Open Thread – Weekend 28 Oct 2023


The Harvest, Henry Dawson, 1866

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Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 9:45 pm

The series Deadwood series was brilliant .. it kept me focused when i was in the Crowbar Hotel ..

The actual Movie ? Hey not so much … it was just a “food fight” ..

Same as Firefly ….

Peace .

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
October 29, 2023 9:46 pm

You won’t see this on the MSM. Raw and real.

Peter Santenello:

South Side Chicago – What It Really Looks Like

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 9:47 pm

pete of perth

Oct 29, 2023 9:43 PM

I have done 3 cruises. The muster station drill is a roll call of who will not make it if we had to abandon ship in haste.

Bwah ha ha ha, yes.
The ratio of walking frames on board gives you comfort that you won’t miss out on a lifeboat seat.

Dot
Dot
October 29, 2023 9:48 pm

What is wrong with people here? Why does any form of transport other than a car cause conniptions?

I’m going to buy (a) motorbike(s) (LAMS Ninja, GSX-R600, eventually a Hayabusa)
I’m going to buy an old, 2008-2012 era Jag (SE or XF V8)
I might even buy a new(er) Prado for looxury
I will never buy any other Toyotas except maybe a sister Lexus LX600 2nd hand
Nissan make better sportscars
Trains are better than trucks
Cruising seems like hell on earth
If you can afford Cunard, why not sail in your own yacht?

Bite me

Being cut off by a truck is rare because truck driving requires looking very far down the road and shuddering through intersections in the lowest high-range gear. They can’t pump brakes (or damned well shouldn’t).

Either you are going very slow or they are driving incredibly dangerously.

Rabz
October 29, 2023 9:49 pm

On a Sunday night

You never forget trying on your first M12, Fatcher!

So stand down, Maggie!

Dot
Dot
October 29, 2023 9:49 pm

shuddering through intersections

Okay. Roundabouts. You cruise through green lights you can make in the normal gear for the flow of traffic.

Dot
Dot
October 29, 2023 9:51 pm

Mark Bolton

…tell us what “claims to justice” you think Hamas actually has, it seems ridiculous.

Rabz
October 29, 2023 9:52 pm

Bite me

err, while languishing in a Kampuchean jungle fantasising about Laufey style bimbages?

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 9:55 pm

And as things run out of steam and get scrappier and less inspiring … and things that didnt ….

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) 2000

Series One was … warming up Series Two was amazing … but then it all suddenly stopped… !!! AHhhaaaaa

But well worth the … ticket … the original 70s one was well made but a bu=it anachronistic …. as are we all…. 😉

Peace

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 9:55 pm

Never been on a cruise, only the ferry to Tassie, twice: once there, once back again two years later. Tassie is cold. I prefer Ncl, is warmer. Only other ship was a RANR torpedo recovery vessel, off the Central Coast. We were doing a joint exercise and I got the job of washing the dishes whilst bouncing around in the Pacific Ocean in the tiny galley, under a red light. Happily I didn’t throw up, but it was a near thing.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 9:58 pm

Dot
Oct 29, 2023 9:35 PM
I only mentioned Jimbooba as a gentle dig at Sal for living in the middle of nowhere.

Yea, well he claimed it quickly though.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 9:58 pm

Like “Firefly ” there were plenty of place that could have been taken but then Josh went all “Dolls House ” and …. ~scroll~

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 9:59 pm

What is wrong with people here? Why does any form of transport other than a car cause conniptions?

Because cars.

Gary Numan – Cars (1979)

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
October 29, 2023 10:00 pm

If you preach balanced reporting, then practise it, especially in a time of war
chris mitchell chris mitchell

9:30PM October 29, 2023
No Comments

ABC 7.30 political correspondent Laura Tingle has kicked off a debate here about traditional techniques requiring balance in news reporting.

Tingle was speaking about the ABC’s balance checklist provisions in reporting of the referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament. She was answering an audience question on October 12 at the Sydney launch of journalist and lawyer David Marr’s new book, Killing for Country.

Only five days later, news consumers were treated to a spectacular example of the dangers of ditching traditional balance in news stories. Some of the world’s biggest media outlets swallowed false Hamas claims that Israel had bombed a hospital in northern Gaza, even though Israel had almost immediately said it had no record of any attacks by it at that time.
Read Next

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi on Racket News criticised The New York Times’s bungling of what was a failed missile attack from inside Gaza by Islamic Jihad. Taibbi wrote: “Newspapers in recent years have moved away from the ‘he said, she said’ rhetorical method critics now tell them is out of date in the moral-clarity era. In situations where you really aren’t sure of the facts, however, it’s the only way to go, and outlets are paying the price for moving away from the format.”

At least the NYT on October 23 issued a lengthy “Editors’ Note” admitting its mistake and concluding, “Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified.”

