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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wonder if old keyboard players have a similar issue with scrawny fingertips.

Also the older you get, the less body there seems to be in the fingertips. I think that saggy fingertip effect make them more prone to an injury like that.

Soft fingetips due to not enough practice + over ambitious sliding on the B string. It would make a good garrotte.

Weird really. Never felt it like this anywhere, although l've been married or partnered up so but you are right though nonetheless. Yep, ex in in Sydney safe enough 12hrs drive from me 🤣 . Been thinking about a dog but yeah l'm def on my own too much. Not much l can do about it though go out as much as l can and get around people.

The Rainbow serpent Is Not Mentioned. Don't meddle with that Bugga. Nev

He was supposed to be conveying his condolences to the families of the military just killed in the Middle East. A trending meme is taken from Shrek.

I thought Willie Nelson cut his teeth on a $5 secondhand guitar.

A churchgoer, by definition, believes in a deity. Therefore would look for the lesson from the deity that particular story is meant to give. A non-churchgoer who, by definition, does not beleive in a deity, can look at the story as a record of some event. Let's look at two stories from the Bible - The Flood, and David -v- Goliath. The Flood story has its roots in the history of the civilistations of Mesopotamia. The story existed long before the Hebrews became a distinct group. For people of our times, the idea of a global flood, and a vessel big enough to carry pairs of each type of animal is absurd, based on our knowledge of the diversity of lifeforms, and the lack of a planetwide sediment layer that would have formed as a result of flooding. However, the story originated amongst peoples of major river systems, so it is quite possible that some time in the distant past, not more than 12,000 years ago, there was an extreme flooding event in that part of the World. The religions of that part of the world which rely on anthropomorphic deities seem to have originated in that early post-Ice Age period. So the Flood story has been absorbed by the Hebrews and then the influences of a deity have been added in. David - Goliath is probably an actual event that has had the influences of a deity added. We of the modern Western World do not have much knowledge of David's weapon, the sling. But go to the Middle East and you will find young lads who can use the sling with deadly accuracy. In fact, in the Ancient World, including the Romans, the sling was an important weapon in battles. Think of it as the machine gun of its time. Then we have Goliath. It has been suggested that Goliath suffered from Gigantism. One of the effects of it is poor peripheral vision. There is a line in the Bible which quotes Goliath saying something that suggests poor eyesight. The combination of David's skill with teh sling, and Goliath's poor vision which would lead to inaccurate movement, means that David was odds-on to win. No involvement of a deity, but we all know that teh victors get to write the history.

Not Cutting Edge technology either. How do you cut your Finger on a Guitar string? You must be an old softie like me. Nev

There is Plenty of History going back more than BC. The Old Testament has some really scary stuff in it, so to believe everything there would BLOW your Mind , somewhat. Religion considers the Universe to be about 6200 Years old and WAS created in 6 days. Science has a much more likely suggestion.. FAITH requires you Believe a lot of things, one being that not ONE hair of your Head will be Harmed without God Knowing about it. That Would make He/her/ IT a very BUSY entity. He is god of the Universe and HE MADE us in his own Image but we turned out Imperfect so that Christ, his only son who was conceived with Mary (the Virgin no less).had to DIE on the cross with 2 common criminals so that we could Live forever AND He is coming back to be with the faithful and they go to heaven where there ARE many Mansions. IF you don't believe all of that you are Godless and a HEATHEN and going to a Place CALLED HELL. where there WILL be Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of teeth. Ronnie Raygun believed "WE are in the Last days" and therefore Have no need to do a lot of things to Help the Planet/. GW Bush was a reformed Born again drug addict, who falsified the reason for attacking IRAQ (It wasn't ABOUT OIL. Not much it wasn't). Nev

Leave your ex in Sydney, stay where you are, extend your place and get a dog. 😊

You can be just as lonely renting somewhere else. If everything is pretty good where you are now, apart from the distance to a larger town, maybe it's being on your own too much that's the main problem?

