old man emu

The Chinese yuan (CNY), or Renminbi (RMB), is the official currency of China and ranks as the world's fifth-most-traded currency as of April 2025. It is a Reserve currency for the International Monetary Fund and is seeing growing use in international trade. A few countries are looking at leaving the $US and moving to the Yuan which is probably a good idea considering teh amount of trade the rest of the World does with China. The only reason the World uses the $US for trade is because the USA was the strongest economy in 1944 when the Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial relations. IN 1944 just about every non-Axis country was up to its neck in debt to the USA, and the former Axis countries would be beholden to the USA for reconstruction. Bretton Woods the place in the USA where 44 countries, including the United States, Canada, European countries, and Australia, met to govern monetary relations among independent states. The Bretton Woods system required countries to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks. The Bretton Woods system was supplanted by the Jamaica Accords in 1976. The accords allowed the price of gold to float with respect to the U.S. dollar and other currencies, albeit within a set of agreed constraints.

When I was a new Constable back in 1980, fresh from the Police Academy, I was posted to Campsie, which is next-door to Bankstown. The Division included Lakemba. At that time it was strongly Lebanese. One of the notoriuous families there was the Alameddine family. They crooks then are now old men, but the now we have the third generation which is carrying on the criminal activities. The Alam al-Dins, also spelled Alamuddin or Alameddine, were a Druze family that intermittently held or contested the paramount chieftainship of the Druze districts of Mount Lebanon in opposition to the Ma'n and Shihab families in the late 17th and early 18th centuries during Ottoman rule. The Sydney branch of the family came as refugees from the Lebanese Civil War.

While we tend to think of oil as a fuel to be burned, it has many other applications even including pharmaceuticals. So disruption of supply can affect a host of other products. Anyway, if 25% of oil supplies are cut off, where is the other 75% coming from? Of are those other oils not suitable for fuel production. Remeber, "oils ain't oils, Sol".

My cup runneth over! It began to rain last night as I went to bed, and has continued to do so throughout the night and into the morning. It has not ben the flooding type of rain, just a steady fall which allows the water to soak in. Now all that is needed is for the seeds laying in the soil to sprout for winter feed.

There were war games held a few years ago around Hawaii. Our clunky Collins Class sub "torpedoed" a US destroyer or such through the sheer cunning and seamanship of our Captain

I don't gamble using most common forms. If I happen to go to a club, I might have a little tickle on the pokies, but with the idea that playing them is a form of entertainent and I expect to have to pay for the time I am being entertained. Therfore I set a limit, usually not very much, on how much I am willing to pay for the entertainment. If by chance (and the pokies are pure chance) I should win some money, that makes the entertainment better. Do you gamble with Scratchies? I don't, but they are a convenient way for someone to give you "a little something" along with a birthday card. My sister gave me ten dollars worth of assorted scratchies today for my birthday. That was five Scratchies. My experience with Scratchies is that you scratch them; look at them, utter "Oh, well", and toss them in the bin. My expectations were met with three of them. Any further disappointment I expected was dispelled when I saw that I won $2 on one of them. As I started to scratch the final one, I thought that I was just going through the motions, and I would have four out of five duds. You could have knocked me down with a feather after I completed scratching the last card. I'm no expert in these things, but I think I won $5000.00! If not, I've won something with three of a kind. I won't tell my sister until I have confirmed the win, but I think the right thing to do would be to give her a thousand, at least. Because of her generosity in giving me a place to live, I've been able to build up a bank roll that makes me feel somewhat financially comfortable. If it is a win, it's a windfall. I think I should share the joy. Begging letters will be returned marked: "Receiver to Pay Postage"

We know that Trump went into this war without planning. We all know that he knows nothing of military history. The reason that Napoleon and Hitler were defeated in Russia, and why the Allies won the wars in Europe and the Pacific boiled down to the provision of supplies. If you use up all your supplies, then you cannot fight on. This is what is happening to the USA in Iran. What is also sickening is the amount of money that has been spent in making all these weapons. The US Government has spent the money buying the weapons from manufacturers. The money, which could have been used for the betterment of the citizens of the USA has been burned up and is gone forever. So while Trump blows up US Government funds on an ill-advised ego trip, Americans go without adequate medical care, housing and food. Their efforts generated the government funds, but they do not benefit from their efforts.

Following US Supreme Court's ruling that Trump's tariffs are illegal, countries which negotiated relief agreements with the USA to reduce tariff levels applying to them are starting to tear up those agreements. While onw might think that the agreements were entered into to provide benefits for the country, you have to remember that such agreements are two-sided. In exchange for the USA lowering tariffs, the USA also gained benefits, depending on what teh particular country had to offer. Now, with the agreements torn up, the USA has lost any benefit it scored.

Now he's turning his attention to regime change in Cuba. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/17/donald-trump-can-take-cuba-oil

Zelensky has just signed a deal with Britain for the manufacture of Ukrainian designed drones. One thing that we are ignorant of is how smart in the area of industrial design the Ukranians are. I think we have the impression that they are just farmers and miners, but they are industrially powerful.

