there are many of us, even Royal people. Each time I hear someone vaguely famous or extremely well known for high achievements, it further validates my sexuality. Many gay men my age will think like this, and sadly many younger men still will

Even despotic rulers like King Mwanga II of Uganda in the 19th century could be openly gay, stands.

Though perhaps not J Edgar Hoover, once the director the the US FBI. More modern gay people be pretty awful.

Tough gay sportspeople score extra points, for distancing effeminate gay stereotypes from uber masculine men, not that there's anything wrong with effeminate gay men, although I do have my own prejudices by way of 'no one loves a fairy over forty'. You just have to be able to carry it off honey.

A few year ago Australian soccer star Josh Cavallo came out as gay.

This year an ex Australian Rules Football player came out, one Mitch Brown, although he claims bisexuality. Photo from Star Observer.

I hope you understand that I appreciate you don't care who is gay, and it's their own business, but I do care, greatly. The more I know about, the better I will feel. 

The Australian problem with Jewish

I lunched with my neighbour HH yesterday. She has a close friend who she has known for over sixty years, and this friend is Jewish.

I broached the subject of the recent racially based massacre of innocent Jewish Australians, and a couple of people from overseas. HH, gave me the Jewish perspective as described by her friend. She said she felt fear, she felt isolated and threatened, with nowhere to turn aside from her own Jewish friends. She felt threat from Australia, which of course was never there.

As the week subsequent to the massacre went on, she was overwhelmed by the public support and love from Australia and Australians themselves.

I further questioned HH. Have you ever heard any multi generational white Australians like us be anti Jewish? No. We concluded we were just not really that interested in who among us are Jewish. Ray and I lived in the suburb of Balaclava for about nine years, surrounded by Jewish people. No one ever told us they were Jewish, but we know many were. There were the funny men a train station along in Ripponlea who walked around on Friday nights in tall black hats and strange clothing, but so? 

While the attack may have been by radical Muslim men targeting Jews, in my view, Australians have reacted with the appropriate sympathy and support; seeing the massacre more as an attack on Australians by radical and fanatical religious terrorists.

Our quite strong gun laws have been found to be wanting. The laws are old and have not been updated for a long time. Guns have moved on to be faster and smarter. New South Wales, where the event happened is going to reduce the number of guns owned from six to four. What a laugh. Two guns, maximum. A single shot rifle and a shotgun is quite enough. There is a polling result with 80% of Australians wanting stronger gun laws. Bite the bullet PM Albanese and take advantage of the situation to restrict guns a lot further. 

Joining a gun club or sporting shooters club seems to be a way around restrictive gun ownership. This needs to be strongly addressed.

The tv broadcast of a memorial one week later was brilliant. I had no intention of watching it, yet I was mesmerised. How this first class memorial, broadcast by tv, was put together in a few days was truly amazing.  Well done, that girl and boy. 

We now need to move on and allow consequences take their course. 

Breasts

Here we go again. A doctor indulged in disgusting behaviour by expressing milk in a Virgin Australia business class lounge. She discreetly did so under a shirt but was requested to do so elsewhere.

In 1984 it was legislated that women can breastfeed in public. How can this still be an issue some forty years plus later? Do you know what makes it all the worse? It was a female staff member who 'advised' the woman. When it was suggested she could express her milk in the toilet, the doctor said, ok, you bring your lunch with you and sit with me in the toilet eating your lunch while I express milk to feed my baby. 

I think as part of staff training anywhere, the right to breastfeed in public should be mentioned. It shouldn't have to be like that. 

One woman who spoke on the radio said that when challenged by a man about breastfeeding in public, because it made him feel uncomfortable, moved her baby away and flashed him in his face her full bare breast. He moved away.

-------

Unrelated, this was an odd headline I saw on FB. Florida man bites off brother's penis when he caught him having sex with his cousin on the penis biter's favourite Dragon Ball blanket. Nowt as queer as folk. 

