HAVE YOU GOT YOUR MOTOR RUNNING?

 

I watched Easy Rider last night on Netflix. It has stood up pretty well for a low budget 'indie' film that's now 55 + years old.

I first saw this when I was young - either in 1970 when I was in the 7th form at college or 1971 at first year of university. I might be wrong but I don't think it was screened in New Zealand of the year it was released in USA - 1969.

I remember it as being pivotal - unsettling really. Apart from the scenes of delicious hippie women 'practising' free love the message coming through was about breaking free of restrictions and 'heading off onto the highway'. and hit a spot (see Richard's Bass Bag for an unsatisfactory explanation of that term ... hey! I''m feeling generous, here's a link: HITTING SOMETHING).

Yes, I know, most of it was fatuous and idealistic fantasy, sugar-coating the hippie movement and counter (drug) culture movement that was anything but free, progressive and beautiful but .... I was in my late teens OK?

I had no and still don't have any affinity with drug-dealing bikies or anyone making money from the misery of others. I certainly don't have any affinity with narrow-minded, red-necked arseholes like the ones who murdered the 'Easy Riders' in the film but ... I did then and still did, last night, appreciate the exchange between the Jack Nicholson (George) character and The Dennis Hopper character (Billy) after they had had a confrontation in a cafe.

At a campsite, out of town, they talked about how the locals (including the cops) threatened them and made them leave town. George banged on about how USA used to be a great country. Billy agreed and told George about how he and the Peter Fonda character (Wyatt) were refused a room at a crappy motel because of  how they looked*.  Here's a transcript of their following dialogue:

George: “Oh, they’re not scared of you. They’re scared of what you represent to ‘em.”

Billy: “Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody needs a haircut.”

George: “Oh no. What you represent to them is freedom.”

Billy: “What the hell’s wrong with freedom, man? That’s what it’s all about.”

George: “Oh yeah, that’s right, that’s what it’s all about, all right. But talkin’ about it and bein’ it – that’s two different things. I mean, it’s real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. ‘Course, don’t ever tell anybody that they’re not free ‘cause then they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they are. Oh yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare ‘em.”

Billy: “Mmmm, well, that don’t make ‘em runnin’ scared.”

George: “No, it makes ‘em dangerous.”

Man (sorry about the hippie vernacular)! That is just as relevant today as it was 55 years ago. As you many (well, two) readers know I've been following the American political scene for the last nine years and reported through my blog posts of how there has been a disturbing rise of right-wing, almost fascist thinking that has been both stimulated and supported by the Donald Trump-led Republican party. This is dangerous not only to the (maybe deserving) Americanas but to everyone on our planet.

Think about it. The usually unseen supporters of the Trump movement are stupid aspirationalists who only pick up on the buzz words he says in his speeches like: no gun control; drain the swamp; no abortions; freedom; jobs for everyone in coal, oil and cars; Jesus loves us; I love you ... you know the rest. They have latched onto Trump's slogan of Make America Great Again (and are too ignorant to know that both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both used that slogan in their electioneering) and wear red hats stating this. They are known as MAGA idiots who complain that they don't have the freedom they remember when they were younger. They are as deluded as the red-neck murderers in the film.

* When we attended the Whanganui (back then is was Wanganui) folk festival in the early 1970s a group of us drove into Raetahi for a meal and a beer. When we went into the local pub the red-neck-type locals stared at us young, long-haired students as if we were from out of space. Richard hadn't even become a Wainuiomartian then). It was like the diner scene in the film. We felt uneasy and left after one beer.

WHAT IS THIS GUY SAYING?

 

Church usher

"Sorry Jesus, I told you before: no sandals allowed".

"Mary, please leave your donkey outside."

" Sorry big bro - we only allow church organ playing at services. Take that whatchamacallit away."

" Peter, this isn't BYO. You can't bring those communion hosts in here."

Uninvited guest at wedding.

"I have a right to be here. I have to check the toilets to make sure no LGBQT people are in there."

"Jesus invited me and asked me to bring in several big jars of water."

