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[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The weather here in Melbourne town has cooled off with a typical Summer wet cool change. Temps are still going to be on the warm side but more like typical Summer weather for Dec. Taken most of the month to get to something like Summer temps. For the Boxing Day test it's going to be warm and sunny which should last for the entire test. Going up the mid 30's to start next week. Will have to break out the fans again. Packed them away after that quick burst of heat a couple of weeks ago. Even brought out the shorts yesterday.

Off to see family over the next few days and get the usual Christmas treats and the usual visit to the cemetery for Christmas now for both parents. In Nov last year we weren't sure what type of restrictions would be put in place for Christmas. So this year people could plan their Christmas lunches and family visits. The issue this Christmas will be domestic flights given the crap that airlines are going on about. They are happy to take your money but then don't care about their passengers. People turning up to airports only to find out their flight has been cancelled due to not enough seats being sold. The cost of flights will be another issue which some people are happy to pay which is what the airlines are banking on. They are relying on either people's guilt for not being able to visit family or people wanting to get away due the last few years of COVID. It's about increasing their profit and fuck the customer. No point buying expensive luggage since it will damaged by the contractors hired by the airlines.

Went to my regular dentist appointment and ended up with a wisdom tooth being removed. It came out rather easily, the main pain was to the wallet. Have all my other wisdom teeth and I'm 60. Was also in the CDB this week and was surprised by a few shop closures on a couple of the main streets. Heard that some of the shop closures were due to landlords hiking up the price of rents to evict tenants so they could sell the properties to developers. It's easier to raise the rent to evict people than serve them with an eviction notice. Shows that the greed of landlords hasn't changed.

The weather in Melbourne this week has been a typical Summer week. Temps in the mid to high 20's followed by a cool change with rain. Expecting temps still in the mid 20's for the days leading up to Christmas Day. Boxing day is going to sunny and warm as well so good for the Boxing Day test match. Then temps expected to be in the mid 30's at the start of next week. So more Summer temps on the way. Will have to break out the fans again and get the portable cooler prep'd. The air con might also get a run.

Did the grocery shopping yesterday and bought a few more things for Christmas but was surprised again that there wasn't much Christmas stuff around. The normal large Christmas displays weren't there. It was hard to even find shortbread and Christmas pudding. Lots of custard and egg nog but not much else. Talking to the staff, it seems things are being sold out quickly so obviously the stores have not ordered enough stock. There won't be much if anything left come Boxing Day so no specials. That's three Christmases in a row that it hasn't been normal. It may be back next year but then again it might not.

The new video game is going well so it might be a keeper. It certainly is full on. Nothing much on the horizon on games I want. Not inclined yet to get the PS5.

Hope you all have a good Christmas. I'll be chomping down on my Christmas treats then watching the Boxing Day test and not doing much.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The weather here in Melbourne town is still in Summer temps. Going to be a warm New Year's Eve and a couple of hot days to bring in the New Year then a rainy cool change expected. The 37 we had a couple of days ago just happened quickly. It was the warmest Dec night in 4 yrs. Was watching the cricket and saw Warner collapse in the heat. But being in Melbourne the heat wasn't going to last. By the last day of test they were in jumpers. The next house I get will have an air con in the bedroom. Seen those portable ones that you can hook up to a window although were I intend to live is mostly cooler than Melbourne.

Did the weekly shop yesterday and it was busy. Lots of people at the shopping strip and even had to wait longer at the takeaway. Wasn't able to find the Boxing Day sale item I was after. Heard again that things have been sold out quickly so obviously the shops haven't got in enough stock for the Boxing Days sales. It seems to be happening everywhere including supermarkets. May be more people are staying home given the chaos of travelling. May take a trip down the coast once the school holidays are over. Heard that the kids are going back to school at the end of Jan. Purchased my fizzy bottle of booze for New Year's. Since the Italians want to take away the name Prosecco from Australian producers, thought I'd buy a bottle of Aussie Prosecco which is chilling in the fridge. Don't normally buy the stuff, prefer the stronger booze. Have my eye on my birthday present next month, so it will be a trip to Dan Murphy's for that one plus take the credit card as it's $300 a bottle now.

The Aussie cricket team are just too good for the South Africans who seem to be out of form in their batting and also their game play compared to the Aussies who are on from the first ball. The South Africans are not playing like the second best test team. The Aussies are making them look like amateurs. Even the crowds are down for the test matches. The respective grounds would not be making much money from these short tests.

So Pele has died. A champion from a different era in Soccer and he had to battle racism which was shouted down by him being better than other players which is common. You have to be better than others to nullify the issue of race and colour. Just being as good is not good enough. We have a long way to go in this country for skin colour not to be a criteria for capability in any profession even in sport.

Petrol prices are back up again just in time for New Year's. Prices are up by nearly 40c compared to last week. Now close to $2 this week, was down to $1.63 up to Christmas Day which surprised me last week. Thought the petrol prices would be higher for Christmas. Haven't had to fill up recently so will see what the prices are after the New Year. Either way you look at it it's just a rip off. We pay far too much for everything given we have a huge amount of natural resources in this country. The excuse has always been that our population isn't large enough, but then resource companies lobby govt's to keep the population down for their own profits. It's not a coincidence that resource companies lobby the LNP to reduce migration numbers.

Hope you have a good New Year's Eve where ever you are at this time of year.

 

[missswannie]

A fairly warm Christmas and week over in the west. No rain of course, just easy dry heat. Nothing devastating.

I got away with not having to entertain on Christmas which was a nice bonus. Of course people around every other day since but we prepare for all eventualities, even if the kids and friends eat 10 times as much and raid the wine. The pizza oven is the best thing for that lot. Plenty of pizza bases in the fridge just ready to be spun out so they put whatever topping on they want, move the coals around and throw the pizza in for 2-3 mins.

Escaped to a hotel for a night during the week. We came to realise that over the year we hadn't stayed at a Marriott or Sheraton, so the huge accumulation of points were in jeopardy. Not too bad, saw sunset over the river, had dinner and drinks at a brewery pub. Straight down the beach the next day with thousands of others, but not crowded as long sandy beaches, hardly any waves. It's funny how you notice people on the nudie beach when there are a hundred or so, but once it is in the few thousands it is just normal folks of all ages that you don't notice.

Thinking we had better have a few people over new years night, there is a very large leg of lamb taking up too much space in the freezer. We were informed that we are not to be home for New Year's Eve so I don't need to know what they have planned. Might have to go and stay on the boat, see if another couple of two want to join us.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all and a happy 2023!

Well the year is still new. Still have cake and booze so the year is going great thus far. Can only turn to crap from here. The shine is still on the new year and the outside world hasn't intruded into my space yet. Have been in contact with friends from different parts of the country. Decided to get in early before everyone got busy. This week starts my main task of getting the gardens sorted. Mainly need to hack at some trees and remove some and tidy things up for selling the place in a few months. Some of my friends are thinking the same thing so a change of scenery is the theme for this year.

Waiting for the Sydney test to start. Will watch the first session then get out in the garden for a couple of hours whilst the weather is cooler and hopefully the forecast is correct and it doesn't rain, but looking rather overcast this morning. Temps set to warm up again in Melbourne by the weekend and back into the 30's hopefully not as hot as that 37 we got the day after Boxing Day. Spent most of yesterday cooling the house down with all the doors open. The very warm Christmas repeated itself for New Years as it got up to 35 with high humidity. Have a couple of friends in Canada and it's been down to -30 over there.

The first few days of the new year has been a list of famous and not famous people who have died. Can't look at the news without yet another death being reported. Feels a bit like the "bring out your dead" scene from Monty Python. Need more of those good new stories as there is plenty of time during the year for the negative stuff. Got my first bill for the year just to remind me that whilst it's a new year the bills don't care.

Another birthday coming next week so time to head down to Dan Murphy's for my single malt scotch which I saw before Christmas was back in stock. Price has gone up but then again what hasn't. Finished the new video game and decided it's a keeper. It's enough of a challenge even on the lower difficulty level and like the sequel there is stuff that I've missed. One of those games that you have to play a few times to find most things in the game play and you probably won't find everything. The sequel I played first now makes more sense and can see where the overall story goes. No doubt there will be a third game in the series since the first two have been very popular. No inclination yet to buy the PS5 also given the games are more expensive than the PS4 version of the same games. Not sure why the same game should be more expensive on the PS5. Why would you buy the PS5 version?

Have to laugh at the Chinese govt doing a dummy spit over countries requiring Chinese citizens to have a negative COVID test before entry to their countries. Given China requires anyone entering to also have a negative COVID test. It smacks of hypocrisy and yet again China trying to bully other countries. Now they are yet again threatening Australia with import sanctions. They are acting very much like a toddler who had their toy taken away. They still haven't learned how to get on with other countries without either bribing or threatening them. It can only hurt China when western countries wake up and move their manufacturing away from China. India will emerge this year as the new power in Asia and we need to pay attention when that happens.

The Rolling Stone top 200 is the big talking point this morning. Whoever decided this list can't tell the difference between a singer and an entertainer and they have gone for some who are major celebrities rather than better singers. Don't think Rolling Stone has done their reputation any favours in not listing people like Nat King Cole, Tom Jones and also no Aussies but Bob Dylan got a spot when the guy mumbles. So what is the definition of a singer according to Rolling Stone? Dylan wouldn't even get a spot on The Voice. Kylie and Michael Hutchence didn't make the list but Harry Styles did, WTF! Not a fan of Celine Dion but she is a very good singer who has sold millions of albums and had major hits but she didn't make the list. If Rolling Stone wants to only stir things up well they've done that but if they think they are some sort of authority on music, well they need new management. The real question being is Rolling Stone still relevant in the music industry?