I was led elsewhere, whereby you Guggle 'Florida man...' and insert your birthdate in the format say January 22. 

Lordy, mine came up as 'Florida man arrested for pleasuring himself with an ice pack'. Feel free to comment what your Florida man birthdate comes up with. I won't judge you.  

Hey Hey. It's Saturday

Hey Hey It's Saturday began as a children's programme broadcast Saturday morning. It went a bit further than just being a kid's show and gathered an adult audience. The show was moved to Saturday night and became very successful. There were some terrific moments in the show over the years. It eventually fell out of favour and was cancelled, and a revival attempt several years later did not succeed. 

It was often entertainment in the background for us as we primped and preened ourselves before going out Saturday night at around 10pm. Yes, kiddies, we went out early back in the olden days, not at midnight. 

One of our favourite segments was Media Watch, no connection to the current hard hitting ABC Media Watch now broadcast, with it's focus on poor media and journalism.

Typos, poor grammar and poor punctuation have alway been with us. I had a good laugh at the not so subtle humour. 

Quiz Fail and Win

Not smugly, no not at all, I was too young to really know The Beatles. I did buy Paul McCartney's Wings album, but that was my only love of The Beatles. Of course everyone knows some Beatles music. My Beatle ignorance was reflected my zero score in this week's  YP's quiz. A couple of quizzes before, I scored 7/10 in his Famous Women quiz. 

Last week I bragged to my Dead in Bed Neighbour when I messaged her, that for the first time I scored 10/10 for The Age newspaper Victorian topical quiz. There are four options in the drop down boxes. The answer to the question about Bright was a plausible guess. 

Still with The Age, each week since the quiz' inception I have participated in its weekly opinion poll. There is some kind of prize, valued at around $100 as I remember, but I've never won it. 

The poll is not general opinion, because readers of The Age are more educated than the general populace, more socially progressive, wealthier, and have a general care about society. They are less religious, but that's from a fairly low base anyway. They are older and feel the threat of street crime. Mostly there is no question to ask myself when answering, but at times there a 'but?'. 

I voted with the majority in every question in these polls, but I wanted to qualify my answer about YouTube being available to kids, because parents or carers can already restrict children to only watching YouTube for Kids. Had that been mentioned, I would have changed my answer. 

Never stop complaining

I heard it on the radio, so it must be true.

Not so. A public figure made a statement on radio that I instinctively knew was wrong. I immediately sent a detailed message to the radio station pointing this out, but after he had left the studio. The station called me and asked if I would like to go to air to speak about what I had I messaged. I declined. I am not a great speaker and I would have needed time to think. I checked a couple of websites and I was right, the public figure wrong. 

There was some doubt on the radio about the validity of what the public figure had said, but the broadcaster has more important things to focus on than small detail.

Let me tell you, I was cross as patch. The station dropped the matter and I stewed on it for a couple of days. The public figure is an ok guy, and has similar political views to myself, but that makes it worse. It is harder to hate and attack someone on your political side.

It became too much and I sent him an email. I know some of you will have guessed who I am talking about, too bad. Here are some excerpts from my email and his response, which I was quite surprised to receive. I consider his response was very decent and honest. There was a bit more that I am not displaying. So people, when public figures get it wrong, call them out. Just maybe not #47, who is immune to criticism. Misspoke in his response is as good as a mea culpa you will normally receive from a public figure. 

Me: 

I am very disappointed at your spruiking of misinformation about the closure of Bourke Street to trams on the 8th of August. You clearly stated the reason for the closure was for Yarra Trams works in Bourke Street, when it has become clear that the closure is for the opening of Mecca. 

It is very odd that Myer window Christmas crowds of a hundred people or more can safely be in Bourke Street with trams running, yet the opening of a shop needs to have trams stopped. If there is disruption to Bourke Street trams, they are normally rerouted to Latrobe Street. This may well cost Yarra Trams but if it happens for an event, I expect Yarra Trams wants compensation, and it seems obvious that Mecca was not prepared to pay.

