rgmwa

Another good one is insurance for houses in cyclone-prone areas such as around Karratha and Port Hedland in WA. The insurance companies charge home-owners unaffordable premiums because of perceived risk, ignoring the fact that houses and other buildings in those areas have to be designed for the expected cyclonic wind speeds. For example, buildings in Perth need to be designed for (generally) 45m/sec (162km/hr) basic wind speed. The same building in Port Hedland needs to be designed for 80m/sec (288km/hr). Since pressure is a function of the square of wind speed, that means 3.55 times more wind pressure on the building and therefore a much stronger building, but try to convince an insurance company that they shouldn't charge any more than for a building in Perth. On the other hand, Cyclone Seroja wiped out half of Kalbarri in 2021, because it came unusually far south and hit an area that is not considered cyclone prone, so the buildings are designed to a lower wind speed standard. I'll bet their premiums went up - at least for those owners that still had buildings.

I work for a large consulting engineering firm, mostly from home these days as we all got set up with the necessary hardware and software during Covid. I use my own PC to link remotely to my office computer. Simple to setup and I could switch screens between my home and office computers with one key press. Everything worked like a charm. Last weekend the firm installed a new VPN system which promptly locked me out of the office system on Monday, Two days of on-line troubleshooting with our IT guys finally resulted in them driving out to my place to set me up with a new laptop and screen. I can now connect to the office with the laptop but no longer with my PC, so I have gone from one computer, one screen, one keyboard and mouse to run everything to two computers, three screens, two keyboards and two mice and the whole lot doesn't work as well as it did before. Apparently this is progress. ...actually three keyboards if I include the laptop's keyboard.

I just renewed our house (building) insurance. The premium jumped over $400 to just under $2k compared to last year. I’m sure the fact that we claimed last year for the first time in more than 30 years for damage to walls, carpet and bathroom cabinets and some tiling caused by a leaking water pipe had nothing to do with the increase! No doubt the separate contents insurance will also go up when we get the next bill. The plumbers had to remove about 35 shower tiles and cut into the brick wall to find the leak. To my surprise, that damage wasn’t covered so it cost us $1000 extra to get repaired. Apparently the insurance only covered damage caused by the leak, not damage caused by efforts to find the leak! It probably cost RACWA $12k all up and apart from very poor communication and about 4-5 months from start to finish the final result was pretty good, but it was hard work. We also have a small rental property occupied by our daughter at the moment. My landlord insurance premium just went up literally 100% for no obvious reason. I got another quote but it was near enough the same so I just paid it.

Trump is bad enough but it's racists like this guy and others who are underpinning his push to take over. Miller is a nasty piece of work. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/24/stephen-miller-white-nationalist-trump-immigration-guru

I agree. He enjoyed wearing a suit and working in the the city for a while, so I don't think he regrets it too much. It gave him skills, insight into the world of banking and finance, and a maturity and experience that he wouldn't have got otherwise. It's all contributed to where he is now.

What does he want to do? Our son had an early interest in electrical things. He finished year 12 without any real idea of what to do as a career. He had a passing interest in economics so with our encouragement but without much enthusiasm he went to uni and got a degree. After a few years working in banks and gaining extra financial qualifications along the way, at the age of 25, he decided he'd had enough, resigned and got a mature age apprenticeship as a commercial electrician. He's landed on his feet and is now a skilled electrician including both LV and HV work, and enjoys what he does. If we'd encouraged him to follow his instincts more at the time instead of encouraging him to go to uni, which he now sees a largely a career setback, he might have been happier. Nevertheless, no education is wasted and there aren't that many electricians with a degree to their name.

Col. Frank Borman, 9 Nov 23 – test pilot, astronaut and airline executive. He set a then endurance record of 14 days in Gemini 7 in 1965, was on NASA’s review board investigating the Apollo 1 fire, flew around the moon in Apollo 8 in December 1968 and became senior VP at Eastern Airlines after he retired from NASA in 1970.

He already knows that he's lost the fraud case, but he also knows that the court is crowded with reporters who will relay all his antics and grievances to his loyal supporters. His team was apparently sending out begging emails while he was in the witness box trashing the judge and prosecutors. He is just playing to the court of public opinion. Once he's found guilty, he will be off to the appeals courts. I can't fathom the gullibility of the majority of Americans.

