Country accountants are a menace to society

Why do accountants turned politicians from country electorates (such as Barnaby Joyce and this Rennick character from [groan] Queensland) think they know better than the CSIRO, NASA, and God knows how many professional scientific organisation?:

You may have to go to Twitter to watch the video.

Panic attack

I guess I may as well add to the millions of words being committed to pixels on the strange matter of panic buying toilet paper (and, so I am told, pasta, rice and even flour!) in Australia as the first reaction to a (currently small) outbreak of COVID-19.

It is puzzling because:

a.  most tweets and comments I am reading are calling it out as irrational; yet

b.  we all seem to have sufficient numbers of irrational neighbours around us such that the stores are empty of these items.*

It would seem to indicate that society would break down within less than 24 hours if ever the government announces something really shattering - the late sighting of a dinosaur-killer sized asteroid that's going to hit the planet within the next 48 hours, for example.   I'm guessing now that we'd hear the sound of smashing glass (and in America, gunfire) within 5 minutes of the announcement.

Would it help if the government was more pro-active in explaining what things will not run out, even if we get a large scale pandemic?   Is it yet another example of the unpredicted consequence of social media that it supercharges rumour and genuinely fake news so that the truth is crowded out?

It is a worry.   And I think it does point to the need for a more pro-active role by government to quash rumours and misinformation of all kinds.

Update:  First Dog has a somewhat amusing strip on the topic, that starts like this:

* (Oddly, my local Coles seems to have more fresh fruit and vegetables than they have had for quite a while - the fires of early this year really affected supply lines for a while.  But people are leaving it in favour of long life goods.)

Posted only because Teilhard de Chardin is surely only rarely mentioned on Twitter

I see, now that I Google to double check his name spelling, that there was also speculation a few years ago about Pope Francis removing the "warning" the Vatican placed on his works. 

Incredible abilities in mobile phone cameras

This is getting ridiculous, what they can get into a mobile phone camera:



Last week, I also saw some photos of the night sky taken by a young astrophysicist holidaying in New Zealand, like this one, taken on her Huawei P 30 Pro....  [ For some reason, Google is not letting me upload a photo at the moment.  I'll try later...]

Update:  here it is -

Apparently, she just fiddled with the settings, set it up on a rock, and let it take the pic.  Amazing.

More in the narrative "old people are killing us"

The Washington Post notes, regarding the Super Tuesday Democrat votes:

In another sign that a head-to-head featuring Sanders and Biden would mirror the 2016 primary in fundamental ways, preliminary exit polls showed a stark generational divide in support for the two septuagenarian men.

In the seven states where polls have closed so far, Sanders has led by a median 37 points among 17-to-29-year-olds and 20 points among 30-to-44-year-olds. But Biden has led by 24 among 45-to-64-year-olds and by 33 among seniors.

Mind you, I think it is really guesswork how Sanders would perform in a Presidential campaign.  On the other hand, I don't have any doubt that Biden will appear somewhat doddering and "past it" on more than one occasion.

I don't understand why Warren is not appealing to Democrats as a more youthful version of Sanders, and with more detail in her policy ideas too.   I can imagine her being more aggressive with Trump in debates than Hillary, which could play well if done right.  Will Wilkinson has expressed a fair bit of qualified support for her.

But, as we all know, American politics is a bit weird.    

Update:  just saw over a late lunch that Warren ran third in her home state of Massachusetts (!)

She's out.  

PS:  I was watching on Youtube the coverage by the Washington Post - it's very professional.  

 

The verdict is in...

Obviously, I was never likely to become a fan of Scott Morrison as Prime Minister, but as I have mentioned before, I have been willing to ignore him in the role for the most part.

But after seeing the 7.30 interview with him last night, I think I can safely predict that the historical verdict on him is already done and dusted - a waffly, smirking lightweight of a politician who got the top job  with no inspiring policy ideas on anything, who's obviously against enforcing any reasonable standard of accountability and openness in his government, and with a puzzling propensity to lie and stonewall even on relatively unimportant matters. 

I even have a suspicion he might not make it to the next election.  We'll see....

The continuing crisis...

Oh:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Monday that "millions" of migrants would soon head for Europe, drawing accusations from EU leaders that he is trying to pressure them into backing his incursions into Syria.

