A Place for Old People

Our society is 'Yoof' oriented and seems not to like very much the very young and the very old, and to make matters worse we are an 'aging' society.  While people are living longer by far compared to just a century ago, we are intent on reducing the numbers of babies wherever we can. This will make us on average even older as the next few decades pass. And we are only just grasping the nettle.

In Oz the Knights of the Southern Cross, of which I am one, virtually pioneered aged care back in the middle of the century and we were followed by several other organisations and even Government in providing facilities. Today we are the third largest provider in the nation. Homes and nursing homes are found everywhere today thanks to those efforts.

But there is still the matter of Dignity. Especially for those whose minds have followed their bodies into severe decline.

Chances are that even a chap of my fortitude and constitution will one day forget that I was a King and a Knight who rode steel steeds; that I fought  enemies and cured the sick of heart and mind. Even I can see that not all who wore armour died young and good. Some of us soldiered on; perhaps to have time to get our sins forgiven. But some old soldiers were not only forgotten but forgot themselves.

So we try to take care of them.

A gentleman, Evan Porter, came by to show us what Jean Makesh is doing. Jean, a chap, is the CEO of a facility.

One man turned nursing home design on its head 

when he created this stunning facility.

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

 http://www.upworthy.com/one-man-turned-nursing-home-design-on-its-head-when-he-created-this-stunning-facility?c=ufb1

Jean Makesh, CEO of Lantern assisted living facilities, says he meets folks with stories like these every day. It's their stories that inspired him to make some changes at Lantern.

"I thought I knew a lot about elderly care. The more and more time I was spending with my clients, that's when I realized, 'Oh my god, I have no clue.'"

Confusion is common in Alzheimer's patients, but Makesh knew there had to be some way to minimize these conflicts.

A big believer in the idea that our environment has an enormous effect on us, he started thinking big — and way outside the box.

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building? What if I'm able to have the moon and stars come out? What if I build a unit that takes residents back to the '30s and '40s?"

And that was just the beginning. He also researched sound therapy. And aromatherapy. And carpet that looked like grass. No idea was off-limits.

What he came up with was a truly unique memory-care facility. And after testing the concept in Lantern's Madison, Ohio, facility, Makesh is opening two new locations this year.

Instead of rooms or units, each resident gets a "home" on a quiet little indoor street reminiscent of the neighborhoods many of them grew up in.

Instead of a boring panel ceiling, residents look up and see a digital sky, which grows dimmer late in the day to help keep their biological clocks in tune.

Throughout the day, nature sounds and fresh aromas like peppermint or citrus are piped in.

Some studies have shown that this kind of aromatherapy may indeed have some merits for improving cognitive functioning in Alzheimer's patients.

There's even a little "main street" where residents can gather.

For Makesh, this isn't just about making patients comfortable, though. He wants to change how we think about the endgame of severe dementia.

The insides of the rooms aren't too shabby, either.

Makesh said one of the frustrating shortcomings of most nursing facilities is that they create conflicts with unnatural environments and schedules, and they try to solve them by throwing antipsychotic and anti-anxiety medications at patients. In other words, when someone has severe dementia, we often give up on them. From there, they stop getting the engagement their brain needs to thrive.

Of course, we're a long way from a cure for Alzheimer's.

But Makesh's project shows that when we think strategically about altering the environment and focus on helping people relearn essential self-care and hygiene skills, the near-impossible becomes possible.

"In five years, we're going to [be able to] rehabilitate our clients where they can live independently in our environment," he said. "In 10 years, we're going to be able to send them back home."

He knows it's a lofty goal. And whether he'll meet it remains to be seen. But in the meantime, he's proud to own one of the few places that offers something pretty rare in cases of severe dementia: hope.

A very big difference from the usual nursing home corridors.   

He has permanent drinking rights in the Tavern.

Some things are easily forgotten. Like Birthdays for instance.

Today is Tasmania's 213th birthday, conveniently ignored by the Tasmanian Government and academics, who wish not to be politically-incorrect. On this day, 12th September 1803, a young 23 y.o. Lt. John Bowen RN came ashore at Risdon Cove with 48 other souls to found the first British settlement of Tasmania. 

23 years old. Leading a ship full of chaps in waters and lands previously unseen and uncharted. A fine and brave young chap. 

From those harsh and struggling roots, the beautiful State of Tasmania had its beginnings. 

Bowen's biography, "John Bowen and the Founding of Tasmania" recognise his contribution and if that is 'offensive' to a radical, minority group, though well funded by the tax-payer, then that is simply too bad.


Pax

11 September

The world changed and not for the better.

Vernacular... Mad.... means angry. Americal and other places didn't just get angry. 

They went mad.

Drink deep. The madness will be with us for a while.

Brexit - the Aftermath

Economists have been making hay this past few weeks since the people of Britain told the EU to shove it. The personal economy of various academic and business and government economists have been boosted by the media payments for appearances and articles. Most claim Britain is doomed. The sky is falling in.  Britain cannot survive without Angela Merkey and Francy Hollande. 

