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The British Press British Press.mp4

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.

When is someone going to tell Trump to pull his head in, he doesn't rule the world. He wasn't elected to run this country. What right has he to tell us how much we should spend on defence? The amount spent on defence worldwide is staggering and sickening.Almost every thing troubling mankind, and nature, could probably be fixed if the money spent on defence was redirected to corrrecting these problems. Just because some greedy a**holes can't mind their own business.

First time we've had honey from our bees! Despite neither of us really knowing what we were doing, we managed to get about 3.4kg from our one hive.

I suppose that will make it a cruise missile?

Trump addressed the General Assembly of the UN. I've only seen snippets of his speech, but the overall impression I got was that he was very successful in bolstering the impression held by the rest of the World's leaders that he is an absolute buffoon and has succeded in making the USA a laughing stock.

I was going to tell a time travel joke, but you guys didn't liike it.

Peta Credlin is an ultra Right Winger. She was an advisor to Abbott. I wouldn't beleive her if she said G'day to me.

I wouldn't go as far as Litespeed but he is a waste of space. Heard him on the radio the other day talking up the Macquarie Point white elephant and saying that if the Tasmanian government doesn't build it, no business will trust them. Absolute shite. There's probably about 2000 people in Tassie who physically regularly go to the football, and most of them are from the north of the state. I don't particularly care whether Tassie gets a football team or not, but to my mind the AFL have acted like absolute c**ts in mandating, as a deal-breaker, a new billion dollar stadium which the state can't afford in prime waterfront land which should be mixed use restaurant/ park/ boulevard etc.

He's doing it for a reason. He WANTS an incident in LA so he has an excuse to stomp down harder. He would be thrilled if a protestor killed a cop or soldier. I know I sound like a broken record, but this is 1930's Germany all over again.

Well, it's happened. I have seen the light. I am a changed man, a convert, my eyes have been opened, and I see the error of my ways. Before you have concerns about my mental health, this is not a religious experience. But if I had been on the road to Damascus... it'd be astride a cruiser. As someone who's only ridden sports / sports tourers (Honda VFR750 x 2, Triumph Speed Triple, Suzuki VF750F - but that was a high-revving piece of shit) - I've always had a vague contempt for cruisers. You know, the standard stuff... they're too heavy, too slow, don't handle, can't corner, produce more noise than power, etc. However, while age doesn't always bring wisdom, it usually brings an appreciation for comfort, and a lesser appetite for risk. I'm not 20 anymore. I don't want to do 250kph, tucked down over the tank, or take corners at double the signposted recommendation. For a potted history of my riding, I started on a road/trail (Honda XL185) as my learner's bike at 18, moved to a VFR750 as soon as I had an open licence, and spent the next couple of decades (almost) riding the bikes listed above. When I became a dad at 36, I did the "responsible" thing - sold my bike and packed away the bone-dome and leathers. A while back @nomadpete said he was regretfully parting ways with his XV1100. I'd been feeling the need to start riding again (mid life crisis?) and after mulling it over for way too long, I mentioned this to my missus. To my surprise she fully supported me getting a bike, to the extent she told me to contact Peter there and then. I did, but unfortunately he'd already sold his machine a month before. A few days later however, this prince among men (still talking about Peter) messaged me with a Facebook ad for a Honda 750 Shadow. I had a look at the bike, took it for a test ride (now that was bloody scary, 17 years since I'd been on a bike and a totally different style), thought about it for a couple of days then bought it. She doesn't have a name yet (I was thinking of "H" names, like "Helen the Honda", but one of our neighbours is named Helen, so the phrase "I'm just off to ride Helen" might lead to some marital misunderstandings.) But she's 21 years old, all her chromework still looks great, and she sounds like a motorbike should. She's also very comfortable and easy to ride. This evening I rode to karate. While it was damn cold, it was a beautiful night and I really enjoyed the ride. This being my 4th ride on the bike, I'm starting to get more comfortable with her - although it'll still take a few more rides until I'm ready to have my wife on the back seat. So yes, I'm a cruiser convert. Apologies to all the Harley riders I've thought bad things about. (Only thought, because some of them are scary!) And yes, it's true. Her suspension is made for comfort, not corners. Around 80% of the engine output IS noise. (Very nice noise!) And she's much more comfortable gently swaying around curves at 60km/h than doing 110 up the highway. But now I think all those things are positive. Here she is. The photo doesn't do the colour justice - it's almost a candy apple red.

