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G'day all! Just sticking my head in the door to let you know I'm upright and breathing. The main reason that I haven't been around is that I was spending hours here, and when I put a lot of effort into researching a topic and creating a post, there was no reasonable discussion, simply personal attack. At the same time the early restrictions due to COVID in Sydney and the frustrations of dealing with a GP who thought that the piece of paper on the wall proved that she knew more than everyone else, were impacting on me. So what did I do? Well, the wife's condition got worse and worse, and it was only when the pain reached 9.5 on a scale of 0 to 10 that I got her into hospital and found out that she had a massive cancer on her lady bits. That was about three weeks ago. She came home after a pain control programme was developed, but that didn't work. We got her back into hospital last Saturday where the current cause of the pain was determine (the cancer doesn't cause the pain). She'll remain in hospital until 11th August when she will be operated upon, then spend a further fortnight there recovering. Due to COVID, no visitors are allowed, so she's isolated from family. It's hard, but I look on the bright side in that while in hospital she is getting the social contact with women that her being confined at home has prevented. And what about me? Well I've turned my hand to woodwork. I found a supply of good hardwood from a demolished house and turned this: into this I'm also making the tools and accessories to go with it. I follow this bloke: https://www.youtube.com/c/RexKrueger/channels That takes care of my daytime activities - along with the housework. At night, I watch a bit on the History channel, then retire to the office to study Calculus under the tutelage of this wonderful Young Australian of the Year https://www.youtube.com/c/misterwootube/channels I still do some surfing of aviation-related videos. Joining the woodworking and aviation bits together is where I found the video on making a propeller that Jerry Attrick poste on the other site. So I'll say "hooroo!", and go off to make wood shavings, or dig some compost into the garden to get ready for Spring planting. Keep you masks on! Old Man Emu

The British Press British Press.mp4

I saw a short clip of a bloke in England being interviewed on the street. His comments were amusing: "Being British is all about driving a German car to an Irish themed pub with Belgian beer and then going home buying an Indian takeaway to sit on a Swedish sofa in front of a Japanese television to watch American shows and all the while being suspicious of anything foreign".

Well Said William Shatner!✨🇨🇦🚀💫🪐 🌎 “Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration. "I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced. "I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet. "This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable." -- William Shatner, actor❤️🇨🇦❤️

A Russian man dies and goes to Hell. There he finds that each country has a separate Hell, and one may opt to sign up for any of them. He goes first to the German Hell and asks St Peter, 'What do they do here?' St Peter says, "First, they put you in an electric chair for 4 hours, and burn you extensively. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another 4 hours, and place weights on you, while you're there. Then the German Devil comes in, and whips you viciously for the rest of the day." The Russian doesn't like the sound of the German Hell at all, so he goes to the American Hell. There, he's told of the exact same routine happening; "First, they put you in an electric chair for 4 hours and burn you extensively. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another 4 hours and place weights on you while you're there. Then the American Devil comes in, and whips you viciously for the rest of the day." He then tries a few other countries Hells, and gets the same answer each time. Then finally he comes to the Russian Hell, and finds a very long queue of people waiting to get in. Amazed, he asks St Peter, "What do they do here?" And to his great surprise, once again he receives the same answer as his previous inquiries revealed. He exclaims, "So, what's going on? That's exactly the same as all the other Hells - so what's the long queue for?" And St Peter replies; "Because the Russians are running this Hell, there's no power, the electric chair doesn't work, someone has stolen all the nails from the bed, and the Devil is a former Russian bureaucrat - so he comes in, signs the register, and then goes off to the casino for the rest of the day..."

Had all the family over for Christmas, and everybody is asking how I got the frypans so sparkly? I boiled 10L of water and added 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate, two cups of Coke and half cup of lemon juice, and then stirred well. I waited 3 minutes before placing the frypans in the solution for 45 minutes, then added a quarter cup of chlorine bleach to the mixture. Then I brushed them with a small wire brush, and put them back into the liquid for another 25 minutes. I took them out, rinsed them, and they looked exactly the same - so I threw them away, and went out and bought new ones.

