BACKING INTO ANGLED PARKING SPOTS & TINTED WINDOWS ..

 

There is a dysfunctional change to the way people angle park and it’s moronic.  As an example of this stupidity, at South Melbourne market people go to great lengths to back into a 90 degree angled parking spot seemingly oblivious to the fact that their boot/tailgate, where they will put their purchasers, is now blocked by the very fact they backed in. If they had driven in forwards like a normal human being they would have had easy access.  At South Melbourne market we have seen idiots carrying shopping, kids, strollers and all manner of junk squeezing past cars parked either side just to get to their tailgate which they can’t access anyway.  We have also seen the same morons use the bonnet of the car next to their tailgate as a platform until they shift their car forward a metre  into the traffic so as to load up.  There is another entirely logical reason to nose into an angled parking spot in that by parking nose in you do not disrupt the passing traffic as in parallel parking.  By backing in to an angled park you expect all traffic to stop just so you can back in.  This sense of entitlement and ‘me me me’ beggars belief.  Indeed we have seen people reverse park even in a 45 degree angle park which makes zero sense and they are facing the wrong direction on exit.  This backing into angled parking spots is moronic and I suspect driven by the proliferation of reverse cameras enabling the moron to pretend they self shine.

People need to be aware that backing into everything is not normal behaviour.  May I suggest that a touch of clear thinking will override self entitlement.

Please, nose into angled parking spots like a normal human being!!

There may be another reason why people use their reversing cameras with such moronic regularity.  Watch drivers doing strange things and I will back it in they have every window in their cars, including the windscreen, so heavily tinted they can’t actually see outside with enough clarity to park or indeed safely drive anywhere.  Yesterday we ate lunch at a cafe on Church Street in Brighton enjoying a table outside where we had a plain view of passing traffic.  In roughly 40% of cars you could not see the driver through any window let alone through the windscreen.  How these people see anything at night is a mystery but does explain the necessity for parking cameras.  In our daily commute we see drivers veering, swerving and ignoring other cars and in nearly all cases the morons have heavily tinted windows.  Obviously, there are good drivers with tinted windows but, it seems that a good percentage of bad drivers have tinted windows – they just can’t see out.  

Personally, we like to look out and enjoy the world with as clear a vision as we can get.  The world is a fantastic place to be treasured and not to be hidden behind tinting.  Drive with the windows down, let the wind flow through, turn the radio off and soak in life.  Please.

Pastor Court

andrews [small a] has once again showed absolute disrespect for anyone who doesn't agree with his view of the world.  He referred to Margaret Court as 'that women' in a desultory and insulting manner just the same way he referred to Mr Kennett as 'that man'.  And, that is only the start of the insults.

Remember Mrs Court is a pastor of the Pentecostal faith and preaches those beliefs just as Muslims do and Catholics do and as do Evangelists.

andrew's foul mouth fails to understand that people achieve excellence in something but may be wanting in something else.  As are we all.  For example andrews achieved excellence by getting elected but has failed dismally in managing our state.  No question and non debatable.

Mrs Court got the gong for playing tennis - end of story.  She was best in the world - no argument and Australia decided to recognise those achievements in line with her male counterpart, Rod Laver.  Not hard to understand.

As an indicator of the stupidity of andrew's assertions imagine taking his logic one step further.  Perhaps we should ban all catholics from getting any Australia medal because they ignored child torture by the church and indeed covered it up.  Catholics gone, not matter what good they do.  Hand back the medals.

How about banning Muslims because their values are 'different' to ours as expressed in their holy works.  According to andrews thay are all evil, devoid of doing good and can never get a gong.

Pastor Court expresses her religions views for all to hear in our 'free speech' country.   You don't have to agree or disagree just as you don't have to agree or disagree with roman catholicism [inquisition, torture, child abuse] or the creationist fools who believe the earth popped out circa 10,000 years ago [40% of Americans despite science] or those who believe killing infidels cements a place in heaven with a gaggle of vestal virgins - no women's rights there!

Personally, I choose to listen to everything with an open mind and dismiss the lunatics and the purveyors of untruths.

