Jerry_Atrick

Mods.. Quickly.. Move this to the gripes thread.. saves me writing it myself if Tim Tams price explodes... 🙂

Oh yeah.. Israel accepted the UN resoltuion for a two state solution - and the day after they declared independence, 5 Arab nations piled in. Israel took some land out of that. You have a war, you may win or lose, bot the war and territory. Another war in 1958, agains started by the Arabs, and they lost a little more of "Palestine". In 1967, Israel captured the Sinai, and after a few years handed it back for peace, still accepting a teo state solution. 1978 sort of put pay to that idea. But still there were peace accords to get to a two state solution, broken by the Palestinians (which is not even a formally recognised Arab state/race). Now the world is saying the only way is a two state solution. The problem is, Israel now want some fairly serious guarantees before the acquiesce to it.. and if you were in their position, what would you do? Remeber, the chant, "From the river to the sea" means from the Jordan River to the Med.. All of it. But, yes,.. the worls has never been so wealthy, yet we are at the precipise of another major regional, if not global conflict...

Don't get me started on this again. To say any side is blameless is a like, of course.. But Not quite as simple as that. Zionism started in the mid 1800s and the Jews were buying up land to build a nation. "Palestine" was not a nation then.. The Kind David Hotel bombing, where, yeah, a few Palestinians were killed, was occupied by Brits nd Jews mainly.. and is about the only act of terrorism per se a right wing Zionsit militia performed.. Now, as we don't tarnish all Russians as the terrorist Vlad is (remember, he didn't declare war), why are we tarring a) all Zionists, and b) all Jews with the brish of a small self-appointed militia? Oh, and there was the Nakhba (or however it was spelled). Yes, I agree, Jews/Zionists don't have a right to start a country because they purchased the land, but the Jews apparently offered the Palestinians the ability to stay as long as they laid down their arms. I don't recall reading the Palestinians doing the same in their settlements. And even in modern day Israel, servicepeople are being courtmarshalled for crimes against Palestinians (ademittedly, nit right now); but I can't seem to find on instance where it has been the other way around. Who in Hamas has ocme out to say that the inentional targetting of civilians, with behading and other reported atrocities. Yes, Israel have been accused of holding prisoners in touch conditions, but not to my knowledge have they been accused of the sick acts Hamas has. Of course, that is just allegations on both sides. I think. Not in an act of war, and Israel did declare war and waited days if not weeks before entering. And, legally, whose airspace is it, anyway? Gaza is not a country. Yes, Israel have bigger and better guns, but they invested in it to protect their population though both defence and offence. They haven't always been the beneficiary of US aid.. certainly in 48, 58, 67, and in '78 it only came after the US told Israel to back off and it would look after Israel.. which it didn't until it was nearly the end of the line and the PM had to threaten the use of the secret nuclear weapons everyone knew (and knows) they had. What the press doesn't tell you is that Israel is under constant rocket bombardment from Hamas and Hezbollah (on a smaller scale).. Israel has the iron dome and little gets through. Mostly it fires a few back or does nothing, but leaves the lights on and the water flowing into Gaza while this is happening. There is another border to Gaza,... Egypt.. They have made it clear in no uncertain terms that they do not want Palestinian refugees and don't proviide the water or lights.. I would suggest, Israel has been a bit like a cat.. you can piss it off only so far.. occasionally it will snap back, but really hack it iff, and you are going to cop it. How would any other country play this? Bill Maher is a historian by trade, and I think this is an excellent video, where for some reaon, when it comes to Israel (Jews) and biblical lands, logic doesn't seem to prevail. Why not? I remember saying a similar thing on these foums when Yenn (RIP) came back with quite a reposte, which got me interested in ths area.. .And when one digs into the facts, there is much more to this than the press provide. This came up in my feed today.. I think this bloke is an ex-US elite services fella - not sure. and I have not fact checked it, but if true, it might go a little way to understand that Israel may not be entirely the bad guy in this fight:

