Aussies! Check in here!

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The good news is that the hostages in Gaza who are still alive have been handed back. Noting that not all those taken by Hamas were from Israel. Hamas still can't find all the remains of those hostages that are deceased yet promised to return them, so they are already not complying with the ceasefire deal. Netanyahu is just waiting for an excuse to go again, noting that the IDF has only pulled back but remain in Gaza. Which Netanyahu got as a compromise from Rump. The 20 point peace deal that Rump claims he came up with is actually the same deal that Biden put to Netanyahu which was rejected. Rump didn't want any part of that deal because the Democrats came up with it and the Arab states were on board with that original deal put forward by Biden. Rump and the Republicans just assume people have forgotten about the original deal that Biden's people came up with. Now they are claiming it was their idea. Lets be clear, the only reason Rump put the pressure on Netanyahu is because Israel attacked Qatar and the Arab states told Rump if he wants to continue to do business with them then he needs to bring Netanyahu to heel. This has nothing to do with Rump caring about the hostages or the Palestinians, he only cares about his own business interests in the Middle East. Kushner was sent by Rump to these Arab states to ensure Rump's business interests were safe. Israel for their part didn't release those prisoners considered dangerous to their families but deported them to other countries sympathetic to Hamas. Rump claims he has brought about peace, but Hamas and Israel are a long way from peace. Nobody should be fooled into thinking this is over. Until all the deceased hostages are returned to Israel, this cease fire is tenuous. Rump has moved on already and he has a very short attention span anyway so as far as he is considered he has dealt with the issue. Republicans will not stand for any money nor troops being sent to Gaza.

Went to my normal Chinese takeaway last week and got a free bag of prawn crackers. I had just paid nearly $600 in bills as they all came at once this month, so getting a free bag of prawn crackers that cost $3 is not a big deal, but it was a surprise. I usually get a takeaway once a week when I do the grocery shopping. When I was working long hours I used to frequent the takeaway places more often after work mainly because I was getting home late an not in the mood to wait to cook something. I have my usual takeaway places so they all know me as a semi-regular customer. I like variety so it depends on where I am and what I'm in the mood for as to which takeaway place I go to and I sometimes get freebies from these places, but this was the first time I got anything free from this Chinese takeaway place.

The Spring flowers are in full bloom now in my gardens in the front and back of the house. The flowers in the driveway are showing their red and pink flowers. More blooms to come in the driveway as Spring progresses. Some of those flowering plants like the warmer temps. The rose creeper in the backyard is back in bloom again and with the northerly winds the scent of those Pink Lady roses was wafting down the driveway. They are a beautiful rose but deadly in that the branches have very large and sharp thorns. I've ripped clothing and cut my self on them in the past and even when wearing gloves the thorns can penetrate the gloves if I grab them the wrong way. It is a very hardy plant that doesn't need much attention once established. I cut it back severely last year and has thrived with no help from me. I don't even water it, I just leave the grass a little higher at the bottom of it to keep in any moisture. It's not the type of rose you can cut as the stems are quite short, but you can put them in a bowl with some water.

The current Labor govt commissioned the Royal Commission into Robodebt which was an election promise when they won govt in 2022. Since then the findings were provided to the govt, they have not as yet followed thru with any prosecutions of the six people mentioned in that document for criminal prosecution. The names of these six people has remained a secret. Albo won't release the names and hasn't made any mention if his govt is pursuing these criminal charges. For those nearly 500,000 Aussies impacted by Robodebt, they won't get closure until these six people are charged with the crimes they committed and face court. You would think that Albo would be pushing for this as part of any re-election for Labor. Otherwise the faith people had in Labor will wane at the next election. The press are not asking questions about this matter either, so they are not pushing it. So once again it will be up to be the general public to push for this.

Continuing with the journey in playing Ghost of Yotei and I'm getting vibes of Red Dead Redemption II, the second part of that game when John's story kicks in. Even the music on the guitar feels like that with the wide expanse of scenery shown thru the mailbox screen. The armour is a mixture of new and ones found in Ghost of Tsushima but with different designs given the character is a mercenary not a samurai. Also not sure how the game chooses how many armour types get on the loadout. I can change the armour but not the quantity on the loadout. It just seems to increase when I get to specific parts of the game. The combat hits and all other interactions come with a solid thump on the controller which is different to the Ghost of Tsushima. I continue to see some similarities between the two games especially in the combat trees but there is more in Ghost of Yotei. Keeping a tag on enemies doesn't seem to be an option as it was in Ghost of Tsushima, at least I haven't found that skill yet if it is there. Also unlike Ghost of Tsushima, this new game relies on you choosing the right weapon for the right opponent. Get it wrong and you lose major health and makes the combat that bit harder. This will be a keeper game for me. It will need a second play thru to fully understand it. Have found one puzzle I can't work out yet but that's part of the challenge. As with all open world games, gathering stuff always pays off. Even if you don't know what you can use it for just collect it when you find it. Ghost of Yotei has actual money which the previous game didn't have. It's still interesting though that you can raid someone's home without any issues. It would be considered stealing in other open world games.