The same mistake was repeated in outlets across the world from the BBC to Al Jazeera and our own ABC. Al Jazeera English continued running the false claim even after its main Arabic channel had shown footage of the failed rocket launch from inside Gaza.

These mistakes underline a problem in journalism. Too many reporters quick to swallow Hamas lies now see their role as upholding moral virtue rather than reporting facts. Trouble is, they are too ill-informed to know where virtue lies.

Why has no Australian journalist since the hospital story mentioned that Hamas has a long history of attacking the Barzilai Hospital in the Israeli city of Ashkelon and has destroyed the children’s ward that treats Palestinian children from Gaza alongside Israeli children?

Anyone interested in the culture of young reporters should watch the question and answer session at the National Press Club last Wednesday with Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon. Some of the journalists there should be working for student newspapers.

Why do so few covering the events since the October 7 massacre of women and children in southern Israel fail to point out all were murdered in Israel proper? These were not settlers encroaching on Palestinian land.

Why do so many journalists unquestioningly report Gaza casualty figures given by Hamas without acknowledging what US President Joe Biden did last week: these are numbers from a terrorist organisation? We know Hamas claimed 500 were killed at the Al-Ahli Hospital but Israel insists at most 50 died.

Patricia Karvelas on RN Breakfast on Friday allowed Minister for Workplace Relations Tony Burke to imply Israel was to blame for water shortages in Gaza. She failed to point to the large Hamas fuel stockpile in Gaza that could fuel the city’s desalination plants. Hamas is the elected government of Gaza, not Israel.

Why have we seen so few attempts by journalists here to ask protesting Muslims if they condemn the murders of October 7? Do these journalists privately believe Israel deserved it, even though Israel vacated Gaza in 2005?

Why the media focus on false claims of collective punishment by Israel? Israel has been urging civilians for weeks to move to Gaza’s south. Why would Gaza’s political leaders be threatening people if they do want to move to safer areas?

It’s the same reason Hamas has for two decades been launching its missiles at Israel from within schools, hospitals and mosques. Journalists need to reflect on how Hamas uses the suffering of Palestinians to win the public relations war in the West against Israel.

Why is Hamas prepared to risk thousands of Palestinian civilians’ lives but Israel has delayed its ground invasion for weeks in an effort to seek the release of Jewish hostages? Does Israel care more about Israeli lives than Hamas does about Palestinian lives?

Why do so many news broadcasters run footage of pro-Palestinian marchers around the world chanting “from the river to the sea’’ without pointing out what this means? Since the settlement of the 1948-49 war after Arab states rejected the UN partition, Israeli territory included land west of the so-called Green Line to the sea.

The pro-Palestinian chant effectively urges the destruction of Israel.

Former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer got it right in a tweet on October 23: “There are 56 Muslim nations, 103 so-called Christian nations and one Jewish state. If you think one is too many … yes, exactly. I don’t need to spell it out.” It’s about anti-Semitism: Jew hatred.

Why have so few media outlets reported what Sharri Markson did on Sky News on Tuesday night last week when Hamas terrorists captured by the IDF admitted on camera that they were being paid $US10,000 each and each had been promised a free apartment for taking hostages? Does ignoring such a story imply journalists think paid brutality is OK if used against Jews?

Why did the ABC, criticised when its reporter Tom Joyner cast doubt on stories of Israeli babies being beheaded, not prominently report that footage from Hamas body cameras was shown to foreign journalists on Monday night to prove these atrocities?

And how does the left’s preferred narrative of Israel as an apartheid colonial state really sit given Arabs, Druze and Christians all vote alongside Jews in the Knesset?

Of course Palestinian lives matter. But if the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat could not deliver the “Two State” deal he and former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin won the 1994 Nobel prize for, can anyone really see West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas delivering it?

This is the crux of the issue. Israel occupies Palestinian lands today after defeating Arab forces that refused to accept Israel’s boundaries as proposed by the UN in 1947. Jewish fighters in 1948-49 repelled attacking troops from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and the subsequent Green Line settling the conflict represented terms that cost Palestinians some landearmarked for them.

British Mandate Palestine included all of what is now Jordan. The original British plan was for the territory east of the Jordan River to be an Arab Palestinian State. The British backtracked because of Arab pressure against any Jewish state.

Israel occupied more Palestinian land after the 1967 Six Day War when it defeated Egypt, Syria and Jordan. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, it repelled Egypt and Syria.

In the face of so many conflicts, Israel pursued a Two State solution offering to hand much of this former Arab land back in return for peaceful coexistence.

Does anyone hear any Palestinian leader offering to stick to that deal now? Certainly not Hamas, whose original 1988 Charter clearly states its real aim is simply to kill Jews.