Because of the costs of managing the distribution infrastructure. How much does it cost to have crews available to restore power when the infrastructure is damaged by storm and tempest? How much does it cost to ensure that transmission lines are not in danger of damage from vegetation? Transformers wear out. It is no doubt true that the cost of generating electricity using renewables is very low. The costs are really those of putting the smoke into the wires and keeping it there.

The problem with corporate taxation is that so many things can be deducted from gross income as business expenses to reduce taxable income. However, consider the deduction ACME Industries receives from the cost of employing a person. That money is not really lost to Treasury because the emplyees pays income tax before getting money in the hand. Then from that money, a further 10% is paid because the person purchased goods and services. If the employee squirrels some away it will most likely earn a tad of interest, which jacks up the employee's taxable income. The deduction ACME gets is not really lost to the whole Economy. They say that money is made round to go round, and that is what it does.

It would be great if we could go back to the days when Trade Unions worked towards the betterment of their members. Luckily the Unions wrested a lot of benefits from Big Business which remain in place today. If anyone wants to bag Unions to me, I'll simply ask them if they would be prepared to go back to a 48 hour week, bugger-all holiday leave, no paid sick leave etc. It amazes me that the people in business and politics who always scream that any improvement in the conditions of people who work will destroy the economy, are quite happy to avail themselves of those Union-won benefits. Would you really like to live in a system where there is no job security; no liveable basic wage and no economic protection in the event of illness or injury? If you would like that, then there is a number of flights from Australia to the USA each day.

You have to feel sorry for the Yanks. Their fuel price is now about $US 4.00 per US gallon. There are 3.78541 litres per US gallon. That puts their price at $US 1.06 per litre. Currently $US 1.06 = $AUD 1.50.

If there is a country in the World that needs a regime change, it's the USA. Unfortunately, replacng the Republicans with the Democrats will not change the American culture which is the source of the problem.

My daughter is a CPA. She'll protect her dear ol' dad.

Somehow or other I seem to have shares in IAG, the insurance company. I can't remember how I got them. As I was looking at my bank statement the other day, I noticed a deposit of a bit over $20.00 from IAG. It's not a massive amount, but as my Dad used to say, 'small fish are sweet'.

The AI company, Anthropic, which owns Claude, is suing the US Government. It says that as part of its contract details bans the use of its AI for the deploying weapons unless the go ahead to fire was given by a human. Of course, Trump and Hegseth are ignoring that contract detail. In response to Anthropic's lawsuit, which still has to be dealt with in Court, Trump has decreed that Anthropic cna no longer be granted government contracts.

The actions of the Party through its Gestapo have been compared to the recent actions of ICE agents in the Land of the Free. The USA has been doing things that towrads the end of the 20th Century came to be defined as terrorism since the late 19th Century. Remember the Spanish-American War when the USA attacked the Spanish territory of Cuba and at the end gained control of the Phillipines. Not to forget, either, the interference of the USA in just about every South American country as each gained independence from its colonial rulers.

Is it the servos or is it the oil companies? The servo is the retailer - the link between the oil company, local distributor and the customer. It is the oil companies which set the wholesale price of fuel. If they raise the wholesale price, then that rise passes down the chain. The oil companies also set the price at their own sites and their franchised sites. Have you ever noticed that the price changes at competing oil company sites rise and fall in unison? It is the independents who can control their price more closely. I suppose the idea of servos price gouging comes from the independents going from being cheaper than the oil company sites to matching those sites in the same area. So, perhaps the action taken by the ACCC, or Fair Trading would be appreciated by the oil companies as it might drive an independent out of the local market.

If you think about it, you could almost say that terrorism in modern times started with the first raid by German Zeppelins in WWI. However, I suppose a deeper look would find examples of attacks on non-combatants throughout human history.

A terrorist organization is a group that uses violence, intimidation, or coercion, often against civilians, to achieve ideological, political, or religious goals. Does the Adminsitration of the USA fit that definition?

Before the start of the "war", petrol at my place was $1.70 for 91 octane. It is now $2.25. That's and increase of 55 cents. Since GST is 10% the current price returns Treasury an extra 5.5 cents per litre. As well as calling out the oil companies for gouging, we should also call out the Government. Notice that I said that GST generates money going into Treasury. At the moment the Government is Labor, but if the LNP was the Government, then I reckon they would accept the windfall as well. I'm not trying to say that Labor is being nasty and the LNP wouldn't be. I'm saying that both would not deny the exra money coming into Treasury. Apparently, the voters are "unhappy" about rising food prices, layoff, inflation, etc., but they are totally pissed off, furious and more than somewhat upset that the price of petrol is sky-rocketed. I suppose those who drive ICE vehicle are also annoyed with the drivers of EVs.

But how much input did you have on the Party's national platform? You role seems to have been to select the person who was most closely aligned to that platform.

The USA has been screwing up Iran since 1953. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has repeatedly intervened in the internal affairs of Iran, from the Mosaddegh coup of 1953 to the present day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Iran