Things have not gone this far yet on most Australian campuses, but they are on the way to this, a kind of decadent athletics of sorts:
  https://www.thecollegefix.com/penis-ring-toss-lubricant-taste-tests-featured-at-public-universitys-sex-ed-carnival/

“A penis ring toss, vagina bean bag toss, and lubricant taste tests were just a few of the activities students at George Mason University took part in Tuesday night at a “Consent Carnival” hosted by the Student Support and Advocacy Center. The vagina bean bag toss boasted giant inflatable lips that served to mimic a “vagina,” and students could throw large pink bean bags into it. The game doubled as an educational display, informing students on flyers that “not all people with vaginas are women.” “Genitalia is not an indicator of gender and it can be harmful to assume so,” the display added. Other information provided included the number of nerve endings on the clitoris (8,000), how the labia comes in different colors (“light pink to dark brown”), and the fact that the vagina is self cleaning. As for the penis ring toss, the educational component to that game was that the eight or so three-foot-high penis inflatables were surrounded by signs on how to correctly use a condom, among other information. Meanwhile there was popcorn and candy for students to nibble on. They were also offered tastings of various lubricants. The flavors included cupcake, watermelon and green apple. Additional stations at the carnival included the “gender unicorn” booth, which helped teach students how to properly react to friends coming out as LGBTQ. There was also an “affirmative consent kissing booth” and a “you mustache for consent” table that sought to teach students how to get verbal consent before and as they engage in sexual activity. “Condom balloon pop” and “don’t touch my hair” booths were also offered to the crowd, but many students flocked to the face painter and snowcone machine, which appeared to be the biggest hits at the event. (The face painter told The Fix students were not asking for sexually explicit images.) And no carnival would be complete without a balloon artist.

     Japan may be moving towards the legalisation of same sex marriage, if a recent opinion poll is any gauge of things:
  https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/09/8cd410ef9806-70-of-married-women-in-japan-support-same-sex-marriage.html
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Japan

“Almost 70 percent of married women in Japan believe that same-sex marriage should be legalized in the country, a government survey of around 6,000 married women showed Friday. Among those in their 30s or younger, roughly 90 percent supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, according to the survey conducted last year by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. The survey has been conducted every five years since 1993 to collect data on Japanese households, including the distribution of chores. Questions on same-sex couples were added for the first-time last year.”

     Cheer up lads, the fight is grim and it is easy to lose spirit, and hope that a large rock flung towards earth will finish everything off, but there is always hope. See, the state of Arizona is citing porn as public health risk, and isn’t it, a kind of plague sweeping throughout the land?
  https://www.foxnews.com/health/arizona-follows-lead-of-other-states-in-calling-pornography-a-public-health-crisis?

“Arizona lawmakers last week approved a resolution calling for efforts to prevent children from being exposed to pornography online, a move similar to those of legislative bodies in at least 15 other states that are calling adult sexual content a public health crisis. "It is an epidemic in our society, and this makes a statement that we have a problem," said Arizona state Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican whose chamber approved the resolution last Monday. She blamed pornography for contributing to a number of societal issues, such as violence against women, sexual activity among teens and unintended pregnancies. The resolution is non-binding but could signal future action. Many of the resolutions put forward are based on a model written by anti-porn group the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. Mark Kernes, a senior editor at the trade publication Adult Video News media network, called porn harmless entertainment meant for adults. He said linking sexual adult content with social problems is “complete fear-mongering.” Others say the resolutions could create a risk for LGBTQ groups and leave out calls for better sex education for teenagers. "If you stub your toe, that might be something you can't solve yourself, but that doesn't make it a public health issue," said Emily Rothman, a professor of community health sciences at Boston University.”

To The Australian         Perhaps we need to take more notice of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price ("I don't do Welcome to Country because it is a modern construct", Cut & Paste, 20/9). Like the "Aboriginal flag", this practice lacks authenticity and is being used to strengthen the forces of Aboriginal separatism. It's a pity, because there is poetry and some truth in it, notwithstanding. A more inclusive statement of remembrance rather than one of spurious welcome would perhaps be a suitable replacement.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

     Did that get your attention? There are too many levels of meaning to probe too deeply here, so let us quickly get to the main event. There is a highly amusing, but still thoughtful piece at Natural News.com dealing with the often bizarre origins of some food additives:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-09-13-ice-cream-isnt-made-with-beaver-anal-secretions-anymore.html

“Common foods aren’t always prepared in sterile conditions. It’s not uncommon for people to accidentally consume food with contaminants like feces, insects, mold, parasites, rodent hairs, and soil. According to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Defect Levels Handbook, some items have acceptable or non-hazardous levels of these undisclosed ingredients. To illustrate, two cups of cornmeal may contain at least five insects, 10 insect fragments, 10 rodent hairs, and five fragments of rodent feces.

