We can stop the war in the Middle East, the Ukraine/Russia and all the wars in Africa if we……
Stop sending “War Aid”….
We can just send “Humanitarian Aid”….. to the communities and families just like us…..
Look in the ‘background’ of all the footage of these wars……. They are just people like us…. With a kitchen like us, as TV, working a mundane job, having kids, a dog….. and all the stuff we have…..
They are Doctors, garbage collectors, nurse, tradies; with kids going to school….. and then….?
While you think about this, after feeling outraged, offense, deciding your gender and the fairness of your life in Australia….
Take a break….
As you will go to bed, with no fear that someone will drop a bomb on your house tonight.
Have you ever encountered someone who seems utterly confident in their abilities despite clear evidence to the contrary? Or perhaps you’ve caught yourself feeling overly confident about something you later realized you knew very little about? Welcome to the fascinating world of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Some of you who have read my stuff before may remember another less scientifically supported syndrome that once you know it you can’t unknow it. This is the group of people who are know as “Six-Percenters.” It’s worth a read but, again I caution, that reading the below post and the Six-Percenter” post can not be unlearned and it will change the way you look at the world (go to Six-Percenter post – click here). There is a disclaimer that if you suffer from either of these two ‘syndromes or effects’ even after reading these posts you won’t necessarily realise it if you are someone who may be afflicted.
What is the Dunning-Kruger Effect?
The Dunning-Kruger effect, named after psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, describes a cognitive bias where individuals with low ability in a particular area tend to overestimate their competence. In simpler terms, it’s when people who know the least about something mistakenly believe they know the most. This phenomenon can lead to unwarranted confidence and poor decision-making.
How Does It Work?
Ignorance of Ignorance: At the heart of the Dunning-Kruger effect lies the inability of individuals to recognize their own incompetence. This lack of awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their skills or knowledge level.
Overconfidence: Due to this ignorance of their own limitations, people affected by the Dunning-Kruger effect often display high levels of confidence in their abilities. They may assert their opinions strongly, even in the face of contradictory evidence.
Incompetent Performance: Despite their confidence, individuals with low competence typically perform poorly when objectively assessed. Their lack of knowledge or skill becomes apparent when compared to those who are more knowledgeable in the same domain.
Self-Reflection: Interestingly, those who are more competent in a given area may underestimate their abilities. This occurs because they assume others have similar knowledge or skills, leading to a modest self-assessment.
Examples in Everyday Life
Social Media: You might have seen individuals confidently arguing about complex topics like economics or politics, despite having little to no formal education or understanding of the subject. I just love these keyboard warriors and spend many hours agreeing with them and providing further false information!
At Work: Just note this is where Dunning-Kruger is a plaque. In professional settings, the Dunning-Kruger effect can manifest when employees overestimate their capabilities, leading to the dumb boss being in charge of experts and demanding the experts agree with them. This is also called Politics.
Mitigating the Effect
I had a really scientific and ‘workplace consultant’ answer for this but decided that it sounded too much like I was suffering badly from the Dunning-Kruger effect myself – which incidentally since I learned of this effect I catch myself a lot of the time falling for it.
What I do is, when I am being espoused obvious bullshit from a Dunning-Kruger ‘specialist’ is just nod my head and say ‘really,’ ‘how interesting’ and ‘I didn’t know that.’ It is also a fantastic time to practice active listening and actively observe those also listening to see who is buying the bullshit and who is not. I also encourage those other people to argue!!!
I also use this strategy with ‘bosses’ that are obviously a Dunning-Kruger suffer, which most are, as that’s how they got there! If they require you do do something really stupid, just say ‘Yes.” Mostly they don’t care if you do it, they just want to wield power over you because they believe they are smarter and will never check if you do it or not. So just don’t, they’ll never know. If the argument comes from the Dunning-Kruger subordinate, who thinks they should have your job, just asked them what they would do and then say ‘we’ll all share the responsibility’. They’ll do what you ask.
You Now Know About Six-Percenters and Dunning-Kruger, Sorry
The Dunning-Kruger effect serves as a reminder that humility and self-awareness are essential traits in navigating life’s challenges. It also important that you are not following fools into business or war!
So, next time you find yourself feeling overly confident about something, take a moment to to think about it. Are you truly as knowledgeable as you think, or could the Dunning-Kruger effect be at play? Are you the smartest person in the room, or the Six-Percenter?
I’m with Optus and my phone was down, as was my Optus internet (I have a ‘backup’!) for over 12 hours. The panic was on the TV.
