kgwilson

According to the US Fact Checker Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims during his time as President up to 1 August. That is an average of 7.6 per day over 558 days. In his first 100 days the number was 4.9 claims per day but in Jun/July this year he averaged 16 claims per day. In just 6 months he has doubled the false and misleading claims made in his first year in office. He seems convinced that he can say anything because he is the President. Many of his supporters say he is getting things done but most of the economic turnaround within the US economy is a result of policies introduced by Obama. As soon as something that has any negative effect happens he will blame anyone including his own government departments, the latest being the Stock Market downturn when he immediately blamed the Federal Reserve. Of course the long Bull run was entirely attributable to him, according to him. It amazes me that the Yank system is such that the President is almost untouchable. Some legal opinions are that he can pardon himself, he does not have to produce his tax returns which would likely show tax evasion etc. There are a lot of very intelligent people in the US but a whole lot of redneck, bogun, gun crazy, ultra religious, uninformed zealots who actually vote. Most of these seem to think there is nothing really outside of the US that is any good & don't know where most countries even are. If hopefully the Republican majority in Congress & Senate disappears at the mid terms what will he do then?

The sub fertility rate is about 2.33 children per woman which means 2 children per woman to replace the parents, plus a "third of a child" to make up for the higher probability of boys born and mortality prior to the end of their fertile life. Below this and the population declines. So some women may have lots of children and some none. Australia is among the worlds countries amounting to about 3.3 billion people below the sub fertility rate. Of course this does not take into account immigration and many immigrants come for countries with high mortality rates and virtually no birth control so they push the figures into positive territory including the immigrants themselves. 360,000 last year & whether they are permanent or temporary it all puts a massive strain on everything (infrastructure, housing, health, education etc) but is the only thing keeping the economy growing. Everyone knows it but politicians deny it.

And also not to mention that an electric motor develops full torque from zero rpm.

I've also checked the hotels own website & without exception it is more expensive that the on-line booking site. I have not rung the hotel to try & do a deal so that might work. Mostly though the employee does not have the authority to negotiate unless you happen to get the manager on the phone. Just this last weekend I stayed in a studio unit in Noosa for $102.00 a night. The resort websites best deal was $140.00 a night

Fred, this is Richard, next door. I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve been riddled with guilt for a few months and have been trying to get up the courage to tell you face-to-face. At least I’m telling you in this text and I can’t live with myself a minute longer without you knowing about this. The truth is that when you’re not around I’ve been sharing your wife, day and night. In fact, probably much more than you. I haven’t been getting it at home recently and I know that that’s no excuse. The temptation was just too great. I can’t live with the guilt and hope you’ll accept my sincere apology and forgive me. Please suggest a fee for usage and I’ll pay you. Regards, Richard NEIGHBOR’S RESPONSE : Fred, feeling so angered and betrayed, grabbed his gun and shot Richard killing him. He went back home and poured himself a stiff drink and sat down on the sofa. Fred then looked at his phone and discovered a second Text message from Richard. SECOND TEXT MESSAGE : Hi, Fred. Richard here again. Sorry about the typo on my last text. I expect you figured it out and noticed that the damned Auto-Spell Correct had changed “wi-fi" to “wife”. Tec hnology, huh? It’ll be the death of us all. Regards, Richard

The cost of renewable energy is now about one third of the cost of polluting fossil fuels. That is why wind farms and solar farms are getting the finance and coming on line in ever increasing numbers. The problem as pointed out is storage. As the ANU study showed, pumped hydro is the best way to store energy, and we only need about 30 out of 2000 potential sites they identified on the East coast. Sure pumped hydro uses more than it produces but who cares when it is coming from excess wind and solar generated energy.

Why bother sneaking up in a submarine when you can buy a few 1980s Exocet missiles from the Argies for bugger all & stick them in in some unassuming old RPTs. The old RPTs might not get home but taking out a carrier or two would be pretty cost effective.

It's a pretty damning record. Australia is at No 13 on the World Corruptions index behind most of Western Europe but 3 ahead of the USA. No surprises there. Interestingly our nearest neighbour NZ is at No 1 being the least corrupt country in the World. According to Transparency International, since 2012, several countries significantly improved their index score, including Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and the United Kingdom, while several countries declined, including Syria, Yemen and Australia.

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, 'Perfect timing. You're just like Frank.' Passenger: 'Who?' Cabbie: 'Frank Feldman.. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time.' Passenger: 'There are always a few clouds over everybody.' Cabbie: 'Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy.' Passenger: 'Sounds like he was something really special.' Cabbie: 'There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, Which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, could do everything right.' Passenger: 'Wow, some guy then.' Cabbie: 'He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman.' Passenger: 'An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?' Cabbie: 'Well... I never actually met Frank. He died and I married his wife.'

Right. Now lets all leave. We've buggered the place anyway. I wonder who will take 25 million refugees? Hang on who am I going to sell all my stuff to. There seem to be a few minor issues with all this.

