Leaderboard

Excessive nationalism puts me off. When you think about it clear-headedly we're a reasonably young (apart from the original inhabitants) immigrant country. We don't have a thousand years of culture, our own language, a national dish, etc etc. Our population is based on waves of English, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, Vietnamese, Italian, African, Islander and a whole bunch of other people, plus of course Indigenous Australians. The keynote songs and poetry we hold up as Australian were written by men that probably considered themselves English. Our system of laws is heavily based on England's and in name we're still subjects of England's king. Even our flag contains the UK's flag in the corner. When it comes to Americanism, even our first "local" car, the Holden FX, was heavily based on US cars. Clothing styles, music, popular culture and fast food have been based on US trends since at least post WWII. That's not to say we haven't got runs on the board, with vibrant Australian music, sport, theatre and literature. We have one of the world's best democracies, social services, and health care. Our education system is still excellent although unfortunately (in the case of universities) more focused on revenue than research. But to wave some mythical "uniqueness" around and try to block outside influences is pointless. Like those idiots that go around wearing Australian flags and protesting about immigration, not seeing the irony that we're all immigrants and those flags were made in China. Instead of closing off and looking inwards, like a backwards Trumpist country, we should be eagerly looking at everything that everyone else does, and taking the best ideas and using them ourselves. Someone actually makes billionaires pay tax? Let's use that. Someone's public hospital system has lower wait times? Let's see what they're doing differently and use it. Someone's school attendance and retention scores are higher than ours? What are they doing differently? Someone's prison recidivism rates are lower? Let's have a look at their justice system and see what we can steal. I don't mind bringing in best practice, no matter where it comes from. Good American movies and TV shows? Bring them on. What I do object to is bringing in the worst of other cultures. Privatisation of health care? F**k right off. Multinationals that pay no tax in Australia? No thanks. American gun culture? Jam it up your arse and pull the trigger.

Random RAVINGS. What Place would you RATHER live? Nev

BYD does have a presence in the US, but only buses, trucks, and commercial vehicles, no passenger cars. There is a BYD factory in California that produces buses and trucks. It appears that the primary reason BYD is not permitted to sell passenger cars is due to security concerns over Chinese software.

And how is that working out for you? Poor voting turnout does not stick it to the pollies. Most countries don't have compulsory voting and have low turnouts, but so what? Willingly paying fines when you say you are struggling to pay your power bills seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. How does not voting achieve anything?

I'm quite surprised at the number of Teslas I see on the road, that have all their badging removed. Every single piece of script or logo indicating the vehicle is a Tesla is gone. It makes me wonder if there's some underground movement of Tesla owners that likes the Tesla design, but hates the CEO of the company - so they "rebel" against the CEO's attitude, statements, beliefs and ethics, to effectively shove it up Elon, by removing all the Tesla identifying badges and logos. It appears quite a few American Tesla owners have even taken it one step further, by re-badging their Teslas to other car makes, and even specific models. https://electrek.co/2025/03/03/tesla-owners-get-creative-to-distance-themselves-from-elon-with-new-car-logos-projectors/

"Kill them all" apparently what Hegseth said after they shot up a boat of suspected drug smugglers & found 2 survivors clinging to the upended boat & they did.Under international law Hegseth is guilty of War Crimes.

Bullshit.

People in Castlemaine say Cassel maine not carsle maine as I do. That is my NSW accent, which rarely makes a difference.

Merde OK is NOT Pro electric. Incidentally, BYD are not even Permitted in the USA. Nev

Me too. I was thinking back to when I joined the RAAF in 1979. Although born in the UK, I grew up in Adelaide. I was posted to Richmond, NSW. Back then, people were much more parochial. It really seemed to matter what state you were from. These days, people you meet are likely to have lived and worked in several states. We talk of preserving our national identity, but I am not sure what that identity actually is. I came to Australia when I was 18 months old, so I am a product of the Australian education system, yet raised by a lovely couple from Yorkshire (no, I don't have the accent). My son was born in Australia, but is now a NZ citizen with a Chinese partner. Amongst my son's employees, there is a German, someone from Holland, some Australians and some Kiwis. It is not uncommon for younger people to work overseas. Even much, much older people, I am looking at you @Jerry_Atrick Whilst we don't want to become exactly like people from the US, we inevitably will be influenced by those we live and work with. Yesterday, someone posted about the creation of an Australian-specific AI. Being a curious person, I asked ChatGPT whether it thought there needed to be an Australian LLM. It said "Yes to a point" and proceeded to tell me what Australianisms it did understand and what it was likely to misunderstand. Its examples of Australian words and phrases tended to be a little exaggerated. We don't usually call each other cobber. Would an Australian LLM become a cartoonish version of Australia?