I thought it was fantastic! People not annoying me, no scammers or ‘comparison companies’, no scrolling… I went for a walk and didn’t need my GPS to tell me how many steps I took!
All in all Optus, thanks from me for the peace and quiet and thanks for the test run of what happens when the mobile network goes down which we now realise also effect land lines.
It was a test run like when the power went out in South Australia for 24 hours and people though it was the end of the world as they missed ‘The Bachelor’ and the finale of ‘Big Brother’ – they didn’t notice that the fridge was getting warm or at nighttime it got dark.
And our bigger and longer ‘test run’ of COVID when we had the ‘Toilet Paper Wars!’
In most of these test runs the first thing people called for was compensation while they caught up on TV and got a cold beer from the fridge. After a week or so most just forgot about it.
A few didn’t and there were ‘class actions’, Government Enquiries and personal injury that went on for years, but the Media (The Merchants of Misery) dropped the whole thing after a few days….. by the way is there still a war in Ukraine?
No-body stocked up on toilet paper, food, medicine, got a generator or batteries…..?
I Did Things Differently.
Me during all of these ‘disasters’ I enjoyed the silence, the solitude and watched movies, drank cold drinks and had a hearty meal.
Because I learned from the test runs and it wasn’t very hard, all I had to do was notice and take some small steps. So now if there are anymore ‘test runs’ or perhaps the ‘real thing’ I’ll be right:
I have 100 days of food (which doesn’t take up too much room by the way)
I have a 100 days of water (+) in my tanks
I have solar, a battery and a generator
I have a really cool first aid kit I made up in a big plastic tub in the pantry
I have a cupboard in the shed with toilet paper, paper towel, disinfectant wipes, gloves, N95 masks etc etc – just a few spares of things that I bought, all on bought when they were on special and there were lots on the shelves with my normal shop each week (plus they are just about giving away all the stuff they wrapped us off for during COVID)
I have a portable gas cooker (good for camping) and a BBQ with three 9kg gas bottles (2 always full)
I have other stuff too, which is stored right next to my gun safe (thought I’d let you know about that as well!?)
And, I have a mindset that I will not be a Victim or die one. It also helps if you are a little prepared and have a plan. Because, it has been proven that only 15% of us are natural survivors – the rest mostly wait to follow someone, or wait to be rescued, or usually just die.
…. And You Can Do Things Differently too…
So I thought I would share something with you that I have prepared. It is Copyrighted, but please feel free to share with your friends. I assure you it might just save your life one day, just click below on the blue text to read the PDF. And I am NOT trying to sell you anything!
Most of the knowledge I have in all aspects of my life I got for free, so why not give it away. What’s that called nowadays, oh yeah, ‘paying it forward’. That’s when you hand out $100 notes in the street, or pay for someones else groceries and post it on YouTube on your ‘monetise” account where you get paid for ‘clicks’ and earn $100,000!!!!
So here’s the Manifesto, just click on the blue text and it will open as a PDF….
Also, by reading this we may all work together to survive (see my previous post ‘The Revolution – Phase 1 – You can join for free’). As another little gift I’ll give you the below free list of stuff. Perhaps you have some of it already lying round. Just gather it all together, put it in one bag and put it handy; I have one in my car as do all my kid. Funny I gave them to the kids several years ago and gave them the choice of their ‘survival pack’ or $200, and they all took the pack. This little pack might help you out of a normal, or not so normal situation.
I know there is a lot of stuff on the internet about ‘prepping’, all you have to do is click on the link, watch a 30 minute video, before they try and sell you something! When you read ‘The Manifesto’ just remember one thing, it is those that work together that survive.
Anyway until the next ‘disaster’ like maybe Neflix, Prime and Stan all going down on the one day, I’ll be gone. I do have some upcoming posts you may like that will be published shortly. I know I have been promising this for awhile, but its a bit hot today to work outside so I’m in the office, having a cold drink and a hearty meal, but look forward to sharing with you the following posts in the near future:
“Phase 2 of The Revolution: How to NEVER pay a traffic ticket again” (Okay you didn’t read Phase 1 and not many are following it anyway – click here to read) “How I Gave $50 to The Bank”
This is an extract from my post ‘War What is it Good For‘: you can read the entire thing, but I got to the point where I decided that we, ‘we the people’ should stop being passive and sheep. The hardest part is that we are divided already. Revolution only starts or succeeds if we are all going in the same direction and of course we are going in the ‘right’ direction..
So here is my little extract:
WE ARE AUSTRALIANS!!!!!
Our home is on an ancient land with an ancient culture and are made up of people from all the other cultures on this planet.