A random guy at church

"I don't care if this is the suit you buried your father in - I bought it fair and square at the Op shop."

"You talkin' to me? Well, are you punk .... oh, sorry Saint Joseph - carry on."

That old uncle who turns up to family dos for a free feed

"Now when I was a lad I used to have to walk to school ... for miles. You young kids don't know how good you have it."

"OK, I won't tell your dad as long as you give me a puff."

STUDY TIME'S OVER ...

 ... back to the lounge.

The Old Girl's back and won't be going away again until July - to Christchurch this time for a couple of months - so will be converting my study to her office. I'll have to set up the laptop computer in the lounge again with its accompanying cords, wires and accessories.

I'll set the 'studio' up soon. The main item is the PGX-V800 Yoiks 24 channel nebuliser which is packed with functions like the API Bias botnet which almost burst out of the casing made of DNS edge computing gazerdroid LAN coating. I don't have a XBS transmoidal receiver so will have to use the rh50 Kawasaki keyboard that has a built-in Delilah L1500 microphone and transponder. This is better though than the Microsoft Azure UNIX (not UAC) which puts out 2 billion bittles of thermadata. For printing I have my trusty RPG 3000 that has a whopping 299.35 ploximotious output - impressive when printing out crosswords and wordgames although I did read that the Sister BGHA 9000 performs better but runs on rechargeable batteries - the SSX 105 series. Never mind, I'll make do.

Fear not, blogging will continue as long as there aren't any unforseen problems.

 

SATURDAY AND ALL'S WELL

 It's Saturday afternoon and has been a nice day. I like these winter days where there is blue sky and sunshine but the hint of a chill which becomes real as the sun drops. It reminds me of our time in Christchurch.

I'm going to burn up all the wood in the woodshed this winter so that I can convert it into a toolshed - outdoor garden tools that is.

I should have got a load of wood out today and set a fire in the wood-burner but had to go to the airport to pick up The Old Girl. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow. It may be of course that I'm thinking this because it's cool in the study:

Sorry, wrong context ...

... the study faces to the East so is the coolest room in the late afternoon.

It's all quiet on the blogging front today with only Richard and me writing posts. Maybe Robert is at church. He recently discovered my 'old' church - Saint Mary of the Angels in Boulcott Street where I was christened, attended weekly Mass (as a baby) when we lived in Taranaki Street (for the first time in the 1950s) and attended many family weddings, christenings and funeral services over the years. Even though I'm an atheist I like this church as it sums up for me everything that churches or church buildings should be and have: places of refuge; places of beauty; imposing architecture; some mystery about them. Modern Catholic churches don't do it for me.

You probably want to know - I've pre-prepared dinner - one of The Old Girl's favourites - stuffed potatoes. These are filled with bacon (chicken bacon), spring onion, garlic, tasty cheese, spinach and various condiments - soy sauce, Worcester sauce, chilli sauce, cracked pepper and some herbs. Before cooking/grilling in the oven I'll top with Parmesan cheese. Yummy! I'm sipping a Hawkes Bay chardonnay (Esk Valley) and might open a McDonald's pinot noir later. The Old Girl is drinking a gin and tonic made from The  Botanist gin and East Imperial Burma tonic I had delivered last week for her.

How's your Saturday going?

GUILT

Some unkind readers - you know who you are - will likely disparage my use of video clips in this post saying that they are a filler or that I'm banging on as per usual on something that I'm unqualified for . Well, I say to them:

"Vrlo grubo vrijeđanje"

And I don't feel guilty for saying it. 

"Why 'guilt'?" you might ask. Well, it's a glorious morning and I know that I should be out walking or doing some outside activities but instead I'm just lazing about, inside, in the warm.

What's that about? Is it Catholic Guilt?

Catholic guilt is the reported excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics. Guilt is remorse for having committed some offence or wrong, real or imagined.

Whatever. I've put a load of washing in the machine and will hang that out soon to help assuage that guilt.

That's all. Carry on. Why are you hanging around? Oh ... the videos. Sorry, here they are:

Yes, I know that there are a lot of others but these two I really like.