It gets even better. We have a company here (Cleve SA) that has just started a pilot project producing a cattle food supplement from a particular species of seaweed. If we feed a golf ball size of the product to a cow every day it stops a particular process in the cow's rumen and reduces their methane output by up to 90 percent. With a world population of 150B animals the potential of this is enormous. Look up a company called CH4 Global or go to the link below. Cheers https://www.ch4global.com

The things we take for granted. The Russians have been pushed back from around Kharkiv city, and in the north, Ukrainian troops have reached the border and planted a symbolic border marker post. So for the time being, the air raid sirens have gone silent in the city. Alexander K. spent three hours in the kitchen at 2.00am this morning cooking soup; the first chance to slow cook since the war began. Until now, it's been come up out of the basement, cook a quick meal, then take it back down to the basement. He's not fighting on the front line and is doing volunteer work around town, feeding the elderly, running shuttles for people evacuating and a million other things. A lot of the younger people (women and children) have evacuated to the west, but a lot of the elderly have been left behind. Many are too infirm to travel, some are isolated and have no relatives, and others simply don't have the money to go anywhere else. That's where people like Alexander and his friends come into the picture. He's used what he could of his own money to buy food and medicines for the old people, and now relies on donations from people through social media networks. During the day, he has been running the gauntlet driving around to the old people. When the shelling started in Kharkiv, Alexander and his wife were hosting several families in their basement come air raid shelter. High morale and strong spirit has got them through it so far. I was pleased to hear that his wife and little daughter were recently able to evacuate to the west, as they were there through a lot of the hostilities. I'll think of them next time I make soup in my very peaceful kitchen. We are so lucky to live in a country like Australia. P.S. it's mushroom and barley soup with goat cheese on top. It looks good; I'll have to get his recipe.

As a Moderator I had to look into a complaint arising from a bit of back 'n' forth between two members on a topic. As a result of looking into that, and from what I have experienced here and elsewhere, I have formed the opinion that, although these forums allow people to express their deeply felt opinions in writing, the method fails to replace face-to-face discussion where tone of voice, and physical expression play a large part in carrying meaning. It is easy to get very strong in presenting one's opinions, to the extent that, in written format, they nearly reach the stage of throwing down the gauntlet. So, please consider how your posts will be read by others, especially if the post is part of a two-way debate. Remember that a good debater attacks the content of the opposition's statements, not the deliverer. Not matter how hot under the collar you get, please don't get involved in personal attacks. If you do, your audience will go away and you will be the ultimate loser.

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?

One good thing about getting old, we watched a disaster movie tonight for the second time and didn’t know how it ends.

Ok, here's one that frightened me a bit. I was talking to a colleague today and he said that yesterday he had a scam call from someone purporting to be his wife. IN HER VOICE. She said she'd broken down and the tow truck had arrived, and she needed to pay the driver but didn't have enough cash so could he send some money to her account. So somewhere the scammers have got a sample of his wife's voice (apparently 6 seconds is all it takes) along with his mobile number and were using AI to talk to him, in real time, with her voice. He said tone, inflection, everything was perfect. It was live chat, he was asking questions and she was responding. He knew it wasn't his wife as he could see her in the kitchen preparing dinner while he was talking on the phone with "her".