Joe Cammileri

As if Trump wasn't bad enough, there is an army of enthusiastic backroom misfits and plotters busily developing policies and selecting potential MAGA appointees to fill influential administrative positions in a Trump government, specifically in order to facilitate his anti-democratic and dictatorial ambitions and further their own careers. As things currently stand, Biden is a lost cause despite being basically competent and decent. Even many who voted for him last time are no longer supporting him because they blame him for the economy and other problems around the world. So much for American Democracy. The best result would be for Trump to end up in jail or be kicked off the ballot in some states. If he gets back in again, it will be a disaster that the Americans have brought on themselves and the world by being thoroughly conned by a vindictive crook.

War and Peace was about 7 hrs

And then lots of people with aboriginal heritage are highly educated doctors, lawyers, parliamentarians and the like, so there is a huge disparity in lifestyle and living conditions across the population. We hear a lot of talk from aboriginal representatives about how the current systems have failed because they have been imposed by governments or badly managed by those in charge who don't understand the real problems, particularly in the remote communities. That may be true, but I have yet to hear any of these critics explain what they believe the real problems are, what they would do to fix them that hasn't been tried before, and what responsibility the aboriginals themselves are prepared to take on to improve their conditions. The kartiya article, Bruce Tuncks' blocked toilet example, Onetrack's Landcruiser story and even the anecdote I posted highlight the fundamental mindset changes that would be needed.

Here's a little anecdote. A friend of ours is a nurse and she recently spent a year in an aboriginal community halfway between Kalgoorlie and Alice Springs. There were about 150 people living there but usually only about 70 at any one time as the others were away visiting or on sorry business or some other reason. (Those families that were there were often feuding with each other, so it wasn't a particularly harmonious community). She was running the local clinic, and a few of the locals who worked there told her one day they had to travel to Port Augusta for a funeral, but would be back soon. A couple of weeks later she got a phone call saying their car had broken down so they would be away a bit longer but would be back as soon as they got new transport. She was short-staffed and really needed them back at work. A few more weeks went by with no word, but then she got another phone call. They had managed to get a car and would be back soon. More weeks passed, and finally another call. They now had wheels for the car and were on their way.

Reading that article makes you wonder how anything could be done to make a positive long-term difference in many of these remote communities.

I think the biggest reason it failed was because the aboriginal population itself was so clearly and loudly divided on the issue. Had they all been for it there's a good chance it would have got across the line despite Dutton's scare campaign. But even if it had succeeded, I doubt that much would have changed because half the aboriginal population would have ignored it as a waste of time and the other half would be squabbling over who was going to represent them. Even having a Voice in the Constitution would not be a guarantee of permanent representation, because the government of the day could just choose to reduce their funding to make them ineffective. I was on the `yes' side on the basis that it was worth a try, but now the onus is on `no' side to figure where they go from here to solve all the problems. If they can come up with a better solution then maybe something will change.

I can’t see how this brutal attack by Hamas on civilians furthers their cause. They must have known full well that Israel would attack Gaza in response and make the lives of their own people even worse. Stopping the Saudis from normalising relations with Israel may have been a reason but probably a bigger concern for Iran than Hamas. If Iran was pushing Hamas to attack, the Palestinian people are paying a heavy price for Hamas’s hatred of Israel.

Trump has already been found guilty of fraud by the judge who has cancelled his licences to operate businesses in New York State. The civil trial now is just about how much money he has to pay as restitution for the fraud.

He's probably stressed about the weight his wallet keeps losing.

I thought Jones had retired. I'm surprised this twit is still around. He forgot to mention Trump's criminal credentials.

The way I read this judgement, `any other entity controlled or beneficially owned' would mean that neither he nor his kids could own shares in any company that owned or controlled the assets. As shareholders they would be part-owners and beneficiaries. If this ruling stands whatever he can throw at it, I think he's done in New York.

When you’re a very stable genius you never make mistakes. Haven’t you ever heard of alternative facts?

Who would have guessed. Reminds me of me at 21 compared to the person I see in the mirror these days. Big difference and not for the better.

Colonisation is probably a more accurate description of what actually happened. Governor Phillip made a pretty good effort to get along with the aboriginals in the first few years, even getting speared for his trouble once the locals realised their visitors weren't intending to leave. The whites at the time also clearly recognised that the aboriginals were people and not fauna.

I thought I did.

I didn't know Einstein had a brother so out of curiosity I looked him up in Wikipedia. Until then I never realised I was an idiot.