I DREAM'D in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dream'd that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love—it led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.
In Australia, we're all wondering who this is.
So I take your argument to be: - the division between the two sides today is not essentially about competing economic systems (at least not existentially so) so the factors that tore the country apart 160 years ago aren't there; - each team hates the other side, but not enough to kill the game; - until and unless people are no longer able to buy their groceries and get care etc when they need it, these points will hold, and the improving economic outlook suggests this to be so. Which yeah, makes sense. And obviously you're living and seeing all of this up close while I just get to watch from (mostly) a safe distance. Just, from over here, it feels as though there's a lot of ... something. Call it intergenerational wealth, call it rural resentment, call it frustrated white male entitlement, call it a Russian cabal - or whatever you like. But it feels like there is something that is trying very hard to wreck the country rather than give its power up. And when it came to the fore six years ago it started off headless and a bit of a joke, but since then it's woken up to its power and to the huge reserves of resentment that it can leverage to support its power, and to the frailty of the structures that were thought to keep it in check, and it's become organised, insidious and it is actively pursuing an agenda that is malign to the democratic United States.
And you can feel it because you've grown up with trees, and you know what you're missing. Imagine being a kid growing up in an inner city without nature; you'd never know what you've missed. Actually, this reminds me of an interesting article on the notion of the extinction of experience. I'll dig it up. Update: Here's a relevant article.
It was awesome to meet you! Thank you for listening to me rant about how great Seattle is!
I have about five days to write two very large, public facing annual reports for the university that is my employer. Amid this I also have to arrange an itinerary for a study tour of North America and Europe that starts in less than two weeks. Amid this another work task has also been handballed to me from a senior executive that I am unable to ignore. I'm feeling the pressure.
I'm about four fifths of the way through A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay. It's a singular masterpiece. Next on my list is The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (along with the companion novel, Stella Maris).
Summer in Melbourne. The weather is perfect, the cricket coverage is entertaining, and I've still got another week and a half of rest ahead of me before I head back to (what is actually an excellent place to) work. Happy New Year, Hubski.
Sounds like advice from a guy who's still high after getting his visa to the EU finalised! (congrats btw)
That's rough. Do you have friends looking out for you?
I received Shuggie Baine by Douglas Stuart as a Christmas present. I've just started tucking into it.
This is the best one.
Citizen Kane?
After months of lockdown, Melbourne recorded only one new COVID case yesterday. I think we're finally going to start easing restrictions properly this weekend.
I'm getting tired of 12 hour work days. On the other hand, universities are getting smashed by the closure of international borders so I'm grateful I still have a job. Melbourne is still effectively under lockdown. No retail except supermarkets and bars and cafes (takeaway only, but you can drink and eat in parks and public spaces with a maximum of four others). At least the only curfew in our country's history is over. We're averaging ~10 new cases every day but the Victorian Government is pretty firm in its intention of not opening further until the number of cases with an unknown source reduces to 5 over 14 days. Currently it is 12. This policy is copping a lot of flack, but the other states won't reopen their borders to us until we've got it under control.
Three weeks into the first curfew in Melbourne's history. Currently we're recording 200-250 new cases per day. On the other hand, we appear to have eradicated the flu in Australia. In a few weeks we'll be leaving the life of renters behind and moving in to our own place.
This song will always have a special place in my heart due to its appearance in Pump Up the Volume, of which I was an avid fan during an appropriately awkward time in my adolescence.
As of this morning, Melbourne is back under lockdown for six more weeks. This follows the easing of restrictions and gradual opening up of everything since May. Two months ago this city had CV19 well and truly under control. Australia and NZ were preparing to open up a trans-Tasman bubble enabling travel to return between the two countries. Then a security guard or guards involved in keeping international visitors under quarantine caught the virus and brought it back home with them, where it spread throughout the community. That's the official line, in any case. On the upside, we bought an apartment. It's a terrific apartment. Lots of exposed brick and polished timber floors. And it's on the main street of the most hipster suburb in hipster Melbourne. If this is ever over we'll be in the hippest part of town.
I've actually got a lot of issues with this article, which I'll enumerate when and if I get time (chief among them being the possibility that it was good fortune, not good policy, which allowed Australia to escape mass dying (so far)). Still an interesting read, though.
Looks like I'll have to lift my game.
I can speak to this a bit: - All research institutions have some experience of shut down periods (think Christmas and New Year). On the other hand, the unprecedented scale of this obviously means there's some level of people working things out as they go along. - Identifying what research programs and research infrastructure are essential and must be maintained (i.e. don't go unplugging the tank of liquid nitrogen or the embryo freezer). - Identifying a smaller crew of essential staff and ensuring they will have access during a lockdown (somebody needs to monitor stuff and feed the animals). - Providing support for researchers to identify and continue to undertake what research they are able to from home. - It's important that the centre gives the different organisational units enough lead to work out for themselves what needs to be done, provided there's a record of all operations going to the centre. - Maintaining open discussion with external research partners about what's going on. - There will be a big dive in some data over coming months. On the other hand, there will be tremendous wealth of data in other areas. Think pedestrian traffic, internet traffic, monitoring of domestic violence rates, etc.
Excruciating, wasn't it? His government has a very poor record of engagement on climate action and the connection between record temperatures, reduced rainfall and the unprecedented bushfire season has started to become clear to the public. Unfortunately, Australians voted this government back into power in May, so we're likely stuck with them for at least two more years. We only have ourselves to blame. And yes, I'm certainly down for a drink in 18 months, provided we're all still alive. I'll show you some great bars.
I live in an inner urban part of Melbourne, 30 minutes' walk from the CBD. Today, I can barely see the city skyline for the smog that has descended over this city from fires hundreds of kilometres away.
The "recover password" option on Hubski appears to be broken. I enter my email address when prompted, but the email from Hubski to reset never arrives. Is this a gmail issue?
Try being at a union party. There were grown men in tears. Yeah, the sausage thing has really become a feature in the past decade or so. Overall, voting venues are more and more resembling small fairs, which I'm loving. Clifton Hill Primary School was offering democracy daiquiris during the state election last year. I fully support compulsory voting, but watching pensioners down cocktails at 10 in the morning is its own reward.
The problem may be a lot more complex than it looks. @tigrennaten@ has posted a link on a very similar topic here.
Don't leave!
Perhaps I should save this comment so I can come back when rusty57 replies 200 days from now.
More likely a demonstration of the influence of socioeconomic status on life expectancy, surely?
This is a great suggestion. I'd be very interested to see mine.