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The Pope and Trump are on stage in front of a huge crowd. The Pope leans toward Trump and said, "Do you know that with one little wave of my hand I can make every person in this crowd go wild with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display, like that of your followers, but go deep into their hearts and for the rest of their lives whenever they speak of this day, they will rejoice!" Trump says, "I seriously doubt that. With one little wave of your hand? Show me!" So the Pope slaps him.

Not quite a conversion on the road to Damascus, but it looks like I'll be taking my first ride in an EV next week. My son has bought a BYD Shark 6 for himself and a BYD Sealion for the family car. My son has a business pimping up 4WDs. He worked out plans to do what he wants to his Shark and has had initial talks with the sellers of BYDs, interesting them in his idea. If his talks produce anything, his business will contract to do up these cars as special vehicles, which will add something special to retailer's offerings. From what he says, he thinks he will be starting limited production around Spring. As well as doing this stuff with BYDs, he will still be doing similar work on the usual suspects. It's good to see a young man (geez! He's 36!!) having a go. I can only wish him success. However, no matter how successful he becomes in business, he'll still be my dickhead of a son.

Apparently these buzzwords are used to express power in interpersonal relationships. If a person is on a lower rung in the ladder than the person using the buzzwords, then the one on the higher rung is exerting power over the other. These words are also used to exclude outsiders from inner circles. These words are the trade jargon of the administrative classes. The one I hate is "on my watch". I could see it being used by John F Kennedy and the elder George Bush who both served in the Navy in WWII, but its use by people with no navy service grates on my nerves.

Corporate buzzwords and phrases. It was things like "bringing them along for the journey".. The latest is aligned.. as in "lets all get aligned".. These things are repeat ad nauseum... I am not sure people even know what they mean. P155es me off.

Is that headline correct? Kim Jong Unrelected?

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest photo was briefly displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris by activists from the anti-billionaire group Everyone Hates Elon on Sunday, February 22, 2026. The framed photograph, taken by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, shows Mountbatten-Windsor slumped in the back seat of a Range Rover after being released from Norfolk police custody following an 11-hour detention on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The image was hung on a wall at the museum alongside the caption “He’s Sweating Now”, a reference to a controversial 2019 interview where Mountbatten-Windsor claimed he couldn’t sweat due to a Falklands War injury, contradicting allegations by Virginia Giuffre. The display lasted only 15 minutes before Louvre staff removed it. The stunt was part of a protest against Mountbatten-Windsor’s alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein, including emails suggesting he shared confidential government information while serving as a British trade envoy. The group stated their goal was to show “how the world will remember him” and called for “Justice for all Epstein survivors.”

And they are VERY GOOD at it. The safest form of Nuclear energy is the SUN. At some locations Nuclear is Probably the only way to run a modern way of life but it adds to the Heat that is HERE and the Sun's energy Comes anyhow and will for as long as the Planet is Liveable. Recycling has to Play a bigger part of the Picture. China would have to be the Most Fair dinkum Country in this respect, now. The USA is Probably the Least at the Moment.. Not all Americans agree with Trump but he's done a lot of damage with His Lack of Knowledge and sheer Ignorance of many things. Cites in Europe used to Just STINK of diesel fumes. They don't NOW. Science Continues to look for facts and not beliefs. Science is NOT "Just ANOTHER belief as T Abbot put's it. He's a good Public example of how Lack of at Least SOME Science in his Education can do a lot of damage. and cost a lot of Money.. Aeroplanes are Not Designed in Monasteries, Safe bridges are designed and built by experts and People who know what they are doing. Not By FAITH..Nev

Renewables are cheaper, greener, and don't harm the ecology - or human health for that matter - anywhere near as much as fossil fuels. Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would argue against them, whether or not they accepted the science proving anthropomorphic climate change.

Ruins a lot of good relationships. When you make a mistake there you can lose everything. . You keep paying for the Ticket AFTER you've LOST the Lottery. It's better to try Before you Buy. That's what I did the second time but I did consider NO second time. Nev

I guess the same evaluation applies. Between 1900 and 2011, I lived on a beautifull 44acre bush block, although up until this point I had lived on grid power. This block was several KMs from the nearest power. I had three choices: pay around $30000 to extend the power poles, install a diesel or petrol generator or install a solar battery system, which at the time was in its infancy. We took the rational choice and installed solar. One of the things I like was energy-wise, we were standing on our own two feet. One of my crusty old conservative neighbours actually said that solar was "gay", they were the ones "cuckolded" by the power company with monthly bills. Now I am on the grid. Although I am now on the grid, I have solar that generates more than twice what I need. Of course, when it is cloudy or at night, I rely on the grid, which is either wind, grid sized battery or failing those 2 sources, filthy brown coal. Only an idiot would think the brown coal is preferable to the other two. If I had a home battery, I think I could once again. The economic case for a battery is just dubious at the moment but the price of this tech is falling all the time. Even the most ardent coal/gas/nuclear fans must admit that harvesting the more than ample energy that the sun provides us (solar wind, tidal and wave) is the holy grail. So we are not there yet, but only an idiot would think that digging for energy is somehow superior.

