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Rudd was duty-bound to attend that meeting since he is Australia's ambassador to the USA, and he went as advisor to his "boss", the Prime Minister. Trump's comments were an insult to the Australian people, but one could not expect any better from that person.

Well he has achieved one of his biggest life goals..... Lasting word fame. People will be talking about him for many years to come.

Excellent, I'll start up the "Earth is flat debate continues" thread, because I don't think that one is quite settled either.

We just bought a new property. It had a big gas cooker in the kitchen which we promptly threw out. We are renovating and the house will be all electric, well it is now except for the solar hot water. Our average daily power consumption is 9-10 kWh. There is a 20 year old 1kW solar system with 8 x 125 watt panels which I am replacing with a new 8.8 kW system with 20 x 440 watt bifacial v panels, a 10kW hybrid inverter and an 18.64 kWh battery. In theory I should be able to go off grid. Total cost $11,600.00. The battery is made up of 4 x 4.66 kWh modules which is scalable to 41.93 kWh by just adding modules on top. It is free standing & will live in my big shed. The house is 20 years old and unbelievably the ceiling is uninsulated. Part of the renos is insulation and draught proofing as even efficient air conditioning is quite power hungry. Charging my EV is power hungry but I have a plan that gives me 3 hours of free power a day (11:00 to 14:00) so that is when it is scheduled to charge. I also get power for 8c/kWh from midnight to 6am. There is now so much power produced by rooftop solar that the spot price is often negative in the middle of the day. New solar farms now going in have to include batteries. Early solar farms without them either have to switch off or invest in batteries as they have to pay to put their power in to the grid when the price is negative. Electricity retailers now have plans for home battery owners. Solar feed in tariffs are very low now. I was getting just 0.5 cents/kWh, now 2.8 cents/kWh. A friend who has just added a 30kWh battery gets 15 cents/kWh feed in tariff during peak usage which will come from his battery.

I used to work in a lab with an incredibly ambitious bloke who was obsessed with collecting skulls. Just obsessed!! Like, he would do anything to get ahead.

Trump said the "No Kings protests" were too small and ineffective. The last person to say that was Stormy Daniels.

A controversial figure and hard-line right-winger for many decades, who eventually turned against the Republican Party and denounced Trump as a cowardly liar, and the worst thing to happen to America in many decades. He voted for Kamala Harris in the last election, such was his abhorrence of Trump and his policies. He suffered from heart problems all his life, and suffered from his first heart attack at 37. He went on to have 5 more, and eventually had a heart transplant in 2012. He was the main promoter of the "War on Terror", the ill-fated campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan that cost America dearly in lives and monetary cost, for not a lot of gain. The terrorist groups are still with us, and democracy has failed in both Iraq and Afghanistan, mainly because it was never able to get a foothold due to cultural and tribal hatreds that go back thousands of years. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/04/politics/dick-cheney-death-obit

They are always on about how fit and healthy he is. It's his mental acuity that's the problem. He may be able to swing a golf club, (I don't see him walking the fairway), but he can barely string two coherent words together. And he can't understand or recall facts.

Rudd had to sit there and take it and Albo had to deflect what could have an even worse situation for Australia's interests, but Rudd was right about Trump the first time.

Better that it was Albo than Ley. I don't think that "best friend" is a good label for Albo. Maybe "diplomatic tightrope walker" might be a better one.

An older, white haired man walked into a jewelry store one Friday evening with a beautiful young gal at his side. He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend. The jeweler looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring and showed it to him. The old man said, "I don't think you understand, I want something very special." At that statement, the jeweler went to his special stock and brought another ring over. "Here's a stunning ring at only $40,000," the jeweler said. The young lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement. The old man seeing this said, "We'll take it." The jeweler asked how payment would be made and the old man stated, by check. "I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I'll write it now and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds and I'll pick the ring up Monday afternoon," he said. Monday morning, a very teed-off jeweler phoned the old man. "There's no money in that account." "I know", said the old man, "but can you imagine the weekend I had?"

Yep. And I remember saying before the election that, despite his denials, "project 25" was what he would push on the US. He's a scumbag, a liar, a greedy freeloading criminal rapist fraudster, a vindictive and small-minded bigot of the worst type. Every voter in the US either knew these facts or was living under a rock, but they still elected him.

Trouble is his sons are as abhorrent as him, especially the two older ones.