We have historically fought for the ideals of other countries (not our own) and defended our coast only twice in wars that, one changed a culture and the other never really threatened it. And, other than the politicians, we Australians have defended our shores with a lot of loss of life and a pain.
But, we are all still here, we are Australians.
A revolution is coming and it is not in a country we have to Google to figure out where it is, or a place we send our young men and women to die, or the future destruction of the true ‘Australia Culture’….. which is all of us that live here today.
You don’t think you can do anything. You think being passive is not the answer (Hint: See Gandhi, see Dr Martin Luther King, see Nelson Mandela – all good examples of resistance without resistance!)
This “Revolution” involves doing northing.
We are ruled by our own consent. We are taught to:
Consume
Live in Fear
Be addicted
Separate into our separate ‘tribes’, groups, ideologies, etc etc (Please remember, one of the greatest military strategies, is to ‘divide and conquer’)
So, I have decided, all the writing I have been doing over the last few months, years, decades…. And all the plans for change, I will post.
And, I guarantee, by deciding to not, consume, be afraid, be addicted and to decide more importantly, to work with everyone for change, we can again all be true Australians.
So, PHASE ONE, is this, and its simple because it is what we used to do:
Say hello to people in the street…
Wave to people from you car…
Let that other driver in front of you…
Let that person in front of you go first in the in line…
Say please and thank you…
Smile…
Chat…
And, again I promise, I will hopefully post more PHASES of this ‘Revolution’ to get our lives back as Australians. To share the values that have been here for millennia , centuries and for all the time that Aussies used to believed, in giving everyone a fair go.
And, no-one will ever fire a shot, sue a neighbour, be marching down the street with a sign, or do anything that is not moral or good and transparent.
Because, ‘the system’ is our enemy and lucky it is its own worst enemy.
For again I say, we are governed and ruled by our own consent.
We will as Australians, change our country, to where we are all equal, where 99% of the wealth is not owned by less than 1%. Where those who try, and take the time to notice, will make a difference that no-one will see coming.
WE HAVE TO TRY!!!!
Let us all be the good leader in the ‘survival situation’. I suspect we are approaching one. So let us look after the weak, sick, disadvantaged, lost, etc etc (whose eye contact we now avoid in the street). Or, we only ‘help’ because someone is paying us.
Let us first reconnect with each other right where we live and where’ve we travel in this great land. By doing a few small things each day in reconnecting, you will find you may very well feel happier and make someone’s day. And, the best part, it costs you nothing. If we can’t take this first step in a ‘Revolution” which involves being kind to each other, it is no wonder big business, governments and big Tech are not kind to use and use us as ‘consuming machines’. This can change, and will change, if we all work together; if we decide to ‘withdraw’ our consent.
I wrote not long ago about “War what is it good for” (click here to read), but it didn’t involve a cat riding a vacuum cleaner so my AI statistic robot in the background told me only 28 or so people read it and they only stayed for an average of 58 seconds….
So, to the point.
Today we are sending two war plane and 100 troops to the Middle East. The Prime Minster state two very important things:
We are sending them to support Australian wanting to leave.” Well send a passenger jet and not two war planes.
And, “This is not ‘boots on the ground’” Well it looks like it to me.
We are sending 100 and two planes, then a thousand and all the rest of our planes (which adds up to about 5 or 6?). But, be afraid because Australia is protected by nuclear submarines…. So please get back to us in Andy’s years.
This is all familiar.
These countries ring a bell: Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few.
It’s only a few troops today who don’t have boots on the ground and then it’s thousands and then the draft…. And then our young people start coming home in body bags.
No.
PS: No pictures as not pictures of our young people dyeing should be necessary. PPS: I will post Phase 2 of The Revolution soon. (Although its hardly a revolution when only 28 or so people are involved?
I was watching the news last night and realised the above statement is true…. And I can prove it.
It will take a few paragraphs…. but, I guarantee it will be worth it!
The current ‘road toll’…..
‘Road Toll’ – a very nice term to describe people who have died unexpectedly in car accidents, usually by getting their delicate human body smashed and torn apart by sharp metal, bitumen and glass…..
So, the road toll in South Australia for this year (2023) is 31, that is 31 people
And ‘they’ took away the markers no doubt because someone was offended?
died as I described above.
Last year (2022) at the same time it was 15.
I wrote the above a few weeks ago and just decided to publish it and trawled the internet for the current totals….
That was difficult as the SAPOL web site had two different results and every where else I searched compared death rate to date, with the total for last year……
I could have gone to the media (the ‘merchants of misery’) reports but decided I couldn’t trust them more than statisticians, politicians or pollsters predicting ‘the Voice’ referendum….
