kgwilson

Dame Edna was more famous than Barry himself. Personally I thought Sir Les was his most hilarious character. Barry was a legend. RIP.

I keep saying it but will again. Every initiative from governments and various authorities to date has failed. If the No vote gets up that is a vote for failure. The Voice may not be a perfect solution but I think it is an important first step. The scare mongering from the political Right has shown their lack of understanding and fear that their power might be usurped. Almost every time Dutton & his puppet Price, open their mouths the drivel is almost immediately debunked.

Their only good use in years gone by was for fish & chip wrapping. Now they are no good for this either.

The other voting machine company Smartmatic has a $US2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox so they may settle for a similar of maybe larger amount.

BTW Robert Gottliebsen is a wealthy right wing business and investment commentator who works for the Murdoch press. His comments and attitude are entirely predictable.

The point of the voice is simple to me. Every government since federation has failed first nations people. None of the closing the gaps and other government initiatives have worked because the white majority governments make the decisions and don't involve those who they purport to help even if they say they do. The voice just provides an avenue to government for their opinion on issues that affect them. The voice will be from their tribes/mobs etc and not from a few whitewashed black faces. We made them what they are as we are their conquerers. We gave them alcohol, tried to make their 60 thousand year old cuture change to suit our ideals, took away their children, the list is endless. The Voice may not be perfect but nothing has worked in the past and it is a good first step. If the Voice does not get up it will prove that Racism and discrimination is still in the majority and nothing will change for the better.

The Soviets bypassed the Crimea in 1943-44 and waited until German supply lines were too far away and they were in full retreat. On the 10th of April 1944 the Soviets took Odessa. The day before on the 9th they began their assault from the North on Crimea as well as from Kerch. By the 16th they were on the outskirts of Sevastopol & the Germans had evacuated 67,000 troops to Romania by then. If Ukraine is able to completely cut Russian supply lines, they will isolate the Russians in Crimea & they will have no option other than to evacuate as the Germans had to. If that happens it is the beginning of the end for the Russian invasion. Why Russia has created all of the beach fortifications in Crimea seems to display a complete failure to understand how to defend the place.

The occupation of Chunuk Bair happened at night as the Ottomans had abandoned it. The Wellingtons had been ordered to attack on th 7th but their CO refused to send his men there during daylight as he considered that to be suicide. The Wellingtons got there before dawn, found it abandoned & had fully occupied it by 8am on the 8th. That part is correct. They certainly did not return to the beaches for tea. Their CO was killed later that day by our own artillery or Naval guns. I have read the full history of the NZ campaign. It is heart wrenching with many personal accounts written by men who were there which shows their absolute dedication and bravery and gives me immense pride but with incredible sadness for their ultimate sacrifice. I've never really recovered from my visit to Gallipoli in 1975 and have never missed an Anzac day parade since. The full Gallipoli Campaign history from the NZ perspective is HERE The taking of Chunuk Bair is in Part 5 "The Sari Bair Offensive" which is HERE

The highest point ever taken at Gallipoli was Chunuk Bair on the 8th of August 2015 by the Wellington Battallion of the Anzac division who arriived there just before dawn. They fought off constant attacks all day firing their rifles till the fully wooded stocks of their 303s became too hot to hold. Of the 760 men of the Wellingtons who reached the summit 711 became casualties. They were relieved that evening by British troops and Ottoman forces recaptured the summit on 10th of August. This was part of the famous battle of Lone Pine. There is a NZ movie from 1992 called Chuk Bair. The Russians seem to have similar tactics that continued in Stalingrad when they lost over 1 million troops in 1942-43. Weight of numbers does work but the cost is horrendous. They are still using this century old tactic but at Stalingrad they were fighting for their motherland. In Ukraine they are in another country & many of them don't know what they are fighting for.

The casualties at gallipoli were horriffic on all sides but the Ottoman empire suffered the most by far with over 250,000 killed or wounded compared to 27,000 French and 115,000 British, NZ, Australian, Indian & new Foundland. A total of 392, 856 died for nothing.

And then there is the industry of tatoo removal that has sprung up. Some sort of laser treatment to remove unwanted tatoos that stupid people get done & regret years later.