When will people stop saying that? King Charles III is the King of the United Kingdom and at teh same time he is, separately, king of Australia. This is the wording of the Proclamation of King Charles III: Whereas because of the death of our blessed and glorious Queen Elizabeth the Second, the Crown has solely and rightfully come to Prince Charles Philip Arthur George: We, therefore, General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, and members of the Federal Executive Council, do now proclaim Prince Charles Philip Arthur George to be King Charles the Third, By the Grace of God King of Australia. So we are the subjects of King Charles III of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The reality is continual investment in obsolete infrastructure will further result in underutilisation costs, because a lot of it is manifactured/fabrcated by global companies and Australia won't have the economic size to warrant whole production facilities and global supply chains to maintain them. Of you can absolutely pay through the nose and then some to maintain the ability to replace and increase capacity using the obsolete infrastructure. One of my nuclear clients had to do just that and ended up paying virtually all it would have made in profits by retaining old technology. They eventually bit the bullet and upgraded their infrastructure. At some stage, you have to run down the use of obsolete infrastructure. If that means you are decommissioning plant and infrastrcuture before the end of its useful life, that is your bad planning and management and mothing else. This is done by winding down the investment in obsolete infrastructure while investing on the new, far more efficient infrastructure. Indeed, even maintaining the existing infrastructure eventually moves to minimum to keep what is needed going while comissioning the new infrastructure, and keeping some of the obsolete stuff going in parallel to mitigate teething problems. This is called transitioning and is not a new concept. The problem is, the LNP government from Howard on were sponsored by the fossil fuel industry right at the time it was right to start the transition, both ecologically and economically. However, they fought against it and, with the help of the Murdoch and to a lesser extent, then Fairfax press, were able to maintain power and further delay the inevtiable, resulting in the cost of underutilised and increasingly obsolete infrastructure to increase, rather than transition to superseding infrastructire while optimising the life of what would have remained. The other side of it is finding the finance to fund the operations of fossil plants. Do you not remember the Morrison/Dutton government pressuring the Aussie banks to lend for new fossil fuel generation when they weren't prepared to? Banks will generallly lend to lawful etnerprises as long as the risk adjusted return on their capital meets their desired threshold. Even arms dealers can get funding, albeit with more stringent checks before that funsing is provided. Yet reputable banks are unwilling to lend to new fossil fuel electricity generation projects. Even with government pressure to try and get them to lend, why do you think that would be? I can tell you first hand. When we lend for project finance (the model commonly used), we have to work out the economic viability of the plant over the time horizon the finance is sought. We are often talking billions of USD (sorry, @randomx - USD is still the global currency) and usually over multiple decades - sometimes the expected life of the plant (ex. extestions). And, with the global electricity generation industry in its advanced state of transition, the risks are too high that we will lose on the deal. This is happening all over the world.. yes, there are developing economies where you can still get finance for new builds, but ultimately, they will fall away, as well. And we are now seeing, thanks to modelling other climate risks into the equation, operational funding on the decrease in these industries, as this compounds the risk of the probability of default in these sectors (and some others). We see plant of all different types (not just electricity generation, but manufacturing, processing, distillation, etc) being mothballed aand those costs have to be borne. But to continually invest in ne but obsolete capacity and try and be the last man standing and carry the costy of all of that is,well, quite nuts both at a micro and macro economic level.