What next?  A person gets a gong for say nuclear medicine but it turns out he once 'slapped' his son for being a little prick.  That's it - remove the recognition as he must be evil to the core for bothering to keep his child on the straight and narrow.

Stupidity reigns.

Discuss the controversial things [not mere conversation] but recognise the good.  We are all flawed!

Pastor Court SHOULD be honoured for her tennis.  End of story.

CREEPING ASSUMPTIONS

 There is something intrinsically and inherently wrong with any manager who is responsible for other people’s money failing to take responsibility and validate the spending process.  A manager does not just spend a few million dollars without exact validation from those in charge.  Doing so is criminal. 

With Andrews spending millions of dollars of our money on private contractors in hotel quarantine there can be no ‘creeping assumptions’ as to who actually ticked the ‘spend’ box.  This is not play time, there are millions of dollars of our money seemingly spent for no reason as the ADF were offered for nothing and 800 are dead.

This is not a political statement, it is a comment on the appalling management and consequent mal administration of the hotel quarantine program in Victoria.  Circa 800 innocent people lost their lives as a direct result of that mal administration.

If a manager did that in the private sector they would most probably be charged with fraudulent funds misappropriation but at the very least fired for stupidity.  With Andrews it seems that level of mismanagement is accepted as the norm.  Funds misappropriation and stupidity are accepted.

Politicians are good at getting elected and convincing us lemmings that they are strong, honest, knowledgeable and able.  Remarkably, even in the face of proven disaster contradicting all those attributes, some will ignore incompetence and continue supporting obvious stupidity.  After the Royal Commission into banking many many CEO’s and executives and board members were forced to fall on their sword.  Yet, Andrews survives.  How?

Any acceptance of a ‘creeping assumption’ should immediately trigger replacement of the entire management team for incompetence leading to mal-administration and also trigger civil and criminal investigation leading to charges.  Remember at stake there are millions of dollars and sadly circa 800 lives lost.

This is serious.  Monetary losses alone will top a trillion dollars, many people are dead, there are major issues with decreasing mental health and our country is going backwards thanks to Andrews mismanagement.

Just today NSW and VIC have almost the same number of cases yet NSW is firing on all fronts whilst Vic suffers draconian lockdown measures at the behest of Andrews and his incompetent management team.  For example NSW has a 2sqm rule for outside dining and a 4sqm rule for inside dining.  We have take home only with dining in prohibited!  26 weeks of lockdown for Victoria after Andrews bungled management

The cost to Victoria in lost productivity will be literally trillions.

A new management team is mandatory!

Andrews again!!

 Why am I upset with the Victorian government [small g]?

When Alan Bond was caught and had to answer questions he had inexplicable memory failure yet some time later he came good-ish both physically and mentally.  Go figure.

This current enquiry into the hotel quarantine mal administration also seems to attract similar memory loss .  Chris Eccles [Andrews department head – slight similarity to 1950’s ‘The Goons’] admitted to receiving email re ADF offer yet couldn’t remember passing it on to anyone.  An offer this important just slipped from memory.  If this is the case then he is incompetent in the extreme.  If he did in fact pass it on then the plot thickens.  It is reported that Andrews did get the offer but, inexplicably, also had his own bout of memory loss.

And, if that’s not bad enough, Andrews wants more power through and by the brand new Omnibus bill.  This would allow Andrews to authorise anyone he sees fit to detain [arrest] people whom they ‘deem’ a health risk.  This health risk can be as little as passing someone who is ‘suspected’ of say having COVID19.  Imagine a scene where a few pimply faced untrained so called Andrews authorised health official goons [no similarity to 1950’s the ‘Goons’] arrest people walking around Albert Park lake during their allotted 2 hours of exercise because they happened to pass a person, also walking, who had the temerity to sneeze during hay fever season thereby being deemed to be a health risk.  Perhaps Andrews could re purpose the physically larger tram inspectors, as no one rides trams anymore, with say 10 minutes of training, a few warm handshakes and a special mask covering their identity.  Their kit could include truncheons, spit masks, pepper spray, Tasers and of course cable tie wrist and ankle restraints.  Only the select few would have assault rifles.  To be fair they would have to treat all the same including kids, the disaffected, the weak, the stupid and all gender varieties.  Now the Andrews goons have pounced they would have to do something with the deemed infected.  Enter Gulag 13 which is a razor wire fenced off area on a golf course somewhere [unused as Andrews banned golf] where miscreants are re-educated with electricity to the temples and sent to forced labour [not labor] camps [the new hotel quarantine] for 14 days.  There would be wall to wall photographs of Andrews with thought bubbles – me me me me].  Trite?  Perhaps those of lesser risk could be transferred to nursing homes as they are now nearing empty because past residents have succumbed to the same Corona Virus mal administration.   As someone was reported as saying [paraphrased],’the greatest failure of a public health management event ever!’

