old man emu

For a multiplicity of reasons, but right now I don't want to cause division.

OPs Normal

I have never got the gist of Calculus. The Americans seem to worship it, but for the most part a bit of Pythagoras and some linear equations cover most of my calculating needs.

You have to look at the circumstances, the environment, the culture of the place it happened in. Although most of the victims were females, there was a bloke involved, and also, we don't know how many people simply got crook and survived. Drink spiking goes on all over the world in bars. The use of adulterated alcohol is common in what we might call poorer countries or where there are no tight controls over food and drink supplies. How many people get Bali belly or its equivalent?

I have two grandsons 12 and 13. I was discussing this very topic with my son and daughter-in-law last night. What I learned from that conversation was that we have to look at the use of social media through the eyes of our youngsters, not our eyes. What is needed is not the banning of social media platforms, but acknowledgement that our kids live in a digital age and social media platforms are part and parcel of that age. Quite simply we have to do what our parents did for us and what we did for our kids: help them identify Right and Wrong and empower them to have the strength of character to tell those of their associates who are doing the Wrong thing to cut it out. My son gave me some examples involving one of my grandson, and he either came to them for advice when he was the subject, or for advice on how to handle a situation when it was a friend of his who was the target. I was amazed that this grandson sought advice, because he's not a goody-two-shoes, just an average kid. It is said that a big problem with pre-teens and young teens these days is that they have been mollycoddled and have not been allowed engage in low level risky behaviour to learn how to handle pain, disappointment etc. Most of us experienced the cuts and bruises from play accidents. What didn't kill us, strengthened us. Today's kids get their cuts and bruises from a type of play we cannot fully comprehend, but they still get them. Our job is to be there to apply Band-Aids as necessary to wounded psyches. So, "NO!" to banning kids from social media. Say "YES!" to providing advice and guidance in handling. And like a lot of stuff, the Media has latched on to a topic and blown it way out of proportion. According to my son's oversight of the boys' online activities, he suggests that the bad stuff is overwhelmed by the dumb stuff, with a bit of normal interactions making up the rest.

Sorry, Pete, but in Mathematics, the variable denoted by the letter "x" is known as the "independent variable". The result of the equation is denoted by the letter "y" which is known as the dependent variable since its value is dependent on the value of "x" applied to the equation. A very simple calculation is "how much do 'x' apples cost?", which can be written as y = mx Where y is the total cost m is the cost of one apple, and x is the number of apples. If we wanted to know the price of x donuts the equation would be; y = mx + b Where b = the number of donuts (mx) multiplied by the rate of GST Written fully that would be y = mx +{GST x (mx)}

We forget the Putin is 72 years old. Despite the pictures of him as a bare-chested horseman that suggest good health, he's in the age group where the grip on the perch is beginning to get slippery. We don't hear of likely successors should he be found stiff, on his back on the bottom of the cage.

I didn't read it that way. I read it as the use of photos taken out of context. The readily available photos are those taken when the subject was interacting with the medium, usually while on a 'night out". When the same subject is the victim of a tragedy, it is not very possible to get a photo taken in a sober situation, eg their driver's licence photo. I did see a bit of video of the two young women who died of methanol poisoning. It showed them both jigging around in a hotel room in a way that would be normal for two young women on a carefree holiday. However, I thought that it stripped them of their dignity given what happen to them. Posting that video was definitely taking something well out of its original context.

Onetrack, I thought that I was reading my own post when I read yours. It is word for word what I would be saying, including your comments regarding styling. I was ironing a shirt the other day and realised that it would be useless to give my grandsons lessons in ironing because I have never seen any of their clothes that need ironing, although I do believe that cotton T-shirts need it.

I think the rough rule of thumb is that if you come off leaded onto unleaded, you have to watch that the exhaust valve seat doesn't burn.

I'm flabbergasted by this recent preservation of wage slavery in the USA

When I started this thread, I did not think that it would be the means of recording the collapse of the United States of America.

The evil thought that I had was that, after the chimpanzees got used to seeing their reflections in the mirror and accepted the concept, what would they do if suddenly their reflections were not there.

Nasty animal cruelty thought: I wonder what would happen if you put a large mirror in a frame into a chimpanzee enclosure at a zoo where the chimps could see their reflections, and leave it there until they got used to it and began to ignore it. Then one night while they were not out in the enclosure, remove the mirror but leave the frame where it was. Then watch what they did next morning.

Leave the sentencing on the books until January 2029 when his presidential term ends. Then he can go from the White House to the Big House.

It that because she fears they might wander into forbidden places?

I always thought that the Ronnie Burns 1969 song, Smiley, was about the character from the movies, Smiley (1956) and Smiley Gets A Gun (1958). Smiley, you’re off to the Asian war/ And we won’t see you smile no more… The boy, Smiley, in those movies would have been of an age in the late 60s to be called-up for National Service and to go to Vietnam. The name ‘Smiley’ in Ronnie Burns’s record would have resonated with Australian audiences. Whether or not writer Johnny Young intended this, it added to the song’s theme of lost innocence by bringing to mind the carefree 1950s childhood of that earlier Smiley. When Johnny Young wrote the song, he had in mind Australian pop star and Vietnam War conscript Normie Rowe: Before he left, he was really happy-go-lucky, fun-filled young fella. When he came back, he changed.

I remember when portable DVD players came in. As far as I can remember, they could not be fitted in a way that the driver could see the screen. I can also remember when Ford fitted a digital numeric display speedometer to Falcons. The problem was that, as normally happens when driving, the vehicle's speed can vary by one or two KpH. The digital numerical display kept changing and that movement attracted the attention of the brain which evolved to quickly notice any small movements. Therefore, the constant, and irregular change in the display was a constant distraction.

Mozzies, yes. Also the myriad of very small gnats and such that can't be held out by flyscreens and which cluster around illuminating lights at night. I often wonder what goes through their miniscule minds in the instant after I turn off the light and plunge the room into relative darkness.

Just don't upset the postal workers!!!!!!

Gad (n.) c. 1300, "a goad, sharp pointed stick to drive oxen, etc.;" c. 1400, "sharp-pointed metal spike," from Old Norse gaddr "spike, nail". That is the source of the expression, 'gadding about'. There also was a Middle English gadeling (Old English gædeling) "kinsman, companion in arms; fellow, man," which could have given rise to the attention seeking call of "Oh Gad!", but that is more likely to be a corruption of "Oh, God!". The first known use of gadzooks, the other exclamation, was circa 1652, perhaps from God's hooks, the nails of the Crucifixion. That do you, Nev?

You can see Trump and Musk falling out over tariffs on Chinese goods, especially on EVs. Musk is pretty tight with the Chinese buying vehicle components and selling completed vehicles. He won't like politics getting in the way of business, but isn't getting government hands off business a central tenet of Trump's political philosophy?

Who bought Red a book of Dad Jokes?

One should be careful of what one wishes for. I copped a big storm last night which dumped buckets of rain. The rain on the roof was so loud I had to crank up the volume to hear what I was watching on YouTube. It rained through the night and there was even a heavy fall about 4:00 am which woke me. The yard looked like a paddy field. The only damage seems to be to the pressure pump from the bore. I had no water from it this morning. Luckily I do have rainwater storage. With the dust washed off the grass, things look good and I expect it to be jumping out of the ground in a day or two.

It's been blowing hard here today with the wind blowing at 20 kts gusting to 30-odd from the NNE. I'm east of the front so it's pretty obvious why it's so blowy. The forecast was for thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, and if not, just rain. That strong wind from the NNE looks like it's going to push any rain from the front down to the southeast, and I'll miss out again.