What's what?

Ohh ffs... now I've opened the lets bash the commercial fishermen locker ffs.

Always a popular subject with greenie type surfers just b4 they order there a new petro chemical surfboard ( old one only lasted 3 months) and book there jet airfares on another surf trip to a third world country after they have driven around aimlessly for a hour looking for the best bank on there local coastline ...pfft

Give it a rest or I'll share my time working on a organic r.s.p.c.a approved free range chicken farm.

Lifes not perfect. ...but without farmers... you have nothing to eat

Im far from a greenie type surfer.

If i vote below the line the Greens are one of the last parties id list and I'm not huge on environmental issues and i love meat i could never live without it and i general don't have a problem with commercial fishing.

It was the fisherman in me that was horrified, i love fishing and i eat what i catch but i do stick to size limits and catch limits but it's really quite pointless when you have trawlers pull up shit loads of by catch and then it goes back dead, should have see the dolphins they loved it they were following the boat ready for the free feed.

There is a difference between farming and sustainable fishing and something like trawling which has to be the most unsustainable forms of fishing ever, even long lining doesn't catch smaller fish or destroy the ocean bottom, trawling is like dynamite fishing on a large scale kills everything that can get caught in the net and destroys the ocean bottom.

This is just the start

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSznC5rD6Yx/?taken-by=guardianaustralia

Adani has an appalling environmental record in India and they need to be stopped before the fuck up here.

what a load of gaslighting bullshit fong. you're such a reactionary bad boy!

so you're happy with how prawns are commerically fished in queensland? then good for you. munch all the prawns you want . but you don't get to tell me what i like or eat, just as i don't get to tell you what you like or eat. simple principle that seems to have escaped your fascist brain.

oh yeah, i walked to the beach for my surf today, just like i did yesterday and the day before.

and i'm a farmer (well, the correct term is "grazier". a farmer is a person who crops. but townies like you wouldn't have a clue about that, we're all just farmers to you).
if you're in sydney you can see some of my merino rams in competition at the royal easter show.

Chook, how do we tell a good merino ? Big and thick wool ? Good stuff ...

Ethical business practice should be the norm in every industry in my opinion.

Personally, I liken using dragnets to lighting a bushfire just to catch a kangaroo but I still eat prawns all the same.

Shark attack fatality: Esperance

http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/teenage-girl-dies-after-shark-attack-in-es...

It seems that the Turkish people have democratically voted for the dismantling of democracy in their country including heading towards a more fundamentalist version of Islamism.

You'd have to assume that it's a real turning point in that part of the world.

https://theconversation.com/erdogan-declares-victory-in-his-pursuit-of-o...

"Corbyn’s team has been hopeless at handling the media and managing his public image. This is a massive liability, but it also reflects a noble disregard for presentation and spin. Shouldn’t we embrace it? This was the licence granted to Gordon Brown, whose inept performances on television and radio as prime minister were attributed initially to his “authenticity” and “integrity”.

[The difference was] he had the confidence of the City and the billionaire press. This ensured that his ineptitude was treated as a blessing..."

THIS IS ALL A BIT RICH COMING FROM THE GUARDIAN...WHO HAVE VEHEMENTLY BEEN OPPOSED TO CORBYN FROM THE GET-GO. BUT...

"It would be foolish to deny or minimise these flaws [as defined by The Guardian!]. But it would be more foolish still to use them as a reason for granting May a mandate to destroy what remains of British decency and moderation, or for refusing to see the good that a government implementing Corbyn’s policies could do."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/25/vote-labour-jeremy...

There's always time to re-visit the book "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media" by Herman and Chomsky.

Media Muppets.

Maybe the political / journalistic classes of the USA, UK and Australia need to read this as a mirror to their own situation rather than indulging in the continued handwringing and external finger pointing they are currently concentrating on.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/01/emmanuel-macron-fr...

Macron as a centrist !

