I can't remember if I have posted this before; I certainly posted something similar. This expresses my view on the subject of nulear power.

https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2023/03/Allison-nuclear-future.pdf

The truth about sea ice:-

https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2021/12/Bates-Sea-Ice-Trends.pdf?mc_cid=7a3485fd02&mc_eid=ebc212b1a5

Mailman,

I stand in the presence of a mind like yours

One other thing I suspect is misreported overseas is the 1967 referendum. The general impression seems to be that that was when the Aborigines got the vote. In truth, they were entitled to vote before any women were in most of the pre-federation (pre-1901) colonies. The '67 referendum was just whether Aborigines were to be counted in the Australian census. Daft that they weren't, so no surprise that it was passed easily.

Latest EconTalk spent the whole time talking about a very simple idea: ergodicity. It fits well with my "N = 1" mantra. His definition for something to be ergodic is that ithere is no difference between one person doing the thing 100 times, and 100 people doing it once. The typical coin toss or dice roll is ergodic. Russian roulette is non-ergodic (the one person ends up dead after a few goes vs. 16 or so out of the 100 ending up dead after they all spin and shoot). Cake baking is non-ergodic (the one improves with practice vs. 100 first attempts).

It reminds me of the COVID debates where a vaccine needs to be far safer than a treatment because it's going to be given to all the well people with everything to lose. The treatment is only being used on people who are already sick.

Anyhow, nice to have a word for the concept, albeit not the sort of word that trips off the tongue.

Robert,

I stand in the presence of a mind like yours (insert heart symbol).

Mailman,

I sympathise with the Aborigines too, but not so much for what was done in the past as for what is being done to them right now. The suffering today is real enough, and far greater than it was (say) 40 years ago.

There's a pattern to be seen in various documentaries. They will show the nightly chaos, the vandalism, etc. They'll interview the people involved, usually in their 20s or 30s, vigorous, but they express themselves poorly, in broken english, if they can manage to collect their thoughts at all. In the same show they'll interview those people's parents, looking after the grandchildren because there's nobody else. Those grandparents are articulate, with perfect grammar but are shattered at how badly their own children are wasting their lives and of course they despair for the grandchildren.

Why are more recent generations going backwards? I don't know, but there has been a shift in ideals. Before multiculturalism, integration was the key. Aborigines got the same education as everybody else (often in "evil" church missions). That's why the grandparents are so well spoken. Nowadays the view is that integration -> assimilation -> annihilation. Seems to me that the hands-off approach really is leading to anihilation.

This suits the grievance industry very well. There's good money to be made by pointing to the unending plight of the people in the outback and standing in front of the cameras as a kind of proxy. A recent comment at Jo Nova's pointed to one of the more ridiculous ones (if blackface is ok for him, why not for Trudeau).

Ultimately I think blame rests with our cynical government. I remember hearing the headlines about some huge amount of aid we were "sending" to Papua/New Guinea (this was about 25 years ago). When you lifted the covers it turned out that nearly all that money was going to go to Australian "consultants" who'd "advise" on how best to deploy the money. IOW it was just a money laundering scheme masquerading as generous foreign aid. I have every reason to believe exactly the same thing is happening under the Aboriginal welfare banner.

If it's any consolation, I think the Aborigines are just the trailblazers for the rest of us. The more people who depend on the government, the better our western governments like it and "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" aren't far from the make-believe sensitivity of multiculturalism.

The referendum for the aboriginal "Voice" to parliament is a genius move in marketing. I mean, who could possibly be against the Aborigines having a voice in parliament? But of course they already have a voice in parliament in the person of their electorate's MP. That's the way a democracy works isn't it? In any case, just how you distill a single voice from the multitude of views of Aborigines is a bit of a trick. As tomo suggests, it'll probably work out as a patronising "Never you mind, we'll tell you who your Voice representative is".

In the past there have been public bodies representing aboriginal interests. ATSIC was the most recent, and they decided how to disburse government money to projects for aboriginal development. It turned into a farce where a lot of money was ending up in the pockets of the ATSIC commissioners. John Howard disbanded ATSIC for that reason.

By going to a referendum, the "Voice" would become enshrined so that, no matter how corrupt it becomes, no government can disband it (without another referendum).

I'm hopeful that a majority of Australians see the many problems with the whole idea, but I also see how it's going to be reported overseas: I mean, who could possibly be against the Aborigines having a voice in parliament? Thus confirming Australia as a racist nation.

tomo,

Not surprised you've been across the Feynman works; seemed worth mentioning just in case.

QED might do with a re-read. He does go into time a little — I remember boggling at the idea that a positron was simply an electron going backwards in time, which stayed with me, even if it didn't help my understanding — but the bigger focus was on the "little arrows" used to form Feynman Diagrams, and that adding these arrows (usual vector addition) told you the intensity of that wavelength of light at that point. It was fantastic that this explained weird things like mirages and diffraction while continuing to hold the old incidence == reflection rule. Changed the way I thought about light for a while. Should re-read it myself.

On those who knew fine well, I am at a loss what I can do about them. I do believe they exist, but I also don't think they'd have got so far if it weren't for the people who didn't have a clue. They seem far easier to deal with. Dare we hope, for example, that nobody will ever again listen to Neil Ferguson. Surely by now his incompetence is plain for all to see.

tomo; "Calum Douglas again"
thanks again for flagging up Calum Douglas and his book a year or two back - quite the most interesting and informative book I have read on WWII aviation.

Robert,

I feel sorry for the Abbo's as they are one of the few peoples on this planet who really have had it rough (not pretend rough like them Blacks in America who identify as a victim of make pretend oppression).

I do think Australians owe a debt to the abbos because of what has gone on and the fact that because of that past it is having a very real impact on their present.

Having said that, there are some very, VERY successful abbos (like that activist politician chick and a large number of business people and sports people) but just like everywhere else no one asks them how come they are such a success while everyone else is still a victim of real oppression. I suspect, just like everywhere else, the reason no one asks that question is the answer is a solution to the never ending victimhood of the narcissistic left. And as we have come to know, baby there is some very serious money and power in being a perpetual victim fighter (note I said FIGHTER as in someone who's career depends on made up racism).