No matter what we would like, to happen, I think Israel will just run wilfully killing whoever it wants, as many terrified children as they want, drenched in greed and hatred, and will greatly profit from this continuing genocidal horror, and will never be brought to any kind of justice at all. Life is essentially like that...& Israel is absolutely like that.

No matter what we would like, to happen, I think Israel will just run wilfully killing whoever it wants, as many terrified children as they want, drenched in greed and hatred, and will greatly profit from this continuing genocidal horror, and will never be brought to any kind of justice at all. Life is essentially like that...& Israel is essentially like that.

May the new year embolden you to run free, like wild horses set on fire.

 

That Malaysian Flight ...MH370? you know the one that was accidentally shot down by the US navy and crashed in the South China Sea ... but everyone said it didn't.

 So, you had a passenger plane going from Malaysia to Beijing, and over the South China Sea, it disappeared and then, if you believe the story, it turned around for no reason and went thousands of kilometres away to where there was no aerial surveillance etc...an unknown spot in the unknown Southern Ocean.

So, it disappeared from the most surveilled sky on the planet, to disappear to where no one was looking. I doubt it. I think it was shot down by one of the very many US Navy ships, and by accident, in that area of the South China Sea where the US were fully conducting advanced techno  'ping' operations trying to undo China's internet and defences systems right there. An awful error. 

Within a few days, the guy in charge of the investigation, the Malaysian President, was given, for no reason, about 8 million US dollars from Saudi Arabia, as a personal gift, and within a week the US President arrived in Malaysia and gave the country a brilliant pro-Malaysian trade and defence program. Unasked for.

I would think, using Occam's razor, that the plane was accidentally shot down and then the USA covered up the mess, retrieved the wreckage from the South China Sea...and apologised to China, but it was best that the occurrence was never reported. It would have destabilised the relationship between the US and China.

It is okay to wage war in the Middle East between Israel and neighbours, because that arena doesn't matter any more. As we can see now...but nothing can disturb the delicate peace that stretches from South to North Asia. Nothing. It is far too important. That's the only 'tectonic plate' in the 21st century.

Safety

I've had this blog site for a long time but never did much with it. I think I will add more posts this year.

Melbourne Australia January 2026

 Travail:

It's been horrible lately, driving to work. I live 40km from work, out in the West of Melbourne.

For the least few years there has been great work done on the Westgate Tunnel to alleviate the traffic from the great West, but the day they finished the tunnel, which isn't useful to me but could take some of the traffic density away to Docklands and the central City, the Road Works folk start 10 days of working on the Westgate Bridge itself, making 5 lanes into 2 lanes. It's an annual thing they do.

So, the journey that used to take one hour to cover the 40km of freeways now takes about 3 hours. Grinding delays. Then, when cars escape the jams, they crash into each other. Thus more delays.

So, I'm grateful to have tomorrow off as annual leave, the last day of Bridge upgrades. (But what traffic manipulations are next? Who knows. Something is planned, I'm sure)

For a long time now the only difference between Melbourne traffic and Bangkok traffic, is that Bangkok has more Toyotas and Melbourne has more Teslas, but they equally block up the travel corridors. And Australians don't cope well with the savant sinuousness required to get through Bangkok traffic. When the road is clear, here, everyone just crashes into each other.

Melbourne drivers are much better than, say, Queensland drivers, and everyone observe the road laws here (for fear of really unbelievably massive fines), but, if the sign says 100kph, then that's exactly what people drive at, whether there be rain, ice, accidents, fog, anything...they just keep rushing along.

So, I am relieved to have tomorrow off.

All my life, like my Dad, I've loved driving, but no more.

Last week I was in a 5 car crash, in the middle of it, and the car behind, a ute, took out my rear parking and turn lights. This pushed me into the electric Kia in front, and I must admit my iron bull bar did its job and basically destroyed the Kia. I got a migraine and another hours delay. Damage to my ute was a need to replace 2 parking/turning lights, and you can just buy them anywhere for the Ute I have, and cheap.