The whole matter stinks...

Response:

I’m really sorry for the disappointment caused by my earlier communication regarding the Bourke Street tram closure. My intention was never to mislead or obscure the facts. I was just back from leave and invited to discuss the Mecca opening.

At the time, I was not across the detail on tram disruption and misspoke.

and when commercial interests appear to influence decisions that affect many. Your point about past events (like the Myer Christmas windows) proceeding without tram closures is a fair one, and raises valid questions.

Thank you again for holding me to account. I value thoughtful, constructive criticism like yours, and I’ll aim to do better in future.

Kinda back

I am not making my splendiferous return to the world of blog. I just want to write a little rant, after hearing weirdness on one of our commercial tv news bulletin. I call it the car crash news, and there was ripper tonight whereby many cars were damaged and the driver of an unmarked police car accidently gave the miscreant a bump with the police car, with him receiving multiple bone fractures, and he is under police guard in hospital. 

The incident was also covered by the 7pm ABC TV News, somewhat less sensationally than the Channel 7 news. 

Then came the pre ad promotion for a following story by Channel 7 newsreader, Peter Mitchell. 

How to reduce your risk of dying by 40%! 

The 40% odds for perpetual life is quite good. The detail was made clear in the story. I calmed down, until this...

Reduce your mortality by 25%.

In spite of my poor lifestyle choices, isn't that something for me to grasp at too?

PS For those who follow Elephant Child's blog, I am sure we are all wishing her well as she recovers from serious surgery. I think she is the most caring person I've come across on the internet, and that is quite a statement. Be well, EC.   

Enough, The Age

In its early days, Melbourne's The Age newspaper was a pompous and conservative broadsheet. Around the time I began reading and buying the newspaper each day, it has become quite adventurous with its reporting. Its sister Fairfax company paper The Sydney Morning Herald also caught up with modern times.

A late friend gave me lots of laughs when he referred to another gay couple who in the 90s rose from their slumbers and both sat at their respective desktop computers to read the electric newspapers. While I may have laughed, it wasn't too much later I was doing the same. Eventually the newspaper forced me to pay for access, and it is now about AU$1 a day for The Age but I also have access to The Sydney Morning Herald, the digital Brisbane Times and WAtoday (Western Australia Today). That's fine, and I am happy to pay this.

But, what I am not happy about is horribly intrusive advertising, not on the desktop version, but on the shortcut web link I have on my phone. As you are quickly scrolling through a story, advertising pops up and you can't smoothly scroll past it. I keep trying to scroll and end up at the end of the story and I have to backtrack. I've long has the app on my phone but for some reason I can't remember my link to the online newspaper worked better. It doesn't now. I went to try the app again and while my email address showed, it was shown that I was not a subscriber. There was nothing I could do to login.  As seems to be happening more often now, I deleted the app with my information and reinstalled it, and I was able to log in normally. So, I will see if this works better for than the overly intrusive advertising on the normal website available on phones. 

I won't even mention the battle I've had with the road toll company Linkt over the hoops I've had to jump, as I cancelled Ray's account and made my new one. I only did so because the electronic tag in the car to deduct toll money had stopped working. I stupidly mentioned that Ray had died and I was now the account holder. No you aren't, was the reply. He is dead. You need to set up a new account. Stop!!! I said I won't mention it. 

Things on the home front were fine until, "Andrewww, the cooking exhaust fan is not working". 

Lordy, Phyllis recently asked me rather cheekily what I do with the board they pay me. I told him it is not his business. They both think I am rich. Compared them, I suppose I am, but it really costs to live in the 'privileged'  western world. 

Bah, just two months ago I bought new LED lamps for the range hood. I will take them out and maybe they can be reused down the track. 

Media Monday

With our media dominated by the commercial Murdoch press and Fairfax media, aka tv Channel 9 Media, our ABC is to be treasured, being government funded and free of commercial and notionally free of government influence.

