Jerry_Atrick

How many people with assault rifles does it take to change a lightbulb?

Sadly, the US people aren't able to discern fact from fiction.. Rather than parroting disparaging adjectives designed to distract from what is really happening, look at how the US economy is doing under Joe v Donald.. HInt under one, it was a lame duck.. Have your pension/super allocated to US stocks? You are doing a lot better than you were under DT.

Well, I am back at my local pub in Richmond, and who do you guess turned up? My niece and her boyfriend (the latter of which I have not met before). Well, it was planned but we had a great night. He is a fantastic young fella, too.. though I did bring out the line about how I own a gun. Seriously, it was a great night - lots of banter (he, is after all, from NSW, but when quizzed about which footy team he supports, he did say he was leaning towards Hawthorn - I am sure he was not coached on that answer, too!!! ;-)) Great fun!

David Cameron - you know - the whimp who took the UK out of the EU to try and save his premiership - has been appointed the secretay of state of the Foregin Office.. after being arbitrarily appoointed to the House of Lords.. Apparentlly because of his excellence with Foregin Affairs (read back the bit about taking the UK out of the EU and then, after losing the referendum, resigning because he was such a whimp). Well, apparently, according to David Cameron, there are going to be consequences for Putin for the death of Navalny. Hopefully Cameron will resign again because he is a whimp.. We are still waiting for the consequence to Putin for invading Ukraine.. de nada... What a croc..

I think the world could well do to listen to this track.. Wasn't may fave when I was a lad (and these fellas were one of the bigger bands when I was a lad), but how poignant this song is today: p.s. I lnow most, if any on here, would like it.. but listen to the lyrics... It is as if the world has forgot...

It's a murdoch site, anyway.. So don't try too hard. Sadly, it is better than domain.com.au

Nope.. Did about 80 miles around SE Engalnd once.. Felt rather tender afterwards.

Ford did get federal government funding but not to the tune of GM: https://eu.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2020/07/29/ford-government-loan-department-energy-debt/5526413002/ Although it was a loan - it was a bail out as no one else was going to finance them and they couldn't get cash. Just because a manufacturer is 120 years old doesn't mean that the quality will be sound.. it depends on the management and the workforce of the day. I recall an era where Boeing made high quality airliners, but now, in planning a flight back to Aus, I am trying to make sure I am on an Airbus all the way.

Not quite passive, but ground source heat pumps can be used for cooling, too.. Sadly, for us, such a technology is not viable. https://jaga.co.uk/blog/how-to-cool-your-space-with-a-heat-pump

Yes, the Pipestrel has about an hour of endurance. At the moment, the transition from fossil fuel may be eveolutionary - a hybrid setup in a Skymaster seems to have evovled well so far: https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/ampaire-electric-aircraft-endurance-flight/ I imagined that development would have moved quicker in the less regulated areas of aviation due to the glacial pace of development imposed by the regulation of GA.

Yeah, but I can't recall when thae rate was ever USD $0.06 to the Dingo Dollar...

There are a lot of these in all sorts of tech verticals - they are called early adopters. Look at colour TV.. By the time it even came to Australia it was close the the second generation of technology, yet people paid back in the late 70's,, I think, many thousands of dollars, which then was a king's ransom to have one. Yet their pictue quality was very ordinary. The family of a friend in my street paid around $1,500. According to this site (https://www.inflationtool.com/australian-dollar/1979-to-present-value), in 1979 (I am guessing that is when my friend's family bought their TV), $100 back then is worth almost %587 now.. The $1500, spent then is $8,970 now.. And they were not a wealthy family - single parent working (admitedly in a time where the cost of living was affordable), and he was a prison guard at Pentridge.. And I am guessing of mid-seniority. But that family loved their gadgets even back then. Build quality plagues established manufacturers.. EVs are a complex platform and I think that, apart from vanity projects like the Cybertruck, where owners are complaining about rust on stainless steel panels, Tesla engineers have produced a car that is not worse in build quality thanm many establiished manufactureres, arguable, have descended into in the pursit of as much margin as they can squeeze. If I buy another new car (or near new car), a Tesla will be in the mix...

