willedoo

Ukraine is in a bad way. They've basically run out of Patriot and other air defence missiles. Russia has been hammering them with missile attacks and most of them are now getting through. Yesterday they destroyed one of Ukraine's major power stations near Kyiv. On the front it's not much better as artillery stocks are critically low. Ukrainian artillery is rationed to the point where the Russian artillery is outgunning them 10 to 1. Things are not looking good; it's now six months that Ukraine aid has been blocked in the U.S. congress. Biden is part of the problem as well. There's still a few billion left in the presidential drawdown authority that he won't release. I don't know whether that's intentional or not as the PDA is a complicated beast full of bureaucracy and creative accounting. Ukraine is losing territory every day now, but at least they are only small gains by the Russians at this stage. The risk is the Ukrainian front collapsing due to lack of ammunition and Russia making large gains. I think putler has the idea that whatever he can grab now, he will be able to keep. Some help from Europe is on the way, but the question is when it will arrive. The president of the Czech Republic (an absolute legend and one of Ukraine's strongest allies) has organised a drive to source 800,000 155mm shells from various suppliers around the world. This has since turned into about a million, so will be a good help if it arrives soon. Also the European Parliament has voted to suspend the approval process for the European Council's budget until Ukraine is given seven Patriot systems.

Speaking of Indians, here's Freddie Mercury and his mum.

I think about NSW three times a year (State of Origin series). Although I am forever grateful they took Barnaby back.

I have a question. As far as I know, all the new phones have non removable batteries. What happens when the battery dies?

They won't be without phone service; they just have to upgrade and buy new phones that are either 5G or 4G+VoLTE capable. 4G phones without VoLTE capability will still be able to send and receive data but not voice calls.

And they wouldn't be as easy to break as the ceramic one if you happened to over-indulge.

I'm not so sure about that. Federally, LNP members sit in Canberra with the party that held their seat before the amalgamation. Dutton had always been a Liberal before the creation of the LNP and sits with the Liberals in Canberra. Before the last election, there were twenty nine federal LNP MPs and Senators. Only eight sat with the Nationals and twenty one sat with the Liberals. At an organisational level, the LNP is a division of the Liberal Party and an affiliate of the National Party.

The legal difference between the toy spud guns and the potato/orange cannons is that the cannon uses explosive gases, whereas the toy spud gun has a compressed spring which releases pushing compressed air to fire the potato pellet. There's always a lot of twists and turns between interpretations of what constitutes a toy gun vs an imitation firearm vs something that would be considered a firearm. A good example is this ceramic vodka bottle pictured below. They are made in Ukraine and hold 100ml of vodka. They have a big cork in the barrel end where the vodka is filled and dispensed. In every state and territory they are legal and considered by the police to be just what they are - a ceramic bottle. Federal customs consider them to be an imitation firearm and the importation of them requires the same permit as required to import a real handgun.

A Kennedy campaign director was addressing supporters and told them the primary goal is to ensure Biden isn't elected. She said Biden is the common enemy of both the Republicans and the Kennedy team. Kennedy is bleeding votes from Trump and Biden, but more so from Biden. The campaign director went on to say that in the states that the Republicans can't win, votes should be given to Kennedy to stop Biden reaching the needed 270 electoral college votes to win. She said if no candidate reaches the minimum, congress decides who will be president, and as it's a Republican majority, they'll pick Trump. So either way, Trump winning outright or Kennedy getting enough votes so that no candidate reaches the 270, it's win/win for Trump. If Kennedy wins the election for Trump, the likely reward would be a position for Kennedy in the Trump administration. As if one nutcase wasn't enough. Kennedy for health secretary.

A tech person was being interviewed on the ABC radio today and she said up to a million people could be affected. That's a lot of new phone sales. I might start looking for a new one now and get in before the rush.

Super King Air if my memory is correct.

I got the B part right, it was Beryl.

Beverley someone; I forget her last name.

A pumpkin scone.

This is the Ukrainian 'Backfire K1' UAV bomber which is going into serial production. It's GPS guided and recoverable by parachute.

The latest unconfirmed reports on yesterday's airbase attacks are saying serious damage was caused to at least three Tu-95 bombers at Engels air base, and two Su-25 aircraft were destroyed at Yeysk airfield on the Azov Sea coast. Combined with losses at Morozovsk airfield, if all are confirmed, the total for the day would be 19 aircraft destroyed or damaged.

There were reports this morning of the drone attacks, but at that stage it was not known how many aircraft were hit. It was quite a swarm of drones apparently, resulting in a lot of explosions. Six bombers destroyed and eight damaged is a good result. There were also reports of Engels air base being hit as well. That's where the big bombers hang out; hopefully they did some damage there as well.

The crazy thing about the Republicans is that they can't add up. The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on the Russian military and has greatly reduced their ability to wage a conventional war against NATO countries. For that benefit, America has spent 3% of it's defence budget on military aid to Ukraine. It's worth noting that the primary goal of that total defence budget is to deter and contain Russia anyway. Added to that is the fact that up to 90% of the money value of military aid is spent in the U.S. and goes to American companies and benefits the American economy. Most of the gear supplied to Ukraine is earmarked for retirement and replacement (by U.S. companies). The old, near end of life equipment is sent to Ukraine and American companies manufacture the replacement gear. The money stays in the U.S.. What part of that can't the Republicans understand?

My biggest concern is trying to find a phone that will comfortably fit in pockets and in the hand. A lot of them now are so long they always feel like they're trying to escape from trouser side pockets. So many people these days use their phones as internet and media devices that the designs are getting longer and wider. I just need one I can work with and carry in pockets without always feeling like it's going to fall out. I bought a new Nokia a while back and only used it for a month before parking it up for mainly that reason (size too big). I recommissioned the old S5 after that and am still using it.

A lot of people will have to get new phones before the end of June. To make calls using the Telstra network, from that date on, phones must be 5G capable or 4G with Voice over LTE (VoLTE) capability. A 4G phone without VoLTE capability will still be able to send and receive data, but won't be able to make or receive voice calls. My old Samsung Galaxy S5 will have to go; I'll miss that old phone for it's simplicity and compact size.

U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson has again postponed the vote on Ukraine aid for several more weeks. He said it would happen after Easter and the vote was due to happen on April 9th., but he's come up with more excuses. If put to a vote, the bill is expected to pass with a large majority in favor as it did in the Senate. The only problem is Johnson refusing to put the aid bill to a vote. Aid has been delayed by months by this clown. The only likely path to passing the Ukraine aid is a discharge petition which so far has 191 of 218 required signatures to force a floor vote.

Here's another one: the Panama Canal. You tend to think of it as running east/west, but Panama itself lies roughly east/west and the canal runs north-west to south-east. The Atlantic entrance is further west than the Pacific entrance.

Did you know the Amazon River is 6400km long, and there’s not a single bridge across it.