The Andrews government is heading towards the above.  He continually seeks more and more power yet has been proven absolutely incompetent and unable to manage.  He has the blood of hundreds of people on his hands as the second wave has been 99.9% caused by hotel quarantine failures.  Would you let a failed bus driver take your kids to school day after day?  Answer, no!  Yet we allow Andrews to remain as the man in charge despite selling us out to a foreign power, bringing in companies owned by that power to control infrastructure, sending us bankrupt and mal administering a simple hotel quarantine which everyone else got right.

Perhaps we Victorians are all evil and we are getting Andrews as punishment for our sins?

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL VICTORIANS RE ANDREWS

 ANDREWS

Rowan Dean [AFR] wrote of Premier Andrews - “.. a cesspit of self indulgent cosmopolitan culture and disastrous financial management.. ” and “… secret deals signed with Beijing overlords …” and “… his bungling treasurer …” .  His opinion of his Federal counterpart was not much better.  “… the scheming eunuch Al-Bo and his insane proclamations which would send Australia into a death spiral”. [paraphrased but not much]

Alas, Victoria has devolved, with this premier in charge, from a debt free prosperous and viable state to one of eye watering debt owed to ‘someone’ who will expect interest and security.  That someone will own some $100 billion’s worth of Victoria.  Yes, nearly a trillion dollars in debt over 7 or 8 years of mismanagement.  We are now the pariah mendicant state.

How about secret deals with a regime which has, does and is proving on a daily basis to ignore the world in which it sits thereby putting our sovereignty at risk [HK, Taiwan, S^th China Sea, global trade rules, the WHO, Australia, USA, et alia].   He is also spending billions of our money on a ‘look at me’ power trip [ for example the subway and level crossings being built by a Chinese company] whilst ignoring offered funding from the Federal government on independently identified essential infrastructure [East West link - $1.2b thrown away].  How about funding the destruction of heritage properties [Sandringham golf course $10m] and destroying an inner suburban golf driving range to build more netball courts without thought of massive parking issues and whilst there is an existing huge netball centre 5 minutes away.  How about proving a lack of rational thought by banning activities during our exposure to the global pandemic such as fishing, golf and archery which are all, by their very nature, social distancing.  All as a “look at me I’m doing something to stop this pandemic all by myself”.  No other state followed suit.  Go figure.

Indeed, he and Victoria are a laughing stock from Canberra and from every other state.   He is on his own in the real world and out of control but out of control threatening our sovereignty, our financial security and our future.  People are dying! He even claims to have closed the country’s borders despite the Prime Minister doing just that.  Perhaps it didn’t occur to him that he CAN’T close ‘national’ borders or claim credit.

 

THE SECOND WAVE

The so called second wave is all Andrews doing in that he refused to listen to the others who got it right [everyone else], refused to accept help [ADF with contact tracing], refused the bees knees of contact tracing software and instigated draconian ‘look at me’ rules [curfew] which no expert believes will do any good but many believe will exacerbate mental harm.  Now we find out he deliberately misled parliament, the police and health services. History proves just how badly conceived and managed that was - mal administered and mal managed – knee jerk crap from people who shouldn’t be let run a two person tea room. After refusing expert help he spent millions of dollars of our money on private security firms without safeguards or oversight. This terrible management decision by Andrews caused the so called second wave with further losses of billions more dollars for Victoria and Australia PLUS a loss of productivity which will have an eye watering number attached.  Far worse, this has cost hundreds of lives – all as a direct result of Andrews look at me inept management.

