Petri dishes are often used to make agar plates for microbiology studies. The dish is partially filled with warm liquid containing agar and a mixture of specific ingredients that may include nutrients, blood, salts, carbohydrates, dyes, indicators, amino acids and antibiotics. Once the agar cools and solidifies, the dish is ready to be inoculated (“plated”) with a microbe-laden sample. Virus or phage cultures require a two-stage inoculation: after the agar preparation, bacteria are grown in the dish to provide hosts for the viral inoculum. Agar plates may be formulated as either permissive, with the intent of allowing the growth of whatever organisms are present, or restrictive or selective, with the intent of only allowing growth a particular subset of those organisms. This may take the form of a nutritional requirement, for instance providing a particular compound such as lactose as the only source of carbon and thereby selecting only organisms which can metabolize that compound, or by including a particular antibiotic or other substance in order to select only organisms which are resistant to that substance. This correlates to some degree with defined and undefined media; undefined media, made from natural products and containing an unknown combination of very many organic molecules, is typically more permissive in terms of supplying the needs of a wider variety of organisms, while defined media can be precisely tailored to select organisms with specific properties.
Recently been having some work done in garden. A Bobcat with a wicked looking “Ripper” attachment (“Rip through tough, hard-packed, and frozen material with the powerful force of the ripper attachment. Built for maximum penetration, the ripper attachment tears through tough soil and frozen ground with rugged force. Gussets provide heavy-duty ripping power, and a heavy-duty shank reinforces the attachment structure for maximum uptime protection. The single-point tooth design delivers optimum penetration, ripping through frozen ground and through root systems with ease. Penetrate, scarify, and remove with the powerful tearing force of the ripper attachment.”) has been turning over the ground, while soon a shitload of manure will arrive and be spread over and into the now loosened soil. Then the landscape will be ready for, receptive to, the planting of new trees which would have had no chance of surviving in the original growth medium of the garden. And the new medium will be permissive, ready for a diversity of trees and shrubs and flowers.
Looks like Tony Abbott has issued his merry men (and Julie) “Ripper” attachments for their political bobcats. Rippers designed to rip through tough social fabric, the roots of political networks, and frozen progressive beliefs with rugged force, their single-minded obsession providing optimum penetration. Rip – science destroyed; rip – chaplains in public schools; rip – Medicare co-payments; rip – bring back British honours; rip – high university fees; rip – 6 months with no support for unemployed youth; rip – increase GST; rip – create a right wing curriculum; rip – no minimum wage; rip – decimate tax office; rip – ban all protest; rip – smash public service; rip – remove oversight and regulation of white collar crime; rip – promote monarchy; rip – destroy all parliamentary conventions; rip – remove laws against discrimination and racism; rip – destroy public broadcasting. And so on – feel free to add others.
They have been working away (with the help of the media) since 7 September, turning over Australian society, creating a medium in which to plant their ideology. Adding a shitload of horse manure from the American Tea Party. Producing a selective medium precisely tailored for one ideology – defined as the Randian Hayekian Friedmanite neoconservative laissez-faire unregulated nineteenth century dog-eat-dog world of 21st century America. Ideology which could not have flourished in the old unripped Australia. No other ideology, philosophy, ideas, views, will be able to grow in this restrictive medium. No power source except corporate power will be permitted to flourish.
Welcome to Australia’s neoliberal garden.
RIP Australia.