Turkey gave the green light to refugees and migrants on Friday to leave for the European Union and thousands have since massed at the Greek border, triggering fears of an influx like that which poisoned European politics in 2015.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described Turkey's move as "unacceptable" and EU migration commissioner Margaritis Schinas said nobody could "blackmail or intimidate the EU".

But Turkey, which hosts roughly four million refugees, is trying to hold off another mass influx from Syria – where government forces backed by Russian air power are advancing into the last rebel stronghold of Idlib.

Man, that part of the globe is such a never ending mess.

What I've been watching...

*  In case you haven't noticed, season 3 of Babylon Berlin is up on Netflix (yay).  The first episode (the only one I have seen) was pretty good, even if the main crime looked a little overly theatrical in execution.   Also - the opening sequence would seem to indicate that the stock exchange in Berlin really did not take the stock market crash of 1929 at all well.   Was it a dream?   What was the end sequence about; that was a little confusing too.   Anyway, I'm happy to be watching again.

*  Another favourite, Occupied, continues to impress into its 3rd season too.   It reinforces my distrust of everything Russian - and I am curious as to whether Bente, or her daughter, is going to somehow end up in some Russian mafia prostitution ring.   Thinking about it, though, I guess every character is flawed, or does something ethically dubious, in one way or another.   But that's life.   Bente does seem particularly corruptible, though, boo.

*  I saw the Australian made, low budget time travel movie Predestination on the weekend.   It's  (loosely, I think) based on a Robert Heinlein short story, and it's quite a handsome looking film despite an obviously small budget.   (Made by German born twin brothers who grew up in Brisbane!  They have gone on to make bigger budget films, even if they are far from famous.)   I was getting tired and started having trouble staying awake near the end, but I understood  the silly time travel paradox that it showed.   I thought it wasn't bad, but perhaps needed a more compelling "hook" in the first act - waiting for the story to unfold without understanding where it was going lost my son's interest.   Anyway, a nice effort.  

No contact greetings

Yeah, I thought the "Wuhan foot bump" greeting video looked pretty cool, but it is only practical for people with no balance issues who are quick on their feet.   Old people at risk of a hip fracture just shouldn't try it.

I'm sure lots of people must have been saying it on social media, but the obvious replacement for the handshake greeting should be the Japanese bow.   (I see that someone suggested the Vulcan hand greeting, but not everyone can easily get their hand to do that quickly - including, if I recall correctly, Leonard Nimoy!)  

A propos of nothing...

This turned up on Youtube suggestions for me, and it was surprisingly interesting - how they make Tabasco sauce.  It is a huge enterprise, still family run, with production methods pretty much unchanged, and all from the same place in Louisiana since it was first made 150 years ago:


A bit of personal history: my first exposure to it was when I was perhaps 8, and my sister's then husband, from America, put a few drops of it into some tomato sauce which we were eating with some prawns. It couldn't have been much, because I thought it nice, even though (of course) as a child of 1960's Australia, I had no previous exposure to chilli in any form.

More Singapore love

And in Twitter comments following that:

Buttigieg and the 9 yr boy (not a scandal)

So, Pete Buttigieg has dropped out of the race.   As I have said, I never saw much of him and didn't work out why a lot of journalists and Democrat sympathisers I follow on Twitter found him so annoying.

I also had missed, until this weekend when I saw it on a Conan O'Brien sketch (which is sort of funny)....




that Democrats had set themselves up for conservative outrage by getting Pete to respond to a 9 year old boy who wanted help to "tell the world" he is gay.  

Maybe I haven't been following conservatives sites closely enough, but it's pretty remarkable that there wasn't some sort of meltdown about this.      

And, to be perfectly honest, it's not unreasonable to have misgivings about it.   Not so much  about Buttigieg's supportive response - he could hardly say anything other than what he did -  but more about the world view of modern liberal identity politics, wherein it is taken as a given that a 9 year old has a sufficient understanding of sexuality such that it is entirely natural that he or she should already have picked out a sexual identity.    

Now, I don't doubt that the following statements are true:

*  there are kids whose parents suspect from a young age will be gay when they grow up;
*  there are kids who know from a young age that they are "different";
*  there are people who work out that, in hindsight, some childhood feelings were consistent with their older sexual feeling;

and yet I still think it's only sensible for adults and parents to teach pre-pubescent kids to be cautious about thinking they fully understand themselves in the matter of sexual and emotional attraction and attachment before their body and life experience is even close to that of an adult yet.   