Hah ! Phooey, say I.

And those economists are not just in Great Britain - which is intent on getting its 'Great' back. The nay-sayers have been on the Jousting field with the smiley faces, trying hard to ruin the fun, but in fact causing laughs all round.

Not much comment from the customers in the UK Room though, so I had to ask. And while we here in the Tavern care little about Hilary's Village out there we do take a passing interest in our Anglophile neighbours wherever they are. The media of course lack both Hope and History. The moment is Now for them. A great nation that has stood for several thousand years is not - in the Tavern Keeper's 'Umble View - about to fall in a heap, wailing like a bereft maiden.

A peek at one of Britains oldest and lovliest cities might just cast some sense and light on the matter and young Chris Riches gave us some good-weather news.

Brexit-backing city sees consumer spending and tourist numbers BOOM after historic vote

A BREXIT-backing city today said their decision was justified - after their consumer spending and tourist numbers increased to record-levels after the vote.

The Roman-walled city of Chester provides the backdrop for the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks and in June voted to 'Leave' the European Union (EU).

 http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/707378/Chester-consumer-spending-tourist-numbers-Brexit-boom

It has already been claimed the vote to leave the EU has sparked a property-buying boom in London and recent UK retail sales figures show consumer confidence is up.

Now business leaders in Chester have said the weeks after the June 23rd Brexit vote have bizarrely been their best ever for visitors and spending.

Firms said rather than the doom-mongering claims that a 'Leave' vote would see the economy collapse overnight, they have all flourished.

Data compiled by independent retail analysts Springboard on behalf of business group CH1ChesterBID - the Business Improvement District representing over 500 Chester firms - said there was a sharp increase in city centre footfall during July, with visitor numbers up by 13 per cent this time last year to 1.8 million.

Chester said their rise in visitor numbers was firmly ahead of the rest of the UK, which saw a small average footfall increase of 0.3 per cent during the same month when compared to 2015.

Official figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also show sales across the UK were up by 1.1 per cent in July, compared with the same month in 2015, rising at their fastest pace since January.

Carl Critchlow, BID Manager at CH1ChesterBID, said the Brexit vote has appeared to have the opposite effect to what 'Remain' campaigners claimed.

Mr Critchlow said: "July's bumper footfall figures for Chester combined with the national spending data from the BRC are welcome news for our city centre economy.

"We enjoyed some sunny weather during July and that often contributes to increased footfall

"But we're delighted that the figures for Chester compare so well against other major city economies in the UK. 

We have seen a noticeable increase in people after the vote spending freely

"July was the first full month in a post-Brexit environment, so we're really pleased to see that the vote hasn't had any impact on consumer confidence." 

Local fashion boutique manager Claire Denning said: "We have seen a noticeable increase in people after the vote spending freely, which was not what we feared.

"We thought the economy would suffer and spending would go down and visitors would drop.

"The opposite has appeared to happen which is great news for us." 

Chester is one of the UK's oldest cities and was founded as a "castrum" or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian in 79 AD.

Chester and Cheshire West voted to leave the European Union in the UK's historic referendum with a 50.6 per cent share at the polls but that was against the campaigning of local MPs.

Each of Cheshire West's four MPs - Chris Matheson (Chester, Labour), Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston, Labour), Graham Evans (Weaver Vale, Conservative) and Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury, Conservative) - had each laid out their support for staying in the EU.

One can be irrational in hopefulness, but a chap can also take rational heart in well-grounded history. 2000 years is not to be sniffed at or snuffed out.

Meanwhile the doom-laden, dark hearts will pontificate and seek the demise of the brave. Even from across the pond. Go back a few weeks and what sort of gloominess did we expect and see? The 'Atlantic' writers were gazing into their chrystal scrotums and looking for the thesaurus to find doom-laden words their competitors missed.

Britain, Post-Brexit

The latest PMI data show a “dramatic contraction” in the U.K. economy that’s being attributed to the vote.

Here’s what we know on Friday, July 22:

—The first major economic indicator since the Brexit vote shows a “dramatic deterioration” in the U.K. economy.

—The U.K. says it will relinquish its upcoming turn to assume the EU’s six-month presidency.

 http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/07/brexit-results/488561/

—Britain voted June 23 to leave the EU by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin. David Cameron resigned last week because of the result, leading to Theresa May becoming the prime minister.

—We’re live-blogging the major updates, and you can read how it all unfolded below. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).

Indeed, they have continued to 'live blog' on the matter long past that date, so do go and see how it has panned out so far.  With gulps, they continued....

8:34 a.m. Friday

Britain’s economy is seeing a “dramatic deterioration” following its decision to leave the EU, according to IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), an important economic indicator. The PMI fell to 47.7 in July, the lowest reading since April 2009. A reading below 50 signifies an economic contraction.

“The downturn, whether manifesting itself in order book cancellations, a lack of new orders or the postponement or halting of projects, was most commonly attributed in one way or another to ‘Brexit,’” said Chris Williamson, Markit’s chief economist.