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 10:00 pm

Uh-huh:
There’s no moral or ethical difference between standing & watching someone die, when you’re an Ambulance driver, and;
a random blog ID who a couple of years ago mentioned circumstances in which they’d have written a traffic ticket.

We see some weird stuff on the Cat. Really weird.

Dot
Dot
October 29, 2023 10:01 pm

Does anyone hear any Palestinian leader offering to stick to that deal now? Certainly not Hamas, whose original 1988 Charter clearly states its real aim is simply to kill Jews.

Blah blah blah

(Fake Dennis Waterman impersonation)

Peace!

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:02 pm

Being cut off by a truck is rare because truck driving requires looking very far down the road and shuddering through intersections in the lowest high-range gear. They can’t pump brakes (or damned well shouldn’t).

Trucks on highways in the US aren’t allowed to use the fast lane right lane. I think that’s a good idea, as it stops the pricks from moving lanes all the time.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 10:02 pm

https://youtu.be/o-sp68GjYL0

Full disclosure … there are some aircraft i know how to fly ..

Peace

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:04 pm

The defense attorney, blunders in. I can’t ever recall it winning a case in all the years it’s been blundering around like a drunk houso desperately trying to sound smart.

Gabor
Gabor
October 29, 2023 10:05 pm

Re. that South Park movie, I went as far as 3/4 way, had to give up.
No idea what it is about, makes no sense to me, admittedly never watched South Park before so I may miss some deeper meaning.

Would be grateful for some please explain.

Rabz
October 29, 2023 10:07 pm

The Kurylenkette* … 🙂

*Non lush eyebrows

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 10:11 pm

The Firefly theme is damned fine.

Firefly Opening Theme

I haven’t seen the series but Serenity was awesome.

feelthebern
feelthebern
October 29, 2023 10:12 pm

UK citizen doctor in Gaza for family holiday says they are worse off than hostages…

People go on holidays to open air prisons?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 10:13 pm

Trucks on highways in the US aren’t allowed to use the fast lane right lane. I think that’s a good idea, as it stops the pricks from moving lanes all the time.

Same as the Geelong Road.
Doesn’t stop some of the idiots playing pinball in the other 2-3 lanes though.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 10:14 pm

Salvatore, Iron Publican
Oct 29, 2023 10:00 PM

Absolutely NOT !! You see a fellow human being in trouble… mooshed in a car smash?? … drowning like a bugger … regardless of you “formal qualifications ” you “go Hard “!! you do the best you can with the have the resources at hand … sure if some one better qualified shows up .. like you hoped would happen … the out come grim or otherwise … at least you had a go … But these days we have done at least on St J Ft A …and should have a clue….

And a shred of human decency … I have seen some blood and some bitumen ..

Peace

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 10:14 pm

Snap Mark! I should refresh…

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:14 pm

Gabor

Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Igor are the two head honchos at Disney. South Park is making fun of them.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:16 pm

Rabz
Oct 29, 2023 10:07 PM
The Kurylenkette* … ?

*Non lush eyebrows

Much, much better.

Gabor
Gabor
October 29, 2023 10:16 pm

Sancho Panzer
Oct 29, 2023 9:42 PM

Reminded me a bit of that puffed up ambo (now ex-ambo) who put on his God cap and let that woman die in the dirt in Maryborough.

Someone here said that their care/empathy bucket gets drained.
Where is the professionalism?
And if it’s so bad why not leave?

Rabz
October 29, 2023 10:16 pm

Tom Oct 29, 2023 7:36 PM

Laying in. No holds barred.

Good to see.

feelthebern
feelthebern
October 29, 2023 10:17 pm

Kathleen Kennedy has done her best to destroy the Star Wars universe.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 10:18 pm

Allow me to explain Sal.
It is called a pattern of behaviour.
Hiding behind a uniform.
Using the uniform to advance your position, or exact petty revenge on someone you take a dislike to.
As JC says, when someone flippantly admits a desire to write out $800 – $1,000 worth of tickets as part of a petty vendetta, it is well worth a look at what else they might have got up to.
A little surprised to hear you defending the excesses of rogue Plodsters.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 10:19 pm

Salvatore, Iron Publican
Oct 29, 2023 10:00 PM

Also some brine and bubbles … seems the whole planet is trying to kill us …. 😉

Peace

Muddy
Muddy
October 29, 2023 10:21 pm

Peter Santenello.

I’ve recently watched several of his docos on the not-quite-Amish chap in Amish land. I forget all the details now, but I found the subject intriguing.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 10:23 pm

Someone here said that their care/empathy bucket gets drained.
Where is the professionalism?
And if it’s so bad why not leave?

The “care/empathy bucket” argument doesn’t stand up.
It becomes an excuse for cutting corners.
As you say, you can professionally carry out your duties in a mechanical fashion without feeling a skerrick of empathy.
That bloke was just a c-nt with a God complex.