To my mind, people of any political persuasion should be able to live with something like this as a response:  

"We love you regardless of who you may want to love and be with; and we will support you if anyone gives you a hard time over your identity in future.   But as for deciding on a sexuality identity to tell "the world" right now:   to be honest, both your body and emotions should  be given a bit more time to develop before you say to everyone that you understand yourself in that aspect.  At this stage of your life, worry more about studying hard, treating other people well and just being a good person.   That's what important now."

PS:  I see that they are saying Buttigieg gave up because he was getting no traction with black voters whatsoever.   Given their relative conservatism regarding homosexuality, why on Earth did the people managing the campaign event think it would be helpful to highlight a 9 year old bringing up the topic? 

PPS:  I think I can even claim some support for my take on the matter from this article, written by gay science writer Jesse Bering in Scientific American back in 2010 (and which I had read before, but forgotten) on research into "prehomosexual" behaviour in children.  

"Filthy foreigners bring in disease" is very big at Sinclair Davidson's Catallaxy

Basically, I don't understand why, in order to maintain their reputation, RMIT doesn't tell Sinclair Davidson that he can't run a blog for appalling, racist conservatives and still work at a university that hosts a lot of foreign students.    

Look at these examples:  he doesn't expand on it in the post itself, but it is clear from the post title that Catholic conservative-in-denial CL thinks Trump is on a winner with corona virus because he will be able to play it as a case of "filthy foreigners bring in disease":

Good luck: Disease-o-crats campaign on open bug borders 

(I won't link - you can google it if you want.)

But even worse is this comment in a thread (which is fully supported by other regulars) by another crusty Catholic, who even has an Asian wife (probably Filipino - so she's OK, she's Catholic.)

The World Health Organisation is utterly useless. It is run by palookas like that Rudd sheila for Pete’s sake! … who cannot even spell “honest”, let alone know what it means. The executive board is 34 nations – they include Sudan, Djibouti, Tanzania, Zambia, Burkina Faso (say what?), probably Haiti and a whole lot of other failed tribes of no consequence – directing how the civilised world should keep is people healthy. Fabulous – they are barely literate, you can forget them....

The demanding unpleasant little Irish p00ve from Qantas will have been throwing his weight around Canberra on Week One protecting his airline’s cash flow and his massive pay packet, followed by a conga line of tourist associations, the retail traders representative, heads of commerce flogging insurance and bank loans, the English language schools and universities who rely on their Asian students for their very survival, and so on. Not one of these people has any interest in public health protection – its someone else’s problem. They will lie handsomely to safeguard their corner.

Further, we have a government and a bureaucracy that is still shipping in illegal Centrelinkers from North Africa, the Middle East and other primitive places, people who routinely have a bog in the street and who don’t bother bathing. When they spit everywhere and shove their dirty mitts into the bowl from which the reffo next to them takes his next mouthful – and contract a gutful of Corona Virus 123 by hundreds – these public servants will ship ’em in by the truckload to the same hospital wards as Australians, because diversity is our strength.

 Sinclair even appears in the comments thread, with apparent intention to mock the catastrophising of the fatality of the disease, but not to tell anyone that they are racist pigs.

Not good enough for RMIT, I would have hoped. 

Sounds a fair summary

PS:  I acknowledge that there is not likely to be any easy, face saving way for the US to get out of Afghanistan.   But it seems pretty clear that this attempt at such looks doomed from the start, and that Republicans supporting it reeks of political hypocrisy.   (Obama doing something similar would have been the end of American greatness and a shameful capitulation to the "real" terrorists.)

Worse than usual

I presume this photo from Trump's "we're getting out of Afghanistan, I'm terrific for that; and by the way, coronavirus is not a hoax after all" press conference has had some filtering:

but it's still true that he has been looking exceptionally tired at recent appearances, no doubt caused by the trip to India followed by flying to some completely unnecessary and self indulgent "maintain the cult" rallies.   In fact, given the huge rally he must have known the dangerous nationalist Modi had organised for him, does Trump ever go anywhere other than to places where he knows his elephantine ego will be massaged?  