The old purely mechanical 2015 Nissan Navara 4WD D22 turbo diesel, remains a remarkably strong and capable vehicle. It goes well, doesn't break down, It's strong and stable and boring. It's just a light truck that does well anywhere, and can cross lots of land without any roads with ease, if necessary. The fuel costs are the same as a comparable small Volvo, so not a lot, and servicing is cheap.

Glad to have a Holiday tomorrow. We even washed the truck for the first time in years just the other day. Goes even better now. I will have to check the water and oil and tyre pressure in it one day. It's been a few years.

So, a New Year is on the horizon. This doesn't matter, and yet, at the same time, as we know, everything matters. An important factor for us Darwinian atheists, in our short lives and in our literate homage to Mr Albert Camus, the suavest and coolest smoking existentialist we have known lately, involves making something matter, for ourselves and those we care about. To create Meaning. That's what humans can do. Good laws, good times, good improvements to how things are, for all of us.A better-off society. There are many things that are indeed still getting better. Mostly due to China in terms of alleviating world poverty etc now that everyone else has actually stopped doing that. And to remember Not to hate and be greedy etc, not to wage genocide on anyone, anyone at all. That'd be good. Gosh, wouldn't that be good? That some people actively choose the genocide of poor folk just trying to live on their own land, well, that's awful. They are very sick people who do do that and they must be stopped, and seriously punished, for sure. There used to be laws against genocide, even in our own time. Remember? Remember Human Reason? It had its limits but it was generally a good thing. There was goodness, bright thought, industrious compromise, intense negotiation, etc, and even some kindness to it. I liked Human Reason. I miss it.

 So, a New Year is on the horizon.

This doesn't matter, and yet, at the same time, as we know, everything matters.

An important factor for us Darwinian atheists, in our short lives and in our literate homage to Mr Albert Camus, the suavest and coolest smoking existentialist we have known lately, involves making something matter, for ourselves and those we care about. To create Meaning. That's what humans can do. Good laws, good times, good improvements to how things are, for all of us.A better-off society.

There are many things that are indeed still getting better. Mostly due to China in terms of alleviating world poverty etc now that everyone else has actually stopped doing that.

And to remember

Not to hate and be greedy etc, not to wage genocide on anyone, anyone at all. That'd be good. Gosh, wouldn't that be good?

That some people actively choose the genocide of poor folk just trying to live on their own land, well, that's awful. They are very sick people who do do that and they must be stopped, and seriously punished, for sure.

There used to be laws against genocide, even in our own time.

Remember?

Remember Human Reason? It had its limits but it was generally a good thing. There was goodness, bright thought, industrious compromise, intense negotiation, etc, and even some kindness to it.

I liked Human Reason.

I miss it.

I still like the idea of a fortress America, with a huge and high wall all around it. Close the borders in and out. Then give the people there as many high powered guns and drugs as they like, more tv channels, more angst, more disparity, and then just let them make sense of themselves. Less American school kids. That's not a crime. That's benign enhanced human evolution at work in the real world.

Hegseth

 Not judging, just noticing.

Pete Hegseth reminds me of the Damian character from the End of Days type movies, although I don't recall Damien drinking whilst masturbating, and getting the tasks mixed up so much.

Gaza Peace Plan TRUMP

 I think the plan will fall apart within 2 weeks when Israel receives a lot more, but a bit older, heavy bombing weapons from the USA. You don't need new expensive weapons to pulverise Gaza as they can't fight back. The USA moving both the bulk of older weapons to Israel, and the newer ones to their bases in the Middle East ready for a war with Iran, within that same two weeks.

There will be some bizarre scripted horror event that does marginal damage to Israel/US bases, and then the USA will cut loose.

I am not a robot. Anymore.

Melbourne Victoria Australia Protest at Weapons Show day, today

Australia isn't so good at urban pacification. I find both the Thai and the Hong Kong Police much more civilised and advanced.

