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Ah man, l've seen the development, they do not mess around it's incredible, bit sad to. You've probably had it many times already but one day someone's gonna knock on your door with a very big number $ , begging you to sell. Thank God your thinking of habitat too, if only more would instead eh. You must feel like a fox coming out of his den and into all that just out the gate must admit though if that happened here in the next 6mths ha ha, l'd be wrapped. Incredible property though and must be pretty bizarre now . Ain;t gonna happen here though no way unfortunately , a bit of development we need in this place.

randomx, my place is one of the bigger size blocks in the area, excluding farms that is. Most blocks have been subdivided but I bought mine before a lot of that happened. It's not isolated though, one town is 8k's west and another 10k's to the east. The beach is about 12k by road. The population here has gone mad over the years but I'm lucky to have the topography that gives a lot of privacy. I've got thirteen neighbours on my boundary but from most of the block you can't see any of them, and a lot of them are fairly large blocks as well. I'm up high and even though some neighbours are probably only a couple of hundred metres away, they're down over a cliff so they might as well be a kilometre away. There's six rock cliffs on my property and it's covered in thick timber and jungle in places so it gives privacy. It's a rough block and not for the feint hearted, but I like it. It's a natural paradise, heaps of bird life and swamp wallabys. A lot of their environment has been destroyed by development over the years so they rely on blocks like mine for a home. I originally came from grain/sheep/cattle country, so it's a big difference now living in this coastal country. If I had a flat block the privacy wouldn't be there and it would probably drive me up the wall. The saving grace is the topography of my place and the size. When I'm at home, it's not much different than when I bought the place in 1988, but drive out the front gate and life gets hectic real quick. Best of both worlds I suppose. Peace and quiet on the block, or plenty of shops, people and noise when you venture out. The district is almost unrecognisable from what it was when I first moved here, but it's still nowhere near as bad as the Gold Coast.

They look ready for the front line.

A lot of people believe that it was entirely a CIA coup taking down Mosaddegh, but that isn't the entire story. The CIA certainly played a role for sure, but it was British MI6 that initiated the coup because England was going to lose billions of dollars worth of oil machinery and oil contracts under Mosaddegh. It gets even more nuanced from there. Mosaddegh reneged on the deal it had for years with the AOIC and was going to take over the oil fields under the guise of nationalization. England protested to the International court. The International court (ICJ) sided with Iran on the oil fields because they stated that the AOIC was made up of civilian companies with no standing. The British government actually owned a controlling 51% of the AOIC and said "screw that". Britain was bankrupt at the time due to WWII, and it was losing the last of its empire as well. The country was deeply in debt and trying to claw its way out of bankruptcy. They were determined that there was no way that Iran was going renege on their deal with the oil fields and machinery. The oil was basically a life saver for their economy at the time. Meanwhile, the Soviets were waiting in the wings wanting to make a deal with Iran so they could buy into their oil. That was not going to happen if the USA had anything to do with it. The USA, Britain, and a lot of other European countries were in a panic about the Soviets back then. In the end........A lot of countries didn't cry all that loudly over the coup because of the Soviets and the creep of communism. And as a side note........some countries still resented Iran because they were a huge supplier raw materials to Hitler's Germany before and during the early parts of WWII.

Ah , thx for that wd, had to shorten that one 😁 . Was wondering where your at from the way you said l thought might be land involved. And now all these yrs eh, 1/2 your bloody luck mate unfortunately l can't say the same but we did try interstate a bit too which kinda lead to it. But l know that feeling of no questions asked, troubles me a bit about here bc l'm asking too many l guess. Wish it was as simple or am l just asking too many yaknow. Property itself though is a very nice little place for sure. How far from town are ya ? But eh that's funny to, like l see your reasoning for the two but those two were as bigger contrasts as my thoughts now with this place or up in town and a unit/house . But l have lived it and l grew up in Melb and lived in towns so know the life but l've always been a mix of the two, city/country. Growing up dad had farms we use to go up to on wkends, later on l left Melb. Especially these days prefer regional too mad down there now. Haven't had a big place as from as scratch as yours but we did have a dozy, this one was just bare land. Brought the cabin over on a trailer made it myself lived here to 9mths back then first few like yours no power water nothing just the cabin shell. Land was bare as a babys bum, nothing. lt was only spose to be an investment, was never to live on butttt, life eh. rx

Here's another thing. Have a real good look at where Iran sits on the map. In the real world, it will always be controlled by one of the three big powers, China, the US or Russia. You could say currently it's shared to a degree by Russia and China. So there's the choice. I know which one of the three I'd pick.

Whenever I hear the word Moomba, I think of a sandy place with big chimneys.