This, in theory, is good for exporters because it makes U.K.-made goods cheaper. Indeed, Williamson noted, the “one ray of light was an improvement in manufacturing export growth to the best for two years as the weak pound helped drive overseas sales.”

The flip side of a cheaper currency was also felt: Import prices spiked.

The International Monetary Fund says Brexit will hit the global economy, but Britain and Europe will be the most affected.

There will officially be a minister to deal with Brexit—in other words to formulate policies to negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU. That minister is David Davis, a champion of civil liberties in the U.K.

And so it continues.

As a Tavern Keeper, I also 'keep books'. One does need to know how the home economy is going. But would I dream of using some of the indicators the economists use? Not likely.

Take GDP for instance. This is supposedly a measure of how wealthy a country is and how healthy its economy is. It is no such thing of course. The bigger the GDP, the more economically powerful a place is, goes the thought. But in reality the GDP is just a measure of the speed that a dollar moves around. 

Oz, for instance, could double its GDP in a week. The Gummunt could take every red cent from everyone one day and hand the lot back, untouched, the next and the GDP will have doubled as far as the national books are made. 

Does trade fluctuate? Of course it does. Do we really learn anything from five minutes of statistics on the daily Stock Markets every evening? Not a bit. Does the Yen exchange with the Euro going up or down, only to go down or up the following week tell us anything interesting? Not to me, it doesn't.

But hopefulness, expectation of the rewards of work and intelligence, an insistence on being responsible for one's own destiny, with God's help, now that is a different matter and the economists have little to say about that.

Drink up and watch Britain continue to flourish despite its weight of modernity.

Pax

They Heff Vays......

Occasionally we get an expert or two in the Tavern, trying to pull wool over customer eyes.  Most experts are either harmless of quite useful. From them we can learn a thing ot two. But  NLP experts are a menace. Rather like 'psychics' who claim extraordinary powers and sell their fantasies to the gullible over phone lines at $5.99 a minute. 

It seems some of the NLP wallahs have been busy in Britain's National Health System (NHS). Americans pay attention. Any organisation controlled by Government has people 'placed' to do the Gummunts bidding, no matter the idiocy. We heard a little about that too which I shall detail later.

The pub owner down the mountain, Anna Raccoon, had a tale to tell of a lady who 'controlled' a portion of the NHS. One Katrina Percy. She is one of those women that my friend James is often handing out warnings about. A 'parachutee' put in place by the PTB, and having not a jot of common sense to go with the power she is handed.

You can go to the Raccoon Arms itself if you wish, when you have had a few swift pints here, and get all the details. But here we shall simply let Anna speak of the NLP chaps.

The Percy Principle.

Anna tells of the two 'experts that wormed their way in. 

The twosome who particularly tickled her fancy were Chris Martin and Paul Gray. They must have tickled it pretty well for she has handed over millions of pounds of NHS funding in order to have them whisper in her ear on a regular basis. Perhaps she has become addicted to their Svengali words?

Paul Gray she has known since she was but a humble director of strategy at Hampshire Community Health Care. Paul specialises in teaching NHS employees ‘longer-term strategic and annual plans’. How could she doubt that his methods worked? Or that they were worth the £602,000 Hampshire Community Health Care paid him. Did Katrina not go on to become Chief Executive of Southern Health? A bargain – for her, if not for Hampshire Community Health Care.

 http://annaraccoon.com/2016/09/08/the-percy-principle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AnnaRaccoon+%28Anna+Raccoon%29

Then along came Chris Martin. Fresh faced and full of vigour. Chris is master of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Dr Richard Bandler, who invented NLP, says it is “a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behaviour and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them”.   

He also claimed that NLP could cure problems such as phobias, depression, tic disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, near-sightedness, allergy, common cold, and learning disorders. I’m only surprised he didn’t include AIDS.

Unfortunately, a number of peer reviewed studies have shown that ‘to date there is no convincing empirical evidence on the efficacy of NLP’. 

Not to worry. Katrina was convinced. 

She handed Chris Martin a £288,000 contract for three years, with an option for a one year extension. Three years later, Chris Martin had received £5.365 million, an ‘overspend’ of near 2,000% which must have been the envy of British Aerospace…..............

What mystic plots they weave. How skillfully they used their NLP to turn $288k into $5.3 Mil. What are those 'peer'studies that said it doesn't work? Please do not all rush out to learn how to be a master manipulator. Most of us can barely manage to handle things for good.  

An inquiry which the CQC reported was ‘a failure of leadership and governance at the trust’. Katrina Percy, the only chief executive the trust has ever had, has faced widespread calls to resign but has refused to do so.

Instead, the Trust have created a new job for her. They have appointed her as a consultant to 20 – twenty! – GPs in the area. A job which neither existed two minutes ago, nor has been advertised. She will take her £500,000 pension pot with her, and keep her £240,000 salary.

By the Lord Harry. Would you take her direction? 

Go read it all at the Raccoon Arms. When you have finished here, that is.

It is a huge problem with government enterprises.  Most people think governments are necessary, not just necessary evils. Robert Higgs gave his view.