The greatest impact that "Americanism" is having on Australia, is the transfer of violent and disruptive extremist right wing views and actions, to a small percentage of the population here. These views are polarising, divisive, and permanently angry views, that insist political opponents must be liquidated or removed from the political scene. Thus we have the increasingly violent and destructive political scene unfolding in America (perpetrated by an angry, narcissistic President, and further promoted by angry, obsessive American "patriots"), which has resulted in a major increase in politically-motivated assaults, murders and attacks in general, on politicians, and people in the public eye. Interestingly, Albo's wedding was kept low key, to avoid attacks, demonstrations, and threats/hoaxes, all designed to disrupt and promote more mayhem. The current American President only gains satisfaction from promoting discord and hatred and divisiveness. God forbid that we ever get to the same stage here, that American "civilisation" has currently descended into. Australian police have already nailed one individual who threatened to assassinate Albanese.

Trump would love to have millions not vote - then only his MAGA supporters would vote - and then, he'd become KING of America, FOREVER!!

Dicktators love THAT idea. Your MATE, TRUMP Does too, and frequently says so. He's $#!t Scared of the Peoples FREE Vote. AND DYING. Nev

There's also tidal. 8+ metres at Broome and very reliable. Wind doesn't NEED strong winds. Focussed SOLAR can provide extremely HIGH temperatures of say, SALT. You can do a Lot with that. WA is NOT on the THE grid. Properly Organised it Has Great variation of clean energy potential.. We've hardly scratched the surface with Pumped Hydro. Whatever WE do transmission over significant distances will Be Part of it But stand alone solar and Batteries may be an "off grid "answer for a lot of the dry inland. Nev

Denmark is relevant not because it is identical to Australia, but because it demonstrates what is technically possible: High penetrations of wind (often >70% of demand) Stable grid operation Large-scale integration of storage, interconnectors, and flexible demand Australia will not copy Denmark, but Denmark proves that variability can be managed at the national scale. Whilst it does import power (about17%) it also exports. Iceland → virtually 100% renewables, advanced grid Norway → >95% renewables Uruguay → ~95% renewables, stable and wealthy by South American standards Portugal → frequently >80% monthly renewable generation Scotland → >100% wind generation equivalent to demand They are not “third world,” and they demonstrate that stable, high-renewable grids are entirely achievable Ethiopia or Congo are irrelevant—they rely on hydro because that’s their resource. Australia’s mix will be different. Australia is not physically connected to big neighbours. But we dont need to be. Australia’s strength is spread over a huge geographic area, which actually reduces variability when linked with transmission. Australia also has: Vast land for large-scale storage Strong rooftop solar penetration Mature markets that reward firming and flexibility Growing pumped hydro, battery, and demand-response capabilities We don't need a France next door when we can build storage and firming solutions domestically. Notable pumped-hydro / hydro projects in Australia (2025) Project (or Site) Status (as of 2025) Capacity / Storage Notes / Timing Snowy 2.0 Pumped Storage Power Station (NSW / Snowy Mountains) Under construction ~ 2,200 MW / ~ 350,000 MWh storage potential Wikipedia+1 Links two existing reservoirs via a 27 km underground tunnel + new underground power station. It’s a major national-scale storage project. Estimated commercial operation ~ 2028. DCCEEW+1 Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project (QLD, repurposed old gold mine) Under construction / near-commissioning (entered NEM 2025) waterpowermagazine.com+2pumpedhydro.com.au+2 250 MW / ~ 2,000 MWh (≈ 2 GWh) pumpedhydro.com.au+2Genex+2 First new pumped-hydro energy storage facility in Australia in nearly 40 years. Uses two old mine pits (upper + lower) as reservoirs. Expected to deliver dispatchable energy to the grid from 2025. Genex+2Energy-Storage.News+2 Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro Project (QLD — former gold mine) Proposed / in development / feasibility + design + government backing State Development Plan+1 ~ 2,000 MW / ~ 20,000 MWh (20 GWh) proposed PV Magazine Australia+2pv magazine International+2 The proposal involves converting the decommissioned mine pit into the lower reservoir + a purpose-built upper reservoir, with underground tunnels & powerhouse. Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) active; expected construction start around 2028, with commissioning in early 2030s if approved. mtrawdonhydro.com.au+2State Development Plan+2 Borumba Dam Pumped Hydro Project (QLD, near Gympie / Mary Valley) Proposed / planning & early works / design stage pumpedhydro.com.au+2Queensland Hydro+2 ~ 2,000 MW / ~ 48 GWh storage proposed pumpedhydro.com.au+1 The state-owned developer is currently doing technical investigations, site planning, project design and community consultation. Business case refresh expected by mid-2026; no firm construction start date. Queensland Hydro+1 Glenbawn Pumped Hydro Project (NSW, Upper Hunter) Early-stage / feasibility (under development by private energy co.) WaterNSW+1 ~ 770 MW / ~ 7.7 GWh proposed pumpedhydro.com.au+1 The project was acquired by an energy company in 2025. Preliminary steps (land-use agreements, studies) are underway; no committed construction date yet. WaterNSW+1 Glennies Creek Pumped Hydro Project (NSW, Upper Hunter) Early-stage / feasibility (like Glenbawn) WaterNSW+1 ~ 623 MW / ~ 6.2 GWh proposed pumpedhydro.com.au+1 Bought by the same energy company in 2025; still in early development with no confirmed build schedule. World Energy+1 Several other proposed/screened sites (various states / dams / water storage assets) Proposed / “potential / identified for study / early-stage” pumpedhydro.com.au+2WaterNSW+2 Varies — many in the low-to-mid hundreds of MW; small-to-mid GWh storage For example: sites identified by state dam-owners for feasibility studies. Projects have not yet been confirmed. WaterNSW+2NSW Climate and Energy Action+2 Germany’s temporary coal use was due to: The Russian gas crisis Closing reactors without adequate alternatives ready A conscious political decision, not a grid technology failure Meanwhile: Germany’s coal is trending down long-term Wholesale prices in Germany have stabilised Germany added record renewables in 2023–2025 Also important: Germany's grid has remained one of the most reliable in the world, even with high renewables. I dont oppose nuclear, however it does have some drawbacks. Nuclear is a valid technology—but it does not solve Australia’s challenges: New nuclear is the most expensive form of new generation in the OECD Construction times are 10 to 15 years Requires large water supplies Needs a massive regulatory, licensing, and workforce base Australia does not have CSIRO GenCost: nuclear is many times more expensive than firmed renewables If the aim is lower prices quickly, nuclear cannot deliver that. Nuclear is a valid technology—but it does not solve Australia’s challenges: New nuclear is the most expensive form of new generation in the OECD Construction times are 10–15+ years Requires large water supplies Needs a massive regulatory, licensing, and workforce base Australia does not have CSIRO GenCost: nuclear is multiple times more expensive than firmed renewables If the aim is lower prices quickly, nuclear cannot deliver that. Cross-border flows fluctuate every hour. One snapshot doesn’t prove stability or superiority. France often exports, but it also imports during cold weather or reactor outages. The UK also imports and exports constantly. The presence of imports and exports is not a sign of weakness—it’s how interconnected grids work. As the report says - From a VRE perspective, remember that this is early afternoon so we would hope (I have not checked) that solar yield was cranking at that time To be clear, I think we are many years away from, shall we say "near 100% renewables" I believe in the short term, gas will most likely be our backup.

