There’s a saying here.
A Norwegian resources company finds rare earths in a remote part of the bush. They try to set up the infrastructure to extract it. They dig the hole, build the accommodation, and get almost all the permits. Then they try to build a road to the port. The road would go through the President’s friend’s hobby farm. Permission is denied. No alternative is found and the plan is Read More
You can’t time the market. But as to reacting to what’s just happened – that requires no crystal ball. I can’t tell you what will happen tomorrow but ask me whatever you like about yesterday.
Proviso: I am not qualified, nor morally or temperamentally suited to offer financial advice. The following is purely my own opinion. Anyone who takes this advice will probably end up penniless and hawking their arse down St. Kilda.
So we all know the next big crash must be Read More
In an essay of Montaigne he discusses the three things that still make him happy during his advanced years of pain and declining health. These are: conversation with good friends, enjoying whatever intimacy he can still manage with his ladies or the fond memories thereof, and spending time reading and pacing about his library.
Is it not fine to reach an age when one finally knows what one wants to do? So many people do not reflect on this foundational truth, instead mindlessly pursuing money, popularity, drunkenness, promotions, fame, a big house, or a sporting trophy, only to be disappointed once they get it.
Imagine for a moment that you had ample Read More
Fire away, for one week only.
Several countries block WordPress, this one included. Mind you, over here such measures are necessarily low tech. Bumfuckistan only manages to block sites that actually have ‘wordpress’ in the URL so anyone who has bothered to splash some cash for his own web address sails through freely as water through a net.
However, this block works far more effectively here than the cleverer censorship conducted in China simply because Read More
Recently the government here decided that the precarious water situation was under control. City water had improved so much that they decided to ban private water truck deliveries. After all, that water is more expensive. It must be a scam. City water ought to be good enough for anyone.
My canny reader wonders, why on earth would residents pay extra for unnecessary water anyway? Do we really need a law against it? You might as well ban staring at the sun or poking broken glass up your urethra.
TIA, mate. This Is Africa. Some houses are supposed to be Read More
I was walking to the gym and saw two young, attractive white girls coming the other way. This is not an everyday occurrence. As I neared them they passed a begging mother with a couple of little children, and they gave the kids some chocolate.
The children were delighted and the mother was glowing, saying something to them like, aren’t you lucky? Those kind foreigners gave you some chocolate!
And those girls, obviously Read More
For some time I have puzzled that mothers and fathers here do not kick up much of a fuss about the enslavement of their children. Their only way out of national service is to get pregnant (not an option for all), to sneak across the border or to just get lucky with some sort of medical or family grounds for release, which is not easy.
I know a guy who was forced to Read More
Have you seen Little Miss Sunshine
There’s a scene where the grandpa is talking about drugs. He says that young people would be mad to do it, but old people would be mad not to. They’re going to Read More
So Trump may or may not have called African countries ‘shitholes’. It caused a bit of a stir over here in sunny Bumfuckistan. I happened to meet some US diplomatic staff at a pizza place shortly afterwards and I asked for their reaction.
“Well, it’s true, but it’s not helpful to say it,” was the most common response. I asked one fella what he’d say if directly confronted by local officials about it. This was the speech he had prepared: Read More
Regular readers will know I live in one of the worst countries in the world, I am being constantly slandered and undermined by a very well-connected personage, and that I’ve decided to stick it out for the remainder of my contract just for the bucks and the chance to escape the rat race altogether.
I have realized that the key to survival here, aside from staying fit and working on my projects, is not to Read More
Book review of The Antichrist
The Antichrist is Nietzsche’s last major work before he went totally bonkers and wrote no more. It is one of his shortest, strongest and most passionate books, and it has a single purpose: to destroy Christianity.
His main objection is that Read More
I am not good at making friends. The main reason for this is that I do not like many other people and I find I have little in common with the rest of the human race. Those friends I do have tend to be quite eccentric, tolerant people. The average person cannot put up with me for long, and I am also impatient with others.
It’s difficult to be friends with locals here. Their main topic of conversation is Read More
There’s recently been an increase in crime here.
This used to be one of the safest cities in Africa. Perhaps it still is. However, various factors are leading to the breakdown of old certainties. Let us first look at the nature of crime here, then examine underlying causes.
But wait – should we not first consider why this place was so orderly to begin with? Because that demands some explanation. This is Africa, after all. So let’s start there.
I am not a criminologist so I don’t really understand the details, but religion certainly plays a major role. The people here are about evenly split between Read More
A while ago Xi Jinping was effectively made President for Life. The Chinese Communist Party got rid of this institution after Mao died because he lasted long past his use-by date, but now it’s back. Because Xi Jinping knows better than everyone else what they should do, because he’s more specialer.
There were 2,958 in favour and two votes against.
Two.
From this we may conclude that Read More
At the last big Chinese Communist Party shindig Xi Jinping was appointed President for Life and gave a tremendously important speech. It was just what you’d expect – those naughty Taiwanese better behave themselves, I’ll crack down on corruption, China is awesome, all those other countries are stupid little girly countries who probably don’t even have system of writing yet, etc., etc.
Here’s the speech he should have given: Read More
A few years ago me and my mate were talking about conscription and we realized that we’re now too old to go to war. That glory and horror of mankind throughout history has somehow passed us by.
It could be that, as Pinker says
Whatever the case, we got off scott free. No one invaded Australia the whole time we were young and living there.
My grandfather fought in Papua New Guinea. My father was conscripted for Vietnam but Australia pulled out of the war before he had to go. The closest I came was Read More
Italy is chock-full of Italians.
One is not surprised to find Japan full of Japanese, Russia full of Russians, or India full of Indians. One notes with interest the small minorities that do exist there and then one moves on.
Italy, however, is a Read More
Socialism is a bit like an egg falling from the Tower of Pisa. The academics and politicians and Guardian writers who pontificate about how wonderful it is, and how much kinder than capitalism, and how logically sound, are like the clear, fragrant air it sails through safely during its long descent. Reality is the ground.
Take its latest incarnation, the Read More
Men plan, and God laughs.
I’ve abandoned two of my goals as no longer suiting my present or future needs. These are (a) travel and adventure, and (b) learning a language.
All of a sudden – and this happened almost overnight – I’d completely had enough of travel. I no longer want to explore new places or discover exotic cultures. A lot those places are smelly and fly-ridden, and so are the cultures. After eleven years overseas I’ve just had enough.
I don’t want to return to Australia. I just want to find a nice, comfortable place (by my low standards) and settle down there. Get into a routine. Focus on my other goals like Read More