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 10:23 pm

Allow me to explain Sal.
It is called a pattern of behaviour.

Yep, a bland blog comment a few years ago is rock solid proof that the commenter is the sort of callous bastard who’d stand there & watch a woman in need die.

Are you Shane Drumgold under a bodgey name, by any chance?
You’re certainly exhibiting his standard of understanding of evidence.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 10:25 pm

I am not “The Bird” you crave …

bird-strike, when it happens, is truly a thing to behold

quite funny but completely nuts all at the same time

duncanm
duncanm
October 29, 2023 10:26 pm
Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 10:27 pm

Aaaaaand Catalaxy’s own Wiley E. Coyote level reframer, or in this case, an outright verballer:

A little surprised to hear you defending the excesses of rogue Plodsters.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 10:27 pm

Further to that Gabor, if that Ambo had turned up at Matthew Perry’s house and found him blue and unresponsive in the spa (in a worse condition than the woman in the park), do you think he would have just glibly “called it”?
No.
Because celebrity, and he knew he would be under scrutiny if he didn’t pull out all stops.
And he thought he would escape scrutiny on this one.

feelthebern
feelthebern
October 29, 2023 10:28 pm

I was listening to a podcast today that was talking about the storms, hurricanes that hit Mexico over the last week.
Fascinating how the water temperature rose so rapidly that contributed to the rapid rise in intensity.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 10:29 pm

Sancho Panzer
Oct 29, 2023 10:18 PM

Sadly it does happen … and those with out Uniforms are the worst …

Wanna know what ? I reckon if we treat our fellow humans with decency charity and respect …to create or to maintain a High Trust Community … It might help to pester your Local Member … but say your next door ? His Grass is growing too high … snakes are taking up residence … it is a fire risk … poor Old Bugger is sick and can barely wash the dishes in his sink … so you gonna mow your own lawn ? Yeah Sure .. well just take a Left and mow His too… How Hard is it ? EH ?

By living demonstrably IRL by the ideals we hammer out keyboards over … Chaps we can get this thing done ..

we can flush those bastards out

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 10:32 pm

After Firefly have to have a bit of Battlestar Galactica.

BSG full opening music (2004)

Love the graphic!

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:33 pm

Actually, I had it wrong, it’s not the defence attorney in this case. It’s a crappy prosecutor defending a former cop who said he would dole out tickets if he didn’t like someone. How about that? Apropos.

Dot
Dot
October 29, 2023 10:34 pm

How about you tell us about the “claims” Hamas has to justice…leave ambos and hospital staff playing god until later.

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 10:35 pm

Crikey, “mass shooting” in Florida. Early reports say 18 hit, with at least two dead.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
October 29, 2023 10:36 pm

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/myths-facts-borders-and-boundaries

Bookmarking that for future reading, thank you.

It’s also worthy of note that, after the Six Day war, the Israeli Cabinet voted – unanimously – to return the lands captured during that war to the Arab States, and begin negotiations for a peace treaty.

The Arab response was the declaration of Khartoum. “No recognition of Israel, no negotiation with Israel, no peace with Israel.”

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 10:37 pm

I reckon if we treat our fellow humans with decency charity and respect …to create or to maintain a High Trust Community

That’d be great Mark except some of them are Cylons.
Israel is fighting them, pretty much.
You don’t get to choose your enemies, they choose you.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 10:37 pm

Don’t go throwing “apropos” around here JC.

Dot
Dot
October 29, 2023 10:38 pm

High Trust Community

Hmmm now where have I seen unnecessary capitalisations and rambling on about trust before?

Johnny Rotten
October 29, 2023 10:42 pm

Salvatore, Iron Publican
Oct 29, 2023 5:31 PM
Boambee John Oct 29, 2023 3:02 PM
Falklands War.
It was actually the British.
Gurkhas and Welsh Guards (with white officers, of course – old joke about the Welsh) were there.

Ahem! Scots Guards & Hong Kong Chinese laundrymen (several of whom were killed in action in the Falklands)

The two battalions of the Parachute Regiment that saw action in the Falklands contained men from both the Isle of Man and quite a few Channel Islanders.

Exactly. The original comment that was posted (by Chris I do believe) stated that it was the Poms in the Falklands. Not just the Poms (the English) though.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:44 pm

I think it’s a little dramatic.

?? Kyle Bass ??
@Jkylebass
Just met with one of the world’s top terrorism experts in London. He’s a former terrorist himself…has a 180IQ…and has information networks all over the world. The U.S. nexus of Hamas and Hezbollah is in Dearborn, Michigan. He’s hearing calls to incite violence inside America.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 10:44 pm

@Bruce of Newcastle
Oct 29, 2023 10:37 PM

Perhaps ? I dont know ….I have been in situations where I didn’t get to choose my foes …almost by definition it is thus? … But by being useful and approachable I got to choose my Friends. In abundance.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:45 pm

Sancho Panzer
Oct 29, 2023 10:37 PM

Don’t go throwing “apropos” around here JC.