What may come as a shock to most Americans is the crackdown on sovereign citizens here in Australia with cops raiding 70 properties to takeaway the firearms from sovereign citizens as a potential threat. That shooting which resulted in two cops being killed by a sovereign citizen sparked off this action by the cops. Didn't make big news here in Australia, but if this happened in the USA the far right and Fox News would be bleating about people's rights. So obviously the cops have a database on those people here in Australia who identify as sovereign citizens and since these people believe the laws of Australia don't apply to them, therefore they can't use those laws to fight the removal of their guns. If you choose not to live by the laws of any country you can't then use those laws to appeal your case. Owning a gun in Australia is not a right, you have to prove why you should own one and then continue to comply with any safety checks on those guns that the cops regularly conduct. The other incident with that 60yr old guy with a rifle taking random pot shots at people was brought under control. Thankfully the guy was a bad shot as it's not easy to hit a moving target, especially at night. As to the motives of this 60yr old that is not known. He wasn't a terrorist, just a guy with a gun who is pissed off about something.

Have a friend who just celebrated her 65th birthday with a holiday trip OS. Once you turn 50yrs old society wants you to celebrate your birthday every 5yrs as a major milestone just to check that you are still alive. It's as if they are saying, "So you're still alive after the last five years. Better celebrate it now cause you might not get another 5 years in. You know previously people didn't live past 50 years old." Not everyone has the cash for major celebrations every 5yrs and your kids don't want you to spend too much as they are more worried about their inheritance unless you are paying for them go on holiday with you. Things are too expensive but not if someone else pays in which case there is encouragement to go for the most expensive accommodation.

Got a scam email about my aged pension which I found hilarious given I'm too young to qualify for the aged pension in Australia. The pension age is now 67yrs old and I'm several years from that. These scammers are not too bright as they used a private gmail address to send me this scam email. Plus MyGov will rarely contact you and if they do they will send you an email to log on, not provide a link. Most Aussie companies do this now, rather have a link in the email. It also pays to look at the email address of the sender before responding to any odd out of the blue email. Text messages are harder to distinguish, but still people need to check if the communication seems out of the blue. I used to get scam emails for my phone bill which was a very good copy of the standard text but they fucked up in the client number and the sender's email address, but their English has got a lot better. They are getting insider info from here in Australia.

Tested out the back today with doing the mowing of the nature strip. My back was starting to ache but I finished the task, so I'm not fully recovered yet from my back injury. Will take a little while longer before I fully recover. At least I can do basic things without pain.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Afternoon all,

The mobile phone network we have in Australia is proving to be unreliable when you need it the most. When we lost our dedicated phone land lines in favour of the NBN, we were told we needed a mobile phone in case the power went out and we needed to make emergency calls. So at it's basic, the reason to have mobile is for safety and backup. Now it seems with the failure yet again of OPTUS on the emergency phone calls, the back up to the mobile is the landline which the govt got rid of as we were all told the mobile phone network was much efficient. Seems the only thing the mobile network is efficient at is not working if you life was under threat. Telstra don't get of lightly either. They have had their failings of their mobile network. OPTUS made over $8billion in the last FY yet paid no corporate tax because their Singapore owners were able to claim losses in other countries. So OPTUS was ok with making billions in earnings and paying no tax yet have said nothing about their failure their role in the 000 emergency issue. Fixing the issue has not been a high priority for their parent company in Singapore who are trying to sell off OPTUS to shed any blame on them. The OS call centre that handled these emergency call issues tried to fix them rather admit there was an issue. Nobody from OPTUS actually got in touch with the Australian govt but only sent an email to an old email account. As far as OPTUS was concerned they had done their bit just by sending an email without any follow up or even direct contact with dare I say it, an actual fucking phone call given they are in the telecommunication business. So they were too busy to make an actual phone call to the govt? WTF. OPTUS continues to remain rather silent on the issue, so their lawyers are obviously working on putting the blame back on the users and the govt. They have already said people don't know how to use the 000 system, which is again such bullshit. I'll be keeping my landline. Yep I still have a landline. Nobody has come to my place to remove the old landline connection. I still have the old phone jack in the house and the wiring in the roof space. I'm sure those people who had the phone on the wall still have that hole in the tile where the wall phone used to sit with the phone jack connection in the wall. Apparently you have to pay to have all that removed.

