old man emu

That's a bit queer.

Well it finally rained at my place over the past two days. I don't have a gauge, but looking at the BOM reports I probably got about 50 mm. The first day it was steady rain that soaked in and yesterday it was a lot heavier. It's stopped now and the sky is clear. Augers well for washing day tomorrow. I can hear the creek through the property running, and the frogs are starting their mating calls.

Sometimes I watch ABC iView. I've got a link the Netflix. There are some old TV series I can get through YouTube. In a few minutes I'm going to watch an episode of a mid/late 90s show called Cadfael. It's about an English monk around 1275 who is the abbey's herbalist and who solves murders by observation and deduction. Typically classy English production.

They knocked at the gate house but no one answered.

I think I've had a win today. When you don't have a TV installed, you rely on your internet connection for entertainment and social interaction - like annoying people on forums. I was getting very poor WIFI reception and internet drop-out. I had my WIFI receiver in a place where my phone was showing only one bar reception. I knew that if I took my phone to another part of the house I could get at least two bars, and even three. So I ran an extension cord to where I got better reception and set the receiver there. It looks like I've solved the problem. You beauty, another night of YouTube viewing and forum posting.

The best of the bird brains.

Does one become a coin collector for profit or for pleasure? As Nev implied, it's only the very rare coins, or stamps, that have a market value above their face value. But it can be an inexpensive and fun hobby. There are some sets, or issue groups of coins that it would be nice to get a full set. There is one Australian coin (can't remember the denomination) that has a series with a letter of the alphabet on the back and a image of an Aussie object. For example, the coin with the letter 'V' has the image of a Vegemite jar. At the end of the day when I help out at the OP shop, I go through the coins to see if anything interesting has turned up. If I find something, I put back a coin from my pocket. Then I swap it with my BIL for a coin of the same face value.

Let's not go jumping the gun. That unfortunate death occurred only a couple of months ago. It is classed as an "unusual death" and therefore will be the subject of a Coronial Inquest. That bit is standard practice in Law. Also the parents have asked for some sort of enquiry. That would be a further reason for a Coroner to begin an Inquest. It's now in the hands of the coronial system, which has a heavy case load. It might take a couple of months before this particular one reaches the Bench. So how about we hold off commenting until the findings of that Inquest are released? While I don't see what GON is asking for being established, I can see that the Inquest will bring in some heavy hitters. Personally, I don't trust an expert medico to give an honest answer when commenting on the actions of another medico. Must maintain the espirit de corps, chaps. Don't forget that this death could result in the award of massive damages against the hospital. These are the sort of problems that arise when what we believe to be entities run by government are privatised. A similar situation applies to prisons. At least Minns has made it so that this sort of privatisation of health services should not hapen again.

The Cost of Living thing is affecting the global economy. Unfortunately, there is nothing that a small country like ours can do. At least, as Jerry says, we are doing comparatively well. If we want more money to flow into government coffers, maybe we should overhaul our taxation system so that foreign companies can't wriggle out of their tax liability to Australia. Let's compare Labor's tax reduction to the Liberal's halving of the fuel excise. The latter will have an immediate effect on leaving some money in the family purse. I was upset when I heard the CEO of the NRMA whinge that dropping the excise would mean less money for roadworks. Perhaps we can bear with a bumpy ride for a year or two while we try to manage other household expenses. And why is the electricity price regulator Okaying increases in power costs? Why can't the power companies bear a bit of the pain? Unfortunately, what I have said falls into the "what if" and "why not" categories that mere mortals cannot affect. A for me, I'm going to try to turn off about elections. Last year's USA circus and its result have left me burned out. I'm not going to bother studying the policies of the major Parties. I'll just vote as I have always done, knowing my vote will not matter in my election as the Party I don't like is entrenched here. Anyway, will any Party actually have a policy, or will they all simply make promises that sound good but will not be delivered? Bread and circuses. Bread and circuses, ad nauseum.

Those who have arrived since the last election may not have met the requirements for citizenship and hence do not have the right to vote. To become an Australian citizen by conferral, you typically need to have lived in Australia for four years, including 12 months as a permanent resident, and meet other requirements like being of good character and having adequate knowledge of your responsibilities as an Australian citizen. Then there is the time after that to have your application granted. For most Australian citizenship applications, 90% are processed within 11 months, with 90% of approved applicants having the opportunity to attend a ceremony within 7 months of approval. The interesting change in demographics will come from those young people who have reached 18 years of age since the last election. Look at the age distribution: Those young people endured COVID and we don't really know how that isolation and disrupted education has affected their outlook. This might well be an election strongly directed by internet influencers.

I knew that you would help us with the technical side of the story.

The story is that the original database/spreadsheet was created using the computer language COBOL. Musk's 21st Century whizz kids have never learned COBOL, so they could not work with the data. Also, as well as the usual recipient details data which could be easily accessed, the records also showed the date the last benefit cheque was issued to the recipient. If that date was well before the present date, it would be a fair indication that the recipient was deceased. In most databases holding this type of record, it is not usual for ancient data to be deleted. After all, each entry is likely to use only a few kilobytes of storage. It is not worth the effort to cull unnecessary entries. What is a most likely explanation, given what we know of the way the Trump administration, including Musk, treat information, is that it would not be too far wrong to say that they only published information which bolstered their "getting rid of waste" agenda.