Sydney. As I recall when I was a kid, there were 11 biscuits per pack. There are 9 here. Not sure if it is the same in Aus. Yes, sadly this is the case. And, yes, KKR are an investment firm, they are worried about growth and returns, just like any other firm. The reality is most large companies are owned in a large part by institutional investors (albeit not wholly owned). And you can buy shares in their holding company: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=kkr+group+share+price Other brands that have gove that way (and even these days, companies like Nestle are really just large specialist investment firms. When I worked at Coles Myer, each business operated in its own right - I worked for Kmart and it was an entirely separate business to Coles in all of its operations; which was entirely separate to Myer; to Target, to Fosseys, to Sussan, and a feww others I can't remember. There was no sharing of any operational services. When I worked at Toronga, it was only the home to Coles, Kmart and Fosseys; Fosseys moved to Blackburn because they couldn't afford the rent at Toronga. In the middle of it was a separate entity known as "Corporate", and they basically were an investment management firm, looking at the numbers on their businesses, but no direct influence, except who they hired to run (or ruin) them. In 2022, Patties Foods (Four n Twenty, Herbet Adams, Boscastle, Nannas, Leader) and Vesco Foods (On the Menu, Super Nature, Lean Cuisine, Annabel, Karmel, Jarrabali) was sold to an alternate investment group, Pacific Alliance Group, based in Hong Kong or Singapore - can't remember. Most of Aussie mainstream beer is owned by overseas companies. I remember those ads with the famous Aussie femal olympian (ironically, who's name I can't recall), "Australian made is good; Australian owned is better." They are onwed by Nestle, who have less than a stellar reputation as a corporate citizen. Sanitarium is, I guess still Aussie owned, but it is owned by the 7th Day Adventist church.. So, I gues is is god-owned. Most of the meat in supermarkets on the eastern seaboard is processed by JBS, a Brazillian owned operation. Despite the amount raised by super funds in Australia, most of the investment in green energy seems to be coming from foreign sources: https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/why-overseas-money-is-pouring-into-australian-green-energy-20240628-p5jpiz I could go on.. The shining light in Aussie owned investment compannies is, as I understand, Macquarie, who also have less than a stellar reputation. They have take investments in infrastructure here, pillaged it, and left it saddled with debt - especially water companies. But, this thread is about celebrating positives.. KKR have not decided to price gouge us opposed to the Australia Shop (when it was around) selling a packet of Tim Tams for £3.60 - in 1997! Could get them at Harrods and Harvey Nic's for the same price.

Blimey those YT algorithms are clever.. this came up in my feed :

Tim Tams on sale this week.. £2 per packet.. 5 packs for the price of 4... More waist.. no waste.

@ $2,500 per person, I convert to £ and it doesn't seem so bad 😉 My brother did the Ghan in winter I think and loved it.. The views of the Kimberley's apparently were stunning.. and it does most of their travel at night, stopping at selected stops during the day for tours, etc., and are included in the price. Those sort of train journeys are never going to compete with alternatives, and they are marketed for the unique experience, I guess. I thought about taking the Orient Express, once.. But forget it: https://www.orient-express.com/la-dolce-vita/search-itinerary With: The Ghan is not looking bad. Admittedly, the Orient Express looks a mighty fine train to take.

Well, it has been slow going on the reno. The sparky was ill until yesterday (Friday). He came out and installed some backing plates and cabled to them, but not much else before he had to take off as he was still not 100% right. The builder is waiting for him to complete the re-wiring/installing before much else. Also, as I work from home a lot, the sparky needs the supply off for about a day and won't be back until Wednesday. My exams aren't until late October, and I have a mountain to do, and work, is extra busy at the moment.. Latest reno photo:

For a country as large as outs (33 times the size of the UK; 1/2 the population), it is a complete waste to try and emulate the public transport system there. However, they could try in the US. I consider airlines one of the types of public transport. I buy a ticket as can any other member of the public, and I board (with a bit more faff to get there and get onboard), and I get taken, along with other members of the public to the destination. The selection of the mode of public transport, or private transport to get me from A to B will depend on cost, time, and necessity. If I am going a bulk Christmas shop, public transport is not going to be practical, for example (although of course, online shopping is changing that, too). I choose the car over here because it is far cheaper and I am happy to wear 6 hours/week driving, because it actually gives me time to listen to lectures uninterrupted, so not entirely unproductive (I can't concentrate fully on them, but I get the gist). Thanks to Spewtin, it looks highly unlikely the trans-Siberian will be part of my transport back to Aus. The plan was train to Moscow, Trans-Siberian to China, then mostly train.bus to Singas and fly to Melbourne. Now it looks like train to Croatia; plane to Cyprus, then Dubai (overnight), Chennai, Singas, and then Darwin. If I can get fares at a reasonable enough price, Ghan to Adelaide and a train or flight to Melbourne. Expect it to take about 2 - 3 weeks all up. Not helping Victoria's debt though... I will fix it when I get there 😉

Australians are so conditioned to use their cars when they don't need to. Even taking the train or tram to work was not, when I was starting out, seemed the second choice, only used when the inconvenience and cost of running a car far outweighed that of public transport. I guess if your work was in the city, it was more palatable to take the car than public transport. I recall my father working in Collingwood, a short tram ride from the city, and taking the car rather than the train and tram - which would have been quicker most times. When I stated work, I had a car and drove to work in the city. Although the early bird car parking was cheap, the train would have been half the price of the cost of the convenience of sitting by oneself in a traffic jam, taking a lot longer to get to and from work; and heaven forbit of there was an accident on the way. And it was never really questioned - it was the norm. Yes, there were people who commuted to the city by train or tram; for tram, it was the ones who usually lived close to the city; for train, the cost and inconvenience of the car seemed to have to far outweigh shortcomings of the train or tram. I know Melbourne had some buses.. just can't remember them. When I came to the UK.. I didn't have a car, but that is for two reasons; first I lived right around the corner from the office, and living in Richmond is nice and self-contained. Also, the office was full of mainly US expats, so the social life was vibrant without having to go into London. Second, I used to travel a lot with the job (estimate approx 9 months away - mainly in the US and central Europe) out of the first year - so was based close to work and play wherever I was.. And just got a taxi if I needed to go anywhere. But, when I got a job in London city, that changed, and the culture shock of public transport being the norm hit me like a brick. The district line, of which my stop was on, was the worst maintained and had quite old rolling stock. I was on the last stop of the line, so always got a seat, but jeepers did it get rammed full of people. And, signal failures were the norm (they used some resin relays encased in a vacuum still), causing long delays at times. Having said that, I relished only waiting up to a max of 5 minutes for a tube.. .Imagine that in Melbourne - only 5 mins between trains (except to Richmond). But, one quickly got used to it, and if I just missed a tube, and had to wait four minutes, it got frustrating! Then I discovered overland trains to Waterloo and an extensive tube and bus network, though buses, even with dedicated bus lanes, get caught up in traffic and can be slow - a bit like the trams on Sydney road from Coburg to Brunswick. Now, I take the car to London from home only because the train is so expensive, being privatised. The minimum it will cost me for the times I travel is £180 (although once I saw £140).. All in costs for the car including petrol, maintenance, depreciation, insurance, rego, etc. is about £100. I can get to Cyprus from Exeter for about £150 (although in holiday season it gets up to £300). And of course, from London airports it can be as low as £75.. And that particular train company's reputation for reliability is questionable at best. Privatisation does not necessarily make a monopoly run for effectively or cheaper. Train companies have been re-nationalised here and the service has been better because the government (even under the conservatives) have run them as statutory authorities and can hold them more to account. Too early to say if it will continue under Labour. When I get back to Melbourne (if we can ever flippin well finish this refurb and sell the bloody thing), as I have said before, I have no intention of getting a car. I get for the outer burbs, you need one, especially if you want to go anywhere other than the city. But, our intention is to save on a car and spend more on a property, so we intend to live inner burbs with great transport links and in the odd necessity, a taxi ride (will never use Uber). If I want to go away for a weekend, booked well in advance, car rentals are very good value for money. Plus my brother has a spare car from one of his daughters that now lives out here - and now complains when the tube wait is more than two minutes. Her car is OK for short trips and if I want to go fishing (I cannot wait to go fishing again). And the inter-city rail - max $10.50 each way is a steal. How much in petrol would I spend going from Melbourne to say Bendigo, Ballarat, or Shepparton and back? Darned shame that Tocumwal (which is NSW - just) no longer has passenger services. Of course, there are disadvantages to public transport. First, they don't go everywhere you want to; segments offer poor or infrequent services; they can breakdown, just like cars, at the most inopportune time, and sometimes other passengers behaviour or personal hygiene are less than acceptable. I once took a train from Melbourne to Traralgon as my car was being serviced at the time and I worked in Traralgon - and I sat next to an o elderly lady who's flatulence would rival a large bloke eating baked means and drinking Guinness for a week. I would think inter-city coaches are probably not too bad, because highways in Aus are (or were) not terribly congested with traffic. Of course, they are slower than trains, but still acceptable. So, where I see, say a rail replacement, I am not too fussed as I would be here where there are 60m people in a country only 7% bigger than Victoria.. Roads and motorways are always getting congested (though less so since Covid).