Both private media companies are very involved in daily newspapers too, and also country daily and weekly newspapers.

I pay a bit over $30 a month for access to my local paper, The Age. The gives me access to Sydney's equivalent local paper and other digital only interstate papers. 

But some twelve years ago an electronic media disrupter arrived in Australia, The Guardian, with its English origins being the Manchester Guardian, a very old and very well respected newspaper, based in Manchester, England. 

When politicians talk the talk, it will cut them down.

When commercial avarice is apparent, it will tell you.

It investigates. I pay $100 a year as a donation and it is worth every cent but generally the online paper is free to read.

The paper's chief editor for the last ten years, Katherine Viner, sent out an email to note whatever occasion and there were some links to terrific reads. I took the time to read them. 

Former New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, post office. 

A female Somali refugee who has made a good life for herself with English citizenship, but it wasn't easy.

This one is heartbreaking, and if you read neither of the above, read this heartbreaking one about what how arguably the best public health system in the world failed. Sorry, it won't cheer you up at all. How Martha died. There are lessons to be learnt.

Bits

My newest Mondegreen: I wasn't really paying attention to the tv and when perhaps Gardening Australia was being broadcast, my ears pricked up, as I heard 'To bully him'. What??? It was so out of context. Fortunately the Fetch box allows me to go back, even though I am not actively recording. It was the single word 'tabouli'. Yes, I did have my hearing aids in my ears. 

There was a cool new show on ABV TV last night where piano players (I could have used the word pianists, but I am not sure they all are) play in a public space and they are listened to by Australian pianist Andrea Lam and the internationally known, Harry Connick Jr. The 103 year old pianist competitor probably doesn't have much of a future in the music industry. 

Well, the Australian election result was a shock. The Labor Party won with a landslide. The last time I tuned in, the state of Tasmania has no conservative party Liberal/National Party members. The conservative Liberal Party was pretty well wiped out in all Australian capital cities. 

My opinion is the leader of the opposition party, the Liberals, has an ugly character and came with so much baggage as he was a member of a former ruling conservative government. Once he announced his policy of the sacking of a huge number of public servants, DOGE like, and a stupid member sprouting Make Australia Great Again, he was a goner. How to scare the voters #101. Then he sprouted off about the first nation welcome to country speech used at many public ceremonies, suggesting it may be overused. I don't think it is. My sister had a brief welcome to country speech at the wedding to her wife. Mother later remarked, was that really necessary. In my mother's mind, aborigines were trouble. She was a person of her time and quite racist, conflicted by her lovely and kind Filipina neighbour, and the medical staff from wherever in the world who looked after her for so many years.

The Murdoch media, and its newspaper editorials suggesting to vote for the conservative party would be a good thing to do, was clearly out of step with the Australian populace. As for the execrable Sky News, my god, what a fuck up this also Murdoch media tv station is. 

The fallen leader of the conservative party went down the road of nuclear power, on a long time line. Nuclear power is great and perfectly safe, until it isn't. Even one of most technically advanced country, Japan, could not ensure nuclear safety. 

As I type, Phyllis and Kosov are making my dinner. My Meals on Wheels, technically three days worth were delivered today. 

I did something wrong on my desktop and screen shots can no longer be found in Pictures/Screenshots, after pressing Windows+Print Screen. The pics are saved, but I cannot find out where. It took me some time, but I found out that I can press Windows+Control+S, and that works for me as they are saved to Clipboard, a place in the Windows tree I'd never heard of. Is it a new name for Notepad? 