Religion:- Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. Catholics drink on the front porch, baptists drink on the back porch. We believe life begins at conception,” says the panel’s Catholic priest. “We believe life begins at birth,” says the liberal Protestant. “We believe that life begins when the kids are out of the house and the dog dies,” says the rabbi.

Sitting at the beach at Middleton enjoying the sun. Nice twisty road to get here.

Happy Birthday. And adfter SpecSavers, let's hope you see a lot more of them.

We drove out of our place on the way for a day trip. At the first traffic light, the car behind me beeped. I assume I had raced off quickly enough when the light turned green. After we passed through the intersection, he was still beeping and flashing his lights. I angrily pulled over and threw my door open, ready to confront this person. I slammed my door closed, and as I aggressively strode towards him, he pointed to my car. There was my beloved and expensive SLR camera on the roof of the car. The only reason it had not fallen off was that the neck strap was caught in the door. The man came up and I apologised for the angry gesticulations, and we had a bit of a laugh about it.

At 85 years, Morris marries a lovely 25-year-old woman. Because her new husband is so old, the woman decides that on their wedding night, they should have separate bedrooms. She is concerned that the old fellow could overexert himself. After the wedding festivities, she prepares herself for bed and for the knock on the door she is expecting. Sure enough, the knock comes and there is her 85-year-old groom ready for action. They unite in conjugal union and all goes well, whereupon he takes his leave of her and she prepares to go to sleep for the night. After a few minutes, there's a knock on the door and there old Morris is again, ready for more action. Somewhat surprised, she consents to further coupling, which is again successful. The octogenarian once again bids her a fond good night and leaves. She is certainly ready for slumber at this point, and, after a few more minutes, is close to sleep. But for the third time, there is a knock at the door and there he is again -- fresh as a 25-year-old and ready for more. Again they ravish one another. As they're basking in the afterglow, the young bride says to him, "I am thoroughly impressed that at your age you have enough juice to go at it three times. I've been with guys less than half your age who were only good for one time. You're a great lover, Morris." Morris, looking quite confused, turns to her and asks, "You mean I was here already?"

I agree driver training is the answer. My nightmare stretch is the Hay plains, damn dangerous dusk till dawn. I have touched a grey in Blue mountains in a car and a big grey glanced the front wheel down south on BMW bike. No hurt no foul, both were on bush tracks and slow. Us humans have removed vast tree cover ecosystems and replaced it with grasslands and artificial water sources. A perfect Roo environment has been created. It's our fault and we have to live in harmony or at least not conflict with nature. Bounties should be placed for introduced feral animals to totally remove them from the country- the damage they do is extreme. If it does not live on your farm and managed as live stock, it should be culled to zero. That means all goats, cattle, horses, buffalo, camels, pigs, cats, foxes, rabbits, deer, feral dogs etc Dingoes and all other natives must be completely protected as they balance the ecosystem and are native. Limited culling only by professional shooters of Roos for meat, skins and welfare reasons only.. no cowboys or gun junkies. This is a role for a dedicated federal government department with a big workforce on country to implement. The employment, environmental and farm benefits would far outweigh the costs. This should be seen as a national goal and beyond politics but essential to a liveable and sustainable planet. New Zealand is aiming for Zero ferals by 2050. We should do the same.

I suspect that he's mainly trying to protect some of his wealthy mates and supporters who would prefer that the files stay hidden. Trump's ballroom may suddenly be short of some funds if he gives in and releases the files.

This is RANDOM..... Oscar Wild's conundrum....

A boy and his date were parked on a back road some distance from town, doing what boys and girls do on back roads some distance from town. Things were getting hot and heavy when the girl stopped the boy. “I really should have mentioned this earlier. Actually, I'm a hooker and charge $20.00 for sex." she said. The boy just looked at her for a couple of seconds, but then reluctantly paid her, and they did their thing and they did their thing. After the cigarette, the boy just sat in the driver’s seat looking out the window. “Why aren’t we going anywhere?” asked the girl. “Well, I should have mentioned this before, but I’m actually a taxi driver, and the fare back to town is $25.”

'Tis better to end a sentence with a proposition than a preposition.

A proper funeral would have been better than swept under the carpet.