He has recently removed support for circa 50,000 tradies [sole traders] and partnerships that don’t employ others.  Obviously he doesn’t believe sole traders or small business are worth saving.

His thinking and statements are truly bizarre.  He has mooted a 9pm curfew [from 8pm] providing we mere lemmings are very very good and he has said restaurants will be allowed to open stressing outside dining and density limits on inside.  A couple of issues therein.  Firstly, this is Melbourne we live in with its very changeable weather so no, outside dining will never replace inside.  Secondly people will have to race through a very early dinner to get home by 8/9pm.  Obviously Andrews does not go out a lot because this will just not happen.

 

WHAT DO WE DO?

Personally I would like to see all those responsible frog marched out of Parliament into their own quarantine centre for say 6 months socialising with all the known Covid19 infected – as they have let happen to others!  And yes, pay for their own hotel room and meals.  However, realistically or lawfully that will not happen and we cannot change Government on a whim as much as I would like to.

But, in the short term, what we can do is change responsibility for critical issues such as anything threatening our sovereignty, spending and anything to do with Covid19 and, for good measure, throw in dealing with homelessness.  Let Andrews run the day to day minutia whilst bringing in a team of proven ‘can-do’ people [those that can galvanise transparent action] to get us back on track - just as in dealing with rogue suburban councils.

The irony of this is that this is what Andrews should have done from the start.  If you don’t have the expertise then, go and get it.  Simple business 101! Don’t pontificate with ‘look at me’ rhetoric whilst the state is haemorrhaging and people are dying.

Harsh?  It can’t get more serious on several fronts.  Andrews needs to admit a problem and bring in the new short term can-do management team.  In this he will be seen as strong, in control and delivering for the people of Victoria as a leader who recognises when to get help.  Reverse narcissism – good! 

Send out a distress call to well proven leaders and experts for help.  How about Keating, Kennett, Costello and Gillard establishing an expert team to bring us back on track.  Wow!  Great people all, bi-partisan and proven leaders.  Just 3 months and we could be seen once again as the state that deals with issues on the front foot, quietly, respectfully and with transparent purpose.

Premier, please lead from the rear – a long way to the rear!

END

Andrews 4

 PREAMBLE:

Very broadly speaking, there are two types of people who deal with planning but from different perspectives and mindsets.  Each has a role to play but rarely do both attributes reside in the one person. 

There are the ‘block’ people who build success by gradual change from the bottom up.  This is the minutia set, the people who are happiest when dealing with individual issues and are critical to the success of basically everything.   Nuts and bolts!  Without their dedication to keeping stuff happening we would not have a world.  Their ‘escape’ is for example ‘science fiction’ where their brains can wax lyrical and expand into the unknown.

The second lot are the ‘jigsaw’ people who can visualise the big picture and how all the bits fit.  There are less of these people because the demand is less.  Dealing with minutia for these people is hard because inherent focus is different.   Their escape is to for example to meticulously clean the golf clubs before challenging the unwinnable [grass].

This gets really hard for sole traders and small business people.  ‘Poiders Plumbing’ is run by a block person happily dealing with minutia but needs to understand and market himself as a jigsaw person in order to thrive.  Wendy’s events business is all about bringing together the many facets of a function to create success but has real difficulty in hands on.  Different people, different jobs.

In management there is a dysfunction line when people cross the boundary between minutia and jigsaw - either way.  A great manager decides to ‘roll up his sleeves’ and get stuck in.  A noble cause?  Not really.  It may be therapeutic for a while but his mindset is in a different place and it will not work long term.  But, every now and again, devolving to minutia is a defence mechanism to stop us going crazy.  Going the other way, the minutia person enters an expanded universe over the line and is immediately uncomfortable because there is no one-thing on which to focus.  Again, it will not work.  Everyone has heard the expression, ‘promoted to a level of incompetence’.  Well, this can be a reason why.