So I will let you be the judge of these ‘accurate statistics’ …..
So, we are dying in horrific circumstances, being crushed and ripped apart; even incinerated, at double the rate.
Our Police (our beloved SAPOL) is full of good people going out their each day risking their lives when we need them to serve and protect us from the fantasy of the road toll and how they are ‘helping’ to reduce it.
They are just going through the PR motions:
More breath tests
More drug tests
Giving out more on the spot fines
Cameras and computers even giving us more on the spot fines
Traffic operations in country towns and ‘black spots’ to do more alcohol and drug testing and hand out more fines.
The fantasy is the glory of protecting us from the ‘fatal five’ killers on the road:
Drink and Drug Driving
Speeding
Distraction
Seat Belts
Dangerous Driving
…. And SAPOL on average hand out …… get ready for this as it doesn’t sound real but, it is recorded on the SAPOL web site at the link below….
Okay I did research…. not my thing….. and found the below statistics.
In the days between 6/7/2022 – 31/3/23, a total of 268 days, there were 425,407 expiation notices issued by person and machine.
That is about 1500 a day!!
That is at total of $119,198,366.00 of fines issued in that period.
I need to write that out in full so you know it isn’t a mistake:
“one hundred and nineteen million, one hundred and ninety eight thousand three hundred and sixty six dollars!!!!!”
(Wait for it…. that is $444,770.022 A DAY!!!)
How about that ‘ramping’ at the hospital emergency departments where all the road accident patients go screaming in the back of an ambulances with bits hanging off them, or bit missing and squirting blood…. and waiting for hours with ambos on double shifts and not break
After all, we just need more beds, more doctors, more nurses….. but, where do we get the money???
Plus,
$26,253,260.00 additional payments on top of those fines for the Victims of Crime Levy. (I bet that makes you feel good as a victim of crime when you have been waiting years for compensation?)
But, the good news the statistics reveal that SAPOL’s vigorous protection of us from the “Fatal Five’ resulted in more deaths and more fines.
The simple truth is that the infringement notices are going up in line with the the road toll – remember that is the crushing and ripping apart of human bodies and the death of someones’ loved ones..
So, this wonderful strategy of protecting us has continued with enforcement, telling people they are selfish pricks (which by the way wins an award in advertising!?) and that 3 out of 5 people killed on country roads live in the country; I just wonder what the statistics are for the number of people who live in the city that are killed on the roads in the city?
Plus as a little side issue (I’m writing a series on this one called ‘Never Pay and On the Spot Fine Again’ – to be published in the next week or so – there will be a link – here – when it is done).
SAPOL continues to increase enforcement, disregarding your presumption of innocence by taking away your license, on the spot, and then taking your car (and charging you to store it)….
And…. having on their web site that you ‘have‘ to pay the fine….
Is this all sounding a little crazy, even insane.
SAPOl is not doing the same thing over and over again….. they are doing more of the same thing, and more, and more…..
That is because by definition SAPOL and their ‘traffic strategies’ are insane as old Albert points out below:
I will tell you how to NEVER pay an on the spot fine given by a Police Officer or a robot (although it is getting pretty hard to tell the difference) EVER again….. in my next blog….
…..or maybe the one after….
I got heaps of other stuff to bitch about, like, crime and mayhem in the CBD of Adelaide!!!!!
Well here goes…. ….. and this is a long read….. sorry!
I haven’t had my second vaccination yet (I will not use the advertising slogan “The Jab” although I did use it in the heading of this post – hypocrisy is still one of my strong points?), however I am all booking in later this month and will be getting it.
…. someone said to me the other day, all that is happening in the world today seems a bit like a bad plot in a B Grade science fiction movie… ?
As I said in Part 1, I love movies; I also love reality TV; well not in its entirety, okay not at all, I just love ‘Survivor’. But, truely can Reality TV be anything other than real; real people put in real made up situations trying to be real? I blame the Kardashians and Paris Hilton who are real famous for being, well, real famous. And, then there is living in the real world….
In the real world, the weird real world of today, I have spent a lot of time thinking about stuff. I think about stuff I know, and then there is the stuff that I think I know; and what I see. Then I try and put this all in the perspective of my years of deducing conclusions that fit all the facts.
I tell young Detectives do all you can to try and prove the ‘offender’ innocent and when you can’t, well logically, they did it….
So, in my ‘analysis of The Jab’ I first had to get rid of some of the ‘innocent’ or unprovable theories.