If someone wants to take-over a weapons selling expo day in the city of Melbourne, well you draw back all your police, and you let the protestors take the building. Because Australian Police should not hurt Australian people. The Prime Directive. Don't hurt your own people. They are very upset about something. Let them make their point. This is real democracy. Australian police should not be in the business of hurting Australian people.

What are the protestors going to do after taking over the expo place anyway? Then you surround the expo, turn off the electricity, TV, water and internet, and just wait. No contact. Play scary music late at night. Psychological operations. You isolate them without touching or hurting them.

The protestors, They've got to go home one day. They have jobs and universities and big mortgages, etc to go back to, & they have nice families to return to. They won't like being there for very long, especially without being able to leave, & especially without good coffee, and with no wifi.

When they do beg to go home after a day a week or a few weeks, you just pick off the defined leaders on the way out, and give the rest free bus rides home. Thus you've identified and incarcerated the leading characters and been kind to everyone else.

Australia, like America, is very bizarrely primitive, and amazingly violent, in terms of urban pacification. They are equally so destructively pride-full. We both have much to learn from Asia. Asia deals with these social issues in a much more effective way, and with much less harm done. Otherwise it's all just about government pride and police pride and prestige...yuck. That doesn't work if people are really upset with the government...and the police. That doesn't do anyone any good, ever. Relax and relent, and after awhile they and you, and all of us, we, can all go home to our lovely families. Rather than amassing police to cause harm and trouble, you just stand back. It's intelligent. In essence, what are they going to do? Hurt someone's feelings?

Is it just me, or is it odd?

It is odd that Ukraine is selling tons of brand new American weapons to support their side of a rebel uprising in Mali, in Africa.

They've always been the Entrepreneurs of Central Europe, whether it be child trafficking, weapons, or drugs...which is why no one really likes them.

My Sweet Reason

Living the Day-Off Life:
Mrs Fitz is at work, it's about 6.30pm and time for me to prepare some food.
I have 2 big pieces of Rib Eye steak that I hope will be okay to rapid-barbecue. I'm quite suspicious of meat, in general, and 'good steak' in particular.
The pieces I have, for me, are a bit too Wagyu looking, with the veins of fat, without actually being sold as Wagyu. I don't trust Woolworths. Who can? Prices for everything are what one used to pay just last year in a super pricey elite Deli...and that's for everyday food now.
Pricey.
So, I will try...I'll get them out of the fridge, let them sit until room temperature, light the barbecue, & leave it for 10 minutes til super hot,
then rapid BBQ, 5 minutes one side (as they are thick) and 3-4 minutes the other side. Maybe 3 minutes.
See what happens.
Slice it into thin pieces
Have it with some BBQ onion, and English mustard, and some Japanese horseradish,
and a salad of some simple kind...like a bowl of coleslaw/saurkraut.
Some bread? Well, yeah.
Some wine? well, probably some local merlot.
See how it goes.
If it's good, I'll put the other big cooked piece aside for Mrs Fitz's splendid return from work after midnight.
We are quite good at loving each other after all these years. I'm very happy with us, who we are, and how we are so different. I'm the old, happy enough, toothless, easy going, rotund 70 year old Australian, you know. Not someone all that easy to love...although I can cook some things quite well sometimes.
She's my joy. She's my... as Patrick White once said of his life lover...She's my Sweet Reason.
Enough said. Off to the late shop for some merlot and sauerkraut now.

The Paramedics of Palestine/Praise

I used to donate about $50 a pay to the Volunteer Red Crescent Ambulance Drivers in Gaza/Palestine, until the Australian Government stopped me from doing that. I re-directed the funds some time back to the UN Fund for Refugees, and I hope it did some good.
Imagine being a Palestinian Paramedic Ambulance Driver...they are accredited Paramedics, just like ours, and all Volunteers. Poor bastards, go out to help shot kids with all your skills and get shot in the back or the brain or blown up in your ambulance when you haven't even had breakfast, for doing it, and they are still going out and still doing great things every single day. We are all honoured by their existence, their remarkable clinical and adaptive skills, their heart-breaking love, and their total professional dedication. The real Heroes in all this Genocidal Horror.
"Good job, young men, well done. That's exactly, and only, how it's done."