Hope the rest of the week is good for you and if you're back to work this week take it easy as it's going to be a long year.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

So the heat is back on in Melbourne and so is the humidity. Rather warm out there today at 32. Was out in the garden the past two days hacking at stuff in the backyard which looks bigger already. Lots more of that to do in the coming weeks. It's going to be hot so lots of sweating to come and not in a good way. Staying warm leading into the weekend when it's expected to peak at 38 on Saturday. A small cool change for a day then back up to temps in the 30's. So the fans are going to get a work out. Might have to fire up the big beasty air con and go to my Summer retreat at the back of the house.

Have spent the start of the year catching up with friends before the working year begins for most of them. Have a few more pensioner friends now to talk about life after leaving the workforce. Some are contemplating moving out the city to a life either in the country or on the coast. Others are thinking of retirement, so I'm getting questions about things to consider. Been retired over 5 yrs now so I have knowledge I can share with friends, even though everyone's circumstances are different.

One year older now and my single malt scotch is back in stock so cracked open a new bottle on my birthday. Discovered I was one day late for the special price which was $50 off but was just happy that it was back in stock after 2 yrs due to COVID. Saw that hot cross buns were in the supermarket even before New Year's Eve. Still refusing to buy any till we get closer to Easter which is in April again but I think a week later than last year. Just feels odd to be having hot cross buns in Jan. It's mango time not hot cross buns time.

Well the politics isn't far away. A new year and more threats from China towards other countries. Do they never learn? Seems Mr Potato Head is setting up the Libs to not support The Voice to Parliament. Like the Nat's they don't want indigenous people to have a say in their lives, but Lib's just don't want to come out and say it. Instead we have this bullshit list of questions from Mr Potato Head as a tool to not support the Yes case. Little Johnny said that the indigenous people didn't deserve an apology by stating that there was nothing to apologise for. Apparently mass murder is ok according to the Lib's. We still don't acknowledge the mass killing of aboriginal people by white people in the early colonies. It was termed "a war" which is again is total bullshit. Only one side was going to win and it wasn't the aboriginal people given the superior weapons of the other side. We still don't teach the truth about those actions in our schools so kids grow up not knowing the truth and with social media these days the truth can be hidden just like the past. It's just racism plain and simple and until we acknowledge that we can't move forward as a nation.

Hoping for a less busy year on the medical front. Have a few months before the medical roundabout kicks in again. Lots to sort out in the logistics of that when I move out of Melbourne later in the year. There are silly rules that the govt will pay for a video chat but not telehealth phone calls with specialists which seems crazy given that telehealth allowed people in regional Victoria access to better health care without having to travel long distances. The health system needs to be more flexible and yes if that costs more then so be it. What exactly are we saving the money for apart from giving the rich a tax cut. They don't pay their fair share of tax now.

The only sport on TV now is tennis which I'm not a big fan of. See that The Jackass is back in the country and tried to fake yet another injury to gain sympathy. Lazarus would be rolling his eyes. No doubt he will at some stage go past Rafa as having the most grand slams but won't win the hearts of most tennis fans as the greatest which is a title The Jackass dearly wants. He has won by being an anti-vaxer and proving you can flaunt the laws of any country provided you are famous. Morals are not necessary in life, only fame and money. Which is a negative message to be sending to the younger generation.

On a more positive front the Aussie men did well in the cricket. Now it's the women's turn to show their talent. Funny how the commercial TV stations are showing the one day matches for the women, which means the pay TV stations didn't want to pay for the rights. Sexism at it's best. Will be watching when I'm not in the garden hacking at stuff.

Last week of leave for those working so the roads will be back to normal next week. The chaos of road works here in Melbourne is still going on. The Westgate once again causing a headache for people travelling down the western coastline. Given the large bay in Melbourne if you want to go down to the surf coast the only option is the Westgate Bridge or go all the way around the bay thru Footscray then Williamstown. None of that is bothering me. Since Boxing Day I've stayed on my side of the city just travelling locally and saving on petrol.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you and that you find a cool place to sit.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Tried to change the av but since it doesn't update in real time can't check if it works till you log in again in the future.
For some reason the image is rotated by 90 degrees. Annoying.

So only one full week of Jan to go then the kids go back to school and things calm down into the proper year. People still seem to be on holidays. Had a chat to one of the small business owners yesterdays and he mentioned that business is slow. Mainly tradies. Can't go out to the shops without stumbling over kids which is dangerous for the oldies. Saw a couple of young kids at the supermarket who should have had a parent with them. The eldest looked about 10 and her brother looked to be 8 and they were doing shopping for their mum and they were struggling to carry all the items. I certainly wouldn't be allowing any kids of that age doing the family weekly shop without parental supervision. Fine if you want to teach kids about shopping but expecting them to do your job as a parent isn't ok.

Haven't been out in the garden this week yet. Was very hot at the start of the week and surprisingly we got a cool change with rain most of yesterday so things have cooled off nicely but still wet out in the garden and the wind is changing again. Not ideal if you're cutting trees without getting tree limbs in your face and certainly not time to be up a ladder. Have a friend in their late 50's who fell off a ladder and is still recovering.

So another week goes by with yet more death notices of famous people and not so famous. It seems that the roll call of people who have died just keeps going. Renee Geyer was an icon of the 70's when Countdown was going strong. Like most teenagers in the 70's, was an avid watcher of Countdown. And with Summer here in Aussie land the reports of people who have died from Summer activities will keep going.

Interesting how the ICAC report on Gladys is not being published till after the NSW election which means the news can't be good for the Lib's, not that it will matter either way as it is a Lib stronghold so it doesn't matter the level of corruption found the Lib faithful will still vote Lib. The far right has a stranglehold on the party so nothing will change their vote. Seems Dom is being stabbed in the back by his own party. What he wore in his 20's would of been known within the party so the fact it is only coming up now means it is a power play within the Lib's. It won't make any difference to his election campaign, he is still a nerd and isn't an extremist.

It was funny to see news media trying to explain the NOTAM's system. Some couldn't even pronounce it properly and others just had no clue what it is used for. None of them said it is part of the air safety system regulated by govts. All the focus was on the commercial airlines which wasn't their fault. It is also a fact that the back up to the smart system is paper. So it has nothing to do with safety of the aircraft in regard to the aircraft being fit to fly and wouldn't be the first time aircraft have started a journey without the up to date NOTAM's. The fact that one incorrect digital file can crash an entire system is the big issue given how much money is in the airline industry. The govt should have better IT systems and cross checks. Given that most govt's outsource their IT support, it would not be a surprise if some contractor screwed up.

In recent chats with friends more of them are contemplating retirement and asking for advice. I retired a lot younger than they are now. The worst thing anyone can do is go to a financial advisor about their retirement. These guys want to sell the pipe dream of retirement and then tell people this ideal life they will have with all this OS travel, then tell people they need close to $500k to retire which is total bullshit. Sure if you want to spend more money in your retirement than when you were working, then yes you will need more money but given your income will drop by about 50% of your current income in your retirement then you will always trying to catch that balloon that keeps flying out of your reach. It's numbnuts thinking. What people don't realise is that you will have less income and you will need money not to go on all those OS trips each year but to pay for medical stuff as you age. I'm always amazed at how many people don't do any planning to retire then complain about not being able to pay for that ideal lifestyle they were told they could have. Financial planners do not care about your retirement, they only care about the $4k you're going to pay them to sell you the glossy brochure of retirement.

Seems that COVID has unleashed the Kraken. Hope you all like calamari. We'll be right here in Melbourne since we have a high Greek population. Plus here in Aussie land we've got Sam Worthington that's assuming he can get time off from his Avatar commitments. Not sure why they are persisting in these crazy names for something that can kill people. Will confuse the heck out of kids and some adults. No doubt the far right will down play the seriousness of this new variant. There whiteness will protect them till they get sick, then they will need the lefty govt services to save them.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. The tennis this week has seen Summer and Winter weather in the same week. Gone from melting in 36 degree heat to wearing jumpers today.

 

[missswannie]

Comfortable 35C over here in the west. Dry as normal, so doesn't trouble too many. Double brick and high ceilings, shady trees, do the trick. Some of the newer high density areas are on the hot side. A couple of building companies tried to slip wood and cladding upper floors into designs but I am told they are mostly for investors over east who then put them up for rent.

Kind of hard to get motivated over here. Most companies are back to work this week, kind of. Resource companies traditionally give from Christmas through to sometime after 7th Jan off without it coming out of annual leave. Add a week of your own time and so long as there is a skeleton crew on deck and it's mid Jan. Consultants have noone to work with so push that through to a week before Australia Day. Work a couple of days, take the rest of the AD week off.

Retailers aren't doing much unless selling bikinis and sunscreen. Trevor the Tiger Shark that visits a northern suburbs beach now and again is featuring on shirts and the like. He is very friendly. People are a bit wary as he has grown a bit more over the year but he is happy doing his thing. Very unusual for anything bigger than the usual baby reef sharks to come into the shallows.

A certain demographic, generally not born in Oz, who really like fishing, have taken to beach fishing for sharks on suburban beaches. A certain much larger and varied demographic doesn't think night fishing on beaches full of people during the day is a good idea. The first demographic is getting their heckles up at being told they are arseholes, but probably voted right wing libertarian prior to this so will just be loud. Perthfontein at its best.

A few more people have found our good spot for rock lobsters just off the beach. Still OK, but so long as people adhere to the rule of taking only what you need to have a good meal. Certain restaurants pay a catch price for recreational crays which attracts a few profiteers.

