Marty_d

Tecumseh I think. At least that was on the air filter I replaced.

Ah, 14hp means 14 Hamster Power? Thanks gents!

Hey, Hoping the brains trust can help me out here. We inherited an MTD Yard Machines 14hp ride on from my father in law about 10 years ago. Up to now it's been really reliable, even though I only use it about 4 times a year it starts first time. Anyway, I was using it a couple of weeks ago and the drive part stopped. Without thinking, I tipped it on its side to work out why, discovered a broken spring, and went to the shed to see if I had a replacement the right size. You can probably guess. Yes I got distracted by something else, then it was time to make dinner etc, and before I knew it three days had passed before I remembered the mower on its side in the paddock. The oil flooding the air filter didn't do it much good. I cleaned out as much oil as I can get to, got a new air filter, topped up the oil, put fuel in and charged the battery. Now, even with "Start ya bastard", it doesn't start. Any ideas about what else I could try, before giving up and selling a kidney to get it fixed? Thanks!

Martin Bryant who killed 35 people at Port Arthur was not a Muslim. Neither was that, unfortunately Australian, cock sucker who killed 51 innocent people in New Zealand. Don't be an idiot. Murderous arseholes are not restricted to one culture or religion.

Doesn't sound like navigating London is very Zen-like.

The gun lobby will bitch and moan about this, just as they did in 1996 when John Howard did the only good thing he did as PM. Their and the opposition's reasoning that "guns aren't the problem, anti-Semitism is the problem" is false. Yes anti-Semitism is a big problem, but so is white supremacism, Islamophobia, sovereign citizens, organised crime, and a whole bunch of other nut jobs who believe that violence against those who disagree with you is a good idea. Yes the government needs to work on all those issues but it also needs to ensure those nut jobs find it VERY difficult to lay their hands on a firearm. Because if you are down that path, I think it would be easier to kill at a distance than get up close and stab a bunch of people. Especially if you're a fat bastard like those losers who carried out the Bondi attack.

That is such shit.

Yes, you can apply on a written form, but when that form is lodged it's either optically scanned or manual data entry by staff. Either way, the data is held on a state government database.

I find it very hard to believe that any government department relies on paper records for anything. This isn't 1980. The data may be on incompatible systems or databases but it would be digital somewhere, and if it's digital it can be ingested, converted and matched.

What about the Muslim bloke who tackled the shooter? Where does this guy, who's shown more heroism than most people in this country, fit into your world view?

There's some low hanging fruit. As mentioned in another thread, there should be data matching between state firearm registers and ASIO, and restrictions on people and their families/ close associates who have ever been linked to extremism.

In this case it's a "bell-end" curve.

Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

I think he took the gun when the shooter had emptied the magazine, so he wouldn't have been able to. Pity he didn't smack him in the head with the butt though. Still, damn good job and I hope Mr El-Ahmed is given our highest medal.

There are improvements that can be made to the gun laws. There should be a national database for a start. What I look forward to is finding out why ASIO apparently doesn't data match with state firearm registers and advise state police forces when an immediate family member, or close associate, of someone who has clear links to a terrorist organisation owns firearms.

Deserves the highest honour. To disarm a gunman with no weapon yourself, plus have the presence of mind to put the weapon down afterwards so the cops don't shoot you.

Love that skit. Especially when he says "for it was orange, with a green top." Master of the facial expression.

I wish their porky arsehole would quietly expire and definitely not be exported.

This is terrible on so many levels. Firstly for the dead, the injured and their loved ones. Unimaginable what they're going through. More long term, the social cohesion of this country. As we see in a post already, people will use this tragedy as an excuse to blame the government, or whatever group they have a grudge against. Those who love authoritarianism will use this to push their barrow and change this country for the worse under the pretense of needing greater security. Division and intolerance will increase. This happened despite us having some of the best gun control laws in the world. And it is a sad fact of life that evil people will find a way to carry out evil deeds. While it is early in the reporting of this event, I understand that one of the alleged perpetrators is dead and the other in custody. That at least is a good thing.

Nev, you are not reading what I'm writing. I am talking about pollies being allowed to fly their family members, first class, anywhere in Australia. Nothing to do with international travel.

Wouldn't the word "boneless" be unnecessary?

I don't see this issue as unique to one person/party or the other. I see the issue as excessive FAMILY travel entitlements. I think reducing it to economy flights for family, to Canberra only, would make it far more palatable to most people.

I think that's his stage name. As a young aspiring actor the director asked his name, and when told "Penis Van Lesbian", said "Hmmmm - I think we need something else..."

As I see it, there are two separate and distinct issues here. First is the $100,000 / 6 minute speech thing. As I said, I don't have an issue with ministers flying first class. Whether the trip should have been taken, given the PM and someone else from government were already over there and could have filled in for her, is another matter. She delayed the trip because of the 000 issue. That's an understandable reason for not attending the event, and having another person make the speech and attend relevant meetings instead. The second, and the one I have an issue with, is unlimited first class air travel for family. Why first class? They are not the busy minister, they are not in the public eye and they have no value to government. Why not economy like everyone else? Also - you can argue that politicians spend a lot of time away from home and this is a necessary benefit. If that's true, then a) why do 62% of politicians NOT use this perk at all, and b), why is it not limited to travel to Canberra?