I have been away for a while. I am coming up to 2 years of EV ownership. As with 90% of EV owners I charge at home. The MG4 came with a granny charger. You don't get one with some brands. Tesla give you nothing now. I have used the granny charger once & that was to make sure it worked. I installed a 7kW wall charger & I get free power for 2 hours a day. I also have 8kW of solar panels so my running costs are negligible. The network is better than it was 2 years ago & there are now many "Destination Chargers" at hotels & motels & these are usually free. In the 25,000km I have driven so far I have spent about $150.00 at fast chargers. As with most people I don't do many long trips. The average car owner travels to/from work each day & except for long trips on holiday etc all charging is done at home. The charging process varies and the simple way is to register with each of the main suppliers. I have with Evie, Chargefox, BP, Ampol & Tesla. I have an RFID card which is registered with 3 of them. I pull up, plug in scan the card & that's it. If there is a queue it is bad etiquette to charge to 100% as the last 20% will be slow. I have not had a problem waiting long & by the time I have been to the loo & had a coffee or bite the car is ready. In the MG4 the WLTP range is 450km. At 110kmh I get around 380. After that many I am ready for a break. From Coffs to Noosa I stop once for lunch & charge top up (20-30 minutes). Admittedly this is on the main highway & chargers are everywhere. The thing is the car has a built in Satnav with a charging planner & it knows what range there is and will tell you which charger to go to & in many cases can tell you if the charger is in use or not. So where are we going from here? Well CATL, the worlds largest battery manufacturer has recently announced a new battery technology that uses a combination of 2 types (lithium & sodium) to provide a range of 1500km and can get 520km of range in a 5 minute charge. That is quicker than filling a petrol tank. The new tech breakthrough is with Sodium ion technology. Of course sodium is everywhere. The sea is full of it & it is cheap. https://carnewschina.com/2025/04/21/battery-giant-catl-showcases-three-innovations-1500km-range-battery-520km-in-5-minutes-ultra-fast-charging-and-2025-mass-production-sodium-ion-battery/ This is now where battery & charging technology is up to. The only thing that will happen from now on is that it will get better & better. Already battery warranties are 1.5 to 2 million km or lifetime, The battery will outlast the rest of the car. EV haters will continue to abound but they are being rapidly drowned out with reality & the uptake of EV ownership continues to climb (Tesla excepted due to the Musk factor). Worldwide 17 million new EVs were sold in 2024 representing a 20% increase on the previous year. The new government is not only supporting the switch to electric vehicles but also getting more home batteries installed. Since the election home battery installers have had a massive increase in orders and inquiries. The electric future is here.

I have fond memories of Lord Howe Island. When I was a musician in the RAAF, we made many visits there. The landings and takeoffs in a C-130 were always exciting. These trips were in the 80s, and from memory, we used to perform at "Founders Day" events. Back then it was a big deal, and we seemed to have some celebrity status. We would be put up by the locals and shown a good time with boat trips, etc. On one occasion, I was able to get my wife on the RAAF flight. On another occasion, after takeoff, the crew put a cargo strap across the rear of the aircraft, and they opened the back ramp as we flew past Balls Pyramid.

The wife & I had a very quiet 63rd wedding anniversary. spacesailor

It's Europe's time to step up. We seriously have to reconsider both AUKUS (Awkers) and the 5 eyes partnership. What point is intelligence sharing with the US when we have a dictator-lovin' Putin puppet in charge? Plus his cabinet is comprised of arse licking sycophants. Definitely not trustworthy people. I think the global West has to face the sad fact that the USA is no longer a trustworthy partner.