Quite interesed in pushes for legal changes so that criminals can't hide assets in superannuation to avoid payouts. The superannuation upper limit is not a bad thing either. After that it's just an investment asset without any of the preferential taxes or protections. There are some unsustainable practices that need to be dismantled before the coal, gas and mineral revenues start to decline.

Laying on the beach on the weekend and the group of middle aged couples just over were having a conversation about a few lifestyle parties. Quite entertaining. Some looked the part, others you wouldn't pick.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Another Australia Day rolls around and conversations abound regarding the date given Australia wasn't formed till Jan 1st 1901 so Jan 26th has nothing to do with Australia the country as the land was only recognized as an English colony on the 26th. If we are only using the day in Mr Potato Head's words as a day to acknowledge those people with British heritage then it doesn't recognise all Australian's. I have British heritage on both sides of my family but don't celebrate this day because of it. That is total nonsense. We are supposed to be a multi-cultural country or so we tell the world, then why make a purely British thing a national day. Doesn't make any sense. It's actually more appropriate to call it 'bring your convict to work' day. So the conversation needs to continue and come up with a day that includes everyone. We changed our national anthem to exclude the British Empire so why keep a day that is more relevant to the British Empire than to Australia as it's own entity. And while we are at it, get rid of the Union Jack from our flag. It's not relevant to a modern Australia.

The humidity has been rather high here in Melbourne this week even though the temps have stayed in the high 20's but feels like mid 30's. Was out in the garden in the heat earlier in the week and out in the heat again yesterday doing the weekly grocery shopping and feeling kinda tired today. Thankfully it's cooler this morning. As for the weather forecast well it has been mostly wrong. Rain was predicted and nothing happened again only yesterday rain was predicted for the weekend and today no rain predicted for the weekend. Continues to be a rather dry Summer here in Melbourne so the comments last year about a wetter than normal Summer hasn't happened.

Was pleasantly surprised by the reduction in medication costs. Remember the Fed's mentioning a reduction in prices for PBS listed medication but didn't think it would apply to me. So was surprised when the cost went down by nearly a third. Had to ask at the chemist if they were quoting the right price. Another positive thing that Albo has done. Wouldn't of happened under the Lib's. Certainly is good for those on the aged pension.

Miscalculated the Australia Day holiday which is on pension day so banks are closed. I'm sure it would of caught other people out. Annoying that I have to make another trip just for that. Managed to do a couple of other tasks yesterday and there were lots of people out and about since the kids are still on holidays. Not going anywhere near the local Westfield till after the school holidays are over. Bad enough going to the supermarket at the moment.

Purchased a new video game which is the Director's Cut of the original Ghost of Tsushima game plus extra content. Wouldn't be surprised if they make a TV series out of this one like they have done with The Last of Us and The Witcher. Saw a doco the other day on Japan and it was all about the history stated in the game with names of the areas in the game. Annoyingly when I traded the original game to by this new one I only got $1 as a trade-in. Playstation is trying to weed people off PS4 games by giving nothing as a trade-in. Was told I could try to sell the trade-in on ebay but why should I given the stores encourage customers to trade-in games. So not buying a PS5 till I have no other choice.

Which ever way you wish to acknowledge Australia Day and especially if you're going down to the pub at least wear the good thongs, have a pie and beer and a slice of pav. And what could be more Aussie than mowing the lawn today. Stay safe.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Debate on The Voice to Parliament has entered that divisive phase pushed by the Lib's and Nat's. Now they are trying to get refugees and new immigrants to be anti-indigeneous which is surprising given the Lib's have spent a lot of years demonising refugees and being anti-immigration from anywhere other than the western countries. Once again the Lib's can only find policies and arguments to divide the community and set one set of ethnic group against another one. This is all about creating noise to confuse what is being asked at the referendum. So the two major political parties are going to vote against The Voice to Parliament and they will require their followers to vote No. As the time gets closer to the referendum date the No case is going to get nastier as it did with the Same Sex Marriage voting which was pushed by the far right so once again the far right will come out from under their white rocks to bring out the racist side of society.

Well the Catholic Church is getting a run in the news this week for all the wrong reasons with that report on 4 Corners about what is essentially a Catholic cult within the Catholic school system plus the fuss over that Cardinal's funeral which now has his supporters from the Catholic church showing aggression towards those voicing their opposition to the honouring of such a divisive figure in the community. The only thing missing is an albino monk whipping himself and having a wank whilst praying. They have likened that Cardinal to Jesus which shows how delusional they are. Not a wonder that all churches are losing supporters. Danny Boy refused to allow a state funeral for that Cardinal which was a correct decision so it was moved to Sydney. We can expect that there will be a sway of Lib MP's present and past. Little Johnny is there along with the shirt front guy. The church hired security to remove those ribbons but they removed their uniforms when they were caught doing it and kept on going. As for Dom, well his surprise at that news conference about the revelations in the 4 Corners report was surprising given his family have been a major part of those schools so he knows their doctrine very well as he has been thru it. What was more surprising that kids are being groomed to follow a cult which receives funding from tax payers and that the NSW Lib's seek out members from those schools to be put in senior positions within the NSW Lib's. Frankly a joke that the NSW govt will investigate these allegations given they recruit from those schools. This needs an investigation from the Fed's not the NSW govt. More stories about this will come out. These schools need to lose their govt funding until they reform and teach the accepted curriculum or they are shut down. Kids should be going to school to learn and feel safe not be indoctrinated into extreme religious views. If this was happening at a non-Christian school there would be outrage in the community and the police would be involved. Religious freedom comes with responsibility to society.

Been hacking away at another tree in the backyard and managed to get most of it into the garden bin, still more of that to chop down. So getting a workout. As I'm getting rid of stuff in the backyard, the size of the backyard is opening up. I have a big block so removing some of the green stuff in the backyard really shows how much space there is. Have been using those trees and other green stuff to screen out the neighbours but it makes the backyard look smaller. Lots more work in the backyard for the coming weeks cutting away stuff. Whilst the temps have not been high in the last couple of weeks the humidity has kept high. Only had one day above 30 which was on Sat but even with the cool change it was still humid. A lot cooler today and we are expecting some rain later and into Friday but will see how much of that we actually get. Hasn't been correct so far this Summer as in we have got less than predicted.

The grocery bill in the last couple of weeks has increased. Not really buying any more but prices are still high especially on meat. Every doctor you go to keeps telling you to eat red meat for the iron which is fine assuming you can afford it. Some people being forced to becomes vegetarians because they can't afford meat. The price of coffee is still high which is annoying. Now I'm buying coffee when on specials even if I not don't need it. I have lots of cupboard space.

The Royal Commission grilling the Lib MP is showing how the Lib's are not taking responsibility for their decisions. The buck stopped with them but they are blaming their staff as if their staff had total power over Robodebt which is total bullshit. It shows a clear lack of humanity by the Lib's. People took their lives over this immoral scheme but the Lib's only cared about the savings. They will totally deny they wilfully went after people even when they knew this scheme was illegal. But none of them will face any consequences and will happily go on to collect their govt pensions. The only thing that will hurt them if they stay out of govt.

With the kids back at school it's noticeable how the shops are far less crowded and even the traffic has calmed down and parking is easier. The working from home thing is still alive and kicking and doesn't look like it's going back to a work week in the office for white collar workers. Still lots of offices in the CBD in Melbourne can't get their workforce to come back full time in the office so there will come a point where companies reduce the amount of office space they are renting in the city which will impact on landlords which could drive up the price of office space in the cities. Even the scammers and cold callers are back at work. The phone has been quiet over the school holidays.

So gas prices will be on the rise which should be of no surprise as they sent out their new rates last month. The prices will be higher here in Vic because the Lib's when in power privatised our utilities so we are paying more. People with central heating will feel the price hike more than those with a space heater. Gas heating used to cheaper than electric but it's pretty much the same these days if you rely on the older electric heaters which weren't very efficient. Once again this will hit the older people, especially aged pensioners. The discounts on the pension card isn't much.

Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[missswannie]

Back from a surprise week in Thailand. Surprise in that it came about with less than 12 hours notice, double surprise in that it got extended out for a few more days as we were at the whim of the people who had the jet charter. But not a bad set of surprises.

Lovely dry 35C days over in the west. Easterlies are blowing so the waves are pretty flat. As a Skynews commentator is oft relying to people, "but its dry heat, not like yours" It is true, it is too dry to stay sweaty. It is also necessary to put SPF50+ on your arms as just driving around gives you a truckie's right arm tan imbalance.

Sad times over in Alice Springs. We have some similar problems up in the Kimberley's but the communities are able to elect to be dry so that takes away one part of the issue. Sad state of affairs in some of the reports in the media, some piss poor journalism and no wonder the ABC management found no issue with the wording but at the same time disappeared the article... Long term engagement with youth to keep them from repeat offending also has to recognise that locals have a right to be safe and not having their property damaged repeatedly. At some point repeat offenders, those on bail still causing problems and people committing any offence need to be rounded up and placed somewhere they are safe and can work on issues. The community is not their punching bag nor have to incur all of the losses. I think the class action against the NT Govt could turn out to be watershed moment in responsibility. Just think of home burglaries these days in cities. The police don't attend, they just take a report over the phone and give you a report number to give your insurance company. The argument of if they are not back on the streets they are not committing crimes deserved to be tested alongside of youth engagement. WA has just built a new juvenile prison up north to be able to lock away more kids. Queensland is having exactly the same debate of steering a small population of offending youths vs public safety.