Phew!

I have no idea of the authenticity of the below, but if true, it is really, really scary:

@old man emu is spot on.. In fact, for the crime of larceny (of which theft is a subset), there has to be both the guilty act and guilty mind (in oldest teminology, actus reus and mens rea; in modern NSW law, it is the physical element and the fault element). I am not even sure the act of putting your fuel in the car is the physical element. You were transferring the fuel from their tank to yours, but that is in itself not the act of theft.. there would have to be something more - like high-tailing it out of there. But since you walked to the cashier to pay (or to the ATM to get the money), there was no actual removal of the goods from the control of the owner (he could have siphoned your tank if he had the equipment).. So even the guilty act is questionable at best. The fault element, or guilty mind/fault element has to, in NSW law, meet the Ghosh test, which is from a case, R v Ghosh, which is an English case. Ironically, England (and Wales) did away with second part of the Ghosh test in 2020. The Ghosh test has two parts - First would a resonable person have understood that there it was an act that would dishonestly deny the owner of access to their items (objective test), and b) would the defenant know that the reasonable person would regard the behaviour as dishonest (subjective test). If you went in with the reasonable belief that you would be able to pay with accepted payment methods, or their ATM would furnish you with the acceptable payment method, then that is the first bit of evidence that you did not intend to be dishonest, regardless of whether or not the casher accepted only cash. The second bit is that you did not attempt to high-tail it. While the prosecution has to prove all elements of the crime beyoind reasonable doubt, the defence only has to introduce doubt (or a defence if doubt is not avaolable) to the balance of probabilities -i.e. more likely than not, or > 50% sure. So, if you had enough money in your account, and there was no reasonable way you would have known the ATM/EFTPOS system was down; and there wasn't other bills coming out that would render you broke as a result, that would be enough to say on the balance of probabilities, you intended to pay and not dishonesstly deny the servo their petrol or cash. Regardless of a sign of payment methods accepted, you would not likely to have been guilty. Of course, a servo attendent (unless a law student having done the criminal course) would not know that and they have a job to protect. They should have just taken your details and IS, and had you agree to pay at a later date, but I get why the called the police. Right.. Front Bar and then I have to study for an oral assessment on the new NSW crime of coercive control .

I was going to say..many have called me a spangled drongo - and had no idea that species existed.

It's our turn to get some rain now. We are in SW Engalnd, and while it has been raining a lot have only had minor flooding (at least where we are). Our village has had no flooding (and as it is on a high point, wouldn't expect it). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn9dj2nry7qo

Inland Revenue and back taxes can be a pain. Isn't that why Willie Nielsson (sp?) had to return to the stage?