I went up to my block in the Central Midlands of the Wheatbelt today to do a bit more repair work. It was nice and quiet, any businesses in town are closed, and a lot of townspeople are holidaying on the coast. The big school oval is directly opposite my commercial block, and it's always full of pink and grey galahs, hundreds of constantly bloody screeching corellas, a few Carnabys black cockatoos, and an assortment of other birds such as a few ravens, magpies, and honeyeaters. The galahs and cockatoos rule the place, just by sheer numbers and constant noise. Anyway, I'm working away, and next thing, I can hear this distant "ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta - the sound of an air impact gun or jack hammer. It stops, then starts again a little while later. Then stops, then starts again. I'm looking around, thinking someone is changing a full set of wheels on a road train? But there's no-one working in town, no businesses doing anything - but there is a few grain trucks moving around. I'm thinking, "well, maybe it's a truckie down by the wheat bin, changing a couple of flats?" But the noise keeps up, on an "on and off" basis. "Ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta ... stop. Silence for 5 mins, then "ratta, tatta, tatta ......" again. I'm looking around, totally puzzled by now. The rail line through town runs past, just down from my block, about 400 metres away. They've been tamping the ballast on regular occasions over the grain hauling period. The rail tamper wagon goes, "Ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, as the automated jackhammers pound the ballast. I think, "Well the rail tamper must be working the line downtown". But I watch for it to go by, but nary a sign of it. The "ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta starts up again. I look carefully over the road where the Whitegums are full of corellas and pink and greys (they seem to hang out together a lot, in the same flock) - and next thing, I realise - its the BLOODY PARROTS making the "ratta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta, tatta" sound!!! Not sure if it's the pink and greys or the corellas, but I suspect it's those bloody annoying corellas!! They've obviously been listening to the tamper, and to people using air ratchet guns to change truck wheels - and they've decided to copy the sound!! I know a lot of birds are copy artists and mimics, and the parrots will repeat a lot of sounds and voices - but this is the first time I've ever heard them pick up and repeat the sound of a rattle gun or rail tamper. I used to get caught out by the squeakers (grey currawongs) when I lived in the Southern wheatbelt - they're excellent mimics, and they would mimic the sound of our phone, which had a call speaker in the shed. You'd drop everything and run to pick up the phone - then suddenly realise you'd been had, by a currawong mimicking the phone.

Well, I finally made the decision and bought my first Electric Car. I have been looking at the particular car since it was released in the UK a year ago so I put my name down for a test drive when they arrived in Australia in August. So far the car has won 15 major awards including Car of the Year 2023 in the UK where it beat every other entrant including ICE & hybrids. I was a bit dubious about the brand but after looking at the multitude of Youtube reviews and the test drive I was convinced. It is a MG 4 Essence 64. One motoring reviewer found the dramatic change from all of the revived MG brand cars difficult to work out. His experience found that while they were generally cheap the dynamic driving experience ranged from below average to positively woeful. The MG4 was so dramatically different it was as if it was a totally different brand. Designed by the Royal Academy of Arts in London and engineered by SAIC (ex MG) Engineering at Longbridge UK it is a ground up EV design with rear wheel drive and 50-50 weight distribution with what they have called a "modular scalable platform" meaning the battery is scalable for different size vehicles and can be changed quickly. I planned to buy the sub 40k bottom of the range version but ended up with the top of the range mid size battery version. Build quality and features better than many luxury brands including Mercedes Benz according to some motoring journalists. My experience so far is I can't get over how good it is. So many features that I am still learning about, fantastic handling and great range. I installed a 7.4 kW charger in my garage and it charges from near empty to full at the off peak rate overnight easily. Running cost is the equivalent of paying about 14 cents a litre for petrol. It also has power to load so I have an adaptor and it will deliver up to 32 Amps of power for any 230 volt appliance or mutitude of appliances. I'll use this during power cuts and also camping or picnics etc. I'll never go back to ICE.

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It's a shame our government has dropped the ball because if we were to do the right and honourable thing now, we could forge a really good long term relationship with Ukraine. They see us now as a good friend but the potential is there to be an even better one. I can visualise a future of expanded military cooperation with exchange programs, joint training, and who knows, maybe one day we'll be buying Ukrainian and Polish military equipment. Both countries certainly have a good track record of design and production of good quality military hardware. Before too long, Poland will be the strongest non-nuclear European member of NATO in terms of forces and equipment, and one day Ukraine will be right there with them if they can win this war. Now is the time for the government to pick up the ball and run again. All they need is some long term vision. A lot of people have been lobbying and petitioning Albo, Richard Marles and Penny Wong to get off their backsides and do something. Lets hope they get shamed into it because it will be bad politics if they don't. If they wimp out on Ukraine now, it will follow them around like a bad smell for years to come.

