Martyr Tommy

I sat yesterday and watched the video of Trump dodging at the rally, with Secret Service agents protecting him, and taking down some guy charging the stage area.

The guy?  Thomas Dimassimo.

For some reason, the guy's image and name stuck with me.  So this morning, I went studying up on this young guy.

He's a college student....at Wright University (a public college in Dayton).  Field of study?  Theater.  Yeah, it'll be a money-maker in life....I'm sure.

The guy's theme?  He says he wants to be a Martyr.

Martyrs are typically people who will stand up in some crowd (they rarely do this in some anonymous way).....then let everyone know that they are willing to suffer persecution and possibly death for taking on the bad guys, the thugs, the government, the church, or such.

This typically goes along with the idea that you refuse to accept something or go along with a cause.  Naturally, the fact that you have a cause on your side, and some counter-Martyr might exist to Martyr themselves against your persecution....well, it doesn't look good.

Being a Martyr typically meant hero status.  You were the guy who died in some fight or got executed by the bad guys.  In Greece.....they'd throw up a big statue on a side-street and write some weepy words on how you were a great Martyr.  In Germany from the 1970s and the anti-establishment period.....there are so many Martyrs that they can't even keep track of who did what or what evil establishment thugs they suffered under.

In Tommy Dimassimo's case?  The cops arrested him.....took him off to jail.....did some charges....then allowed the guy to get bailed out.  Judge so-and-so will get the case and probably have some court appearance in thirty-odd days with Tommy.

Tommy will meet with some lawyer.....probably hired by his Mom or Dad.  The lawyer will tell Tommy that guilty Martyrs end up in a Dayton jail.  That will be several weeks of hanging around druggies, serious criminals, and thugs.  It's not a pleasant Martyr environment.

So, he'll urge Tommy to be humble....be nice.....be open to maybe a mental exam or beg for mercy with the judge.  Tommy will be in disbelief......he thought that Martyrs got some pat on the back or such.

Eventually, Tommy's parents will ask if he's been doing dope or drinking too much because they don't believe anyone would be stupid to rush some stage and take on Secret Service agents.  It may even be the case that Dad is a Trump-enthusiast, and he'll have harsh words with the son over his stupidity.

Twenty years into the future.....someone will walk into a Dayton bowling alley and find some guy handling the front desk.....and ask....aren't you Thomas Dimassimo, the guy who rushed Trump in Dayton.  Yeah.....will be the response.  What happened to you....why the bowling alley?

There'll be some slow response, and finally Thomas will admit.....the Martyr thing didn't really pay off.  You don't get resume points for that.  So other than two goofy monster movies where he played the number six character, or the TV ad for the local quickly lube shop.....things didn't go that well.

Maybe I'm wrong about this and there's some great future here for the kid.  But typically, Martyrs only get a big name or statue.....if they were buried five days later.

English

The language spoken in Australia.....is English.  Yeah, there might be an accent and some odd words they occasionally throw into the conversation, but it's plain English.

While I was on my trip there, this odd item came up in the news.  The government (at least the Department of Family and Community Service)....has decided to spend roughly $900 Aussie dollars ($750 American) each on 150 staff members.....to teach them how to speak English.

Now, when I was told this in the beginning.....I kinda thought we were talking about immigrant or migrant folks that they'd hired as employees....who didn't speak English.  Well....no.  They want to teach English-speaking people to speak English.

What this is mostly about is the fact that they've (in this department) gone and made a lot of jargon words to fit forms, requirements, family situations, and everyday activities.

What is said is that families now come back after some initial meetings and complain that the clerks and staff members are confusing and the customers can't grasp what is going on.

They gave a couple of examples:

"There are two issues here: the affordability of housing more broadly, and affordable housing."  This was spoken by an actual state minister (Brad Hazzard).

"While we look to the future, it is advisable not to look backwards."  This was given by the Premier Mike Baird.

This is a two-day course, and I'm guessing there will be some certificate given at the end of this.  Sadly, it'll say that you graduated from an English-language course, and you will be somewhat shamed when you show back up in the office and this gets brought up.  The co-worker will ask if you learned some English, and you fake them out with simplified phrases and 5th-grade wording.

Somehow, I would speculate that in three years....some other idiot political figure will come up and say that everyone in this department speaks at the 5th grade level, and there will be another course.....to help improve your English enough.....to speak at a very articulate and higher-educated level.  Of course, it'll be much more expensive..  

The Perfect Property for Someone

This was an odd thing I came across on the Australian trip.  South of Melbourne, along the Great Ocean Road.....there's this small town of Airey's Inlet.

