Author Archives: Therese Trouserzoff

Early Light

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Lehan Winifred Ramsay

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Early Light

Early Light

Painting and Story by Lehan Winifred Ramsay

This was the problem that the orphanage asked me to to find a solution for.
The orphanage didn’t have much money, relied on volunteers. The kids got a basic education at the orphanage, a pretty old-fashioned one. I think they had one teacher and they had classes five days a week. At the age of 15 they had to leave there.

Some of the kids got adopted, mainly by French couples. For the others the orphanage tried to give them some basic training of some kind and to get them a job.
But no matter what job a child got, it was a hard job with little pay and many hours of labour, and the kids gave up quickly and ran away.

They ended up on the street and things didn’t go well for them. The orphanage wondered if there was something that could be taught about personal responsibility. And something that could motivate them.

That was in 2005. I’ve been thinking about that for eight years now. Maybe they’ve found a solution, or maybe they’ve forgotten the problem. Anyway, so far I haven’t been able to think of anything.

Crazy Downhill Action Plus….

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Ricardo

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Good news and a treat from Ricardo

Bonjour mes amis!

You will not believe this but I have finished my 54,000 word novel and it has got rave reviews from a literary critic and a copy editor!!! It’s going to be published as a paperback and on Kindle!!!!

I am expecting to get sued by everyone in Glasgow, posthumously by Giacomom Puccini after what Nelson does to Madama Butterfly (it has a slightly  different ending…), the Freemasons plus my sister. b

If I make enough money I can pay for Emmjay and FM to do a return trip to Europe!!!

Richard Dostoevsky

—ooo—

Pig’s Arms Mindset Report

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Emmjay

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Social Security Interest Rates

Some Obscure and Pointless Graph

Story by Emmjay

Turbulent mind sets dominate this weeks news. The leading salvation index was up marginally with the celebration of chocolate and the curious exhortation to consume rabbit and more recently bilby !! effigies. Market demand for gratification through polygonally patterned ova of varying sizes was in evidence.

Goodwill was flat this week and international traders reported a steep rise in malice futures with market activity in the Korean Peninsula achieving new record heights daily.

Political disenchantment in the local market shifted with most investors adopting a wait and see approach, with the exception of some steep but isolated selling in the superannuation for the fabulously rich futures.

Greed maintained its strong position in the mindset markets which also saw a parallel rise in naked self-interest.

Concern over the environment was flat with a previously growing shift towards species extinction stalling and investors growing tired of ongoing lack of progress in the cetacean preservation sector.

Market watchers reported a steep rise in the New York Insouciance Index which led the local “I Couldn’t Give a Continental” futures to new post whatever happened yesterday highs.

The local red neck indifference quotient peaked mid week with the opening of the duck hunting season which naturally was preceded by a big rise in the righteous indignation over unjustifiable cruelty sector.

Punters with an emotional investment in technology-led quality of life diminution were active this week and the grumpy old fart leading 500 rose by one point. But it was a huge point. Just one, but really big. Enormous, actually.

Callous disregard was up. Whistle-blowing was flat.

Media cynicism and internal resentment were also well up on yesterday’s highs.

Generosity showed small signs of a recovery this week, possibly in line with a post-Easter resurgence in forgiveness.

Emotional investors were bullish about hatred and bearish about love, so no change there.

And that’s it for this week’s Pig’s Arms Mindset Report.

Don’t forget to join us next week when we talk mining and geology philosophy with the Dalai Lava.

The Cat

01 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Lehan Winifred Ramsay

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The Cat

The Cat

Painting and Story by Lehan Winifred Ramsay

This is a little story about moving.

I moved to a town for the third time. And for the third time I did not bring a cat with me, though the second time I took one. I thought I would go back for him, but now he is in another place that I left him, and he is dying.

He has cat cancer. I should have gone for him a long time ago but I didn’t have the resources to do that. I got an email asking me to go to him, but I didn’t have the resources to do that either.

It was a long time that I knew him; he is maybe nineteen years old now. This is the town that he was born. Did he want to be here when he died? Would he have preferred to be with me when he died? I don’t think that he would have cared.

Somebody picked him and his brother up off the river bank, down south in the town, when they were very small. If you go down to that particular part of the river bank you’ll find cats that look just like him. If I were free to behave in the way I would like to behave, then I would be going down to that part of the river bank looking for another kitten, or possibly two more kittens, to bring home, that’s what I think the moment of him dying means. But I am no more free to do that than I was to jump on a plane and fly to his deathbed.

There is an orphanage in Vietnam, that I visited once, that I made a promise to; to try to come up with a solution to a problem they had. It is a promise I haven’t been able to keep as yet because I haven’t figured out what the solution could be and I don’t want to give them a solution that doesn’t work.

