onetrack

Wow, there's some bile in that article. I think the sad part is, that the opposition political parties in America can't produce anything worthy as a leader, to show up this buffoon for what he is. That's the reason Americans have picked him for a leader, this is the best they can find! What a sad indictment on the country.

Here's a sign in North Perth advertising a forthcoming "Marketa" business, that was promising to open in the Summer of 2020! It still hasn't opened!! That's coming up SIX years!!

The DFRDB stood for "Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Scheme". It was certainly a very poor form of superannuation. But the big Life Assurance companies ran worse schemes. My father started Life Assurance accounts for the older brother and myself in the early 1960's, and we started paying into them as we got older and started out in business together. But the return on those LA schemes was about 1%, while the Life Assurance companies made millions in profits from our monies, and paid all those profits to wealthy Life Assurance Co shareholders! We found we could borrow against these policies, so during some hard times we both borrowed small amounts against the policies, to keep our business operational. But the interest rate we were charged was something like 8%, and because we took our eyes off the policies, it wasn't too many years before we realised the policies were essentially now worthless, because the loans and interest had eaten up the (relatively small) value of the policies! So we cancelled the policies and extracted the few miserable dollars left, and never bought any Life Assurance (or Life Insurance) policies ever again!

The latest W.A. Firearms Act is a vicious over-reaction caused by the murder of two women by a deranged, vicious gun-fondler, who should have never had any kind of firearms licence issued to him. In essence, all W.A. firearms owners are now highly likely to be criminals and murderers, according the Govt, and must be treated as such. It's made it so hard to even own a firearm of any kind, even when you're a farmer, and you need a firearm to bump off badly-maimed livestock. This new Firearms Act is a knee-jerk reaction that will only cause a lot of firearms to go underground. While I see the need to restrict firearms to only those who can demonstrate a need for them, making every firearm owner pay heavily for Govt and law enforcement failures in the past, is something that does not go down well, especially with people in the country areas of W.A. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-28/mark-james-bombara-floreat-shooting-daughter-speaks/103901710 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-01/floreat-murders-police-investigation-domestic-violence-analysis/104884012

Common methods of cheating at chess: Electronic assistance: Using external tools like a chess engine during a game is a common way to cheat, especially in online or remote play, as it provides instant, superior move suggestions. Collusion: Cheating can involve secret signals or communication with another person (like a spectator or another player) to gain advice or an advantage. Rule violations: Deliberately violating rules, such as the touch-move rule or attempting to sneak a piece back onto the board, can be a form of cheating. Here's an article about cheating at chess .... https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/28/sport/chess-how-to-cheating-explainer-spt-intl#

Rudds performance was the next best thing to Hara-Kiri, without the accompanying sword. He was probably wishing for one at the time.

But there's no all-black Lincolns out front?

Too much on your mind will do that. I once noticed a Landcruiser in the street nearby with the keys hanging out of the door. I stopped, took them out and went into the house alongside where it was parked. A bloke in his mid-30's came out, and when I said, "Is that your Landcruiser in the street? I found these keys in the door!", he looked aghast and said "Yes", and thanked me. He was running a small business, he had three little kids running around, and he looked absolutely frazzled. Probably working his guts out, and his gorgeous-looking missus had probably screwed him senseless the night before, as well! About 25 yrs ago, I lost a big bunch of my keys in my rented 1000 sq m industrial yard. I didn't find them for 6 mths. When I did find them, I found them sitting on an item of equipment right up the back corner of the yard. I'd put them down while I was in a brain fog, distracted by something else, and walked off without them, not realising they were gone, until long after I got home. Luckily, I keep plenty of spare keys. I was under a lot of stress at the time.

Better late than never!

Yeah, it's a whole lot different world today. But at least we didn't have to put up with drugged-out crazies, and machete-carrying criminals!

