One of us got a media job that meant maintaining this was a) frowned upon b) hard to keep up anyway.

Thanks to all our readers, regular and transient, and you never know when this blog will be back!

TTTE

“When New York’s first apartment building, on East 18th Street, was planned in 1869, the reception it received was as cold as a February wind off the Hudson. New Yorkers reckoned that “cohabitation,” as apartment life was called, would fail and that gentlemen would never live “on shelves.”

Really, New York has never been the same since. Lost its magic.

There’s a push to legislate against high density. I think we should not push people out to the fringes – Let’s build up and watch the punters vote with their home loans…

As a matter of fact, there are some things I enjoy eating more as left-overs, than I do during as the original meal.

Lord Sandwich had the right idea when he said “Just throw some of last night’s dinner between those two slices of bread”. Two slices of bread is the old timey equivalent of the microwave, fork and Tupperware.

Yet one recipe has always eluded this left-overs fiend… until now.

Risotto. It simply does not work the next day. 15 hours in the fridge and 2 minutes in the microwave ruins its consistency. It begins to resemble a primeval sludge more than a luncheon delicacy. But with two simple ingredients, eggs and bread crumbs, you can restore your risotto to its former glory.

Introducing risotto balls! All you need to do is mix an egg or two and some bread crumbs into your left-over risotto. Form the mixture into small balls and fry those suckers. But beware, the reason they taste so good is because you have added an extra 250 WeightWatches points worth of carbs and fat.

Maybe this recipe should only be used on special eating left-overs at your desk occasions.

However, I do plan to hypothesis the source of the positive test, because many in the cycling media seem to be unable to make this connection. But first, here is a grab bag of quotes from Contador’s defenders:

(1) The amount was so small that it could not possibly have a benefit.

(2) Taking such a drug at such a late stage in the race could not possibly have a benefit.

(3) The drug was not present in any other samples during the race. This must be an anomaly.

(4) Why would I take a drug that is so easily detected?

I believe that Contador did not take the drug during the race. But he almost certainly popped a couple of blood bags into his arm on one or two occasions.

That is the most likely source of these trace amounts.

As a bit of history, when Floyd Landis was charged with doping testosterone in the 2006 Tour de France. His defenders made these exact claims. Testosterone is the sort of drug you take in training to boost muscle growth, you don’t take it midway through a race. I have since read that Landis, although admitting to doping throughout his career, still claims to have no idea what caused his testosterone positive during the 2006 race.

Since the positive test is irrefutable, because Landis’ sample contained what is undoubtedly synthetic testosterone. Landis is right to ask “where did it come from?”, the impolite response is “Blood doping, fool!”

Blood doping with your own blood is virtually undetectable. It is probably the safest way to dope these days. But you must be organised, because you need to build up a stockpile of blood for your use in the future. I am sure that people who are smart and have good advice, ensure that there blood bags are nice and clean. But, if a few of your bags go sour, you might need to grab some from an older batch, when perhaps you were not as careful.

Contador has ridden for a number of teams where blood doping was commonplace (Liberty Seguros, Discovery, Astana). I am willing to accept that the contaminated meat theory might be true, but I think contaminated blood bags is far more likely.

Kerry has hosted a politics and current affairs program called The 7:30 Report for as long as I can remember. Yesterday he announced his retirement.

As far as Thomasthethinkengine is concerned, an announcement of that magnitude can only mean one thing. We need another YouTube montage. Once again, I have done the heavy lifting, I just need someone to help with the finishing touches.

Today’s song is also from the U2 catalogue, “Who’s gonna ride your wild horses?”. 5:17 of pure gold.

“You’re dangerous ’cause you’re honest. You’re dangerous, you don’t know what you want”

Fade in with footage of a young Kerry, in the mid-nineties, his Half Windsor Knot phase. He is looking particularly earnest during an interview with former Prime Minister Paul Keating.

“Hey hey sha la la… Hey hey. You’re an accident waiting to happen. You’re a piece of glass left in a beach. Well, you tell me things I know you’re not supposed to. Then you leave me just out of reach”

A short montage of images with Kerry in his ‘asking the tough questions’ posture. A slight lean forward, chin out, a pen in his fingers, an intense stare.

“Well you stole it ’cause I needed the cash. And you killed it ’cause I wanted revenge. Well you lied to me ’cause I asked you to. Baby, can we still be friends?”

Kerry swoops into the naughties. He has a Full Windsor Knot. He is unrelenting in an interview with John Howard. Howard is visibly perturbed.

