GRIPES

[willedoo]

I'm not sure how many vegans would be conspiracy theorists. Possibly no more than other groups that make up the conspiracy theory population. One of the biggest groups is the heavy pot smokers. Not all anti-vaxxers are into the conspiracy side of it, but definitely a fair few are. It would be interesting to see how many vegans are anti-vaxxers or how many anti-vaxxers are vegans. The only difference between vegans and vegetarians is that vegans won't eat or wear any animal products, so no dairy, eggs or gelatine products. Some vegans might avoid vaccines because they can contain animal products and the more activist ones possibly would object to animal testing in pharmaceutical products. My next door neighbours are anti-vaxxers and make meat pies for a living, so no vegan connection there.

[willedoo]

If a vegan didn't like oil it would cut them out of plastic shoes. I wonder if they have synthetic oil based shoes.

[spacesailor]

I have a ' gripe ' my cancer clinic is now charging $85

for the 15 minute check up .

Now my gripe .

They don't take cash . Only " credit card " ,

I told them outstraight " NO card  " so cash or free , as it was for my last appointment .

The other patients took my money, & payed my bill ,

( by their card ).

Leaving me short of the medicare rebate .

" such is life "   .

spacesailor

[red750]

Unfortunately, credit cards are essential, but if you are pension age you have no hope of getting one. Sometimes you need a credit card just to get out of a parking station. Those machines don't accept debit cards.

[old man emu]

Not necessarily access to a line of credit via a plastic card. Your financial institution should be able to provide you with a debit card. After getting into lots of trouble with a credit card years ago, my wife and I switched to a debit card system. MIne is through Visa, but Mastercard probably provide the same service. Mu card allows me to access my "operating" account, and if it gets low, I can top it up from my sub-accounts where I have my short term and long term. One sub-account gets money each fortnight to cover monthly expenses. Another gets money at the same time to take care of rego and CTP. A third is my nest egg.

[red750]

I have a Mastercard with Westpac, had it since I worked for them up till 1991. It is usually just in credit so I can use it for small things like parking. However it still has it's small limit, and I used it on Saturday to buy a new portable USB hard drive, as I broke the case on my old one, and I didn't want to take it to the Shed like that. It cost my $78.00 at Officeworks (1 TB). It took me hours to copy my 540 MB of files. I paid off the debt when I got my pension this morning.

[old man emu]

I think the comment that "but if you are pension age you have no hope of getting one", ignores the fact that it is not necessary to have to access credit - that is borrow money, simply to transact business in a digital world. To me, my plastic is the replacement for banknotes. At the moment I do have about $80 in notes in my wallet, but that is only because I wanted to make some purchases under $10 and didn't want to use the card. 

 

And if a person under aged pension age is receiving social security payments, how is that money accessed unless they have been issued with plastic?

[facthunter]

This takes me back to Cigar Smokin Joe Hockeys Lifters and Leaners.. Today the new BAD GUYS are those who have actually  Paid off their own home., even though they might have skimped and saved  and gone without to do it.. Remember Keatings "Recession WE HAD to HAVE" and interest rates at 19%. How the hell could farmers survive?. Nev 

[spacesailor]

Like the " car parks" this " Sundoctors " don't take ' debit ' so they tell me .

Guess what . Two more customers are seeking a " Bulk-Billing " cancer clinic. 

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Getting a haircut. I an receding, but refuse to shave to scone. So, I begrudgingly pay the same as a specimen with a fully grassed top for a haircut. So, as a result, I wait a little bit longer between haircuts, though, despite being matty as the last haircut, there seems to be less cut hair on the floor and the smocky thing they put on.

 

However, today, long overdue, not was there only less cut off than last time, but it was predominantly grey!! FFS.. Welcome to the grumpy old man's club!

[red750]

I have about this much hair but no stache. However I usually have a No. 3 cut. It goes like a birch broom otherwise.

 

[spacesailor]

I'm only thinning on top , & before that last haircut I thought about having a " mullet " like my grandson .