… bearing this in mind, I told a ‘flat earther’ friend of mine the other day that I don’t believe the world is flat as there is more evidence that it is a sphere floating in space and a force we can’t explain called gravity keeps us all from falling off (that sounds just as silly when you write it down); But, I listened to them as their arguments were interesting. I did finish our conversation by saying, if a giant spaceship landed tomorrow and the occupants of that ship came out and said ‘Oh, by the way, you have been living on a flat earth under a big dome’ I’d walk out to the fridge in the shed, get a beer, have a sit down and say ‘fair enough’ – this doesn’t seem probable, but….?
So back to my ‘innocent’ and unprovable theories, they all seem to be flawed on two grounds.
Firstly they seem statistically unlikely, and secondly they do not have a logical purpose behind them.
Before I go on (and I believe me I am going on….!) I am going to do my best to not say ‘your should or you shouldn’t’. Religion is so full of people starting sentences with ‘you should’ and/or ‘you shouldn’t and that when for me it is not talk to the hand it is talk to the back of my head as I am walking away. So, I will do my best not to do this to you. Always remember that when religion is working for the rich, it’s fine; but, not for the poor. See, I’m not the only one with a monopoly on hypocrisy.
Back to the Detectives ‘investigationing’ (a great non-word) I started by just letting all the ‘facts’ be a mist of genuine ‘unknownness’. In the end, after asking a few very basic questions of myself, the answer seemed really simple, not sinister, just really, really sad.
I considered two main questions below which led me to the answer (and it is not 42! – that was the question remember!)
Question 1 – The Media
What of the Media (the Merchants of Misery). As said before it is probably the first time they have so obviously been in support of the Government and any of their plans. I also relates to the fact that their job has become easier; we can’t attack them for manipulation because we are all victims who prove so easily and eager to step into the experience they provide; fake, proven or otherwise it is the spectacle, the modern arena for us the slave gladiators willingly taking part; and we are sold the myth that we think we are just sitting in the stands.
Question 2 – The big Question: Why?
Well, it depends on how you are looking at this pandemic; as this view will make the question very simple or very complicated. The greatest question which answers itself about all conspiracy theories in that for most of them to be true, the extent of the conspiracy would have to be so big, what could I do about it anyway… another time to walk to the fridge get a beer, sit down and say ‘fair enough I didn’t expect that?’.
We mostly live in a democratic world, but that doesn’t really matter. Even in a democracy we really can do whatever we wish so long as we do what ‘they’ (the infamous ‘they’!) tell us to do. Remember all our ‘rulers’ democratic or not rely on our consent to rule.
Controlling the consent of ‘robots’ is easy when we have a futile fear of everything and are focused on the superficial joys of consuming, immediate gratification and the Kardashians.
The question as to ‘why’ is simple. Does it help the rich or does it help the general population? From this question you know the ‘why’ straight away and virtually what’s going to happen next.
Well, surprise we are now allowed to have freedoms that we started off with before and thought nothing of. Perhaps we are being giving something called the ‘Privilege of Greatness’ were the ‘powers to be’ rely on the supreme pleasure and gratefulness of the population on receiving small concessions so as the bigger issues are forgotten in the celebration and joy of the insubstantial gift. Viva La ‘Freedom Day’!
…. And through this smokey, misty, fact finding and intuitional detection process, it dawn on me…
The vaccines are probably safe(ish) as much as polio, rubella etc etc were/are safe in their interestingly statistically verified safeness. A sad statistic is that vaccines, even the bad ones have never hurt or killed more people than the countries that have been torn apart, the generations of hurt, guilt, regret, pain and death, that resulted from our smallest wars. So, many wars, our World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan; ….. the war on drugs ….. the war on terror ….. the war on traffic fatalities ….. the war on corruption ….. the war on COVID19
Fun Fact: COVID19 is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus strain just like AIDS in the disease caused by the HIV Virus. Go figure this silly medical stuff?
After all, our emergency services and defence services personnel are always on the front line of these ‘wars’. It is never the generals, it’s the civilians who authorise and organise these wars who ultimately commit the worst war crimes in history.
All that has happened in this ‘Why’, has ‘political support’. Political support is a wonderful phrase as it almost always means the Governments bipartisan support from the rich and big business. Climate change for example (I think that’s a ‘war’ too) is now big business, so everything is being ‘green washed’ because that’s where the money is.
However, this is just the pilot in a really great apocalypse movie (although low on budget and special effects.
All good apocalypse movies have a sequel in the making when released. If ‘Rick’ can go from trying to steal a mates girlfriend (Love Actually) to being the reason we all hope the Zombie kill him (The Walking Dead), then anything is possible in the sequal.
I believe the why and the solution is not revolution but evolution; I can hardly wait for ‘The Jab Part 3’!!!
