Interesting stuff
I owed both along the way Terminal, never could afford expensive lens but I borrowed a few from mates
Great shot Guy. Love that one Craig posted as well. Some serious depth of field happening there.
Nice, every OM was good from that period, except maybe the OM10 and it was still okay anyway. I heard once that Zuikos were the only Japanese lens that really stood up to Zeiss, Leica, Schneider, Voigtlander etc. at the time.
Can't remember if it was the OM's (OM2) or Pentax ME's that introduced the electromechanical shutter...
Jeez, we live in paradise. Check the third photo!
Room with a view,wonder if they sell for more?...probably big sellers if you like cars and trucks and motorways......but whats more amazing is how they built it so close.....ancients would be proud carrying on the tradition of great workmanship.
"Close to transport"
"Walking distance to bus stop"
"Express pick up and drop off"
"Housing and construction ‘are doomed without migrants’".
At what stage are we as a country going to have a rational conversation about the direction we want this country to head in?
Unlimited growth is a fantasy - do we have anyone, any leader who wants to talk about a genuinely sustainable future?
What is the carrying capacity of this country and are people ever going to be prepared to take a hit to their consumption habits?
Or do we kick the can down the road, carry on with business as usual and ignore the certainty that we are heading towards a pretty grim future.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/coronavirus-housing-and...
I’m sure you’re all aware of this situation ,but today we had a Southerly wind and a Northerly ocean current .
They’re both going in the same direction.....WTF ?
"At what stage are we as a country going to have a rational conversation about the direction we want this country to head in?"
It's a nuanced argument Andy so I'll say not anytime soon.
There is an accounting/economics notion called "opportunity cost" An opportunity cost is the loss of other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.
You can't really argue against (what you and I might see as unsustainable) that immigration has benefited the country and I think its even harder to prove any alternative approach (the opportunity cost) would have been better because "its just a theory", "its too vague" or "its some unproven/tested notion". Further, in the era of popularism it's all too hard to prosecute a detailed political policy when a 3 word slogan gets you the votes.
And yet that is precisely what good governments and planners should do. Look at the (opportunity) cost of each credible alternative before deciding on a course of action. Further, there ought to be areas of public policy that are bipartisan, like it used to be before the ideological wars of the last 3 decades. That way government whatever the colour can continue the course set by the last. Areas like housing affordability, immigration, power, the environment, whether we want manufacturing, sovereignty etc.
When we call for sensible debate on any issue we are wanting those opportunity costs, those alternatives, considered. We do live in a lucky country despite the mostly incompetent endeavours of government, policy makers and industry for decades. Good luck getting anything sensible.
Great comment Guy.
I think you've nailed the essence of it, there will always be trade-offs no matter what we do, that's pretty obvious.
But we need to at least begin this conversation - nuance in public discussion is in an extremely sad state of affairs.
I also think the right especially understand this tension between getting on with their agenda and not apologising for it saying the people can decide at the election and any (opportunity cost) alternative. They do this all the while ensuring their base gets the short term sugar fix but a quick look at how neoliberalism has savaged the middle classes all around the world will all tell us otherwise. The middle class, the people Menzies, father of the once liberal party, called the country’s forgotten people.
You got it, and meanwhile we just end up further and further down the road with no detailed discussion and no real mid-to-longterm plans or goals.
Menzies would be shocked by what the Libs have become, he was a genuine small-l liberal and well to the left of current-day Labor. Now the Libs can't really be called liberal at all.
At what stage are we as a country going to have a rational conversation about the direction we want this country to head in?"
What do you think political parties do behind closed doors???
All parties have this discussion, and they all have different ideas on what Australia should look like and the direction to head and how to get there, and even within parties they often don't agree.
The parties put out policies on the direction they feel the country should head and we get to vote on it, that's when we get our say.
I thought you guys understood politics?
Haha, behind closed doors he says.
No question about it, you really do like to follow authoritarianism.
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around that the Chinese incursion was out of hand.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-can-t-bully-us-into-submis...
As much as anything, this great article highlights that the main problem with Australia’s representative democracy isn’t the ideology, it’s the manner in which our politicians are , for the most part , now drawn from such a limited niche of our society.
The fact that our “ political class “ can remain ignorant of the overarching sentiment shared by a major proportion of the Australian public , demonstrates just how cloistered they have become due to the current model of the political career. Whereas Australian politicians previously conceived of a role in public service after years in the wider workforce , they now follow a predetermined path from school > University politics > political staffer > politics.
This path may provide those best at the shallow game of politics, but politics is merely the medium in which to achieve the best outcomes for our country. We need politicians who are from the community, not living in an adjacent reality to those they are supposed to represent.
How can it be considered appropriate that the bulk of the party representing workers have never worked a day outside of the cosseted world of the political system ? How can the head of the union movement possibly relate to the workers if they have never been part of the workforce ?
The creation of a political class has served Australia poorly. It’s led to a detachment from the public sentiment that our politicians are meant to reflect. If this situation resulted in proper leadership it would be excusable, instead it’s driven us towards a decoupling in the vision for Australia between those with their hands on the wheel in the Canberra bubble and the other 24,000,000 Australians.
