kaz3g

So we need governments and oppositions that will plan policies for the long term rather than focussing on the next election. We need governments and oppositions that do all possible to denounce and deal with corruption, no matter whether it is capitalising on insider knowledge about planning decisions or undeclared election funding or electoral funding which is blatant vote-buying rather than meeting prioritised needs. The only way we will have any chance of getting them is if the populace chooses to vote the transgressors, whoever they are, out of office rather than being welded on conservative or labor unthinking voters. I still believe in fairies.... Kaz

Lets hope we do get a new Minister for Aviation or at least a new Minister for Transport, and let's also hope it's someone who is interested and capable unlike the last several incumbents. Kaz

As far as I know, Sussan Ley is the only federal Member flying her own aircraft...and good on her! Her electorate is hug and it makes perfect sense to use wings instead of wheels. She has a very pretty little C182 RG. Years ago, of course, we had former RAAF pilots as MP's on both sides of the house; Gorton and Caldwell come to mind. Kaz

My local Member probably only has to worry about competition from within her own party as she is very active here and well regarded. Although...our State Member is now an independent after 30 years as the safest National seat in Victoria. Neither Albanese nor Truss has done anything for aviation and you are absolutely right that the rot started when aviation was morphed into transport. Truss, however, appears to have totally muted the recent inquiry and nothing, that's zero, zilch, nada has happened to begin implementing the recommendations other than to release a new corporate manifesto. Extraordinary! What do you think, Turbs? Has the Coalition done any better than the last mob? Kaz

I am equally critical of excesses by either side of Government or their supporters and I endeavour to focus on policies rather than individuals. The current debacles over CAR 232 and the ADSB implementation cost are two good cases in point? Successive Ministers have allowed CASA to do pretty much whatever it wants to at extraordinary expense to all aircraft owners. How much has regulatory reform cost thus far? How many errors, conflicts and shear stupidity have now been identified? The mind boggles! Have a read of CAR 232 and the following article from Vocasupport and think about what might be in store at Ausfly. http://vocasupport.com/further-damage-to-aviation-accrues-from-car-232/ Dick Smith is claiming ADSB, instead of saving the aviation industry money as was promised in the RIS, will now cost upwards of $60m. Also did nothing to rein in the profligate spending of our money at CASA and neither has Truss. Time for a new broom!!! Write your local Member NOW! Kaz

I thought the authorities stuffed up long before the siege when they failed to keep him under proper surveillance using all the new ant-terrorism powers they had been given...? Kaz

The difference here Techy is that, whereas you were clearly driving a motor vehicle and the officer was probably acting within the powers available to her/him, the proposed ID checks by the ABF were to be conducted on a random ...or possibly profiled basis...without reasonable grounds or even reasonable suspicion. (I'll talk about ramp checks and the CASRs another time). We each of us have the right to move freely within the borders of our country and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. What the ABF was apparently going to do was reverse the onus so that anyone accosted had to prove themselves innocent. That has been done in both communist and fascist regimes and I don't like either of them. I certainly don't want it becoming the norm in MY country! Kaz

Hey OK Best wishes mate, ok? Kaz

I have just returned my iPad Mini to the supplier for the third time in a month because it has died, again! The original went back to Apple twice and then they supplied a replacement. It lasted less than a week. Black screen. Tried all the tricks to get it to fire up. So did the supplier. Back to Apple again. Battery seems to flatten ridiculously quickly and then won't charge/activate. Getting sick of it. Kaz

The first thing to do when removing the battery is to put in a temporary replacement battery connection in parallel so that there is no discontinuation of power to the computer...otherwise you lose all the settings including the radio programming. I have a 318 TI and learned the hard way! Kaz

I'm a bad girl...