This dysfunction rears its ugly head when we look at our elected representatives coming from all walks of life expected to cement our collective future in a changing world.  They love the election because they can pontificate at length about single issues pretending they are in control.  Not so.  The ‘look at me’ syndrome is born of shouty people who would be better served by a job within the bureaucracy.  Shout long enough and people will believe. 

An expression used a lot by people who are basically out of control is ‘we are working hard’ but all they are really saying is that they are in fact out of control and having to work harder and harder to keep their collective heads above water.

The in control person says, ‘We are achieving our published goals and, this is how we are doing it’.

In charge, but wallowing around without a clear and communicated vision and subsequent plan does not cut it.  It confuses the block people trying to action anything and it confuses those who need to know.

ANDREWS:

When a crisis hits all the management flaws come to the surface.  Good times management is relatively easy as all is tickety boo and we ignore small issues because in the big picture they don’t really matter.  ‘She’ll be right mate’.  And, for the ‘lucky country’, this axiom has worked for years and years.

Now we have an axiom contradictor in the form of a virus threatening and indeed changing our way of life.  The pressure is on and merely ‘working hard’ is insufficient.

Andrews ‘roadmap’ delivered yesterday as a plan to beat the contradictor was inept because it had no vision other than ‘please God may the virus go away if we are all good little boys and girls’.  There was no vision of a future other than a return of sorts to pre-Covid.  He delivered same in his shouty voice and stare down manner trying to be seen as in control.

Yet we know, he was responsible for the mal administration causing this second wave, huge monetary losses and hundreds of lives.  He is out of control and has been for the last 8 years.  An elected representative out of his comfort zone but refusing to do what all good managers do, seek advice from experts, develop a vision people can identify with and take transparent action to achieve that future.

Hard?  Of course it’s hard.  It’s hard in good times let alone during a crisis.

Victoria has a tough road to follow to get out of the world perception that we are the out of control pariah mendicant state.  We need a mantra which can both lead and enthuse. If I may quote from Robin Sharma - “I am more than I appear to be, all the worlds strength & power rests inside me.” A great line which could also serve Victoria well as we bolt out of this crisis.  Victoria - "I am more than I am being quiet, determined, respectful and focussed." 

This is the sort of focussing vision we need to be supported by a bunch of real goals thrusting us into the future.  Not a minutia led ‘level crossing maintenance’ objective but real visionary stuff.  The sort of vision Keating, Button and Howard had, combined with the strength Hawke had to galvanise a nation, the financial smarts of Costello and the CEO Premier showcased by Kennett.

What we have is quite different.  We have a minutia led Premier trying to focus on just one thing being to eradicate the virus.  It happened on his watch and he is responsible for the mal administration costing billions of our dollars and many many lives.  He needs to fix it.

But is he capable?  Obviously a minutia / block thinker trapped in a jigsaw thinking job.  So, no he is not capable.  Worse, he has refused to recognise obvious shortcomings and get appropriate help.

None of us can claim to be the absolute fund of all knowledge but the better of us recognise this and seek support.  The more serious the matter the more this is critical.

Obviously, my opinion of Andrews is not very high as it relates to the job he is not doing.  But it doesn’t mean there is not a way out.  Andrews needs to cede management control for Covid 19 to an expert team removed from government – as good managers who know their limits do.  He also needs to develop a vision for Victoria which people will gladly follow.  He needs to communicate a positive ‘carrot driven’ plan to extract ourselves from Covid normal to be seen globally as a dynamic state dealing with pressure.  He also needs to develop a set of long term goals people will flock to.  Then he needs to action those goals through transparent plans communicable to us mere lemmings.

Basically, business 101.

We don’t have basic business ‘101’.  We have people trapped in the wrong job.

 

Andrews 3

When does maladministration turn into manslaughter?  How many deaths are on whose hands?  Are we so immune to death from this virus that we just accept another '12' people succumbed, then another 12 then another 25 and on and on and on?  We celebrate 'only' 9 deaths!  Are we that insular?