     I am terrified to write about debt, because I tend to think that debt can bring a nation unstuck, while economic experts from our side say: no Jimmy, debt is not a worry, go back to minding your chooks. Ok, I guess the conservatives are silly too worrying about US debt being 2,000 percent of GDP, or $ US 400 trillion. I suppose it does not matter:
  https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/u-s-debt-could-be-2000-of-gdp-a-400-trillion-nightmare_09132019

“A new report has said that the real United States national debt could be well over what politicians tell us it is.  At a whopping $400 trillion, the U.S. debt would be 2,000% of GDP (gross domestic product) according to new calculations that include the federal government, state, local, financial, and so-called entitlement debt. AB Bernstein, a global asset management firm based on Wall Street, came up with these figures by including in its analysis not only traditional levels of public debt, such as bonds but also financial debt as well as future obligations for entitlement programs, according to a report by CNBC. These include social security, Medicare and public pensions and are often left out of the discussion.  They are unfunded liabilities, however, and should be included if we’re to get an appropriate understanding of the government’s mishandling of money. In its report, AB Bernstein took debt from a number of sources and compared it to GDP. Using this methodology, federal, state and local government debt combined amounted to 100 percent of GDP. Households and firms accounted for 150 percent, while debt held by financial firms came to 450 percent. Another 27 percent came from trusts for social insurance programs, 484 percent from promises under current social insurance programs, and 633 percent from obligations for social programs. The total debt, therefore, amounted to 1,832 percent. –RT

     Is it true that you can use coke to dissolve a coin, or is that an urban legend? What about heart attacks?
  https://www.quora.com/How-can-Coca-Cola-dissolve-coins
  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9854098/diet-fizzy-drinks-increase-risk-heart-attack-deadly-stroke-death/?utm_source=amerika.org

“JUST two diet drinks a day raises the risk of dying young by a quarter, a major study reveals. And lovers of Diet Coke and Pepsi Max see their chances of being killed by a heart attack or stroke rocket by more than half, compared to those who avoid the stuff. Experts said the “important” European findings – involving more than 450,000 people – were “concerning”. They urged Brits to ditch soft drinks and switch to water. The World Health Organisation research found the dangers from guzzling artificially sweetened pop were up to three times greater than regular sugary drinks.

     This is how the elite spend their time when they are not thinking about the economy and globalisation:
  https://www.wsj.com/articles/will-your-uploaded-mind-still-be-you-11568386410

“Imagine a future in which a machine can scan your brain and migrate the essentials of your mind to a computer. It’s called mind uploading—preserving a person’s consciousness in a digital afterlife. As a neuroscientist, I’m convinced that mind uploading will happen someday. There are no laws of physics that stand in the way. It depends, however, on technology that has not yet been invented, so nobody knows when mind uploading might become available. The brain relies on an elegant, underlying principle: A simple working part, the neuron, is repeated over and over to create complexity. The human brain contains about 86 billion neurons interconnected by about 100 trillion synapses. Information flows and transforms through those vast connected networks in complex and unpredictable patterns, creating the mind. To upload a person’s mind, at least two technical challenges would need to be solved. First, we would need to build an artificial brain made of simulated neurons. Second, we would need to scan a person’s actual, biological brain and measure exactly how its neurons are connected to each other, to be able to copy that pattern in the artificial brain. Nobody knows if those two steps would really re-create a person’s mind or if other, subtler aspects of the biology of the brain must be copied as well, but it is a good starting place.