Back to politics. I stayed in accommodation with my ABI (Acquired Brain Injury) Brother in Ballarat for a family gathering. More later about that later, but we were back at our digs and were watching the election results on the Saturday night as we drank a wee dram. I was astonished when he said he voted for Dutton, the conservative party leader. I expressed something that indicated I was mega surprised. He replied, I voted for Jason Wood. I know him and he is a nice bloke.  After hearing Mr Wood interviewed on radio yesterday, he seemed like a decent person and not one of the hard right members of the conservative party. He seemed like a reasonable person and that is how the conservative Liberal Party, that seems to have become a party of extreme #47 like policies, needs to rebuild itself to recover from its devastating loss of popularity, full of reasonable people. 

Dutton was a government minister who could have stood up and spoken up about the disgraceful Robodebt scandal. I can never forgive any of the party at the time for Robodebt that led to suicides. Beyond the failures of men in the party, it certainly in the future should not be led by woman who was also Robodebt compliant. Yes you, Sussan Ley. You cannot be a part of an invigorated refresh of the conservative Liberal Party. 

My neighbour HH is driving me in her motor car to a Buddhist cafe I know not where for lunch on Wednesday. What on earth is Buddhist food like? One may not like surprises, but one lives for them. 

Just the one, too many

One should not be so cruel but sometimes people deserve a dose of cruelty, such as Sydney celebrity socialite Vanessa Jacobs Fennell.

It us alleged she had a few too many drinkies, and was doing blockies in Bellevue Hill, one of Sydney's prestigious eastern suburbs, in her black Range Rover, sporting at least two shredded tyres. 

She side swiped four cars, one seriously, parked outside The Grumpy Baker. And wow, it was added to the story that one of the damaged cars was a Tesla. I can see the price of used Teslas plummeting, regardless of this incident.

She was breathalysed, with a positive reading but was refusing to go to the police station. She was arrested and then tried go the biffo with the police, so she was also charged assaulting a police officer. Into the slammer she went, but was bailed later that night.

I expect when hit by the cold harsh light of the day the following morning, what she will be most upset about the news reports is her unflattering photo in the media. Photo by Rhett Wyman

Ageing

I am not that old in comparison to some of you. Some of you are of a similar age. Some of you are younger. 

Generally your health and physical condition really starts to deteriorate at the age of 60. In my case when I retired at the age of 61, my body began retiring too. At 67, should I live to 77, I think I'll be in wheel chair and being spoon fed. Ok, maybe not. I hope not. 

Your genes will mostly dictate your lifespan, and we all know clean living, diet, socialising and exercise can cheat the genes somewhat. Having a partner helps, along with keeping your mind active, but if you blog, your mind is active. 

I can't say my life has been clean, and still isn't but I do try in various areas. 

But what really pisses me off is those who reach a seriously old age and brag about their older person achievements, how fit they are, their wonderful pain free life. At 90, they are living a glorious life. Good for them, but for most people it is not like that. 

Your partner may have died, many of your friends have died, you may not have much money to spare, you may feel lonely at times, your health could be bad, making your life a constant struggle. You might be dependant on others, in spite of disliking that. 

So just before you brag about what a great life you are living when you are 90, this is not the case for most people, who probably struggle at the age of 80 onwards, or earlier. 

But you don't have to be too old , as you can even die at the age of 40 from the coded police words, "There are no suspicious circumstances".

It was very sad to hear of the deaths of two retired star Australian Rules footballers around the age of 40, one day apart, and there were no suspicious circumstances. One would think, they had everything to live for. 

Troy Selwood.

And Adam Hunter. 

There you go dear readers, I've cheered you up no end, but life is not all balls and skittles. 

Madison Mental

#45 held a party at Madison Square Garden. I was truly disturbed by the hate from some of the guest speakers directed at Hilary Clinton and Harris, let alone the vulgarity. I don't think I've heard anything like that in politics in my life. Is this person seriously running as leader of the number one country in the western world? 

Who knows? Maybe the 'basket of deplorables' will vote for the execrable #45 again. As I was reminded today, women folk, your vote is private. No one among your family and friends will know how you vote. Please do the right thing, if not for yourself, but your American sisters. Women have already died because of refused abortions.