What Really Creates a Peaceful, Orderly, and Prosperous Society?

The idea that genuine self-government—the system in which individuals contract for the type of governance they prefer—must fail because under such a system no one can make others obey the rules is stunningly misconceived. On any given day, even in a world pervaded by states and their dictates, nearly everything that people do or refrain from doing is so not because the state threatens them with violence for acting otherwise, but because they find conformity with rules—honesty, promise keeping, careful handling of goods, avoidance of opportunism, working hard and responsibly, refraining from shirking and malingering, and so forth—to be in their interest. 

The world does not run on the state’s threats of violence; it runs in spite of those threats. Notwithstanding the supercilious declaration that “you didn’t build that,” you actually did, and not because the state threatened to hurt you if you didn’t.

 http://blog.independent.org/2016/09/01/what-really-creates-a-peaceful-orderly-and-prosperous-society/

In most part, yes. We acquiesce, largely out of our own ignorance and trust in others. 

Many sanctions besides violence and threats of violence may be—and are even in the world in which we now live—effective incentives for adherence to law and order. Ostracization of dishonest dealers, for example, works wonders, and in the world of modern communications it can be more effective than ever. Many people conduct their affairs honorably and fairly in order to preserve an upstanding reputation and thereby to retain beneficial commercial and personal relations.

The Katrina's of the world are many however. They 'create' their reputation from falseity and falshoods. 

Many people subscribe to religious or other moral codes that regulate their conduct and direct it into decent and productive channels. The state’s contribution to creating a successful world is, as a rule, to stand in the way and, all too often, to punish those who are trying to serve their fellow human beings in free markets and other peaceful, cooperative arrangements.

States don’t make our world peaceful, cooperative, and productive 

—to the extent that it is so.

Insofar as the world works successfully, it does so in spite of the state’s characteristic bloodthirst, oppression, and plunder, not because of it. Upon real reflection, the puzzle is that anyone believes that the relationship is the other way around. 

People who think, work, create, invest, plan, and carry out productive projects make the world work. 

People who collect taxes, create mountains of unnecessary regulations, threatening violence against those who fail to comply with them, and devote vast amounts of extorted resources to wreaking senseless death and destruction at home and abroad also make the world work—but much, much for the worse.

So, to the extent that the state is necessary to make people obey the rules, chances are that the rules to which it compels obedience ought never to have been made in the first place. 

But don’t take my word for it: open up the U.S. Code, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, and the corresponding legal documents for any of the state, county, and city governments in the USA and see for yourself. 

If you conclude that all of this legal outrage and the police who enforce it make economic or moral sense, you may be a unique person, indeed.

My Supplier makes the only rules you need to follow.

He has the way. He IS the Way.

Drink his Good Grace.

Pax. 

What the People Want

Do Governments even care what people want? That was a question that came up in the bar last evening. In 'Democratic' nations we elect 'representatives' who seem to listen to the minority of social wreckers rather than the large majority of ordinary people. Or so it seems. The 'silent majority' is all too easily castigated for not making their wishes known. But even when very large gatherings meet to make their voices heard, the Governments take only that amount of notice sufficient to raise anger and punitive measures.

There are several really pressing problems with our western society and at the root are Governments who do not want to listen to the vast majority of people they are supposedly representing. 

We have Immigration; we have Marriage; we have Abortion. We have Governments all over the west who take no notice of the people's wishes. The media either ignores or distorts.

Two examples come easily to mind - and we were reminded just last evening -  of very large-scale and peaceful 'silent majorities' taking to the streets. 

Paris. 

1.4 million French march against gay ‘marriage’. 

Police tear gas crowd, children

LifeSiteNews reporter Jeanne Smits directly witnessed the events that took place during this extraodinary event. She confirms the enormous numbers claimed by organizers and reports on many aspects either ignored or distorted by French and other media. 

This LifeSiteNews exclusive reports on what really happened during the demonstrations, including the totally uncalled for police tear gassing of some of her peaceful and prayerful friends and relatives.

 https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/1.4-million-march-against-gay-marriage-in-france-police-tear-gas-crowd-chil

March 25, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to organizers, nearly one and a half million people joined the third demonstration in five months against the legalization of same-sex “marriage” by the French government in Paris, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, large numbers of demonstrators who were unable to join the main venue – which had filled up by 3 p.m. – or who headed straight to the largest and most prestigious Parisian thoroughfare, the Champs-Elysées, were sprayed with tear-gas and beaten as they neared the presidential palace. 

Victims included children as young as 6 years old, 

elderly gentlemen, women of all ages, middle-aged priests and monks, and even a baby aged 10 months.

One boy, aged 14, named Lancelot, needed respiratory assistance for half an hour; another youth, Léonard, 17, was gassed and subsequently seized by riot police who threw him down the stairs at the entrance of a nearby subway station. Christine Boutin, leader of the mainstream Parti chrétien démocrate (Christian democratic Party), was also among the victims: she passed out after having been sprayed with tear-gas and lay unconscious on the street for several minutes.