The Voice will be an interesting debate. Substance will be of the essence. Most people will reserve their judgement until the details come out. You can foul it up like the republic referendum where most people went against it because of the detailed single method of choosing a president. The flip side was the original plan where people were to vote on whether there should be a Voice and then the details later. That would be a big fat No from me, not because I don't think there should be a Voice, but because it was undefined. The debate has now started and it should be fleshed out with absolute clarity as to what is going to be voted on. That doesn't seem to sit well with some people but the folks in this country are not stupid. By the time this gets to a referendum it will be a well debated well fleshed out constitutional amendment.

Over this end of the world when school goes back the traffic goes up remarkably. When school is out the traffic is easy. Beaches and beachside cafes were full of mums enjoying their first break from the rugrats. Popped down the beach after getting off the plane and it was full until people started to leave presumably for school pickups.

We missed all of the radioactive isotope search during the week, but have been hearing all of the mining company chatter on it. Rio has done the right thing in requesting to pick up the bill for the search and recovery. On good authority, this will not be the last heard on how it fell off the truck, but it was important to locate and isolate it first before quiet questions will be asked.

Robodebt Inquiry is asking all the right questions and the Commissioner is very able. It should be a good outcome in reviewing the public service. The hard question will be the next issue. At the same time as Robodebt there was a system failure identified in pension and part pension payments. Reporting of increases in income were not recognised by the system and part pensions continued to be paid at previous levels. Long term system error can be argued to be someone else's problem, but recovery of overpayments have always been a part of CenterLink processes. Political bomb as it doesn't come out pretty for any side of politics if retirees are pissed off from being 10 year reassessed, but equally unfair to the Australian taxpayers and other demographics if something floats through as too hard.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Has been a quite mild Summer week in Melbourne this week thus far. Warming up for the next few days but temps keeping below 30. Feb is usually hotter than Jan but apart from a few days in the mid to high 30's Summer temps have been on the cooler side and on the nicer side. One thing that has persisted is the humidity which is obvious when turning on the cold water tap and you get hot water. Was only 20 yesterday but the humidity meant getting a cold drink of water from the tap meant running it for several seconds. Even had to turn on the fan yesterday after going outside for a short time. So the heat is there just not showing up in the temps.

Spent the week so far doing domestic chores so no work on the jobs for selling the place. Did a bit of a clean out of stuff I don't need any more. More of that to come later on. Had a few days of the NBN not working properly. The NBN just does stuff without notification. Wasn't sure if it was the new modem or something else. So after putting up with the on off nature of the modem decided to disconnect the NBN box and the modem and then re-connect them in sequence and that fixed it. Seems the NBN can just do as they like and they aren't responsible to anyone and they certainly don't give a shit about the general public. When checking the diagnostics on my new modem I saw that it is connected to the 5G upgrade. Wasn't notified that I was connected to the 5G network. Originally told that my modem was 4G compatible. Would be nice if the NBN would tell the public what is going on and how it impacts them. The NBN is a crappy system and needs to fully be fibre optic. Only live 30 mins from the CBD and we don't have fibre optic in my area and it's a pricey place to live.

Whilst in the backyard a few days ago hanging out the washing, got a visit from one of the regular birds that visit my place due to all the trees on the property. So this bird landed on what is left of one of the trees and looked at the remnants of this tree, then looked at me then back at the tree and back to me as if to say.."dude WTF!" The bird was not happy but there are lots of other trees it can perch on.

Had a planned power outage today. Can never tell which part of the day the power dies. Happened this morning so I just stayed in bed longer. Couldn't get a coffee so no point getting up. I don't have gas cooking and it seems the future is not to have gas cooking. Electric cookers were always the poor cousins in the cooking world now they are on par if not better for most cooking. Wok cooks would disagree.

The earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is a devastating natural disaster and no doubt the govt's in those countries will come under questions regarding the building codes as the human toll could of been far less. The newer buildings showed less loss. Those parts of Syria that are non-govt aren't getting any assistance. Even parts of Turkey haven't seen any govt help. It's a tragic scenario on all fronts and ordinary people have to pay the cost. The death toll of now 7000 is unimaginable. They are going to need help for a number of years. Not appropriate and Urdy is making this a political thing rather than helping his people.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

A nice sunny Summer's day here in Melbourne town. Summer is back tomorrow with temps we typically get in Feb. A small heat wave from tomorrow till the end of the week and a cool change again without any rain. The weekend should be cooler. The dry Summer continues here in the south. At least today the humidity wasn't there so being out in the garden for several hours was bearable with a cool breeze at times. Still worked up a sweat cutting down the last of the lemon tree and filling up the garden bin with other off cuts and branches. Trying to use the garden bin to do the clean up rather than call in someone. Takes longer but since I can do the work might as well do it plus gives a good workout given I'm using a hand saw.

Well the pollies are back at work and one has already resigned. Tudgy knew he was going to have to fess up at the Robodebt RC, so resigning was his misdirection and also to garner sympathy for his family which is again ironic given he ruined nearly half a million lives in his "get them" attitude with Robodebt. Then thought it was ok to provide personal details to the Australian newspaper of those who dared challenge the notification they received. It is also obvious that all the Lib's being forced to attend the Robodebt RC talked about their strategy and went with Slomo's plan about blaming everyone else. The reporters who published those details also need to account for their actions as to why they were working for the Lib's in their propaganda. None of us expect the govt of the day to be sharing confidential personal information with a tabloid. People expect the govt to protect them and their details held by a govt. It is also ironic that Tudgy is trying to play the family man given he had an affair. Pollies from both side past and present have had affairs but given these enlightened times we live in the moral code is always in the spot light. They should know better including those senior public servants who aided the govt in their Robodebt scheme. They knew it was illegal yet enabled the pollies to do what they did. The public service is supposed to be politically neutral and act as a safety check on the govt of the day. It seems those senior public servants were more interested in their own careers than doing their jobs and following the public service code of conduct. All the lower levels are supposed to follow it. The pollies can't sack a public servant for doing their jobs no matter how much bullying is dealt out. And it does go on. Those public servants who went along with the Lib's in the Robodebt scheme need to be demoted if they already haven't left. The public service doesn't work for the govt of the day they work for us we pay their wages not the respective political party. They are not govt staffers.

Had to laugh at the Lib's during question time going after that Labor MP about a donation to her campaign before she was elected at the last election, but failed to mention that they received a donation from the mining industry of over $150K which was done thru a third party which is a Lib lobby group who didn't have the ability to raise such a large donation. Nothing mentioned about that in the Australian or any Newscorp papers. Funny that. May be next time they try to shame another political party they need to tidy up their own backyard.

Watched the Super Bowl yesterday and it was a good game. Really thought the Eagles would win given their first half but the Chiefs got the job done in the second half. A bit like out third quarter in the AFL. Saw the ads for the new AFL season so that's not far away which means the year is marching on.

Seems that when the NBN failed at the start of the month in my area it impacted some emails. Had to phone up my ISP as to why I hadn't received the new bill and was told that it had happened to some other customers which is rather rare. But if I failed to contact them then it would of been my fault. As far as their system was concerned they sent it. Now Australia post is saying that general post will winding down. Guess we'll have to get pigeons. Just seem things are going backwards in this supposed high tech society. Only heard in passing that standard postage has gone up. About the only I send via post these days is Christmas cards. But the odd time you do need to send something via post you have to get more stamps from the post office so you end up with a collection of odd stamps. These days you don't get notified about the increase in postage but Australia Post is happy to keep putting junk mail in your mailbox.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. I'll be making ice for the heat wave to come.

 

[missswannie]

Bit of a warm time in Aus. Not too bad over here only 34-36. Should be a mass exodus from the CBD to the beach after work tonight I would think. 20 mins or so to the nearest.

Flights are still chockablock. Emirates is thinking of going 3 times a day again, Singapore and Cathay want more but good old Qantas... Now you can go top class SQ service to Singapore or you can pile onto a domestic 737 on Qantas with cardboard box meals for the trip up there. I guess its profitable though as they have never had the underbelly freight contracts. SQ covers costs on the freight and the passengers are a nice bonus.

Cricket...pass. I do have to go to India in the next weeks but think I will pass on the offer from clients to be entertained in a box. It would be probably all out game over by the time I walked up the stairs.

Cocaine and footballers... oh golly I have never done this before. I just somehow ended up with it in my pocket and knew what to do with it. Of course, its Collingwood and I come from the anyone-but-collingwood era. But the media is right, why not do random tests on anyone rocking up to corporate HQ, club grounds and management etc until there are enough pings that noone wants to touch it. You can do it on mines and defence bases and there are equally enough boofheads working on both. Just divert their salaries into a drug education fund while they are suspended. Now I heard a couple of stories about netball as well...

Half yearly WA state royalty bonuses coming out. They credit it onto electricity accounts. $400 per household the last few times, I'd expect something in the range of $300-350. The usual suspects can't piss it up at the pub or bottle shop either.

enjoy yourselves. At home in the heat or at Mardi Gras if you are so inclined.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The heat is coming back to Melbourne from tomorrow. Had our first day above 40C last week at the end of a mini heatwave. We got some rain with the cool change but nothing heavy. Been in the mid 20's but the humidity has not gone anywhere. Expecting another mini heatwave from tomorrow. Now expecting it to be a couple of degrees cooler than predicted but still in the mid 30'sC. So the fans and the portable cooler will get another run. Even though it's 22C today it is still warm and easy get you sweating if you're doing anything physical. Had to put on the fan to cool me down. One of the fans died last week during the mini heatwave. Was the weakest one and when I purchased it several years ago I wasn't impressed with it. One of those no name brands from Bunnings. It was cheap compared to the main I've had for a long time, it was rather crap.

