Old Koreelah

One of Ukraine’s big advantages has been the poor comittment of their Russian adversaries; attacking Mother Russia puts that at risk.

English is a standard language across much of the world. Many of those with a thick accent are better educated in the English language than most of us, so who is using the language correctly? I too have had difficulty understanding- not just those from the subcontinent. Some of the most difficult-to-understand English speakers are from the British Isles themselves!

You’re right, Red. I should have remembered that gem!

Crickey this thread is big! What a bunch of whingers we are. Here’s my latest: Abuse of private information in doctors’ waiting rooms. This morning I went for an MRI scan. I approached the receptionist with all my paperwork; it clearly told her who I am, what I’m there for and which doctor sent me. Despite having all the info she needed, from behind her glass screen she loudly asked for DoB, then required me to call out my phone number and residential address. Lots of us don’t want the world to know this stuff. Many teachers, nurses, DOCS staff, prison officers, etc. have suffered harassment and value their privacy. Even worse, women trying to evade abusive partners can’t afford to have a room full of strangers hearing their name, phone number and where they live. When I politely pointed this out, she was defensive: “it’s policy.” Policies can be changed, and this one sure needs it.

A timely reminder. Too easy to forget about the invisible killer that could be miles behind a heavy aircraft. My little Jodel shares our airport with several spray planes, which have to displace about seven tonnes of air to get off the ground.

That’s Putin’s long-term strategy- not very original, but it works. During Soviet times lots of Russians were settled in outer republics, sometimes after the locals were culled by deliberate famine or shipped off to Siberia. A couple of generations later, claiming to be persecuted, they call in Russian troops. The tiny Baltic states have quite a problem with Russian settlers who resent learning the local language. No wonder they have joined NATO.

Looking at those AN-2s, reminds me how much the USSR depended on the ingenuity and enterprise of people from Ukraine, like Antinov and Korolev. No wonder Putin wanted this industrial powerhouse back under his control.

We might blame much of this poor performance in low staff morale: people who simply don’t give a toss about their company or it’s customers. Management’s job is to raise that morale. Management should be penalised as much as the tosser.

I was recently jammed in 380 cattle class for almost 12 hours, after a low pressure alert had the pilot turn back from the runway. Instead of the “short time” promised, replacing two wheels took close to three hours. No offers to get us off to stretch our legs. Not fun while learning to walk with a new hip. Their handling of my wheelchair was nothing like what was promised. Now video of that baggage handler deliberately trying to damage people’s bags. Seems that lots of us support Q for patriotic reasons. With a foreign CEO treating his staff like expendables and so many jobs offshored, my loyalty is wearing thin.

Interesting. Not very effective, but it’s early days for that technology. This video didn’t refresh my waning interest in firearms. Most of the American shooting vids I’ve watched reinforce the stark differences between their culture and Australia’s: so many are obsessed with pumping lots of ammo into a human targets.

Taking it a bit far, OME. Although I agree many pollies are far from clean, we are fortunate to have had several decent people elected to parliament.

Spending a year or two outside our planet’s protective magnetic blanket exposes cosmonauts to increased radiation; someting we wouldn’t want for a developing foetus.

I’m with Octave on this one…in principle. Unfortunately for many businesses and their traditional car-driving customers, Australians have not switched to pedalling in the numbers urban planners would like. We’re more like Yanks than Europeans. Sales of bicycles has boomed in Australia, but most of them are rarely used. I have quite a collection of bikes. I’d love to cycle the bike tracks in our little town every day, but pedalling to town past heavy highway traffic is too dangerous, so we have to fold them and load them in the car. It’s probably a case of “Build it and they will come”. When the cycle network reaches enough people, they will use it.

Jerry that reminds me of a late night arrival in Sydney. I was surprised at two bright flashes as I passes an intersection. Surprised that my Lada Niva could exceed the speed limit! The camera had could a very fast sports car in the opposite lane.

A smart driver seeing a green light always checks for traffic that might be running their red light.

Crickey, they’d better slow down with the lawsuits. I’m starting to hope the Tangerine Todler will be running for the big job next time; it would almost guarantee a Democrat win.

That might work, but you’d be abso-bluddy-lutely guaranteed of a generous grant if it had “War Memorial” in the title. Espevially under the previous government.

Back to gambling; The Guardian has been focussing on it’s corrosive effects in Australia: ”We’ve revealed the multi-billion dollar investments Australia’s largest superannuation companies have made in the gambling industry just in the past year, pouring workers’ retirement savings into pokies manufacturers, casino operators and lottery companies – even through investment options that claim to be “socially aware”. Gambling is political, but it’s also fundamentally an inequality issue. The worst losses happen in communities where people can least afford it, and people are losing extraordinary amounts of money on machines and apps that are designed to addict them. “I didn’t live well, but my pokies habit lived well,” said one man who told me his devastating story of a life in thrall to the pokies. “If you asked me to tally what I lost? I would have had my own house by now.” The gambling lobby is extremely powerful – so much so that even in the wake of multiple inquiries, with the New South Wales election looming, one NSW Labor MP told the Guardian that the view within the party was that the fight over gambling reform “was not a fight worth having.”

I recall being excited to watch wartime footage of planes being shot down, but was sickened by the carnage inflicted on Saddam’s retreating troops in Gulf War 2. Video game or reality, we’re watching frightened young men die.

Wilke has sure copped it for showing the moral fibre to expose dirty secrets. Not popular with so many whose meal ticket is in jeapardy.

I wish them success! As the product of a christian upbringing it took me decades to completely cast off the chains. Too often I’ve seen how religion has crippled people’s potential. Towards the end of my state school career I retrained as Teacher-Librarian and absolutely loved the job. One of my favourite roles was to help groups of kids sent to me for diverse reasons; these included seniors with study time, juniors working on research projects and remote-learning kids following vocational courses via electronic links. The school bent over backwards to accomodate the visiting religious instructors; They got the best timeslot and our school sure made it hard for kids to opt out of religious lessons- they needed a convincing letter from a parent and were then sent to my library. The school policy, as explained to me, was that they were NOT to do school work during Non-Scripture periods. Despite this, Non-Scripture group expanded rapidly under my care; the word quickly spread that I allowed them to do private study in the comfy lounge I’d set up. This resulted in the religious supervisor visiting to try to coralle a few more victims. The kids were pretty safe with me, especially after a few told me how disturbed they were by the traumatic stuff a scripure teacher had subjected them to.

Bruce I worked in an asbestos town and have visited the mine. Dust everywhere, piles of tailings that decades later still contaminate the surrounding land and passing wildlife. I got to know a few of the workers, but doubt many of them are still alive, let alone in good health. What is a “rabid greenie”?