kgwilson

Who is he trying to kid that buying billions worth of missiles, subs, jets etc will cut it. If we were attacked, they'd all be gone in the first day or 2. When the perceived adversary is also our largest customer & supplier with military might a hundred times our size and a population over 50 times ours how will anything like this make the slightest difference. I agree that only economic and intellectual property warfare will happen even while large nations continue to posture with ever more destructive weapons.

I haven't had a cheque book since 2005. Electronic banking has been around for a lot longer than that as well. I got my first bank card for withdrawals only in prescribed amounts when I was living in London in 1974.

Whale oil beef hooked.

A bloke I know said his wife had a battleship tattooed on her chest but when he first met her it was only a rowing boat. You know you are old because everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work & your get up & go got up & went.

I use my credit card for everything possible, even a cup of coffee. It has no fees and no rewards & I pay it off on the due date every month. As it is on line is it a very easy way to manage and monitor expenditure. I pay it off fully every month but one month somehow got the cents back to front so instead of 54 cents I entered 45 cents. The total bill was 3 and a half thousand. The next bill had a late payment interest fee of $125.00. I rang & was originally told "Tough that is the way it is". When I explained & asked them to look at my payments history they agreed to look at it. The next month it got worse & this time I got a bit more agro in my stance & told them "How did they think this would look given their current roasting at the Royal commission. I got passed on to a Supervisor who immediately waived the initial charges and the next charges on top of the original charges. The next month the credits were there but there were more charges that had accrued between the phone calls so I got in touch again saying this time that unless it was fully resolved they could stick their CC up their fundamental you know what unless it was finally fixed. It took another month and another charge reversal to come right. They have all these great systems set up to automatically do everything in their favour but when it comes to a mistake there is no process to reverse or fix it. What a pathetic process for a 9 cent underpayment.

The yanks need to get someone from a younger generation into the hot seat. Look at the change in Canada & NZ with young level headed PMs that have real leadership qualities combined with empathy and kindness not seen in most other countries of the world. Biden is at least literate and informed. Trump is poorly educated and a malignant narcissist. Pence is a total sycophant & a fool for his continued brown nosing. No question, out of the 3 Biden wins by a country mile. But then it's the American system that is totally fu@#!d up. A lot didn't like Hillary but she still got 3 million more votes than Trump & still lost.

And they taste like chicken.

Trump is a Malignant Narcissist diagnosed by numerous psychologists in the US & around the world. The clinical definition fits Trump like a leotard. For the malignant narcissist only self matters. So he is literally incapable of feeling empathy for others. The malignant narcissist seeks praise to bolster his fragile self. Trump will take praise from anywhere. He revels in the flattery of dictators like Kim Jong-un. And if he doesn't get praise he invents it. "So many leaders have come up to me and said sir, your economy is the envy of the world." Because the malignant narcissist acknowledges no self but his own, he demands loyalty from others but gives none in exchange. Again, that's pure Trump. Anyone who opposes him is instantly dismissed. By now the only people still at his side are sycophants like Pence and cynics like Pompeo. For the malignant narcissist there is no such thing as truth. There is only what's good for his self. So Trump lies. He lies obviously, brazenly, laughably. When the media points out those lies, Trump feels no shame. Instead he accuses them of fake news. In other words he accuses truth-tellers of lying about his lies. Trump feels no shame because shame implies fault and the malignant narcissist cannot admit fault, about anything, ever. So when Trump wrongly suggested a hurricane might hit Alabama and the official weather service corrected him, his psychiatric disorder wouldn't let him just say that he'd made a mistake. Instead he took a weather map and doctored it, drawing a new line on it by hand, a line that took in Alabama. He then presented that map on television as if it were the truth. It didn't matter that others didn't believe it. It mattered only that he preserved his own sense of being right. The malignant narcissist ignores the law because the self is more important. So Trump solicits aid from foreign countries to get himself elected because it never occurs to him not to. He got help from Russia in 2016. He sought it from Ukraine last year. And that is what he was impeached for. But his pathological psychology meant he was unable to accept the impeachment. He called it treason. He throws tantrums like a 5-year-old. He screamed that everything was rigged. The republicans did not have the balls to throw him out but anyway he would have refused to go. His performance throughout the Coronavirus crisis has been appalling and his behaviour is becoming more erratic by the day. The continued Bull Share Market was all attributable to him personally in his eyes but the balloon has popped and his obsession with the economy over the health of Americans is the major reason the US now has almost 3 times as many cases as the next worst, Spain. His mental health is now being seriously questioned by the many who are studying him. This may be what finally destroys him So the men in white coats will have to take him away. And as they come for him Trump will try to destroy everything around him, because a world that rejects his self, that throws him from office, literally cannot exist. All this, according to the psychiatry textbooks, is inevitable. What a joy it will be to watch. And it's starting now. I live in hope that this will happen.