Was out in the sun yesterday again, starting to clean out the garage and looking at what will make the junk pile. Got rid of a lot of old boxes and other stuff built up over the last 20yrs. Managed to fill up the recycling bin so now all the bins are full waiting on the respective bin days. More work in the garage needed in the coming weeks. Was cleaning out the old dishwasher when I found a problem. Not sure what's causing it. One of those wait and see tasks. May need a trip to Bunnings. Haven't been to Bunnings so far this year.

Not sure why people are jumping on the RBA. They were good guys when they dropped the interest rates down to nearly zero during COVID so the only place to go was up and if people were dumb enough to over extend themselves financially thinking the good times were going to last forever well they only have themselves to blame. Most mortgages are over a 30 yr period so of course interest rates are going to go up and down. With the mortgages I've had , I've never been lucky enough to have interest rates below 2% or even anywhere close to that. They were either 8% or 10% on the first property or closer to 6-7% on the other property and yes property was cheaper 20yrs ago but estate agents fees were 4% not the 1.5-2% they are now. And wages were much lower. So buying property has always been a big decision and was never easy. When my parents bought a home in the 70's interest rates went up to 18%. So when people get angry about the state of interest rates today they need to see it in context. There is still this myth at people from the past had it easy when buying a home and that everyone had paid of their home before they retired which is total bullshit. Most people used the cash payment from their retirement to pay off the mortgage. None of the blokes I worked with back in the 80's had paid off their homes when going to retire. The two major tasks to do when retiring was to pay off the mortgage and buy a new car. Nobody was thinking about cruising the world and going on holidays all year round. People from all generations found it tough to own a home.

Phoned up today about getting the next COVID booster. Booked in for next week although this time around the clinic I go to is only doing one a day until they see the uptake. Which is totally different to 6 months ago when I got my last booster. It was hard to get an appointment.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you. And we won't talk about the cricket.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

A new month and the end of Summer allegedly.

Now that it's confirmed that the high inflation rate is due to the cost of goods and services, it seems that companies have deliberately kept their prices high and have used the war in Ukraine to justify greed. Their massive profits are not being put into better services to customers nor reducing prices. It has all gone to their own management and a small amount to shareholders who in some cases haven't received a return on those huge profits. It is pure and simple greed and making money on the misery of others. What is happening in Ukraine has fuck all to do with our prices here in Australia. The cost of supply has gone down but prices have not reduced. The ACCC hasn't done anything to moderate the hike in prices. There is a big difference between making a profit and corporate greed which only puts money in the pockets of board members of these companies. They will receive their multi-million dollar bonuses this FY. A class war is coming and Albo seems to be firing the first warning shot with the changes to Super tax offsets.

The women cricketers are amazing. World champs again in the T20 but not attracting the same kind of money in the IPL as the men. The women's team is the best in the world but don't attract the same coverage. When we talk about cricket we tend to only mention the men's game. The men's team has never been good at T20 and that's an attitude issue with the people running the men's game who are purely focused on test cricket as the legitimate game.

The weather here in Melbourne is making a mockery of the long term forecasts. It was supposed to be dry starting off the week then within one day it changed to wet stuff then it rained yesterday which was supposed to be dry. Was out early yesterday to get my next COVID booster and managed to get back home before the rain hit. It was that annoying drizzle and it seems it kept going overnight. Things are still damp out there especially in the garden which is stopping me continuing with the work in the back garden. Annoying. The cool change that happened a couple of days ago has stretched out for a couple of days which again is not normal. We haven't had a normal Summer for several years now. You can't count on a regular Summer any more in Melbourne. The BOM last year in Nov stated that the coming Summer would be wetter than normal here in Melbourne which didn't happen. It was a rather dry Summer. Those Summer storms didn't happen. We mainly got dry thunder. Anyone coming to Melbourne between now and Easter should not assume that just because Summer is officially over that the temps will be cooler. We can get temps in the 30'sC up to mid-April. Now forecast to be 31C on Sunday so might be wet again at the start of next week.

Did some more clearing out of stuff in the house. Got rid of some stuff I haven't looked at in nearly a decade. Stuff that you put in a drawer and forget about if you have the space. I've got lots of cupboard space in the current house. I haven't managed to fill up all that space in 20yrs. Since I can't get out in the garden for now, got another task to look at today. Got a couple of small painting tasks to think about for this month. Things are going slower than I'd like so will be waiting a bit longer before I sell up.

Watching the Australian Idol and then watching the American Idol, it's like caulk and cheese. The American version has better singers and a higher standard. We don't have the right judges. WTF is Sandilands doing on Australian Idol? He's a radio talk back dude who's got his head up his arse. Not sure why people see that they have to kiss his butt. What the fuck would he know about the music industry? Our attitude to any competition is to just accept anyone. We need a higher standard.

As for the changes to the Super tax offsets, Albo is making a smart move. It only impacts the rich and super rich. Mr Potato head is now being wedged to either support the workers or the rich to super rich which is their traditional base. Tax offsets to Super is currently based on age. Once you get past 60 you get a tax offset of 15% as in a tax reduction on your Super earnings. The new changes won't impact a vast majority of people who are in Super now or going into retirement in the next two years. So the people who will be impacted by this change are already taking advantage of tax loop holes. Most people won't have anywhere near $3Million in their Super. I've been officially retired for 6yrs and I'm still paying tax. I could offset that by purchasing an investment property but I don't see property as a tax loop hole so that other people can pay for my life style. We need to stop using housing as an investment and go back to thinking it as a right for everyone. If you have money to invest well you couldn't go wrong in buying shares in a bank, they never lose.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Well the RC into Robodebt shows the mentality of the Lib's towards people on welfare. Their culture indicates they will lie to the Australian public, demonise anyone getting Centrelink benefits and to uphold the party line even they know it's a lie and they see nothing wrong with misleading the public. Same as to their attitude towards corruption which is fine provided it favours LNP seats. The fact that nobody is facing any form of discipline resulting from the RC is the biggest failure. In fact the top public servant from the Robodebt scheme now has a job worth nearly $1million which is a reward for ass kissing the LNP govt. It is totally disgusting that all those involved in the Robodebt are allowed to get on with their lives as if nothing happened. The senior public servants that enabled Robodebt need to be demoted. They get paid very well. It also shows the public service in Canberra cannot be trusted to do their jobs in being independent of the govt of the day. They have failed their own code of conduct. As for Robert well he should be removed from the front bench of the opposition bench as he has breached the code of conduct for politicians but Mr Potato Head won't do it because he will always protect the LNP brand. Basically the LNP are a pack of arseholes. Everything we have heard from the RC shows why people don't trust politicians and why independent candidates win seats. Unless there are consequences coming out of RC's there doesn't seem any point in having them. It's just theatre for journalists.

Angus going on about the change to Super once again shows the LNP is the party for the rich. The beat up about the change to the tax offset is laughable given that the tax offset doesn't tax the money in anyone's Super fund as a tax offset is a tax reduction not an additional tax. If you have lots of money in your Super when you retire you still pay tax which doesn't impact a vast majority of people who have retired. There is a myth that once you retire you don't pay tax. That is not true. It all depends on how much you earn from your super. If you have enough in your Super that you are being taxed then you are doing well and are well off. This bullshit talk that people in their 20's are worried about their Super when they retire is another beat up from the LNP. Nobody in their 20's is thinking about their Super let alone about their retirement. Unless you are earning over $200K from now till you retire in your 70's then you've got nothing to worry about. Those people will minimise their tax and will get tax refunds which will be more than people on low incomes will ever earn. The tax system is designed to help the rich and needs an overhaul to remove the loop holes for the rich.

The weather has cooled off here in Melbourne town. First time this year we have had a proper cool change after several days of heat. We had a proper thunderstorm with a decent amount of rain which cooled down the house nicely. We've had a slow decline in the temps with some additional showers but mainly it rained at night. It's now down to 18 today from the low 30's on the weekend. The heat will be back before the month is done.

Haven't managed to do any more work on the house this week due to a back strain. Wasn't doing anything physical at the time only reaching in to a cupboard and felt a twinge in the back. Walking has been difficult. Now the right ankle has gone out in sympathy so that is also hurting. So lots of sitting and playing video games with rounds of heat packs and deep heat rubdowns. Had to remember not to touch the dick when peeing with deep heat on the hands. Did that once and lesson learnt.

Looking at the cost of properties in the country and it has gone up a lot compared to what I saw in 2019. The increase is about $150K which makes some of those houses on par with houses in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. Hasn't put me off moving out of the city. Also seen lots of land blocks for sale and they are far larger than what is available in the suburbs. New homes in the cities are on smaller blocks these days and are closer together.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[ihflrm]

Hi all! Headed to Australia in July!

 

[missswannie]

Hectic. Long weekend last weekend for WA folks then a Tuesday evening request to do a meeting in Auckland on Thursday. I'm getting lazy and really wanted to do it online but got the vibes that done one was going to be getting some bad news sosomeone needed to be there.
Qantas... shitbox 737 to Sydney and another to Auckland. Unpleasant. They don't care. Thought I would catch Air New Zealand back direct. Well, they are short of planes and crews so it was a wet lease charter operator running the route for them. Meh. It's not SQ.

Still summer over this end. No sign of rain yet. Still beach weather, will be until late May.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Was out yesterday doing the weekly shop and was fooled by the forecast of 23C as it was very humid. Felt more like 30C. Came home a bit sweaty even though wasn't doing anything that would warrant getting sweaty. The back was feeling better but felt a twinge again so taking it easy again which is very annoying. Did some more of the clean out of the garage at the start of the week as the back was feeling much better or so I thought. Didn't feel it till the next day so was a bit sore in the same area of the back. May have overdone it. So few more days of heat packs to the back and trying not aggravate the muscle pain. Expecting more heat on the weekend here in Melbourne town with temps in the mid 30'sC. Which is normal for this time of year. The odd day in the 30's. The humidity certainly hasn't gone anywhere.