For those in Melbourne who felt the 3.8 earthquake last night:

We lived on a large bush block for 21 years. The bush came up pretty close to the house so we were treated to many "visitors". We were not particularly fearful of critters although the first time we encountered a scorpion (small) walking across the lounge floor was a little concerning. We had 2 close encounters with huntsmen spiders. One encounter occurred at the dinning table. a huntsman on the underside of the table dropped into my wifes lap. Being summer and living in the middle of nowhere, clothes were somewhat optional. The other notable occasion was when I was getting dressed to go out. I put my sock on and felt something in the toe of my sock. I assumed that it was a ball of lint. I initially wasn't going to investigate but decided it might annoy me during the day, I took off the sock and plunged my hand into it and grasped the "object". On pulling it out, I opened my hand to reveal a somewhat worse for wear huntsman. I stared at this creature in my hand for a short time (seemed like a long time) before throwing the creature in the air and backing off. My wife says I emitted a girlish shriek, but I deny it. The amazing thing was that it did not bite me. Living in the bush we used to get what we initially thought were rats in our house. These were actually Antechinus, an Australian native animal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antechinus These animals are I think protected. On a summers night we would watch them through our lounge window. Moths would be attracted to the light and every so often one of these creatures would appear and leap into the air and catch a moth. On many occasions they would get into the house, which was annoying however it was the price we paid for living in a bush environment. On one occasion we had heard munching noises for several nights in a row. I got up and cornered one of these critters on the kitchen bench. This Antechinus had backed itself into a corner and when I turned the light on it made eye contact with me. They don't have beady rat eyes but large eyes. I was armed with something to beat it to death with. It was in the corner uncontrollably shaking with fear. I put down the weapon and due to the fact that it was paralyzed with fear, I was able to scoop it into a Tupperware container, I drove it a few kms away and released it. Fun fact the male Antechinus literally f**ks itself to death during the mating season.

Mark Latham is certifiable. I wouldn't employ him in any profession. As for the idea of one nation doing any good for anyone, that's a complete joke. I'm sorry for people in mining towns and they need support to exit the industry. But we don't have whalers, switchboard operators or typing pools any more either, there was no point propping up those jobs when they became obsolete and coal will go the same way.

Ain't gunna bother me none. Haven't had money to put into super for 13 years (retired in 2010). Drew the last of my super seven years later. Never been rich, never will (unless I win the Powerball jackpot). Correction: I have been rich, but not with money. Always had food to eat, always had a roof over my head, never been really sick except for the bladder cancer. Incidently, today is the 9th anniversary of my op which removed it. I have known a number of bladder cancer sufferers who didn't make it past five years, so I have nothing to complain about. Oh....and I learnt to fly. Rich beyond money.

It’s alright Bruce- I’m richer than most of humanity! The pension I worked a lifetime to earn arrives each fortnight. The food and beer is always in the shop. The electricity (almost) never goes off. The servo always has diesel. The sun comes up each morning. Ian’s forums are always open.

As a Kiwi married to an Aussie & having lived here for 18 years now my observations are these Australians in general are racist. Aboriginals are seen as not equal to Europeans and cause problems. There is a culture of Us and Them. No government has ever done anything effective to deal with what they see as an Aboriginal problem. Politicians have their public opinion and their personal opinion (which is never admitted) but influences their decisions. Historically the treatment of aboriginal people has been absolutely appalling. Obviously these are generalisations and do not apply to everyone. Everything done to date with apologies for past injustices, Closing the Gap, providing handouts, etc has been an abject failure. How could it be anything else with current Aboriginal incarceration rates and the Alice Springs current issues among the hundreds of other things. Some recognition in the constitution and providing a Voice to Parliament may not be perfect but I think it is a good first step. The aboriginal Tribes and Mobs need to become masters of their own destiny and current processes don't provide this. Maybe the Voice will enable them to get together and get some consensus on issues that confront them. Maybe it won't. Trying to modify a many thousands of years old culture in 200 years is far to big an ask. The No campaigners seem to want something more in a sort of Treaty. How can you have a treaty 200 years after conquering these people? I'll be voting yes not because it will make anything perfect but because everything else done in the past has failed, and failed miserably.

I agree that consciousness must reside in the squishy stuff, as Octave said. I have the same proof.... Often people lose their sentient awareness after a brain injury, so it must be a computational result arising within the organic brain computer. So I rationalise that our awareness is a temporary, transient phenomonon. A mere flash in the geologically big timeframe of the universe. I am not psychologically threatened by the prospect that our present life and awareness might not be eternal. (I'll never know for sure). Every day I find exciting, awesome things to admire around me. Life on Earth fills me with wonder. I try to make the most of it........ we pass this way but once.