Er, I think you mean AUD $542,095,422 and he has been banned from business for I think it was 3 years. He will no doubt appeal.

What error message do you get?

A well aimed bullet will usually do that to someone.

What Tesla is doing right is PR... Well, not Tesla, but Musk.Despite his obviousl flaws as a character, he has a bigger fan base than Trump; if he were to run for president, dog help us all. But, thankfully, being president is not worth his time, whereas Trump uses it to enrich himself and prop his ailing corporations up. (OK that may be a stretch.. but Trump is no business man by himself). Mass production of cars is now over 100 years old; Engineering and science has advanced exponentially since then, yet all typesd and makes of cars have design and quality issues. This is partly because bean counters have a say in production and engineering decision (those bottom end bolts in the engones used on early model Navara utes comes to mind), and because to keep in the game, one has to produce new tech and features, yet not materially increease the price of the car.. and make a profit. Something has to give.

A quick Google search found references only to the Murdoch media. That does not mean it is not "true", but Murdoch media does have a habit of taking things out of context for both Labor and LNP - favourably for the latter and unfavourably for the former. An example was posted in the media thread, and I will repost here for clarity. However, ironically, I did find an article in which the ALP, in oppositon, called the then LNP's $40m spending (coincidentally) on industrial relations advertising as shameful.. If the ALP preparing to spend $40m on advertising is true, then it is a bit of pot calling kettle black, and of course, the Murdoch media and the LNP criticising Labor is also pot calling kettle black: https://www.smh.com.au/national/govts-40m-ir-ads-shameless-says-labor-20051021-gdmame.html Although, given the disproportionate bias shown by the MSM to the LNP, it is hardly surprising (if it is true). For reference, here is one of the examples on how the Murdoch press take things out of context for the ALP: When this $40M spend by the ALP is reported more widely that the Murdoch (and other anto-Labor institutions), I'll pay it more attention.

They weren't refusing the eldrley per se.. they were refusing them without id of their age... just like an 18 year old.. I guess it is actually equality.

Cars don't drive forever either without ainetnance. My point is, for the time, they worked. But with progress, they became obsolete (largely).

Well, next month, we should see some more theatrics: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/trump-court-hush-money-stormy-daniels Only lawyers prepared not to be paid will do work for Trump...

The second link doesn't work for me... Can you pls resend?

I think you will find it is more the banking conduct regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has teeth. Also, there are votes in it. And in some ways, the size of the economy and compeition of the banks are also somewhat self-regulating at least at the retail level, although you can find plenty of examples where they have failed miserably. The resistance to establishing a royal commission and the lack of real accountability, though, is testimony to how much control they weild in Aus. [Edit]. Maybe I should make it my lifelong ambition to be grilled in a Royal Coimmission 😉

I wasn't complaining.. I was merely stating why it wasn;t woke and it was just a rule...

I am not quite sure I know that this means.. Trusts were designed to keep the wealthy, wealthy, and keep the wealth from being redistributed to the commoners.

OK.. I did find the article in reference to this one, but can't find it now. A search yields a few articles about similar events. They are very rare. Here is an example: https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/1144654.pensioner-refused-bottle-sherry-age-row/ Note, the checkout operatoir was just doing her job as she was asked. The article I originally found was of the same chain (Morrisons is probably the smallest of the large supermarket chains here). In the article of the lady in question, it was also a Morrisons, and the firms said they implemented the new rule as there were illegal sales of alcohol. OK.. anyone can see they are over 18, but the young shop assistant and the manager were doing the job they were asked to. The company formed the rule to protect against losing their licence to selling drinks to underage.. Sort of the Aussie way - it only takes one idiot to ruin it for the rest.. I hardly would call this woke, even in it's insulting definition. I would say an overly zealous implementation of a company rule, and being stupidly stubborn about it. There is a Morrisons near me and I have puchased alcohol from it over the years, and they have never asked me for ID.. Maybe I look over 100.