nomadpete

That's the aviation industry. And we all know that is a hazardous activity.

Octave, just try making a complaint against a woman (for any reason). I share the view that you have been very fortunate to mix/work amongst the nice people. Bad behaviour is not decided by gender, but bias sometimes is. That broad statement works across the spectrum. This is one case where statistics are often skewed. My personal experience has confirmed this.

Nah, couldn't be! If that was true, Gina would have a mine there and by now got a government subsidy to build a rail track to it.

Similar story in the power industry. In 18 years I recall a couple of fatalities. Working on high voltage doesn't give you a second chance. We used to joke 'one flash and you're ash'. 1. Driver fell asleep at the wheel on the way home from a job. Tree stopped him. 2. Man crushed by a trailer when he unhitched it on a slope. 3. Electrocution! Poor bloke was working on a rural line when lightning hit the line 2k away. Note that both ends of the run were grounded. 4. Snake bite when walking through long grass. 5. There was another WTF fatality but I can't recall details of it. Our regular safety bulletins advised all staff when incidents occurred so no problems were hidden. Although strict risk assessments and processes are annoying and often slow down productivity, they really do save lives.

My theory is that Tassie is a small pond for pollies to play in. Local councils are the same everywhere. The smaller mobs seem to avoid meaningful scrutiny and they get away wit more dodgy stuff. I support independants and Greens for the same reason as Marty. Down here poverty and unemployment/ underemployment is rife. When it comes to job options, there seems to be mostly public servants, fish farmers and loggers. We probably have a big unreported number of people living rough. Not on the streets, but in third world shacks on bush blocks. I am helping the president of our mens shed - he managed to buy a bush block back when they were affordable. Still no electricity so I am setting up a basic solar plant to give him lights.

Marty, jeans and a jacket would get you frozen to death on a cold Scottish winter night.

I didn't know that either. But it makes sense, logically. Not so sure how he'd do all that on a muddy battlefield. I rather like his fireplace though.

Most armchair travellers have already been doing that for decades, Nev.

I do remember the event as it was reported in the day. Today, it chills me to read the full story (even though it is Wiki).

And that was referring to the original Crimean War in 1853. After their wars, the Russians (maybe moreso than others?) seem to leave a blank canvas for the victors to build a new county on. Yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I like this quote taken from the Guardian article. Perhaps pootin is cut from the same cloth as Nicholas the first : "Only a miracle can extricate him from the difficulties heaped on him and Russia by his pride, shallowness and imbecility" Karl Marx on Nicholas I

Not joking. Given that autonomous vehicles potentially know the thinking/paths of oncoming traffic, we can expect these interesting traffic activities to become the norm after human drivers become obsolete.

I thought there was a 'Two Hectare' rule?

To me this confirms my suspicion that the Kremlins social media influencers intend to 'help' trumpy.

Maybe he suddenly realised.........

Makes me think our roads are underutilised. We only use one side for each direction.

That hasn't changed, Nev. My parents had a 30 year mortgage and so did I. Both were finally paid out a couple of years early thanks to an inheritance windfall. And we were often only a couple of months ahead of payments especially when interest rates hit 18%. So I refute the allegations that we all had it easy. Yes, in the end I got a nice capital gain. But it took a lot of doing without along the way.

1. Even though Spenaroo's folks have 5 residential properties as old age financial support, those properties are still available for occupation (rental). They have not contributed to the housing shortage as far as occupancy goes. 2. The purchase price reflects the true current value of a property. The short time on the market is an inducation that the house is not over valued in spite of it being expensive. Simple supply and demand. Capitalism at work. 3. The shortage of sellable houses is a reflection of population growth exceeding house building capacity. Our population growth by 'natural reproduction' is almost nil. Therefore the housing shortage is substantially due to migration, and possibly also foreign investors sitting on unoccupied residential property. 4. It is unrealistic to compare affordability with past history. Because a 'starter home' when I was young, was a simple, compact, 2 bedroom, cottage with no extras. No garage, no driveway or landscaping. The lifestyle of the buyer in 1955 would nowadays be called 'frugal'. No budget allowance for car, or internet, or phone, or takeaway food. And probably located in an outer suburb that had gravel roads, no street lighting, no nearby shopping malls or hospital. All the things that are taken for granted now. I do not see any entry level homes like this today. Of course current new homes will cost twice (in real terms) what they did when I was young - because they offer twice the lifestyle.

Regarding housing affordability..... ABC article reports: "More than one in four residential properties purchased in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland last year were paid for entirely with cash by older Australians, making them immune to interest rate hikes and propping up the housing market." How can housing be "unaffordable", when there are so many cash buyers? The article suggests that older people are cashed up, but I doubt that the stats actually have the ages of buyers available to support the claim. Anyway, even if true, wouldn't it suggest thes buyers have just sold the family home, thus not changing the number of available houses on the market? There is something missing from the story. Perhaps it would be interesting to discover what percentage of private dwellings are purchased with overseas cash. Or am I just looking for a conspiracy theory?

Never fear. Trumpy and Pootin are best mates.

So the Kremlin has a very substantial motive to push interferance in the upcoming election.

Thank you Ian. There is always more to a story than what the media present.

Home renovations ARE unending. The closest to completion I ever achieved, was the dayI put the house on the market.

If you put Jan..Feb..Mar, etc across the top you can reuse the chart every year.

Not that tame. I might compare the lyrics with.... "Ya can't drive a nail with a tack hammer"