old man emu

Overnight on Sunday we got about 3mm, but then the rains started during the day and kept up into the evening. I don't have a guage, so I can't say how much we got, but whenyou look at data from around about, it would seem that 30 - 45 mm was common. There wasn't enough rain to create running flows, but at least the topsoil is wet. It is too late around here to plant Canola and teh sub-soil moisture might not be enough for cereal crops. With the price of diesel and fertilizer, it is going to be a gamble if anyone does crop this year. One thing you have to remember is that, while you might get a good healthy growth of wheat plants, it takes a lot of water for those plants to fill seeds, which is how you get the tonnages you want from a crop.

One day there will be no Trump. What will we do with this thread then?

Meanwhile, back in Washington D.C., the defrauding of the US taxpayer goes on. A famous landmark in Washington is the Lincoln Memeorial reflecting pool The pool is basically a concrete lined wading pool. It is only about 60 cm deep. To be honest, as anyone who has owned a pool of this construction knows, eventually the base cracks and the pool leaks. That is what has happened. The pool was in bad shape and leaking huge amounts of water each year. So it has to be fixed. It's a big job with realistic cost of around $US10 million. As with all governments work like this should be granted by tender. However, Trump had the contract made without going to tender. The successful contractor was, in Trump's intial statement, " a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools". During his Oval Office press conference, Mr Trump said the project would cost "less than $2 million". But the project contract actually turned out to be for $US6.9 million ($9.7 million). And earlier this month, it was hiked up to $US13.1 million ($18.3 million). Trump's reason for not calling for tenders was that the job needed to be done as quickly as possible so as to be finished before the 250th Anniversary celebrations in July. A "no-bid" contract was given to a company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The contract was awarded under an exemption meant for urgent situations to prevent "serious injury, financial or other, to the government". Called out on this no bid deal, Trump wrote, "I didn't give out the contract, 'Interior' did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before". Then there is the colour. The pool's dark basin, a signature feature" since it opened in 1924, was designed that way to create the illusion of greater depth and a more profound reflection. Trump says the precise shade he has requested for the pool surface is "American flag blue". It's a big area to be painted and anyone who has painted large areas knows it takes lots of paint and the colour can change between batches. "'Splotchy blue' is how I would describe the colour," said Mike, a local video producer. Trump's chosen blue "is more appropriate to a resort or theme park" "Trump has shown no respect for history," said Mike, the video producer. A local non-profit, the Cultural Landscape Foundation, has filed a lawsuit to halt work, arguing proper processes were not followed. Trump is the "boy named sue".

I loved Xi's expressionless face when he was with Trump. Or should I say very expressive face. Every time I saw Xi's face, I just read, "If I give this fwit enough rope, he'll hang himself." Xi was the stereotypical "inscrutable Asian gentleman".

Isn't it amazing how the Information Highway has led us to a destination where we have contempt for those who tell us that they are working for our benefit?

In the fairytale, Rumplestiltskin, he makes a deal with the proncess. The deal is, he'll spin the straw into gold for which she'll give him her first-born child. Reeks of paedophilia, doesn't it?

The US economy is like a blockage in a drainage system. What backs up behind it keeps other countries afloat. If the blockage breaks down, then all those other economies will go down the gurgler too.

Remember when we had a third party - the Democrats? That was before the Greens, wasn't it? We also had the Democratic Labor Party, and the Communist Party.

It is true that the Plan was instituted when Obama was President, but it was not a US-only plan. It was a plan made in cooperation with the UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany and accepted by Iran. Considering that the plan was to limit Iran's ability to enrich uranium to weapons grade, and that Iran hated Israel so strongly, it is not hard to form an opinion as to which country pressured Trump to withdraw the USA from the plan. Biden during his term tried to reverse what Trump had done in pulling the USA out.

That's because the other nationalities were mainly European, or Americans who had come from the Californian gold fields.