And there are one or possibly two kittens on a riverbank just south of the centre of this town to whom I feel I have an obligation.

These are my most important obligations, at the moment, though I may never manage to fulfil them. They are not important for any particular reason. I think that I should have much more significant obligations as my main obligations, if I am going to have any. But I don’t. One is a promise that I thought was important, and the other is my grief, which I have suspended temporarily.

Family Favourites at the Pig’s Arms Part 7

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Algernon, Entertainment Upstairs

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a to do 2

Playlist compiled by Algernon, originally compiled by Warrigal Mirriyuula and Algernon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnPMoAb4y8U

Otis Redding Try A Little Tenderness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBijZqQ6KMU

Gene Pitney True Love Never Runs Smooth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs

Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo6aKnRnBxM

Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAyC4x3W0Fo

I remember  you – Frank Ifield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOyvYnkdEcc

You make me feel like a natural woman – Carol King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuC_l3ymXhM

Portland Oregon- Loretta Lynn and Jack White

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3GbF9Bx6E

California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & The Papas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3OIfuVpocU

Young gifted and black – Nina Simone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwrKKbaClME

Good Vibrations –The Beach boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4KXUr9JVng

Wednesday Morning, 3AM – Simon & Garfunkel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfYIMyS_dI

Only Time – Enya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjejqJVUYOU

Well, did you evah – Deborah Harry and Iggy Pop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I16SwYD3kA

Have I the Right – The Honeycombs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40VHWM1dUbU

Kashmir – Led Zeppelin with London Philharmonic Orchestra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSowZcvoqr4

Friday on my mind – The Easybeats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LVI1gDswg

Keep on Running – Spencer Davis Group

 

Harley v Indian – the Great Race 2013

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Emmjay

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Caught up with my almost long lost cousin, Bill Macnamara last week.  And reminisced amongst many other shared passions, our love of riding motorcycles – or in Bill’s case, not any old motorcycle….

For those less experienced in the sport, notice the nowdays never seen gear shift on the left side of the tank

Our thanks to Bill and to Steve at Raceframe for the use of the video.

and something for hph here:

Boldor 3

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite – up to a point, it seems

25 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by in Emmjay

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Anti-gay marriage protest - Paris

Borrowed with thanks from the ABC – our 8c is in the mail….

.

The ABC reported today that as the French government lower house passed into law the right for gay people to marry, French police broke up and dispersed an estimated 300,000 people protesting against the passing of the legislation  – and demanding a referendum.

The photograph above is interesting in that the protesters (at the front line at least) are all males.

So much for Egalite !

Why is it that French men – apparently – are so vehemently opposed to gay marriage ?

What a contrast it is with a previous French government that passed the anti-burqa laws – which seemed to be a departure from the national motto by the elected representatives of the French people.

Repression and liberation – both apparently unacceptable to the French.

Or perhaps we should look at this from another perspective – is this another expression of the re-emergence of the far right in an economically hammered Europe ?  Not a lot of long hairs in the picture either.

Local Talent

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Algernon

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Local Talent Road Trip

Local Talent Road Trip

Playlist by Algernon

I’ve tried something a little different this week and will be surprised if you’ve heard any of these tunes. All of them have been released in the last year or so. All these musicians are all young up and coming local musicians. Some of them I know personally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PimW7V6AEXk

Apples – Kate Martin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS1CeLdiFYA

Sometimes I wonder – Nic Jeffries and the Vibe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-TkClT4dC0

Your Love – Saskwatch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C824KjTsCIc

Baguette – Tyler Touché

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr63gYbUk70

Rendez-vous – Benny and the Dukes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=146qbnDHjXk

Magic – Panama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIQtcFEbBxU

Six months in a cast – The Trouble with Templeton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3u-pt8Ohjs

Embrace – Oliver Tank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5AD8D9cspk

Heart of a Line – The Griswolds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QLgGM2QvsY

Perfect Summer – Es Ist Super

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbIvrc7RdZ8

Purpose – Comin Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3qU1aJwe58

Your Words – Battleships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knKzV7jCV-c

Gallons  – Winter People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPNAIZUKwZk

Home – The Falls

 

 

 

 

What’s Wrong with Our Leaders ?

19 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Politics in the Pig's Arms

≈ 18 Comments

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HaigPatapan.JohnKane1-468x702Haigh Patapan and John Kane – Griffith University

Profs Haigh Patapan and John Kane discuss …..

As an alternative to our usual raves and rants and as an expression of a desire for balance ….. this interesting site hove into view – from a collaboration of researchers led by Swinburne University of Technology –  called Australian Policy Online

http://apo.org.au/

The clip comes from the ABC – somebody tell Q&A…… please …… there IS intelligent life on this planet