Old Koreelah

Gold!

My other half was scared rigid of flying for decades, then did the Fearless Flying course run by female Qantas pilots. Since then she’s organised several flights OS for us... but she still won’t go near little aeroplanes!

At least twice during the Cold War, a soviet officer risked all to save the world from Armageddon; their respect for humanity saw them refusing to follow orders to launch. The brutal soviet regime produced these decent men; will Putin’s kleptocracy do likewise? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

Why make Putin a Martyr when it’s very likely his own generals will soon take him out?

I’ve been exploring central London for a week and the place is awash with hundreds of languages. Even more a melting pot than Sydney. I seriously doubt Australia or some other rich nations could function without the drive and expertise of immigrants. Our hotel staff are from dozens of countries, none of them rich. Are they exploited? Probably, but they get a start in a new country. Some will take home the expertise, experience and hopefully some savings, to invest in their homelands.

We’ve learned nothing in the decades since Reyguns shafted America.

Like many of our parents’ generation, we built our own (if we hadn’t, we’d still be paying off a poor compromise of a house.) Is that option even available to today’s young couples?

Great idea Bruce! After some revolutions, palaces were converted into museums so the common people could see how exploited they’d been. Perhaps all those superyachts of Putin’s cronies could be sent back as well.

Anthems tend to be adopted at pivotal moments in a nation’s history, which is why they tend to be calls to battle. Many of Australia’s early songs and anthems date from Hentry Lawson’s era, when it was normal to be appallingly racist. Nations change, and so can our songs.

Well said Yenn. Lots of us complain about OH&S regulations, but we conveniently forget that it’s no longer routine for people to be maimed or killed at work.

A slightly more reliable, efficient and smooth way to transfer the Head of State title than the abortionate procedure used in the USA.

A relation of Sir Humphrey?

Bruce what’s your point? This bloke has ancestors throughout the southest of this continent. Does he have to be black to qualify as Aboriginal? The reality is that he’s an excellent example of the natives found by the first white explorers- who commented on the tendency to lighter skin tone, body hair and balding of the original peoples.

Having family members train you could be a bad thing; depends totally on what attitudes they’re passing on. All my family members are very careful with firearms, we all drove a tractor with no rollover protection around steep hills. No accidents. I thank my dad. We only realised much later how safety-conscious he was.

Have to agree with some of the good points made during this discussion. How to weed out idiot drivers? Stop giving second chances to idiots! That tragic crash should have been expected, considering the driver’s poor record and his erratic behaviour, as reported. Kids are so keen to get their license that most will lift their game to meet a high standard. Lives can be saved. While a school librarian, no exam (not even the HSC) motivated kids more than their pre-driving road rules test. The pass mark is high, so many of them failed first time (so did I, even after forty years driving!) Rural kids sure have an advantage; my daughter was driving from age 7 and made sure I gave her girls the same start. One thing these city kids haven’t a clue about is recentring the steering wheel after a turn (we farm kids grew up with billy carts and tractors where you could see what the front wheels were doing.) Kids all need some understanding of machines and respect for how they can bite you. Basic maintenance is a must, but getting bogged is a great learning experience. Learning to drive my obstacle course is only a beginning. A professional instructor is next. Self-drive cars taking over? Maybe. We are mad not to aquire all the useful skills we can. When my kid went Uni her driving ability was in demand. Lots of city kids didn’t drive. Few could operate a manual geabox.

She endured regular violence, despite her nursing him thu the worst of his maladies. Stuck with him far too long; the daughter ever longer. When he died she was apparently no longer entitled to live in the house.

Lennox Walker’s Crohamhurst Observatory was followed avidly by lots of rural folk. Was he studying Solar Cycles?

Every politician should be required to have a thorough understanding of the human toll of wars, even generations later. One senior lady I know married a Vietnam vet, who ruined her life. When he recently died, their daughter was turfed out of the home she’d nursed him in for decades. She’s in her fifties, in poor health, has never married, has no qualifications, savings or super. Just staying ahead of homelessness.

I was lucky to spend time with veterans of The Great War. One, a neighbour, described watching Von Richtofen’s Flying Circus from the trenches. Nothing like the one-on-one dog fights the media likes to portray. No, some hapless Allied scout plane would be shephered by a group of dutiful “beaters” just like land-based hunts for the nobility. The Red Baron would then have little difficulty dispatching another enemy. The other was my wife’s Pop, a gentle man who somehow survived Polygon Wood. His brother didn’t and is buried in a lonely cemetary near the military hospital he was sent to. In a few weeks, we will be the first family to visit in 105 years.

Norway got control of it’s mineral wealth, while Whitlam was prevented from doing so. Norway now has over a trillion dollars in national savings, while Australia is a trillion dollars in debt… Meanwhile, foreign companies are making massive profits here, but paying little or no tax.

Picked on by the amoral Murdoch dynasty? I might become a Royalist.

I agree that we are enering a new and dangerous era. Our forebears faced much greater challenges and they prevailed. Perhaps it’s time for more Australians to grow the sort of backbone shown by members of The Greatest Generation; Lizzie Windsor was one of them. Has Australia the depth of leadersip to go alone? Of course! Last night’s Q&A was the of the best and well worth watching again. https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/episodes/ One of the inspirational panel member impressed me as a suitable future GG or President of the Republic of Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cate_McGregor Should Australia cut ties with Britain? There is a persuasive arguement for us to join with similar commonwealth nations to form a military and/or trade coalition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANZUK Another option, considering our major military ally and supplier is rapidly declining and approaching civil war, is to link up with other, independent nations. France’s Macron is shortly to visit us; why not ask if they could supply a fleet of nuclear subs any quicker than the UK or USA?

Thanks Red for posting this classic; I’d forgotten about this Living World Treasure.