Denmark is not relevant for Australia. Australia has no France or Sweden. All these other countrys have small grids and are third world countrys. Would you like to live in Ethiopia or the Congo. I think not. Or there grids are majority conventional hydro. Australia has only 7% traditional hydro and not likely to get more. No One has ever done what Australia is trying to do with weather dependent intermittent generation on a grid the size of Australia. You are correct, we don't want coal, so the obvious answer is nuclear. We should start looking at it very seriously. We may have to work with coal again. Look how Germany is doing. France currently exporting approx. 12.5GW. Windy in UK, it is exporting 885MW to france and is exporting slightly more than it is importing exporting 3 importing 2

They also produce better electric cars than the US industry apart from Tesla, though they have overtaken Tesla as the top manufacturer now.

Here's a refreshing story about a (for now) multi-millionaire. If only Musk and the other kleptocrats were like this. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-30/rich-heiress-giving-away-all-her-wealth/106077200

PMC do you take your cossies in your Port? I'm trying to bring BACK Hoo Roo.. Nev.

As you age, it is very important to cultivate new, younger friends - because all your lifelong friends die when you get old, and you end up suffering from loneliness. Plus, having younger friends keeps you in touch with current culture and trends. Dick van Dyke makes some good observations about living to 100. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dick-van-dyke-age-birthday-health-diet-b2875237.html

Perhaps it is being raised by British parents, but I have always adapted. When I joined the RAAF, we used to travel around and often go to Williamstown airbase near Newcastle. In line with my northern British roots, I would pronounce Newcastle with a short "a", no one else did. Eventually, I adapted. The other thing for me is that as I age, I definitely don't want to be pigeon-holed as an old man with old attitudes. My circle of friends tends to be younger than me, and like my time in the RAAF, I tend to adapt to my surroundings. This is very much just my personal philosophy.

THAT pen will be a WRITE OFF. Nev

Patriotism IS the Last refuge of a Scoundrel. Don't we say Gidday MATE or "OW Ya goin? Also, the World doesn't NEED ANOTHER Language unless it's a common one. Too many things get LOST in the translation. Nev

We are nearing the point of moving back to Aus.. at the moment, Melbourne looks the goods for us (because I am from there, have family, and know it better than anywhere, although there are more jobs in Sydney). Wasn't planning on getting a car - the tram and train network are very good and can get you to where you want to be.. Yeah may have to walk a bit, but that is good for one's health, anyway. Hopefully home shopping is the rage in Aus as it is here. If we need a car, we can borow a brothers, and worked out to hire a car for the odd trip is much cheaper on all accounts. Happy to train/fly between capital cities, and as RandomX says, the trains in Vic are very cheap each way within the state (of course, there will be lots of bussing in between apparently). But, son has decided he wants to do marine biology, and guess where the best marine biology course is in the world? Townsville! So, if we end up there, I will need both a car and a light plane (and an IFR) to get me to Sydney or Melbourne on the odd occasion.; But not to worry @nomadpete and @Marty_d - the second best marine biology course in the world is in Hobart, and my son has a penchant for the place. We may be neighbours, yet. Who knows, I can get a job down there as a sign writer 😉

Don't bother with the spell checker. Half the fun of reading Jerry's posts is figuring out what he's trying to say.

Forgive me Jerry, but I doubt you use a spell checker. If you did, you'd have a page covered in red underlines.In just two paragraphs of your post above, this is what I found. Check the yellow highlights

No country is 100% renewable.

To use the example of my rooftop solar SA (and Australia generally) is still at the stage of absorbing the cost of changing to a system that will be cheaper. If you want an instant reduction in your power bills, then what is your solution? No businesses want to build new fossil fuel power, and those companies that are in fossil fuels are moving away from it. AGL has a commitment to move away from fossil fuels by 2035. This is not because they are green hippies, but it is the rational business way to go. The rest of the world is moving in this direction again not from ideology but from financial pragmatism. As a country, we are not at the leading edge. The transition is quite slow and steady. The Middle East has become immensely wealthy because of its oil. Australia is well placed for the next energy revolution. We have vast amounts of uninhabited land, and we have the minerals required for batteries, etc. I am in no way saying it is all easy. So far. Many countries are 100% renewable, but they rely on hydro or geothermal energy. The thing about being weather-dependent is that in Australia, it is usually sunny or windy somewhere. This is why we need a smart grid. So what are these other options? Do you want AGL to be forced to refurbish or build new coal infrastructure? Do you think this would bring you cheaper bills? If, as you say, moving towards renewables is a recipe for disaster, then you would expect this to reveal itself through countries like Denmark (70% wind). What could be criminal is if we go in the opposite direction to the rest of the world. We could end up as a quaint backwater. Coal plants in Australia are aging and need to be replaced with something. Replacing coal plants is far more expensive than renewables plus firming. Coal is now the most expensive form of new energy. I personally am not totally against nuclear; however, the 2 problems I see are the economics and the time required to build. Gas is useful at the moment for peaking, but it is very expensive.

