Mount Beauty Temperatures 23/06/12

It's been very cold today. Heavily overcast, the outside temp reached 8.2C about 2:00pm, its dropped back to 5C now (4.20pm). It's starting to get quite dark already. I love this time of year but it is quite cool. No wind.

Champagne Comedy

Falls Creek 22/06/12

I went to Falls today, it has been snowing heavily the past 24 hours, I thought I may find a bit of soft stuff. Got there about 11:00 am, Snowing heavily and cold, only sunglasses no goggles. Got to the top of Towers and headed over towards Lakeside. Lots of untracked, started in, yuck! Heavy and although the cover looked good, I kept breaking through to the scrub underneath. Had one more run and came home.

If the snow keeps up for another day, the better areas should open up.

"The Age" Its Decline and C Northcote Parkinson

"The Age" and the rest of Fairfax media company is collapsing at an ever rapid rate. This has been inevitable for some time now. The whole thing and the reasons why are well covered in the mainstream media. What I find interesting is that by reading Professor C Northcote Parkinson one could have foreseen this happening 10 years ago, without knowing anything about "The Age".

About 10 years ago Fairfax closed the Spencer Street printing press and moved to a purpose built 'State of the Art' printing plant located in Tullamarine. The plant is a glass and architecture marvel.

At the time I recalled a quote of Professor Parkinson's.

"Perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse."
C. Northcote Parkinson

I wondered if it was relevant in this case. The building was perfect both in appearance and function. The old building in Spencer St continued to house the remaining staff. It is a grimy industrial structure.

As Fairfax and "The Age" continued to deteriorate the company built a beautiful new building for the management and newspaper staff. It too is in Spencer St, however instead of being at the north and dingy end of the street it was built on the corner of Collins and Spencer. With the development of the Docklands the new building is in a commanding position at the juncture of the old and new in Melbourne. It too is an architectural wonder. The exterior and interior being perfectly suited to an enterprise at the height of its powers.

Remember the quote.

"Perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse."

What more is there to say?

Seasons End

Trout season is over for the next few months. Only lake fishing is legal until spring. So it's time for bike riding, bushwalking and skiing. I may try to fish Rocky Valley this winter. It depends on the weather.

I walked Hollands Hill a couple of days ago. Saw a lyrebird. I was about 5 metres from it before it saw me.

I didn't get a photo but this what it looked like.

Bogus 'Asylum Seekers' = Illegal Immigrants

It seems that everyone in Australia except the Labor Party and the Greens know we have a problem with illegal immigration. GILLARD and HANSON YOUNG are either wilfully ignorant or liars, I'm know that GILLARD is a liar, unsure about HANSON YOUNG.

From the Australian

"ASYLUM-SEEKERS are discarding their passports at soaring rates, sparking renewed calls for boatpeople to be penalised for destroying their identity documents in a bid to help their refugee claims.

Of the 3237 asylum-seekers who admitted to flying to Indonesia on a passport, 3200 did not have any travel documents when they arrived in Australia."

These people had papers and destroyed them prior to arriving in Australia. Why would they do that? If they had genuine claims to asylum wouldn't their documents assist them in proving their claims? Apparently not.

Perhaps their papers would have shown them to not be asylum seekers just people wanting a better life.

Anyone who wants a better life by working hard is ok by me. Let them in. BUT!!!! NO WELFARE FOR 10 YEARS, NO GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE WHATSOEVER, I would allow them a lower tax rate to compensate for exclusion from welfare. If that doesn't work for them let them go back home.

85% OF THESE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE ON WELFARE FIVE YEARS AFTER GETTING HERE. These people have no desire to make a better life for themselves. They want a better life paid for by other people - YOU and ME. Paying lazy bludgers to come here and sit on their arses is plain madness. Why would anyone think it's a good idea.

Every pensioner and working person in this country lives a poorer life so that these LAZY BASTARDS can sit here taking our hard earned money. IT IS REALLY DUMB.

We are creating an underclass of permanent welfare sinks who have no idea of hard work or personal responsibility. Their whole life is TAKE, TAKE, TAKE !!!

Cut the welfare, if they want to work GOOD. If they want to go home PAY THEIR AIRFARE and GOOD RIDDANCE to bad rubbish.