Fortunately, this article shows that the political class has perhaps finally caught wind of the direction the electorate is heading and can begin to reclaim the lost ground we have conceded to the Chinese Communist government.
My optimism tells me this revelation amongst our representatives is better late than never.
Reformation of the pathway to politics is essential for the diversification of perspective required in order for our representative democracy to flourish.
https://thecorrespondent.com/466/the-neoliberal-era-is-ending-what-comes...
Following commentary :
“What’s going on here? How could the tribune of capitalism suddenly be advocating for more redistribution, bigger government, and even a basic income?”
I think we may see bigger government but not to be able to help people but rather to help big businesses
– we are heading more toward fascism style big government than communism style big government
REPLY
“ …we are heading more toward fascism style big government than communism style big government..”
Yes – with middle class “progressives” clapping and applauding every step in that direction. They just love the idea of smart, moral folk like them running the world in the best possible way.
REPLY
same as middle classes in 20s and 30s in Europe … or in 70s in South America
Pauline is from a fish and chip shop, her views seem to align well with your commentary re immigrants.
I don’t understand your point , Terminal.
Are you saying that Pauline’s proximity to unfiltered Australian perspective was what enabled her the prescience of the threat posed by China a solid two decades before it received bi-partisan acknowledgement from the two major parties ?
We are in agreement then !
"Haha, behind closed doors he says.
No question about it, you really do like to follow authoritarianism."
Well i dont expect they broadcast policy development on the internet???
Or have media sitting in on everything?
I mean seriously the shit you people bang on about.
Just thank fuck that you guys only get to vote and don't get any more of a say.
You guys are all over the place.
As for authoritarianism what you see as authoritarianism to me is just a strong firm government that doest let people walk all over it or walk all over its law abiding citizens.
Im guessing you think thats my view because of my admiration for Singapore government, if you think/feel Singapore is authoritarianism maybe you can join the debate here ://www.quora.com/Is-Singapore-an-authoritarian-government
She capitalizes on divisiveness and fear, nothing more.
"Just thank fuck that you guys only get to vote and don't get any more of a say" that gave me a chuckle, indo. Cheers
Funny you guys brought Pauline up, i was only just looking at One Nation policy this morning, as a lot that has been said/supported by people here of late i felt was going along the lines of what One nation policy is. https://www.onenation.org.au/policies
"Just thank fuck that you guys only get to vote and don't get any more of a say."
Mushroom.
You're the living embodiment of 'the people want what the people get'.
"Funny you guys brought Pauline up" I've been thinking it for a while, indo, but biting my tongue...
Hanson is just an anti-working class grifter with a hell of a marketing campaign. She's got her snout so deep in the trough, and passes one piece of legislation after another that is against the best interests of her supporters.
Her party is filled with extremest nutters who try to get the NRA to bankroll One Nation, admit to being "sovereign citizens", and cut swastikas in their lawns for photo opportunities. The way Hanson and Ashby suck money out of One Nation candidates is fucking criminal.
Hanson's only real "skill" is to mug enough complete morons into believing all their problems are the fault of immigrants and "Canberra". That's what keeps her on the gravy train.
I fucking loathe this women. A racist, opportunistic, Karen who is nothing more than a shit stain on the fabric of Australian society.
I dont agree with everything Pauline says, especially in her early days.
But man i really respect her as a strong determined women, nobody in the history of Australian politics has been so attacked by the media and large parts of the public for so long, even within her own party, didn't she even go to jail?...but she just never gives up on what she believes is right, the more people put her down the more she gets back up and keeps going.
If her political views were different central or to the left she would be the most respected women ever just for her strength, determination, resilience, and never give up attitude, dont always agree with her, i mean i think she is an Anti vaxer FFS, but i still have admiration and respect for her fighting spirit, especially in a mans world.
I mean look at Peter Garrett, we know where he stands and seems a strong man, but look how he went in a mainstream party, chewed up and spat out.
"Her party is filled with extremest nutters who try to get the NRA to bankroll One Nation" wasn't that one of the most pleasant stings to watch unfold. The crocodile tears interview was incredible too, all I heard was "me the victim" over and over again. It's a no brainer she knew her flunkeys were up to that anyway...
Pauline Hanson prescient?!?! What's wrong with you? I doubt she could even spell prescient much less define it.
Yeah I'll give you that indo, she does have fortitude. And if she were any other political position than far-right, she would be more celebrated for this. But to me fortitude doesn't overrule her policy or views.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/boomers-millennials-young-and-poor-miss-o...
An interesting read I think. Michael West & his fellow journos do some great work.
I listened to her quite a bit on 2GB a while back (I was an avid listener), and I think VL's first two sentences above sum her up quite succinctly.
That whole NRA one nation thing IMHO was pretty much a scam didn't Al-Jazeera spend years on the story? and still got very little and the story just happened to break just before an election. (Al-Jazeera pretty much a islamic mouth piece, obviously just trying to bring her down)
And then everyone was thinking it was going to hurt One Nation results, but the exact opposite happened
So basically all that time and money spent trying to bring her and her party down in the end resulted to very little. (just another chink in her armour)
Say what you will, JQ.
