Jerry_Atrick

Ahh remember that bastion of independent journalism in Melbourne called The Truth? I had a manager who actually bought it and thought everything in it was true. And he looked at more than page 3.

They will regardless of any meme.. Evidence count zero to them..

And what of his blind followers?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/self-driving-vehicles-set-to-be-on-roads-by-2026-as-automated-vehicles-act-becomes-law

Why is he wearing a cattle tag on his ear?

It is a 2016 Mini Countryman - literally one of the last before they were all hybrid. Yes, I have heard they are expensive to maintain and unreliable. But this one is a beaut. The service schedule is on condition, but I get the oil changed 6 monthly and a full service annually.. purs like a kitten and is reliable as. And despite its size (large for a mini) is an absolute hoot to drive. So far, my only gripe with it is it is noisy on the motorway. But I have had it now for 5 years and 60,000 miles and it hasn't yet gone through the tyres - I think they make most of the motorway noise. Here is a ReDriven review of them: I worked out the on condition scam well before this vid was made. BTW, that is the ecact mini we have, but we have diferent wheels. And, yes. it is my partner's, and yes she is arty - and a fashion designer by training.

I work hard to curate a place of employment where my team are valued, can take on a challenge, and thrive, yet, when they need some downtime, they get it without eating into their holidays or sick leave (I am talking about refreshing on the run, bot taking a holiday). I also empower my staff as I know the best my employers and clients have got out of me is when they empowered me - authority to do it my way, but responsibility if I stuffed up. Yes, it is a free market, and I have used that to my advantage on more than one occasion. However, in all but one circumstance, I have made sure my manager and clients have known in advance, and availed them the opportunity to incentivise me to stay - and more often than not it wasn't a monetary incentive. However, as a manager, where I put a lot of effort into helping my reports grow, when one does go, I do take it personally - on two fronts. First, more often than not, they resign or take an internal move without me knowing and them actively hiding their intentions. I get it, but we are all adults. I have invested time in you; do me the courtesy of letting me know you're looking to move on (hopefully for growth). As has happened in the past, if I can't facilitate it, I will gladly help them move on.. But it also helps me.. We all know it is a free market and we can't force sometone to stay. But I can scratch their back (help them find something better), and they can scratch mime - give me time to get a replacement and hand over to provide continuity. You would not believe how much recruitments costs. The second front is that for quite a few people, where they have said they want to take their career in a particular direction, I have worked hard and expended political capitasl to hemlp them achieve what they want to achieve. For some, this has meant spending quite some time with them, mentoring them and helping them through the corporate maze to move them forward. As an example, I fought hard recently to get a report a promotion. Lots of meetings, writign a dissertation, and the like. He resigned and took a better paid job elsewhere and admitted that once he had the promotion, he was a more valuable commodity in the market. I let him know it is a small industry, and he has burnt a bridge that gets consulted weekly to opine on potential new recruits from contacts at at least 5 other firms. The thing to remember is that there are labour laws in the UK and Australia that do favour the employee. If you want to treat it as a fully competitive market, remove the protections and see how it ends up (yes, that is a little extreme for me, and I would not suppor it, but as an employer and employee, I see both sides and sometimes, from the employer's perspective, it sucks!) What pisses me off about this one - my gripe - which is me - and he is not about to leave - is that I failed to identify the problem despite the warning signs. He turned up to work today, and he was disappointed in himself, but I took the time to let him know that he is not expected to be productive today - when he is firing he is worth two people.. so no worries. I offered that anythign he needs, I am happy to oblige (within reason, of course).

