Leaderboard

Well done to the happy couple. Note how low key, private and billionaire free it was. Special wedding beer cans and a local honeymoon. Also a civil servant and all paid by himself not a conga line of donor suckholes ala LNP style. A genuine down to earth couple, we are lucky to have them. Completely unaffected by his status. Naturally DJ Albo did the music selection. Notable celebrity was the ring holder- his 🐕.

Facthunter - Arsenic is not used in gold mining, perhaps you were thinking of cyanide. Arsenic can be a by-product of gold extraction. Cyanide is safe enough when used correctly, the important thing is to keep alkalinity of the aqueous gold/cyanide solution high, at least a pH of 10 or more, by using lime thoroughly blended with the ore or tailings. I personally used a lot of cyanide for gold mining in the 1980's, our family mining and mining contracting business carried out a lot of vat leaching for gold recovery - and the interesting part is, we re-treated huge tonnages of tailings, that had all been treated with cyanide, from the 1890's up to the 1980's. We had no problems with any cyanide residues or handling, and the mining and leaching operations were all subject to environmental regulations.

I was thinking about joining a dating site for people my age. It's called Carbon Dating.

For the CORRUPT ULTRA RICH MAYBE. It won't be CLEAN for anybody and IF you don't LIKE what the KING does you won't go far. Your Golden Wonder is 100% FAKE. Nev

I think they are way classier than that. Bali has never been a go to place for inner city types. Somewhere local and chilled, bogan free is more their style. He certainly won't be getting Gina's jet to fly around in like Barnaby or Scummo did.

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.

South Australia isn’t expensive because it has lots of renewables — it’s expensive because it still relies on gas for backup, and gas is extremely costly. As storage grows and gas dependence falls, SA’s prices fall too (as they already do during sunny/windy periods). The idea that the old coal-based system was inherently cheap or stable isn’t accurate — it was just oversized and inflexible, and we paid the cost whether we needed the power or not. South Australia's prices are predicted to fall by 15% during the next 10 years, according to AEMC. Wholesale prices are already dropping 27%. Only 38% of your power bill is for power. The rest is for maintenance, poles and wires etc. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/02/energy-prices-falling-electricity-cheaper-households#:~:text=As households electrify – switching to,bills could halve by 2050. Fossil-fuel power is yesterday’s technology. Coal and gas were vital in the past, but they’re now expensive, unreliable, and being outcompeted everywhere. The cost of new wind and solar is lower than even the running cost of old coal, and investors are abandoning fossil projects because they no longer stack up financially. Our coal fleet is ageing, breaking down more often, and too costly to maintain. Every coal station in Australia has a closure date because the private sector can’t justify keeping them open. Meanwhile, renewables and storage are now the dominant new sources of generation globally because they’re fast to build, low-cost, and flexible. This isn’t ideology—it’s economics. Fossil fuel power is in long-term decline because it no longer fits a modern electricity system. The future grid will be cheaper, cleaner and more reliable without it. The business world is already voting with its wallet. If coal and gas were truly cheaper and more efficient, investors would be lining up to fund them. Instead, banks, super funds and insurers have walked away because fossil fuels are high-risk, high-cost and increasingly unprofitable. Meanwhile, almost all new investment is going into renewables and storage. Even the big mining companies — some of the most conservative, profit-driven businesses around — are choosing renewables because they’re cheaper and more reliable on remote sites. BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue, South32, and Gold Fields are all building large solar, wind and battery systems because they cut fuel costs and improve energy security. This isn’t ideology — it’s economics. While people argue online about whether the transition “should” happen, the market has already decided. The shift away from fossil fuels is happening, accelerating, and financially unstoppable.

The European theatre in WWII was won by the incredible manufacturing and agricultural production possible in the USA due to the USA being out of range of effective attack by the European Axis powers. That's not to deny the contribution of the British. The Axis powers (really only Germany) suffered the direct opposite and so lost. I reckon it was a bit different in the war against Japan since the problem there was to dig out the Japanese from their defensive positions. You could say that the Yanks in their land operatoins were working in spaces where there was not room to swing a cat. I think that one of the greatest manufactured item leading to the Allied victory in the Pacific was the very humble Marston matting which enable the Allies to establish air superiority very rapidly, and to be able to repair any bomb damage to runways very quickly. Have you ever given thought to who started the war in the Asia/Pacific? Most people who don't know the histrory of the first 40 years of the 20th Century will blame Japan, but American corporate interests were very much involved in preventing Japanese economic development. The Asian/Pacific war was a trade war, not an ideological one like the Europena war.

You forgot the "because". "Because Jerry is our most qualified and trusted IT/coder/computing expert, he is not an Apple adopter." Makes sense that way! 😜

I know of one person some would think should exit to the USA.