 

STARFUCKER

 

My 'Making It Big Time' post was well received having two comments so far which demonstrates the following that this blog has.

Half of the commentators said this:

"Damn TC! You are a star!"

Which is a good observation. Discerning readers like that need to be encouraged.

Rob's blog though has not yet delivered the promised certificate commemorating my guest star appearance in the first recording session in his new recording studio - perhaps it was lost in the mail.  Never mind, I have this one that will fill the gap on the study wall (it doesn't become The Old Girl's office until she returns from Auckland tomorrow).

I think that it's nice and understated and very much 'on point'.

MAKING THE BIG TIME

  You probably haven't noticed but yours truly was interviewed by Rob in the first recording session in his new recording studio. I got to sit in the special chair:

I felt chuffed at being given the special chair until Rob said that it squeaks so he has to use his drum stool when recording. I was wondering why he was perched on a strange contraption:

It looked a bit 'orthopaedic' to me and I didn't want to ask in case he had piles or something. I sat still though and made no squeaks except for the usual.

You can read about the interview here ...

GUEST STARRING

... but if short of time or unwilling to go to Robert's blog Rob I understand so here are some excerpted highlights:

Host: Today on my first recording session I have a special guest.

Hey there, Peter! The Curmudgeon himself! Welcome to our podcast, my friend!


[Peter's theme music plays, a playful and cheeky riff]


Host: So, Peter, I heard you've been serving up some aces on the tennis court lately. How's your backhand looking?


Peter: [laughs] Ah, it's still a work in progress, but I'm getting there! And don't even get me started on my golf game... I wasted so much time looking for balls in the past...


Host: [chuckles] Well, we'll keep practicing, my friend! I know you're an atheist, and I've got to ask: what do you think is the most compelling argument for or against the existence of God?


Peter: [thoughtfully] Ah, that's a tough one. I think the problem of evil is a pretty strong argument against the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing deity. But, at the same time, I think the complexity and beauty of the universe are pretty amazing – even if I don't think it needs a divine explanation.


Host: That's really insightful, Peter. And I love how you approach these big questions with a curious and open mind. You're a true critical thinker, my friend!


Peter: [laughs] Thanks, mate! I try my best to be a skeptical and curious curmudgeon!


[Outro music plays, another friendly and upbeat tune]


Host: Well, that's all the time we have for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in to our conversation with the one and only Peter, the Curmudgeon! If you want to hear more from Peter, check out his blog, where he shares his thoughts on everything from tennis to theology.

Actually that was the entire post of the interview but, be fair, he's just starting out on this interview thingy having been inspired by The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ interview series.

 The interview, as you can see was a success and I'm proud and a little bit humble to have been selected to raise Rob's status in blog-world. I was particularly pleased when Robert aka Rob said this:

"That's really insightful, Peter. And I love how you approach these big questions with a curious and open mind. You're a true critical thinker, my friend!"

Being a Christian, and a Catholic to boot (no jokes please) I Know that he was being sincere whereas if it had been Richard  from 'A Bass Bag' I would have been a bit cynical.

All up it was a pleasant experience. The only niggle that I feel I should mention is that since becoming a teetotaller, the hospitality at Rob's studio left a lot to be desired. Being the first recording session I was expecting Champagne as celebration - even a chardonnay but no, not even a beer. Quite frankly the dodgy-looking glass of kale kombucha didn't cut it. The bubble of kombucha has burst now (not that there were any bubbles in the damned thing) so it's time to move on.

I'm awaiting my certificate (I can frame it myself using those framing skills I have as you'd expect from your Renaissance-type Curmudgeon) and assume that there will be a plaque installed on-site to mark the occasion.

SETTING UP ....

... or, upsetting. 

Look, I'm not wanting to be critical here - you know me, I like to be helpful and The Curmudgeons Inc.ⓒ takes pride in its reputation for setting standards in blogging, promulgation of useful information and, dare I say it, bringing both education and entertainment to the blogging community, but I have noticed that the structural qualities of the 'rival' blog posts in the community are not as robust as we would like and, at worst are downright dangerous.