OK.. Two new lessons this week. First. Try not to bet when Wolfie has been around! I went to put a bet on, and somehow ended up with a type of bet I didn't even know existed: A double. Second lesson, even when breaking the rule of the first lesson, you can learn something. OK.. last night, after another day of drudgery (I used to really like this job), I went for a pizza, and, well, not Wolfie, but not far off.. And yes, it was an Aussie wine. Anyway, not to bore you, inder the influence, which probably unlocked more sciende than normal, here are my bets this weel: Geelong to beat Collingwood. There were a couple of injuries to names in Collingwood, including Mihocek, while Geelon are firing on all cylinders and made no changes. They ended up winning, which was a relief.. I'll explain later. I picked West Coast to beat Brisbane in Perth. West Coast at home are not bad, and with coach Adam Simpson departing, there is a good chance they may get up. However, his parting gesture was to drop Jack Darling, so I think I may well be in a spot of bother on this one. Harley Ried is playing, and in AFL, he is the equivalent of god at home, so should be right. I have gone for Port Adelaide to beat Brisbane - at Brisbane. This is quite literally the stupidest bet I have placed. Charlie Dixon returns for Port, which was a real driver to my decision. But he isn't quite the player he used to be, and is after a long layoff. I am reaching for Mr Hardy's number as I type. Essendon to beat Mlebourne - Without Petracca, and the Oliver issue, and Essendon having my favourite player, Jakey Stringer, they are going to pummel Melbourne. Yeah, Melbourne trounced West Coast at home, but Essendon are in a different league - and those are words from a Hawks supporter. Hawks to beat Fremantle - Sicily back, and in Tassie.. Very hard for Freo to win. Carlton to beat Western Bulldogs.. Can't see any other result. I'll fill you in on the rest laters.

Sounds more like he has a commercial reason to buy a truck than to not drive a car into London. As I said, his Aud has to be an old car (by UK standards, anyway) not to be compliant. Our mini can drive into London at any time and not have to pay the ULEZ charge, and it has a petrol engine. The XC90 is too old, so it only comes into London when the mini is in the repair shop (as it is at the moment).

Spacey - I call BS, assuming his top of the line Audi is less than 8 years old. There is no ULEZ charge for cars that meet the requirements, and most cars made after 2016 meet the requirements and I just checked the Audi RS7, A8 and AQ8, and they all meet the requierments not to pay the charge. If it's more than 8 years old, it is hardly top of the line Audi stuff anymore. And if he is driving a commercial vehicle on business, then they still have to meet the standards, but they are lower. Then threre is the LEZ charge in certain areas anyway. If he biought an "exempt" vehicle, would he not have been better trading up to a newer car that doesn't have the charge? Seems to me to be cutting one's nose off to spite one's face as rego is more expensive, fuel will be more expensive due to consumption, maintenance will be more expensive, parling will be more expensive, etc. Seems a bit of a dumb decision to me.

Even The Guardian is piling in on him., this morning quoting his "mistake" of Vice Presdent Trump. We all demand our leaders are cherent and can perform under pressure; their job has a lot of pressure and making mistakes can be costly. Of course, they don't have to get every word right and they have the benefit of consultation with their staff in the normal course of their work, but the public only has their public appearances to judge their ongoing competennce and ability to do the job. It's a flaw in the system and human behaviour. One of the problems with being a leader is, it is as much about how the message is delivered than it is about content and competence.; in today's social media world, I would say it is more about how the message is delivered. The other side of the coin is for the Democrats themselves - Do they stick with him and persist with a better than 50% chance of loss, or do they try another candidate who is more relatable to the wider public. I have no doubt Biden's mental acuity is fine and far superior than that of his contender. But, I may well be wrong., The problem for Biden and the Democrats is that many of the voting public, if not most, are starting to think, by his performances, that his mental capacity may not be up to another 4 years of the job. While people are bandying about Kamal Harris as the likely suitor, the result will probably be the same. Early in the term, she was dogged by gaffes and poor performances in the public opinion. She also has the unenviavble (in American politics) attributes of being black and a woman. It's ironic - the one leadership contest that does really affect all of the world, and only about 200m people can vote in it.

Car was pickd up on Tuesday.. Have to check the emails of partner to check the news. Courtesy car is OK. Actually, apart from 20 minutes with the claims fella on the phone and a wait for the car to be picked up, so far, nor real inconvenience. Will wait and see if that persists.

Hey mods! I think it is time to pin this one, so it reminds people to post their positives (to counter the gripes!). OK, a positive. Someone I worked with has been made CEO of the markets division of the bank I worked for. I only worked with him a short time, yet I predicted he would be a CEO., I am guessing his base salary is about £2m - but he is worth it; dedicated to the firm, his customers, and his staff; integroty is (or at least was) beyind repute, unbelievably smart and unbeliveably committed, yet finds time for his family. A real example of someone who should be a CEO - well time will tell if it is the case. Unbelieveably, I have no envy or thoughts of the frontal labotomy most pillars of commerce have when they get there. He steered the business unit through interna, turmoil and made it a very strong unit. Yeah, money is the driver at the end of the day, but there are few I have seen that have earned their place at that level.. And he is one. Good on him.