Said the vague and loved and distant God.

Quite a Choice

I look at the Great Contenders for the next American Presidency, and there is one who is a known liar, thief, and great charismatic manipulator who believes that God is actually, really, protecting him; and you look at the other contender, the present facile demented President who is directly responsible, along with every person in Israel, for the 30,000 deaths of innocent men women and a hell of a lot of children in Gaza, good Lord, so many many children,

and the USA people are drawn to choose, to vote for one or the other come November?

That's not a free vote.

That's not a democracy.

That's not an election.

That's nuts.

That's a Failure to Thrive.

That's an unholy abortion of everything decent on earth.

winter poem

 Poem: A Winter Night Poem: A Dreaming Night

A dreaming night inside our warmed home.
Outside are all vestiges of storm and bleaking bleating bleakness
and the wind is wild as wild, then wilder than, til wilderness.

Winter is here, in its spades of sharpened warped clinking darkness. A karaoke of ice and menace.

A world away from here there are ribbons of warm light on the circumference
of a tropical and coconut harbour somewhere with nothing to pay
and palm trees, or so they say,
but not here.

They there will have to find their own dreams tonight.

Perhaps they will dream of us,
here in the determined parabolic warm breathing snug.
They are all respiring out, or sigh, whilst we inspire within or die.

Poem 2024. Still Gratitude

Still Gratitude

a poem by John Fitzpatrick in 2024

...

With a soul that did not grow

A mind that moved so slow 

and no grace at all to show.

Still gratitude.

For time that's out and in
For the ancients and for sin
With nothing false and nothing thin
Still gratitude.

For the love within the core
For myself and nothing more
For the wine about to pour
Still gratitude.

For the journey meant to end
The golden boy
On the river's bend
For the damaged joy
that Israel cannot end
Still gratitude.

Israel's War on the Poor continues. Must be almost 200 days now of massive bombing from land and sea and air.

 Stop it. It's mad.

All we have, and all we have ever had, is the notion of human reason, and it's kept the world going along...but this behaviour isn't within that notion at all. 

This is very, very bad.

Goodness in a simple bowl: Tonight's Pasta

Simple pasta recipe for midnight tonight, when Dear Wife returns from work.

Sip some nice wine. For this meal, it can be red or white, but fairly mild, like a merlot.

We are having some basic chardonnay tonight.

Get some paparadelle or fettuccine pasta, and put it in a big pot of boiling water with a bit of salt. Cook it violently for about 8 minutes, + about 5 minutes longer than the instructions say to cook it. It's best a bit beyond 'al dente'...and the packets lie.

Strain it through a colander, and then put it back in the same big still-hot pot. Then turn off the gas/electricity. Its done.

Add good triple virgin olive oil, a fair whack, and chopped up basil and chopped up fresh garlic to the pot. Add some fresh crashed pepper, stir it up, and just let it be.

Basically, that's it. The cooking is done. Sip some more of the wine.

To cook, well, it takes 15 minutes all up, and then it's all done.

I'm adding some thin cut mushrooms to it at this stage, but you don't have to. You could add chilli, if you like, but it's not necessary. Maybe a tiny bit. Chilli is a personal thing.

Then sip some more of the nice wine you have been sipping on.

Then, get bowls and put a good amount into each. On top, drop some freshly shaved or otherwise mutilated good parmesan, some more olive oil, a tad more pepper, and just let it be. Some folk drop a half-boiled egg on top, and that is interesting but there is no need.

On the side can be some garlic bread, for sure, but importantly, a small and interesting salad, with onions in it. A lively salad.

That's all you have to do. One big bowl + bread and you won't need to eat for about 12 hours. Its good. Simple. Goodness in a simple bowl.

Daughter in Chengdu

 Well, Tianshu has settled into new job in Chengdu, as manager of IT/AI Marketing.

Going on some business trip at the moment.

She is a Force of Nature.

I wish her well.

I wish them all well.