     I really like this, that nuclear war is just a physics problem. Nothing like getting to fundamentals. Dying is after all, just a biological problem, too:
  https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/nuclear-war-russia-winnable-said-trumps-incoming-national-security-advisor

“Incoming National Security Advisor, Charles Kupperman, made the claim Nuclear War With USSR Was Winnable. He made those statements in the 1980s. I do not know his views today, but let's review what he said then.
President Donald Trump’s acting national security adviser, former Reagan administration official Charles Kupperman, made an extraordinary and controversial claim in the early 1980s: nuclear conflict with the USSR was winnable and that “nuclear war is a destructive thing but still in large part a physics problem.” Kupperman, appointed to his new post on Tuesday after Trump fired his John Bolton from the job, argued it was possible to win a nuclear war “in the classical sense,” and that the notion of total destruction stemming from such a superpower conflict was inaccurate. He said that in a scenario in which 20 million people died in the U.S. as opposed to 150 million, the nation could then emerge as the stronger side and prevail in its objectives. His argument was that with enough planning and civil defense measures, such as “a certain layer of dirt and some reinforced construction materials,” the effects of a nuclear war could be limited and that U.S. would be able to fairly quickly rebuild itself after an all-out conflict with the then-Soviet Union.

     Here is an angle that we technophobes have not thought much about, being concerned with AI enslaving us. Mind reading AI may make social as we know it impossible, eroding the present foundation of civil society:
  https://www.rt.com/news/468228-mind-reading-computer-humanity-zizek/

“Technologies linking human consciousness to any sort of a cloud computing service could not just open the way for totalitarian mind control, but destroy the very essence of human relations, philosopher Slavoj Zizek says.
A computer that can read the thoughts of many people at once would make normal human life impossible, the Slovenian cultural philosopher told RT in the wake of the World Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conference in Shanghai, which saw Alibaba’s chairman Jack Ma and Tesla CEO Elon Musk clashing over the future of AI. What I am studying now is the so-called phenomenon of wired brains, a possibility of our brains being connected with strong digital machines. And that is not a utopia. In the media lab at MIT, Massachusetts, they already have simple machines like that. It is like a helmet, nothing intrusive, they put it on your head. And then something horrible happens - I saw the video - you think certain thoughts, you do not say anything, and the machine reproduces them either in writing or with artificial voice. The primitive level machines can already read your thoughts. It is ok, if it involves your agreement but what if it is done (and it is easy to imagine that) without you knowing it? Now, there is a serious option to read our thoughts, not just our emotional attitudes like being angry or sad but even the line of our thoughts in our mind. The next step in this “utopia” will be a computer that can read my thoughts and your thoughts that can connect us so that we can share our thoughts. If you and I are connected through the same computer, I can literally participate in your thinking directly without any external communication like word typing. As you probably know, modern technology theorists Ray Kurzweil and Melanie Swan called it a new form of divinity.”

     I have been keeping a watch out for killer asteroids, having bought a cheap telescope from the junk shop, hence supplying the first line of defence for Australia. I have not seen much in the night sky yet, just a few huge mossies that landed on the lenses. Then there are these articles documenting near misses, and some strikes, almost every day by small space rocks:
  https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1175533/Asteroid-news-impact-asteroid-hit-earth-nasa-warning-space-latest-updates
  https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1171930/Asteroid-news-chance-of-impact-asteroid-hit-earth-Lembit-Opik-asteroid-warning
  https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1176211/asteroid-news-nasa-space-agency-earth-science-news-latest
  https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/16nov_bolides
  https://www.txstate-epdc.net/just-frequently-meteors-hit-earth/
  https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/dangerous-meteors-hit-earth-way-more-often-than-thought-1.2417013

“Event similar to Chelyabinsk meteor strike happen once every 30 years, not 150
Scientists studying the terrifying meteor that exploded without warning over a Russian city last winter say the threat of space rocks smashing into Earth is bigger than they thought. Meteors about the size of the one that streaked through the sky at 67,000 kilometres per hour and burst over Chelyabinsk in February — and ones even larger and more dangerous — are probably four to five times more likely to hit the planet than scientists believed before the fireball, according to three studies published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Science. Until Chelyabinsk, NASA had looked only for space rocks about 30 metres wide and bigger, figuring there was little danger below that.

     The liberal press has reported on this, but the philosophical significance of the South African “racist” riots, is never detailed, for how could it be since it refutes their entire world view? Still, the bare facts are reported:
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/world/africa/south-africa-xenophobia-riots.html
  https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/09/09/xenophobic-violence-flares-in-south-africa