So where SA loses in having the cheapest form of energy, we will lose the savings in uderutilised infrastructure. We still dont know if it will work before the country goes broke. No one has ever built a grid on intermittent weather dependant renewables. It is criminal to even try when we have other proven options. Pity there wasnt a way to hold politicians to account for bad uninformed decisions they make while in power,

On PT, can't say too much really but my from my old place near Warrnambool Vic, you could get a Melb train and back 3 or 4x a day. l thought that was pretty good really can't expect any more often than that it'd be 99% empty. My daughter said something to about 9bucks to anywhere in Vic, forget any detail but crikey can't argue with that , dunno if there's a catch. On another note, my partners been in Sydney last 6yrs l drive up but then we train everywhere.She runs the show ha ha, gets us some card thing, no idea, but it's cheap as and we train and bus all over the place as much as we want to anywhere so again l dunno but that seems pretty damn good to me. But l mean this stuff can't be expected to go straight to 27 mill peoples front door , it's impossible. Sydney we have to walk a bit we like it , same from my place in Vic if l wanna use the train, no biggie it's bloody nice actually and refreshing when your use to driving everywhere, gives you a break. But eh, that's just me.

IF We ever ban words for Being Un Australian I would have Long Gone somewhere else. THIS IS/Was the Land of the "fair go" By and Large. People coming Here Like our Laid Back approach and sense of freedom. Nev.

I have no problem with that statement. A key issue with power prices is that the savings from cleaner technologies often follow upfront investment. My rooftop solar looked expensive at first, but once the installation cost was paid off, my electricity became extremely cheap. The same applies to buying a more efficient car. No matter how we generate power, Australia needs to build a modern grid. That cost doesn’t disappear if we choose coal. It’s also worth noting that existing coal stations were built by governments — effectively, taxpayers. If we wanted new or upgraded coal plants today, the bill would again fall on taxpayers or consumers through higher tariffs. Meanwhile, real-world data shows the transition is already lowering costs. AEMO’s Q3 2025 report shows wholesale prices in South Australia have fallen, with renewables, storage and interconnectors putting clear downward pressure on prices. So the argument is simple: upfront investment can look costly, but over time it delivers cheaper, cleaner and more reliable power.

As @octave mentione, the wholesale prices are down, and a lot of what is being paid is infrastructre. Remeber, SA is what, the third largest state/terriroty in Australia, and has 1.8m people scattered over it, far less than the other states, and bigger than the NT and ACT. That requires a decent amount of infrastructure to maintain, which will reduce with a full transition to renewables with batteries. France exports a lot of its energy to the UK. Why? Because, since before I was involved in the UK electricity industry, way back in 1996, the government was paralysed 2with its energy policy,. Then some bright sparkdaid gas is cheap.. Let's build a bunch of gass fired generation plants with a 15 year life span, and not have to maintain them in that time (largely not maintain, anyway). At the same time, the same bright spark said let's privatise Nuclear Electric (client of the company I worked for) and Scottish Nuclear (not a client of ours) and form British Energy and float it on the stock exchange. No prizes for guessing what was going to, and did happen to British Energy. It virtuallywent bust because the gas plants could churn out electricity at next to nothing.. At the same time, there were something like 8 operating plantes for British Energy - all due to decommission within the then next 15 - 20 years. At the time, with renewables technology where it was, nuclear was still the best technology. Some plants of other companies were tconverted to biomass burners, but they have their own problems. And, in reality, they are anly renewable after a 20 year cycle or thereabouts. However, renewable technology has come leaps and bounds, but the problem in the UK is planning laws are archaic, dreadfully painful and slow. This didn't impact the gas plants as these were built on existing decomiossioned sites. But, if you want to build capacity in a new site, the planning process can take years. Hinkley Point C, the new build at an existing generation site for the now decomissioned Hinkley Point A and B took over 15 months. Greenfield bew build planning permissions can take years.. The Sizewell C plant had been locked up in planning 26 months.. again at an existing plant. Renewablesin the UK has been deployed - a mix of solar and wind. Plannign takes forever, even for offshore stuff. Coal plants have been decomissioned as have been the expired gas plants. Nothing new has been built, so the UK for many years has been importing from France. However, since renewables have come online, remebering not a single new nuclear or fossil fuel plant has been built in the UK since 2012 (fossil, I think nuclear was 1996). But since renewables have been being installed, on an annualised basis, the UK was a net exporter of Electricity to France in 2022. This may seem o blip, but there are a lot of factors in electricity demand. And the UK has been reducing its reliance on imports over the last 5 or so years, since the UK has been bringing online more and more renewable generation capacity.

intermittents are cheap, SA should be closing the gap compared to other states. We are using less gas and we are at 70+% intermittents. Fossil fuels are yesterdays tech, but will need them for a while, ask Germany France exporting 13GW at the moment https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/FR/live/fifteen_minutes