I don't have any philosophical objections to nuclear, where it is found to be the most practical solution. I think, in fact, the solution will not be just one method. Every generation source has its pros and cons. My scepticism over nuclear in the short term is a matter of time and cost. Sure, start planning and building nuclear where it will be most appropriate. In the meantime, keep building the lower-cost, quicker solutions until nuclear can be built.

Are you serious? This poor couple made an administrative mistake and you think that deserves months in prison? Meantime you try to link it back (once again) to something that happened to you 50 years ago? I give up. Live in your upside down bubble.

When we sold our last place I paid to have the outside cedar weatherboards repainted in red cedar colour. The buyer repainted I white immediately.

There ya go, spoiling everything by spreading a confusing thick layer of logic over the issues. That's not how the game is played.

He's awake at night trying work out HOW to fake the Next Erection. Nev

Exhausted from flogging a dead organ. . Nev

Demonstrating the length of an erect penis meaured, acording to his observations and experience.

Debates are Combative by nature and a winner is decided which has Litle to do with the subject chosen. Even the Insurance companies Militaries and Oil companies don't dispute the reality of anthropomorphic Climate change. Farmers who keep records know it too. Sea level rises Ocean temps and acidity. More EXTREME Climate event . Ice Melting at the 3rd Pole. ( the Himalaya's) that threatens the future food security of Millions. CO2 records show what is happening. The climate change deniers are Running out of ideas as more evidence emerges We CAN easily Make this Place Uninhabitable. We cannot burn much More of the Oil Gas and Coal available and not make things rapidly worse. Energy from other sources must and can be used. Nev

Generally you don't add as much value as the cost if you spend BIG as the result May be More to your taste than Prospective buyers. might want. Nev

Probably summing up the relationship he has with Putin.

Look at this! The president of Magastan has changed parties! He got elected by the RED states. He always used to wear a red tie. Now he has gone to the blue side! Not sure what he is describing with that hand signal, though.

On April 20, 1945, during an air battle over Germany, Eduard Schallmoser's Messerschmitt Me.262 collided with an American Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber. Schallmoser managed to bail out and open his parachute. He landed in the back garden of his parents house, right in front of his amazed mother!

I think Jerry might be getting confused with the Holden Camira or the Holden Captiva. The Camira was bad enough, but the Captiva was worse! (if that's possible!). A mates sister bought a new Camira and on the first week of ownership, the entire dash fell out, into her lap! The Captiva was built by Daewoo, and promptly got nicknamed the Craptiva. But the Holden Nova was simply a rebadged Toyota Corolla, and those little Corollas were one of the best cars ever built. I've seen many of them with 300,000kms on the clock, untouched, and never a stoppage of any kind.

Here is a photo of, l to r, my father, his sister, and my mother's sister-in-law. The photo was taken 55 years ago. The original was black and white, but I used an online site to colourise it a couple of years ago. It took the algorithm about 2 minutes. Last week I found another site online which said they could convert old photos into video clips. I didn't specify a motion style, but this is how they converted it. The power of AI.

Unlikely. The deranged orange one has crapped on its trade 'partners'. The stink will linger long after the crap is gone. Art of the deal? There might be big money changing hands in the background, but joe public won't see any of it.

Loved your cars and bikes eh Nev , good for you. Brother loves bikes he's got bike business. Mum had a Peugeot way back, jesus that thing was nice car , wouldn't know the yr think it was around and 85 or something. l dunno , people don't seem to read much here but have said , plenty to do and have also had hobbies all my life to. Only got back here 3mths ago though as said to haven't had a chance to scratch my arse l'm not even established here. Have gotten a shipload done though at least. Anyway decided l'm doing the cabin up then selling the place if possible. l've started that now should be ready in a few wks and we'll see how she goes.

Forget the policies, she has consistently voted against her policies when her rich mates make a call. Eg. Penalty rates, voted to abolish them Health funding for nurses wages-voted against. Self interest is all she believes in.