Devon is a county in England. The processed stuff you mostly buy sliced is also Luncheon sausage or Belgium sausage.

The problem with crypto currencies is that they exist only in cyberspace and block chain software. They are only worth anything because of the spruiking done by the organisations try to sell them, pumping up the demand by saturating millions of email addresses with BS about how all the celebrities have made a fortune. It has all proven absolutely false but they keep it up as there will always be one new gullible person with some money out of probably 10,000 tries.

And circlips are called snap rings in the US. I don't know why. Maybe theirs break easily. To me a split pin and a circlip (circular clip) describes exactly what they are.

What is this really all about? Do our governments think that we will descend into some sort of anarchy? They've been watching Mad Max once too often.

There's plenty of fuel & the price difference at the moment is more than 60 cents a litre. The cheapest in Perth is 88.9c, about $1.19 in Sydney & $1.40 in the Coffs Harbour area.

Well it essential for the Ducks to know because they can go somewhere to hide. As a kid in NZ the pond at the local park filled up with Ducks at the beginning of the duck shooting season. They seemed to know it was safe there. I think duck shooting is less popular than it once was. In the 50s almost everyone seemed to have a 12 gauge & opening day was a dangerous time to be anywhere near where the shooters were hiding.

On the news a reporter asked a woman who'd just returned from a cruise & was in isolation why they'd gone on the cruise after it was known cruise ships were hot beds of infection. She said she rang the company & if she cancelled she would not get her money back so decided to go. I'd say this is a major reason why a lot went. They probably didn't think it would get as bad as it has but the warnings have been numerous and loud now for months. I have little sympathy for them bleating "Come & get me" now.

100% accurate and it only took a day for that to happen. The USA now has 45,000 more cases than Italy at No 2