Just one last time then. Apropos.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 10:46 pm

Someone made an interesting comment about these the last mass shooting.

1. The pics in the mall doesn’t match the portrait pic.
2. The single portrait pic looks like it was done using AI
3. The podcaster made the prediction he would be found in the same clothes near a dumpster and he was.
4. The suicide note sounds a little cute.

He doesn’t believe it, but if he believed a conspiracy theory, he reckons it sounds like anti-gun crazies could be doing a play. I don’t believe it either.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
October 29, 2023 10:47 pm

Yet Again this is What The Australian Labor Party, Greens. Some TEALS et al support – Babaric Murdering Gazan Palestinian Hamas!

Hananya Naftali
@HananyaNaftali
?? EXTREMELY GRAPHIC WARNING ??

This is a 10-year-old Jewish girl murdered by Hamas terrorists.

Tell me more about “Hamas not targeting civilians”.

The whole world must put an end to Hamas – for the sake of humanity, for the sake of this girl.

Source: National Center of Forensic Medicine

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
October 29, 2023 10:53 pm

But by being useful and approachable I got to choose my Friends. In abundance.

That doesn’t work if you are the wrong religion. Islam and the new green-progressive religion hate Jews and Christians. Amazing how intolerant the tolerant Left is.

cohenite
October 29, 2023 10:57 pm

The “mass shooting” in Ybor City appears to be gang violence. 2 dead 18 injured. Uncommon in Florida, slow weekend in Chicago.

Yeah, no whites involved so it’s a big yawn.

Johnny Rotten
October 29, 2023 10:58 pm

This is the crux of the issue. Israel occupies Palestinian lands today after defeating Arab forces that refused to accept Israel’s boundaries as proposed by the UN in 1947.

Exactly. The Goat/Camel Shaggers did not accept the UN Proposal/Decision and they then started the Wars.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:00 pm

Yeah, no whites involved so it’s a big yawn.

LOL. Stop.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:00 pm

Several folks over at Discord showed it was a lie

omg … there’s a Catallaxy meta-verse … who knew?

if this joint was the middle east, then you clowns would be hamas

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
October 29, 2023 11:00 pm

Wankers Anonymous Sydney Moaning Herald discovering the Bleeding Obvious

EDITORIAL

Action needed to avert dangers of lithium battery use

Lithium is the green future. It seems there is little doubt about that.

If you have a portable drill, leaf blower, mobile phone or laptop, chances are that it is powered from a lithium battery which will require regular charging by plugging into a mains socket.

Lithium batteries are, of course, also the power source for the increasingly popular electric bikes and scooters. They are the powerhouse of the fast-food delivery industry.

But, as reporter Mary Ward reveals in The Sun-Herald today, there is an emerging issue around the safety of the battery chargers.

Sydney fire crews were called to three incidents within 24 hours last week. A two-storey home was destroyed when the lithium battery of an e-bike left on charge exploded.

Hours later fire crews avoided disaster in a shop by dumping a garbage bin of water over an overheating e-scooter after a service technician apparently used the wrong charger. Then on Friday morning, an e-bike with a home-made charger caused another blaze.

NSW fire crews have attended at least 40 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters this year, up from 22 across all of 2022. We have already doubled the number of battery initiated fires with two months of the year to go.

The issues, demonstrated in just three incidents, suggest that leaving these batteries on extended charge, use of an incorrect charger and even improvising with home-made chargers are all inviting trouble.

In a report released earlier this month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it was concerned about lithium-ion batteries overheating or exploding, particularly when chargers were mixed and matched, or being left running after a device had fully charged.

A spokesperson said the ACCC had received 254 product safety reports about lithium-ion batteries since April 2017. While only 19 of these were related to e-bikes and e-scooters, six of those reports have been received since March.

It is understandable that there is a temptation to cut financial corners with cheaper products. \

Quality products have safety switch-off features to prevent overheating but fire crews talk of an increasing number of “thermal runaway incidents”, where a lithium battery overheats to the point of explosion, emitting toxic gas. The fires are prone to reignite once extinguished.

“It’s explosive force, it’s a jet reaction,” Fire and Rescue NSW superintendent Adam Dewberry explained. “A jet flame comes out, an intense jet flame.”

We fully support the view of Dewberry who has urged users to check they are using the right charger voltage for their battery, to not purchase cheap replacement chargers online, and to avoid over-charging devices or charging devices overnight while they sleep.

Last month, the NSW parliament’s joint standing committee on road safety rightly announced it would conduct an inquiry into the hazards posed by such batteries.

