Fly high or fail.

Don't we just love our criminals :-)

So he is a "cut-throat dealmaker? I don't care, it's not *my* throat. Not this time, anyway.

He "flew too close to the Sun"

Funny, I always thought that criminals gained heat from flying in the opposite direction.

Then we have a column of his "advisers" who have sucked up... been tsucked up... as close as possible.

Adding a veneer of respectability to the throat cutter.

Sports stars. Politicians. Business leaders.

You can bet that there advice was hedged around with plausible deniability

Perhaps you could do this... not that I would suggest it of course... but you... may want to consider what could happen if...

All the time, hoping to catch some of the golden bounty which drips from the grubby hands of the man with more flexible morals.

And now watch those moral cowards back away...

It happened with the casino enquiry.

Oh, I didn't really know what was happening.

I was paid a heap so I just... turned up and nodded. We were never in a real... business relationship...

Just, well, you know, chaps helping chaps with a bit of highly paid... oh, but never deliberate... image enhancement.

The man built his own business.

Made his own billions

He is fully entitled to use his own property as he sees fit.

Or even use it as far as he sees that he can get away with it.

When he draws in other investors -- includes other people in his dealings. That is when he owes a duty of care... a moral duty... to those other people.

They may all be aware of the lack of moral standards. That may be why they are standing so close to the man... to profit from the actions of the one man who is willing to ignore rules.

The man still owes a duty of care to those uninvolved... so very carefully uninvolved...

People who are now depending on one cut-throat businessman to bring home the gold that they are afraid to grub for, themselves.

And now the poor man is left with nothing.

Well, nothing except the few billions which he will have salted away... somewhere. Somewhere hidden but... very accessible... when he needs it.

Ah well.

If I were ever offered a few million to help a crook to look more honest?

Would I happily accept?

Or would have the courage to at least say...

Just let me think about it.

I would probably accept the benefits.

Rationalise my reasoning.

Take the benefits.

Perhaps within some limits, I've done that, before.

Our criminals offer so many benefits to the rest of us... 

Is that enough reason for us to love --and even support -- our criminals?

It's reason enough for most of us.

half blind. half deaf. dying of cancer.
so what?
notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge
Consulting Dexitroboper

   

Too old for UOM

I glance quickly at a news article about a new floating jetty in Broome.

Two hundred metres, I read.

A long jetty, I think.

Then read it again...

How old am I? I think.

Why would anyone measure a jetty in metres?

I read again.

No. Not a two hundred metre jetty.

200m, perhaps.

The correct -- the interesting measure of the jetty is...

It's a $200m jetty.

Ah, that's more interesting :-)

The news from Broome is about a two hundred million dollar jetty.

Ah! That's more like it :-)

The jetty may barely reach from sand to sea.

Two hundred metres? Who cares.

But look how much it costs.

I must learn to read more carefully :-)

half blind. half deaf. dying of cancer.
so what?
notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge
Consulting Dexitroboper

   

more woke than you

Caitlyn Rintoul feels uncomfortable when her share driver makes a casually racist comment.

Okay, so Rintoul is desperately woke, no worries about that.

"That generalisation was unhelpful", she informs the driver.

Good grief.

You are paying someone to drive you somewhere.

Are you so desperately afraid of being seen to be human that you must respond to stupidity with parrot-fashion political correctness?

Whatever happened to the simple but sad shake of the head.

Perhaps even a raised eyebrow.

No.

Rintoul must prove her superior wokeness with a superior put-down. 

The poor thing.

... Nick Lethbridge, Churchlands

===

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Independent Dexitroboper

half blind, half deaf, dying of cancer,

So what.

===

..: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com

truth, belief, response

Which experts did Miller, 4th Nov. believe?

Then what action did he take?

He happily sneers at "government experts" who were slow to recognise covid risks.

Knock knock.

Did Miller fail to notice that the CEO of WHO -- the World Health Organisation -- WHO was in denial, 

Who's there? 

of any covid risk at all, till it was far too late for an effective global response.

Rambling into another topic, Miller wonders about the role of humour in serious illness.

Well, that probably 

Grandad

depends on the ill person.

 Are they ready 

Stop the funeral!

I still find that hell funny.

to laugh? Some are not.

... Nick Lethbridge, Churchlands

===

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Independent Dexitroboper

half blind, half deaf, dying of cancer,

So what.

===

..: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com

Bloody brilliant

04nov 2024: amazing...

This letter was printed in The West as WA needs imagination.

===

Which then generated a Letter in response. (05nov 24) Vibrant naming culture

... that letter is the image below.

===

I missed both letters, it was the busy rogaine weekend.

No worries, the response was sent to me as an image in an email.

And then...

Here is the amazing bit:

It took me a few minutes to find each page of the papers,

they were in a nearby bin.

Followed by twenty minutes to copy the letter image... from an email to this blog!

amazing :-)

My first letter:

There are a dozen stories leaping off that clothesline. Dozens more from the child, though requiring a larger stretch of the imagination.

Of course the questions are "tough "Would you prefer that everyone were told to write... exactly the same answer?

Perhaps we will expand our schools of economics and engineering. Traditional shelters for students with powerful brains but absolutely no imaginations.

No wonder WA has such a small number of authors. And such a large number of people whose chief skill is to dig holes. Exactly as and where and as deep as... as they are ordered to dig.

... Nick Lethbridge, Churchlands

===

the response:

===

half blind. half deaf. dying of cancer.
so what?
notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge
Consulting Dexitroboper

   

Appropriately declared

Yep, that's the problem, isn't it.

Politicians -- and business managers -- are driven by... profit, power, self-interest.

They need to be... or they will be driven out by ... people with stronger drives for... profit etc.

Pollies and managers may have attended a course on, perhaps, business ethics.

I've read and signed the General Electric employee ethics agreement.

What it boils down to is: do not be caught.

Caught at what?

They have no built-in standards.

Biggles had built-in standards. He

never entered business nor politics.

Real people do the minimum.

They write their own "standards" then employ clerks to keep records which will -- within their self-written standards -- will all be within the self-set rules.

The pollie can then confidently state, all of my bribes, indiscretions, kickbacks... have been appropriately declared.

If not, of course...

The recording clerk is there to get the blame.

Pollies have no in-built sense of right or wrong.

If they did... I'd probably disagree with them anyway :-)

half blind. half deaf. dying of cancer.
so what?
notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge
Consulting Dexitroboper

   

Not a rant!

Spud King meets the pope.

I can't help it, I'm pleased :-)

I'm guessing that Galati is catholic.

In which case, meeting the pope would be a terrific thrill. For Galati, perhaps even a highlight of an already successful life.

Sure, it did not "just happen".

But I can't help it, I'm pleased. A great thrill? For a bloke I don't even know?

One man, with an extra happy memory. A touch of extra happiness in the world.

Just a nice little story.

Which makes me smile :-)

half blind. half deaf. dying of cancer.
so what?
notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge
Consulting Dexitroboper