Just as it's not all about oil, it's also not all about Trump. He's a bit like smoke and mirrors. He has an incredible knack of getting under people's skin, particularly those on the left who get almost hysterical at the mere mention of his name. I think a lot of people think a madman just woke up one day and decided to blow up Iran on impulse, well, ok, dream on. While people focus on Trump, they forget the strategic interest the US military and security people (and some politicians) have had for decades in trying to bring Iran back into their fold. The situation now is that a president finally took the gamble to try to do it, and it is a big gamble. The desire has been there since the regime deposed the Shah.

Yes, the Shah was close as he was i stalled by a CIA coup.

The US and the Shah were quite close. When you look at a map you can easily see the strategic importance of Iran to the US and understand why they've always regretted it's loss to the Islamic regime. Resources aside, the biggest importance is it geographical location and it's boundaries. It controls the straights, acts as a huge buffer zone, shares a boundary with Turkey, a major US ally, and is just across the ditch from several of their Middle East allies. It also shares the Caspian Sea with Russia who has a naval force there, and while the regime runs Iran, Russia has free use of their airspace for launching cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea fleet. That's the path Russian missiles were taking during the Syrian conflict. It's not all about oil.

Gavin Newsome was being interviewed recently by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. He recounted being in a meeting with Trump and Jarrad Kushner when Trump said Ivanka should have married Tom Brady. It was an interesting interview, worth watching:

That was last Saturday (saw some of it on TV), but would not have been affected by closure of those three rail lines.

Forgot to mention, I never did make that decision to buy a bush block rather than a house in town. It just happened that way. I was still looking at both types and when my place came up for sale, I knew straight away it was a rare opportunity and I'd be crazy not to buy it. So the decision was kind of made for me in that way. It never even got advertised. I was just lucky to ring the agent on the same day as he listed it. He drove me there to have a look and I signed the contract the next morning. It was a rare find in the position it is.

I had a feeling you're from the US.. And ex-Navy, too.. I know a few ex US Navy people; I worked for a company that was founded by one of them. Best job I had and best company I worked for, by far.

randomx, if I dial the clock back to 1988, I was looking to buy my own place. I was divided between two different ways to go, buy a house in town or buy acreage and build. The acreage thing was a natural as I was born and bred on farms and not a town person. But at the time I was working away fifo style, and I thought a house in town would be a good option to fit that lifestyle. Low maintenance, just breeze in and out, hang your hat on the wall when you get home and just lock it up when you go back to work. At the time real estate was dirt cheap and I looked at one nice little two bedroom brick veneer I could have bought for $42,000. It was on the edge of town with all bush at the back and walking distance to the beach and shops. As it was, I ended up buying an acerage block, about 17 acres which I later extended to 20. It was totally undeveloped and real pioneering stuff in the beginning with an old Millard caravan, lighting from the car battery and a 60 gallon drum for a donkey hot water system. Almost 38 years later, I'm still here and glad I did buy the bush block. Facilities and infrastructure have improved a lot but I'll still be working on the place until I drop dead. That's probably a good thing and better than dying of boredom in a nursing home. In town I'd probably feel like a budgie in a cage. But it will always be in the back of my mind what life would have been like if I'd bought that house in town. Certainly a lot easier, but maybe not as interesting.

Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney on Saturday.

I'm guilty of this myself as a retired Navy guy. A very large percentage of other retired military from my era are of the same mindset. The hostage situation happened during my second year mark. Four years later, I was stationed in Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico when the Marine Barracks blew up. The civilian secretary in my office came in one morning crying because CNN had just broadcasted that the Marine Barracks in Lebanon had just blown up. Her husband was a Lieutenant Navy/Marine Liaison living on the second floor of the barracks at the time. Luckily, he wasn't inside when the explosion occurred, but It took 4 days for the poor lady to find out that he was OK due to the confusion. I lost a good friend on the USS Cole. Engineman 2nd Class Marc I. Nieto He always called me "Dr. Diesel" and was constantly pestering me about technical issues with his gear. Great kid! So yeah, I'm still bitter.

I finished reading my copy in the airport on Sunday. i learnt a fair bit I didn’t know about how mining operations worked in the past. later I google earthed the area and found the remains of those mines that can still be seen, the road names make sense now. Tried imagining the area with the native forests back in place. They made a huge difference to the landscape.