Videos also show a woman demonstrator who was apparently deliberately knocked over by a police van being attended to by volunteer first-aid workers of the Order of Malta. Another young man, Tristan, told LifeSiteNews.com that he was gassed with a group of friends after sitting down in the street at the request of the armed forces.

The French media played down the police violence: all major radio, tv and other news sources spoke of “attacks” by violent young demonstrators against the police and armed forces, while the minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls, publicly congratulated law enforcement officers for their “professionalism and cool-headedness.” 

However, dozens of videos posted on the Internet as well as eye-witness reports received from personal acquaintances of this author certify the opposite: unarmed and pacific, the overwhelming majority of the demonstrators assaulted by the armed forces did no more than vociferate their disapproval of the draft law, if that: most of them were laughing and singing as they strolled down the “most beautiful avenue in the world” – as the French believe – and were suddenly attacked by the riot police.

Contrary to recent public demonstrations involving youths from the suburbs, no damage was caused and the young people and families involved were unarmed. No stones or Molotov cocktails were thrown, and there were virtually no attacks against the police who on several occasions let people through to the Champs-Elysées without offering much resistance.

The Authorities arbitrarily decide where and whan marches can take place. Often they will forbid people walking down this street or that. One group may get a 'permit' while another will have a permit refused.  One has to ask just who gave the Gummunt the authority to 'permit' anyway? 

Why did all these thousands of people – up to 40,000, according to the numbers quoted by the organizers of the “Manif pour tous’” (“Demonstration for all”) – decide to defy police orders not to march on the Champs-Elysées as had originally been planned?

The ban had been made official for five days and had been confirmed by an emergency ruling on Wednesday afternoon. Hoqwcwe, the definitive itinerary and access points to the demonstration were only published by the “Manif pour tous” on the weekend. Frigide Barjot, the demonstration’s figurehead had previously announced that even if access to the Champs-Elysées were to be forbidden the March would go there all the same and plant tents to occupy the thoroughfare until some assurance would be given that the draft law would not be voted and enforced. She later backed down from this statement.

The symbolism of the Champs-Elysées is very important to the French. 

Military parades are held there on the 14th of July; it is where the Liberation parade took place on August 26th, 1944; soccer fans rallied there in their hundreds of thousands when France won the World Cup in 1998 and compact crowds gather every 31st December to see in the New Year. Political rallies were also held there, notably when hundreds of thousands of French demonstrated their support to general De Gaulle in the wake of the May-68 revolution.

How about America? 

March For Life

Nearly a million marchers braved the cold in our nation’s capital for the 42nd annual March for Life. The march was founded to call attention to the evils of abortion and protest the Supreme Court’s decision of Roe v. Wade that made abortion legal and on demand in the nation. Since this case, generations of children have been killed in order to make the lives of those who sought abortion more “convenient.”

On this same day, Republicans tried to pass bills restricting abortion. 

 However, president Obama has vowed to veto any bills that restrict abortion. 

Nevertheless, the attempt to pass the bills served the purpose to give publicity to the pro-life cause and send the message that it is not going away.

 https://sacerdotus.wordpress.com/tag/march-for-life/

The march today went well but was disrupted near the Supreme Court by pro-abortion advocates who blocked the road and harassed pro-life marchers. Some of these hecklers were arrested for “crowding, obstructing and incommoding.” 

Some officers refused  to remove the hecklers.  One pro-life marched ask an officer, “isn’t it about time you cleared this road? He replied, 

“That’s way above my pay grade.”

As usual, the presence of young pro-life marchers was evidence. The Verizon Center was filled to capacity with young people, including seminarians, postulants, novices and aspirants to the priesthood.

I make an issue of this whenever it arises. The inability of Police and members of public authorities to use their Integrity. They 'obey orders' just like good little Nazis.  Men have a Masculine Integrity - it is a personal characteristic and quality - but it seems to be so deep down under 'career' aspiration and weekly take-home pay that they do not dig down to get it and use it. 

We see the same thing in the Immigration issue. Crowds of Muslims can block streets with their arses in the air and the cops do nothing. The bearded hate-mongers can march in the streets with signs calling for by-standers to be beheaded and the cops do nothing. But the moment a crowd wants or tries to march to regain the right to determine who comes into a country, the tear gas  and batons come out.

The media is complicit. Ordinary people who want to be heard are condemned for speaking out, either when in protest crowds of alone. They are calumnised, demeaned, and their legitimate concerns are called 'Hate Crime'.

British people concerned about their nation becoming foreign are 'discussed' in derogatory terms by the most dim commentators for almost any otherwise ordinary country you care to name. Canada for instance.  Here the use of condemnatory terms is almost worthy of an award.

Anti-immigrant tirade caught on video amid rise in post-Brexit racism

A rise in hate crimes following Britain's vote to leave the European Union has brought condemnation from lawmakers and police officials, including investigators in Manchester who are looking into a "disgusting display of abuse" that took place on public transit. 