“South Africa is facing a backlash after rioters in and around Johannesburg targeted immigrants from other African countries this week, torching their shops and leading to at least 10 deaths. Now, angry citizens and governments across the continent are lashing out at South Africa and its businesses, denouncing what they call “xenophobia.” Africans across the continent once rallied behind South Africans in their struggle to defeat the apartheid government, which was finally replaced in elections held 25 years ago. Now, some Africans find themselves in the unfamiliar position of protesting the actions of the same communities in South Africa that they once stood with in solidarity. “The only time we’ve seen this type of cooperation of African countries in terms of backlash,” said Tunde Leye, a partner at the Nigerian political research firm SBM Intelligence, “was in terms of support of the anti-apartheid movement.” Anti-immigrant sentiment is a longstanding issue in South Africa, where the legacies of colonialism and apartheid run deep, and a political shift has not delivered meaningful change to many poor South Africans. Immigrants from countries like Nigeria, Mozambique, Somalia and Zimbabwe are often regarded by South Africans as competitors for jobs and social services. In South Africa, attacks on foreigners have become common, and they surged beginning Sunday when rioters stormed neighborhoods in and around Johannesburg, lighting fires and breaking into shops.”

     Greens know that Australia could not electrify our cities, farms, mines, refineries and factories, nor power our road, rail, air and sea transport with just solar, wind, hydro and batteries. Yet green activists, their adoring media, their tax-funded academics, their subsidised green “industries” and their vote-seeking politicians keep babbling about “zero emissions”. Greens know that Australia could not feed itself without farmers, graziers and truckies using electric and diesel-powered pumps, tractors, harvesters and trucks to produce food and deliver it to the cities every day. Yet they tax and vilify diesel and make electricity more expensive and less reliable. And they lock up productive grasslands and open forests thus producing pest-ridden “parks” and “protected” vegetation infested with feral animals and invaded by inedible and fire-prone eucalypt weeds. Greens know that we need more water storage just for today’s population. Yet they continue to sterilise potential dam sites, delay new dams, and waste conserved water on “environmental flows”. At the same time they boost water consumption with more tourists, games, immigrants and “refugees”. Greens know they need a crisis in power, food and water to achieve their goal of centralised UN control of all aspects of our lives. Thanks to the many fools and quislings in Federal, State and Local governments, and in tax-funded academia, education and bureaucracy, this sinister hidden agenda is well advanced. And all of this will provide ZERO climate benefits. Maybe the Greens are just the old reds in Green uniforms?

     This may be of interest for those of us, facing eternity; experiments with a drug cocktails have allegedly been able to reverse ageing. With controversial topics like this, it is best to quote directly from the research paper, but here are some media summaries:
  https://futurism.com/neoscope/study-drug-cocktail-reverse-genetic-age
  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02638-w
  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acel.13028

“Epigenetic “clocks” can now surpass chronological age in accuracy for estimating biological age. Here, we use four such age estimators to show that epigenetic aging can be reversed in humans. Using a protocol intended to regenerate the thymus, we observed protective immunological changes, improved risk indices for many age-related diseases, and a mean epigenetic age approximately 1.5 years less than baseline after 1 year of treatment (-2.5-year change compared to no treatment at the end of the study). The rate of epigenetic aging reversal relative to chronological age accelerated from -1.6 year/year from 0–9 month to -6.5 year/year from 9–12 month. The Grim Age predictor of human morbidity and mortality showed a 2-year decrease in epigenetic vs. chronological age that persisted six months after discontinuing treatment. This is to our knowledge the first report of an increase, based on an epigenetic age estimator, in predicted human lifespan by means of a currently accessible aging intervention.”

To The Australian        Douglas Murray may be too pessimistic in claiming that "all our grand narratives have collapsed" ("Crowds running us all off a cliff", 14-15/9). More accurately, they are under siege; but the "social justice warriors", who (as Murray notes) "exist to undermine vital institutions, not to rehabilitate them", are unlikely to finally breach the walls. The Christian sacred tradition remains a profound treasury of wisdom, if in need of a greater makeover than that of the 15th Century. Our arts tradition (think Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Bach and their colleagues old and new) still thrives. Common sense and a love of truth are still widely found, as our everyday lives show. There's been a temporary surge of madnesses, yes; but it is Gadarene swine that run off cliffs, not sensible people genuinely concerned to live well, while pulling their weight. Society will find a new balance wherewith to restrain "politically correct" lunacies.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