Really – this guy is only 0.69 !!!!
(I had actually finished the draft of this post and thought leaving it on the above ‘cliff hanger’ was like watching ‘Highway Patrol’ when the blood alcohol metre is spinning in the corner and then they go for a commercial break – then I realise how much I hated that so I can’t do it to anyone else….)
I finished my draft on the evening of the 12/11/21…. and upon realising the date was a palindrome like ‘race car’ and hannah’ and ‘glenelg’ and my favourite and applicable to this post:
“no sir panic is a basic in prison”
The words of Plato filled my head: “All in all, nothing human is worth taking very seriously, nevertheless…..”
I recommend before the sequel to keep the status quo by:
keep consuming
pay your fines and surrender you right of having ‘your day in court’ – even to just say sorry or give a good reason or to ask for a bit of leniency
watch cats on vacuum cleaners and the Kardashians and their clones
buy on line and never price compare unless it is online
watch the Media (the Merchants of Misery) even though you don’t believe them…. much.
and most of all, be afraid; in the most prosperous, safest, longest life expectancy and peaceful time in human history, ever; you just remain afraid
Remember the above strategies have ‘political support’ which is best statistically summarised by this wonderful survey in the US, which had 98% of the population supporting universal health care – this was not considered ‘political support’ so universal health care was abandoned by government – well they had to, there was no support?. Remember, we are most in danger when we have jumped out of the way of a speeding car, willingly or not, of most likely being run over by another car.
So, we will fight ‘the war on COVID19’ for as a government and us as the willing mob we all live for the sake of combatting an enemy, therefore as that is our purpose, it is in the best interests of everyone to keep the enemy alive to fulfil our purpose.
So, what, best interest?
Best interest is big business, the super rich and the implementation of the ‘three laws of robotics’ as designed by the science fiction writer Issac Asimov (by the way old Issac just came up with three robot laws and a few good books, whereas another science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard came up with an entire religion!):
First Law: A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law: A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Now the Why is revealed.
We have become customers for life, obeying the three laws as all good robots do.
Not truely sinister, but COVID19 (forgot all the conspiracies) has provided the opportunity for the greatest marketing, sales and future binding contracted arrangements with consumers. We, the 80-90% of the population, are now consumers of our COVID19 vaccinations, and boosters for life. We should be proud that we are part of the greatest demonstration of consumer led capitalism in the history of man, ever!
Protests in the streets, even with the best of intentions of the ‘choice argument’ will fail…. Long rambling blogs will fail……. Litigation will fail…….
I, along with 80-90% of the rest of the world have sealed deal and signed the ‘customer for life contract’.
…. and then I thought I had written enough…. and had a sleep and made the mistake of watching the News and not just publishing this post…..
13/11/21 (no palindrome – that day is gone…)
They say a week in politics or the news cycle is a long time. Well, I should have published/posted this the morning and then I wouldn’t have watched the news tonight!?
Countries with similar (or better) vaccination rates to us are going back into locked down – when the Netherlands do something like this I pay attention – they seem like reasonable people and secretly own half the world.
I hit myself in the face in front of the mirror ‘Fight Club’ style, as I again fell for the trap of attempting to use logic to solve and illogical problem.
I remembered even ‘customers for life’ need to be entertained to keep that ‘brand loyalty’…. always waiting for the new and improved models, which will have great new versions and the ever expectation and excitement of impending war.
I don’t want to be a Zombie…. I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist….
I don’t, didn’t, want the jab…..
Plus, it shits me a bit it has a nickname – The Jab. This is serious stuff. It has been normalised by a great campaign and people rolling their sleeves and looking ‘honestly’ into the camera.
How about we ‘normalise’ all serious matters?
I hate that word ‘normalise’ almost as much as the phrase ‘the new normal’….. and another one “moving forward”….. and ‘two times’ – IT’S TWICE!!!!
How about we change all language to be trendy and woke (I hate that word too!) and start with getting rid of the word ‘rape’ and use ‘struggle snuggle’ instead, so much less harsh; change the “Make a Wish Foundations” name, as it is a bit misleading, to “Make a Wish, Except that One, Foundation”; get rid of endemic normalised sexism in our drink driving advertisements with terrible discriminatory slogans such a “Drink Drive You’re A Selfish Prick’ to ‘Drink Drive You’re a Selfish Prick and/or Bitch and/or Non-Binary Arsehole”…..??
Just saying: not a fan of ‘The Jab’ phraseology.
I’ll say, right up front, that I am a ‘doomsday prepper’.
But, I am an intellectual ‘doomsday prepper.