Tell them it's a BAY and a PORT. The Gulf of America is between Trumps EARS. Nev

When it comes to public toilets I can think 2 facilities that are unisex nearby. One is by the water near the pier. It is two long columns of cubicles with a long row of sinks. The other is in the arts centre. This facility is pretty swish. It is a large area of sinks, mirrors hand driers etc and around the outside of the walls are cubicles some marked unisex others marked male or female for those who care. As FH pointed out this is old news in many countries. I remember my father telling me that when he travelled to Japan 40 years ago. He was momentarily surprised when washing his hands at a sink that there was a young woman next to him putting on makeup. He had not realized at first that it was unisex and thought maybe he had gone into the wrong toilets, but he was fine with it. Whilst I can see that change causes issues that will need to be sorted such as sport, I can not see why people get so flustered by this. I have a neighbour who moved in about 5 years ago. This young woman seemed very reluctant to engage in conversation, That was fine, I am naturally inclined to chat to anyone. Gradually I noticed that they were transitioning. It did sadden me that this person probably thought due to our age that we might be hostile, nothing could be further from the truth. Four years later my wife and I are pretty good friends with this person. Their defining characteristics for us are their wit, intelligence and kindness. I don't give a toss what their chromosomes are.

My 93 yr old Italian neighbour, Barney, has a Rheem instantaneous (natural) gas HWS. It stopped working, so he came over to see what could be done about fixing it. His English isn't good, and he has zero knowledge of the "computer world" - and he's deaf as a post, too - so it's all hard work for him. I told him he could call Rheem, they have their own plumbers and repair vans, but it would most likely cost between $400 and $500, even if it was a simple part. If it needed more repair, it might be cheaper to replace it (it's a 2012 model), which he understood pretty well. I told him Rheem take $200 deposit out of your credit card just to initiate a callout - and their minimum charge is $260. Of course, he doesn't have a credit card, he only uses cash at all times! - and when I said they would send him messages via his phone, he decided that wasn't the way he wanted to go (he has a cheap mobile, but hardly knows how to use it, and he only keeps it "for emergency"). So he said he had a plumber mate down at the Italian club, and he'd ask him if he could fix it. A week later, I asked how he was getting on with it. He said his mate looked at the unit, figured out it was "an electric part" that needed replacing, and it would take 2 weeks to get the part, and install it. I was surprised, I told him Rheem parts were easy to get, and Rheem will repair it in a day or two. He said, "I don't think my mate wants to repair it, would it be easier and quicker to get a new one?" (a new replacement gas HWS is $1350 for a basic installation here, and it goes up if any difficulties are encountered). I said, "Rheem will repair it for you quickly, and as I said, it will probably be $400-500, do you want me to organise it?" He looked relieved and said "Yes, I'll pay you what it costs, and pay you as well!" I said, "I don't need any payment Barney, but I'll get it organised for you". I rang Rheem and inquired about parts supply, and they said they can supply almost any part needed for nearly all Rheem HWS's in use, and the worst wait would be 2-3 days. So I got them to put me through to Rheem service, where the (older) lady was very good. She took all my details down carefully and read them back, and advised the $260 minimum and $198 up-front charge (which I knew about), and initiated a call-out. I got a text with the job allocation number within minutes, and the next text was advising the job would be done the following day. The following day I got a couple of texts advising the repairers timing of arrival, and he arrived pretty much on time, in the early afternoon. He quickly diagnosed the problem as a U/S igniter (about a $40 part) and he had one in his van - but the model of HWS Barney had was a bugger to work on, because it was older and the igniter was buried deep in the HWS. He set to, and had to undo about 50 screws and pull off part after part, panel after panel and bracket after bracket. After about 45 minutes, he had the igniter out. He said the current models were a doddle to repair the igniter, and he would've had it done in 10 mins, if it was a current model. When I asked him about the life of a gas HWS, he bluntly stated. "10 years!". So he reckoned this one was past its use-by date! - but it still looked O.K. and didn't show any signs of corrosion. He pulled a new igniter out of his van and had it in and finished about an hour and 15 mins after starting the job. He signed it off and left, and the HWS was working spot-on. I went to my computer and there was the bill! - $339.13 in total - and the money was already gone from my credit card! I went and told a grateful Barney, gave him the invoice (the job was booked in his name and he would need the invoice for any claims), and he insisted on giving me $340 plus $50 for my trouble - despite me insisting I didn't need any payment, I just wanted to make sure he could have a hot shower! I think he got out of it pretty lightly, cost-wise, and he would've almost certainly have been ripped off by private plumbers.