The anniversary of the Balibo 5 brings back unresolved issues for the families who lost their loved ones in what is widely known as a cover up of the deaths of those 5 journalists, a couple of which were Australians. The Indonesian govt has never told the truth about those deaths, as they claim these journalists were killed by accident even though the house they were staying in was clearly painted with the Aussie flag and the locals knew all these guys were foreign journalists and photo crew. The Indonesian military at the time didn't want any reporting of them killing unarmed local Timorese people. At the time it was called Timor now called Timor Leste and Australia played a major role in them becoming an independent country. However our govt has never pushed the issue of getting the truth because of the economic and military ties with Indonesia. The Indonesian military are well known for their killing of unarmed civilians. The did it in Timor Leste, and PNG and are still oppressing the people of West Papua. They are not used to a military firing back. When they fired on Aussie troops and the Aussies fired back as part of a border dispute, the Indonesians very quickly gave up. It turned out they had old maps and had crossed over the border without knowing it. They can't fight against a well trained military, only civilian militia or unarmed civilians. The Balibo 5 killings is still raw for those families as they have never got the truth and won't be able to move on until they do.

Saw a video of Hegseth trying to do chin ups and he was struggling to even pull himself up let alone get above the bar. He had to kick like a little kid to do even one chin up. The guy has no upper body strength but boasted about how super fit he is compared to those fat Generals he sees walking around the Pentagon. He also proudly calls himself The Secretary of War. Seems the only war he is having is with gym equipment. When people started making fun of those overweight National Guards being deployed into yet another Democratic state, he replaced these troops, but they would get work as bouncers. They were two big boys, both looked like they were over 6ft tall and built like brick shithouses. Not guys you would want to mess with, but they were considered "too fat" for Hegseth given his speech about fat soldiers. Plus these guys have facial hair, which Hegseth also doesn't like. In his latest fuck up, he tried to make it mandatory for all journalists to sign up to his new doctrine of controlling the media and if they didn't sign it these reporters would not be allowed into the Pentagon. Well none of the major news networks and media signed up and in fact neither did Fox News which is the Republican mouth peace. So when your own media outlet tells you to fuck off, you fucked up. What it continues to show is how incompetent and unqualified Hegseth actually is for his job. All the Pentagon reporters promptly handed in their passes and walked out.

Well they say things come in threes. I had to change both tap spindles in the first shower. I initially thought the threads just needed cleaning, but nope both were fucked and had seized up. I had a couple of spares so got that job done. A day later I discovered that the cold water tap spindle in the kitchen was leaking which meant the O ring had gone so I put in new O rings only to discover these spindles uses two O rings not a single O ring as you get in the more modern tap spindles. Changing O rings doesn't always work so will see how things go, if they don't work well it's a trip to Bunnings to buy new ones, then you have the challenge of getting the exact same ones with the right spindle length. Also trying to get the exact size of O rings to match the spindles is not always an easy hunt. Got that job done then a couple of days later discovered one of the tap handles in the bathroom basin had damage on it, so I need to replace those now as you can't buy just one, so I'm off to Bunnings again. Whilst this damage is cosmetic, over time it will invite more issues. Had those handles for a long time and they could come in use for something else. I've turned into one of those old blokes that keeps old spares just in case, which has come in handy over the years. I also have a collection of odd screws in a what was a box for cotton buds. They have come in handy in this old house as you can't just buy a couple of these screws. Problem with an old house is fitting in new stuff. If I got a plumber in to do these tasks I would of been out of pocket several hundred dollars. By being able to do these handyman tasks around the house, I've have saved thousands overs the years. Getting your house painted for example is bloody expensive these days.