Anyway, here's a shot from a video of the same presser:

As lots of people have been noticing, his right eye is much more squinty than his left eye over the last few days.  And he did sound tired.

I cannot fathom how his supporters (or those who make excuses for him, or just keep silent) can stomach the way he tries to turn every single topic into ridiculous self praise.  I also have some sympathy to the critics of media who point out that mainstream media reporting, by editing down his statements, are inadvertently constructing a greater coherence to his media performances than what you get from viewing longer stretches.

On a cheerier note, kinda:  the Colbert 8 minute piece he did with Elizabeth Warren earlier this week really shows her as very likeable.  She looks great for her age, too:



I really think a Sanders/ Warren ticket would stand a chance...  

Update:

Update 2:  Oh, he's back into dictator talk -

Update 3:  I thought this was a "funny cos it's true" take by some random person on the net:

Something about this makeup, demeanor and expression here looks terrible. He looks like he was pampered by a mortician.

  

Why Warren has the right idea

Another great piece at Vox by David Roberts, arguing that the sickness in American politics, caused by the American brand of conservatism, is a systemic one about which only Elizabeth Warren seems to have clearly thought about.

His summary of the problem is not new, but I like it nonetheless:

As I have recounted at great length in other posts, over the last several decades, conservatives have waged war on social and political trust, calling into question the fairness and independence of almost every major US institution from journalism to academia to science. They have created parallel institutions of their own, meant to support their factional interests. And they have relentlessly cast “libs” as an enemy within — an alien, hostile, and ultimately illegitimate force.

As a result, a large faction of the country has descended into paranoia and conspiracy theories, fighting intensely against the basic rules, norms, and post-war assumptions of American life. And because that faction has successfully rendered all political fights — even fights over basic facts — as vicious, zero-sum partisan struggles, another large faction of the country has simply tuned out, coming to regard politics and public life generally as corrupt and fruitless. Americans’ trust in their institutions and in one another is at record lows. 

This serves the right’s purposes. If all common identity is dissolved, all transpartisan facts and norms, then there is no longer any ability to communicate across factional lines. What remains is raw power struggle. That is the milieu in which an identitarian like Donald Trump feels at home; witness his purging of public servants he deems insufficiently loyal. 

But it works against the left’s purposes. The left needs for voters to believe that effective, responsive governance is possible — that we can, in fact, have nice things. The left needs social and political trust. Without them, collective action for collective benefit, the left’s stock in trade, becomes impossible. 

This is the left’s challenge in the US: how to break out of the doom loop and get on a trajectory of better governance and rising trust.

 As to the difficulty of addressing this, politically, you should go read the rest of the article.

COVID-19, explained

Someone just cut and pasted this on twitter, and I can't see whose account it is from.   Probably for the best:

American cuisine can be...excessive

Look, even though I can enjoy a good steak, a 250 to 300 g cut is plenty.   But the American way with meat can be pretty over the top and look distinctly unappealing.  And what is it with the meat on the rib?  Looks like it is charcoal:

I vote Gore

Talk about your trivial First World problems, but The Guardian has an article speculating on who a good replacement director should be for the next Indiana Jones film, now that Steven Spielberg has dropped out.

I don't know anything about most directors on the list, but I agree with the section on Gore Verbinski:  he is extremely talented with protracted action sequences, and I would love him to have a go at an Indiana Jones.

The success of the film, however, will be extremely dependent on its screenplay, and who it sets up to taking over the hat.   The idea flown in the last film obviously didn't pan out.  (Not that it was as bad a film as everyone makes out.)

I am not at all convinced that it is a good idea to be making another one at all.  Harrison Ford looks very old now, and films in which ageing actors are trying to appear too active often look a bit pathetic.   (There are many examples in recent years.) 

BUT I STILL SAY THIS:   the perfect last appearance for Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones would be for him to be one of the astronauts going into the Mothership at the end of Close Encounters.

A fruity observation

I usually notice what fruit and vegetables are good each season.   A couple of summers ago, I think it was, stone fruit seemed to have an exceptionally nice season.  After that, maybe a year or so ago, we seemed to have a flood of cheap but good quality pineapples.

This summer, I have often been impressed with - tomatoes.   I don't know who is growing them now, and how they have got them to develop better flavour and colour, but I reckon tomatoes have been really good, and often not very expensive, this summer.

Back to your more important reading, now.