old man emu

I believe that if you live in a Western-style society, abiding by the man-made laws of that society, you would be living a life that is the goal of all religions. At the end of your life, if there is a Supreme Being, you either get the reward offered to staunch followers of religion. If there is no Supreme Being and it's "lights out", what have you lost? “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones” is spoken by Mark Antony in Act III, Scene 2 of Julius Caesar. That's the irony of living a "good life".

Which is worse for the planet - a few tonnes of a natural substance whose dangers are well known and catered for, or millions of tonnes of manmade chemicals which have only existed for 80-odd years at most and whose long term effects on everything on the planet are nor fully comprehended? I was talking to the blokes at the Men's Shed today about the bans on commonly used herbicides and pesticides due to their being the causative agent in diseases like Parkinson's. The consensus was that it was the improper handling of these chemicals that caused the greatest dangers. Their thought was that it was user incompetence in very many forms that let them harm the planet,as they acknowledge that the chemicals were life-threatening, because that is what they were made for.

If we step away from the economics of nuclear power and think about the safety of nuclear power, you would have to conclude that worldwide it is safe. As Jerry said, storage of nuclear waste is a mature science and engineering discipline. Considering the number of nuclear power generation plants that exist, and you have to include nuclear-powered naval vessels, the safety record is not too bad. Globally, there have been at least 99 (civilian and military) recorded nuclear power plant accidents from 1952 to 2009 (defined as incidents that either resulted in the loss of human life or more than US$50,000 of property damage, and only one or two since. I think that the idea that a nuclear power plant is an activated time bomb is a hangover of Cold War USA propaganda-driven paranoia.

Well! This was a fizzer!

Ever been involved in flying radio controlled planes? Like all hobbies it can get expensive, especially when starting out. A basic trainer, ready to fly, costs a couple of hundred dollars. So many people resort to using cheap, readily available materials, like cardboard or corflute to make something that can be used for basic flight instruction. An Australian company has taken up the idea of using cheap materials to make a military grade flying machine that can be used in a multitude of roles from surveillance to delivering explosives up the tailpipe of a multi-million ruble jet fighter. The Australian company has been sending more than 100 units per month to the Ukraine since march 2023 as part of Australia's contribution to the military needs of the Ukraine. Are they effective? Ask the Russians. These flying machines range in price from about $600 to $3500 or so, depending on the complexity of the control electronics. The machines are not just attach vehicles. They can be used to carry required items from the rear lines to front line troops, thereby preserving more expensive equipment. Here's a homemade one

Question for those with knowledge of New Zealand. I was looking at the disposal instructions for the wrapper of a packet of Arnott's biscuits. For Australia, it said bin it, but for NZ it said return to store. How does that work in NZ?

Horses for courses. Choose the tool for the job at hand.

Most of my power tools are from ALDI. Still made in China, no doubt, but for occasional use they are great. My son used to work for Makita. He told me that there are three quality levels for their tools: Cheapest - for the DIYer Dearer - for occasional use by tradies Dearest - for constant use by tradies. Mainly the differences are in the materials used to make the gears, and I suppose nowadays, the storage capacity of the batteries, since most people seem to want cordless everything. Here's something to let you now who's who in the zoo.

Well done, that man! It is fantastic that all these records are now available online. My B-i-L is involved with the RSL and spends a lot of time searching the records to recover the military history of people so that later generations of the family have that bit of history. I researched my Dad's military service file and from it was able to produce a framed display which includes a photo of him in uniform; his original medals; reproduction unit patches and an abridged service history. It hangs on the wall in my Mum's room at the aged care centre.

The overt interference in the US Presidential election has begun. Police say they have identified a "suspect vehicle” connected to incendiary devices that set fires in ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington states early Monday. Washington and Oregon are both vote-by-mail states. Registered voters receive their ballots in the mail a few weeks before elections and then return them by mail or by placing them in ballot drop boxes. There is a tracking system to show that a person who received a ballot has voted and the ballot paper was received (after the drop box is emptied at a counting house. All I can say is that I am so glad that the system of compulsory voting, and the means by which deliver our vote that we have in Australia is the best example of practical democracy there is. Sure, it can be a pain to have to go to a polling station and go through the process, but you can be assured that your contribution to the election, whether it be a clear vote for a particular candidate, or simply an informal vote, is included in the count.

Just an explanation: I accept that the three facts are true. However, the suggested conclusion is what is called a a non sequitur in logic. Non sequitur means, "It does not follow." In the context of logical arguments, this type of fallacy occurs when no logical connection can be drawn between the premises of an argument and the conclusion.