The rather glib statement 'unprecedented times' is used as the catch phrase to justify any and all actions.  The problem there is that a good chunk of the world was going through the pandemic well before us and we knew what was required, when it was required and by whom protection was supposed to be actioned.  There were many many precedents to learn from.  The problem arises when those precedents were ignored, people run around like headless chooks while the head part still pontificates at length with definitive me-me statements.  'It's just a flesh wound' comes to mind [Monty Python].  As bits fall off there is no recognition of impending disaster or, in this case, just more brain-mouth-body disconnect drivel from the chook's head.

This is not play time.  It is 'deadly' serious.  

Victoria is singled out as the pariah state being completely out of control with quarantine mal administered by people unable to manage a 2 person tea room.  Indeed Victoria alone refused national support with professional administration and it's put us in deep trouble with many many dead.  The chooks head was still pontificating as if it was still in control? 

My views on Premier Andrews and his handling of the Coronavirus are based on demonstrated behaviours and not the man.  After all, I don’t know him personally and plan to keep it that way.  He, as a person, is entitled to the same respect as everyone else.  My published focus is on his demonstrated ‘management’ and not party politics because it’s too easy to shoot the messenger with politics but bloody hard with management incompetence. 

Indeed, in last Saturday’s AFR it was revealed that the reporter who attempted to get Andrews to answer just who was responsible for the quarantine mess was subsequently pestered with all sorts of abuse, including death threats, from the zombie trolls most using the twitter hash tag ‘I stand with Dan’.  These people are the dross of our society but obviously support Andrews.  The fact that he doesn’t call them out is indicative.  I would have thought a ‘death threat’ from a moron was a tad close to hate speech and a criminal matter.  The very fact that he engenders this sort of ‘protection’ with his followers feeling the need to ‘kill’ those who question him is unfortunately indicative of Andrew’s behaviour.   Think what’s happening in HK at the moment.

Incidentally, I don’t think Andrews is evil as some portray, just a narcissistic incompetent based on his behaviour and able to get elected by that dross.  He is so far out of his depth it’s palpable.  Trump but on the other side.

It might be worth noting that the results of Andrew’s maladministration  has not only cost billions of dollars for Victoria and Australia but real people’s lives.  This is NOT the same as a corporate screw up as these ‘mistakes’ kill people.

 It is very pointed that all other states are doing well but not the pariah mendicant Victoria led by a narcissistic Premier who wants the limelight so much he alone refused help from the national government [being the other side of politics] to curb the outbreak in the form of the ADF and seems to be lying about he and his so called team attending briefings [AFR].

 I can understand the Prime Minister not openly criticising Andrews [Article – Roskam – AFR]  as it could be too dysfunctional but at what point can he no longer keep quiet?  We are currently seen by the rest of the world as fools and, we are because we put up with our state government unable to manage.

We need to remove Andrews from any position of authority in regard to Covid19 and install a ‘temporary’ professional management team.  

Every death is an exclamation point in this regard. 

Let Andrews deal with the basic minutia of running Victoria whilst the new at-arms-length ‘team’ stops this continuing disaster.  I can’t help but think of Beirut where maladministration ended so tragically.  This is not a political comment or a change in Government but a management issue. 

Critically Andrews spent the piggy bank before Covid19, borrowed billions to fund his ‘look at me’ spending, developed links with China for more money even against his own parties wishes and now is once more out of control – and I mean ‘out of control’ in the true sense of the words. 

Please bring in a professional management team of well known and respected people able to hit the ground running and transparently deal with Covid19 quickly before more money is lost, reputations are shredded and most importantly, more lives lost. 

Please. 

Andrews needs to run the parking ticket branch and let the grownups deal with our state. 

AFCA and Zurich insurance

Dysfunction ... 

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority [AFCA] has been and is seemingly supporting Zurich insurance to avoid paying out lawful travel insurance claims.  Despite clear evidence.

 Zurich as a global company with teams of researchers, actuaries and analysts all mitigating risk through known events knew there was a pandemic looming circa 2019 [Covid19] which would [standard terms and conditions small print] negate any insurance claim yet they still took people’s money for travel insurance in that exact knowledge and knowing quite well that they would never have to pay out.  ‘A false pretence’.  Obtaining money under false pretences is at the very least fraudulent misrepresentation.

