coljones

And the Australian people let the petrol (and mining) companies off without a whimper yet get vocal and agro when the government for good reasons increases taxes, excises and levies. Companies bitch like crazy when they can't dig it up for free, or almost but demur when screwed over by their offshore parent under a tax rorting offshore transfer pricing arrangement. At least with taxes, the money stays in Australia unless we buy Japanese subs, american planes etc.

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/9-things-drivers-need-stop-saying-bikes-vs-cars-debate/?mbid=social_fb

that one was under Aviation Laughter. Anecdotes are serious stuff, the stuff of much science, engineering and the truth around here, at times.

http://www.theshovel.com.au/2014/10/30/science-to-be-replaced-by-anecdotes/ Australia’s scientific research programs will be cut back and replaced by a recent experience the guy down the shops had, it was revealed today. A government spokesperson said it was a move to a more common-sense approach to research and development. “Roger, who I bumped into just the other day, told a pretty pertinent story about how he’d seen first hand just how powerful anecdotes can be,” the spokesperson said. “I think it would be unwise and, frankly, disrespectful, to dismiss his opinion out of hand”. The spokesperson said the Coalition wanted to avoid the dangerous precedent set by previous Governments whereby science was left to professionals and experts. “Scientists have a right to an opinion too. But let’s not forget the various other equally valid views and opinions in the community”.

Don't get too comfortable Geoff. After they have cleaned up the peds and the pushies they will start on you!! Its winner take all out there.

bollocks!!

The only electricity produced in Sydney is solar with a bit of tri-gen or wind. Coal fired power has to be trucked in from out of town - over 200km away. Apart from darkness blanketing solar all over NSW at the same time the same can't be said for wind which is always blowing somewhere and wind-power can be trucked in over the same transmission lines used to deliver coal fired electricity. Coal fired power stations are major sources of pollution which is why they are longer running in the cities. The fact is that we have exported our pollution to the Hunter Valley or Wallerawang and there is no excuse to claim that it is clean. I would actually like to see a major coal fired power station in Canberra so that the wind turbine haters have something to really complain about.

I was looking for some stuff on dangerous bikes but I couldn't find any recently. It is amazing, however, what damage is done by motor vehicle drivers. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-16/woman-charged-over-fatal-kogarah-crash/5745968 http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/four-dead-after-cyclist-killed-in-hit-and-run-20141011-114muk.html http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/young-woman-killed-in-south-brisbane-crash-20140911-10f8wl.html http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/pedestrian-killed-alexandra-headland/2416280/ http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-traffic-pedestrian-killed-by-bus-on-george-street-in-sydney-cbd-20140505-zr4z2.html http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/woman-pedestrian-killed-in-forest-hill-20140813-103smh.html http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/road-safety/statistics/summaries/pedestrian-statistics http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pilot-john-stephenson-dead-after-light-planes-fiery-crash-into-chelsea-home-20141015-1165g0.html The last one is about planes - not pretty but if someone wants to blame the victim go right ahead.

Yeh, I know how you feel. Bloody car drivers taking up the same amount of room as 10 bikes, choking up car parks with their behemoths, driving straight into roundabouts ignoring anyone else already there, waiting til a cyclist comes along (keeping to the left to let other drivers through) and then opening up the door to clean the cyclist up, overtaking a cyclist and then pulling over to the left to 1. avoid the oncoming car, 2. dive into the parking spot they have just spotted 3. taking the next left turn., driving down the wrong side of the road (because it seemed like a good idea at the time) Yes, I agree there are some really dopey cyclists but by far the greatest problem on the roads are motor vehicle drivers who think that a suit of armour and a ticket to drive entitles them to go out and commit Murder, Mayhem, Manslaughter, intimidation and out and out stupidity. Then of course are those who forgot to register their cars or have either never had licences or who have lost them. Then best of all, those over 0.02 and pissed like the rest. Get a grip, be cool, go flying instead.

And just as I was watching the non-CO2 loaded eruptions from the Icelandic volcano I was reminded that volcanoes are tremendous force of good as they stop planes flying around loading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.

At $985/kg I'm not sure it is your garden variety propane. I can't find a ref to its use. Any clues?

Hello Turbs can you provide a link to Lithium Propane?

Leads take a beating but once when new, once when moving premises (for the idiot movers who pull the leads rather than the plugs) and then periodically depending on the environment - computers in an office can go for up to 5 years without the need for a retest. rental equipment, much more frequently for obvious reasons.