NSW Minister for Better Regulation Anoulack Chanthivong said Fair Trading worked with Fire and Rescue to inspect e-bikes, and was monitoring products available on the market, with the power to investigate if they were deemed unsafe.

It would seem that tighter regulation of the supply of cheap and unbranded batteries and chargers obtainable over the internet is one area for future scrutiny. There is no excuse for further loss of property, or, worse still, life.

We applaud initial moves by authorities to monitor this emerging issue and urge the implementation of further policy measures to ensure the safety of the community.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 11:00 pm

The “mass shooting” in Ybor City appears to be gang violence. 2 dead 18 injured. Uncommon in Florida, slow weekend in Chicago.

Sounds like Chicago gang-bangers on a P&O cruise around Flo’dah to me.

John H.
John H.
October 29, 2023 11:02 pm

Wanna know what ? I reckon if we treat our fellow humans with decency charity and respect …to create or to maintain a High Trust Community …

We don’t have to do that. We simply have to trust them not to do us wrong but perhaps that is just semantics. The book, The WEIRDEST People in the World, undoubtedly upsets some with a pessimistic view of modern society because it highlights how modern societies were built on values that transcended clans, tribes, and nations. Highly regarded, a best seller. A key principle is impersonal prosociality. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it which is rare for me now; too old, too cynical. The author is a professor and chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

I like the ideas expressed in that book. It highlights my previous assertion that understanding human behavior requires multiple perspectives. That book provides a valuable historical analysis of how changes in society long ago had such a striking influence on modern behavior; especially economic behavior.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 11:03 pm

if this joint was the middle east, then you clowns would be hamas

Sal, I think you might have to get the Big Moral Equivalence Fire Truck out of the shed for this one.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 11:04 pm

@Bruce of Newcastle
Oct 29, 2023 10:53 PM

Much as I love you I am going to bounce a Christopher Hitchens joke here

“But surely not in the South”

~Boom tish~

Ever been to the Deep South of Vietnam … ? Beards and Leffties??? Bah Hum bug… !!! And all those ghastly Communists… I am talking 5 years ago ..

Cross that river…. a whole different mood.

Nah just take off the tee shirt with the Vietnam flag … and put on a Australian one…

But they would have slit my even though they had never met me and found out what a great bloke I am… The Vietnam Deep South is very interesting ..probably more sedimentary that the Northern Highlands …

OK we can relax ..they wont slit your throat (but they would have)… sometimes it is only labels…

Peace

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:05 pm

Trans

You’re re-commencing the trolling again, yeah?

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 11:06 pm

Yeah, no whites involved so it’s a big yawn.

In the gunplay perhaps.
There’s at least 4 whites down in video I’ve seen, at least one with more blood loss than I’d be comfortable with.

If the shooters are all from the 13% then the story will be gone by morning & almost impossible to search online.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:07 pm

sancho … you’re an hispanic road expert user right?

is it true that pajero is spanish slang for wanker?

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 11:08 pm

if this joint was the middle east, then you clowns would be hamas

Sal, I think you might have to get the Big Moral Equivalence Fire Truck out of the shed for this one.

Why? Do tell.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 11:09 pm

@ John H.
Oct 29, 2023 11:02 PM

My Sentiments entirely !!! But How can we simply endorse our values and practices unless we actively demonstrate them .. by our example and reciprocity?

Talk is cheap …

Peace

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
October 29, 2023 11:09 pm

More Sydney Moaning Herlad Catching up with the Real World!

The down side to e-bikes that has caught everyone by surprise

A fire sparked by a faulty lithium battery at the Mad Monkey backpackers in Potts Point earlier this month.

There has been a string of fires caused by faulty or misused e-bike chargers, with fire crews called to three incidents within 24 hours last week.

‘An intense jet flame’: Warning after spate of Sydney e-bike fires

Regulators, governments and strata schemes are grappling with how to manage a rise in fires caused by faulty or misused e-bike chargers after Sydney fire crews were called to three incidents within 24 hours in the past week.

A two-storey home was destroyed when an e-bike lithium battery that had been left on charge exploded in Oyster Bay on Thursday.

Hours later, quick-acting fire crews avoided disaster in a Burwood shop by dumping a garbage bin of water over an overheating e-scooter after a service technician used the wrong charger.

On Friday morning, an e-bike with a homemade charger caused another blaze in Wentworthville.

NSW fire crews have attended at least 40 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters this year, up from 22 across all of 2022.

Lithium batteries are used to power portable rechargeable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, solar panels and e-bikes.

While quality products have safety switch-off features to prevent overheating, there have been an increasing number of “thermal runaway incidents”, where a lithium battery overheats to the point of explosion, emitting toxic gas. The fires are prone to reignite once extinguished.

“It’s explosive force, it’s a jet reaction,” Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry explained. “A jet flame comes out, an intense jet flame.”