On the coastline, there is a lighthouse and house associated with it.....up for sale.

The real estate people say the property ought to fetch a minimum of 1.9 million Aussie dollars (roughly 1.4 million American dollars).  Well.....they say this, but in a bidding frenzy and with some deep pockets, I could see it going for double that.

The thing is....it's a public situation.  There's a public road passing the house, with public parking adjacent to the lighthouse, and an area for people to walk out and see the coastline.

The house?  That's another thing.....it's a wood structure that's been around for at least 120 years.  Six bedrooms and two baths.

Someone might buy it for a bed and breakfast deal but you have no extra property to build on and it's hard to see you recovering what you paid, with just a room or two rented out.

Haunted?  Well, they did a TV series around a dozen years ago from the lighthouse and the whole theme revolved around it being haunted....but it's more or less legend stuff.

Maybe if this were an isolated beach, with privacy to it.....it might be worth the deal, but I have my doubts.  Some writer will probably buy it......settle back for a year or two to write some tragic story over love gained and love lost, with a lighthouse theme in the background, and then make a million dollars off the book sales.

The Coastal Road Drive

About two hours driving, south of Melbourne....heading westward....you come to the Coastal Road, and a hour or so down this winding road, you come to the Apostles.

It is a breathtaking moment that ranks up there with the Grand Canyon or Empire State Building.

Oddly, while being a national park, they don't charge you anything.  Go figure that.

I probably could have stood up there for hours.  It was late in the day, with a slight fog developing.

If you wanted to make way to the beach below....you'd have to add another hour onto your situation, with a decent walk.

A day at it?  Well, my suggestion for anyone planning.....plan 12-to-14 hours, and it'd be better to have some Aussie drive your car because there is so much to see.

Note also, there is another park prior to this.....with an actual rain forest type walkway....worth another hour-long stop as well.

The drive back?  This is about as rural as you might desire....rolling hills with farms on each turn.  It's the kind of region where everything shuts down by six, and you'd best have the fuel to wrap up your adventure for the day.

On rankings for things to see in Australia.....I'd put this around number two or three, but it'll consume an entire day.

Australia and Weed

One of the interesting thing I came across while vacationing in Australia in February.....was the pace or path they going for legalized medical marijuana.

The Aussie Senate passed the changes necessary.....to create a national license process.

So, while it's still probably a year away.....there will be two licenses.

If you want to grow medical marijuana.....you will apply for this state license and meet some basic requirements for it.  You could only sell.....to a licensed distributor or shop.

All of this is pumping up some business folks to examine which versions would work best in Australia and fit the requirement of medical marijuana.  Dealers might tell you something....but it's not scientific in nature....just a 'feeling'.  So companies are now engaged and will follow through.

You almost get this impression that bulk plantations will likely come out of this....where some company runs an operation in a fairly warm zone (Brisbane and above), and there would be a dozen-odd people cultivating and collecting leaves for the business operation.

All of this bulk farming business.....means that the small time dealer is probably finished (at least five years down the line).   By 2025....you'd find medical marijuana there in your local distributor shop....grown only by twenty-odd plantation operations over all Australia (my humble opinion).  All of this begs the question of how things might develop in the US, and mass production really goes into the 'norm'.

Sydney and Homes

It is a picture of the opening from the ocean to Sydney Bay, and on 18 January 1788....a Captain Phillip led a fleet of eleven ships and 850 British convicts into the bay.

If you aren't Aussie, you probably don't know the history or the various little details.

Few Americans realize that while a fair number of people from the 1620 period to the early 1700s were all volunteers.....there reached a point in Britain where there were too many people sitting in prisons.  The solution?  Dump them in a very unpleasant place....far from England.  So for a number of years.....they sent prisoners and convicts to the US, until the Revolutionary War ended that solution.  Australia became solution number two.

What Captain Phillip knew of the area probably amounted to a forty-page book and details from an expedition by a Lt Cook in 1770.  If they had done further analysis....it might have led people to rethink the bay.  But from the other prospective.....it was probably bay area that any ship's captain would beg for and appreciate.

The soil there next to the bay?  It would take a year or two for the folks to realize that it was unsuitable for growing just about anything.

Fresh water?  Almost non-existent.

Snakes?  It was a major task to do the work assigned and avoid snakes.

Over three decades.....buildings were erected.  A trading port was established.  Better agricultural properties were found.  Fresh water was sourced out.  They built homes and buildings out of brick and stone.....showing a permanent side to the future.