And to think that so many people spent hours of their lives decrying Murdoch's attempts at controlling the direction of politics and now are so strangely silent......because they believe that righteousness is on their side.

tb said: "Chook, how do we tell a good merino ? Big and thick wool ? Good stuff ..."

yep, it's all about the wool. but not thick wool. sheep wool has a crimp in it (it's wiggly). the wool with the smallest/finest crimp in it commands the highest price at auction -- it's used for the high-end italian suits. but you also want the wool to be long -- more wool on the sheep. there is trade off between the two. usually the finer the wool is, the less there is. so the best rams have very fine wool and lots of it. they are then sold to for breeding.

in the '80s my father decided to stop breeding for the ultra fine wool and instead breed for longer wool. that meant our wool didn't earn the absolute top dollar, but we had lots more wool and so earned more money.
when my father retired, my brother ditched that idea and now breeds for ultra fine wool (and tries to make it as long as possible ).

Been waiting for years to discuss superfine wool on this website. Our family started out around 18 microns or so and slowly brought it down to some bales in the 12-15 range. Used to love shearing time, trying not to get in the way, sweeping, sorting the fleeces, pressing bales...good memories. But, like your dad, once the ares fell out of the industry dad shifted to fat lambs, and sold the farm 5 years ago.

I was driving past a sheep farm on the way to Raglan last time I was in New Zealand and saw a farmer creeping up from behind on a sheep that had its head stuck in a hedge.

" You'd better be about to shear that !" I yelled out.

" Fuck you , I'm not sharing this with anybody ! " he shouted back.

You've got to realise that this is a joke that works way better with an oral delivery.

ah blowin, what about the Aussie ventriloquist who was "talking" to a Kiwi farmer's animals.

Punch line is the Kiwi farmer saying to the Aussie "don't talk to that lamb, she's a fucking liar".

Even ANZ boss recognises need for financial capability for the nation's workers.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/anz-banks-shayne-elli...

Yeah, but nah...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/anz-banks-first-half-...

glad i could oblige there mcbain...yeah, not a lot of wool talk on here.
we never moved into fat lambs when things went bad, just stuck with the stud, head in the sand and selling land to stay afloat. it broke my heart to lose land, never to sit again on those hills, watching the wedge tails. my sisters thought the land was haunted and cursed. but i accepted any curse as the price to be with the spirits of the land.

Jeez, that's quite poetic Chook. Really. Release your inner Les Murray/John Kinsella etc...

Anyways, after last week's holiday, here's one we should be jumping all over...especially you über-patriots out there that get all choked up by anything Australian.

https://jacobinmag.com/2016/05/may-day-rosa-luxemburg-haymarket

World leaders! Oi Oi Oi

thanks tt.
my inner les murray doesn't needs any more release -- i'm just full of overwrought sentimentality. what makes murray so good, well any writer i guess, is that they can write for extensive lengths, capturing something without ending up with overwrought sentimentality. i barely managed one line.

i went to look at the painting of les murray at the univerity of NSW yesterday only to find that it had been removed. the bastards.

Boycott Redbull - send the bastards a message .

http://www.smh.com.au/world/red-bull-heir-vorayuth-yoovidhya-jets-out-of...

Not that you're likely to drink the shit anyway.

What is it about the letter " U" in the word " Cronulla " that Seppos can't get their heads around ?

Where in fucks name they get " Cronolla " from ?

I'm looking at you too Matt Warsaw......which is an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise exemplary role as a surf media legend.

If you want a laugh, ask them to say "maori"!

Yeah, and while you're at it, when did 'herhs' become pronounced with a silent 'h'?

and when did entrée become the main course?

FFS.

The entree/main course thing is a classic.