The following article by Verity Johnson published early this morning is a somewhat amusing but "On the money" view of the performance of National leadership. In the past few weeks, watching world leaders react to Covid-19 has been like watching the final stages of a reality TV show where all the contestants start going bananas. If this was The Bachelorette, Trump would be the thin-skinned used-car salesman dude who's forever lying about what a great shag he'd be. Boris Johnson the cocky, overbred private schoolboy who doesn't understand why his patrician wit hasn't automatically won already. And Scott Morrison is the dude they put in there so everyone can regularly shout at the TV, "Why the f... is this guy here?" But in the race for the hearts and minds of the nation in crisis, there's been one clear winner. And the calm, compassionate, charismatic Jacinda has stood out as not only the one you want to take home to your family, but also run your household, business, and country. While BoJo and ScoMo have thrashed around in indecision, and Trump has put his head even further up his backside than was previously thought anatomically possible, Aunt Cindy has shone. She's unequivocally playing the main role in this movie (the one that's always played by a white, middle-aged, maverick cop named Jack). Namely the person who looks in the camera and says, "It's OK everyone, I have a plan. Follow me and you'll survive." And it feels as though the ability to deliver that monologue, with or without accompanying cinematic explosions, is the most important thing we need right now in our leaders. In terms of managing the actual health crisis, the role of a national leader is a bit different to normal. Typically, you'd expect the PM to make decisions on policies based on public service advice, but primarily from party policy and own opinion. Not now. Right now requires leaders to listen to what their scientists and health advisers say. And just that. Uncharacteristically for politicians, they need to remove their own opinions and simply get everyone doing exactly what the doctors order. This is where Ardern has excelled. In comparison to leaders like Trump, she's been sitting down, shutting up and listening to what the scientists say. Trump has consistently undermined America's preparedness for Covid-19, disbanding the US's China-based pandemic research team, systemically eroding funding for the Centers for Disease Control, rejecting WHO virus tests, and making misleading, blatantly unscientific statements that the virus will "vanish", or that he'd like to see churches packed for Easter. His style, a dangerous yet highly listenable blend of scientific distrust and sweeping it's-all-good-man, is completely at odds with the need to prioritise the advice of the experts. But Ardern is sensible enough to realise that pandemic control is not her speciality, and to react swiftly to her medical advisers instead. Which is exactly what we saw when she heard the criticism of New Zealand's early complacency and swiftly raised the alert level to a general lockdown – a firmness unseen in Australia. And the next vitally important step, after realising that you don't know all the answers, is to clearly communicate the advice of those who do. Boris Johnson is smart, but his preference for loveable bumbling chic hasn't prepared him for delivering important messages in a way people listen to. As we can see when he tried to be stern in asking people to practise social distancing, and everyone ignored him and went to the pub. Trump likewise can't stay on a consistent message, bouncing between it being a hoax, to it being "contained" in America, to it being a national crisis. Scott Morrison is no better, having tried to say both that mass events should be cancelled (but he was going to the footy) and that bars and cafes were out (but not hairdressers for appointments under 30 minutes, with one person per four square metres). In contrast, Ardern has managed to tell the message clearly and calmly via press conference, text message and even road signs. Be kind. Stay home. That's it. It's a mark of highly skilled communication to be able to find clarity in overwhelming and complicated situations. And ultimately it's the ability to do that which maintains public calm, because everyone's freaking out and can't process anything except the clearest of messages. But perhaps what's made her most invaluable is how she conveys equal parts clarity and compassion. She openly acknowledges that people are afraid and that this is normal (instead of doing a Trump and attacking reporters who state this). And by embracing the difficulty we're all feeling, she connects with the public and gets our support. And we're listening. We're not partying on Bondi beach, we're (mostly) hunkering down at home. Once again she's proved that communication with kindness – historically dismissed as too feminine a leadership style – creates the powerful, reassuring leadership people trust. And our survival right now depends on trust in the Government. And we need them to maintain the good practice they've started – even more so if this gets worse. While it still looks very uncertain, Ardern's leadership has given us cause for hope that we can get through.

I was at a Shell (Coles) petrol station yesterday & they had toilet paper stacked all through the shop. People were surprised when the came to pay & most grabbed a pack of 30 probably for no other reason that it was there.

When my wife & I came here to live in 2005 & I bought a business I had no idea that Super was compulsory & when organisng an Accountant he told us to get it done immediately so I just went to the bank & put some money in it. The next year we set up a SMSF & salary sacrificed. I'd taken all my Super out in cash from the previous scheme I'd had in NZ. There are still fees to pay even though my SMSF is now a pension scheme due to the ridiculously complicated reporting process & even though there is no tax to pay I still have to pay a $259.00 fee to the ATO each year for nothing. The fund is all in cash & commercial real estate so at present the value is still holding up. Not for long I fear. Other investments have gone down the toilet but of course only on paper (not the toilet variety because I can't get any anyway).

I thought you could still get the payment with a State Seniors card but nope it must be a Commonwealth Seniors card.

On Mad as Hell last night the eye in the sky when asked about the toilet paper shortage reckoned it was because so many people are talking out of their arses at present.

The US is now at No 1. Trump will be pleased, they have overtaken China for the most cases of Covid-19 with 14,000 new cases yesterday. But the genius is going to have packed churches at Easter and everything will be all over in a few weeks. Yeah right!

The place not to be is Sydney Airport today. People arriving and all huddled together in queues. No social distancing & Borderforce said it's not our problem it's Biosecurity. Buck passing is alive and well

This thing is just in its infancy. Growth is exponential with cases doubling or quadrupling every day. That's the difference. There is a lot of hysteria and the panic buying is pathetic. Worldwide it took 3 months to go from a few cases to 200,000. It took 6 days to get from that to 400,000. Less than a day later 471,000. Best case scenario from our experts in such things is 50,000 dead & up to 150,000. From January to now it has spread from 1 city to 198 countries and territories. All the other things mentioned don't change much %age wise over time.