The inherent deficiencies are often obfuscated by nauseating back-slapping in the case of their own blog posts or pedantic nit-picking of other's blog posts.

Here's  a little bit of nonsense that has some relevance to that:

And here's a funny take on laziness in film-making which could just as well apply to laziness in blog posting:

"So why would I say that ?" might ask Robert wearing his Socratic hat.

It has been evident recently that some boogers bloggers don't put in enough effort in writing their posts. They might have had an idea in mind at the beginning but, after writing the post heading they drift off or pad out the post with meaningless cut and pasted script. If you don't believe me have a look at this: HERE

Not convinced? OK, try this: THERE

Q.E.D.

IT'S MONDAY TODAY*

 *That title is for the benefit of the newly retired old bloggers who read my post. They no doubt need to be reminded of the time, the days of the week, the year, who's in government and to change their underwear.

It's been a great day up here. I played golf this morning on the way back from the airport. I'll surprise The Old Girl when I talk on FaceTime with her this evening (she's off again for a week in Auckland) by telling her that while I lost two golfballs I didn't agonise over this so didn't go fossicking down banks and in the creeks to find more. I had a sort of epiphany (no doubt that got Robert's attention) and have decided to use up all of the golfballs I have (hundreds of them) before looking for more.

With The Old Girl away (again) I can listen to National Radio all day, make a bit of a mess (but I did have a bath and changed my underwear), eat what I probably shouldn't and I opened a bottle of pinot noir this afternoon (3PM) and had a glass. Yummy.

This was a bit earlier than I usually imbibe but I convinced myself that the beef chow mein I'm cooking for dinner needs a smidgeon of wine in the sauce -  Beef Chow Mein

I chose the Terra Sancta 'Mysterious Diggings' 2022 Pinot Noir which The Wine Guy has spoken of before. See: HERE

I'm fairly confident that this post will be the most interesting today, having checked out the other bloggers to find that Richard has just written two posts that consist of just listing my various blogs and Robert - well, you know.

THERE'S NONE SO BLIND ...

 .... as those who will not see.

Robert is becoming an arrogant christian again.

Why are christians arrogant?

I checked the internet to see if I was the only one who thought that and surprise! I'm not.

Here a a couple of opinions from others:

So I guess that solves that and answers my question.

**************

The above of course is an example of irony where the arrogant christian attitude of know-it-allness is reflected in a generalised question and 'arrogant' answers.

"What got me on to this?" you might ask. Well, I'll tell you.

On the last Religious Curmudgeon's post Robert raised the topic of parables:

And you can see that it didn't take him long to go to his arrogant christian default sett to say:

"Do you know of any parables that weren't devised by Jesus of Nazareth?"

This isn't an isolated occurrence as Robert often makes sweeping statements of appropriation by christianity and the Catholic Church in particular where he claims that God, Jesus or his Church created morality, ethics, conscience, goodness, love, contrition, belief, trust, faith - basically anything good that mankind has developed an awareness of - naturally- over time. What next? I guess he'll claim that Jesus created Christmas trees!

It took me about 10 seconds to do an internet search to answer Robert's question:

"Do you know of any parables that weren't devised by Jesus of Nazareth?"

It's a wonder that Robert's god(s) don't destroy the internet like they purportedly did to the Tower of Babel.

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON WHO STARTED A JOKE.

 

I STARTED A JOKE ...

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

BATHE YOUR PIGS

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

FRIDAY

I had the car's annual service done today. It passed and has a new Warrant of Fitness and has had its bits adjusted and all of its fluids topped up.

They gave me a courtesy car to play with while the work was being done.It was a 2003 Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

It was a neat little car - quite zippy with a 1500cc motor and, as a hybrid has two motors -  a 1.5 L petrol motor with a maximum output of 55 kilowatts (74 hp) and a 45-kilowatt (60 hp) electric motor.