So the Lib's are attacking Melbourne again because of our Labor state govt. This time the Lib's are calling Melbourne the crime capital of Australia. Previously they said people in Melbourne couldn't go out at night due to all those African gangs roaming the streets, which was total bullshit started by the state Lib's here in Victoria. Knife crime is an issue all over Australia but there is more of it in the big cities and most it comes from young people who know they won't see any jail time and will out on bail the very next day. It is a growing issue all over the country but the Lib's are more focused on trying to make political points against Labor govts around the country yet don't want to talk about the crime in their own Lib state govts in NSW and Qld. The NSW Premier couldn't help himself in having a go at Melbourne by making fun of a woman being stabbed here in Melbourne on her way to work in the early morning. The latest attack on Melbourne by the Liberal party came from Canberra and now the state Liberal govts are using the same political attacks on Melbourne. What all these politicians need to do is come up with workable solutions to youth crime rather than just taking cheap shots at the other party. The courts are too lenient on young offenders and the cops are fed up to the point they just don't pursue some crimes such as burglary or home invasions being done by young people. The kids know that if an adult defends themselves by retaliation, it's the adult that gets charged not them. That father who chased a couple of youths who broke into his home, got the young kid he caught to call the cops on the kid's own mobile. Since the cops can't keep people safe in their own homes, it's up to the home owners to defend themselves.

So the Young Republicans which are supposed to be a feeder group to actual Republican politicians have come out from under their white sheets. They praised Hitler, said a bunch of racist stuff then wondered if anyone would call them out on this dumbshit and tried to put the spin on it by saying they were taken out of context as if that justifies what they said. Then they said well they are young and just didn't know any better and didn't realise what they said would be taken as offensive. These so called "young" people were all in their 30's and 40's who said this dumb shit and they were all white guys who by the look of them can't get a fuck, which is probably their main issue. So that is the future of the Republican party, a political party that praises Hitler and wants the US to back in time where "colored" people didn't have any rights. Young Republicans are now handing out American flags with a swastika embedded in the stripes of the flag. This was defended by Republicans in Congress. Fuckwits.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.

 

[darkelf9]

Morning all,

On my second play thru of Ghost of Yotei on PS5. There was a nod to Ghost of Tsushima but he wasn't named apart from being credited as the original Ghost or Shinobi as they call it. Now that I have some more knowledge of the game, I'm doing things differently to get to the various weapons and throwables quicker. The start of the combat in the game hasn't got any easier, you still die a lot cause you can't do all the moves. Simple stuff like dodging is basically not possible until you find your first alter, which was the same in the previous game. Takes a while to get to all the weapons so it requires you to revisit areas to take advantage of these as the story progresses. Managed to complete all the puzzles bar one, but couldn't find a way to get to it. Might have to look this up on the internet. Most of the game is intuitive so not much by way of taking notes. Now taking notes for games I'm keeping. No matter which level of difficulty you play this game on, it's still a challenge which is good. Unlike Ghost of Tsushima you get a longer life bar which you will need as the story progresses, but you get less what they call Spirit and the hits you get loses more life. You have to keep killing to recover health and you really need those throwable weapons in combat and with the different types of weapons you have to use, combat in this game is more complex so if you don't have good hand and eye co-ordination you will struggle with this game. Also like the previous Ghost game climbing is a big feature in the game so if you don't like heights then this is not the game for you. You also realise the white markings that show the climbing routes are actually bird shit on all those grip points. The game designers have a sense of humour. Overall it's a very good game and the story and the characters are done well in that you get invested in the characters. The only issue I had was to find a proper combat set of armour. They all have enough weaknesses that you will still die long into the game. Would of liked more slots for charms to help with the complex combat as you can't choose all your strongest charms, so have to sacrifice something. The positive change is that you can upgrade from minor to major charms. Changing armour in combat is at least an option. Not all games give you that option, whereas in this game it is necessary if you want to survive. Still don't understand how the number of armour sets increases apart from getting to certain stages in the game. Some you get by meeting new people others you get by defeating enemy via a bounty. It's not obvious when this increase in amour loadouts happens. Ghost of Yotei, is one of those games that has things to explore you might not of found the first time thru. It's definitely worth a second play thru even you don't keep the game. The next PS5 game on my list to purchase is out later this week. Seems these releases are always on a Thursday.

We've had a week of lots of rain and a few thunderstorms over a few days but the main issue on a few days was the heavy wind which caused down trees and power outages in various parts of Victoria. Nothing happened at my place but things did rattle. My timing to get those trees trimmed that are in the driveway was a good one. Did some more tree trimming in the front rock garden as the warmer weather has encouraged other trees to go nuts. The rose creeper in the backyard now needs another trim because of the warmer weather we had these past couple of weeks. I don't want to buy a new frame for it since I'm not staying. Waiting for some of those roses to fade before I give it a haircut.

Decided I'm due for another haircut as I'm getting close to that homeless guy look, need to trim the beard as well. I've warn my hair long for most of my life but with getting older, losing hair, plus the beard now, the longer hair makes me look like a old homeless guy. So I go from that look to the bushranger look but with less hair on top. For those who don't know what I mean by the bushranger look, well..."google it mate" as an Aussie politician once said.