My gripe of the day... Me! Not for torturing you fine forumites - that comes with the territory... One of my reports has a mental health disorder, and for a long time he has been managing it fantastically. Yesterday, he had a saw throat, and was a bit down; took the RAT test, and it was negative; today I just checked up on hom and although he said he was fine, he didn't dound it - in the sense of a sore throat, and some. I should have twigged; for most of the day he has been AWOL. My gripe is, I should have twigged and let him know if he needed some breathing spalce to take it. I was so consumed with a couple of fronts, I totally overlooked it. So, my turn to be the subject of a gripe. Darn it!

I think we have to ask ouraselves where have our pollies, and society failed so miserably, that a decent majority of people, most of whom have a brain, are desperate enough to align themselves with hate and division to their own detriment? What could we all have done better, and why didn't we?

They have aged reasonably well.. about the only ones I have recognised, even after being told who they were (although I don't know whom many are)

That doesn't sound like a random thought. What was his response?

OMG.. I understand (and in a similar context)) know how you feel. But, you can't blame yourself.. How on earth were you to know? As close as an athiest can to praying all are OK and you got it on the plane/train/roadhouse on the way home!

Summary justice, eh? So the police decide who is mad and who isn't, and they become the judge , juror and executioner.. You happen to be in a bit of pain withering around and being not quite polite and they put you out of your misery... I recall seeing footage of police beating up an invaliod pensioner after they pinned him down - was it in Northcote or Preston (Melboune)., not too long ago... If it were true, yeah, that is justice, keepiong everyoine in line and sane? Sounds like it.

Agreed.. hence I am looking for a new short term contract to see me to the end of the refurb.

Yes.. you can always point to individual cases, however, nothing is 100% perfect.. So, you have to look at the trends, and my understanding is the general trends of crime is downwards, with the odd upward year (this was the first result and I am not necessarily saying it is accurate - the 100% reduction is probably because that year has not data in it): https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/AUS/australia/crime-rate-statistics Also, what is the trends in recidivism? I haven't found a trend report, but here is an interesting stat: https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sentencing-statistics/released-prisoners-returning-to-prison Note, the NT has the highest rate of recividivism - you know - the ones that dish out the "tough love". Of course, you can argue that the reaasin is because they do that and it is designed.; I would suggest the truth is in between. When I get some time, I will do some more research..

I think you'll find it is the brutal criominals that would win.. wouldn't you? As most of the herd that have a frontal cortex are not violent to one another.. Or do you want a world of Putins, and Kim Jon Uns?

Keep swallowing the kool-aid. The law does not "protect" them, apart form a blood-thirsty lynching mob. Is that how you want your society to run? The old ways have long proved useless... The law, which has developed by your elected representatives, moves to try and both protect society and reform/rehabilitate offenders. Sadly, pollies get in the way more often than not.

I have to admit, with my daughter rapidly approaching 18 and being indepoendent, I have been mulling a similar type question.. and the honest response was more along the primal nature. However, we are smarter than that. Unfortunately, our culture with respect to this is wait for it to happen and extract retribution. Rarely are such people genuinely evil; there is a debate about whther such behaviour is nature or nurture, and the stats so far suggest a bit of both. However, the science research points to the use of "nueral plasticity" where we can actually reprogram our brains: https://www.physio-pedia.com/Neuroplasticity How about rather than giving away billions and billions in corporate welfare, we invest in identification, intervention, and repairing the problem so it doesn't happen (or minimises the risk of it happening) in the first place? Evern wondered why, over the years, society is becoming more disillusioned and we are embarking on dangerous times?

These governements (and even BoJo) are ab bit more progressive than ours, with respect to climare. They also build good public transport infrastructure and continually invest in it; they build quality cycling routes, yet do allow motorised vehicles where required. I paid £35 for the privilege of driving my old XC90 within the permiter of the M25 under the ULEZ (Ultra-Low Emission Zone) charge. If you want to get people to change their ways for the better of society and the planet, you have to take the lead, and sometimes this means outright banning something. Everyone likes progress, no one likes change; sometimes it does and to be robustly encouraged.