old man emu

From what I've seen dealing with small businesses that make or fix things is that the creators of the businesses are usually very good at doing the making or fixing, but are just about completely lacking in the skills needed to keep a business functioning. Hardly any have a documented business plan, nor any plan to monitor trends in their business activities. Most operate on a "management by crisis" basis. Even those businesses that manage to exist year after year are more often only keeping their heads above water. Very few are walking on it. When company folds with debts that Red calls "seemingly modest", I start to think about the other small businesses who are owed money and who themselves are likely to be in debt to their suppliers. I am also concerned about the fate of the employees of a failed business. If the business fails financially, it indicated a failure in financial management. I wonder, where is the money to pay wages, holiday pay and super?

Described as a leading voice of White grievance politics, Carlson is known for circulating far-right ideas into mainstream politics and discourse. He has promoted conspiracy theories on topics such as demographic replacement, COVID-19, the January 6 United States Capitol attack, and Ukrainian bioweapons; and has been noted for false and misleading statements about these and other topics. Carlson's remarks on race, immigration, and women – including slurs he said on air between 2006 and 2011 – have been described by some as racist and sexist. An American conservative political commentator and writer who hosted the nightly political talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News from 2016 to 2023. An advocate of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Carlson has been described as "perhaps the highest-profile proponent of Trumpism", and as "the most influential voice in right-wing media, without a close second." Next on Palmer's Travelling Talk Show: Benjamin Netanyahu, religious tolerant and seeker of Peace - on his terms alone.

No, I had no idea that I was eligible for any refund. This cheque simply arrived. Why not simply credit my account? Probably because I'm on plans for my phone and internet and the payments are direct debit, and paid month in advance. So I don't have the type of account that deals with credits and debits. My point in this post was not the getting of a refund, but to highlight the difficulty of dealing with a physical item such as a cheque if all you other transactions are digital.

Luckily I can deposit it myself when I go to Sydney. I suppose I coud have mailed it to my son and got him to deposit it, but that would have been an inconvenience for his as he isn't near a branch during the day.

Here's an example of a disadvantage of a cashless society. I picked up my mail today and there was a letter from Telstra. Inside was a cheque for $25 or so. No explanation, just a reference number on the paperwork. No details to use to contact and ask what it was for. Well, $25 in my pocket is $25 that I didn't have yesterday. But here's the problem: my finances are through a Credit Union in Sydney. To access the money, I have to take the cheque to a branch and deposit it over the counter. I wasn't planning to go down to Sydney, but I have just been asked to do an audit, and I have to have a meeting with my kids to settle on a headstone for my wife and my grave. I don't know how I would be able to deposit the cheque if I wasn't in Sydney. As it is, I'm going to have to juggle my time to get to the branch while it is open.

God will reward you for giving joy to another.

The Albanese Government has just announced that it won't be introducing a $4.00 per tonne export fee on our rubbish going overseas. It will still require exporters to purchase a permit to export. I think that the Environmentalist lobby would gain more support from the Silent Majority if it backed off calling for a headlong rush into EVs and called on the government to promote the production of usable products from what we are diligently putting into our yellow-lidded bins. Afterall, we are paying for all the packaging around the crap that we are importing. Obviously recycling need an energy source. That's a good use for renewables of which most people would approve.

One can only say that their efforts do add to the recycling of the First World's waste. However, the energy inputs and pollutant outputs make it questionable if the efforts are of benefit to all of humanity. And next time you dump a computer or other electronic device, think of this:

There are quite a number of videos of this type. Here's one involving sand casting water pump housings. Molten metal, sandals and even bare feet. Not a stitch of suitable protective clothing. This is what you get when the value of human life is so low.

Correct spelling is eveerything.

Have you got the correct permit from your local Council and the EPA to undertake such rampant deforestation?

Just another addiction for the weak-willed.

I knew that.

All the weeping, gnashing of teeth and self-flagellation we do in Australia does nothing for air pollution and global warming when you see what is happening in the emerging countries of Asia. Just have a look at the first two minutes of this video while thinking about the environmental impact of the process of making an aluminium pressure cooker for domestic use. If you have the time you could watch through further of it to get an idea of conditions the employees work in to make the cooker.

Gambling from Two-up to Lotto is a matter of probabilities. The more the gambler is aware of the probabilities of an outcome of an event, the more often the gambler will be successful. As Kenny Rogers sang, "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em". I see gambling as an entertainment. I don't have any luck at all, but once in while I will spend some time getting one over on a one-armed bandit. I figure that I'm being entertained, so what I decide to lose is the price I am willing to pay for the entertainment, and be prepared to walk away at the end of the act. I was also taught to pocket any winnings equal to my initial stake, and then continue to gamble with the winnings. If luck holds out and winning accumulate, keep pocketing a portion and play on until time, interest, or stakes run out.

That would be a most suitable bumper sticker for my car.

If you like to nibble Nobby's nuts .....

I think I grew up on a different planet. There was never violence with my parents, although Dad liked a beer at the club. It wasn't until much later in life that I found out that my sister suffered from it in her marriage.

I think it's the way that you are brought up with dogs. I've had a dog most of my life, but my Mum's rule was no dogs inside, and as the twig is bent ..... The first dog I remember was a Fox Terrier, but after that all my dogs have been medium to large. I sometime wonder if I should get myself another dog, but the last one I had was a rescue dog that had to be put down because it had never been socialised and when it got out it got into fights. It was ether the needle or a fine for me and a muzzle for the dog as well as "Dangerous dog" warning signs at the gates.

Bikes, like dogs, should be kept outside.

Funny that you should say that just now. A few minutes ago I was looking at the horses in the paddock beside my place and thinking that they seemed to be growing their winter coats. It got me wondering if the length of daylight, or conversely length of darkness is the trigger (no pun intended) for the hormones that cause the growth and shedding of their coats. I know that in the egg producing business the shed lighting is used to keep the length of day and night in winter about 12 hours. The chook descends from the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) of Southeast Asia, mostly between the equator and Tropic of Cancer where the length of daylight is around 12 hours. (Brown areas) It also made me wonder if horses in southern Victoria and Tasmania begin to coat up earlier than my local horses, and do Queensland horses start growing later and start shedding earlier.

None committed.

I've been retired for two thirds as long as I was actually in The Job. My only regret is that I missed doing the 30 years that I hoped to do when I joined.

Here's an interesting bit of Australian transport history.

That's because my academic work was studying the roots of violence, where research overwhelmingly identifies factors like humiliation, shame and guilt as motivating drivers, not a lack of respect.' After thinking about it, I come the the conclusion that Waleed has identified the very seed of all violence done by males. I realised that for a male to be humiliated is the spark that ignites the bad things men do to themselves and others. I know I said that we shouldn't give personal examples in this discussion, by having read Waleed's words, I realise that I have been disrupting my relationship with my son by what I meant as joking, but was humiliating for him. Basically, and I suppose I should take the blame, I never put the time into my son to teach him how to use tools. We spent too much time in the batting nets while he developed his batting skills. His wife got that knowledge through her relationship with her dad. So now I try to joke and say that my son wouldn't know which end of a spanner to hold onto. Over the past couple of years he has completed a few projects that show that he can swing a hammer and drive a screw. I suppose that next time we are together I'd better apologise for being an R Sole.