Actually, Obama himself did not make the deal. That's the lie that Trump is telling. That deal was made by international cooperation with many countries. The Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was a landmark 2015 agreement between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany) designed to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for economic sanctions relief. At the time, Obama was President, but I bet the deal had to be approved by Congress. In any case, as soon as Trump got into power in his first term, he pulled the USA out of it. That plan set a few end dates for the agreement and some of those dates came up in 2025. Therefore the plan is up for renegotiation. Because Trump pulled the USA out of the P5+1, the USA has no legitamate status in any future discussions. Here is another link I found that will provide you with information about the JCPOA. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders/what-iran-nuclear-deal

Another day, another consequence. Trump imposed an embargo on the delivery of fuel supplies to Cuba, and threatened to impose tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with fuel. Cuba has now run out of fuel. It has no power. It is a humanitarian disaster. But it's going to be OK. Trump said he was going to take over Cuba after he had finished with Iran. History has recycled to October 1962 - the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Xi gives Trump the cold shoulder. When Trump arrived in China, no high level Chinese dignatory was there to greet him. Think about that! Here's the "Leader of the Free World" arriving in a country, and he is not greeted by anyone of note. Compare that reception with that given to Obama 2015. I was looking for a video of Trump's arrival, but those I saw failed to point out the snub.

You know it's dry when the weeds are dying. I know that Rain, Rain, go away is Top of the Pops down south, but I won't be singing it.

I won't believed that it has rained until I see it in the rain guage. Also the BOM's definitin of rain is any drops falling from the sky. My definition is the creek rising.

Actually that treaty had a use by date and that date is fast approaching this year. Trump's actions might be his way of "making a deal". On July 14, 2015, the United States and its international negotiating partners reached an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program -The Iran Deal or “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (JCPOA). Notice that this was an international agreement made by several countries with Iran. Trum likes to claim that it was unilateerally signed by Obama, but that, once again is a false claim. Obama signed as the representative of the USA, a country amongst others which signed. Here's an article about the history of that deal: https://armscontrolcenter.org/the-iran-deal-then-and-now/

Which Sunday or Monday are those?

I know now why they are building a windfarm in my local area. For the past few days the wind has been blowing continuously, and strongly. I'm doing my laundry this morning and am not looking forward to the effort involved in hanging it out. Talk about a one armed paperhanger in a windstorm!

If Trump is so concerned about teh sons of Allah having nuclear weapons, why hasn't he taken action against Pakistan? Oh! I forgot. Pakistan doesn't have oil.

It's the cost of the investigation that consumes a great deal of the budget. An investigation might uncover many things, but each thing in a prosecution must be a provable fact. Sad, but true. But PMCC has done us a diservice by not telling us how much has been allocated to support for ex- and serving members.

I know where I was wrong. I saw the use of a switch on the guitar by Hank Marvin of The Shadows. Pete Townsends' feedback was the death cry of his guitar as he bashed it onto the floor of the stage

Great minds think alike! I was only thinking of the same thing this morning. It is unfortunate that we don't have a way of contacting family. I never got around to finding where his daughter worked in Dubbo.

I listen to ABC Classical all day. (I can't get other radio stations and I don't stream. I just want background noise.) The presenters often go on about how wonderful some virtuoso plays a known piece. To my unsophisticated ear I can't detect any diffrence between players. To my way of thinking, a composer writes down what might be compared to a software program that will produce a sequence of sounds that is pleasing to the listener. Once that sequence is written, anyone with instrumental skills can reproduce those sounds, whether it be a virtuoso or a student. I suppose the difference would be in the number of flaws made in each performance.

I think that the question has been well and truely answered. By its very nature, AI can only utilise what already exists. As you can say, it can rearrange what exists, in the same way that composers have created variations on the works of others. However, it takes a human imagination to innovate. Here's an example. Pete Townsend of The Who played around with reverberation using an electric guitar. No AI program would have thought to do that. When he achieved a useable result, other rock guitarists began to use the technique.

Statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. Have you ever noticed that journalists aren't mathematicians? And they definittely are biased. They publish a statement like this: "Party A tops the poll as the most hated party, with 25.6 per cent of respondents reporting a strong dislike of the party compared to Party B at 24.2 per cent." That is clearly showing a bias in a number of ways. What were the valuse for people who disliked each of the other Parties in tne mix? I hate the Conservatives, but I know someone here hates Labor. How do our opinions affect the percentages? Also Party A might be the ideological opposite of Party B. That's got to affect the result. As with all statement of that format, what does it tell us about the other 75% of respondents. It is comminsense to realise that their responses could range from slight dislike to absolutely adore. What if 70% of respondents's opinions ranged from "They're OK" to "God's gift to Humanity". The reported comparative responses would not mean much.