Doesn't the concept of "democracy" imply that the people have the right to establish a government, or to disestablish it? By making fixed terms, that right is taken away. Fortunately, despite what we might think if the Party in Government and the Party in Opposition, Australian governments have never caused the chaos that we see in a certain Northern Hemisphere country at the moment. All of them seem to keep the country on an even keel. I know GON will rail against the Conservative governments of the 1960s because of their policies towards involvement in Vietnam, and some will rail against the Hawke/Keating governments, but at least the people still have their democratic Rights.

The ability of a Prime Minister to call for an election is probably a tradition carried over from Westminster. We do seem to have a limit on the length of a parliamentary term, ie time between regular elections, but, as exemplified by Canada's new Prime Minister, an election can be called short of the regular full term. I suppose that at the commencement of a parliamentary term it could be possible to fix a date for the next election to be held after the end of the new parliamentary term. One could suggest that the date would be four years from the date the new government is sworn in. That would make election day a "moveable feast" since there are often delays in confirming election results. But these things are not insurmountable.

The coin being worth more than its face value is the reason the original round 50 cent coin was taken out of circulation. The silver in it was worth more than 50 cents. But a coin itself does not need to have an intrinsic value equal to its denomination. Coins and notes are merely representations of an amount of money. Basically all forms of money, either physical or digital, are representation of the value of each person's time.

Although it is correct that rotary clothes lines had been created long before the Hills version, it seems that two things lead to its success. The first was that Lance Hill obtained plans for a wooden design from South Australian inventor Gerhard "Pop" Kaesler Second the patent for a crown wheel and pinion winding mechanism granted to Gilbert Toyne of Geelong in 1925 had expired, so Hill was free to use the idea. Another factor was that Hill's brother joined him and took over advertising and sales. Perhaps too, the increasing suburbanisation of Australian cities after WWII made the old style line and clothes prop system impractical, or out of style for a 'modern' home. I well remember when my parents got their Hills hoist to replace the line through arms on a post clothes line. It came disassembled in a long cardboard carton. After Dad had put it together and installed it, I was threatened with dire consequences if I was caught hanging from the arms, using it as a merry-go-round.

Who can really say? There is no written job description for the role of elected member, as there are for any other type of employment. Therefore, there is no standard against which to judge the performance of a politician. I think that the electorate can accept it if their member belongs to a Party whose proposals don't get accepted because the Party is not in government. I think that one would call an elected member useless if in fact they did not attend parliamentary sessions to at least listen to debates and to vote. If the member spent most time galivanting around the country or overseas on "fact finding" missions without providing parliament or its committees with the found facts, then that hints at being useless. In other words, the electorate should be able recall a member who does not do the parliamentary work that is being paid for. It's difficult t express myself here, but I think I can sum up my idea by saying that a member should be able to be called into line or even recalled for bludging.

Hey! You're plagiarising my plagiarism.

Got rain yesterday - refilled my drinking water tanks. It's amazing how quickly the vegetation responds to a drink. The straw colour is going out of the paddocks and the green is showing through. I hope tomorrow is dry. I need to do some laundry.

The cost of producing coinage for Australia may in someway be offset by the income the Mint earns from producing coinage for other countries. It would be interesting to find out what sort of purchases involved that 13% of cash.

What is Communism in its purest form? It is not Capitalism. Is it Socialism? Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists’ adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx. Marx identified two phases of communism that would follow the predicted overthrow of capitalism. The first would be a transitional system in which the working class would control the government and economy yet still find it necessary to pay people according to how long, hard, or well they worked, The second would be fully realized communism—a society without class divisions or government, in which the production and distribution of goods would be based upon the principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Nowadays, Communism is a type of government as well as an economic system (a way of creating and sharing wealth). In a Communist system, individual people do not own land, factories, or machinery. Instead, the government or the whole community owns these things. Obviously, individuals must have ownership of the things needed for day-to-day living - clothes, food, vehicles, the key to the door of their dwelling. Countries which claim to be "communist" actually exist within a system based on the ideas of Marx, but molded to suit the power plays of the leaders of the strongest political factions.

From Jerry's reference: Unlike recall procedures in some other countries, the act does not allow constituents to initiate proceedings. Proceedings are initiated only if an MP is found guilty of wrongdoing fulfilling certain criteria. Section 1 sets out the circumstances in which the Speaker of the House of Commons – or, in certain cases, their deputies – would trigger the recall process: 1. Any custodial prison sentence, even if suspended. (A sentence longer than one year would lead to automatic removal under the Representation of the People Act 1981.) 2. A conviction for providing false or misleading expenses claims. COMMENT: There's no means of recalling a member if the member is simply proven to be useless.

But are the local Party Branch members likely to go against a sitting member since removing a sitting member results in a by-election. Obviously the local Branch members who endorsed the sitting member over all other contenders would be the candidate's closest supporters. Also the number of local Branch members is but a very small proportion of the total number of electors in an electorate. Joining a Party and being active in it is much like joining any other sort of club, say a bowls club.

While there may be a process to enable that to happen, who are the ones to initiate it? Could you or I actually do it? For success, it would need agreement of many thousands within the electorate. Surely the politician's Party would fight the process tooth and nail. In other words, there is n practical way the voters in an electorate could oust a non-performing member.

As usual, the media sensationalises things. They never say what proportion of of an "ethnic" group is involved in crime. Has journalist ever sat down with, say a young man of Sudanese origin, and listened to the story of his life? The first thing you would find is that the young man has had no formal education, so how could he get a job that is more than menial? Lack of education is the root of all evil.