"entree" as the main course is how the term used in north america (US and canda, but not mexico, yes mexico is north america). it is a very old usage of the word (the french settled in canada in the 16th century). the french in france changed their usage of the word over time.

entree never meant first course in in it's old usage. it was a middle course, in the (medieval?) days when formal dinning had many, many courses --more than the seven (i think) of today's french formal dining.

so it's just a cultural difference. words don't mean anything in themselves, but only in usage within a population and culture of language users. there are a host of weird, very old words that survive in north america from early settlement by the english, french and dutch that we in australia don't use. and vice versa -- try using "amongst" in the States and people fall over laughing and mock they prithee sir for thou very ancient usage.

Nice one Chook!

full disclosure...i've had long and bitter arguments in america about how stupid the use of the term is...then i started dating a food writer for the NYT....i'm just repeating what she said when she thoroughly schooled me.

I read somewhere that it started in the 60's or 70's maybe as a result of something published by Julia Child, but more likely as just another point of difference to Europe. In addition to not adopting the metric system, putting their dates in chronological order, even the placement of the knife and fork at 8:20 compared to 4:20 to signal the end of the course is unique to them only etc.

Nobody can convincingly say why they do this, even the literal meaning means 'entrance', so the meaning of the word is more than obvious.

I'm not sure what parts of Canada use entree as main course but I've had this discussion before with Canadian friends from both coasts, they say main course not entree. Even Québécois use the internationally accepted entree, plat principal (main course) and dessert.

But, like you chook, trying to argue with them is fruitless.

I agree Zen, to me the U.S. does things like that just to make a point; they do it because as the dominant culture, they can.

You wanna take it up a notch? Have a 'discussion' with a Septic denizen about Sept 11 vs 9-11 over a Bintang or twenty...

And in 'freedom fries' related news, a quote:

"A bad result in France, but not the worst result. Likely outcome will be immiseration, but without the extra helping of racism on top. Yay."

Well the date discussion (don't go there) would just be plain inflammatory (don't go there again), Turkey.
Even though they're wrong.

And I had to bust out the dictionary but yes, immiseration will almost certainly be the result of continued neoliberal policies as directed by France's new "centrist" President.

Marxist theory comrade...

Speaking of Macron, the following article has some valid points, apart from the supposition that the global elite are leftist.

https://tipolitics.com/macron-is-no-centrist-3cdb1dafc765

the julia child angle has a convincing ring to it , zen. it's not like restaurant culture in america is continuous, dating back to the 1500s in northenr canada.

anyway, it's just another sign of US cultural imperialism (and i don't mean that in some undergraduate judgemental way) in our language.

my gf is from north america and the whole knife and fork usage creates some tensions. not just placement to signal finshed or still eating, but she cuts her food up, then swaps the fork to her other hand and eats. i thought she was a bumpkin. but it seems quite acceeptable in the US.

i'm off to japan in a few week, so i'll be engaging in a host of food etiquette faux pas of my own. never leave the chopsticks sticking into a bowl of rice and and never pass food from one set of chostisks to another set (all somethng to do with funerals and death?). that's about all i've know so far (learned from a GF who lived for 10 years in japan). where would I be without the ladies...

"I thought she was a bumpkin"

Hahaha!

Bless...

And don't use your chopsticks to point at anything or scratch your back.

Talk with your mouth full of food spilling out, chew noisily and smack your lips and slurp your noodles and soup as loudly as possible.

Perfectly acceptable:)

Hold the presses! Look out Pauline & the One Notion-ers, there's a new sheriff in town!

http://junkee.com/mark-latham-joined-liberal-democrats-australian-politi...

Have we turned a corner ?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/uk-election-jeremy-corbyns-leaked-labour-man...

Will the concept of a society get a fresh foothold in this age of ultra individualistic capitalism that has been pressed upon us ?

Whose side is the New York Times on ?

great news for all you visionaries , the workers paradise exists! venezuala!! get your arses there now boys, theres surf too! i know hugo is dead :( but maduro is just as great, and sean penn thinks hes ok too! always room for shotgun-toting flunkies to suppress the recalcitrants, andym etc born for the role.. ole!