It was the first time that I've driven a hybrid car and it took a bit of getting used to the motor sounds. The car, on startup, uses the electric motor which is soundless to the point that, until you press the accelerator it doesn't appear to be running. As the car picks up speed the petrol motor kicks in. This alternates with the electric motor taking over at slow speeds or going downhill and the petrol one at higher speeds and going uphill. When a burst of acceleration is needed then pressing hard on the accelerator activates both  motors at once giving it a boost of power that reminded me of the turbo charge in the Rover 620 Ti we once owned. It was a lot of fun but all too soon (3 hours) I got a call from the Toyota service department informing me that my car was ready.

I've mentioned before that we are considering a Toyota hybrid for our next vehicle and this 'terst drive' has reinforced that. I'll need something larger than the Yaris though as I like to put the back seats down to transport a lot of stuff so will likely look at a Corolla Hybrid or teh Corolla Cross.

It's a cracker day here today with blue skies and lots of sunshine but, in deference to the rest of the country where people are freezing their arses off, this morning it was 12 degrees and now, in mid afternoon it is only 17 degrees. I drove to the port area and had a nice long walk around looking at the boats in the marinas and those being repaired on raised platforms. Whangarei has a thriving boat repair business going, sevicing both private and government and navy vessels including those from overseas. While it was nice walking in sunshine there was an icy breeze which was freezing. I was glad I had my jacket.

NEW POST - THE RELIGIOUS CURMUDGEON

 

THE LEVITATING SAINT

HERE'S A NEW WORD I INVENTED - 'PLAGIARISM'

We have some very good plagiarists in New Zealand who regularly plagiarise at world class level and are among the top names in their respective copy and pasting without acknowledgement fields.

First to mind of course are our religious bloggers who are well practised in the promulgation of Vatican propaganda preferring to blindly redistribute the stuff without thorough reading or corrective editing.  The religious bloggers frequently change their publishing name in an attempt to hide and to suggest freshness of material. They also get honourable mentions for their narrow-minded, reactionary and politically naive analyses of local and geopolitical issues and manage to produce a disturbingly high pile volume of this. It's not bad for a small country with a low population and middle of the road attitudes.

I was interested to hear on RNZ National news about Ivor Storiforu, a top-ranked religious plagiarist and violinist who, having fallen on hard times has taken to plagiarising the blog posts of Robert the cacographic christian and violinist who in turn plagiarises Trent Horn (not sure if he is also a violinist) who has been outed for claiming that he wrote various New Testament letters including Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude... actually, that's all of them. The Catholic Church in New Zealand (Te Hāhi Katorika ki Aotearoa) lodged a complaint with the Vatican and Cardinal J. Archie Jew discussed this with the RNZ reporter who unfortunately went off at a tangent and wanted to discuss Jew's name and the allegations against him.

Speaking of going off at a tangent here are some graphs and tables that Robert could use:

The rise of AI generated text via ChatGPT and those AI programmes that Robert uses will only exacerbate this situation. With Robert I don't mind as long as he combines his AI programme with some grammar and spell-check programmes.

PLAYING THE GAME

We have some very good sportspeople in New Zealand who regularly compete at world class level and are among the top names in their respective sports.

First to mind of course are our rugby players, cricketers netballers, hockey players, rowers, middle distance runners and sailors but 'we' also get awards or honourable mentions in golf, tennis, basketball, skiing, motor racing and a host of other sports. It's not bad for a small country with a low population and tiny sporting budgets.

I was interested to hear on RNZ National news about Lulu Sun, the Swiss tennis star who has switched national allegiance and will represent New Zealand, to immediately become our top-ranked player. She is ranked at a career-high 151. Sun was born in New Zealand (Te Anau)  before leaving for Switzerland as a young child.  

The International Tennis Federation approved the change of citizenship and representation and Sun played in the New Zealand Billie Jean King Cup team for the Asia/Oceania Group One event in China in April. Sun also has claimed the biggest title of her career, winning the $US100,000 World Tennis Tour tournament in Bonita Springs, Florida this month.

I mentioned that New Zealand has a low population . If you don't believe me then here are the latest statistics:

The unkind readers of this blog may notice that The Curmudgeon is older than the median age of the population - by a couple of years.