As long as AFCA fail to curb obvious dysfunctions there can and will be no change.  Following the Royal Commission’s scathing reports on companies such as Zurich and indeed the AFCA itself, it is indeed obvious that there is no change to past practices.

You may gather I am a little tense.

LEADERSHIP

Once upon a time there was a man who the world watched with envy as he transformed his patch from just plain broke to one marching towards success.  He was a great leader and people admired him for the dedication he showed to making every post a winner.  Other leaders aspired to garner some of his charisma as they said nice things and longed for photo opps. His record on respect for all was just shoved under the carpet because the world could see what he was doing and how he needed to do it.   Then he invaded Poland.

Fast forward 80 or 90 years and we have another leader, a great leader, a leader immersed in cementing his patch as indefatigably supreme. Just like the previous leader, respect for all was low on the list of priorities as he spread his patch’s control by land grab and economic stealth whilst making others dependant on his endless treasure chest.  The world watched exponential growth, strength and fortitude whilst others sought photo opps.  Unlike the last leader this man was quiet, enigmatic and focused with no shouted rallies or look-at-me antics.  One could say inscrutable.  Then he invaded …

How about yet another leader who espouses narcissism and self along with absolute distain for anyone outside of his narrow thinking - the blond spinnaker man with his finger on the red button but without the intelligence to determine just.   A man without letters from a long line of leaders without letters leading a country already shamed with indeginous genocide and sovereign invasion.

This dysfunction happens because we let it.  Indeed, even on a local level, we have a so called leader who is irresponsible and weak as well as being on a power trip with no one to stop him.  He confuses strength with stupidity, maintenance with strategic growth and public safety with an inability to appear strong. Mouth noise replaces lucidity.  Allowing 10,000 people to protest shoulder to shoulder whilst banning groups of more than 10 people in say restaurants under strict social distancing rules during a pandemic is insane. Pity.  

 What does it take for us to recognise a pattern?

The sad thing is that all the above mentioned men are self promoted leaders seemingly doing wonderful things for their own patches albeit at the expense of anyone who stood in their way.  But, in the end, at the expense of their own patch.  They all self promoted greatness but reality disagreed.

History is full of these people and at all levels of government yet we continually turn a blind eye hoping it will get better.  America is currently imploding where respect has left the building and plague terrorises.  The shallowness of past glories laid bare to reality.  Indeed, a new reality in which ‘others’ seek a foothold through quiet, focused and specific incretion.

So, who are the good guys?  Is it Mr Enigmatic, the blond flyover, the lost premier or perhaps our man from Hill song or is it perhaps just everyone and anyone who actually gives a toss?

The media get away with rabidly stupid comments, statistics and data which a 10 year old could see though - yet people believe.  They want to believe because even someone as dysfunctional as those mentioned above are better than wimp after dodgy after hopeless.

What a day for the human race. Not.

Covid, Golf, Archery, Business...

One of the things about being human is that we tend to self preserve.  For example, driving a car we don’t swerve into oncoming traffic or we don’t go too near the edge of a cliff.  This is a given even for the dross but always excepting those fantastic people who put themselves in harm’s way for others - like any person dealing with Covid19 on the front line.

The other axiom about being human is the fact that it enables the ‘bullshit’ meter.  We can tell/feel when something is array or doesn’t meet the common sense test despite that something being touted as true and correct by the pontificators often with an obvious brain / mouth disconnect.

Add Covid19 to these two axioms and the pressure mounts on those charged with preserving our way of life to get it right whilst taking people along with the logic on the way to getting it right.  If that fails then people will ignore any edicts seen as failing the so called ‘pub test’. 

There is no ‘one size fits all’ when we discuss protecting ourselves from Covid19.  Blanket restrictions are easy but will be ignored with the instigators mocked.  But, there are always exceptions – closing our borders quickly was a great move and if there were doubters the Ruby Princess validated that position. 

But, pontificating without substance is a crime against humanity because it treats people as idiots and we are not!  Self preservation and the bullshit meter kick in and we begin to see just how lacking in common sense those in charge are and/or the ‘look at me’ lengths they will go to try and prove they are actually intelligent and doing something.