I watch apocalypse movies and never want for toilet paper. I yell at the screen “NO, NO, NO…. NEVER SPLIT UP!!! DIDN’T YOU WATCH EVERY HORROR MOVIE EVER MADE?!!”
I have some cans of baked beans, just in case! …. and I did once write a little pamphlet called “Ian’s Manifesto for Surviving the Apocalypse’. And, okay, I did give it to all my children…. … and, okay, the ‘manifesto’ was enclosed in their individual ‘Survival Packs’ which I gave them all for Christmas one year….. okay, I do insist that they always carry them in the back of their cars.
And, Okay, last confession: I am writing a novel called “Prepper – My Dad’s Crazy”: and I stuffed up real bad by not finishing it in 2017 when I started it. It is/was, about a Pandemic… yeah, wont be many people writing those stories in the next couple of years.
I watch the ‘Walking Dead’ and can’t believe their biggest challenge is that their hearing is terrible; they never appear to hear the snarling, growling Zombies, until they are less than a metre away.
And, my all time favourite apocalypse movies, are still, the Omega Man and Soylent Green (which is apparently next year?).
But, lately something is wrong…. no, not wrong, but weird.
I make notes during the News when I am not yelling at the TV and intently listening to the ‘local resident’ Jim Bob from Number 37 who said nothing ever happened like that before in their street and he was terrified and it is terrible and horrific and somebody should do something about it (and he obviously has no dentist or dietary plan).
So, I watch stuff, listen to stuff, listen to people and broadcasts and statistics and reassurances from everyone…. including, remarkably the Media (the ‘Merchants of Misery’). When they are on the same side as the Government that really worries me?
And… it’s on the tip of my mind; the face you can see, but can’t remember the name; the place you left your car keys and can’t quite remember where, that sense of ‘deja vue’ about something that hasn’t happened yet; the phone ringing and the person you were just thinking about being the one calling…..
I am certain I right; if I could only think what is was…..
Hopefully, ‘The Jab (Part 2)’ will have the answer.
I broke so many of my rules tonight about watching TV.
I watched the News without appropriately suspending my belief in everything they said?
I then watched a small segment on the creditable ‘news commentary’ show, The Project
I did the above sober
The Media, as I have so fondly called them in the past “The Merchants of Misery” are demonstrating their complete involvement in a world that does not exist, as are our professionally appointed most popular people in charge, our politicians.
I want to rave, but know the average internet exploror only has a few moments before the next Tic-Toc is due with another person dancing badly…. so:
I am watching the Merchants of Misery, accompanied by condescending politically staged medical professionals reciting rhetoric of equally confusing renditions – with people nodding their heads in the background, of incomprehensible lockdowns and red, blue, green and something else areas, being enforced with massive fines in NSW, and travel restrictions and exceptions that allow …..” stuff” and prevent other “stuff” ….. as we open our borders to Victoria…. as the most popular person in South Australia, no qualifications required, The Premier in charge, tells us all to go out in Rundle Street and have a party…..
I couldn’t make this shit up.
I have brought myself to tears of laughter, with a mate, ‘voice overing’ the News bulletin, which, I think would make a great You-Tube channel, but, I not have not bought myself to do it…. as I check in, comply, live in the country and have 100 days of food. I’m okay.
Have a good time in Rundle Street on the piss with Steve Marshall.
I hope this post “The Media” is the beginning of a planned continuation of their abuse and lasts longer than the first session of most Netflix series we are sucked into.
In the closing hours of this day, I have called friends, had a beer and now sit to do what I love (other than drinking beer!)…. write.
I have rambled more in recent days than I have for some time. For this rambling if unread, scorned or ridiculed, I am grateful and lucky.
It was two years ago today, a few hours before now that my ‘brain exploded.’ I had a brain aneurysm and think but for the grace of God I may have died. Statistically everything was against me. But….
I was in Adelaide – no ambulance to the local under resourced hospital and the overworked doctors and nurses; no waiting for the 45 minute flight to Adelaide – basically if this happened, here in Berri, I am sure, I was a dead man.
The ambos arrived at the small family gathering we were having in Norwood and I was in care shortly after and stuff being pumped into me to save my life.
To me, this was a blur; and for some time the days after; I still walk many times a day into a room and can’t remember why I went there, I lose things a lot.
But, I remember; not for some time, that at the time I was having the brain explosion, I was not scared. My family was with me and I was a peace.
So on Jesus’s Birthday two years ago they got the Makita out and drilled into my head.
A lady, who I saw was a healer spoke to me before and said she would save my life. I am a sceptic but I believed her. I have spoken to her since in her office with an entire wall covered with ‘thank you’ cards.
