nomadpete

Agree! I thought that I would achieve so much when I 'retired'. Unfortunately it now takes me all week to achieve what I used to do in a week end. Even then it takes me the next week to recover.

You must have been assessed as under 16 years of age.

I'd love to see the tantrum if his own party tossed him out! I hadn't thought about that option.

I just finished proving Onetrack's axiom of projects. A fortnight ago, my dearest said 'Do you think WE could lay some pavers over the muddy patch under the house?' A quick look - yeah, ten pavers, a bit of crusher dust - maybe some gravel under it to let moisture drain away. A slab of concrete would work for me but I'm not the creative one. Couplar daze- she'll be right! Step one - can't see much dirt due to the man-fern forest that had sprung up over the decade that i had put off the job. Each fern had to be dug up and transplanted. I think she might knew them by name. (Not the names I had for them). Dug a trench for a french drain. Hit rock. Jackhammered the rocks out to give the drain a fall. That ended up twice the estimated length. It rained and mud was everywhere. During this excavating, I came across a sewer pipe that blocked the drain path and a hidden water main pipe. More digging. Then laid a 4' square concrete slab beneath the meter box just past the intended pavers. More shopping for sand/gravel/cement. . Finally satisfied with the drain path (and avoiding a sewer mishap) another trip to get a trailer load of coarse gravel. In goes slotted pipe, gravel, geofab. Nice! Another trip to get a trailer load of crusher dust to bed the pavers. The water main pipe had the main shutoff tap for the house below the surface. Now this was to be a walkway. It required a pit with a lid, to end up flush with the pavers. Another half day lost going trip to plumbing supplier. More digging. Half a trailer load of crusher dust spread and levelled - pavers purchased. This little area is a trapezoidal shape. Pavers are not. Mask, goggles, big grinder. I dropped the grinder and broke the disk. Another trip to hardware store. We are good friends now. Cut 4 pavers (400x400) at the correct angle, then one needed a 100mm round cut around the sewer pipe and 2 more needed to be cut to fit around the pit. So my 2 day simple project only took 2 weeks. Onetrack I got away lightly this time! Easy peasy.

I'm safe. I don't see them in Woollies. But one of those would give me the pip.

I see that as an example of a binary outcome based on an assumption - as opposed to an undisputable proven fact. Therefore leaving grey areas. I am trying to apply it to the efforts to police misinformation. Most convincing misinformation contains some facts, followed by somebody's interpretaion. The whole picture then becomes misleading (or worse). As you point out, the problem is already created by the phrase 'beyond reasonable doubt' which means 'our best guess'. With respect to the attempts to force media operators to be accountable for damaging (mis)information, we are dealing with businesses with deep pockets, AND very powerful voices to influence the public. The highest level of power on the planet, over the masses. Past history shows that laws work fairly well for people (entities) that do not have such power. It looks close to unenforcable in a world where our politicians and leaders cannot be forced to use honesty in their electoral advertising. As an aside, are we at risk of creating overt 'thought crimes'?

Regarding the attempt to pass legislation to control social media (and hopefully MSM)..... I like the idea of requiring a name and date to be attached to each instance. The anonymity of the present system has allowed massive damage to be carried out by nefarious individuals and groups.

I see law as being binary. One either obeys a law or they do not. One cannot be half guilty. How does a law about truth and fact become malleable? And if it was, what good would that do?

When we make a law - any law, the terms must be reduced to black and white. Totally agree. However, I have a problem with the present attempts to create a fair and practical method to force media (and individuals) to stick to facts and to factually complete conclusions.

Thank you for taking the time to think about it, and to contribute to the discussion. That was my intention. You seem to be trying to boil the issue (regulation of the validity of information on the net), down to black and white. That would be nice if it were possible but it usually becomes more complex when the Rogan Joshes of the world introduce fragments of verifiable fact to create believable conclusions that are misleading.

To & fro? Or perhaps beneficial to maintaining the political duopoly.

I love your rule for job estimates.

I also worry about a bill that gets bipartisan support.

Now please don't think this post is in any way connected with the Thread. I am re-reading Jon Ronson's book 'The Psychpath Test'. Like the first time I read it, I am frightened. But for some reason, this time I am even more frightened.

Haven't you leant the most basic rule of renovating yet? BEWARE of taking any 'simple job' into your own hands. Our simplest jobs are like big government projects - with similar cost and completion blowouts.

Which one? The loud one with the coat tails or the loud one riding on them?

Yes, thinking about USA's leadership is a bit like pondering the Russian head of state. In either case, plan 'B' is more frightening than plan 'A'.

Yeah, we usually book accommodation for the night if we go to Hobart. It's a big journey. Fortythree k's is a long drive for us!

I went on self improvement training - all about the "Win - Win" method of negotiation. One guy wasn't convinced. He said: "In every negotiation somebody wins, somebody loses. The only exception is a 69." Even the women laughed.

Its fine to show a feeling about an issue. Its equally fine to debate whatever has been said. Lots of stuff is agreed with. Some stuff is not. That is how discussions work. And the forum is a discussion. Not a place to expect every comment to be automatically cheered on. The very nature of the discussions here has taught me a great deal.

I like your post except for this comment - I doubt yhat DJT has ever cared about leaving a legacy. He only cares about instant by instant adulation, wealth and power.

Nowadays, (at least it seems) the ABC has trended toward the commercial news outlets style - and coincidentally allegedly has more ex merdok staff. They definitely have dropped their standards over the past years. I didn't like them having an ex magazine boss running the place. Just my opinion, though.

Errr, Jerry, We have Wolfie here, a safe distance from all that.....

Maybe so. But it takes real skills to make a really profitable one..... without getting into trouble. Proof? Consider skyentology... or The RC industry.

Lets see, if rent averages 1k per week, thats $52,000 p.a. for rent. So, you aren't expecting to live very long?