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/brexit-parliament-cameron-merkel-corbyn-1.3655607

Yes, there will always be those who will not control themselves, so we can expect such media to behave badly.  Any disagreement can be called 'hatred' by those disagreed with. Just claiming to be 'uncomfortable' is enough to have the cops decend and arrest a person. Crikey, this old Tavern Keeper was banned from a facebook Mensa page by a woman who 'felt uncomfortable' for addressing her in a friendly manner with a 'm'dear'. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday urged Britain to act to prevent incidents of xenophobic abuse and prosecute perpetrators — amid a spate of racially motivated hate crimes since last week's Brexit referendum, in which immigration was a key issue.

Ahhh. Brexit. What a kick in the arse for the Gummunts who would ride roughshod over the Will of the People. They really dropped the ball there.  And of course, all the OWG people crawl from the woodwork to condemn.  

(Prince) Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN human rights chief, said in a statement he was deeply concerned by reports of abuse targeting minority communities and foreigners in Britain.

Human Rights people are so often just the very ones that ordinary folk are concerned about. I wonder if  Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein would have risen to the dizzy heights without the UN to give him his salary.  Well, of course. Being an Arab Prince is just so democratic.

"Racism and xenophobia are completely, totally and utterly unacceptable in any circumstances," he said.

This from an Arab !! This from someone from a part of the world that mutilates little girls, throws homosexuals from rooftops and demands that Infidels be beheaded. !  Of course, he might just be the exception to the rule, but I won't put $5 on it.

Britain's National Police Chiefs' Council on Monday reported a 57 per cent rise in hate crime complaints, compared to the same period in May, in the wake of the referendum.

57% rise in hate complaints, eh.

Don't you just hate stupid statistics like that. You should complain.

Not that anyone will take any notice though.

Drink up.

Pax 

 

Boldly Go... and Keep on Going. 50th Anniversary.

The TVs in the Tavern (that's televisions, not transvestites) are always well attended with customers sitting in comfy chairs with pints at hand when Star Trek is on. And it is on so often these days what with all the original programs, character and development spin-offs and all of the subsequent feature films. I have to admit I must have seen every one of them over the past 50 years. And they keep on going, boldly.

We are preparing for a big party and a crowd to watch the latest mayhem and kabooming around the Galaxy.

It is the longest running sci-fi saga along with Dr Who, but unlike Dr Who it has gained more credibility as the years go by. And today we are shifting the furniture in the US Room to resemble the Bridge for a celebratory 50th Anniversary on the 8th Sept. The Taverners will all raise a glass to Capt Kirk and his diverse, multicultural band of colonial oppressors who bring the Federation, lasers, photon torpedos and food generated from thin air to reluctant aliens.

And what a 50 year adventure it has been. Andrew Fenton dropped in to speak about it and many joined in. He wore a red shirt.

Star Trek’s enduring appeal as iconic TV series turns 50

IT was 50 years ago this week that TV viewers first saw a spaceship blasting across the screen as William Shatner intoned the now immortal words: “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise …”

No one watching Star Trek’s first episode on September 8, 1966 (actually the sixth made but the network wanted it to screen it first because it had a monster) would have thought five decades later the series would have become a multi-billion dollar franchise and pop-culture phenomenon.

 http://www.themercury.com.au/entertainment/stars-explain-star-treks-enduring-appeal-as-iconic-tv-series-turns-50/news-story/667248ef47e2e60f10bd04653c93d894

The original series spawned four live action spin-offs (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise), an animated series and 13 big-screen adventures, plus an entire industry of merchandise from action figures to Klingon dictionaries.

Many actors as obscure as Shatner was back then have come and gone. Many a bit part player met his grisly end wearing a red shirt. Although it has to be said that the statistically (or Vulcan ) minded will tell you that proportionally more yellow shirted chaps and chapesses died, followed by a slightly smaller proportion of blue shirts.  Red shirts were the least likely to die on an 'Away Team, but there were more of them.

JJ Abrams’ successful reboot in 2009 — blending the original concept with the fun and adventure of Star Wars — reinvigorated the franchise. Hardcore fans didn’t always appreciate the changes but the films struck a chord with the mainstream, taking more than US$1.1 billion between them.

The most exciting news for Trekkies in years is new TV series Star Trek Discovery, due January next year on Netflix worldwide (CBS All Access in North America). Set ten years before the original series, it promises cable style story arcs and comes from a key creative team bringing together different eras of Star Trek including showrunner Bryan Fuller (Deep Space Nine) Alex Kurtzman (reboot screenwriter) and Nicholas Meyer (The Wrath Of Khan).

George Takei, Sulu in the original series, remembers thinking Star Trek would be lucky to last a year. Filming the 1965 pilot he recalls telling James Doohan (Scotty): “I smell quality with this show — the script is literate and very original and spine-tingling and the actors are all top notch. That means … we’re not going to last very long.”

He was right: The “five-year mission” rated poorly and only got a second season due to the its “quality” advertising demographics as many doctors, psychiatrists and professors were fans of the show. Season three only came about after 116,000 letters protesting the rumoured cancellation flooded in to NBC. But a later timeslot and budget cuts meant the third season was the last.