Shocking vision of an e-bike battery explosion was captured on CCTV inside Mad Monkey backpackers in Kings Cross earlier this month. Photographs from a fire at Darlinghurst two weeks later show a burnt-out unit where an e-bike was charging.

Dewberry urged users to check they were using the correct charger voltage for their battery, to not purchase cheap replacement chargers online and to avoid over-charging devices or charging devices overnight while they sleep.

In a report released earlier this month, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission said it was concerned about lithium-ion batteries overheating or exploding, particularly when chargers were mixed and matched and left running after a device had fully charged.

A spokesperson said the ACCC had received 254 product safety reports about lithium-ion batteries since April 2017. While only 19 related to e-bikes and e-scooters, six of those reports have been received since March.

Last month, the NSW parliament’s joint standing committee on road safety announced it would conduct an inquiry into hazards posed by electric and hybrid vehicle batteries. Submissions close on November 24.

NSW Minister for Better Regulation Anoulack Chanthivong said Fair Trading worked with Fire and Rescue to inspect e-bikes and was monitoring products available on the market, with the power to investigate if they were deemed unsafe.

“This is an emerging challenge and we’re working through the ACCC’s report, as are other jurisdictions across the country,” he said.

Fire risks from e-bikes are also a new issue for Sydney’s apartment complexes, said Stephen Brell, president of the NSW branch of the Strata Community Association.

Brell said he was not aware of strata schemes that had enforced by-laws around e-bike charging or banned the devices.

“We recommend strata managers work with specialist fire services to ensure that any additional safety protocols are appropriately implemented, including guidelines specific to a given scheme that may help to mitigate risk,” he said.

“As this is an emerging issue, legislators are a little way behind. What we may see it transpire is insurers [for strata schemes] placing restrictions on e-bikes and e-scooters.”

Bicycle NSW chief executive Peter McLean, himself an e-bike rider, said the fire risk posed by faulty chargers was “undoubtedly an issue”.

“We have to make sure we are using either the Australian or European standard [of charger],” he said.

While it would be ideal for e-bike riders to be able to access safe, public charging infrastructure, McLean said this was more difficult for e-bikes than electric vehicles.

“There is a different charger for every brand and they change them all the time,” McLean said, instead advocating for import restrictions on cheap chargers and better surveillance of cheap e-bike hire companies.

Dr Lee Roberts, a researcher at UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre, agreed there needed to be better regulation of cheap imported batteries and chargers, which were easily available online.

A survey of e-bike riders conducted by the research centre last year found more than 90 per cent charged their bikes at home.

“Safe storage is a big issue for e-bikes – their high cost, and the relative ease of stealing batteries, make parking on the street unviable,” Roberts said, adding that this contributed to the risk of indoor battery fires

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 11:11 pm

can someone give me recipe

anything will do

preferably something with 26 obscure ingredients i can rub on cheap bbq meat

then bore them shitless for hours talking about it

that and air-con control panels

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
October 29, 2023 11:16 pm

However, in an interview aired on Sunday, Mr Albanese rejected the suggestion it was time for President Biden to step in and order the case be dropped.
“No, Joe Biden doesn’t interfere with the Department of Justice. Joe Biden is a president who understands the separation of the judicial system from the political system. That’s an important principle,” Mr Albanese told ABC Insiders host David Spears.

Are we talking about the same quid-pro-Joe who used political pressure to arrange the firing of the Ukrainian chief prosecutor? The same quid-pro-Joe whose DoJ is currently indicting Joe’s main political opponent for scheming to use the legitimate powers of the VP to accept the electors sent by the State legislatures?
The same J.B. whose appointment to Presidency didn’t get overturned because no court would touch the obvious election rigging cases filed along the way?
This is the guy who “who understands the separation of the judicial system from the political system”??

The only good thing about our nightly editions of Pravda is that they are comedy gold.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:16 pm

You’re re-commencing the trolling again, yeah?

JC, got some evidence of the “personal information” that warranted your two-year paranoid tirade?
you know the egregious thing(s) that I apparently did to set you off like a complete retard

like, don’t be exact and let go specifics, be sorta vague and accusatory.
but do give a hint with a little substance
seriously you must have taken notes or screen captures even though you were terrified

I mean, when the HRC and FedPol track me down …. what will I tell my lawyers when it comes to “discovery”

… that you went off-tap based on stupid shit in your head that you imagined ?

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:21 pm

Trans

You asked and I delivered. If you choose to disbelieve it, that’s fine too. I was a little worried you’d forgotten about trolling, but no problem as I can see you have zero discipline skills.

I see you’re using a new word now. Wanker. How unique. Thrilling even.