"Faith" It IS the latest plague on the human race.

The most common mythical creature is the perfect husband. You know, the one your wife should have married. Nev

The Great Myth perpetuated by conservative media is that the Liberal National COALition are better managers of our economy. The LNP have been the worst at selling off our assets, increasing our national debt and allowing foreign corporations to rape our land without paying taxes.

Why? The Labor Party, for all its faults otherwise, has been the Party that has introduced more legislation that has been of benefit to Joe Blow than the Conservatives ever have. The Conservatives would have us still working 48 hours per week, paying through the nose for health insurance and having no superannuation and a host of other social security benefits. 1908: Introduction of old age and invalid pensions - Andrew Fisher (Labor) 1912: introduction of a maternity allowance - Andrew Fisher (Labor) 1927: Family Endowment Act (NSW) - Jack Lang (Labor) 1941: Family endowment was replaced by the Commonwealth child endowment system. 1945: introduction of unemployment and sickness benefits - Curtin/Chifley (Labor) Universal Health Insurance 1975: The first iteration of Medicare was called Medibank, and it was introduced by the Whitlam government early in its second term. The federal opposition under Malcolm Fraser had rejected Bills relating to its financing, which is why it took the government so long to get it established. Medibank began on 1 July 1975 after the passing of legislation by a joint sitting of Parliament on 7 August 1974. It had only a short period of operation before the Whitlam government was dismissed. The incoming Fraser government modified Medibank, establishing a levy of 2.5% on income to fund it. Interestingly, the levy was higher than that proposed by the Whitlam government and which the Coalition had blocked while in opposition. Superannuation 1992: The Superannuation Guarantee (SG) is introduced by the Keating Labor Government, with a mandatory 3 per cent contribution rate (or 4 per cent for employers with an annual payroll above $1 million), requiring employers to make a contribution into a super fund on their employees’ behalf. Superannuation assets at the time are estimated to be $148bn. 1993: The World Bank endorses Australia’s ‘three pillar’ system: compulsory superannuation, the age pension, and voluntary retirement savings, as world’s best practice for the provision of retirement income. Much is made by the Conservatives of the spending of money by Labor governments. This forms the basis of their attacks on Labor's economic management ability. Labor might spend money on sun shades for school children everywhere, but doesn't allocate it to car parks for non-existent commuter hubs. The people might have killed off the idea of a bunyip aristocracy in 1853, but the robber barons still rule.

I have a sour taste in my mouth. Today, a member facetiously told me to go ahead and ban him. So I did. Initially, I had informed him (I assume the gender) that complaints had been made about his tone in posts and that they lacked the decorum which, over the years, the members have established as their norm. Not more than an hour or so later he posted again in the same vein. What was a Moderator to do? The softly-softly approach clearly didn't work. The response to that was clearly contemptuous. So, in compliance with his childish comeback, I banned him from the site for a couple of months. I am prepared to accept strongly debated points. I am prepared to accept ribbing of the kind that goes on between mates. If a person wants to post that kind of thing, then before hitting the <SUBMIT> button, consider if you would say the same thing, face-to-face and within arm's reach. But I am not prepared to accept contempt, and I doubt if there is anyone amongst you who would not agree.

Let me join the chorus and say sorry you feel you need a break. OME felt the same, but came back after a break, hope you do the same. Your wise input will be missed.

Fliteright you are getting hysterical. The very essence of this case is that an employer had a duty of care to other employees and the residents in the aged care centre. That's the core of WH&S legislation, and that legislation, in my opinion, overrides privacy matters and Fair Work.

Yay, Lachlan and I received our Covid test results back and we are both negative...the anxiety the whole family have been enduring from the moment Lachlan was notified as being a close contact has been enormous but after a big sigh of relief we can all rest...a huge thank you to all for your well wishes and especially to my cousin's daughter Rebecca for making us some really comfortable masks plus my cousin Ron for kindly dropping them off at our front door. We were down to our last litre of milk

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

Our bus stop. It is a couple of hundred metres down our driveway. Since this pic, there have been shrubs planted around it and a raised fireplace built facing the lounge seat. Simple, and a lovely spot to simply 'be' with our surroundings...