The negative results of his actions haven't hit home yet, they are still living on euphoria. It's only been 7 days. Seeing all the pre-election crap and comments on Farcebook, they are expecting miracles. Give it 3 or 4 months and things don't improve the way they hope, eg. cheaper eggs, gasoline, groceries, etc., and the impact of his policies on the cost of medicines, education, etc. start to hurt, that euphoria will evaporate.

Well, the daughter finished her A Levels (HSC/VCE equivalent) last year. She didn't quite do as well as she expected for one of her subjects, which was her best during the year. In fact, she scored a C (we still use the old letter system here). Bitterly disappointed, her school were fantastic. A little background, the examination boards here are.. privatised.. so any questioning of their results has two impacts - additional cost (less profit) and, if they agree (ie.e conceded, or admit they were wrong), reduced reputation with the government that pays them. She scored a C, and needed a high B or a low A with her other subjects to get into her chosen course. Her teacher was adamant she was at least a low A, and the examination board did concede that they were short staffed (aka didn't pay enough) and for my daughter's region, there was an inexperienced examiner. Our initial "review", which cost us £150 was immediately rejected. So we lodged a formal appeal. I aksed the school if there were others in her class, and she said all of them were poorly marked. I suggested a sort oif class appeal, but because they all got into their chosen courses, or went on to work or for their gap year, no one was interested. So we appealed. It takes some time and was something like £300, with a refind if the appeal is upheld. Designed to keep poorer people from appealing, I guess, we went with the appeal. After reading her paper, and the markers comments, they didn't tally, so I was confident it would get through - just by how much though, and would it be enough? My daughter, rather than travelling and taking a lesser course, decided she would sit a 4th subject. It meant doing a two year subject in one year, but because she was only doing the one subject, it was easy. But, it did cost as it was only available in that format at a private college. She has gone to the first term and then started th second. However, we got the results of her appeal, which I was minded to complain about because it only just took her into the B grade.. And her teacher from the original school is fantastic, called us, and asked if we wanted to challenge the appeal. At this stage, it would go to the local educational authoritym which is the government. My daughter decided to lodge her application for the course she wanted - Law at one of the Russel universities (sort of Ivy leagie of the UK and incudes Oxford and Cambridge - but her chosen university is neither of those). She just got the notice that shed has been accepted unconditionally, and is over the moon, as are all of us! BTW, she cose law all be herself. Both my partner and I agreed to not push or otherwise recommend either child into a vocation/profession - we would advise if they asked. And to top it off, she has just scored herself a temporary job at the local nucelar plant as well (security clearance permitting), paying almost average wage... Good on her.