Hanson leaves a lot to be desired , but the fact remains that she was espousing the geopolitical threat posed by an expansionist China literal decades before the mouth breathers within the Canberra bubble were forced to publicly admit as much.
If the major parties were as ignorant of the situation as they claim , up until as recently as they relented to reality , then how much respect do they deserve ?
Hanson may be a blunt object but the political cognoscenti haven’t draped themselves in glory by pretending that the inveighing of an ideologically opposed communist government into our political sphere was anything but problematic.
Nonsense Blowin, she just didn't like those funny lookin' people with funny names who 'dun even speak english'.
Anything else she may have been right about expansionist policies and manipulative tactics were purely coincidental.
"...but the fact remains that she was aware of the geopolitical threat posed by an expansionist China literal decades before mouth breathers within the Canberra bubble were forced to publicly admit as much."
Nah, her views were formed by fear of the other than any stategic long-term thinking.
I wouldn't say scam, the two flunkeys were doing their thing and got caught out. Yeah the timing of the release of the sting was dubious wasn't it, but that's the way of the game and it won't be the last time skeletons get aired before an election. As far as her doing well anyway, maybe those crocodile tears worked? Maybe she got sympathy?
“ Fear of the other “
Exactly what is it do you think is the basis for every defence , foreign intelligence and border security organisation if not “ fear of the other “ ?
You can cloak that descriptor as the outcome of sub par thinking ability or you can laud it as resulting from the severe scrutiny performed by experts in their field, the final conclusion is the same.....China poses a threat to Australian freedom and independence.
The rest is just ad hominem.
The accusations of xenophobia are ludicrous when enlisted in a discussion regarding challenging the looming threat of imperialism.
I don't expect some people will ever admit she was right, but she has been correct about a lot of things, half the things you guys are now being concerned about she was concerned about 20 years ago.
Bullshit Blowin,
When Hanson was banging on about Asians decades ago it was during a time the Vietnamese were the main group of immigrants. She said "Fuck All" about China back then.
She's just a racist cow, an opportunist who uses the prevailing "fear" group at the time. In this rough order, Asians, Aboriginals, Muslims, Africans, and now Chinese. She's not some geo-political expert, she just mugs morons for a living.
Wow, way to double down Blowin. Accusations of xenophobia are not in the least bit 'ludicrous' it's Pauline Hanson. She is the very embodiment of xenophobia.
I thought she was always banging on in the past about Vietnamese taking over Australia, not Chinese? Please explain.
What she was right about , JQ , is that just because someone looks different you cannot assume they are well intentioned. This is the crucial mistake of western thinking. The acceptable thinking in polite political conversation is that it’s OK to display concern for the behaviour of Russia but not China. This is based on nothing more than the reverse racism which is crippling public discourse. If Hanson has been proselytising against Russia all these years then she’d have had unilateral political support.
Those who hold that Hanson is stupid for remembering the fact that tribes go to war based on cultural differences are revealing themselves to be lacking. The weight of history proves this without a shadow of doubt.
Hanson warned of China imposing its will on us. She is being shown to be correct.
Swim against the tide of history if it makes you feel virtuous but it doesn’t make you right.
Nah...pure bollocks Blowin.
As you put it, "every defence , foreign intelligence and border security organisation" is geared to protect Australia from the threat of foreign governments. Pauline took aim at people, not governments, and in fact most of the time she spoke in terms of regions - i.e Asia - rather than individual nations.
Perhaps you'd like to think she had some clairvoyance about the CCP but the truth is in 1996 she wouldn't even known who they were.
She may have been correct about some things Indo, but none of it is due to any sort of 'prescience', insight or understanding.
Geez Blowin, you are so astoundingly compromised in your judgement by your seething hatred of the 'other' (In this case China).
Swimming against the tide of history? What the hell would Pauline know about that. If you're going to nail your colours to her mast you are the one who both looks foolish now and will look even more so as time progresses. There's absolutely reams of material out there of completely stupid stuff she has said and done and supported.
JQ.....I don’t hate China. As long as they leave the rest of the world alone then I don’t give a rat’s arse about them.
I didn’t like the US acting in an imperial manner and I don’t like it from the Chinese either. Especially because it’s Australia they’re looking to subjugate.
Stu.....I don’t care how , when or why Pauline Hanson came to object to Chinese attempts to subsume Australia, all I know is that she sounded the alarm years before those whose corruption or misguided morality led them to argue that it wasn’t happening.
So what if the guard dog barks at the postman ? Better than the guard dog which licks the hands of those come to murder everyone inside.
@Stu, circa 1996. Wasn't the mean view of the western world that China was a developing nation which basically copied everything with little regard for IP, patents, copyrights etc? That's how I remember it, but a long time ago and memory fuzzy. I don't remember anything being said about them being perceived as a threat etc.
Have it cunts