I rather like OME's analogy - the old bible was a compendium of ancient writings, sprinkled with some ideology.

I don't believe that the average churchgoer holds a bible for history lessons. That only leaves it as a source of deity information. I hesitate to use the word :fact" due to the lack of substantiation. By the way, there are quite a few Greek and Roman records dating back to around zero BC

God'll GET you If you aren't careful. I wish there was a God some times as the BAD guys would get what they deserve. Nev

This one may be a bit tricky, because there is no punctuation or spaces. Right tee Tie tee Left tee Lucy ie: Righty tighty, lefty loosey = screwing a nut on or off.

The mere idea of this discussion is silly. Religion is a absurd abstract.

Some say the Bible is the ABSOLUTE Word of God. I consider that Impossible to take seriously considering it was compiled by Humans and then modified selectively. Nev

We don't have much in the way of records of most ancient civilisations. Time and circumstance have destroyed most of the records of the Past. Nomadpete kicked off this current discussion by asking Question - is Scripture teaching fact? What "fact" are we discussing? Is it the "fact" that the Scripture is the unadulterated word of a deity? Is it a record of the history of a specific group of people?

Sco Mo used his Happy Clappers God to gain old ladies Votes. How can you go wrong with a Man of Dog? HE ended up as Popular as a Pork Chop in a Synagogue. Nev

And that shows how a well intentioned movement can be developed into a ruthless system of mass control. Every religion is discriminatory. It has no place in any government. Spirituality is a personal thing and any attempt to corporatise it is bad for society, in my opinion.

I can neither agree nor disagree with that. Unfortunately we lack access to enough other records of ancient Hebrew history, to support this. We seem to have only one book of, as you suggest, embellished anecdotes that may be connected to distant events. But even if it was an accurate history book combined with a guide to life, it seems a poor way to teach good behaviour. The eight commandments basically say "be nice, don't be an arxhole"

Do Jews accept the New Testament? Islam accepts Christ as a prophet. The 3 religions are Abrahamic.. Nev

Some want us to go back to that Now. Your last line, Pete. I don't trust ANY religion. It's Mind altering Dogma that Limit's your ability to think straight and used by many to justify committing Outrageous crimes against Humanity.. Nev

If one does not profess a belief in the deity described in what we call "The Bible", one can reasonably describe the Bible a compendium of the Hebrew culture. A compendium is a comprehensive collection of something. One can also use the word compendium to describe a collection of written works. If one gathers all of the anecdotes, rules for religious practice and religious songs of the Hebrew faith one will have created a compendium of the Hebrew culture. The historical anecdotes as presented most likely are embellishments of actual events, with the embellishments aimed at indicating the influence of the deity on the outcome of the event. This is commoon. Consider the acceptance of Christianity by the Roman Emperor, Constantine. This is supposed to have resulted from his seeing a cross in the sky in association with his winning a battle. The vision was interpreted as being the helping hand of teh deity.

Does that make the scriptures more like a "Goatherders guide to the Galaxy" ? I was trying to address the high probability the any document (dare I call it that?) or book is unlikely to resemble whatever was originally recorded by the authors. This applies to any reliance upon the book for historic 'facts'. Just because a few paragraphs align with other authors does not automatically make all the stories 'factual'. So many revisions (authorised by a god, of course). So many language translations. Unless a god actually signs off on all the inevetible changes, how can the "word" be trusted? Any god who can create a universe in less than a week might find the time to verify their follower's guide book. He has had a couple of billion years to address this issue.

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

Cut my finger on a guitar string for the first time ever. The new technique wasn't such a success after all.

On this, I back away. Sure there are some stories designed to teach moral societal behaviour. But are you discounting the old testament? Our present society would say there is way too much immoral stuff in that. And remember, for a very long time you would be executed for suggesting that it was anything but the word of god.