Yes one must have a benchmark. Nev

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 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 really, really don't want to get drawn into this subject because it is a subject where people tend to passionately believe that one side is all good and one side is all bad, when clearly the truth lies somewhere between. I will always condemn unjustifiable violence wherever the perpetrator is, even if it i my own country. No, I do not think that the land has been taken since the 1947 partition plan can be given back. The problem is, though, that the process continues with settlers expanding into the West Bank, etc. Should the Palestinians just accept their territory slowly getting smaller and smaller? Again, I do not condone violence. It was inevitable that after the barbaric acts of October 7, there would be some action by the Israelis. For me, it comes down to proportionality. I am sure it is correct that the Palestinians hate Israelis and that Israelis hate Palestinians. This problem will never be solved until the mutual hatred can be sorted out. I was going to post a bunch of videos, but as I said I don't want to get too involved in a debate that is so polarised. Some of the vids involve settlers driving Palestinian farmers out of their olive orchards at harvest time, also driving away their livestock. A video of Israeli soldiers dragging kids out of bed to check their IDs at gunpoint. How could those kids possibly grow up without hatred? Two Israeli teenage boys beating an aged farmer on his own land. To quote another poster, "Peace does not lie at the end" My point is, it does not lie at the end of a Palestinian gun or an Israeli gun. I guess to sum up, I am definitely not pro-Hamas or pro-Israeli. I merely call out barbarity where I see it. Hamas is brutal, and so are the ultra-far-right members of the Israeli government.

Using Biden's plan. He could have stopped this war long ago by stopping the weapon deliveries to Israel when they started using them to target civilians, journalists, hospitals, schools, residences and basically turning the homeland of a million people into rubble.

The bloke is not a down and out cobber struggling against a unfair system. Nor is he a person with a disability and or mental illness that can be treated. He is a sociopath with murderous intent. His sense of self entitlement is complete, sovereign citizen or not he would still be like this. He has jumped on the bandwagon to justify his actions, he would always find a reason to act this way. Irrespective of the societal ecosystem, he would always be a angry defiant violent person. I doubt he will surrender, instead he will try to murder police and feel self justified and see his actions as heroic. I hope they get him alive and no more innocents are hurt. He deserves a life long cell with no opportunity to commit suicide. Sadly is he is killed other nutters will see him as a matyr.

Well, the daughter's time at EDF is coming to an end in a couple of weeks. She didn't realise it, but she has racked up about 2.5 weeks holiday leave (we get sometehng like 6 weeks standard, here, but there is no long service leave, but they allow sabbaticals after 5 years (November for me), and pay you up to three months of your basica salary - no pension, medical/health, bonus, additional holiday accruals). Anyway, we are on a long weekend this weekend, but daughter and one of her good mates are driving to Cornwall for the week from Monday arvo. Two 19 year old girls - nay - women (using girls here is common parlance), are going to have a week of fun and frolics. My daughter asked me if I was going to be sad or have any reservations about her going. I looked her in the eye and said I am really happy, a father will never stop worrying ever slo slightly about their adult children, but that she is miles more mature at her age than I was at that time (and probably now). Since she could crawl, she was always fiercly independent. I recall her dropping something when she was still crawling, and when I picked it up for her, she slapped my wrist and got a right strop with me. I put it down, and she picked it up, looked at whatever it was in her hand, and lifted her head to look at me, ans then smiled a very wide grin. Admittedly, the grit has waned slightly, but she is a determined daughter of a bastard. In two weeks she starts univesity. Her employer wants her back for the breaks; I am going to miss her at home, but the university is quite close (unlike Aus, kids often go to unoversities the other side of the country form where they live). But, I am so proud of her. I know we are all proud of our kids.. and rightly so. I just wanted to share it.

Anything with Sky News on the label is pretty much guaranteed to be wrong. Actually, I'll go one step further and say I'm damn proud of Albo at the moment. He's doing a great job in China, and the Trump administration is like a tanty-throwing spoiled baby.

I bought a Thesaurus today - but when I got home, I found all the pages were blank!! I just didn't have the words to express how angry I was!!

Gentlemen, I present to you, the new @Marty_d:

Another page from the fascist playbook . Remove the intellectuals, the free thinkers, anyone who may disagree with "maga" thought. Next it's jail anyone who will not bow to his power. This has already started by detaining immigrants and visitors to the USA, merely on impressions you are anti trump. Very scary stuff

In my opinion, BOTH sides (Palestinian & Israel) need to be metaphorically grabbed by the scruff of the neck and given a shake. Further, other countries should starve BOTH sides of weaponry. Otherwise they are supporting atrocities against civilians - probably because of hidden interests. Wiping out the whole population of one country is the most uncivilised way ttotry to stop a conflict.