Two feet is enough for a tiger shark, they happily chase large fish through the waves to grab a bite. The most common way to catch a big shark is from the beach, because thats where the fish are. Thats a big hint for survival, change of tide plus dawn and dusk are the big beach fishing times, also prime shark times. But rgmwa, your on point , if your not in the water you are normally safe. The more people in a area increases the risk. Surfers are particularly at risk as from below the look like a large Tuna, Mulloway etc or dolphin alone or a seal. Been killed fishing from a boat is also a nasty surprise- recently a game fisherman hunting Marlin in the big Port Stephens competition caught a large Bull shark? On his line and was dragged into the water never to be seen again. I assume the beast turned the tables and lunched on him. I expect that this may be the cause of many a lost fisherman out solo, boat found perfect and sometimes trolling along, no one on board. A freak accident? No, surprised it doesn't happen more. I have seen guys in a 12' tinny come in with a 2.5 metre shark onboard and they videoed getting it aboard still alive and thrashing- life may be short for those young fools. Instagram fame can have a very short life. We call sharks the taxman, they deserve their fair share and essential for a well run ecosystem. Many a big fish comes up from the deep just a head on the line minus 20 kg of body. Mother nature does not care how big your game boat is, nor your harbour address. Doesn't give a shit about YouTubers, holiday heroes or even salties like me. Once you enter the salt water, you are at her total mercy. Beware of entering the liquid jungle, there's Tigers below.

It has been said that most shark attacks occur in waist deep water in places like Sydney Harbour, until someone pointed out that that's where most of the people are.

Yep, but most folks esp tourists think the sign is just being over cautious or part of the " Aussies scaring tourists lark". Sadly most signs get ignored. People on holidays seem to ignore the risk of all the dangerous stuff they would normally never do, but do, to fit in the holiday experience and get the footage for Instagram etc. Most tourists seem to leave their brain at home and dose up on ego pills. It's not just foreign tourists but Sydney people that cause a lot of grief. Fuckwits on jetskis are a particular problem.

Sharks only attack when you are wet. Stay dry. As well, that spot was signed with Shark and No Swimming signs.

Sadly , it appears my mate 'Boris' the bull shark has been greedy feeding and eaten a Swiss tourist and mauled her boyfriend on a local beach just up the coast a little bit. Tragic but completely avoidable, they were swimming at sunrise to film dolphins feeding. This is absolute maximum danger time to be eaten as that's when the bait fish accumulate. Anything in the water in the low light conditions can be mistaken for a big fish or seal and will be bitten. Most sharks will spit a human out, but a Bull shark will just eat regardless. Hopefully it will not lead to the senseless killing of more sharks locally- they are just doing their normal thing. It's us humans that need to be careful. My condolences for the tragic death of the women and I hope he recovers quickly. We have had many deaths along the coast recently and all involved extremely poor decision making from night swimming , surfing in extreme weather, rock fishing with no safety gear etc. Mostly tourists or newer immigrants but us locals sure can be stupid as well. We must remember enter the water at your own risk, it never forgives mistakes. You also risk the lives of anyone trying to help you either by been attacked themselves or drowning trying to help you. Sadly the local coast will see many avoidable deaths over the summer esp with tourists doing things way outside their skill base and experience. Stay safe people. Boris does not need humans for food.

Michelangelo's David returns to Italy after 3 years touring the U.S. ......

You are showing a fair bit of Ignorance there, GON. First thing to GO with a Roo is usually the radiator. Batteries DON'T fall Out and catch fire either. Get with the technology. There's NO corded Power tools these days. An electric motor is near 100% efficient with practically no maintenance. No Dirty oil, No corrosive exhaust system, clutch, Gearbox, Fuel to be contaminated. No need for any tune ups.Nev

In no way would I try to convince you to buy an EV, but facts do matter. In terms of hitting a roo I would rather hit one in this vehicle, which has nothing critical to get damaged. I would rather hit a roo in this and probably be able to keep driving than a typical IC car. As far as cost goes, the price of EVs is falling. In fact already more economical if you consider the lifetime cost (maintenance and fuel) As far as batteries falling out, I don't really think that is a thing? As far as catching fire goes, the statistics show that IC fires are more common than EV fires. As battery chemistries change, EV fires will become almost nonexistent. Already, there are many cars on the market with LFP that have an even better fire history. Like it or not, EVs are here to stay and are only getting better year by year. Yeah, I look back at my first car, a 1970 Ford Cortina with rose coloured glasses. A carburettor that needed to be constantly adjusted, also the distributor gap. Later, I got a car with fuel injection, and then later airbags, etc., technology has never stood still.