Hey hey sha la la. Hey hey sha la la. Who’s gonna ride your wild horses? Who’s gonna drown in your blue sea? Who’s gonna ride your wild horses? Who’s gonna fall at the foot of thee?

Kerry continues to clash with the titans. This sequence of footage switches between a single unflinching image of Kerry, but with alternating interviewees: Kerry – Howard – Kerry – Ruddock – Kerry – Rudd – Kerry – Gillard – Kerry – Abbott – Kerry – Turnbull – Kerry – Obama.

“Oh, the deeper I spin. Oh, the hunter will sin for your ivory skin.. The doors you open. I just can’t close”

Kerry in casual mode, interviewing Cate Blanchett, Micheal Palin, Bono? Kerry is open collared. He chortles.

“Don’t turn around, don’t turn around again. Don’t turn around, your gypsy heart. Don’t turn around, don’t turn around again. Don’t turn around, and don’t look back. Come on now love, don’t you look back!”

A short montage of Kerry in his ‘gazing at the middle distance’ posture. Back straight, chin high, a hand on the hip, an intense stare.

Who’s gonna ride your wild horses? Who’s gonna drown in your blue sea? Who’s gonna taste your salt water kisses? Who’s gonna take the place of me?

Pan across a still photograph of Kerry, at a slightly jaunty angle, then zoom in on his eyes.

Who’s gonna ride your wild horses? Who’s gonna tame the heart of thee?

As the lights dim, we see the silhouette of Kerry shuffle his notes back into a neat A4 stack.

Fade out.

And if the Nationals are a chance of losing some of the seven seats they hold, what is the future for the coalition? Will Liberals pick up seats Nationals lose next time round? Will they merge, and if they do, as has happened in Queensland, will they be as able to angle for the country votes? Or can Labor swoop? Or will country voters see the value in supporting a local independent?

2. Has Labor won government?

They have the prime ministership, but is that the same as government? If they can’t move their own legislative agenda without compromising with everyone, are they any more powerful than anyone else?

What does it mean to be in government?? Without a lower house majority, is it just a nominal title??

What’s the point of chairing a Cabinet with no capacity to implement its decisions? How is the executive of this “government” any different from the opposition caucus? What’s the role of the leader of a parliamentary party without a majority? it’s not so different from Tony abbott’s job, or bob brown’s job.

3. This election is going to be the start of something, or the end of something.

I expect this will be the most-discussed election of our life times.

Previously, I was bombarded with tricks for white teeth and flat stomachs. But in the last month, they have disappeared. Now I see the same google-hosted ads for flights to Australia and expensive bicycles, on numerous websites. Which, surprise, surprise, is something I have been looking at online.

But here is the interesting thing, I have not googled “flights to Australia” or “expensive bicycles”. I have been browsing the Air NZ and Qantas websites recently, but I go to those sites directly, not via google. Similarly, I do not google “expensive bikes”, rather I have sites like cyclingnews.com bookmarked on my browser.

I am sure there is some high-tech trickery going on here that is beyond my intellect. I don’t mind though, these websites that I visit need to make an income and I sure as hell was not clicking through to the ‘teeth whitening’ sites.

But, the question begs to be asked, why do I also see occasional ads for Russian mail-order brides? Mrs TFC uses this computer sometimes too. Is there something she is not telling me?

It has a sequel.  Independence day II.  Coming out in 2013.

Similarly, our little play within a play, starring our loveable friends, the independents, will have a nasty follow up.  Independents’ day II – the infighting.

Why would the independents stop feeling so in love?

These are men who make up their own minds.  Three have proven capacity to fall out with the Nationals. One has fallen out with both the Liberals and the Greens.

Andrew Wilkie, former member of the Liberal party, former Greens candidate

Bundled together, the independents agreed on process, but they’ve got their way on that.  Soon issues will come to the fore. Wilkie has brought his pokies issue to the fore and seemingly got his way. Might not the others be tempted?

As negotiations tighten, they might find they disagree. They’ll get tired of each others’ company, fed up with the media scrutiny or jealous of Katter’s headwear. There might be perceived or real breaches of the hastily developed agreements that bind them.

Oakeshott seems especially likely to approach the press on perceived slights….

I find it hard to believe that the process they agreed on will lead them all to a conclusion they agree on. As The Age predicts, they could split 75 all…

So the question becomes, which of these two does the best action-hero-style, last-minute save-the-day?

I am Legend?

graphic from the ABC website

View This Poll

I must admit, I am growing fond of them all! In a political sense (there is no getting around the fact that they are all white males), I think this group broadly reflects the range of Australian values.

It is lucky we can’t send text messages with our US mobile phone plan. With this key pad, I imagine typing would be quite a drag.