If the mainstream parties get rejected and we get a lot of competent independents elected, enough to form a government with a good majority, they could operate like a company board. No party politics just good economic and social sense on every issue. Nah, couldn't happen because they are all POLITICIANS aka Pigs at the trough.

When I lived in SE QLD it was light at 3:30 in the morning and summer BBQs were held in the dark. In a referendum about 80% of SE Qlders voted to have daylight savings & there was talk of splitting the state into different time zones as daylight savings was useless in the North due to the difference between Summer & Winter being not much at all. The government of the day refused to do the split so it never changed.

What about fading curtains? Plenty of idiots were and probably still are serious about that.

There are a lot of Australians who have been badgered by the fear campaign that if Labor gets in the flood gates will open & there will be boats landing everywhere. The LNPs treatment of refugees is criminal at best but there is so much fear spread that we seemingly accept the BS. The LNP especially people like Dutton & the hard right should be prosecuted for the whole Manus Island and Nauru debacle where human rights are zero. As a developed nation we have the worst human rights record on the planet.

Shorten may be the leader and he may well have the credentials but he has a poor public image and there is a lot of suspicion from the voting public about his Union past history. Personally I'd like to see Tania Plibersek as the Labor leader. I don't know her history but she speaks eloquently, looks good and seems able to fend off the bullying from the libnats with some well chosen words. Dutton looks to be history now with a second au pair visa deal done for a police mate.

Soothsayer.

Well a not so united Europe. Brexit is just the beginning, Italy has had more governments than most have had hot dinners, Greece is broke, the refugee issue is dividing all of the members, there is the right wing resurgence all over and Germany is struggling to find the funds to pay for everything.

Whereas our Christian leaders are finally being found out to be the hypocrites they always were, taking vows of celibacy and abusing children in their care. That sounds pretty barbaric to me.

Maybe the 1% of 2.5% should have been 0.0001%. I don't know but I do think it is the fear factor whipped up by the media reporting that is the biggest problem. Yes there is the odd nutter fundamentalist jihadist Muslim who goes crazy and has a go at beheading someone or whatever. It outrages everyone including 99.999% of the Muslim community. But what about the Christian or Jew or Hindu or Buddhist nutter who has a go at a similar thing. The publicity factor is not as newsworthy.

Australia is supposed to be a secular society but we have holidays based on Christian beliefs, the governments give money to religious schools and many politicians have hard core religious beliefs so humanitarian issues such as dying with dignity etc hardly get a look in. There are religious cranks and hard liners within all religions although at every census the number of Australians who define themselves as having no religion increases dramatically. In 2016 30.1% declared no religion and 9.6% declared nothing, some form of Christianity was 52.1% and Muslims 2.6%. The problem is anything that is a bit unsavoury that has Islam or Muslim involved somewhere gets huge press and publicity. If there is 1% of the 2.6% who are Muslims and hard line jihadist types that is 0.026% of the population. Not a huge number to control I would have thought. The sooner religions die out the better, though I am not holding my breath.

Yep the story is told over and over. If the dog hadn't stopped to Sh1t it would have caught the rabbit.

You get people like Anning in the Senate when the system is so stupid it allows someone with only 19 votes to be elevated to a position of such magnitude. Hitler did it with ruthless aggressive power and fear, our system allows it under the guise of democracy. Now with all the media attention he is sure to get all the votes that might have gone to Paulines mob. No wonder she has denounced him.

The best battery is water from pumped hydro as it has almost an infinite life. The ANU identified over 2000 sites on the East Coast of which only 30 odd would be required to provide all of the energy needed and they could be built by 2020. Wind & solar will be used to pump the water up during the day when there's a surplus & the turbines will run when the demand is high. Wind & solar farms are springing up everywhere but other than the ridiculously huge Snowy 2 what is happening with pumped hydro especially the ones that can use sea water?

A judge was interviewing a woman regarding her pending divorce and asked, "What are the grounds for your divorce?" She replied, "About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property with a stream running by." "No," he said, "I mean what is the foundation of this case?" "It is made of concrete, brick, and mortar," she responded. "I mean," he continued, "what are your relations like?" "I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, as well as my husband's parents." The judge took a deep breath and asked, "Do you have a real grudge?" "No," she replied, "we have a two-car carport and have never really needed one." "Please," he tried again, "is there any infidelity in your marriage?" "Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don't necessarily like the music, but we can't seem to do anything about it." "Ma'am, does your husband ever beat you up?" "Yes," she responded, "he gets up every morning before I do and makes the coffee." The judge asked, "Is your husband a nagger?" Exasperated she replied, "Oh, hell no, he is white just like you and me!" Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, "Lady, why do you want a divorce? " "Oh, I don't want a divorce," she replied. "I've never wanted a divorce, my husband does. He says he can't communicate with me."

IPA, one of my favourite beer styles.