Latest Breaking News . God has yet to successfully arrange a meeting with TRUMP. Trump Claims He's too busy RUNNING THE world. Nev

I think it's a Storm in a teacup, Old Chap. We don't have to fear an Exodus TO the USA. Nev

Are we talking in general, or simply the continued infusion of what has been a dominant global culture over many decades? If in general, the current "lot" seem to be heel bent in providing far more hope across the population than the previous. In terms of infusion of culture - well you could argue they have started to apply some of the brakes with the under 16 social media laws - albeit unintentionally as they are more intended to stop harmful content reaching the under 16s. In addition, the current lot recently passed the Communications Legislation Amendment (Australian Content Requirement for Subscription Video On Demand (Streaming) Services) Bill 2025, into law, requiring streaming services in Australia to invest at least 10% of their Aussie revenue into local content productions. What looks like to be your favoured party, One Nation doesn't appear to consider a media policy and imporant issue according to its own website: https://qld.onenation.org.au/issues. Their education policy mentioned nothing on it - in fact it worries me.. At a time when we are realising that the original Victorian times teaching curricula is not quite fit for purpose anymore, they seem to want to go back to it.. Hmm... Er.. yes.,. force fed US TV inb Australia is a problem.. but that is the free market working for you. Australiam, as an English speaking nation with not much real investment in the media and arts have leveraged a lot of international English speaking content. In the old days, as I recall, it was pedominantly English, with lots of great comedies, dramas, and the like. It transitioned to American TV thaks to its lower price point. It is not the roles of the government to interfere with private market decisions, except to set broad standards. This lot has taken the first step to do that.. it has notbeen on the policy agenda of any other lot that I can see nor remember. But, even when local content is provided, is it local content? A lot of Aussie game shows are actually licensed from either the US or the UK. Remember Sale of the Century, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Big Brother, and a whole lot more. All foreign shows, produced locally. Lots of royalties flow back to their foreign conceivers. I suppose, though, at least they are produced with a distinctive Aussie flavour. The term "Lock it in".. used in who wants to be a millionaire in Australia was not a feature used in the original UK production. Another example, was something like Late Night with Steve Vizard. He openly admitted be copied the David Letterman show format, but abruptly quit when I think it was channel 9 decided to syndicate the David Letterman show. Why, FFS! Yeah - we know the context of what was on the Letterman show, but I would have far preferred to watch Vizard (before his contraversies became public), as it was local - stuff you will never see in the Letterman show. The UK has very similar laws to us.. the difference is by the time the US went global with its productions, the UK was already well advanced of Australia in its media landscape, particularly with content production. In addition, the UK tastes are not the bland pin up model acrtors/actresses with preedicatable plots, comedy that has to be explained to its audience as part of the show, and has a edginess and intelligence that US productions lack to this day. Something like CSI Miami would never survive here.. when I first saw it when I returned to Aus way back in 2003, my response was, "huh" The same over dramatic acting in the same plot every errk, and people watch this.???" We mainly watched ABC and got Foxtel to watch the UK channels. The rest of Europe are not native English speaking, and except for movies and the odd show dubbed in their local tongue, it sort of makes sense for them to make their own productions in their own language. But. likle Australia, many of their local productions are licensed from the UK or mainly the US. Or, like the Vizard show, they copy the forrmat. A firend of mine who lives in Brisbane calls Australia, Ausmerica. When people ask me what Australia is like, I say think of America, with better health and education, but no guns. But, I think both are unfair. We seem to have picked a lot of the advantages, but ny and large pased up most of the more extreme disadvantages. We have picked up many of the disadvantages, but I think that os more from the way the Aussie government works than what has been imported from America. Its just both the Aussie and American systems derive largely (except for Louisianna) commonwealth system. And there are forces in society that seek to manipulate it to their advantage. And I am sorry to say, none of the major and only one of the minor parties are willing to proffer real policy changes to address that. And One Nation is not that one minor party. But good luck getting Pauline to take up your cause.. You may well get some hot air on it, but policy? I doubt it.

Not only 3AW. When working, I spent long hours driving in regional and remote places. Sadly, too often the only commercial radio available was the infamous John Laws or Alan Jones. These chaps invariably irritated and annoyed me. I feel their long term (divisive, biased shock jock) influence remains, and might still influence voters.

GON, that is just so wrong it's not even worth commenting anymore.

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.

I only like swimming where there's shark patrols. There's just too many of the buggers close inshore today - all a result of the Chinese stripping the oceans of fish. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-30/china-super-trawlers-overfishing-world-oceans/10317394

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.