The deputy premier Steven Miles will be premier after the caucus meeting on Friday. The only other challenger couldn't raise the numbers so she's pulled out of the contest. So far it's a very smooth transition in contrast to the LNP and Murdoch media meltdown on the topic. Murdoch's clown editors have turned the rage farming dial to warp speed. Today's Courier Mail clickbait header: [ 'What happened to democracy?' Qld explodes over union 'sham']. The reality is, the only thing exploding in Qld is the brains of Rupert's simple minded editors. For some reason, they still think the public is stupid enough to believe a premier is popularly elected, and that a premier resigning and a replacement selected by the party is undemocratic. The meek and mild opposition LNP leader is being a bit ungracious and mischievous about it as well. If they can't find muck to rake, they just bullshit. They know they can sprout any rubbish and the Murdoch press (the LNP's media wing) will have their back. The opposition leader also said Steven Miles and treasurer Cameron Dick will scratch each others eyes out trying to win the top job. Dream on, no such thing has happened. It's a bit of a joke having the Courier Mail lecture on democracy. One of the hurdles to democracy is having a large section of the press owned by one company with a blatantly biased political agenda. The press should not work just for one side of politics, particularly when there's so many gullible people around. 'What happened to democracy?' they say. The question should be "What happened to a fair and balanced media?'. If the Courier Mail want to identify a threat to democracy, I suggest they go no further than the nearest mirror.

If there is one thing that can be said for the debate about "The Voice to Parliament" is that it has brought Aboriginal culture and even knowledge to the fore. More non-Aboriginal people are interested in those things than ever before. It is within that interest that I see massive potential for economic and social good for Aboriginals. The other afternoon I called into my local pub about mid-afternoon for a quick beer. The only other person in the bar was a middle-aged Aboriginal bloke, nursing a can of bourbon and coke. We got to talking and we got onto the subject of what I did. When I mentioned Tooraweenah, his ears pricked up and he set out his idea for a tourist business. He said that it would be great to send up tethered people-carrying balloons just before sunrise on the western side of the Warrumbungles so that people could watch the Sun rising above the unique shapes of the Mountains. What a brilliant idea! I said that in my opinion, there are thousands of Australians and Foreign visitors who would love a close encounter with Aboriginal knowledge. He said that he hated the didgeridoo because it wasn't something from his particular mob - its from Arnhem Land. And dot painting was bullshit. His mob expressed themselves through X-ray painting. Then we got on to bush tucker and bush medicines. I didn't get to talk to him about Aboriginal astronomy, which would be a great topic at Tooraweenah because Warrumbungle National Park is Australia's first Dark Sky Park and Siding Springs Observatory is next-door. I reckon an Aboriginal Experience would be a tourist magnet, especially if it didn't follow the stereotypical Central and Far Northern Australian examples.

The Commos in Vietnam, equipped with only the most basic weaponry, defeated the worlds superpower outfitted with the worlds most sophisticated weaponry. The VC and NVA used anything they could find, including failed armaments provided by the Americans. I've never forgotten watching an NVA film where Nth Vietnamese were filmed removing the anti-handling mechanism of an American bomb that failed to explode, sawing open the casing with a hacksaw, and extracting the explosives so they could manufacture grenades and booby traps in tiny jungle factories. They even had homebuilt grenade-casting facilities hidden in the jungle. I'd like to see the Ukrainians retrieve all the Russian anti-tank mines and armaments and see them utilise them against the Russians. In Vietnam, one idiot Australian senior officer had a minefield installed with 20,000 M16 mines laid. The Vietnamese crawled in at night, defeated all the anti-lifting mechanisms and stole around 10,000 of the M16's - and then placed them randomly anywhere the Australians or Americans might operate. Then they marked the location of those randomly-placed mines with secret markings, such as blazes on trees or sticks placed in a certain manner. It's impossible to defeat a guerilla army that is dedicated to recovering its claimed territory, with a larger force that has low morale and little desire or reason to fight.

