kgwilson

Is he any relation to warren Buffet? He is worth over $US120 billion

I order plenty on line. Sometimes everything works pretty well but quite often when Australia post is involved I'll get a tracking number and nothing happens for a few days. This because the vendor lodges the number apparently but has not delivered it to the post facility. The the next message is "Processed at whatever facility" and anything from almost immediately to several days the next message is "in transit to next facility at wherever". Then nothing for several days or a week or more. Eventually it turns up on the dining room table as we do not have postal delivery & my wife has picked it up from the Post Office. Next I get an email & Australia Post proudly announces my package has been delivered when they never even told me it got past the first facility they were sending it to. Then they send me a survey to see what I thought of the process. Do they ever review these? I have given them the lowest score possible on a number of occasions & told them what I think in the comments box at the end. I have never been contacted by them after any of these so called Feedback" surveys. I ordered a Smartwatch through Ali Express & got it in 8 days, free delivery from Shenzen, China in November last year. Nothing gets here from Sydney, 6 hours drive down the Pacific highway via Australia Post that quick. Most thing I have ordered & sent via courier get here within 5 days though.

He is right in that the sanctions are hurting the ordinary Russians who have been brainwashed by Putin and his regime for over 20 years that Ukraine rightfully belongs to Russia and they have to get rid of the Nazi regime there. Now that there are about 10,000 dead Russian soldiers including half a dozen Generals and they have lost enormous amounts of military hardware, it will be difficult to maintain this belief with ordinary Russians. Wounded Russians will return home with stories that belie Putins BS and the truth will slowly spread. Even though it will be countered by the Kremlin lie machine, the seeds of discontent will be sown. I'd say that this has already begun. The first and most obvious truth will be that the Ukrainians did not welcome the Russian invaders as liberators. All they did was destroy their peaceful existence where they had begun to embrace and enjoy the fruits of Western culture. The sanctions to date are a feather duster approach. The only sanctions that will really hurt are to stop all trade with Russia. The reliance on Russian Oil and Gas has hamstrung Europe & Putin is still laughing all the way to the (Russian) Bank. The UN is completely toothless. It may as well not exist. Russia should be expelled from the UN or at the very least removed from the Security Council. The fact that this council still exists displays its big Boys Club approach. It is certainly not a democratic organisation when a huge majority of votes can be vetoed by 1 of only 5 permanent members. The other 10 rotated members don't get a say at all. The hope is that during this lull, supply lines for Ukraines defence in the East and South are able to bring in enough to repel the Russians as happened with the first offensive. Anti tank weapons have worn them down but it is Russian Artillary and their long range missiles that seem to be doing the most damage. How many more of these missiles they have and how quickly they can manufacture more is the unanswered question.

Yes Sky News Australia is verging on the Ultra Right Wing mouthpiece that was Fox News & Breitbart in the US during the Trump era, cherry picking their data from stories blowing it out of all proportion, getting the facts wrong & only ever making an apology if forced to.

When I did my national service in 1970 we had the SLR & M16. The SLR was an excellent rifle though long & heavy 7.62 calibre but accurate at long range & easy to maintain. The M16 was light but not very accurate & was a piece of crap in the field as any bit of dirt would stop it working & it was finnicky to maintain with too many small bits.

The AK47 is easily the most popular assault rifle in the world and can cope with a lot of abuse, is cheap to produce and easy to use but it is not very accurate at more than 300 metres. But then it is an assault rifle not a sniper rifle. These in the photo could be the later version AK74 (the number meaning the year of original design) which takes a 5.45 round compared to the 47 that takes a 7.62 round.

I am a recent import having been here for only 17 years, but from an external view Bob Hawke was seen as a leader and champion of the common man. Australian politics though have always been hampered by in fighting between States and too many levels of government stifling progress and encouraging corruption. Since the coalition has been in power Australia has slipped several places in the World democracy index, way behind our nearest neighbour but miles ahead to the so called leader of the free world. USA is not even considered a full democracy any more. The term given by the EIU is "Flawed Democracy". Morrison & Abbot tie for worst since I've been here.

Hence the saying "Clever as a Crow". There are plenty of humans who would not have worked that out. Absolutely incredible.

It has been said for at least a hundred years that "the first casualty of war is the truth". Every war has been filled with atrocities, cover ups, and propaganda from all sides. The Germans had been murdering Jews, intellectuals, homosexuals, gypsies and anyone considered non Aryan since the early 1930s yet not much got through the wall of misinformation and into the public eye of the rest of the western world. When some of it did get published during the war it was mostly ignored. The allies were genuinely shocked when the concentration camps were eventually liberated even though information had been filtering through to them for the entire war. After the main Nuremburg trials there were thousands of ex Nazis lined up for trial but the British and American governments didn't have the stomach to push it through and a huge number were just let go to integrate back into society in the late 40s and early 50s. The aftermath of this conflict will drag on for years and there will be numerous perpetrators who get away scot-free. It is not right and downright disgusting but that is just the way it is and will be.

Bushmaster being 4 wheeled vehicles may be great in Australia & Afghanistan but how will they perform in the mud of the Spring thaw? This has stuffed advances in Ukraine since the beginning of WW2 & even before that.

I've never bought any Russian wine so I am maintaining my boycott.