Getting back to the origin of this thread - scams - this is not actually a scam, but people should be warned of the misdirection. Here is a picture showing two vernier calipers. The letters ‘CE’ appear on many products traded on the extended Single Market in the European Economic Area (EEA). They signify that products sold in the EEA have been assessed to meet high safety, health, and environmental protection requirements. Basically it means that the caliper carrying those numbers has a degree of proven quality. Enlarge the image and look at the letters C E on each. You can easily see that the marking on the caliper to the right is different from those on the one on the left. When you compare the two in a scale grid, this is what you see: Note the difference in spacing between the letters on the left and those on the right. The marking on the left is the official symbol indicating that the caliper meets European quality standards. The marking on the right merely means that the item was made in China for export. Is the European one any better than the Chinese one? Unless you were using the caliper in a situation where tolerances were critical, both are probably equally as accurate as a means of measuring something. However, I have no doubt that the European-made calipers would cost a lot more than the Chinese ones. It's just another example of the Chinese pulling the wool over the eyes of the gullible. Many years ago, the Chinese built a manufacturing city from scratch and called it USA. Products made there were clearly marked "Made in USA".

Bugger! Couldn't get it in puce?

In what must be metaphorically "giving the bird" to Harris, Trump held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on the weekend. Trump is unlikely to win New York State. Also, a comment in the news this morning suggested that Wall Street is getting twitchy about the election results. While the market looked becalmed, there was volatility beneath the surface in the lead-up to a nail-bitingly close presidential election and the release of pivotal jobs data this week. The measure of volatility, the so-called "fear index" the Vix Index, jumped almost 7% to 20 points — not an alarming level, but certainly not sanguine either.

I think that the result of the election can be explained by the old saying, "bullshit baffles brains".

The last I heard about the subs was that the Yanks were not going to sell them to us, but they wanted us to provide them with a base for maintenance and to operate from. A few days ago this video came up on YouTube dealing with the US military's restoration of the major airfield on the island of Tinian in the South Pacific. Why this sudden interest by the military in its history? One could say that it was the base for the atomic bombing of Japan. But 80 years later its strategic importance is obvious from its location close to China. Here's the video:

Eleven days (Australian time) until we know the results of probably the most crucial election so far this century - the US Presidential.

That's only an adjustment of ten years.

He's outside getting on with Life. Not like the rest of us, sitting peering at a computer screen, watching near forgotten snippets of television's light entertainment.

Good grief!

When it comes to Trump's actual presidential record, as much as he would have the public believe his administration was the most accomplished, most successful of its kind in American history, the Trump White House was notoriously beset by disfunction and infighting. The result was a tenure akin to a political reality show in which "results" seemed less important than the optics thereof. During his first term, or at least early on in it, there were three factions within the White House administration who were constantly at war with each other to gain control over Trump, who spent most of his time watching the news channels and monitoring his ratings. Sorry to drift away from the original theme of this thread, but someone brought up Mr Tangerine Man.

It's 6:45 pm and I can hear those chicks still begging for food. Obviously, as ugly as I am, I am no scarecrow. I'm no Worzel Gummidge.

This is a rant by an angry, tired old bugger. I had a bad night's sleep last night because a catch on my CPAP mask broke and I had to sleep without its helping my breathing. Then at sunrise those bloody crows turned up outside and the chicks started their cawing. I got so mad that I went outside, yelling and waving my arms about. The damned things simply flew up into a tree and after a while started up. I have absolutely no idea why these parent crows have decided to claim my place as their own.

Researchers have recently found a gene that is common to humans and chimpanzees, except for one single difference in one of the millions of Base pairs that make up the gene. They don't know how this difference creates its effects, but they have found that it is the gene that allows humans to use music and rhythm as a means to learn and remember information without writing. It is the way that for eons humans passed learning from generation to generation. Just think of Aboriginal songmen, and women using song to remember survival facts, mythology and history. The researchers have found that humans who don't carry that mutated gene are tone deaf and suffer other inabilities. It has been estimated that this gene mutated as long ago as 900,000 years ago and as a result was heavily involved in the social development of humans which has put us in our high position amongst animals.

So true. Politics in Australia is hamstrung due to the lack of balance in the news media. The Conservatives control the presses. Back between the Wars the Communist Party in Australia published the Worker's Weekly to put forward its ideas. In the same period, the Labor Party's paper was the Labor Daily. Nowadays, newspapers (or their on-line equivalents) published by non-conservatives seem non-existent. I've just started reading George Orwell's 1984. I see that some of what he prophesied in that work of fiction has become fact. This is especially the manipulation of fact into propaganda.