Apparently there is lots of talk about Tim Tams costing more here than in other countries. Well the answer is simple, buy Tim Tams when they are on special which they often are. I've only bought Tim Tams when they are on sale. I don't really eat them myself but mainly to send OS. So rather than complain about the price of Tim Tams just be smart and buy them when they are on sale and buy a couple of packets. You can get Tim Tams in double packets. I sent a double pack to a friend in Canada and she was very happy.

The 'No Kings' rallies in the US were in all 50 states and the Republicans were losing their tiny minds about this. Apparently there were going to be lots of Marxists and crazy people, but in the end there was lots of white people and others in animal costumes dancing and others singing a Woodie Guthrie folk song. Wow that is fucking radical. The Republican response was Rump posting an AI video of him shitting on Americans practicing their democratic right to protest. Even people in Republican states protested against Rump. Rump keeps acting like a dictator with his latest action to demolish the East Wing of the White House without telling anyone. He also doesn't have a building permit to do what he has done. He lied to everyone when he said he wouldn't touch the existing building which has now gone and with it American history. Rump has done to that East Wing what he is doing the American democracy. It's a visual representation of how America has changed. His new ballroom will be larger than the White House itself. Took a long time to build the White House, doesn't take long to demolish it. Just needs an apathetic citizenship which is how America has got itself in this mess and the damage will live on well past Rump is gone. Nobody now trusts America which is why all America's so called allies are now making plans to live without American support.

Albo's meeting with Rump went better than people thought it would go. Rump was muted and was joking and why wouldn't he when Australia is gifting the US over $360 billion with no guarantee of subs, plus Australia is spending several more billion to upgrade and build new submarine facilities for American subs to use in the short term. Even UK nuclear subs will take advantage of these new facilities all with Aussie taxpayer dollars. What does Australia get for all these billions, well we don't actually know. Only a promise from the US for nuclear subs in a couple of decades. The Republicans don't want to give us these nuclear subs even though we are paying for them. They just want to keep the money as protection money but no promise America will come to Australia's aid in time of conflict.

The Aussie women's cricket team are unbeatable in their world cup competition. The Aussie netball team also dominated the NZ netball team. You wouldn't know it but there is international cricket happening in Australia but it's only available on pay TV. It's doesn't get much air time because these pay for view services don't allow images to be shown. You get a few seconds of viewing on the news but that's about it. The people who miss out big time are the kids unless their parents pay for a streaming service. More and more sport is put behind pay walls so only those who can afford it get to see it.

The Melbourne Cup is on next week which is always on the first Tues in Nov. If you live in Melbourne you get the public holiday but not if you are in regional Victoria, so it's not a state wide public holiday. Most people take the Monday off as well. For those industries that have rostered days off, they will put a rostered day on the Monday. This has only happened because people would take a sickie on the Monday or apply for leave. Some people take the entire week off due to the other horse races that happen in that week. Melbourne Cup is on the Tues, then Thurs is Oaks Day otherwise known as Ladies Day, then the Sat is the people's day. People who don't normally gamble on the horse races will bet in that week. The Melbourne Cup is known as the race that stops the nation, mainly because people will take time out during their work day to watch the race. Most offices and other work areas have Melbourne Cup sweeps usually run by the social club or the person who runs the tea club in the office. In my family like most Aussie families my dad would take everyone's bet and walk down to the local TAB to put on the bet only for that race. I usually won. I would bet some of my pocket money. It's the one day in the year when betting was allowed for us kids. It's an Aussie tradition. Of course you would spend your winnings on lollies.

Got my latest house insurance which has gone up by an extra $300 but the insured value has gone up by $40k. So building costs have obviously gone up again. Not sure what has caused the increase in building costs but everything got more expensive after COVID. There are also some Aussie homes that are uninsurable for fires and flood or the cost is just so high that people don't ensure their houses. When insurance companies put the cost of insurance up to $20-40k, then they are telling you they don't want to ensure your house.

It's too funny that ICE in the US is having trouble recruiting because their new recruits can't pass the physical. Seems these new recruits just thought they would be given guns to legally shoot so called illegals. Apparently a quarter of those who apply for these jobs seem to think that breathing is all the fitness they needed. Even if you join the cops you need to pass a physical fitness test. Given how overweight a lot of Americans are, it's not much of a stretch to believe they can't pass a fitness test. The abuses by ICE continue to happen totally unchecked.

Hope the rest of the week is good for you.