The word is that Daniel Naroditsky committed suicide. He was becoming mentally unstable due to being accused of cheating by another Grandmaster, Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik seems to be a bit deranged though, accusing large numbers of other chess players of cheating, as well. Naroditsky spent a vast amount of time online (a good enough reason to become mentally unwell, just by itself). But Naroditsky was apparently being harrassed and abused online by trolls, which often sends many "computer nerds" over the edge. A pretty sad development all round. Naroditsky was apparently well regarded for the videos he made, advising chess players on how to improve their skills.

Red750, what happened for you to no longer have any super, when you originally had it? I thought it was supposed to last your average lifetime?

Everyone knows what KIA and MIA means, Spacey! Unless you think they're talking about Korean cars!

SWMBO has her super invested with Telstra Super, because she worked for them for a while. The return on this fund is impressive, more than 7% on average, over the last 20 years.That period includes the disastrous GFC and the pandemic period, as well as a couple of other financial shocks. Interestingly, Telstra Super have a fairly even balance of Australian and U.S. shareholdings. The managers continually revise their investments. The major thing with Telstra Super is that profits are returned to Super Fund holders, not to already-wealthy private shareholders, as many Super Funds do. Telstra Super has won awards as the Fund with the best performance for the last 18 years. SWMBO draws out 5% a year (the minimum) and the level of funds she's got, just keeps on increasing, despite the drawdown.

Juicy peach must be an American expression, it's not one I know, or would have guessed.

A better idea, would be a chart with lots of crosses under gang member images, along with "KIA", MIA", and other casualty indicators. 😄

God can't be served a summons, because he doesn't have an earthly registered address. So, no chance of legal success in trying to sue God. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawsuits_against_supernatural_beings#:~:text=have an address."-,Ernie Chambers,access to the court system.

Young and foolish.

You're going to need a LOT of Dingoes!! Are you planning on a Dingo breeding programme?

I thought he was going to say, "But I wasn't the driver!"

The poor bugger has had Parkinsons since 2018, it's gradually slowing him down. But they say you die with Parkinsons, rarely from it. Loss of balance and falls are the greatest risk, especially with advanced age.

22M 'roos in Qld?? I'm staggered at that number, what do they do there, feed them up??

It's Neil Diamond. I was very fond of his songs when I was younger.

Meantimes, there's a black African Christian pastor, one Joshua Mhlakela, who has apparently messed up a little with his religious calendar predictions. He told all his followers the Rapture (an event in Biblical prophecy whereby true Christians will ascend directly into Heaven) was sure to happen on the 23rd Sept 2025, according to his best calculations. Unfortunately, it seems he failed in school, in both maths and religious predictions, because the 23rd of Sept has come and gone, and all his followers are still stuck on on Earth, and there's no sign of Jesus Christ or God! This is apparently getting a little awkward for Joshua, as a big number of his dedicated believers sold their cars and homes and all their possessions, because they knew they wouldn't need them in Heaven! What is worse, it seems Joshua has made himself scarce, and doesn't want to meet up with those angry and disappointed followers of his! Such are the trials of being a religious forecaster! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15133737/Humiliated-preachers-Rapture-explain-happened.html

The best description of Trump I've seen recently, is "bullshit-artist-in-Chief", from the Russian, Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat. Trump has no ability to forge proper plans, and to see them carried out - he makes arbitrary decisions on the fly, and then fails to follow up, as he finds something else to take up his attention - either flattery, or some vicious political revenge move. He claims he's settled the war in Gaza. But he's done nothing to disarm Hamas. He claims if they don't disarm, then the Americans will get in there, and "blow the crap out of them". It's all BS - he has no strategic plans to ensure that talks with Hamas produce meaningful results. He has no communications lines established with Hamas, he speaks to them through his Presidential media outbursts. Hamas regard him as just a mouthy fool, and rightfully so. Hamas fighters have come out from hiding, now the bombing has stopped, are carrying good weaponry and driving new pickups - and are set on establishing their power base in Gaza and the Middle East once again. https://www.watoday.com.au/world/north-america/after-the-extraordinary-moment-of-trump-s-mid-east-peace-plan-here-come-the-morning-after-blues-20251016-p5n339.html