I think the life span of EV batteries is proving to be better than expected. This is not just anecdotal And research from fleet management technology Geotab suggests EV batteries on the market today could last 20 years or more. That report found that newer EVs degrade by about 1.8 per cent per year, a significant drop from the 2.3 per cent degradation rate seen in 2019. Meanwhile, a study published in Nature Energy in January this year found that in the UK, EVs were achieving comparable lifespans to ICE vehicles, even under more intensive use. EV batteries may last 40 pct longer than previously thought, new study shows We have debated this before. There are pros but considerable cons to battery swap. The short times quoted at existing battery swap stations sound good, but you have to consider the relatively small number of vehicles using them. Consider these charging centres. Insights About FAQ For business The Largest EV Charging Hubs In the World I would seem a little problematic to replace these purely with battery swap without creating queues and logistical problems. On a trip with my son in NZ in his Tesla, we made 3 charging stops. All of these stops were to just top up whilst having coffee It's a piss stop. The first one was about 40 minutes in the car park of a supermarket, where we picked up some supplies and had a coffee. The other stops were no more than 10 minutes. With the battery swap system, I guess you would have to decide on the optimal swapping point. There would be no point in swapping a battery that still had substantial range. Also, on the particular trip, it would be hard to imagine battery swap facilities in the backblocks of NZ, but plenty of charging centres. Another issue is that my son's Tesla is charged solely from his solar system (except on long trips) Why on earth would he want to go to a battery swap service and pay instead of using his own clean power? In the end, the market will decide. Given that battery swap vehicles can also be charged by conventional means, people will do what is cheapest and most convenient.

James Watson, co-discoverer of the double helical structure of DNA passed away on 6 November at the age of 97.

Tesla shareholders have approved a $1 trillion pay package for Musk as CEO. I listened to some idiot American justifying this. "But one of the conditions is that he raise the share cap to $7 trillion. So if he increases the value to that and only wants $1 trillion in return, I think it's worth it!" I have real problems with this for a number of reasons. Firstly, no person, however brilliant, is worth $1 billion let alone 1000 times that. This spanker was talking about Musk like he was some kind of genius. "He didn't improve things. He made things out of thin air!" What, like rockets? Yeah I think Werner was doing that in WW2. Electric cars? Not a new thing. Yes he did some good in pushing them into public consciousness but now his product is done better and cheaper by the Chinese. Robotaxis? Well, his don't work very well, whereas Waymo or whoever they are do. So not sure how that's a world leading step by him. Cybertrucks? Please. Pile of shit that he has to sell to his own companies because no one else wants them. Humanoid robots? Again, done much better by the Chinese. Secondly - it's grotesque. He's already a half-trillionaire. He cannot physically spend all his money in the rest of his life. So why? The American idiot was saying it's "recognition". You can recognise someone's achievements without giving them the GDP of an average sized country to do it. Imagine what a trillion US dollars could do in fighting disease, spreading education, health, vaccines in poor countries, improved sanitation, etc etc. Instead it's given to one man who will probably spend vast amounts destroying democracy. Thirdly - what is the message this gives to other CEO's? "Hey, how come he gets that much? My company is bigger than Tesla. I deserve that too!" So now the already bloated CEO class will be crying poor and agitating for bigger salaries. And we already know that they don't just get bonuses when their companies do well. They can make absolutely stupid mistakes, drive the share price down and still walk away with their massive bonuses. Billie Eilish had it right the other day. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/05/billie-eilish-billionaires-super-rich To summarise, she gave away $11m of her own money to help fight hunger and said "Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me. If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties." It's a good question. Why are there billionaires? They didn't earn it, they don't need it, they can't spend it all, and it would be far better for everyone if it was given to the poorest people on Earth. And if billionaires shouldn't exist, that goes a thousand times more for trillionaires.

The Invasion was based on a Lie. Hussein had NO WMD's. Hans Blix was right. Bush was ready to go and DID. Haliburton, Cheney's wife's Company, Made Millions. Nev

Spacey, you're missing the roundabout laws understanding, same as about 50% of the drivers out there. The law states that vehicles entering a roundabout must give way to vehicles already ON the roundabout - and that "give way" is only if a collision is likely to occur, if you don't give way. You do not have to stop turning left in a roundabout, if any vehicle is entering a roundabout from your left, because there's no likelihood of a collision, due to vehicle paths that are not conflicting. The important part of roundabouts is to merge when you judge a suitable gap. Many people think they have to stop and look both ways at roundabouts and wait for someone on their right to stop, this is a lack of understanding as to how roundabouts work. Roundabouts are to keep traffic moving, you enter a roundabout anytime you judge you can fit into the traffic flow, without making someone on your right, brake.