I've been in a University Psychology Class with a lot of Business Managers and most of THEM saw Psychology as a tool of power and People manipulation. I was astounded (and disappointed.). Nev

BREAKING: Mary Trump exposes her Uncle Donald after his "quiet, piggy" moment by revealing exactly where his "despicable" misogyny comes from — and it explains so much. Nobody spills the beans quite like family does... "Donald's misogyny runs deep and is actually honestly come by because his entire family was a bunch of misogynists," Mary Trump said on her Youtube channel. "I want to remind you just how in character all this is by showing you a montage of clips from MSNBC. And I also, also while watching it, I want you to pay particular attention to the reactions Donald gets." She then played a montage that included Trump being confronted about calling women "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals," a recording of him implying that Megyn Kelly mistreated him because she was menstruating, and him stating that he "never liked horse face." In one segment, he talked about a woman gaining a "massive amount of weight," in another he insulted a woman who accused him of sexual assault by saying "Believe me, she would not be my first choice." Mary Trump's video was prompted by Trump snapping "quiet, piggy" at a female reporter on Air Force One after she dared to ask him about Jeffrey Epstein. "Aside from the grotesque reactions of the people in those crowds," Mary Trump said, referring to the MAGA supporters at his rallies, "which quite frankly explains a lot about how we got here, Donald is admitting something very openly there as he has at other times." "He actually is admitting that he would totally rape a woman, just not somebody who looks like that. Essentially, he's saying he would only rape women he finds attractive," she continued. "I grew up with him. I grew up with these people so again, none of this is surprising," she went on. "What remains surprising to me, even though I shouldn't be surprised by this either I suppose, is that the American people are still willing to put up with his dehumanization of women, his treating them like second class citizens, and the contempt he so obviously has for half of the population." "In the Trump family, girls had no value. Donald's oldest sibling Maryanne was a girl," she said. "My grandfather never once considered her a viable option for taking over the family business that would have been my dad, his oldest son friend. That didn't work out but the next oldest Elizabeth would never have been considered either. So therefore, it fell to Donald who is not only incompetent and unskilled, he was just a terrible, terrible businessman. And my grandfather knew it but what mattered more was that he wasn't a woman. Clearly, Trump inherited his hatred of women from his corrupt, detestable father. This president sees women as sexual objects to be insulted, abused, and discarded. The fact that so many s-called "Christians" support him despite his complete lack of morals tells you everything that you need to know about the religious right in this country. Please like

After calling the Epstein scandal a hoax and resisting releasing the Justice Dept files for weeks despite promising to do so before being elected, he decided last week to order the Department to investigate any links to Democrats and banks (in other words, he now wants to investigate a hoax). Also last week, Democrats and a few Republicans in Congress forced a vote on ordering the release of the files, despite Trump's opposition. In last few days it's become apparent to him that enough Republicans will support the proposal for it to pass, so he's just flipped and said the House should now vote to release the Epstein files because "we have nothing to hide". That's ludicrous because if he really believed that, he has the authority to order the release himself, so there is no need for any vote. If the vote does pass, and it gets through the Senate (probably unlikely), he will have to approve it. What's the bet that he would refuse to approve it? The guy's a complete moron.

Yeah l agree. But who the hell else do we vote for , there's no one and anyone a little different like Pauline- dangerous in other ways anyway, will never get enough to be in so isn't that a waste of that vote. But then who do you put that vote onto? We must have the most useless pollies on the planet. Hasn't been anyone special in this country for decades that had any real shot and that wouldn't stuff the place even more.

If I listen to the ranting of radio shock jocks long enough, I start ranting myself. Like the army shrink in 'Alices Resataurant'. These days there are social media 'influencers' doing the same stuff even more efficiently. It's not only coming from Merika.