Well, l believe all that stuffs good for us especially as we age,you gotta have stuff to do or you just get old that's not the problem for me.But as l've said, l've had big properties and l'm sick of them but also a helluva lot of driving living here and l'm sick of driving too. Some aren't some still love the work. Met a farmer 87 still worked his 400ac farm and cattle,yaknow, it was backed right off but he still had some cattle. Still hand hoed a 2ac veggie plot, still rode his motor bike all over the farm daily and brought cattle in with it. Said to him one day especially the veggie plot but how come you don't just use the tractor. He said l love doing it , been doing it 60yrs, keeps me in shape, great thinking time too, took him about 3 wks to get through it. He was always picking up sticks and leaves of the ground, sprung down to them like a 10yr old said how come your always picking up leaves kev , says if l didn't do that my back ed b fkd. Gotta laugh. Met another farmer still running his whole 1000ac property 85, stronger than many 40yr olds. Said when are you gonna hang up the tractor mate ha ha, reckons he still loved his farm - soooo, take your pick on that one. Sooo, end of the day l don't reckon hurts you at all you can even see studies longer people work healthier they stay it's fact but that's not it for me. l just wouldn't feel like it bc as l say, bit sick of properties especially bigger ones. But yeppa , did that list few wks back too, mainly just to look at it in black and white for awhile. Pros were like 4 things, big things though, like l own it no bills could pay for a small build and still have some savings- cons , were around 18 though. All the driving , the isolation, the tiny town, some of the biggies.

To add some credibility to the news of military activity, it has been reported that the two pizza shops near MacDill airforce base reported major sales spike in pizza orders last night. Historically, such reports have previously coincided with major U.S. military planning and activity events. (Sorry, but I cannot find the 'sarcasm' emoticon)

There's one around here that rides a Harley with drag pipes and I must admit, he's not too bright. If he has an audience he will crank the throttle extra hard for maximum racket. I guess he thinks everyone is thinking "Wow!", whereas in reality they're all thinking "Dickhead!".

They DON'T have to be and Islam is not the Only threat. Lack of TRUTH in the Media is a threat to Democracy and while we have a free Vote there is a chance of keeping the thing on the rails. Nev

Better IF he could ZAP him. Nev

You can't revoke the citizenship of an Australian if it would leave them stateless. This is not something Labor or even the LNP can do if they were in government. There is no doubt these women made a monumentally stupid decision (although some were pressured into it by family, and were only girls themselves). And some may remain a security risk. The government will need to eventually let them back, it has no choice. What it can do is charge them with whatever crimes they've committed and lock them up here. The question it's facing now is, does it leave them and their children (who are innocent) in a terrible place where their kids are likely to be radicalised themselves while it dithers with the political pressure, or does it act quickly and provide those children the support services they need?

Just on another EV related topic. BYD recently announced that development of Sodium phosphate batteries has proved successful and that BYD is moving towards full production of this type of enegery storage. I think that the main advantages of sodium phosphate technology is a lower cost of raw materials and the elimination of the fire risks associated with lithium batteries. BYD knows about economies of scale. Sodium phosphate batteries can only become the universal standard if the majority of manufacturers are using them. To get this change started industry-wide, BYD has apparently not patented the process, but is freelky sharing the knowledge with everyone who makes batteries. We shall see what we shall see.

That is the irony of Charity. All Vinnies, LifeLine, Red Cross and Op Shops suffer from the generosity of people. I'm battling the same problem in the OP Shop I work at. Too much stuff donated; not enough staff to sort it, and not enough demand for what is put out for sale. I'm bagging up good clothing to be sent to Africa. Doing that is better than sending it to landfill. Also, our tip operator (local council) does not charge to tip. The Metropolitan charities lose bucket of money paying tip fees. It's bad when you live in a town with an aged population. Boomers are dropping off the perch and their kids are cleaning out theie houses and dropping off what they don't want to charity shops. Just think of the wedding gifts you received at you first wedding. Nowadays, no one has dinner parties so there is no need for fancy dinner sets or glassware. Then over the years people collect stuff like Tupperware and cookware. You can't sell that sort of stuff, but people keep donating it. We can't sell electrical items because we don't have anyone to Test 'n' Tag each item, but we continue to get it donated. You'd be surprised at how many items of clothing still have the original retailer's tags on them. I spent today packing up Mum's stuff to remove it from her room where she lived for the past ten years. I packed away CDs, DVDs and casette tapes, as well as their players. Who would want her out-of-date clothing. I have just poured opened jars full of jam down the sink. And there are all her creams, ointments and soaps that can't be given away. And her shoes and underwear. The only thing we can do is to wait until the end of the bushfire season and have a big burn up.

You Mean it's ALL Bull? Cheeses Crust. Is Nothing sacred? Next you'll tell me there's no Dog, and I'm adopted. Nev

They're only selling it because we're buying it. I'd say the fault lies with us.

They tilt their tails and Have wing slats and they are Ornithopters. No Plane will ever be as good. Nev

in this space.. on the same page... circle back... low-hanging fruit... bring to the table... brain dump... get buy-in... game changer... take it off-line... reinvent the wheel... onboarding... in my wheelhouse... top down... putting out fires... There are heaps of them and they're all irritating.