Yep, just tried off someone else's plate. Mainly tasted of the garlic it was cooked in. I wasn't moved enough ever to order them myself.

Whilst I am sure there are people on the fringe who want to remove humans from the equation, this is not common, and these people are inconsequential in the debate. Advocating for clean and renewable energy is about ensuring our future while allowing us to enjoy the benefits of modern technology. Advocating for EVs is not about restricting people's freedom to personal transport; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Wanting clean and renewable energy is about ensuring energy without some of the downsides.

Sort of a positive.. My typos are becoming legendary... Just yesterday, the salutation on one of my emails started with "Fear all,"... F and D are close, and spell checker didn't pick it up. A few weeks ago, when referencing a big data product, Data Bricks, my typings was "Data Pricks"... B and P are miles away; someone suggested a Fruedian slip given who I was addressing the email to.. This morning, signing off an email. "Kind retards,".. T is above the G.. Could have been a Fruedian as well.. Take solace that fellow forumites do not suffer alone.

A mother is driving a little girl to her friend's house for a play date. "Mommy," the little girl asks, "how old are you?" "Honey, you are not supposed to ask a lady her age," the mother replied. "It's not polite." "OK", the little girl says, "How much do you weigh?" "Now really," the mother says, "those are personal questions and are really none of your business." Undaunted, the little girl asks, "Why did you and Daddy get a divorce?" "That is enough questions, young lady, honestly!" The exasperated mother walks away as the two friends begin to play. "My Mom won't tell me anything about her," the little girl says to her friend. "Well," says the friend, "all you need to do is look at her drivers' license It is like a report card, it has everything on it." Later that night the little girl says to her mother, "I know how old you are, you are 32." The mother is surprised and asks, "How did you find that out? "I also know that you weigh 140 pounds." The mother is past surprised and shocked now. "How in heaven's name did you find that out?" "And," the little girl says triumphantly, "I know why you and daddy got a divorce." "Oh really?" the mother asks. "Why?" "Because you got an F in sex." (Now, isn't this thread so much better for you than the political doom threads?)

Sometimes GON, I think you just like stirring the pot. Do you really believe what you just said? Trump is trashing everything around him and enriching himself in the process. He is the most corrupt person to ever become president, and there is nothing that he is doing that is making America great.

The LAW is for EVERYONE BUDDY.. NO exemptions or we are all stuffed well and truly. The UNITED States is DIVIDED and a House divided unto itself shall surely Fall. This Bloke is a DICK Tator with a passion for revenge on anyone who won't Kiss his Arse, enthusiastically. The sooner he is GONE, the better, so we can go back to TRUTH Equal Rights and sensible LAWS that make the Society Function for ALL. Not just the filthy RICH. Nev

Every school has a breaking point — and one high school in Queensland, Australia, finally hit theirs in the most spectacular way. The staff at Maroochydore High School had grown tired of endless complaints from parents. Late homework, missing assignments, unexplained absences — and somehow, it was always the teachers’ fault. So instead of sending another politely worded newsletter (that no one would read anyway), they decided to make a bold statement. They changed the school’s voicemail. And let’s just say… it wasn’t your average “please leave a message after the beep.” It all started after the school introduced a new policy: both students and parents would be held accountable for attendance and homework. Reasonable, right? But a handful of parents lost it — some even threatened to sue because their kids were failing after skipping weeks of class! So, the staff decided to respond — with humor and brutal honesty. Here’s what callers heard when they dialed in: 📞 RIIIINNNGGG... CLICK! “Hello! You’ve reached the automated answering service for your school. Please listen carefully to the following options: ➡️ Press 1 if you’d like to lie about why your child is absent. ➡️ Press 2 to make excuses for missing homework. ➡️ Press 3 to complain about how we do our jobs. ➡️ Press 4 if you’d like to yell or swear at our staff. ➡️ Press 5 if you missed every single newsletter and notice we sent home. ➡️ Press 6 if you expect us to raise your child for you. ➡️ Press 7 if you’re tempted to reach through the phone and slap someone. ➡️ Press 8 if this is your third request for a new teacher this year. ➡️ Press 9 to complain about bus schedules. ➡️ Press 0 to complain about cafeteria food. 📌 And finally — if you’ve realized this is the real world, where your child’s effort determines their success, and that it’s not the teacher’s fault — please hang up and have a wonderful day! Oh, and for service in another language? Please move to a country that speaks it. 📚 Thank you for supporting public education!” Savage. Brilliant. Honest. Now that’s how you handle unreasonable parents with style