Only gas has quick response and not so much if steam is involved, Baseload Power is yesterdays world. We can't keep adding CO2 to the Atmosphere and the Oceans. In the Ocean it results increased Acidity. Trust the science. Not the Propaganda which is mostly from Fossil fuel vested Interests. Greenhouse effect is not a figment of the Imagination.. Solar and wind tides etc give us freedom from being controlled by the Energy consortium s like OPEC. and it's CLEAN and available in most parts of the World and very suited for Australia. No one can hold US to ransom. NATURAL gas is NOT Natural and harmless any More than TAR is. The SUN will be there for Longer than We will. It's Nuclear and 93 Million Miles away. Nev

My account is in credit, and no, I am not wealthy, but I did my sums. There are schemes with no up-front costs. You can even lease a solar system. In Europe, they have so-called balcony solar, where the panels are attached to the railings and can be taken with you when you leave. It is true that at the moment renewables are backed by fossil fuels, but every year the balance is changing. I recall a time not that long ago when the doubters were saying that renewables could never supply more than 10% now, I believe the average is around 40% and at times, much more. The argument that only coal or gas will do gets less true every year.

Hi and welcome to the forums, @randomx. Sorry to spoil the party a bit.. I am not sure what training is forced through the internet. And what training is done through the internet (online) is usually provided by the relevant institution/organisation/company... There isn't some US central course contrent creation machine that provides courses for everyone. No doubt some of the course creation software is American, but I have found all of my Aussie courses in the King's English. Though I do accept, I haven't seen the term budgie smugglers in any of the Aussie online courses I have taken. As for spell checkers not containing Australian English, here is a screen shot of some of the English proofing languages from my 2019 version of Microsoft Word (yep - 6 years old now, and I am sure English - Australian was available before that): While I agree that American culture has been disproprtioantely pervasive, I would suggest in Australia it started with the commertical TV networks importing cheap American shows, movies, and even news rather than fund home grown talent. The internet has helped further cement American culture dominance, but the internet is also now helping other cultures to be heard. One of my son's favourite bands is a Tibetan music band; my daughter is playing French artists on her phone as I type. In fact, it is I and my partner that play Amercian music more than them. But don't worry.. In about 10 years, we'll all be speaking Mandarin anyway.

Marty, he said it's the only station he can get down where he lives. I know you can't believe 98% of what you read on Facebook, but even Republican insiders are contemplating the 25th Amendment, and some saying America should become Canada's 11th Province.

If you're listening to a radio personality who's suggesting we become the 51st state, I'd suggest you change the channel.

Nope - preying on peoples' fears to divert attention from the real issues causing damage to their country.. and pi55ed off because the Chump family are down a few billion as the crypto markets have come off their peak

That picture isn’t actually an argument against wind turbines — it’s an argument for better mining standards, which applies to all forms of energy. Every energy technology, including coal, oil and gas, requires huge amounts of mined materials. Fossil fuels require steel, concrete, copper, and aluminium too — plus they involve continuous extraction of fuel forever. Wind turbines, by contrast, require one-time mining, then they produce energy for 25–30 years with no fuel burned and no ongoing extraction. 1. Wind uses far less total mined material over its lifetime than fossil fuels. Coal and gas plants need constant mining and drilling for fuel. Wind needs materials once, then no more digging. 2. Minerals for renewables are increasingly coming from countries with strong environmental and labour standards. Australia, Canada, the US and Scandinavia are ramping up production of nickel, copper and rare earths precisely to avoid reliance on poorly-regulated mines. The solution is improving supply chains, not ditching clean energy. 3. Wind turbines don’t use many “rare earths” anyway. Only some turbine designs use them, and manufacturers are rapidly shifting to rare-earth-free generators. 4. Fossil fuel extraction also happens in countries with poor environmental controls — and much more of it. Oil spills, coal sludge, gas flaring, and abandoned wells cause orders-of-magnitude more environmental damage than the mining required for renewables. 5. Modern wind turbine materials are highly recyclable. Copper, steel and aluminium — which make up most of a turbine — are recycled at very high rates, reducing mining needs over time. 6. Showing a single mine doesn’t prove wind is bad; it just illustrates that mining should be cleaner. If the standard is “this technology requires mining,” then all energy sources fail. The real comparison is: Mining once for decades of clean power (wind) vs Mining and drilling continuously and decades of pollution (fossil fuels).

I Can't stand Bikes where you are always looking for a Higher gear, especially on long trips. The endless buffeting behind semis and busses with the Occasional Rock or tyre tread, is One of the reasons I hate Riding on fast highly trafficked Roads. I once did over 1100 Kms in one Hit. The last 350 of it being in Heavy rain. I don't recommend that. Nev

I Knew a Girl whose figure was her fame but then her fame spread. Nev

Sadly, most rules or safety features are designed for the idiots, and the rest of us just have to endure them.