By 1850, Sydney had grown into a fairly decent port city of roughly 30,000 people.  Oddly enough....in 1851, gold was discovered.  For three decades, this gold 'fever' went crazy.  By 1871....over a two-decade period, they had shifted gears and gone to 200,000 people.  Today, it totals near 4.8 million and growth still continues on a steady path.  Some locals think it'll hit the 6 million point by 2040.

Issues of the day?  Mass transit hasn't really solved the issues of people desiring to live on the outer reaches of the town.  The motorways or interstate system would be described by those who use it.....as marginal, and likely never to get much better.  Home prices within the heart of the city are ridiculous.

So I come to this epic story (more or less).  The house in the picture is 139 Kippa Street, over in the Surry Hill neighborhood, in the south part of Sydney.

Someone ought to sit and write 200-page book over this episode.

It was a home which belonged to Natalie Jean Wood.  Small place...75 square meter (probably near a 1000 sq ft).  Nothing special.  No parking spot.  Extremely out of date and most folks would identify it as being one step away from a slum.

Natalie's story?  In 2011, cops got called out to the house.  A sister-in-law had some reason to contact her and to be honest....they didn't talk much between themselves.  Cops broke down the down eventually, where they found Natalie laying there.....dead for eight years.  Yeah...no one had said much and she kinda kept to herself.

Power?  Cut-off?

This was a woman who had a brief marriage after the war, which ended in divorce after five years.  She went back home to live with the parents for a short period before she bought this house.  From 1979 to 1997....she kept the house but lived mostly with her mother.  After the mother passed on....she went back to Kippa Street.  She was.....for all practical purposes.....a loner.  She didn't have a real life beyond the house itself.  All the cops can figure is that she fell at some point, couldn't get up, and eventually died there in the house.  Months and years would pass.

Since 2011, this property has gone through the court system, and finally ended up for a real estate company to auction off.

Now, you'd look at the outside pictures and be turned off.  The interior pictures were pretty bad, and you'd consider the bathroom to be absolutely non-functional.  Nothing about this place works....except it is brick, in fine shape, and in a highly desired neighborhood.  It is three minutes walking to the central train station, with two city parks about five minutes away.  The pub district?  Maybe two minutes away at best.  The stadium is a 15 minute walk, and the heart of downtown Sydney is maybe a three-minute tram or subway ride away.

The auction folks were kinda surprised.  at fifteen minutes prior to the episode....there were twenty-eight people in the room and prepared to bid.  Over the last fifteen minutes prior to the auction....it doubled in nature.  Almost sixty people in an active for a crappy small house, which needed massive renovation.

The final bid to win?  $1.1 million Aussie dollars.  That's 823,000 American dollars.

If you figure the money required for the renovation....at least 150,000 American dollars.  Then the dump is valued at a million easily.

Most everyone involved in the estate or the sale....were shocked.  But it is an indication of where Sydney is going and the scale of cost involved in home ownership.

What happens in twenty years?  That's a curious thing.  Unless some massive public transportation project takes off and shifts people out to thirty miles (say the southwest of town), you won't be able to find any home in the city for less than $1.5 million American dollars.

It begs questions, and radical solutions.  Luckily, the Aussies have the same type political figures as you find in the US.  So don't go and expect much.

Notes on Australia

 From my trip to Australia, there are three things that I came to note.

First, it doesn't matter where you go around the country....you feel like you are in the 1950s of America.  Buildings are updated or modern....they all have that brick look and feel like some small town atmosphere.

It has a sense of appeal....a place where you'd like to arrive....open up a coffee shop, and get a feel of home-town real quick.

In the US, most of these places have been torn down and turned into some cheap looking aluminum buildings.

Then you come to this second observation....about humor.

This was a newspaper piece that I saw one day....a missing poster for Tazmania.

You see....if you go and look at most general maps of the country (not the fancy atlas type), they all miss the little island to the far right bottom of Australia.

Folks in Tazmania.....talk about this a bit.  They realize they get no respect and hardly anyone in Australia regards them as part of the country.

So, they turn this into a bit of humor.....noting that they are missing.

Then I come to my third topic.....Krespy Kreme Donuts.

You see....in Australia....they love the franchise as much as Americans.

In Sydney, you can't go more than two blocks without seeing operation.

This one that I took the picture of?  It's just inside the airport terminal.

It didn't matter where I went....Brisbane, Melbourne, etc....they had them everywhere.

Pricing?  Well....it's almost the same as the American shops.  And the quality is about the same.