It is thought that at least some of these boats were fishing boats. GON if some of these people were not drug smugglers, and the ones that were were almost certainly not headed for the USA (range of these boats not sufficient to reach the USA) do you care if innocents have been blown to pieces? Undoubtedly, not all of these people blown to pieces were not drug dealers. Two people survived an attack on what was thought to be a fishing boat. These two were not arrested or tried but sent back to their home country. It could have been a little embarrassing if they were questioned in court. Something navies are good at is stopping and boarding boats. Why not board and search these vessels and arrest and interrogate to gain intelligence about drug networks? I suspect part of the reason is to appease Trump's moron followers. Civilised countries do not carry out extrajudicial executions. Certainly, the military is not comfortable with blowing people out of the water who may or may not be drug smugglers. Top admiral steps down abruptly amid drug boat strikes On top of that, the US is building up its military off the coast of Venezuela U.S. deploys aircraft carrier to waters off South America in major military escalation Nation Oct 24, 2025 3:34 PM EDT As well as that, Trump claims that there are CIA agents operating in Venezuela, so much for that Nobel Peace Prize

Not sure if I'm allowed to post flying memes here, but.... for all those doubting Thomas's....

Trump is giving a lot of attention to His New Ballroom, I don't reckon he'd need much. Nev

Different sort of day today. First, off to H & R Block to do my tax returm. Their estimate is a refund of about $1200. Then to Specsavers for new glasses. (My health insurance gives a 100% refund on two pairs of specs, one long rsange, one for reading). Haven't had my eyesight tested in 7 years. Lots of tests, and happy with the results. No macular degeneration, no sign of cataracts, and only minor indications of glaucoma, too insignificant to do anything about at present. A different way to spend your birthday, but I had feck all else to do.

Here's another oldie. A man was walking down the street when he saw a beggar sitting in a doorway, begging for money for a meal. The man said, "If I give you $20, will you spend it on alcohol?" The beggar replied, "No, I gave up drinking 18 years ago." The man said, "If I give you $25, will you spend it on fishing?" The beggar replied, "No, I sold my boat and fishing gear 15 years ago." The man said, "OK, come home with me and my wife will cook you a nice homecooked meal, and I'll still give you the $25." The beggar asked, "Won't your wife be angry?" The man replied, "Maybe, but I just want her to see what a man looks like when he gives up drinking and fishing."

Spare a thought for poor old Michael O’Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair. After arriving in a hotel in Manchester, he went to the bar and asked for a pint of Guinness. The barman nodded and said, "That will be £3 please, Mr. O’Leary." Somewhat taken aback, O'Leary replied, "That's very cheap," and handed over his money. "Well, we do try to stay ahead of the competition", said the barman. "And we are serving free pints every Wednesday from 6 pm until 8 pm. We have the cheapest beer in England". "That is remarkable value", Michael comments. "I see you don't seem to have a glass, so you'll probably need one of ours. That will be £4 please." O'Leary scowled, but paid up. He took his drink and walked towards a seat. "Ah, you want to sit down?" said the barman. "That'll be an extra £4. You could have pre-booked the seat, and it would have only cost you £2." "I think you may be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please". Michael attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can't squeeze in, he complains "Nobody would fit in that little frame". "I'm afraid if you can't fit in the frame you'll have to pay an extra surcharge of £4 for your seat sir". O'Leary swore to himself, but paid up. "I see that you have brought your laptop with you" added the barman. "And since that wasn't pre-booked either, that will be another £4." O'Leary was so incensed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled, "This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager". "I see you want to use the counter," says the barman, "that will be £2 please." O'Leary's face was red with rage. "Do you know who I am?" "Of course I do Mr. O'Leary." "I've had enough! What sort of a Hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this. I insist on speaking to a manager!" "Here is his e-mail address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9.00 am and 9.01am every morning, Monday to Tuesday at this free phone number. Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only £1 per second, or part thereof". "I will never use this bar again". "OK sir, but do remember, we are the only hotel in England selling pints for £3." Have a good weekend.