All the talk has been about the new sub's and the money being outlaid over the next 30yrs. But as usual that is only an estimate as Defence purchases of new toys is never on budget. Costs will blow out when they actually start doing stuff. Mr Potato Head is taking credit for the new sub's but it was Albo that made AUKUS work. The LNP didn't have any detail just a headline and dumping the French sub. It was a "glossy" as it's known. It didn't Mr Potato Head long to suggest that all things social services should be cut to pay for the sub's. Once again the LNP wants to defund the NDIS, the dole, pensions, etc. We already have a way to pay for the sub's and that is to stop the stage 3 tax cuts. If the Fed's want another term in office, taking money out of social services including payments for children, will lose them the next election. So far Albo hasn't done much wrong and has in fact improved things. Whilst the cost of some medicines as dropped it has reduced for all medication. In fact the cost of some has gone up, some by nearly $15 in the past couple of years.

As for AUKUS, not sure what all fuss is about in regard to our links to the US and UK on the defence of this country. If it wasn't for our close links with the US we would not be in our rose coloured view of the world. We go about our daily lives totally oblivious to the rest of the world. Social media misses a lot of the real world. NATO also has been asleep at the wheel which gave Poo-tin confidence to invade Ukraine. Keating is correct in that Australia will never be invaded for various reasons including our vast land mass but most of the rest of his outburst shows why an old man needs to find a quiet place. Any incursion is going to come from the west or north. Nobody is going to try anything on the east coast as it is too close to the US plus we don't have any potential enemies on the east coast. That bloody big desert we have and our terrain makes any land invasion impossible. We also rely on US spy satellites to inform us of anything coming close to Australia. People don't realise how dependent we are now on the US military for our safety. We don't have enough tech to cover our entire coastline. The surveillance flights we do on the west coast is not of much use it's more symbolic than anything else. As for US military commanding our sub's well the military work on the chain of command. It does not matter who is the ranking officer of the boat they all report to the Chief of the Navy who reports to the CDF both of which will always be an Aussie. We also right now embed military from the US, UK, Canada with our military and they answer to the ranking Aussie military person so any discussion that the US or UK military is going to take over our guys is total bullshit. It talk from a naive media and hysterical so called experts.

Since we are paying for the sub's is doesn't matter which political party is in power in the US. The Republicans love money above all else so we are paying US industry for the sub's and the US doesn't care who they sell military hard ware to so long as the client pays. The sell lots of military stuff to the Saudi's so selling to us is not an issue. Again another beat up from the media that a change in the political party in the US will stop the sub's deal. Ain't going to happen.

Moomba is over for another year. It is good for kids. Lots of good memories going to Moomba as a kid for the parade, the rides and the food stalls. Sitting on the banks of the Yarra watching the waterski shows. It's one of those things that all kids in Melbourne should go to as is the Royal Melbourne Show.

Saw an interesting sign in Woollies yesterday regarding camera face recognition technology for the self serve checkouts. If I wasn't waiting in line for a while I wouldn't of noticed it. Get regular emails from Woollies but don't remember any mention of this new camera technology for self serve checkouts. Obviously they are trying to catch out those people who falsely scan items. Rather than implementing expensive technology it would be cheaper to employ more people on the checkouts. There was only one checkout open yet there are eight checkouts in that store. It must be cheaper to have more checkout staff. It's like spending more money on a bad idea. Supermarkets are making record profits so no excuses for providing better customer service.

Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

Well the thunderstorms rolling thru Melbourne caught everyone off guard. Everyone would of gone to bed thinking the rain predicted today was only going to be 1mm. No major rain event was predicted on the long range forecast so waking up to thunder rumpling in the background would of come as a major surprise to everyone. The timing of the storms were just as kids were going to school so the school drop off would of been chaos. Some parts of Melbourne got 16mm in about 10 mins. It was more like a Summer thunderstorm coming from the north west. The areas that normally get hit with these types of storms got smashed and there has been power outages in the worst hit areas. It would be of no surprise that the northern suburbs got hit as those suburbs are in the storm belt. So if we get any storms coming from the west, the northern suburbs will get hit. Down here in the south eastern suburbs we only got a bit of heavy rain which only lasted about 30mins. Day turned into night for about an hour. The build up to the rain was a thunder and lightning show. Still wet out there but it's more like drizzle and things have cooled down. More rain coming so it will be a rainy day timetable for most of the day.

Not sure why people were surprised that fascists would turn up to an ant-trans rally. Fascists don't like gays, trans, disabled people, etc. Let's not forget that the Nazis put all those people in concentration camps when they came to power before WWII kicked off. That is history. The Lib MP who helped to organise this event would of been told that the far right would show up. They were not stopped by the organisers who saw them coming down the road into the rally space carved out by the cops who in fact ended up defending the fascists which is totally wrong. Those making the salute have no clue as to what that represents to people from countries who lived under Nazi occupation. Not to say that these fascists are not educated in fact their leaders are uni graduates so there is no excuse for them to not engage with history. It shows though that these guys are cowards as they covered their faces so they aren't true to their cause. The cops know who these leaders are yet the politicians and cops have done nothing to shut down these groups from parading around in public. Free speech doesn't come with the right to espouse hate. The Lib MP who organised this rally was toasting how well the rally went after those fascists showed up as if nothing happened. The only reason this rally didn't end in violence is that cops were protecting the fascists. We saw that play out in Sydney where fascists decided to attack those protesters and the cops were outnumbered and couldn't stop the violence. Once again another example where cops don't take these violent groups seriously until violence breaks out. Given what happened in Melbourne the day before the cops in Sydney should have been prepared. At some point someone is going to get killed by these fuckwits and then there will lots of comments about how that could happen. So the signs are there but nobody in positions of power are doing anything to head that off. These groups are gaining confidence by no actions being taken to shut them down.

Poo-tin now has an arrest warrant against him so it is the beginning of the end for him. He has gone past that tipping point of what international groups are willing to tolerate. It happens to all dictators and they never learn from history. Poo-tin could of spent all his years suppressing his people without any comment from the wider world but he couldn't keep his dick in his pants. As the evidence keeps building on the other atrocities Russia has committed in Ukraine more arrest warrants will arise until they gain momentum to restrict Poo-tin's movements. It may take another decade but he has set himself down the path of losing his power. If Poo Bear isn't careful China is going to get splashed with Poo-tin's poo and western countries will turn their backs on China which is heavily reliant on western countries buying their stuff as well on goods from western countries. Their middle class has a taste for food and goods produced in the west so if they don't get their stuff and can't continue to buy up land in western countries they will not be happy. As for China invading Australia well they don't need to since our real estate agents are willing to sell of Australia to Chinese buyers. China is invading Australia by just buying the place and since greed is good, our own private industry is willing to sell it to them bit by bit. The Chinese did the same thing in Hawaii where they would buy up entire suburbs sending up the price of houses they didn't want which meant the locals couldn't afford any other houses in those suburbs. We have apartment buildings here in Melbourne that are exclusively Chinese owned only open to Chinese buyers. No Australian company would be allowed to do this in China. So history is repeating itself and we are letting it happen. As seen recently that China has scam companies set up in Cambodia to rip off people in western countries. They have bought politicians in Cambodia to do this. All that money goes to the communist party. Now it has come out that Tik Tok is collecting more data than it states it collects and all of it is available to the Chinese govt. We are so willing to give away our personal details then are shocked when we are targeted by OS countries.

With the forecast indicating we were only going to get one dry day this week, managed to get more done in the backyard and filled up the garden bin again. Did my lumperjack impression again. Had to be careful with that rose creeper as it has very large thorns which has got me a couple of times. But things are progressing although slowly and the backyard keeps opening up. Forgot how big the backyard actually is. Still have lots of trees on the property so the birds have lots of places to perch on. Usually get birds nesting in various trees. I try not to do any cutting of those trees till the bird nests are empty.

Today would normally be my pension day but ran out of food so went shopping yesterday when the weather was fine and on the warmish side. Saw that petrol is around the mid $1.70's. Since I've been staying local, haven't had the need to fill up for a while. No plans to travel across the other side of the city so won't need to fill up for a few more weeks. The back is feeling much better to can do stuff around the house again.

Good to see that the aged pension has increased. Not by much but still better than nothing. Doesn't impact me but for those who rely on Centrelink pensions it's good news. Yes it could be more but it could always be more. Was surprised that my health fund is giving me another refund stemming from COVID. Wasn't expecting the first refund last year which was a good amount. Paid off a couple of the utility bills. All the utility bills are due next month which will be an expensive month, so the next refund will come in handy.

All the rain is due to go away tomorrow and expecting a dry weekend then more rain coming for the start of next week. Melbourne is predicted to get a soaking in the first half of next week. Hope the weekend is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Was surprised to see that the Canadian population is nearing 40 million. Wasn't that long ago their population was similar to ours given they have the same issue as we do in that some of the country is not hospitable to people expansion. We have a big desert they have areas that are too cold for humans to live year round. Their immigration intake is targeted at 500,000 per year, we were having puppies at 160,000 per year. We have not gone up to 195,000 with the new govt but that won't be enough going into the future. The only way we grow the population is through immigration since we don't have enough babies each year. The Canadians have a similar medicare system but have more tax payers to pay for it. Lots of discussion here about how tax payer monies is being spent and what doesn't get funded cause we can't fund everything needed. We need to stop the narrative that immigration means more money being paid out on the dole for immigrants. Immigration continues being stated as a burden to the tax payer which total bullshit. The larger the population the more tax we can raise and the cheaper stuff will become. We pay too much for everything because the commercial industry keeps using the low population size to keep prices high. As to where we are going to fit new immigrants, well there is plenty of housing that is being left empty plus the Fed's need to build more social housing. We keep losing talent to other countries like Canada because we don't makes things easier for migrants who want to live here. If things don't change we won't be able to afford the aged pension and those rorts like franking credits and negative gearing.