After just 79 episodes Takei says “we found the most devastating adversary was not the Klingons or the Romulans … but the NBC programming executives.”.

To me and some customers here the most telling thing was the creativity of the back-room people. The scripts were 'so-so' adventures, just in space rather than on Earth, but they introduced things we had never seen or used. Tablets for instance. This was waaaay before even personal computers and yet here were hand-held , half-page sized handy computers. And the 'mobile phone' - the 'Communicator' - which eventually saw reality in the flip-top mobile phones.  It took a while. 

It will take a while longer for Transporters to come along and for the food dispensers that make food and drink from the stray molecules in the air. 

It will be even longer, I think for that strangest of all aspects of life aboard a Starship. No toilets. Never do we see Captain Kirk caught short with his underpants down. Never do we hear Scotty say "It'll be at least ten minutes before the ships moves, Captain. I'm having some trouble with my own movement". No curving corridor with its sliding doors has a sign next to any saying 'Gents' or Ladies' or 'Aliens'.  They have to beam down for that sort of thing. No wonder there is always a queue for an Away Team. Death is an acceptible risk !

With any normal show that would have been the end, but something about Star Trek resonated and the series began to become more and more popular each year through re-runs. (Associated Press called it “The show that wouldn’t die” and in the mid-1980s it was still the most popular syndicated show in America). 

Modern fan culture began with Star Trek — the first major Star Trek convention was held in 1972, the forerunner of enormous events like the annual Comic Con. Trekkies became known worldwide.

The success of Star Wars (1977) set the team off on their first big screen adventure in 1979. Six instalments featured the original crew, before The Next Generation team took over in the 90s for four more films, winding up with the franchise-killing Nemesis in 2002.

Fans consider Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to be the best movie in the series.  

For Chris Pine, Captain Kirk in the reboot, the appeal of Star Trek lies in humanity overcoming its differences to work together, aided by technology. “(Look) at the original bridge of the Enterprise: A black woman, a Russian man, an Asian man, an alien and a white man all working together in a time of great civil and social and world unrest. There is a primal element of humans that wants to tear each other apart but there’s also a social element that knows we have to work together because that is the only way our species will survive.”

The Pine Kirk is a big step forward. Despite Shatner's legacy, we never saw  before how Kirk became Kirk. Pine showed us. Indeed, when we look at the 'beginnings' of Kirk we can now hope that one day small, annoying boys diagnosed with ADHD and behaving occasionally like little shits will not be  medicated into small aliens. They need life's lessons, sound mentors and challenges to take their extra-ordinaryness and turn it into mature, daring leadership.

Star Trek has always used the future to comment on today’s issues. “(By creating a new world with new rules I could make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam, politics and intercontinental missiles … they all got by the network,” creator Gene Rodenberry said.

Ahead of its time in race issues, Star Trek featured one of the first onscreen interracial kisses between Kirk and Uhura. Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) remembers civil rights lead Martin Luther King Jr talking her out of quitting because of the potent symbolism of having an African American woman on the show.

Now 85, Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, says it’s hard to wrap his head around the fact the show has lasted a lifetime: “Five lifetimes for a dog and three for a horse when you come to think of it!” he says.

Anton Yelchin, Chis Pine, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban

Shatner has a DVD box set out to coincide with the anniversary, featuring five of his Star Trek docos called The Captains: A Journey Through Time. His understanding of Trekkies has evolved over time — writing Get A Life! he came to the conclusion that fans didn’t attend conventions to see the actors: “In fact I discovered through a lot of interviews they were coming to see each other,” he said. Later on he changed his mind and decided “the secret behind it all, it came as a shock to me ... has to do with telling a story trying to explain things that are inexplicable”. In other words Star Trek helps us understand worm holes and quantum physics through myths, the way “The Greeks must have explained finding large bones that we now know are dinosaurs, as a race of giants.”

The new Star Trek movies are of course very different to the old show: the ‘emotionless’ Spock punches Kirk and kisses Uhura and Sulu’s character is now gay in tribute to Takei.

Hmmmmmm. Gays in Space. Must be something in the food. 

“There are some changes to the basic structure of Star Trek that I personally wouldn’t have done because I am a traditionalist,” says Shatner, but adds the old movies had a box office ceiling of around $100 million, “So JJ has found the solution to getting a larger audience by all these things he’s doing.”

Takei says Star Trek remains as relevant today as it was half a century ago because the issues the original show dealt with remain — from warfare to racism — but the show posits a future where we can actually solve them.

Few seem to mention that the underlying social order seems to be semi-demi-socialist.  It is never mentioned. No-one is allowed to mention it, I guess. Really dim people don't make it into the Star Trek world unless they are aliens. The poor are never seen, like in a Chinese city when International dignitaries come visiting. No-one gets paid a salary that I have seen. Those food making machines will change the world in more ways than one. 

Spock will even have his own Vulcan beer.