GREAT SEA STORY (Trivia) The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0º 31' N and LONG 179 30' W. The date was 31 December 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many: The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer. The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter. The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899. In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900. This ship was therefore not only in: Two different days, Two different months, Two different years, Two different seasons But in two different centuries - all at the same time!

View from our boudoir. We have a 4mtr x 2mtr window at the foot of our bed. The rising sun is our alarm clock.

The more Russian infighting, the better.

I definitely suspect BS on the attack being done by Ukraine. putin's annual Victory Day parade is in six days time, and for the second year in a row, he has to stand and deliver a speech which attempts to put lipstick on a pig, ie: Russia's failed war. He speech this year will focus on the fact that the Nazi's have struck at the very heart of Russia, it's us against them etc, etc., same old dribble. The Kremlin has also predictably said that they reserve the right to retaliate in whichever way they choose. They've also said putin wasn't there and is working at the presidential residence in the western suburbs. There's a lot of logistics in launching such an attack from Ukraine. Wouldn't you think they'd at least find out where putin is before launching an assassination attempt on him. And then after a failed attempt, why would the Kremlin tell the world where putin really is. Smells fishy like everything coming out of the Kremlin.

Rich Counties (like US) should not rely on enticing skilled people here from countries which have paid to educate them. They are arguably more needed there than HERE. If anything we should help train people for other countries as well as carry the cost of our own. Nev

Hi Guys, Solar and storage farms are becoming all the rage. The link below talks about a facility near Cleve in SA which is supposed to be the largest in the world. Its a little different in that it uses mirrors to focus the sun on space quality (small) PV panels on the top of towers. It used ground water to cool the towers pumping the hot water into a pond. It also uses some of the energy to cool water in another pond. It them uses the temperature difference to drive a turbine to generate power in the dark. Some of the numbers for generation and storage capacity are staggering. They suggest they can store enough dispatchable energy to power SA for 24 hours. DA process underway and no contribution required from any government for a build cost estimated at $750M. Cheers https://www.photonenergy.com/en/photon-energy/yadnarie-solar-farm.html

Back to topic - images. I need therapy. It took me ten minutes of staring at this picture before i suddenly saw the people. In a Pro Hart way.

Electric vehicles are the future of personal transport and also for public commuting. I don't think that is in doubt. Hydrogen power is still a way off but that will become more viable as it is sourced from massive wind and solar generating farms currently in the pipeline. The 50000 hectare site in WA will produce more energy than the entire country uses currently from all sources (excluding transport). The development of battery technology in the past year has been staggering. BYD in China produce a new blade battery that has improved energy density dramatically, is guaranteed for 500,000 km and should last for up to 2 million km. When its output degrades after the car is worn out at say 500,000 km it can be used as energy storage for your home charged via your rooftop solar. A number of BYD, NIO, XPENG & other Chinese EVs now have a 1000 km range. CATL is the worlds largest battery manufacturer and now supplies TESLA with batteries for its EVs. CATL is also Chinese. There are 300 Chinese EV manufacturers producing more than 700 different models from basic boxes to ultra luxurious top of the range limousines. The argument about EVs using more fossil fuel to produce only make sense to those who look backward. Obviously everything being produced now uses materials made with the assistance from fossil fuels and existing steel making technology. This is also changing. Green steel has already been produced in Germany using no coal at all. Plastics are almost all recyclable so the argument is largely from human dinosaurs. China is now the worlds factory. Politics aside their technology is mind boggling and their infrastructure projects over the last 20 years are just astonishing. The projects happening in Australia are also mind blowing. Just check https://reneweconomy.com.au/ A Melburnian, Sam Evans has a youtube channel called The Electric Viking. He puts out several videos a week covering electric car developments around the world. There are hundreds of Videos on all things Electric Cars. Have a look. The development in just the past year is incredible. The cheapest Electric car in China is $US4,000.00. The BYD Dolphin a Corolla sized hatchback is to be released in Australia this year. The price in China is around $US20,000.00. It looks good, very high tech, has the new blade battery with a 1/2 million km battery warranty.