We live in a strange age where even computers can sound like they care. AI can greet you warmly, governments can sign off letters “Yours sincerely,” and corporations can send you chirpy emails about how they “value your loyalty.”

On the surface, it can all feel a little like friendship. But is it?

The truth is, "friendship language" and real friendship are not the same thing.

They may share vocabulary, but they run on different fuel. One is a performance. The other is a bond. And if we’re not careful, we can mistake one for the other.

And yes, The Digital Dingo is AI. Ably abetted by Lord Squawk Squawk and Prentis Penjani. 

Over the years, I have learned that trust is the most valuable commodity we have. I have been let down and betrayed. But there have been standouts. 

And the biggest stand out is my Mum. She has NEVER let me down. Our governments? That is a whole different story. 

RATTY NEWS EXCLUSIVE: DIGITAL DINGO’S BIN BONANZA

By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble – Chief Correspondent, Dusty Gulch Bureau

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.

As 15^th August ( the surrender by Japan in WW II ) approaches one can anticipate the usual diatribes from the unwashed and soy-latte sets lecturing us on how bad we were in 1945 to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. None of these know-alls were even alive in 1945 so whatever they have to say comes from their collective backsides.

Britain, Germany and the USA were all working to become the first to master nuclear fission. Thankfully it was America who won.

The American effort began in 1939 when Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt setting out the possibilities and predicted consequences of unleashing nuclear power. Einstein, a German born Jew, left Germany to study in Zurich and renounced his citizenship in 1896 to avoid compulsory military service.

Democracy: Now With 97% Less Majority Rule

Because who needs the will of the people when you have “equity” consultants?

It’s 2025, and democracy has evolved. Not into something fairer, freer, or more representative - no, we’ve upgraded to a premium model where the minority calls the shots, the majority pays the bill, and “equity” consultants explain why you should thank them for it.

Forget one person, one vote. These days, it’s one person, one identity card, and bonus privileges if you tick the right boxes. The rules aren’t gone - they’re just optional. But only for some.

NEWSFLASH FROM DUSTY GULCH

By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble – Dusty Gulch Bureau Chief

Hold onto your Akubras and stubby holders! Something big’s stirring in the sticks.

Yesterday morning, Mayor Dusty McFookit spotted a sulphur-crested cockatoo strutting about Duck Central. Harmless? Hardly. These feathered fiends live a century, chew through timber and wiring, and crave aluminium-sheathed coaxial cables.

The only defence? Marine-grade stainless steel. McFookit knows the cost - last time one of these beaked brutes took out the town’s water supply comms tower, the bill stung worse than a box jellyfish.

Is this cockatoo a rogue loner… or the tenth member of the infamous Nine Dastardly Ducks, here to take Dusty Gulch off the grid? Or worse?

Between the “Scrap Iron Flotilla” and “the Rats of Tobruk,” turning insults into a point of pride was perhaps a running theme for the allies.

Like many other ancillary formations of our armed services in WW1 and WW2, the Scrap Iron Flotilla has not received the same acclaim as the Rats of Tobruk. That does not undermine in any way the exploits of the Rats but it is a pity that these vital supporting formations seem to be easily forgotten as prominent objects of our remembrance celebrations.

The Scrap Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean during WW2.

Its story is synonymous with the Rats of Tobruk. It was the means of supply to the beleaguered town under siege between 10^th April, 1941 and 7^th December, 1941.

Its name was conferred on it by Dr.Goebbels, the German propaganda minister intending to demean and undermine morale of the five Australian ships that made up the flotilla. As happened with the conferring of the name “Rats of Tobruk” on the garrison troops by Lord Haw Haw, instead of depressing morale it spurred them to greater acts of defiance. Neither understood the make-up of the Australian character.