Tag-n-test? It is actually Test and Tag - you should always test first. Just another way of proving that the cheap cables you just bought, or were provided, are safe. If the one you bought, or was provided, was cross wired you might end up dead. Seeing that most cables are interchangeable, the tags will tell you which ones are safe.

I look around me and I don't see an awful lot of younger people living it up on the dole. What I see are quite a lot of driven young people faced with enormous pressures to acquire money to do things like pay off their acquired education debts and save up for a home in an economy where house prices and rents have blown through the roof. Quite a lot of them are under-employed and are really skating along on the edge. If they could get more work they would. If they could get more paid overtime they would but in quite a lot of cases the only overtime available is compulsory and unpaid and if you don't like it don't come Monday. If you live in a country town it is even harder as the cost of moving to the big smoke to look for work is even harder. Quite a lot of companies don't see recruiting staff as an investment in the firm's future but as a commodity that can be turned on and off like a tap I am just passing comment in general.

Unfair? Why?

OK, so you live in Unley (for arguments sake) and there is a job available working for Maccas in the Pilbarra, say, at the absolute minimum wage, in a town with miners wages with a very high average, where accommodation costs have been inflated because of high demand - how would you get there if you didn't have a car and how would you live if Maccas just give you 2 shifts a week (because they can).

Or never had them in the first place. Australia, an affluent, modern, western democracy, is the home of some people with passports, drivers licences and birth certificates which are essential to proving identity. If you come from a poor country and have never traveled or owned a car there is a good chance that you will have no identity papers. No papers, no visa, no entry by air to try your luck. Even though we live in an affluent, modern, western democracy there would be a large number of people living here without identity paperwork, for one reason or another. When the gun is at anyone's head and they need to escape the clutches of their country what are their chances of having the right paperwork at the right time. A lack of papers should never be a presumption of bad intentions.

And there are those in desperate need who quietly sit and hope that life will not get worse. People running below the horizon or who have fallen through the cracks. People without families or friends to look out for them or the frail or the disabled unable to ask for anything. If you tighten up the rules these are the first people to get screwed. Being a little bit flexible allows some trickle down to these people so that they don't totally lose out on what the lucky country should be sharing among all its people. Australia does have the ability, either forensically or legislatively, to collect the unjustified excesses from the top end of town before they start screwing the bottom. Being fair is not restricted to the ALP. All parties have the capacity to do good, we just need them all to do it (NOW)

Why do we have beat up stories? I am sure that the daily telegraph (or insert you local NewsCorp paper) and the shock jocks have hit squads that are set up for slow news days. Short of a juicy story to cram into their otherwise paucious news slots - send out the hit squad, drive by and shoot someone, rob a bank, steal a little old ladies purse, run up a story about rec. pilots perving on kids in backyard pools, hop on scooters and terrorise a neighborhood pretending to be criminal bikey gangs and, best of all, cutting up all the government news releases, put the pieces in a big bin and have the work experience kid put them together for an exclusive news report. We are all victims but it is the media who are the perps - self aggrandising with a view of sowing strife without a care in the world - the only thing that matters is viewers, readers and listeners - they don't have to be bright - just bright enough to buy the advertisers' product. We have a free press but we don't have freedom of speech - that is limited to those who control the media.

Talk to your union. They are not there to just hoover up your membership fees and in most cases do produce satisfactory outcomes. Workplaces can be very toxic environments - the boss wants to charge heaps and pay out zilch, other workers want to be boss cocky and get rid of their aggression and win the fight they started last night with the family and some workers just want to get on with their life and earn a quid. For the most part, the people who administer the Occupational Health and Safety laws are underfunded and gutted out (and have their own issues). Speak to the Union.

Netgear router/modems with wi-Fi work for me. Ubiquitous, well regarded with a good range of security settings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift "The printing press was introduced to England in the 1470s by William Caxton and later Richard Pynson. The adoption and use of the printing press accelerated the process of standardization of English spelling which continued into the 16th century. The standard spellings were those of Middle English pronunciation, as well as spelling conventions continued from Old English. However, the Middle English spellings were retained into Modern English while the Great Vowel Shift was taking place, resulting in some of the peculiarities of Modern English spelling in relation to vowels."

A rather presumptuous statement