Are they the only two choices: Venezuela or America?

its a non-binary world these days... choose your spot on the spectrum!

Loungelizard, unlike the U.S. I'm all for Bolivarian self-determination in Central and South America.

You can only imagine how much better off many of those countries, including Venezuela, would be without U.S. interference.

It must have really pissed of the U.S. when their coup against Chavez in 2002 failed!
No wonder the anti-Venezuela propaganda has been in full-swing ever since.

By the way, if you know what's going on in Venezuela you're doing well; if you can tell me whether Maduro is moving towards a dictatorship or the opposition is conspiring with the US to destabilise the country, or whatever, you're doing better than most of the world's press.

Moving towards a dictatorship? Think that ship has well and truly sailed, Andy, and Chavez was at the helm. The socialist dream faded long, long ago.

You see the recent episode of Foreign Corespondent, featuring friend of Swellnet Sheepy Davis behind the camera?

Is Friend of Swellnet an official title ?

Is it bestowed or self declared ?

Is there hazing of new Friends ?

I met Craig at a black ops secret surfing location yesterday. We shook hands but I didn't pick up on any discrete signals for the Friends of Swellnet secret handshake.

So it's either not a " thing " or else I'm not a party to it.

Looks like another sleepless night of recriminating self loathing ahead as I wonder what went wrong.

Was it because I mentioned Madonna's cooch ?

Or was it the 1000 other obnoxious things I've written ?

As you can see from the above video, Sheepy has connections in Venezuela, which is where Swellnet is looking to expand some of our lesser-known operations. Consider it a mutual back scratching exercise.

But that's not too say you too can't become a "friend". Got any intel on the DPRK?

We'll exchange top line data for a three month subscription, T-shirt, and you get to become a friend of Swellnet!

But why Stu? Is it as simple as the idea that Chavez and Maduro are thieves and socialism facilitates this?

Or is possible that, like Cuba, external pressures force the development of an authoritarian government?

What effect did the privatizations mandated by the International Monetary Fund in the 1990s have on Venezuela?

How have coup attempts and constant foreign economic pressure affected politics?

At around 8.10, the Venezuelan historian being interviewed criticises the government for reducing oil production but surely this is only in response to artificially deflated oil prices which are a part of the campaign by the U.S. and the Saudis to not just weaken the Venezuelan economy, but also to temper the influence of Russia and Iran.

To be honest, it seems like the vast majority of that Foreign Correspondent video concentrates on the fact that Venezuela is currently a basket case - shot after shot of queues, rubbish, scavenging and gangs.

It was probably beyond the scope of the story, but I'm still looking for credible reasons why this has all come about.

Ha, did you stick around over the weekend, it got a lot better especially yesterday morning with everyone busy with Mothers Day commitments. Also had a great solo surf out of town Saturday late morning. God's country.

Great meeting you, brief as it was. Beers at the bowlo next time will get you the acclaimed "Friends of Swellnet" title.

Yeah , I had a little play on Saturday but usually give the crew some space on their days off. Small but fun.

Beautiful region . Always a pleasure to visit. As long as you dodge the holidays you're pretty stoked for someone to surf with away from the obvious spots.

And there are some world class waves around, that's for sure . I used to write the area off a bit till i realised that I was just plain ignorant of what goes down.

The longer that it's below the radar the better ! Thankfully most crew write it off, as I used to and it's not worth the drive for " fickle " sandbanks.

It would be unreal to go for a surf and / or a beer next time you're around as I'll probably be here for another couple of months.

We'll have to work on that secret handshake.

PS - your solo surf , was it North or south of where I met you ?

Ah awesome, yes will hit you up when next around. I was south :)

Sounds good mate.

Got to love those solo surfs.....but there are some very large fish getting around !

I've shared lonely sessions with some big names in surfing around there. You'd be amazed who turns up at some of the quiet sandbanks.