Bruce

It was $6 a sheep and I think they did lots in a run. Gosh the age pension is not bad huh

They apparently have experimental "young pills" being tested on mice, and if all goes well they will be available for the rich in 20 years. The mice are getting younger though. Now here's the good bit... they are making these pills out of red wine, so we don't have to wait... good news huh. I recommend a daily half bottle dose for your health.

A mate of mine reckons we will arrive at a stone age during the lifetimes of many people now alive. He says that it will be caused by overpopulation and resource depletion, and that the scientists are trying to warn us but nobody is listening. The only counter-argument I know is the "hoon driving defence" which is to say that we have been behaving like this for years with good results, therefore we can do it forever. " We are richer than our parents so our kids will be richer than us...etc" But it's a big thing though to accept that we are rushing to our doom, so I would like to be talked out of thinking this will happen.

There was this guy who had the Halal stamp at the Geelong abattoirs. He was paid $6 or so to certify the sheep were killed halal. Sometimes he would just send his stamp to work and get paid just the same.. I got this story from a senior meat inspector at that place.

Time travel machines exist for sure... they have them at the gym I go to, they look like exercise bikes. You ride them hard for 20 mins, and then you look at the clock and only 2 mins have passed.

There is a great cartoon I once saw... This guy with feathers stuck to his arms was about to jump off a tall building. the cation... " The more sure are, the more wrong you can be" Yes it also impresses me that god, in his personas of the father, son and holy ghost, the 3 of them are all male. Thank god that the vikings were not so mysogynistic and we have Friday ( Freyas day) to remind us of this.

Nev, you hit on the only good reason I can see against euthanasia, and that is if people would use it during a temporary episode of pain. Preventing people going too soon would have to be one of the safeguards, I'm sure that it would be possible to build this into the law.

I want the option too Marty and I think most people would agree with that. But my experience with people I knew makes me think that only the smartest and bravest would choose euthanasia. I hope I'm one of them if ever in that situation. I have known some for whom palliative care seemed to work ok. They could choose between pain plus awareness or to be zonked out of both.

The nazis sure gave euthanasia a bad name, but I agree that we are using the wrong word and they were murderers. What they did sure wasn't to voluntary patients. Palliative care works in some places for some things. It didn't work for my father, maybe he wasn't important enough to get the best treatment available. He would have wanted better treatment but certainly not euthanasia. There is another similarity with same-sex-marriage. The percentage who want it is tiny.

Pete, the thing is about voluntary euthanasia, not as determined by relatives. I personally think some of my relatives would have been better off if they were involuntarily euthanized, but as you say, this is fraught with the possibility of foul play. There was this guy I knew who had been big in animal welfare. He had clearly made enemies in the RSPCA by protesting at rodeos etc. Well in his latter years, he was successfully prosecuted by the RSPCA for NOT euthanasing his old dog. He hadn't been skimping on vets and care for the dog. At about this time, an auntie was dying in pain. Putting her out of her misery would have been murder. And rightly so, unless she had clearly asked for the euthanasia.

In the wake of the same-sex marriage survey, it has been noticed that there is a big similarity with euthanasia, in that a majority of the public want this but a majority of politicians don't. Is there anybody out there who opposes the idea of voluntary euthanasia, regardless of what safeguards are in place? Maybe opponents are a bit like creationists, of whom I have not found a single one who will argue their case. I hasten to say that although I have had relatives who died after much suffering, none of them would have asked for euthanasia and I reckon it is only a few of us who are potential applicants. But how nasty to deny these few their escape.

Yes, "western Sydney" was where those Lebanese gangs raped the girls. The boys who did the raping were also victims of an upbringing which taught them that non-moslem girls were sluts who were asking for it. I think the taxpayer is still funding moslem schools where that stuff is taught. There are apparently many thousands of moslems in western sydney.

There is no mechanism in Australia to make universities honest or consistent. We badly need a public examinations authority to take control. In the meantime, there are people getting Phd's for grade 7 stuff. So the poms are not alone. I hasten to say that there are places where standards are still kept up. Alas there is no policing going on so the lecturers in these places are under pressure to lower standards.

Red, in hindsight those sailors should have gone on strike for service benefits. The fishermen at Gallipoli did just that... they were employed as mine-sweepers but when they came under fire from the forts, they demanded service benefits for their families if they got killed.

Why do not these guys trust their god to do the punishing? God can smite anybody down at anytime or send them to hell or whatever. My explanation is that they don't actually believe their own stuff, its just an act to get them power and money. I wonder how long this guy would last with the Japanese cess-pool test?

I find it hard to keep hearing about how those soldiers died " to protect our freedom". Nothing could be further from the truth. They were young men going on the paid holiday of a lifetime ( they thought). The actual experience made many of them realize they should have stayed at home. My biggest difficulty is understanding why the parents of the soldiers didn't string up those in charge of the war when they learned the truth.

Alas you are right Marty and the LNP are no better. How much is the whole thing costing I wonder, eg the court costs and the by-election costs for Barnaby. After he wins the by-election, what has been achieved except for wasting millions? If I were running the LNP, I would try to establish how only the LNP cared a hoot about taxpayers money being wasted, and that was the difference with them and the ALP. But I don't think they are this smart.

I agree nev. this pope doesn't use the popemobile. Even as an atheist, was embarassed by the previous popes so blatantly demonstrating their own secret atheism by using the popemobile.

I think it reflects badly on the labor party. While I don't like Barnaby Joyce, the fact is that this is an unfair attack. They could have been more statesmanlike and got my sympathy, but they didn't.

I just got a new EGO 56 volt chainsaw and it works great. No I don't get a commission. I read that the Stihl is better.

Space, you need to try out some of the new electric chainsaws. They have improved lots and I thought like you from my experience with a little battery chainsaw.

Space, the figures I saw at engineering school were that a truck was equal to 1000 cars in damaging the road. Most damage happens after wet weather when the edges of the paved zone are soft underneath.

Look at model planes. Electric planes have taken over without any coercion at all. I hated how oil from the glo-plug motor soiled the nice clean framework, so I was an enthusiastic convert. And now I'm looking at getting an electric-boosted pushbike. One of the things helping make this happen is how the South Australian government has made it legal to ride your bike on footpaths, so you don't have to get killed by drunken lawyers in their 4wd's every time. And chainsaws are much better now with battery electrics. So electric cars for the missus to take shopping will happen soon and its great. But trucks and tractors? I don't think so.

The most stable form of government is feudalism. Capitalism is too voracious for the planet to cope with for long. We are already seeing a return to feudalism, just ask kim jong or lizzy windsor or that super rich hancock woman. Only feudal lords have any incentive to care about the long term, after all their hereditary rights extend forever into the future. This is totally different to short-term elected pollies whose incentive is to only care about the very short term.

From my point of view, they were the cream of their generation, wasted by stupid generals on an even more stupid conflict. But I am proud of my grandfather who was one of those Australian soldiers the english would have executed for disrespecting english authority. Mind you, my grandfather should not have volunteered to go there to begin with.