In our house I use less energy than my wife but overall I use the most as I drive far more km and my flying consumes a lot. I installed a 2kw solar system in 2013 which cost $4,500.00 then. I have kept monthly records ever since. It took 5 years to pay off with the savings. We have a heat pump hot water system that I have on a timer so it does not run between 5pm & 8am so my hot water electricity is mostly solar generated. We run most things like dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum cleaner etc during the day when solar power is being generated & have mostly LED lights. Airconditioning is run when ever required but I always start it early as it is more efficient to maintain the temperature that to try & reduce it when it gets hot. It is a 7kw inverter for the main living area but uses only around 800w to maintain a constant 24 degrees on a stinking hot day. The feed in tariff started at around 18c/kwh but is now down to 9.5c/kwh. My last quarterly power bill was just under $200.00.

My guess is that it part of the latest version of the software but hasn't been linked to the number of posts made by members. On the Rec Flying site it is a rocket with most posters ranked as a Member 3/3. New posters are ranked 1/3. Odd logic.

It is sad that such an experienced and expert pilot should die from a missile that he could not outrun and on only the second day of the war. It now seems that the invasion has come to standstill and stalemate is setting in. I believe that the Ukrainians have made significant ground especially in strategic suburbs surrounding Kyiv and Odessa has become a fortress. It is also reported that at least one of Putins inner circle has resigned in opposition to the war. One would hope the longer the war continues and Putin becomes more unhinged, common sense will prevail in Russia and a lasting peace settlement will be agreed and Putin will eventually be sidelined.

My 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer Platinum was 10 years old on the 22nd of February. I have just ticked over 198,630km. It gets serviced every 15,000km & I have had to replace 1 interior light bulb, I am on the second battery and 3rd set of tyres. It has CVT transmission which has been faultless & nothing has gone wrong with it yet. My plan is to replace it with an EV when the price gets reasonable. There are some fabulous Chinese EVs but they are not available in Australia yet. With Covid, the IC shortage & now the Russians stuffing things up I may have a bit of a wait. I'll just keep going & hope things will get better.

Except that in NSW there is no check until the vehicle is 5 years old & in QLD there is no check no matter how old it is. The only check is when ownership changes hands.

With more electric vehicles coming on stream you can guarantee the pollies are working on a scheme to take their cut. Electric vehicles are perfect for congested city driving. When they are stopped in a traffic jam they use no energy at all other than the infotainment system and air conditioning which uses very little. Many electric vehicles have a separate independent battery for this. A mileage tax would therefore be more equitable when applied to electric vehicle in the city or the country.

This bloke hasn't even done his research. Churchill said "You cannot negotiate with a TIGER when your head us in its mouth" not a lion. An old reds under the bed mentality. No-one had Nuclear weapons in 1939. Putins stability is such that the West cannot take the gamble he won't use them and start WW3 which would guarantee mutually assured destruction and at least a billion deaths according to experts. The long term effects would mean curtains for the planet.

Russians disposing of their leaders murderously is a national pass time and has been going on since the Tsars. They always find a way to make it seem as if it was an accident or some misfortune.

Personally I think those who are fundamentalist and have fixed beliefs because they are told from an early age that these are true and have therefore become brainwashed into a fixed idealism are sad misinformed religious nutters. Those who think about what they have learned and look at spirituality as distinct from religion and also consider scientific knowledge and proof, I have respect for even if they still have an inkling of a creator. And as the child would say "Who was God's mum & dad?

Petrol is not expensive in Australia compared to almost anywhere in Europe (in the UK it is currently £1.64 & they say it will hit £2.50 shortly) & closer to home NZ it just went over $3.00 a litre. Our excise tax is 44.2c/litre. In NZ it is 77c a litre and 88c a litre in Auckland. GST of 15% is added to the price in NZ but 10% here. NZ has just reduced excise tax by 25cents a litre for 3 months & halved the cost of public transport for the same period, something we should be doing here as well.

The ancients were the only lot who have been right in all history. They worshipped the sun as the giver of all life. So that's it, if you need something to believe in go out in the morning & thank the sun for the existence of everything on the planet. Mankind should have outgrown religion well before now given it is the most destructive of all his inventions. The problem is there are several billion nutters who keep the myth alive and well.

The Spring thaw is imminent. The Russians will need to gain control of roads, railways and strategic centres to have any chance of control once that occurs and they are far from that goal at this stage with Ukraine putting up ever more effective defence. Russia is firing off a few long range missiles to show they are advancing but I reckon it is more of a a ploy to gain more home support and try to dampen the resolve of the Ukrainians. All the time more arms are pouring in to Ukraine and their volunteers are becoming trained and battle hardened while Russian troops are just doing their job and in many cases not very well. NATO could blow Russia away easily but with a madman who will stop at nothing, doing that would ensure WW3, M.A.D, a nuclear winter & billions of deaths. So the war will draw out into a long bloody conflict that Putin will not be able to afford for too long so a mediated settlement is the only long term solution. Putin doesn't have many mates other than Assad & a few non descripts. I can't see Xi Jinping coming to his aid militarily. He needs the west to buy everything he makes but he may well become a mediator if Nato & Ukraine accept him for the role. He is probably the only option that Putin would be happy with.

Remember when the first cars graced the streets. They were so frightening you had to have a man walking in front carrying a red flag.

If there are 4000 gods then everyone who believes in only one of them is an athiest who denies all gods but their one but then they will say I am not an athiest because I believe in my god. I can't prove my god exists and I can't prove the other 3999 don't exist. There is no logic to a belief in a god other than it gives comfort to the believer because he/she cannot accept everything evolved and their human brain is unable to accept things they will never know or understand. This is why man invented gods which evolved into religious beliefs. This has nothing to do with the belief in the principles of many religions that are often quite noble. Something like the Christian 10 commandments comes to mind. The fact that all of them are broken continuously by so called believers has nothing to do with them being excellent guiding principles.