The House(s) of Fran_mart

 Each year in Canberra there is an exhibition of the best political cartoons of the previous 12 months.  In 2020 that was held at the Museum of Australian Democracy (aka Old Parliament House) in Barton.  Frances and I took ourselves over there on 27 November.  Here are my favourites. This one appealed because it so follows a friend's comment in a job interview.  At the time developing a Corporate Plan was a hobby horse of the executive so my friend was able to expound at length at how he would go about developing one, and its content.  Smiles all round.  Then he was asked "What would you do with it?"  He coldn't help himself and said "Use it to block open my office door."  He didn't get the job. A feature of the exhibition was the low representation of Peter Dutton (aka Adolf Kipfler).  I can only think of one actual depiction of him and this one of the foul organisation he runs. Sort of links with the first above. First Dog on the Moon ...

You will be aware of the fiasco when the Trump campaign mis-booked the 4 Seasons Garden Centre (between a funeral parlour and a sex toy shop) instead of the 4 Seasons Hotel.  I have a great wonder why they actually went ahead with the Presser  when they realised the mistake but perhaps Giuliani is so demented these days he didn't notice. However proving that not even 4 years of The Trespasser can completely kill Yankee ingenuity a number of very funny t-shirts have appeared.  I hope the Garden Centre is making some coin out of this use of their name.  Here are some examples. In this one the words under the crossed rakes give details of the neighbouring enterprises! I love the Mob suggestion in this. This is possibly my favourite with "Make America Rake Again".

I have consulted a member of the Committee and cleared narrating matters relating to an official joke. Back in the day when I could run 20 miles rather than 20 metres I would wear a kepi when running in Summer since even starting at 6am it was still pretty warm running up Bindubi St about 9am.  This led to remarks about Beau Geste being entered in the List of Official Jokes. There was some problem with working out which of the thespians whole have filled this role was most like me: Garry Cooper ( 1939 ) or Marty Feldman ( 1966 ).  It was also thought that Gregory Peck filled the role but that isn't listed in IMDB filmography for Mr Peck.  However it did lead to me ringing another member of the running group (at his mum's house in Adelaide) and leaving a message asking that he ring Garry, Gregory or Marty.  His mum said to him "Some strange man rang you.  He didn't know his own name." What leads to these thoughts about the Foreign Legion?  The sandbar ...

An American friend who does some artistic work in her retirement has posted a thought on her blog . This design caused my mind to go back about 40 years and some sketches we  (a bunch of lowly public servants) made to illustrate some thought processes of the high priced help in our organisation. The first of these models was a series of fences with gaps in. The eye, representing the young workers was trying to get a glimpse of the bosses' objective, which some may think of as an ivory tower.  Do not be fooled by the clear line of sight depicted!   Just when you thought you knew what you were doing the castle would shift slightly, as indicated by the arrows, and disappear from view. The second example was the spiral ditch. The gold star objective is clearly visible at all times but it not possible to go directly there.  (Did I mention the flying piranhas in the ditches?)  Plod on following due process and eventually you'll get there.  We fo...

This is not another book review although the subject does suggest references to the work of Roger Hargreaves  (Mr Grumpy)... .. and Hans Christian Anderson (The Kings New Clothes). That is actually a farmer celebrating getting some rain! What this is actually going to be covering is the topic of Taxonomy and particularly the use of DNA sequencing in that Dark Art.  The reason I am writing this is because a number of people whose knowledge and views I respect have a rather different perspective on these topics to me, and it behooves me to try and get my ideas straightened out.  Trying to write about them is a good way of doing that. The view of others is that DNA sequencing enables researchers to examine more clearly how the process of mutation has led to new species developing and the relationships between species.  The value of that knowledge isn't questioned. In some cases these studies are based upon an assumption that mutation rates are constant ...

A friend recently commented on Facebook: My partner and my sister have remarkably similar taste in birthday cards!! One (card!) was bought in Whyalla, the other in Coffs Harbour. What are the odds ?! He helpfully included an image of the two identical cards. In various works by Sir Terry Pratchett, set in the Discworld Universe,  he mentions that the problem with million to one shots is that they always happen.  One book - sorry, can't find the exact reference - a bunch of wizards are trying to set something up so that the odds of it happening are exactly 1,000,000:1.  They keep getting close (eg 999,995:1 or 1,000,005:1) so say things like "Put it in a purple sweater and orange tie."  Eventually they get the million to one ratio and the problem is solved So my first guess is the odds are 1,000,000 to 1. I then tried some slightly more rational approaches. The first of these started by looking through Google, for spots in Whyalla that sold birthday cards....

Possibly stupidity is not an uncommon visitor to this blog, but this afternoon's sample was a doozy.  But that was then, and after looking at a still and cold dam ... ... the day started with an early and short dog walk before heading off to Forster for a morning getting closer to some cetaceans. So we got there well before sailing time only to find the ship is booked out,  Whale oil beef hooked!  So we booked for tomorrow's expedition and headed back to Pacific Palms for a walk we had done on a previous visit.  En route we were pleased to see the Osprey sunning itself on a power pole close. We then swung into Elizabeth Bay and the start of the Booti Booti Hill track within the Booti Booti National Park. It was pretty uphill with a fair few steps and a lot of palms.  After about 500m we found these large sacks of gravel beside the track.  This caused a brief pause - not that we were puffed or anything and needed a pause - to contemplate why th...