It's noticeable that we are getting less daylight hours here in Melbourne where we get less light at this time of year. Keeping daylight savings going into late March for us here in Melbourne is a nonsense. It is easy to see the difference in daylight during the morning by just watching the morning news programs when they switch to a news story from either Sydney or Brisbane. That curvature of the earth is really noticeable when it's dark here and daylight in Brisbane at the same time. Thankfully daylights savings finishes on Sunday so only a few more days to go. We don't need daylights savings any more. Things are open 7 days a week. With more people working from home the normal after work drinks is not relevant either. Cafes in the city are still struggling with the change in work practices.

The banning of trans athletes from world athletes seems odd given there aren't any of them at that level. Sounds more like that world athletes is trying to keep traditional athletic organisations happy and countries who see trans people as not appropriate and will jail anyone who is not straight. What this new ruling does is send the message to local sporting bodies that trans kids are not welcome which will allow schools to discriminate against trans kids as some already do with gay kids especially some religious schools. The warm fuzzy statements about inclusiveness has brackets around it. We care about mental health but then exclude people who don't fit what we believe is acceptable. We keep telling people that they should do sport for their health, but what we really mean is that we only care about the health of straight people.

So the Libs got another arse kicking in elections. Not surprising that western Sydney turned on the Lib's given they were treated at criminals by Gladys who blamed western Sydney for spreading COVID when in fact it was coming from the eastern suburbs which infected the western suburbs. The lock downs didn't play any part in the elections because Gladys couldn't say the words "lock down". The only real lock down was in western Sydney. Whereas the USA is divided between north and south states, Sydney has the same thing only it's east vs west. There's a border wall in Sydney, it's just not a visible one. The Libs' have now been kicked out of every state and territory on the mainland and they have not learnt from the recent state Elections nor the Federal Election. They continue to court the far right which only plays to the older generation. They completely ignore the younger generation who are an education population who are slowly taking over the neighbourhoods of the baby boomer generation. And unlike the older generation the younger generation doesn't vote along tradition lines or loyalty. They vote based on policy. The Lib's here in Vic have shot themselves in the foot again by allowing that Lib MP who organised the anti-trans rally to stay in the parliament. She only mentioned the nazi salute when challenged otherwise she was celebrating how well the day went. At the party later that night she didn't mention anything about the fascists turning up at the rally as if it didn't happen. If it wasn't on the news she would of denied it happened. The Lib's need to stop courting the far right extremists if they want to be relevant to the public. The younger generation won't put up with it as the older generation do. The older Lib's just accept it and ignore the issue.

Has been wet here in Melbourne these past two days. Not raining all day but the ground is wet enough. Had passing showers for most of yesterday and woke up to showers this morning. The sun has got thru a few times today but the ground is wet enough to wet your shoes and the bottom of the jeans. So the work in backyard has come to dead stop. Had to attend to front yard on Friday last week which filled up a couple of garden bags and two thirds of the garden bin so not a lot of room left for the stuff in the backyard. Next week will be looking at a small painting task and some other maintenance work. Nothing major. The humidity will hang around in Melbourne till mid April so still fine to do some painting.

No plans to go anywhere for Easter but have already purchased my Easter egg since it was on special. Used to get that nougat egg made by Darrell Lea when I was a kid, but it was bigger then. They seem to be getting smaller every year. Not a fan of just the hollow choc egg. Not a fan of just plain choc in general.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Has been another humid week in Melbourne town even though we didn't get above 26C this week. All that will come to an end with the impending wet stuff headed our way from this afternoon onwards. Friday is supposed to be the wettest day but rain forecast for the entire Easter weekend and into next week. No plans to go anywhere for the long long weekend. Decided to get the groceries in early so went shopping yesterday and saw that the petrol is back up over $2 again just in time for Easter which was rather predictable. The petrol prices magically increase just before to major holidays. It's a given rort by petrol companies.

Have been busy this week with the ongoing tasks. Had to chop down some tree branches in the front yard and trim up the front hedge so not much space left for the work in the backyard but managed to get rid of more of the stuff in the backyard. It was rather warm so didn't long to build up a sweat. Looks like I'll still be hacking at stuff on and off till the end of next month. The large garden bin seems rather small since I started cutting down trees. Now onto doing the small painting tasks. Thought I had a small gaping task to do which has turned into a painting task as well. Currently waiting for paint to dry. Hope to finish that later today given it is still on the warm side. More going up and down a ladder although thankfully I'm not up the ladder for long each time. Can't stand up ladders for long these days. They should come with an age limit as well as the kg rating.

Got up early on Wed, turned on the TV and Rump's face was everywhere. What a circus! Had to laugh at the extensive coverage with the movements of Rump and his motorcade. It's a rating hit in the US. The media love Rump cause it means ratings and advertising dollars which makes it seem like lots of people care. His loyal cult fans was laughable. There were so few of them outside the court that the press had to line up single file to talk to them. The press outnumbered Rump's supporters. Even that Taylor-Greene only lasted 10 mins before she ran away. So much for her support. Obviously didn't want to be seen with only a handful of Rump's supporters. Not a strong image, which shows how far down the pecking order Rump has gone. The Republicans are glued on to Rump's butt-hole that they can't have an independent thought. They all continue to kiss his arse. When the other indictments come along that are much more serious they will slowly distance themselves. Rump has done so much illegal stuff in his life, he is pissed that he finally got caught. He has managed to silence or pay off people who could get him in the shit over the decades. He is still facing a rape charge. He's managed to buy off women in the past till Stormy came along. Even the security at the court let the door hit him. Rump doesn't open doors he always has a pleb do that for him. He even had to stand up in court which again pissed him off. Now he is going after the judge and his family. He can't help himself. Even his friends on Fox tried to spoon feed him the correct answers to questions and he fucked that up as well. Apparently his family thinks it's normal for everyone to have an NDA which shows what fucked up world Rump lives in. Rump is not smart enough to even claim the Alan Bond defence of suddenly going nuts.

Speaking of going nuts...the Lib's saying No to The Voice which seems so dumb given they just had their arses handed to them in the recent by-election in Aston. This is seat they couldn't lose as all the experts kept saying. Mr Potato Head said it was going to be an election based on the leadership between him and Albo but then didn't accept the result and indicated it the fault of those pesky Victorians, nothing to do with him. The Lib's continue to cater to older white people and are back in the 1950. Menzies died a long time ago and they need to move on. The younger generations will make them pay for their opposition to The Voice. You can't trust surveys these days given most people can't be bothered, certainly not the younger generation. People don't answer the phone these days due to all those scam cold calls. It's only the older generation that answer the phone because that what you did in the '60s and '70s. It was obvious that the Lib's were going to oppose The Voice by all their stupid questions. When Mr Potato Head was asked whether he would agree to The Voice if the Executive was removed from the wording he said no. So all that talk objecting about The Voice talking to the Executive was total bullshit. They are the No party or as recently has been termed the Lib's are the Nasty Party. That is going to stick for the next election. Mr Potato Head has just handed the next election to Albo. They don't get it. The Lib's are becoming the Republicans in the US. What the Lib's have done is give the green light to their radical far right cohort. So you can bet the fascists will take to the streets as will the racists. They feel quite at home in the Liberal Party. The hate speech against First Nations peoples will only ramp up from now till the vote. The anti-gay, etc fuckwits will come out to play again cause they know the Lib's will support them. A lot of LGBTQi people will not feel safe thanks to the Lib's who have gone ever further to the right as of yesterday.

When out shopping yesterday I went to the post office and discovered that Australia Post internet was down and I was told by the lady running the post office that it has been down for two so not electronic transactions could be done. That means no banking, electronic payments for bills etc could be processed. I had cash so wasn't an issue for me to pay a bill. Given we live in this so called hi-tech world the electronic technology should not be this fragile. The business industry has made us so dependent on digital and electronic transactions that they should also insure it works all the time. Companies don't invest in back up systems and certainly don't do enough testing which was highlighted by the Sydney trains going down because of one corrupt digital file uploaded by a contractor. It shouldn't be happening. We have become more vulnerable because technology is seen as a way to increase profits not to benefit people. People are blown away when I say I don't use my mobile phone much. It's like I've gone off grid to most people.

The Grand Prix is over again for another year and it was one for those people who only go to see crashes and the drama. Never seen three restarts before. Didn't see the point in the last restart with one lap to go. Shouldn't of just stopped the race. Was good that the local guy got his points in F1. Not his fault he has a crap car. As usual Albert Park Lake area will be closed for several weeks so traffic chaos will continue. Thankfully I don't have a reason to cross the city this month. Will be off over the other side for Mother's Day next month. Won't need to fill up the car till then. No plans to do any major driving for a while.

Hope Easter is good for you. If you're on the east coast try not to drown.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

Has been a rainy start to the week and more predicted again for this weekend. Didn't get all that rain that was predicted for Easter. Did rain but not in the volume we were told was going to happen. Most of the rain has fallen during the night. Since yesterday was dry managed to chop down some more the tree limbs impinging on the eaves and near the power line leading into the house. Since Winter is on the way the growth will slow down. The humidity saw lots of growth in the trees in the front yard. Leaves are turning yellow so the season is changing. Also the ads on TV have gone from outdoor activities and doing stuff on the deck to cold and flu tablets. So another visual that Winter is on the way. Even the ad's for the flu shot have ramped up. If it dries up later in the week might be able to get outside again and hack at more stuff in the backyard before the big wet predicted for this weekend.