Alternatively, we could possibly improve the driving culture. If motorists respected the safety of others, there would not be a need for these speed bumps. Basically when we get behind the wheel, we suddenly act like we are ALL great drivers, and we ALL know better than the experts who put up speed limits for proven good reasons. I know because I AM a great driver (not like youse cretins).

He's NOT the Kind of Person I would like to see in Power. Has NEVER appealed to Me. The arguments He put up for Brexit were well short of Honest. Nev

How bloody stupid! Imagine the damage done to a vehicle dropping suddenly into what amounts to a lane-wide pothole. Even if it was only a blown tyre, the sudden loss of control could prove fatal.

Could be fake but certainly plausible and totally in character.

Beware of random thoughts...

Now that is a believable motive for burying the story. Trust me, it will be buried. I suspect there are some surprising people who will spend big to ensure public attention is directed elsewhere

Wilfully blind, ignorant and gullible in one. You don't play cricket for England, do you? The "man" has presided over defunding government departments designed and, in US terms, making the US clean and healthy, such as the FDA, Obamacare, the FAA, and the like. Maybe you should go over there and experience first hand what it is like. Many of my US based friends are telling me to stay away as it is turning more and more to shit Oh, and pardoning criminals to go out and murder again is also a positive in your mind, I guess?

There are plenty of people in Epstein's shady and corrupt world who would be very happy to see him and his files permanently buried. Aside from his own involvement Trump is probably worried what some of those people might do to him if they hold him responsible for their secrets being aired in public.

Mate, I am not waiting for it. I bought at this time of year as a commuter, and I am going to use it as such. I didn't get my ride in today, but that is OK as the Ducati boy has said his Ducati i a little sensitive to rain and cold, and tomorrow is rainy and cold. So, I will go out then and hit those twisties. I got some of my planned items done today... To cut a very long story short, didn't go to Gloucester, but ended up at a main dealer in Exeter that had 20% off everything. BThe sales assistant was young, female, and blonde. And I thought great, a Saturday student workder. Holey moley, she knew her stuff.. well beyond blokes with 20 years riding experience. She was absolutely professional, and the lad was totally enamoured by her, professionally (though I doubt he would say no to a quick drink with her, even though he doesn't drink). @facthunter - goes to show, blondes do have brains! She would give most of us a run for our brainiac money.

One of the few racing drivers who didn't suffer from overblown self-importance. Dementia is so rampant now, it's now one of the leading causes of death for aged people - 17,000 deaths from it last year, and only 12,000 from circulatory diseases.

Dear Newcomer, Members of this forum have personalities that others recognise after having been on the forum for several years. In my case, I often post items about the etymology of words that pop up in posts. Those items could be classed as trivia, but exposure to them increases the general knowledge of members, thereby diminishing cluelessness. Also, since the proliferation of AI generated stuff being posted on forums like ours, we have become pretty adept at spotting it. I am happy to say that your posts show all the indicators of posts generated by a human. That's why you have been welcomed. Just sit back for a while and observe the personalities of other members before making comments about a member's post that could be taken as not nice.

He certainly puts the "dick" in "dictator". Or he would, if Poo Tin would let him

Sending in the National Guard during the election to confiscate the ballot boxes in Democratic majority states or where the polls are showing a swing against him, claiming he is only doing so to prevent election fraud and preserve Democracy.

I take your point, but it’s worth recognising the difference between mining coal—which is burned once and contributes directly to emissions—and mining metals like copper, nickel and lithium, which are long-lived, recyclable and essential for clean-energy infrastructure. The environmental footprint per unit of long-term usefulness is simply not comparable. I’m not anti-mining; in fact, through my ethical super fund, I hold shares in PLS (formerly Pilbara Minerals). Mining is unavoidable if we want electricity, transport, communications, and modern technology of any kind. The real issue is how we mine. That’s why I think the focus should be on raising environmental standards and supporting responsible producers. Australia is actually well-positioned here: strong regulations, better labour standards, and the potential to supply much of the world’s demand for critical minerals needed in batteries, electrification, and renewable energy. If anything, responsible mining in countries like Australia reduces reliance on operations in places with poorer environmental controls.

I can still carry my iPhone as a camera, it just won't have a sim card to make calls. I've looked at one of those phone repair centres which sells secondhand phones. The cheapest they had was an iPhone 11 for $350. For serious photography I have my Panasonic Lumix SLR.

The "negative speed bump" idea may be a little overly complex, as it relies on radar. I guess if the radar fails, it stops working.