Long time since anyone G'd me, dammit Kaz

Laudanum. There is a beautiful little shipwreck in about 3 fathoms in the entrance to Swan Bay beside Swan Island. She is about 60' long from memory and pretty intact. The Will o' The Wisp was an opium clipper and the story goes she ran aground trying to evade Customs. Be careful if you think about diving her because Swan Island is also Spook Island used for training ASIO and ASIS operatives and they are very possessive. So was the 2m wide stingray living on the site when I had a look! Kaz

Codeine is 3-methylmorphine. It is generally precipitated as the phosphate and its major use is as an oral analgesic. The alkaloid from the poppy straw is generally extracted in solvents such as ether and converted directly to crude morphine. Opium extraction isn't part of the process. Pholcodine is morpholinethylmorphine which is an antitussive used in cough linctuses such as Benadryl and is reasonably stable in solution. It tends to anaesthetise the throat and vocal chords to suppress the cough reflex. Opium used to be imported legally back in the 1960's as Concentrated Soft Extract of Tincture of Opium. It came in sealed tins of one kilo. It was a thick, dark, treacle-like substance used by compounding pharmacists to make an analgesic syrup. I was a chemist with the pharmaceutical company that first obtained a permit from the Bolte Government to process poppy straw in Victoria but was denied a permit to grow it here. I was also involved in establishing an export market for denatured poppy seed used for cullinary purposes. Trial sites of papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, are now being assessed in several locations on the mainland. Funnily enough, small quantities can still be found growing wild in odd locations around the goldfields where the Chinese were on the diggings. Years later, I was on my station in the Upper Gascoyne and decided to do a bit of a clean out of the RFDS medical chest. I found stuff that had been there for 40 years or more including heroin tablets for pain of childbirth (oh yeah)! Kaz

They are the only commercial growers in Australia and have been doing so since about 1970. They make codeine (headaches), pholcodine (coughs) and not much else from it. Poppy seed for your bread rolls is the biggest product. Kaz

Unfortunately, we have very few "rights" in our society and a great many legal obligations. Most civilised countries have a suite of citizens' rights enshrined in their Constitution. We have none in ours. The only rights we have as a nation are those inferred by the High Court or reduced into domestic law because we have become a signatory to an international Convention such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child which is reflected to a small extent in the Family Law Act. Kaz

We have certainly paid more for power, water and gas since we sold off our utilities in Victoria. I think it's also fair to say that the distribution networks are not maintained to the necessary standard as the Black Saturday court actions have demonstrated. It always struck me as ironic that Kennett held Bolte up as his great hero of conservative politics, even to the point of demanding that the Public Works Dept find Bolte's old desk for him. Yet Kennett happily sold off the States assets that Bolte worked so hard and effectively to build using bonds (borrowed money) to fund them. Bolte built for the future and Kennett...where did all the money go? Kaz

Sad, but very true. In Shepparton we have one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Victoria; and many of the young mum's go on Nd have a second or third while still in their teens. Unfortunately, the money is a major driver along with high youth unemployment and the young age of many school leavers. They can't see a future for themselves in the workforce and Costello's "one for the family and two for the country" has become one for the money and two for the money and... Kaz

Identity theft and privacy invasions are the two strongest moral precluders of a national all-encompassing card. Jurisdictional issues and revenue are the two major political obstacles. Kaz

If all were listed on one card, it would make it very easy for the ot to be cancelled for an infraction in relation to just one of them. In any case...won't happen. Different jurisdictions and each totally jealous to protect its bit of turf. Kaz

I used to live at Nobs Junction between St Andrews and Christmas Hills on the Yarra Glen Road. They don't even bother to replace the sign anymore. Kaz

Cela va descente rapidement! Kaz

I would of avoided it if I had of known it was pore English Kaz ps. thank goodness for spell check

Down here in Victoria, Julie is in the middle of winter and definitely COLD! Kaz

The Gunditjmara around Warrnambool built stone fish traps and also "igloos" in which they sheltered during the cold winters. Around the Arnhem coast, the Yolngu built their wirlies of sticks and paperbark sheets to protect them from the summer monsoon. Kaz