India is now the most populace country on the planet. China doesn't have that title any more so we need to pivot towards India as a consumer for our products. The only thing we see on TV is the poverty in India yet not the poverty in China because they don't want anyone to know. We hide our poverty as well. There is a healthy middle class in India which is not shown on TV nor are their rich. The IPL is funded by the rich of India and it's the most highly paid cricket tournament on the planet. If we don't get in on the ground floor other countries will get in there before us whilst we go cap in hand to China which Pooh Bear continues to use to punish and threaten us. We need to wake up to the new emerging power in Asia.

The Lib's are dropping like flies on their opposition to The Voice. They lost their main indigenous support in Wyatt, now they have lost their Indigenous Minister so their goes the Jewish vote. It is surprising that Christian churches are yet to advocate for The Voice but the other faiths have come out in favour of The Voice. Seems that if the Christian churches were to acknowledge The Voice they would also have to admit to the damage they have done to indigenous culture and indigenous people over a couple of centuries and it's still going on. Mr Potato Head is now spreading lies about The Voice saying it's going to cost billions and that it will bring govt to a halt. Total bullshit. Seems he is using the Rump play book in spreading false news and stating it as fact. Alternative facts are lies they aren't facts. What is very clear is that rich white people and institutions where white people are in power are shitting themselves about The Voice. They see any empowering of indigenous people as a threat to their power and grip on the country. Resource companies and rich land owners are worried that The Voice will lead to them losing their land and access to indigenous land so they won't be able to blow up more sacred sites in search of dollars. Indigenous people who are opposing The Voice want more power and some want seats in parliament exclusively for indigenous people which will never win as an argument. There is already a mechanism to get people into parliament. If indigenous people want exclusive seats in parliament they should form their own political party. It worked for the Greens and now it's worked for the Teals. The respective major political parties have failed indigenous people. The good thing about a democracy is that everyone gets a vote, you just have to organise and vote for what you believe in.

This debate of wanting more detail on The Voice is a nonsense given there is so much info out there now. We are voting on a principle not a model of The Voice. When we voted for a Republic we were voting on a model not the principle of a republic. I voted No to the republic model put up by Little Johnny. I wasn't voting no to a republic but that wasn't the question I was being asked. If the simple question was put on whether we wanted a republic or not, it would of succeeded. But Little Johnny put up a model he knew would fail so the false narrative then put out by the Lib's was that Australia didn't want a republic which was not true. If The Voice fails the narrative will be Australia does not want indigenous people to have a say in matters that are pertaining to them. So if The Voice fails. The next time anyone asks if Australia is a racist country, the answer would have to be Yes it is and that will go around the world. Which means people who wanted to migrate to Australia will go elsewhere. We are already losing talent because of our very long visa process. If Australia can treat their own indigenous people like second class citizens, how are they going to treat people from other ethnic cultures. It will send the message that only white people should be in positions of power and we tolerate non-whites into the country so that they can work on the lower levels. It's a bad message to send to the rest of the world. Scotland's new leader is a Muslim and England has a PM who is from Indian heritage. That wouldn't happen here let alone anyone who was indigenous. It certainly wouldn't happen in the Lib's. We aren't as progressive as we think we are. If anyone thinks racism doesn't happen in this country just look at the AFL this week. It's no coincidence that the racial tone has ramped up after the Lib's have voted against The Voice. It's only going to get worse till Oct.

Eaten the one Easter egg I purchased for Easter but have scoffed down several six packs of hot cross buns. The Easter egg I purchased used be a whole egg when I was a kid. Now it's just a half egg. That's progress? Wet day timetable here in Melbourne. Was raining first thing this morning. More on the way but most of the heavy stuff will miss Melbourne. Rain is predicted into next week. So the pattern repeats for the another week. There is going to be a bunch of wet school kids next week and annoyed parents who have to spend all day with their kids indoors.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The weather forecast is all over the place. April continues to be the rainy month compared to the first three months of the year. Rain happening every few days with some sunny days in between. Temps are getting cooler but still in the 20's C for most of the time but the mornings are getting that hint of Winter with fog and a frosty start. The weekend is supposed to be dry. Thankfully it's the last few days of the school holidays and I can go to the supermarket without kids running in front of the trolley. I can also venture forth to the local shopping centre.

Been watching the disharmony in the Lib's. It seems they have all the answers now that they are out of govt. So the question has to be why they didn't implement any of the things they are now spruking when they were in power for a decade. The data they keep quoting in regard to child sex abuse comes from when they were in govt so why didn't they do anything to implement solutions when they were in power? Apparently they have solutions to health in regional areas which they mentioned on Q+A but then couldn't answer why they didn't implement those ideas when they were in power. They keep blaming Albo for things they didn't do when in govt. Perhaps they are suffering from dementia. Mr Potato Head was again asked to report to police since he knows of cases of child sex abuse he keeps talking about, but then went quiet when challenged. Again these cases happened when the Lib's were in power. Even his new Indigenous Minister couldn't site a recent case when quizzed, the claims are based on historical events when the LNP was in power. Not to say it still isn't happening but if you're going to make fresh claims back it up with the new incidents of the events. The Lib's have lost another front bencher who isn't giving the real reasons why she is leaving now. Mr Potato Head now has to bring in his third choice of ministers because if they were his first choice he would of promoted them earlier. The Lib's keep talking about their broad church well it seems Mr Potato Head is turning lots of them into atheists.

Don't understand this argument that The Voice will give indigenous people special privileges above other Aussies. We have had an Indigenous Minister for many years because of the issue with getting indigenous people equality in society. We don't have a minister for other cultures which demonstrates that indigenous people need a dedicated part of govt since the normal mechanisms of the govt cannot cater for their needs. The Greek, Chinese and Irish cultures don't get their own ministers. If indigenous people had the same opportunities as other Aussies we wouldn't need an Indigenous Minister so this discussion about indigenous people getting extras is a total nonsense. It also seems that some indigenous leaders seem to see The Voice as a threat to their current power so are opposing it. Saw Warren Mundine in his normal mode of demeaning anyone who doesn't agree with him, talking over the top of people and generally being an arse. He apparently has all the solutions then goes on to say he doesn't speak for all indigenous people but then says indigenous people don't need The Voice cause he knows better. His ad's about saying No if you don't know are for dumb people. If you don't know about any topic, find out and get informed don't bury your head in the sand and for fuck sake don't believe any politician. Do some research for yourself.

Seems Danny Boy is getting a hand smacked from the anti-corruption council. Stuff that happened a while ago. He didn't do anything illegal. The minister concerned was sacked previously so not sure what action can be taken now. Taken a while to get these findings. Seems another case of public servants crumbling under the weight of pollies pressuring them. Ministers can't sack public servants for not following personal preferences so they should of stood up to the respective pollies without fear of dismissal. If there was a single source provider then it should of been stated as such. Not all govt contracts go out to tender if there is only one company that can provide the services however if the skills don't match the requirement, that is an issue which should mean a regular Request For Tender (RFT) which is published in the govt gazette for all to see. The Fed's use the single source provider thing all the time to award govt contracts so this is nothing new. It is not illegal to do this.

Heard this morning that Rupert got his arse kicked in court over those voting machines. He was so shit scared to go to trial that he settled the case and paid out. Obviously didn't want to have to testify in court. Will it stop Fox talking more bullshit, nope it won't, but if he has to keep paying out these law suits it hurts him where it counts and that's in the wallet. This payout has cost Fox half their profits for the FY. The real question for Fox is how it will change when Rupert meets his own demise. He like Rump wants to control everything personally.

Seems that the aged care industry is pushing back on the govt reforms and the outcomes of the RC. This tactic of pulling services at the 11th hour is rather disgusting given they have had plenty of time to determine if they can comply. Telling people that they are going to close a facility with a couple of weeks notice is outrageous. It's nothing short of blackmailing the govt to back off. The reforms will weed out those who are in the aged care industry to only make a profit. All aged care should be not for profit in that the money they earn as profit should be put back in to their facilities and therefore don't need to pay tax. It's cheaper than the govt taking on all aged care. Churches have been getting away without paying tax for centuries and they have lots of money. Never seen a bishop starving. Hillsong uses private jets and don't pay tax.

Been doing a small repair task this week. Thought I was done yesterday but it seems not. Waiting for paint to dry at the moment. A few trips up and down a ladder thru the day. Waiting for the garden bin to be emptied this week so I can keep going with the garden tasks in the backyard. Have had to spend some time tidying up the stuff in the front yard as well which is just normal garden stuff. Reclaimed some soil which I can use in another part of the garden. The back was complaining afterwards. Felt like one of those stokers on a steam train. The rain we had last week made the job easier as the ground was damp.

This week started my medical year. At one point I thought the doc was going to scan my right nipple. Certainly was a different way of doing the scan compared to the last time. She was actually about the height of my nipple when I stood up. Don't normally have the scan standing up. So that was different. So for the rest of the year is it will be appointments with the GP, specialists and rounds of blood tests. This has become part of a normal year for me in my retirement years. Although it does continue to amaze me that all these doctors don't acknowledge that death will happen. It seems to be at odds with the final outcome. Perhaps it's a conspiracy to keep you paying taxes for as long as possible. And as I have discovered even when you're dead you have to do a tax return and pay tax. So dead people do pay tax, they just don't know it.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[CuriousAus]

I have found home on this site!! I am amongst my people and I am really excited for this xx!