With a small population and a land mass the size of the United Kingdom, the density of population as measured by the World Bank is shown here:

If that's not clear, here's a graph to explain it (I know that you like graphs):

The USA bless 'em (as, if those idiots sneeze we all get a cold) has for decades 'stolen' the best athletes and potential athletes and sportspeople from around the world with 'study grants', 'scholarships' and guarantees of citizenship to further their international prowess. Shame on them. In addition to this the level of sports grants, professional training and sheer promotional and advertising benefit has enabled USA sporting teams and individual athletes and performers to 'punch above their weight'. While it was no doubt a post WW2 'Cold War' necessity it, nowadays is a bit of a joke and threatens to undermine the Olympics. 

New Zealand and other small countries need to level this playing field. Playing under the flags of lesser countries shouldn't compromise sports people's chances unless there is a serious lack of overseas sponsorship. It hasn't hurt Lydia Ko,  Kane Williamson, Israel Adesanya, Chris Wood, Steven Adams, Scott Dixon, Zoi Sadowski and many others.

New Zealand needs to welcome returnees like Lulu Sun and look to ease the path to citizenship for others who wish to make a home here (at first a base) to bring up their families.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

 

I had the house cleaned the other day. The cleaner did an excellent job and it's so nice being in a sparkling clean house but ... should I stay or should I go?

The Old Girl arrives home on Tuesday and it'll be nice for her to come home to a clean and tidy house. The trouble is that I'm worried that over the next three days I might make a real mess of it again. I find myself grabbing a cloth and immediately wiping up ever mark I've made on surfaces or sweeping up every little dropped thing.

I've actually contemplated moving to my sister's holiday house a couple of bays away in the interim so as to leave our house unsullied. I don't think that there will be broadband internet there though so I feel that I owe it to the blog readers to stay so that I can post. I'll stay.

I've had a nice Saturday so far with a long walk in the morning and a bit of gardening. I also tidied up the basement. I intended to find things in there to add to the trailer load of garden cuttings that I intend taking to the tip this coming week but couldn't actually find anything I wanted to throw away so I just moved things around a bit.

I'm enjoying a glass of a Hawke's Bay chardonnay after pre-preparing schnitzel and roast potatoes for dinner. I'll have these with sautéed broccoli and sliced almonds. I'm looking forward to a glass of Church Road Reserve Central Otago pinot noir to go with this.

It's a pity that Robert, in his newly-formatted blog no longer tells us what he's having for dinner. Maybe you have to subscribe  to a 'fans only'- like site to find out.

LET ME IN *

* On second thoughts, don't bother.

I was reminded of this today ...

... when I went to Robert's blog and it wouldn't let me in:

Oh well - his loss.

 

I THINK THAT THIS IS ROGER

 This thread was on Neighbourly this morning.

It's a bit hard to make out but I think it's Roger. He drives a red vehicle like this and his behaviour, as described in some of the comments is just like him.

If Roger is at tennis next Tuesday I'll mention to him that, as the Whangarei Heads residents aren't impressed with him he might find more favour down in Wainuiomartianland where bloggers condone his behaviour.

ROGER AND OUT*

* I wish he was.

That idiot Roger turned up to tennis again today (he wasn't there on Tuesday).

I didn't argue with him - I just ignored him. 

It was amusing to see that he was annoying others there. I smiled to myself the way that Robert does.

What is it with people whose names start with an 'R'? Roger. Richard. Robert. Rumpelstiltskin. 

Roger the idiot wasn't drinking beer this morning but he did park his ute outside the courts and left his music (crappy pop music - Richard would have loved it) playing very loudly.

I didn't argue with him - I just ignored him. 

After tennis I went home but some of the others went to the local cafe as they sometimes do after tennis. Roger joined them and ... parked his ute outside the cafe and left his music blaring. He apparently made a fool of himself which, to be honest is pretty easy for him to do. One of the members rang me later to tell me about it.

I didn't argue with him - I wasn't there.