nomadpete

Oh. I thought the Gold Coast was the Sinney centre of OarStaya

Who? Wolfie, Penfold, Grant Burge ... .

The worst water I have seen or tasted was St George. I was told there was two supplies - one from the river to flush the toilets (so brown I couldn't see whether number two was still there), and sulphurous bore water for drinking. After a week there when I came home, I smelt so bad, I was sent to the shower to get the smell off before the family would even greet me. Climate change seems to be contributing to redistribution of vital drinking water in some countries.

'Experts' have been predicting a real estate crash for decades. I reckon Jerry is holdin off his trip home until it happens.... The young man waiting for housing to get cheap....

Aaah. Land of free rein capitalism. There is always some way to skim dollars from those around you. And over here we still hear people saying..... 'Nobody will buy those new cars, there won't be anywhere to charge them.'

Tut tut, old mate. Decorum please! This is NOT the gripes thread.

Congratulations Jerry. When it comes to 'quality of life', there are only two things that you have some control over. If you can go to bed each night feeling good about your day's work, and wake up each day next to a person you are happy with..... you are better off than most of the people on the planet.

Our bus stop. It is a couple of hundred metres down our driveway. Since this pic, there have been shrubs planted around it and a raised fireplace built facing the lounge seat. Simple, and a lovely spot to simply 'be' with our surroundings...

My wife has had a difficult week so we adjourned to the 'bus stop' that I built halfway down the driveway, for therapy. I lit a comfort fire and opened a bottle of therapeutic wine . I brought dinner down and lit the candles and we watched the wildlife going to bed while the full moon rose through the trees... Sometimes we need chill out a bit.

Hello Peter. I'm still here.

I don't have that problem. Maybe your chimney wont block up so fast if you stop crapping on your wood?

If you don't mind taking responsibility for stuff, going your own way is cheaper than joining the community schemes. I don't have garbage collection service. I sort and compact my trash and when the bin is full, I take it to the garbage dump and pay to dump it. Costs about 7.50 a month. What does your council charge for sulo bin service? My water tanks and pump are looking like lasting at least 20 years. About $75 per quarter. What are water rates in cities? Unfortunately I am grid connected, but my rooftop solar and usage pattern helps - average bill is $275 per quarter. And we do use the A/C. Today I set up solar lighting for a friend. He scored an old ex rootop solar panel for a few dollars and a couple of old lead/acid batteries from a recycler. Although he does not expect to run a fridge yet, he at least has lighting and no electricity bills at all.

Hasn't this been done before?

He's trying to look young..... hiding the wrinkles.

Isn't the scientific reference book old enough for them?

Power generation has problems no matter what method is used. Everone loves to post pictures of wind turbine failures. They are so easily seen. I first saw mass fish kills back when Vales Point power station (Lake Macquarie) started operation. Not newsworthy. There probably have been a lot that I wasn't there to see. What about the thousands of acres of land that now is unfit for human use due to un-rehabilitated coal mines in the whole region? Hardly ever in the news. Or the respiratory problems experienced by people living near the uncovered coal train corridor to Brisbane? Got a brief mention then all on the back burner and no action. And the toxic tailings dams and the ash dams that kill migratory birds? Not newsworthy. Did Queenslanders hear about Tarong power station secretly using 80 gigalitres of drinking water per day during the big drought? Not in the news. Where I lived there were ongoing lawsuits against underground coal mines due to homes damaged by mine subsidence. Not in the news. Not many pictures of failed steam turbines either but they do happen and are more explosive/expensive than the occassional windturbine failure. Media doesn't seem to report much about the problems associated with burning fossil fuels.

Yep. God needs Donny's endorsement..... yeah!

Apart from extremist 'climate craziness' at BOTH ends of the seesaw, I wasn't aware of any moderation in media frenzy either way. The pro anti-oil and gas folk have acknowledged the need to seriously cut down our rate of BURNING fossil fuels. Raising oil to use as lubricant is not causing atmospheric pollution and has not (as far as I noticed) been hyped up much, if at all. Gas is probably the least worst stuff to burn, but it is wise to reduce our rate of burning ALL such fuels because whether solid, liquid or gass. The residue of burning results in pollution - shitting in our own nest. There is more to it than CO2.

Please don't choke, Nev. The USofA is simply a louder version of our own political 'situation'.

That is something I don't understand. Don't blame me, I'd never vote that way..

And Donny is...... ?

Will anybody vote for Robert Kennedy just to avoid voting Biden?

Why all the hand wringing about a hung parliament? I think it is good. It forces the parties to DEBATE the virtues of their decisions. If there is merit, all elected parties can support a decision instead of simply arguing on the grounds of 'we had a mandate to do whatever we like' vs 'we oppose it because we are in opposition'. If we get over a love affair with the 2 party system, we would have democracy.

Birthdays are cruel. Look what they do to people!

The truly rich often live amongst like minded people - in a tax haven far from the madding crowds (and scrutiny).