But , his elder brother has less hair on top than I . LoL

I really didn't want to upset him . ( showing off ) .

spacesailor

[willedoo]

My wavy hair started waving goodbye to my forehead when I turned 30. As the years go by the memory of hair recedes as well.

[red750]

My elder son also started a receding hairline at around 30. So he decided to shave his head and he has looked like this for at least 20 years. He is now 50.

 

 

My second son looks like Kyle Sandilands. Here he is with a mate he ran into in Vegas.

 

[willedoo]

Here's my gripe: the Defence Department flatly refuses to allow Queensland to have a Hornet for museum display and preservation, yet they are burying forty of them in... you guessed it, Queensland. Only eight have been allocated to museums around the nation and they won't budge on that number.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Typical.. maybe an email to the minister cc'ed to A Current Affair and an ant Labor masthead will help?

[willedoo]

Even HARS and the department's own museum at Amberley didn't get a Hornet. Here's three of them on their way to be buried:

 

[facthunter]

It would be part of the supply agreement with the USA.  Nev

[onetrack]

It's called the U.S. Military End-User List. It's a massive legal agreement you must sign whenever you purchase ANY U.S. military equipment - new or USED.

I've got copies of it, I've had to sign it for the purchase of used, ex-U.S. military equipment (forklifts and diesel engines) that are really only civilian-use equipment - but the U.S. military still deems it all as military support equipment.

It is a frighteningly comprehensive agreement that means if you disobey it, the black helicopters will appear over your house, and you'll disappear to some place like Guantanamo.

 

The document even states you must notify the U.S. military of the details of new owners, when you on-sell the used equipment! However, I did on-sell some of the equipment and the black helicopters haven't appeared over my house yet. I guess that was because they know it hasn't left Australia. 

 

https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/lists-of-parties-of-concern/1770

 

Edited July 4 by onetrack

[willedoo]

It's always possible the U.S. has set the limit of 8 de-mil'd museum offerings. Either way, the defence department refuses to give their reasons, even though they did apologise for overlooking the original expressions of interest. Whether or not it's the U.S. setting the number at eight or our defence department doing it might not ever be known. There is a FOI request in but it may not be successful. You would think it would be a simple matter for our department to say the limit is set by the Americans and it's out of their hands if that was the case, but instead they are just not answering.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I don't understand the reasoning behind refusing to allow a hornet to be used as a museum display.  Are they scared it will be copied? Or something else?

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Of course this is directed at the US. Maybe they supplied stuff so cheap that they an specify it will never be on-sold.

[Marty_d]

I can't imagine the ADF ever getting anything cheap.  They seem to go for the most expensive and unsuitable hardware.

[onetrack]

"Cheap" can never be used in the same sentence as "military purchases", as all military purchases are open slather for military-industrial complex suppliers. I can recall one little Scottish bloke who was in my employment for some time, telling me about when he worked for an aviation instrument supplier (in a lowly position), he was stunned to find that gauges that cost the company "around 14 quid" were sold to the likes of the Indian Air Force for a thousand pounds!

 

The U.S. military end user list is comprehensive and states precisely what can be, and what cannot be disposed of, in what manner, and to whom. The Americans don't even want potential "bad actors" to be able to pick up a piece of Hornet scrap metal, and be able to analyse the constituents of that particular alloy - so even scrapping the Hornets and sending them off to Simsmetal is off the radar, in case some NK engineer working in a scrapyard in China spots a piece of a Hornet, and ensures it goes home to be analysed.

[willedoo]

The F-111 engines were a no-no as ours were basically the same engine as in the Iranian Tomcats as far as I can remember. Amberely has an engine on display but it's heavily cut away for demonstration purposes and it's on an air base. I don't think any civilian museums were allowed any F-111 engines or engine components.

 

The Iranians would probably like to get hold of a few spare parts. They were the only country outside the U.S. that received the F-14, so there's not many sources for parts.