“When you just look back 50 years we have advanced on many levels — medicine, engineering, we now have a Rover on Mars. So we are making progress,” he says.

“Gene (Roddenberry) was an optimist … he had a core faith and belief in the human animals ability to innovate, solve problems, invent and that we will find some way to move on.”

Personally, I have enjoyed most Star Trek episodes and films. I liked even Janeway! - although her side-kick Number One with the tatts was a wimp of the first water. Jean-Luc Pickerd was an excellent 'philosopher-Captain', ( I even named a cat I had after him)  although some of his crew were 'iffy' - Deanna the Empath was a pain, frankly and almost as awful as her mum.  Seven of Nine was a very curvy lady !! The strange cook was a mistake, as was getting rid of Kes. The Captain of Deep Space Nine was almost as badly painted as a Picasso.

Thank goodness for a manly chap like Worf. He can drink in the Tavern anytime. I would even have him as a Bouncer.

The new lot are fine enough although the baddies are getting more bizarre by the time-shifting eons. Simon Pegg is a great casting. Quinto is a fine early Spock. 

I am looking forward to customers coming along each dressed as a character and having a fine time in the '10 Forward' we are constructing in the Tavern just for the occasion.

Drinks will be on the house and include many quite alien ones provided by my Supplier.

Pax.

Catman

Catman came by for a pint. No, not a transgender superheroine, but a home-gown Tasmanian hero. Here at the bottom end of the world, away from all the hurley burley of say, America, we do things well in advance. We are, in fact, world leaders in some things. Whisky for instance; truffles too. And Cats.

BIG CATS.

That is Rob Clifford pictured above. He's the hero. Quite a few years back some negligent sailor hit the bridge that spans the Derwent River in Hobart, bring it down and stranding thousands who travelled daily from one side of the river t'other. Rob was quick off the mark with a ferry service. He made not just his name but a boatload of money too.

He sank that money into boat-building. And not just any boats but the best in the world Catamarans. We raised a glass or two to Rob.  The world came to Hobart wanting what he could build. 

The pristine and sheltered waters that I see from my quarters' windows are home to his boats and their 'sea trials'. 

They are built for far more stormy seas and busier sea lanes, as far afield as North America. The folk there lay claim to having the World's Fastest Ferry.

But it was built by Australians just up-river from me.

Rob's cats leave every other ship in their wake.

Trials in Tasmanian waters

Maybe you will get to ride on one, one day.

(They have a bar on board so....)

Drink up.

Pax.

Britain's Pride

Watching the boats the other day reminded me of what I miss here in Oz. Something quintessentially British. We are an Island, both Tasmania and Oz itself; one a small island the size of Ireland, and the other an ginormous island the size of... well, Oz. Britain with its surround of sea is a 'Maritime Nation': it always was. Oz on the other hand is 'girt by sea', according to our National Anthem, and no-one really knows what that even means.

We here are a 'beach nation'. I don't get the sense that Australians even like the sea. Far too 'out there' and anyway we have an 'outback' which with its deserts and vastness is dangerous enough. The seas around Britain are dangerous too, but the solid folk for generations have faced it with courage and self sacrifice, voluntary action and a generous public spirit. How long that will last I don't know. It shows that face in the RNLI.

I miss the RNLI.

Go almost anywhere around the coast of Britain and you will find the familiar buildings by the shore with the 'Ramp'. Go in any pub and you will find a collection box for the lifeboats. It is Tradition. We don't have that in Oz. 

We do have helicopters though, financed by Banks. I see them going off but they could be going anywhere, couldn't they. But it's not quite the same, is it? The choppers are 'hi-tek', but lack the 'elan'; the romance of the sea. And of course the chopper crews are 'professionals' whereas the lifeboat crews are volunteers. The guy down the road, who is 'called out'. We have the SES, for fires: Britain has its lifeboatmen.

Fine chaps....and chapesses. 

They have specialist boats that 'self-right' if they are capsized in high seas. Brilliant. And smaller, in-shore rubber duckies. They capsize too but seldom right themselves ! Spectacular when they do go over though !

But the big boat crews get fine training.

There is a British 'spirit' which is missing in Oz. Pretty well missing in Britain too, I hear. We worried about our 'National Character' a while back and decided we were 'Multicultural'. It was then and still is a nonsense. We are a predominantly British, white, post-colonial nation but seem to dislike that. The Brits here don't dislike it of course: its all the 'new Australians' who want to determine a different character but they can't decide what it is to be - poor european, asian, indian, chinese. We have them all here from all over. But they came because we were a British-extract nation, which has had its Britishness extracted like teeth, unfortunately.

The People's Boats

We need to get some of that old British spirit back. But I fear it is too late. We are no longer British. We are a mixed with American culture as are most western countries. We, as it does, have 'westernitis'; a complex of dis-eases, viruses, mental deficiencies, socialism, feminism, cowardices galore foisted upon us and infecting the 'Character'.

Anglophile Nations are capsizing. An angry alien sea is flooding in. Do we have the spirit and character still to self-right?

Drink up. 

Pax