Her name is Associate Professor Amal Abou-Hamden.
I am still grateful to her and tell her receptionist that at my next appointment I will ask her to marry me: our appointments are often rescheduled as she is saving someone elses life – plus I am worried about the age gap?
My brain exploding changed my life – other than never being able to find my keys.
I saw that the ‘well’ decide what the sick really needed in rehab – and I checked myself out twice and was nasty to people, but no more than I saw the suffering of those who have lost everything.
I was angry, demanding and offensive (after all I had a brain injury)… maybe it was just that all my life long ‘governors’ were off.
People I loved came to see me; having three ex partners standing by your bedside all at the same time can seem like a nightmare, but: old mates came; young mates came…. and I wrote crazy stuff in my journal and pushed my wife away.
My sister travelled to be with me.
My daughters held my hand.
… and then I went home.
I have been here since and found that death is not something that is now a stranger to me… I wrote my epitaph several times in hospital and rehab (for the short time I stayed there – checking myself in and out …?) and it was not good?
My wife left me, my heart broke worse than my head had, and I broke with it.
My friends, my band of brothers, my guardian angel daughters saved me.
I went to the Rural and Remote ward in Glenside Hospital. I was humbled, lost and sad. (I love my Band of Brothers but the tricky bastards got me locked up because they knew I would con my way out!!!)
My Pastor friend Toh Sang Ng visited me… My daughters and band of brothers visited me… Old mates of heart and courage visited me…
I bought smokes, and popcorn, and watched movies, with friends I would never have met, had my brain not exploded.
I found something else; I found me. Not the one I hadn’t mostly liked, but the one I was looking for and knew was there from one of the last things my Mum said to me before she passed away… “You are a good man.”
My Mum was wise and loved God and I am certain was loved right back. It wasn’t until after my brain exploded that I realised that my Mum wasn’t telling me who I was, but who I could become.
I just always remember that Colonel Sanders didn’t start KFC until he was 65 years old, that, I realised I still had a chance.
I wrote a lot of apology letters to the Doctors and Nurses, to my wife, family and friends; some things can’t be mended and must only be forgiven.
… and time passed…. not long, but enough for me to realise that all the bullshit of knowledge and wisdom in these writings (although I must admit, rather eloquently and inspirationally written..) lacked the spirit that I wrote about – the connection to something bigger than me – I knew it was there as Eckart Tolle had told me so, YouTube clips told me so, the Art of War told me how to kill those who told me so, The Art of Peace told me how to do it with a stick and not actually hurt anyone during a fight (?), my mate Made in Bali taking me to the temples and dressing up in the garb told me so, the Philosophers I read and read told me so, my old mate Toh Sang told me so.
So, I didnt need to reach out, I just had to understand what I had always know.
And… I did. Now I have the life I always felt but didn’t quite know; like waking from a dream that you can’t quite remember but know it was a good one (Not the flying dream, because that one is always a bit scary!)
So, now two years after my brain exploded (and thanks to Associate Professor Amal Abou-Hamden’s skill, I have maintained my stunning good looks)… I am grateful and lucky.
I post only the picture of Associate Professor Amal Abou-Hamden in this post as most of the pictures I would otherwise share are inside my head and can never be printed as they would so underestimate the things I have seen, experienced and begun to understand.
The best part, is that I still falter about 1000 times a day (about the same amount of times I have looked for my car keys – this week!)… it teaches me that the past is gone, I try to learn from it: the future is unwritten (please see the Movie Donny Darko because at any minute like him, a jet engine could fall through your roof and kill you), I have a plan, but it will most probably not turn out that way…. but, mostly my life is consumed by trying to appreciate the moment I am now in.
I want to thank all you dudes who have travelled with me on this trek, before and after my brain exploded; and especially to those who have helped me with my baggage, or even carried me when needed; and mostly, for seeing the things in me my Mum did.
In life you rarely get BIG second chances – I got one (please don’t stuff it up Ian!!!)…
I believe what I believe, which before I just thought I understood…. I live now, like today, is my last day (and forget most days and live like a rock star…?)… I forgive easily, I hope more… I think I love more, better, and deeper… I write bad poetry…. I try to be kind…
I know my story is just one of many that in the past I wouldn’t have really listened to because I was too eager to talk myself…
I have time now:
I have every moment until I shuffle from this mortal coin; where you all come to say goodbye and note that their is no trailer on my hearse, as I have left it all behind;
I just hope, I leave something more behind, than all the fantastic, magnificent unfinished projects in my shed and my bad poetry….