100% accurate.

His debts are estimated to be more than $1.3 billion & that was in October 21. He has loans to Deutche bank of more than $330 million due by 2024 with no obvious way to refinance them. This is why he has to con money out of everyone else, which he does with consumate ease to his idiot rusted on republican supporters.

Over the 4 years he was President he made 30,573 false or misleading claims, an average of 21 a day. He lies so much he beleives his own lies. How all his idiot followers deal with that I cannot fathom.

Currently there are over 1000 immigrants arriving per week in Australia. They all have to live somewhere. Most are bringing substantial funds and this is partially fuelling the rental crisis. People who have been renting for 40-50 years are being given notice and the property re-let at double what they were paying. Where do these people go?. House prices are on the rise again & they were already at ridiculous levels. People whinging at the 3.6% cash rate should check elsewhere in the world. It is now 5.25% in NZ, 5% in the US & 4.25% in the UK. Australia has relied on immigration for many years to bolster the economy and not have to go in to recession when everywhere else had to. To me this is a false economic ploy as the chickens will eventually come home to roost and it only takes a hiccup like the Covid pandemic & reduced house building to trigger it. Homelessness is just one of the most visible cosequences of this.

Religious organisations are businesses like any other business. That they have been able to swindle money out of their members and use that to pay the salaries of their preachers and provide housing and make investments in property proves this beyond doubt. It is just that most who gravitate to politics belong to religions and their religious masters make sure they are reminded of their obligations to maintain the tax free status.

There are still plenty of daily reports coming out with numerous long range attacks using Himars etc on military targets in Crimea and the Zaporizhzhia regions including Melitopol, Berdiansk,and also in Donetsk. The heavy snowfall has slowed fighting around Bakhmut with reports of Wagner forces stalling and exhausted while Ukrainian army has recovered some lost ground. Wagners are reported to have lost 50,000 killed or wounded around Bakhmut this year alone while the infighting between them & the Russian army continues with a shortage of equipment, weapons and ammunition. The Ukrainians are saying little and keeping up the pressure while most likely building up their strength for a counter attack in late Spring or Summer once all the Western supplied equipment arrives and the training to use it is complete.

Given a dogs sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 more acute than a humans it is just pure logic to train them to sniff out anything that may be harmful to you.

Modern tyres only have about 19% natural rubber in them & 24% synthetic polymers. The rest is steel 12%, textiles 4%, fillers like carbon black & silica 26%, curing systems (sulfur & zinc oxide) , antioxidants & antiozonants 14%. All up they seem pretty toxic to me.

That was what we all noticed when crossing the border back into Poland (which was then under Soviet rule) in 1974 in a Combi van. The Polish border guard smiled & joked with us. For the 10 days we'd been in Russia, well direct to Moscow & back through Belarus with a Russian chaperone, none of us could remember anyone smiling. So it's not a new phenomenon. They probably don't know how to. Actually at the time I didn't even know Belarus existed. We were not allowed to stop there.

The latest I heard is that Putin is considering swapping food for ammo with North Korea.

The case may not even get to court for a year so the next election could be over before anything happens. Imagine if he got re-elected & was then found guilty & sentenced to prison. They'd have a President running the country from inside prison. Just like the Mafia but less effective. This is not the only indictment coming his way though with the case of him trying to change the voting in Georgia ramping up, the case of him trying to overturn the election, the financial fiddle of the Trump organisation and Incitement of the insurection on 6th of January. He'll probably die of old age before all these get to court given the glacial pace of the US Justice system

i've not done any research but there are apparently plenty of things that can be made from old used tyres. When you buy new tyres there is a disposal fee for the old one. What does that cover? Presumably taking it to a tyre dump. The cost of recycling is quite expensive. Maybe the fee should increase to assist with the cost of recycling.

Why stop at 0ne? Get 2 or 3 because the todller may be playing with one and it can't be found, the kids have taken it to school or are out the back shooting snails and frogs or even each other.

In 2020, the most recent year for which complete data is available there were 46,222 gun related deaths in the US or 13.6 deaths per 100,000 people, the highest rate since the mid 90s but well below the rate of 16.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 1974. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/