old man emu

We tend to forget that there was an era in both Britain and Australia when the weapon of choice for criminals was the cut-throat razor. After handguns were criminalised in New South Wales, razors became the weapon of choice amongst Sydney gangsters. Shortly after the Pistol Licensing Act 1927 was passed, a visiting sailor used a cut-throat razor to defend himself from attackers. As a result, razors became a default weapon due to its ease of purchase from barbers shops for a few pence, its ease of concealment (hidden inside a piece of cork), and its use as an instrument of intimidation. The idea also caught on in Melbourne and Brisbane about the same time. In the 1929 wars between the gangs associated with Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh, mainly over the control of drug distribution, razors were often used. From 1930 laws were passed that eased the gang wars and made the carrying of a cut-throat razor, without reasonable excuse, punishable by a term of imprisonment of 6 months.

Trump has just dealt a deathblow to Musk. By Executive Order, Trump has imposed a 95% tariff on graphite coming from China. So??? We all know about the rare eath minerals needed for the production of batteries for EVs, but what do you know about the other components of an EV battery? Have you ever pulled a AA battery apart? In the middle is a rod of black material. That rod is the conduit for the electrons produced by the chemical reaction of the gooey stuff filling the battery case. The rod is made of graphite. The battery of an EV is made up of lots of single units of similar design. What Trump has done is greatly increased the cost of manufacturing EV batteries, or perhaps the cost of those batteries made in China which are fitted to EVs. As a result, the value of TESLA shares has dropped by 0.35% yesterday. Doesn't sound much, but that represents a $US5.85 per share drop in value over the day's trading. Considering that as of July 2025, Tesla has 3.22 billion shares, that's a lot of value lost.

I had to include ICEs and Hybrids so that the comment would not be diverted to a discussion of the number of fires in those typres of engines. I simply think that it is a useful tool for dealing with a vehicle fire where there is access to a reticulated water supply which can provide water at high pressure.

Don't wish for that!!!!!! If the ATO allows gambling losses to be deducted, they sure as Hell will want to tax winnings, which they don't do now.

Is a vehicle fire possible? Yes Are they frequent? Depends on the number of vehicles of any power supply sort p[resent in an area. Obviously there are more vehicles in cities than in country towns. However how many tools do you have that you only use on rare ocasions? That spray bar could sit in a truck for years withiout being uses, but it would be invaluable on the one day it was needed.

Getting back to the subject of battery fires in EVs, here is a device that seems to be an assistnt in quelling a battery fire in an EV. It would also work for ICE fires. You've got to admire the entrepreneurial spirit of Yanks. He developes a device then sets up a company to make and sell them at $US3000 per unit. Not a bad return on probably less than $50 worth of materials. l

That's one of teh features of vexatious litigation.

It is a shame that the USA, in general, does not have any laws preventing vexatious litigation. Several states have vexatious litigant laws — California, Florida, Hawaii, Ohio, and Texas If it was the same in the rest of the States Trump would be stuffed.

I think that the most important thing one can take from the last paragraph of the above article is that "good and statutory education for all young peole makes a big difference". How many of us, when we first voted in an election, voted the same way as our parents? Sort of like following thier religious preference.

It's hard to come to terms with the reasoning for that. Has your average 16 year-old got the analytical ability and experience to sort the wheat from the chaff of politcal campaigning? Just consider how many 32 year-olds lack those abilities and experiences. Does granting suffrage to 16 year-olds also mean that contract law will have to now allow them the enter into contracts? What about employment issues? If a person has the right to vote, which has always been a right of adults, does that mean that 16 year-olds must be paid at adult rates?

It's really a great feeling when you see your kids leave the nest and soar to the heights. We can puff out our chests and say, "I made that', even if you know in your heart that you only set them off on the path to success when they were kids.

Albo's mob is walking the tightrope between Chinese economic activity and US military activity. Albo has to show loyalty to treaties between the US and Australia while acknowledging the economic importance of China to Australia. I've said it before that I don't think China will take military action any further than the South China Sea. The legal and governance issues of the South China Sea are complex and contentious. China’s nine-dash-line claim, and the other maritime states declaring their overlapping 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, tend to dominate Asian and global dialogues. Taiwan is China's major territorial goal. Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, by the Qing dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the first Sino-Japnese War. The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895. The Republic lasted 151 days; it was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. The territory remained in Japanese hands until Japna's defeat in WWII. The politics of Taiwan soverignty is complex. At present, domestically, the major political contention is between the Pan-Blue Coalition, who favors eventual Chinese unification under the ROC and promoting a pan-Chinese identity, contrasted with the Pan-Green Coalition, which favors eventual Taiwanese independence and promoting a Taiwanese identity.

Question Time has always been a "reality TV show". It is an opportunity for whichever Party is in Opposition to make it look like they are "keeping the bastards honest". It is also an opportunity for the Government back benchers to ask Ministers "Dorothy Dix" questions so that Moinisters can heap praise on the actions of teh Government. Watching it reminds me of unversity debating club meetings. We only ever hear of the contentious Bills being argued over during normal House business times. It would be interesting to find out how many Bills, or amendments to Bills are passed if the Buill or amendments are not controversial.

Peta Credlin is an ultra Right Winger. She was an advisor to Abbott. I wouldn't beleive her if she said G'day to me.

I wonder what Peter Dutton is doing for a crust now.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to open both US and international waters to deep-sea mining, ignoring a global treaty that controls the high seas. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-02/deep-sea-mining-us-executive-order-sparks-condemnation/105224062 The order sidesteps the UN's International Seabed Authority, which has prevented such mining in international waters while it works on governance frameworks.

I have had two instances of the "hitting the gas instead of the brake" incidents in the past month or so. In both cases it was becasue I was wearing work boots that were wider in the sole than the joggers I normally wear. Very frightening, but now I am extra cautious when I am drivbing with them on.

What political parties we once considered to be Leftist are really Centralist.

Trump's presidency isn't exactly the Doomsday that Doomsday Preppers were prepaing for.

It is exactly the same with the NSW Sunday Herald and Sunday Telegraph. If it wasn't for the Harvey Normal ads, the papers would go broke.

I wonder if the Indigenous people had experience gained, over the past 3500 or so years that dingoes have been in Australia, of dingoes carrying off infant children? Surely the Chamberlain incident could not have been the first.

More often needle in a haystack.

No insult. It's a statistical term. In populatin statistics, if you plot the data you will often get a curve that looks like this: The graph shows the distribution of results around the "mean" or the value representing the "centre" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. In this diagram 68% of the numbers lie close to the mean value, but a very small percentage lie well away from it. The numbers exist, but the probability of encountering them is low. These numbers are called "outliers". They are the rare ones. If we are looking at those who have contracted chicken pox, then those in the popuolatin who have never contracted it would be make up those numbers whose probability is low.

An immune system seems to be unique to the individual. Theinformation that health care workers depend on to formulate advice is based on population statistics. What happens to the majority of the population determines the advice given. There will always be outliers from the data. Octave seems to be an outlier. However you have to remember the two parts of statistics - the possibility and the probability. Possibility is our recognition of something happening, while probability is the chance of it actually happening. Immunisation is simply a means of reducing the probability of something happening. It is a form of health insurance. If it's free, grab it. Don't forget that on this forum we learn from the experience of our fellows. Listen to what Red and Litespeed said. If we had all our immunisations, we might end up like a wornout pub dart board, but we would not suffer the consequences of the illnesses to the extent that we would if not immunised.

And here'e the fun part. They landed in a pile of manure which softened their landings.