My wife used to compare me to Chris Hemsworth. She used to say, "You're no Chris Hemsworth."

Went for a snorkel off Coningham this morning (bloody freezing - 8 degrees on land and felt like not much more in the water) - and my wife got to try out our new waterproof camera. Despite the cold - hanging out with all the little fish was amazing. Schools and schools of them. Plus the occasional big wrasse.

When I broke my ankle on the motorcycle over here, I was amazed at the conditions under which dedicated staff worked. The doc asked if I minded having the thingy to attach the drip to inserted into my right hand. My response was I preferred not to know about it, as I am queasy (it took over a week for me to read the first chapter of Human Performances and Limitations for the PPL here - it wasn't a requirement in Aus when I got my license). His response was if he didnt tell people he was doing it, 99% of the time he could expect a right hook to his jaw. A week alter, I was readmitted to casualty (ER is another American import) with suspected compression syndrome.. they didn't fart around, but for the short period of time I had to wait on a stretcher (it was later on a Friday or Saturday evening) in the tick of the action, all I can say is it was a real eye opener of the continual stress and security threat they work under. At sone stage, they had this huge bloke - over 6'6" and full of muscle, coked off his head, threatening abusing the staff because they were trying to treat his badly cut up knees from glass of broken bottles. He wasn't letting them get near him and he was a real challenge to the numerous security staff on shift. Eventually, they got his mother in to calm him down, and I had to laugh - she was 4' nothinh and petite and diminutive as they come, but jeez she packed a ferocious bark... He eventually settled down... The doc came to see me and I remarked to him he is a better man that I and that if it we me, after his second intensive remonstration, I would have just let him get gangrene or have the issues of glass lodged in his body. These people generally deserve our respect and a bloody lot more money than most of the get.

Let's get back to the POSITIVE additions to this thread, shall we? Trump has his own thread. For last weeks and this weeks positive addition, SWMBO and I went to a couple of shows put on by the W.A. Museum and the W.A. Maritime Museum. The W.A. Museum show was "The Kimberley Experience", and the Maritime Museum show was "Empress Josephines Garden". The best part was, both shows were FREE admission! The Kimberley Experience was all about viewing the Kimberley's tourist places, without the need to actually travel there - and the Empress Josphines Garden show was all about the early French explorers of the W.A. coastline, and how they took home large amounts of W.A. flora and fauna to the Empress and Napoleon, which flora and fauna Josephine nurtured, and expanded to many other places in France. The French took home marsupials and emus, and W.A.'s Black Swans, which all survived for some time, it appears. Both shows were "immersive" experiences, where you were surrounded by big screens - and in the case of the W.A. Museum Kimberley show, we actually wore VR headsets, the first time I've ever done so. The VR headsets take you right to the camera lens view from drones and cameras fixed to choppers, and it was startling to look down with the headsets, and to suddenly feel like you were hanging in space over gorges and rivers. Both shows were very enjoyable and it's good to be out and about and socialising, which SWMBO believes is very important for your mental health, as you get older.

The hypocrisy is mind blowing. Musk never wears a suit in the Oval Office.

Mrs Octave and I went on an enjoyable hike this morning. We are getting fit for our upcoming NZ trip. Day-to-day life is pretty good, isn't it?

lol this is going around a few of my local Geelong groups.

