Monday, January 10, 2011

Beer, wine, naked women and the week before Christmas

'T'was the week before Christmas, when all ‘round the ‘Juck
Not a cloud wasn’t pouring, not a few with thunder struck.
The lures were hung by the loop knots with care,
In hopes that fat cod soon would be theirs.

The children with iPods all snug in the cottage,
While visions of monsoons turned lake to porridge.
And Mum with a white and I with a beer,
Had just settled our brains to spend the trip in here.

When out on the lake there arose such a clatter,
As the gale from the south did the porridge batter.
Again another morn’ as the gale did blow,
The Brindabella Ranges did deport in snow.

The moon on the water ne’er did appear
As the lake to the back door crept ever near.
When, finally to my wondering eyes should show,
But a modicum of sun, and above 11 the temperature did go .

With a favourite old diver, on the penultimate day,
Did I plough the topsoil from up Goodradigbee way.
The cav’ plate of the outboard nowhere in sight,
Was eloquent testimony to my luring plight!

When on the final day the summer did return,
The kids round the lake in the ring took turn,
And laying aside all the hardbody baits,
I turned to the spinner-blades without any takes!

I filled up the car and to the family gave a whistle,
And to the chocolate malted lake we waved our dismissal.
But I managed to exclaim, ‘ere I tooled round that switchback,
"Happy fishing to all, and to all I’ll be back!"





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Friday, March 20, 2009

Bonus Fish Friday

Friday, March 13, 2009

Fish Friday

Hans Nicolaas Stam
(1955-2009)

In Loving Memory

click to enlarge — image by nick

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Friday, February 06, 2009

Fish Friday

Friday, November 14, 2008

Fish Friday

Friday, October 10, 2008

Fish Friday

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

goldfish funeral

Friday, September 26, 2008

Fish Friday

Too young to kill?


This is the photo that greets one after clicking the blog link Is fishing cruel? that appeared in the SMH on Wednesday. The title of the blog - which appears immediately above the killer child - is Hooked on a cruel sport. The author, Steve Jacobs who describes himself as "acting environment editor", goes on the write a piece which provides background for the question proposed by the blog: "So what do you think? Can fish think and feel pain and should we treat them as fellow living creatures rather than as toys?"

The nature and wording of the question rather gives the game away. Automatically we are treating fish as toys unless we view fish in terms of ourselves. The question, less emotively put, is worth considering. Unfortunately Mr. Jacobs is not interested in any consideration as his blog makes abundantly plain. Following from the egregious "too young to kill" caption under the photo the acting editor diligently constructs a highly one-sided argument that resorts to the basest of emotive prods designed to elicit a certain response.

Jacobs quotes one Bidda Jones (chief scientist of the RSPCA) as saying "In parts of Australia, until very recently, fish didn't count when it came to animal welfare legislation - the legal definition of an animal excluded them". As one respondent pointed out:
Animal ethics legislation has covered vertebrate fish (ie those with a backbone,but not shellfish)for a great many years. The statement to the contrary in the second paragraph of this blog is simply not correct.

But it is not factual innacuracies that annoy, it is the highly emotive and one sided nature of the piece - intended to skew the response - that irritates. The reason we don't debate this, according to Jacobs, is that there are some five million fishers in this country who don't wish to know. Further, Jacobs states that while it is one thing to kill fish for "nutritional benefit" it is entirely another to "kill fish for fun". Personally I know no one who kills fish for fun. When a marine biologist pointed out that very few anglers "kill for fun" and that the scientific evidence about fish and pain had been ignored, Jacobs responded with: "There is a counter argument from a fishing correspondent attached to the blog posting, which is given for balance." What complete and utter rubbish. Two lines and a link are all that exists as far as "balance" goes.

An idea of the of balance of Mr. Jacobs is the following:
Should we be alarmed at the smile of joy on a child's face when he or she has caught a fish? After all, if the child had killed a puppy, we would be worried that he or she was on the way to becoming a serial killer.
What an ugly conflation. The child - which may or may not have been too young to kill - in the photo is now well on the path to becoming a "serial killer". Seems her "habit" began with murdering fish.

From such does Ivan Milat come I suppose.

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Friday, August 22, 2008

Fish Friday

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Rectory by the Sea

Ok, so no one's going to the Cook Islands. After Kathy's picture yesterday i just had to fire up the Rectory kitchen and have a seafood feast: Rectory Sevillan seafood (prawns, scallops and calamari); Sydney rocks; Rectory Fried Fish and mussels in their own liquor. I'm too full...



Helpful serving postulants are a boon...

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Friday, August 08, 2008

Fish Friday

Friday, July 25, 2008

Fish Friday

Friday, July 11, 2008

Fish Friday...




What such evenings can bring.

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Friday, July 04, 2008

Fish Friday

Friday, June 27, 2008

Fish Friday

Friday, June 20, 2008

Fish Friday

Ice fishing...Eucumbene style.

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