Just as examples.  People need an outlet or they will go troppo and disobey.  As far as I understand it, staying at home is a blanket restriction to stop interaction thereby stopping exponential infection.  We have the experts telling us that Covid 19 can live on surfaces we touch and can only spread by close contact with an infected person or off that surface.  1.5 m being the distance of safety and face masks are not necessary.   Therefore, it follows that as long as we sanitise by alcohol or soap and keep 1.5 m apart total isolation is not necessary. Why is this important?  Because the economic damage caused by ‘over the top’ restrictions is haemorrhaging our country.  The exception to this is isolating people returning from a known ‘hot spot’ or identified as possibly infected. 

How about Victorian [only Victoria] golf courses being closed costing millions of dollars in job keeper / seeker and lost revenues.  The way I and most others play golf is in absolute isolation spending far more time in the bushes than anywhere near others or indeed real grass.  With a few simple rules golf can help people avoid going troppo.  For some reason, golf driving ranges were also shut down.  Driving ranges are designed around self isolation with each person in their own bay at least 1.5m apart.  This is a no brainer as it’s basic self preservation against getting your head knocked off.  The people shutting driving ranges down are seen as stupid pontificators avoiding actual thought.

The other activity / sport is archery which was shut down and now suffers from a 10 person per acre edict.  In archery each target is roughly 1.5 m to 2.5 m apart centre to centre with easy changes to separation.  This automatically complies with the 1.5 m rule yet archery was shut down.  Now it seems archery can only have 10 people at one time in a field of over an acre.  Where is the common sense?  Archery is another activity which automatically practices self distancing.  Logical really as no one wants to be shot!  More millions lost.  Now, do we count the number of people on a train, tram or bus to make sure there are just 9 before we jump on? There goes a few more million.

People will self preserve.  Just look at the behaviour of people walking on a footpath.  They will go to great lengths to make sure they keep 1.5m apart.  I do.

The key to people protecting themselves seems to be the 1.5 m separation and fanatical hand washing.  This is easy.  As Patsy from ABFAB said, “I would never have thought my hands would consume more alcohol than my mouth.”

It is imperative we protect ourselves whilst doing stuff such as golf or archery to stop going stir crazy and both make and spend money.  OUR government is not a separate financial entity, it’s our money they are taxing and spending and it needs to be both sourced and judiciously spent.  I reckon our State’s debt alone with our current government will approach $100 billion with a small part being due to Covid19.  The interest alone on these borrowings is eye watering.

If I can make a plea – think through edicts before proclamation because they can be too encompassing remembering we will self preserve and one size does not fit all.  The excuse, erring on the side of caution, just shows a lack of thought.

People will protect their patch given logic and proof.  As they are doing with 1.5m separation and hand washing.

We need to return to normality ASAP for our countries’ sake.   Business and personal activity must be preserved.

Our restaurant is take away only and my wife and I now play extremely competitive table tennis for money [$1] on the dining room table.  The first stops us haemorrhaging too much money and the second keeps brain and reflexes alive.  We went to the driving range yesterday as it’s now open – no change in talent [ho hum] – look forward to scrabbling through the bushes on the course – ‘preserving’ the grass.

Reverse Parking

There is a trend, a somewhat dysfunctional and stupid trend, to reverse park rather than park front in.  This is both selfish and dumb for two basic and very obvious reasons - traffic flow and vehicle access.

What goes through the mind of  someone who rocks into the car park at say South Melbourne market to fill the boot with vegetables, groceries and bottles of cheer to hold up all traffic so they can attempt a reverse park into a tight spot when they know they will be unable to eventually get their shopping trolley between parked cars or anywhere near the boot - if they can open the tailgate at all!  Apart from a lack of thought for other people they foil the very purpose of going shopping – making it easy to get the stuff home.  Instead, why not just spy a car park and zip forward into the space with no traffic hold up leaving the boot with easy easy access then, when leaving, wait for a break in the traffic and zip out.  Simple and thoughtful of others.

Still I suspect thought and a propensity to reverse park are mutually exclusive.