Still can't answer simple questions of your assertions, eh? Have to deflect to something else? What Vance was advocating was hate speech.. the same stuff that led to the riots in the UK on an unfounded lie that attributed a horrible knife attack to asylum seekers, when it was a local person. The lie was perpetrated by Nigel Farage, and accused the police of covering up to protect asylum seekers, when he knew it was an adolsecent and the police cannot release the identity of the accused of under 18s without a court order. To restore peace, the court allowed the identity of the child to be released. Interesting how the community where the choild was killed totally condemned the action and accused thugs from outside of their areas coming an and laying waste to their community - and it is a mostly white community at that. Nigel Farage, as an MP, claimed publicly he had it on good authority that the accused was an asylum seeker. On whose authority did he have? It was Andrew Tate, a right wing mysoginist in jail in Romania on remand for people trafficing charges for prostitution. Funny how there is little consequence for spewing that BS today, and Vance want's more of it. I am all for free speech, but also for the free speaker to be accountable with real consequences when they are intentionally whipping up hatred. And Vance doesn't think that should be the case. BTW, no one is saying people can't say things that aren't true - just keep vilification out of it. I don't think there is a problem with that. But, in response to you "truth hurts".. No, the truth is the truth. And it doesn't hurt per se. I am despondent that despite centuries of progress, and being the wealthiest humanity has ever been, our old foibles seem to remain. Just because Trump won the election, doesn't mean people were right for electing him, anymore than at a time, most people thought the earth was flat, the universe revolved around the earth, and I could go on. People get sucked in all the time. But I am despondent that despite all the information that is at our fingertips, people are still can be polarised, they are too lazy to look at the facts and are prepared to listen to lies that comfort them. It certainly makes thisd person angry: It appears the farmers are starting to have second thoughts on their MAGA saviours: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-usda-funding-freeze-farmers-tiktok-project-2025-2029137. Corporate Americal is having buyers' remorse: And so it goes on. I would say the truth about Trump, which was easily discovered, is starting to hurt. I am, however, despondent.. at so many levels.. not about Trump.. he is a product of his time and population, but how a country that supposedly holds the constitution so dear and freedom.democracy as sacrsanct could descend into 1930's Germany... so easily, when the altnerative was working so much better for the people. The right seem to be better marketers, and let's face it, the fourth arm of government, which is not what Musk was talking about, the press, is paid for by Corporate America - and therefore, the arm of government that who have the most influence are doing who's bidding?

Hmmm. Sounds like something OME would write. It has his style, but is it really OME, or is it Chatgpt sounding like OME?

, Blame the rotten Newspapers for a lot of that. Your Country forced you to go to war. To treat returnees as was done to you is a disgrace but the People themselves who turned out to throw red paint and other reprehensible acts were NOT forced to do it and should not have. I completely understand you for being thoroughly pissed off and even the rotten RSL wouldn't acknowledge you.. You Got a $#!t deal. .I know quite a few people in your position who are far from amused.. Justifiably so. Nev

Well... In the interests of the population of our country, I'd like to see political action on the following:- 1. Transparency by all political and business players. 2. Accountability - a transparent Anticorruption watchdog that has teeth & allows public scrutiny. 3. A stop to foreign ownership of domestic property. 4. A better system of making big business pay their taxes. 5. A future fund similar to Norway's. 6. A ban on political parties. Democracy can be served better if each elected member is permitted a conscience vote. 7. Cease using taxpayers money for political advertising. 8. Bring back old fashioned boring but factual reporting and investigative journalism by our ABC. Am I sounding grumpy enough yet?

I see lots of comments on Facebook from people who believe that Trump will save them from the financial problems they are facing, in other words, they voted through their pockets. Unfortunately for the Dems, a number of worldwide circumstances (Covid, Middle East wars, etc.), have caused inflation, and they are blaming the Dems for these effects. I think, when they realise that Trumps policies will increase these problems, not reduce them as he promised, those who jumped ship may change their mind at the midterms. Trump cannot be removed at the midterms, but he may lose control of the House, and possibly even the senate, which will tie his hands. I doubt they would use the 25th Amendment to get rid of him, as that would put Vance in charge. From Wikipedia: Midterm elections historically generate lower voter turnout than presidential elections. While the latter have had turnouts of about 50–60% over the past 60 years, only about 40% of those eligible to vote go to the polls in midterm elections. Historically, midterm elections often see the president's party lose seats in Congress, and also frequently see the president's opposite-party opponents gain control of one or both houses of Congress.