behind every successful man

Over at Twuntr, Scott Clarke  aka @Winetosser posits beautifully:

Peta: How did you handle the press?
Tony: I ran away.
Peta: You what?
Tony: I ran away and they chased me. It was cool. I won!

Peta: Did you say anything to them?
Tony: Nuh
Peta: Anything?
Tony: I might have told them
 to fuck off but they were chasing me. 





In this image, his Chief Of Staff Ms Peta*Credlin, is watching her PM giving a speech during the previous election campaign.

This is my photo. The stiletto heeled shoe came out of the ComCar first and alone, then the foot went into it. I liked her right from that moment.
Of course she is a Western District girl. They had driven that day from a Ferntree Gully speech to a 1pm Ballarat Party faithful gathering by invite.
See how tall she is - TA has to look up to her. Between these two photos they had a heads-together exchange, and before, he looked over at me to see if I was snapping them so I didn't.

Then The Candidate strides up a bluestone lane to a crowd waiting outside The Mining Exchange where local LIB members are waiting at an invitation-only occasion. HE immediately embraced the cardigan women waving placards protesting about puppy farms. It was genius for the next day front page Ballarat Courier, with him holding them and them holding small fluffy doglets.  Then he disappeared into the venue. The choice of ignoring several other organised banner wavers for the doggy sweeties was clearly arranged by cellphone well before he even turned that historic corner.
I would love to be that Malcolm Tucker puppeteer. I wonder if Ms Peta swears at Mr Rabbit?
I'd love to do that too.
Her husband is Bri Loughnane the LIB Party Director. It can't be easy. Do follow that link to a LIB refugee joke website he authorised and which will no doubt be taken down any minute.
UPDATE 25/10: it has it was, it's gone. the cartoon refugee boats LIB joke has gone. weasels. Now the schoolboy snipers pretend to be leaders they remove evidence of their nasty side.

not keen Keane

I get the bus. 
I got a MYKI on the first day it was sold in Ballarat in the winter of 2009. On arriving home I telephoned to register it and spoke with ‘Luke’. He gave me various security code numbers which I noted, but registering online-use proved too difficult for him to achieve and we both gave up. I should have realised how important this was.
I topped it’s balance up by $20 only days ago and used it normally on Tuesday 22nd January.
On Thursday 24th it was stone dead unusable. I bought a Daily ticket to travel.
On arriving home I went online to deal with my various MYKI numbers and ‘register’. 
No deal because ‘your MYKI has expired’.
I start from first-base to re-register and purchase online. DOB, address and phone are required in order to catch a bus. After giving all that, I got – ‘we already have that name’, ‘that email’ etc.

It would seem that I was supposed to organise my online use, and a new card, with transfer of my $20 balance, sometime before Wednesday 23rd January. 
 Where was that written? 
 How many thousands of similar balances are now in limbo?
‘Keane Australia Micropayment Consortium Pty Ltd (Kamco) is the Melbourne-based company

‘Kamco is wholly owned by Keane International Incorporated, a privately owned IT services company

From their ‘Overview’ page:
‘Employing more than 100 people in Melbourne, Australia, Kamco also boasts a dedicated team of software developers and testers in Hyderabad, India 
From their FAQ page: ‘Kamco is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. It also uses a dedicated development and testing team operating out of Hyderabad, India.’

‘Keane has been in operation since 1965, employing more than 10,000 people across 11 countries.
Kamco was formed in 2005 to bid for the New Ticketing Solution.

‘Kamco is a single purpose entity, established to build and operate the myki ticketing system on behalf of the State Government of Victoria.

In July 2005 Kamco was awarded the contract to build, operate and maintain the NTS (myki) system. Kamco is contracted to run the myki system for 10 years following implementation. Key among those subcontractors has been Giesecke-Devrient, which provides the cards and ACS Solutions Switzerland, which provides the software, maintenance, and: 1,000 ticket vending machines, 12,200 fare payment machines, 2,500 bus driver consoles, 1,000 tram driver consoles, 1,500 hand held devices for Transit Inspectors, 220 train station gates, 220 ticket office terminals, and 900 retail terminals'.  (for those 94,000 square miles of State - Ed.)

Keane Australia Micropayment Consortium Pty Ltd (Kamco) is at Level 14, 628 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
 I would like Level 14 at 628 Bourke to go down in history as the site of 

the Second Eureka Stockade.

today in the 'Rat

Today I went to

Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

and saw an exhibit of works

by Michael Shannon.

Any of them would be a

pleasure to view daily.

I also had to see the re-installed and

revered Eureka Flag after the restoration work.

The room it is in is very dark and flash is not permitted,

so I am surprised at the image really.

Seeing this flag is my version of

hallowed ground.

"The design of the flag was taken by Captain Henry Ross, one of Eureka's miners and a Canadian expatriate, to three women, Anastasia Withers, Anne Duke and Anastasia Hayes, to sew up in time for a large rally at Bakery Hill, at 2.00 pm on 29 November 1854. ".

Can you imagine the life of a woman on the diggings? All mud, dust, and tired drunken men. A bit like waiting for a popstar boyfriend to strike it rich with a hit record.

As I came out of the gallery a bike club

was assembled to resume

their ride to Warrnambool.

If you click to embiggen, you will see

a Ned Kelly doll lashed to one bike and he

has a Smurf in his pocket. I had not

been aware that Ned's infamous suit of iron

even had a pocket, but I did enjoy

the outlaw confluence of bikers,

Ned, and

The Treacherous Event Of 1854.

From the bus stop on Sturt Street,

this alley next to the old post office has

a view of the Art School built behind the gallery recently ...

... and this is the view I had

while waiting to go

11 kilometres out to

the gum trees on the edge of town

where, in spite of the CFA advising

that the area is

not defendable should there be a bushfire,

it is very pleasant to be.

Update:

An attempt to enlarge Ned & his pocket Smurf.

The flag by someone allowed to assert themselves.