I am vaguely acquainted with someone whose grandfather was, in the era of the Bolte Premiership, a politician and a major protectionist. From what I have been told about this chap, the nicest thing that could be said about him was that he owned a company which made radios and TVs locally in Australia. That …
Author Archives: Ernest Zanatta
Are We About To Have A Share Market Crash? I Really Wish I Knew!
I’m not quite old enough to remember when the surfer movie Big Wednesday was in the cinemas. I think it might have been in 1978, when I was still in primary school. I did see it in the last week of school in 1982, where study for the year ceased and the teachers offered us …
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Behold Your False Profit!
In the late 1980s, some local film makers produced a rather silly film about a computer nerd who summons a future sharkish version of himself to the present. It was called Future Past. Most of the film then consists of him trying to suppress his demonic future self (some sort of insider trading stock broker with …
Will My Solar Panels Ever Break Even? Very Unlikely – They Will Probably Break Down First
I have been grumbling about my huge mistake in getting solar panels five months ago since I realised in mid December that I would have to do all the Kafkasque legwork to get them added to my meter and count towards my bill (by Kafkasque, I am referring to Kafka’s novel The Trial, which is …
Footscray Football Club Marks 100 Years In The VFL/AFL
For Friday night’s game against Collingwood, my beloved football club temporarily resumed its actual and traditional name, Footscray. The reason for this was to mark 100 years since the Footscray Football Club (Western Bulldogs since 1997) entered the AFL’s predecessor league, the Victorian Football League. At the time, in 1925, the entry of Footscray, the …
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My Solar Panels – Is There Finally An End In Sight To This Debacle?
Semi regular readers of this blog will know that at a couple of points over the summer I have had reason to bemoan my not so recently installed solar panels (it is now five months since those white elephants were placed on my roof). Two weeks ago, some 4 plus months after installation, the cowboy …
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Mouvedre, Matoro, or Yarra Water?
We did our second batch of grape crushing yesterday. A week or two back, we crushed 200kg of shiraz grapes, which we then pressed for an outcome of 110 litres of wine, which is now in secondary fermentation. Yesterday, we drove out to Ardeer where someone was selling various varieties of grapes, as well as …
Chateau Garagiste – Starting the 2025 Vintage
Most of my friends are aware that I have been, for the past 20 years, an amateur wine maker, and that most of my garage is taken up with wine making equipment. Since retiring 20 months ago, I have been able to devote more of my time to this hobby, and made (with my closest …
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The Veuve Clicquot
I must admit, for all that I love wine and spend lots of money drinking premium reds, I count the times I have actually drank real Champagne, as in the stuff they make in that region of France, rather than other sparkling ones, on one hand. I probably should explain myself a little better. In …
Why I Changed Health Insurance Companies This Year
When I was a child, our family had a private health insurance policy with HBA. We kept it til the mid 1980s when Medicare came in, and then my parents made a decision to drop it. Throughout my twenties and early thirties, I took my health for granted and did not bother with private health …
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Lost For Words! 