     Here is an update on the laws that will make drug testing mandatory for all politicians, sorry, people on welfare, like me. As well, things are well advanced for a cashless debit card, part of the coming cashless society, that will constrain your welfare money and prevent you spending it on booze and drugs. Does that sound like a good idea? Is it fair given how the rest of the population runs on booze and drugs? Well, let me put the opposing view.
  https://www.dss.gov.au/families-and-children/programmes-services/welfare-conditionality/cashless-debit-card-overview
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-09/farm-household-allowance-on-cashless-welfare-cards-no-problem/11492590
  https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/drug-testing-on-agenda-as-parliament-meets/news-story/18920c2d771f76d22e2436a07941ec35
  https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/expanded-cashless-welfare-card-trial-set-to-pass-parliament-in-days-20190908-p52p5y.html
  https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-eyes-long-term-cashless-debit-card-roll-out-20190907-p52oxb.html
  https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-says-he-s-puzzled-by-opposition-to-plans-to-drug-test-welfare-recipients-20190909-p52pn1.html
  https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/cashless-debit-card
  https://unemployedworkersunion.com/say-no-cashless-welfare/

     At present, as part of the Great Replacement, white men like me are docking themselves in record numbers. Even the New York Times, who would never consider such a thing as a Great, or even small, replacement, has addressed the suicide/drug crisis as a deep spiritual crisis of the times:
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/the-age-of-american-despair.html

To The Age        Tampering with our admittedly mediocre national anthem at this time is unlikely to produce a widely accepted model ("Words matter: push for anthem rejig", 14/9). For example, Recognition in Anthem Project's latest offering clearly says too little about the British contribution in the founding of our nation. As for the presently used version's word "young", this refers to our nation and not to human existence on this continent, which means that it is not necessarily inappropriate. Substituting the word "one" is also unfortunate. At present we are indeed one in terms of constitution and long may that be so; but we are not at all one in our key beliefs about religion, politics, society and the arts; and our many divisions will continue indefinitely. That makes finding a new anthem very difficult. Gough Whitlam tried it forty-five years ago; but nothing suitable turned up. One suspects that the times, not committees, make authentic anthems.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave

To The Editor, Stock Journal

  Dear Jacinta

     Minister Simon Birmingham is negotiating a Trade Deal with the European Union as reported in the Stock Journal Sep 12. The Minister has noted some gains likely with reduced tariffs.  I do hope he will negotiate from a position of strength where he can promote our sought-after leading products known to be so clean and green. Also from that position of strength, he can delete any reference to the EU having any favoured access to purchase our real estate, which has been evident in other Trade Deals.  With the current dilemma over water in the Murray Darling Basin, he should also remind potential EU investors that our water resources are not for sale.
 
Yours etc
  Ken Grundy, Naracoorte  SA

To The Age        Amanda Vanstone ("Let's face it, democracy is messy", 16/9) is right about two things: that the British people "have a grit and resolve that should not be underestimated" and that the EU bureaucracy has "got out of hand" and "is answerable to no-one." Her sympathy for a second referendum on Brexit is misplaced. The 2016 question was presented to the people in clear and unequivocal terms and the result should have been honoured by all concerned. That it has not been has exposed the unwelcome truth that a powerful elite wishes to maintain what is in fact oligarchic rule.     Nothing can hide the fact that a failure of the political class and judiciary to effect a clean and complete Brexit will be a betrayal of both the people and the principles of justice and true democracy.
  Nigel Jackson

     Wow, this is something I found hard to believe, but in the interests of truth, I report:
  https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49579820

“People who eat vegan and vegetarian diets have a lower risk of heart disease and a higher risk of stroke, a major study suggests. They had 10 fewer cases of heart disease and three more strokes per 1,000 people compared with the meat-eaters. The research, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at 48,000 people for up to 18 years. However, it cannot prove whether the effect is down to their diet or some other aspect of their lifestyle. Diet experts said, whatever people's dietary choice, eating a wide range of foods was best for their health. What does this study add? It analyses data from the EPIC-Oxford study, a major long-term research project looking at diet and health. Half of participants, recruited between 1993 and 2001, were meat-eaters, just over 16,000 vegetarian or vegan, with 7,500 who described themselves as pescatarian (fish-eating). They were asked about their diets, when they joined the study and again in 2010. Medical history, smoking and physical activity were taken into account, Altogether, there were 2,820 cases of coronary heart disease (CHD) and 1,072 cases of stroke - including 300 haemorrhagic strokes, which happen when a weakened blood vessel bursts and bleeds into the brain. The pescatarians were found to have a 13% lower risk of CHD than the meat-eaters, while the vegetarians and vegans had a 22% lower risk. But those on plant-based diets had a 20% higher risk of stroke. The researchers suggested this could be linked to low vitamin B12 levels but said more studies were needed to investigate the connection. It is also possible that the association may have nothing to do with people's diets and may just reflect other differences in the lives of people who do not eat meat.”