I am often on realestate.com.au (yeah, I know it is Murdoch owned, but it is the best real estate website I can find in Aus, and they are making a play for a UK property site.. I reckon they should just launch in competition). Sometimes I go window shopping i fancier (by that, I mean more expensive) areas, and it proves that money does not buy style; https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-canterbury-146136740 I am sure some people find them lovely, but they really are gharish monoliths, and positively make me want to puke when you consider what was once standing there (or was typical of the area, anyway).

I was one of those suckers once. I made an offer on a rocking horse for my daughter that was 10% lower than the price asked which was already cheaper than I was expecting. It was auto-accepteed and I though, "hang on, that was quick.. am I getting gyped?" Turns out I could have got it 25% cheaper by going to Amazon. Lesson learned.. The internet lets one always check the prices before making that irreversible offer (Paypal took the money automagically, and it was before the days that chargebacks were easy).

Thanks, OT; apologies, @red750; 'twas an honest mistake. Somehow, I can't help but think Abbott and Hockey had something against Vic and SA. It was bloody-mindedness to do what they did as their gripe was, as I recall, just with GMH and where they located their R&D that claimed the R&D tax credit. However, it is always more complex than a single issue and the holes in the Swiss Cheese probably aligned on different fronts - but I can't recall everything. What I do recall is both the left and right of politics, the academics and business people were dead against it, but the Abbott/Hiockey government pursued it dogmatically. In the end, though, I think it would have happened anyway as in the late 2010's global manufacturers were consolidating and pulling their regional manufacutring back home.. The Australian car market operating in a relatrively small market and expensive cost base probably would not have survived anyway. I don't think there is appetite to build an automobile manufacutring base in Australia. H2V tried but haven't got far, and it is useless competing with the bottom feeders - innovative, high-end stuff is required, but that is bog outlay and huge risks. Most of the British iconic manufacturers with a alrgeish market are all foreign owned. I think Mclaren is still British owned, as is Cateram, Morgan, and Noble.. But Mini, Land Rover, Aston Martin and the like are all foreign owned. I believe those cheap and fixed price exports of gas to China were done by the Howard government - long before Net Zero was in. And we have been exporting our natural resources in quantities well over domestic use for many decades. I seem to recall pig iron and Menzies, and I don't think Net Zero was a thing then. In fact, the net Zero would see us stopping the export so as not to continbute to emissions generated overseas using Aussie resources. The doemstic consumption of these resources has fallen away because of the drp in manufacturing which was acconpanued by, hang on.. the destruction of the car industry, which has had many other manifacuting industries hang off its coat-tails. That is why other countries, inclluding China, subsidise it still. If your manufacturing base drops away, people still consume and the mining companies still have to sell their resources somewhere. So, we export out resources and import the finished product, as we have been progressively doing since the 60s at least.

Just looks like a phallic symbol, to me.

Throughout my adult life, I rarely carried more than $20 unless I had a specific purpose.. I was about 16 when the then State Bank of Victoria came out with thei EasyBank card, and I got one.. I honestly can't remember the last time I used cash. Nope, I just remembered; I bought a second hand bed frame off eBay - collected in cash. That was about 2 months ago and not a skerry of cash has been in my wallet since.

Mind you, this is the photo from the article: Jacinta Allen is quite apt at giving us both the bird and the two fingers 🙂

Not sure that will go down with the magistrate 😉

It's $840m, not $840bn. Will take the total cost to $15bn (https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/metro-tunnel-blowout-to-cost-taxpayers-extra-840-million-20240926-p5kdqu.html) . Since when have major capital works, especially in government, come in on budget and on time?

I have never written in Ada, so not sure how it works. (Note, I only touched the tip of the iceberg above). One of the things to look at is the use of GPUs.. Effectively a bitstream in, calcs, and a bitstream out... but for simple computations, can massively scale the power available. Here is an article for Python developers: https://medium.com/@geminae.stellae/introduction-to-gpu-programming-with-python-cuda-577bfdaa47f3 CUDA is one of two main frameworks for GPU programming; the other is OpenGL. They are both used for AI and ML extensively. And also, native Python is slow.. Really slow. So the libraries like numpy, panda, cupy (for CUDA) are often written in C++