True story. I joined the RAAF in 1979. My now wife moved in with me in 1980. The Air Force at this time chose to recognise De facto relationships. This meant we were entitled to married accommodation. At the time, they did not have enough Air Force accommodation. This meant that they subsidised our private rental. Every 3 months I would go to the pay section and be given thousands of dollars in cash. Then, temporarily, the crusty old conservatives gained power (f**k I hate conservatives) and suddenly they did not recognise our relationship. we of course, being rational people, got married.

There's NO valid comparison at all. No proper process was involved with the ICE procedure. The Courts were involved HERE.. EVENTUALLY she was let out., T Abot Created a special fund for the Purpose of taking her to Court, which was a Bit questionable. Nev

Trumps complete lunacy know no bounds. He has announced that a Hospital ship is on its way to Greenland to care of many people who are sick & not being cared for. Greenlands PM has declined to accept it. What happened was a Danish sailor got sick & was transported 7NM to Nuuck by Seahawk helicopter for treatment. Apart from that nothing. Greenland has a free healthcare system & you have to pay for everything in the US. Also social media posts say that both of the American hospital ships are at a shipyard in Mobile Alabama. When asked for comment the navy referred callers to the White House. https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360942171/greenland-says-no-thanks-trumps-curious-us-hospital-boat-plan

I watched the vid, and I can honestly say that is almost 7.5 minutes of my life I won't get back. In a general sense, I don't disagree with what is said.. Pick any subject and there are those that wish to shut the other side down through deligitimising them rather than the argument. And this vid is no different. It assets a bunch of stuff, shows a snippett aof a headline or makes assertions without actually offering substantive evidence. It is also one of the oldest tricks in the book; deligitimse them by asserting they are deligitimising you. And that is what this vid is largely doinng. For example, the assertion the IPCC report is purely political because it was read out by a diplomat? Seriously? What other evidence does he proffer? Oh, he asserts the report is entirely based on the worst case scenario? Again, he offers no evidence, but a cursory glance at the report (all volumes and summaries here: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/), it is at the upper range for forecasting. I do agree, there are actors on all sides that seek to shut down debate, silence the other side, deligitimse them, and not listen and argue on facts. They are the ideologists and fanatics. They may bet the most airtime, but they are, as far as I can tell, in the minority - at least when the facts are on their side.. that is becasuse when the facts are on your side, you don't have to resport to these other tactics to win the case - at least in theory. When the facts are against one side or one doesn't know the facts to sup[port their agenda, they tend to use these other tactics. This video does exactly what it accuses the other side of doing. It is seeking to discredit the debate of the other side by asserting the other side is discrediting his side. It is quite the irony, to be sure; and offers some isolated instances of where it has happened, and drawn in othe organisations and instuttions without offering a shred of actual evidence. Pot calling the kettle black. You are quite right.. Very little of science is "settled", if by that you mean absolutely everything about something is known and there is no more to be learned. The basic equation of lift we all learned in PPL, CPL, and ATPL training was wrong. More accuratley, it did not account for all components of airflow and forces that generate lift. This was finally proven by an Oxford professor (from memory) who refined the equation. For pilots understanding of lift, it has had zero impact, because the theory as it was understood explianed flight, and it still a major component of the theory of lift. The same for atomic theory. When I did high school science, the only sub atomic particles were electrons, protons, and neutrons. Now, quantum physics takes it further. It does not change the core theory, but refines it. In other words, the existing understanding at the time was showing the right direction of tracel - but either refines the direction or the size/predictability of stayin on that direction. Notice, the science world calls them theories and not absolute. But in may cases, the changes refine rather than debunk existing theories and science. It is, I regret to say, the same with climate. Those ideologically opposed to the the theory use "science is not settled" to debunk the whole science. The science is understood enough that, sadly, our behaviour is contrinuting materially to global warming. There seems to be very little scientific dispute to that. There is dispute - yes - and I agree with the video that the evidence should be challenged and that counter-evidence (for want of a better word) should be heard and also challenged. Where the science seems not to be settled is exactly how much and what the rate it is occuring before it causes catastrophic changes to the earth - this does not mean the earth withers and dies; but that the earth cannot sustain life on the planet to the same level and/or type as it currently does. One of the key reasons for their not being such certainty is because we are talking a climate/meteoroligical science - one that, if we look at purely meterorlogical science, is setlled enough to be able to be reasonably accurate at predicting weather, but still enough unknown variables/factors that we cnanot possibly predicit with certaintly. This is why pure and applied maths in VCE in Victoria was changed to change and approximation. (it is now a bunch of other things).

I reckon any "Blacks for Trump" placard wavers are feeling buyer's remorse right now. He also shared a video of the Obamas on monkey bodies. The man is scum.