My entire point was that the Euro's have been constantly calling the USA warmongers for the past 50 years, but they are always the first ones to call the US President whenever there is a situation in the world that might affect their economies. They have been been neglecting their own militaries knowing that the Americans are stupid enough to keep bailing them out. The Euro's had a royal meltdown when Trump called them out for not keeping their pledge of committing a few percentage points of their GDP to military spending. The EU should be its own power. There are 29 countries in the EU and there is no excuse for them not making a joint effort to protect their economies and sovereignties. The US has done 75% of the heavy lifting in keeping the Persian Gulf open to world trade while Europeans and many other countries reap the benefits. Then the Europeans turn right around and bash Americans to appease their left wing voters. As far as my fellow Americans go, we should not be trusted any longer because there there is no continuity in foreign policy from one election cycle to the next. On top of it all, we are in a non shooting civil war right now. Might sound crazy to some but it's very true. We used to be country first.........but now days we are party first.

Soft fingetips due to not enough practice + over ambitious sliding on the B string. It would make a good garrotte. Forgot to mention another contributing factor, electric guitar with light gauge strings. I hadn't played it for a fair while and forgot how sharp those strings could be. One of those irritating bloodless cuts like a paper cut, just enough to sting when you put pressure on it, like clicking the mouse button and stuff like that.

Well, that explains it. Picked up a guitar at my brothers the other day. Use to play a lot way back but l could still pick one up anytime yrs between and the finger tips were ok. Last time on his though, hurt like hell after 5mins.

I forgot. It's Moomba week as well.

l don't trust whatever Chumps motives are as far as l could kick them. Suspect it's more like a distraction get the Epstein shyt off his back for awhile and if it goes well also boost his chances of staying in. Should hear Skye news here banging on about how magnificent Chump is now, turns the stomach.

I wanted to edit the post with the below, but ran out of time: Europe showed its weakness and timidness in the early days of the Ukraine war. Given the security guarantees already provided to de-nuclearise, if that is a word, has been reneged on, and Europe even kept funnelling millions of Euros daily to Russia while offerin pittance to the country that is the buffer between them and Russia - just because they didn't want to pay a little more to stay warm that winter was enough to change my mind on the so called progressive and enlightened views they hold.. They fail to recognise there is a balance that has to be struck, and that sometimes, you have to endure some hardship to preserve those values as it is clear a lot of the world don't agree with them and will try to exploit those views for their gain. We are now seeing the same with Iran. There is no doubt that Chump couldn't really care about the average Iranian in the street. There is little doubt that Netanyahu is motivated by anything other than his self preservation first and Israel's second (although, yes, it may be the other way around). But, Iranians are dancing in the streets amidst bombs reigning down on them as the potential of freedom. They would also know that the road ahead is long and uincertain, but the road starts here. There is an opportunity to improve the lives of Iranians and somewhat stabilise the middle east at the same same time. Should Chump and Net have waited for a UN Security Council Resolution before going in? Maybe, except that those that cite international law being not followed and therefore no justification for the attack forget two things. For Israel, they are constantly attacked either by Iran or its proxies, so given the current regine of Iran sponsors its proxies, they are a clear threst to Israel and attack it. For the US, there is the reduced threat of terrorsim on their own soil, but a constant wage of war against them. And of course, there is oil to be had. The US's justification is less clear if any at all, apart from standing by and supporting an ally and reaping the potential rewards for it. Now, speaking of standing by and supporting allies, I am guessing most people would say Chump has shown that is no longer the case, especially with Europe. That may be the case, but a Nato country's air base was attacked in Cyprus and nary a word from anyone - not even s warning of do it again, and article 5 will be looked at very seriously. With firends like that, who needs enemies (and given how rogue Iran has gone with its neighbours, de-escalation is hardly a point now). I am no international law expert, but if, say, NZ (no offence intended to NZ'ers - purely hypothetical) unleased a wave of terror organisations on Australia while building up nucelear capabilities and a stated aim of destroying Australia and Australians, would I care if the UN Security Council had been consulted before the Lodge sent in the forces to dispatch the perptrators? Not really. Unfortunately, sometimes the international order of the UN is too slow, has too many single nation vetos (I couldn't see Russia nor China agreeing despite the multiple 10s of thousands being killed - can you?), When your legal system is not fit for purpose, those bound by it start taking matters into their own hands, I guess. As I asked before, if it were Europe or Canada or someone else going in, would it be more pallatable? Had no response, but you don't have to go too far back in history to say, yes, it probably would be more pallatable. Milosovic, the mad dog he was, used brutal tactics to quell a movement of mostly Islamic immigrants starting their own country within the now former Federal Republoc of Yugoslavia. This was largely and internal sovereign issue, but his brutality led to Nato bombing Yugoslavia without a UN Security Council resolution - you know the same legal requirement that academics and some journos are calling the current attacks as unjustified and illegal.. But, it wasn't the US and Israel, I guess, so that was OK.