Tell us, do you have a special recipe for cooking sausages too? You have at least three hours to tell explain to us.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 11:22 pm

@
Colonel Crispin Berka
Oct 29, 2023 11:16 PM

“This is the guy who “who understands the separation of the judicial system from the political system”?? ”

I must confess I choked a little on my Battenburg at that juncture..

Peace.

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 11:22 pm

MatrixTransform Oct 29, 2023 11:16 PM

+1

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:24 pm

I see you’re using a new word now. Wanker

are you a retard JC?

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:27 pm

are you a retard JC?

Anyone would look retarded to a self describing God Oracle, Trans. You know that.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:27 pm

Sal,

as you are well aware, the resident sociopath has a penchant for inventing shit in his head to green-light his own abuse

the discord meta-verse sounds like a club where only clowns are allowed

and +1 to you too

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:29 pm

Sancho Panzer
Oct 29, 2023 11:11 PM

+2

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 11:32 pm

JC

+ a trillion

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:33 pm

JC , proof please

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:34 pm

as you are well aware, the resident sociopath has a penchant for inventing shit in his head to green-light his own abuse

All we want to know, is a sausage recipe, Trans. That’s all I’ve asked of you and you accuse me of being a sociopath. Fine, have it your way. If asking for a recipe makes me a sociopath then so be it.

the discord meta-verse sounds like a club where only clowns are allowed

God oracles are most certainly not invited.

and +1 to you too

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 11:35 pm

@
Colonel Crispin Berka
Oct 29, 2023 11:16 PM

There is far bigger game going on here and I just popped in for Old Times sake …you guys were on the scent …. back then … but less so now. With the notable exception of your good self …

I cannot.. intact wisest I don’t…embark upon an estimation of the Jabbering Cadaver…. I am off the Paroxetine and now all I have to keep my raveled nerves intact is James Boag Premium ….

Thank Heavens for appropriate medication …

Peace

Top Ender
Top Ender
October 29, 2023 11:35 pm

Well the Corrs were excellent. The ladies’ voices and musicianship was still great, and their two fellow guitarists rounded off a tight six piece group. Toni Childs beforehand was in good voice, and it was also her birthday – 66 but she can still belt them out.

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:37 pm

MatrixTransform
Oct 29, 2023 11:33 PM
JC , proof please

Proof that you’re basically a laughed at doofus, with a personality of splattered egg yoke? The proof is every single comment you’ve made here.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
October 29, 2023 11:41 pm

Tell us, do you have a special recipe for cooking sausages too? You have at least three hours to tell explain to us.

Now this is where poor form comes into play.
Last night we had ten people over for dinner, and the eye fillet was met with universal acclaim.
Correct response:- “Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
Incorrect response:- An hour long chapter and verse description of how long the meat had hung, what special rubs you put on it, how long you left it at room temperature before cooking, pre-searing and/or post searing, target internal temperature, resting times and resting temperature yada, yada.
Even if someone asks for a recipe, the correct response is “I’ll send it to you tomorrow”.
Never, ever go the chef-brag at the table.
No-one wants to hear it.
I do hope no-one here would do that.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:42 pm

an estimation of the Jabbering Cadaver

dia de los Muertos !!

mexican beer for everybody

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:45 pm

Trans

You’re sounding really needy this evening.

John H.
John H.
October 29, 2023 11:47 pm

Mark Bolton
Oct 29, 2023 11:09 PM
@ John H.
Oct 29, 2023 11:02 PM

My Sentiments entirely !!! But How can we simply endorse our values and practices unless we actively demonstrate them .. by our example and reciprocity?

Talk is cheap …

Peace

Thanks.

Ironically there are a number of people here who demise me at the subatomic level. Expected. Irrelevant.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:50 pm

what really tickles me is that while JC tilts at wind-mills

sancho (anything for a biscuit) panzer is always the simpleton side-kick

… and Cervantes never even had a Discord channel

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 11:52 pm

… Jabbering Cadaver …

We have a new master.

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 11:52 pm

MatrixTransform
Oct 29, 2023 11:42 PM

Yes sure … but in this time of flux and change … we all must gravitate towards comfort … and like everyone else …..we go South for Sustenance .

https://www.jamesboag.com.au/agegate/

Unless the Antarctic Penguins are getting something happening … I never trusted the little buggers… Some of the call them selves “Emperors ” .. like i say Trust but Verify …

Peace

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:52 pm

sancho (anything for a biscuit) panzer is always the simpleton side-kick

MatrixTransform
Oct 29, 2023 11:27 PM

Sal,

as you are well aware, the resident sociopath has a penchant for inventing shit in his head to green-light his own abuse

the discord meta-verse sounds like a club where only clowns are allowed

and +1 to you too

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:54 pm

you cannot win JC

it’s because your construct is nothing but a fiction in your noggin mate.

… yr a bit of a mental fecker aren’t you?

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:56 pm

oh no .. he’s gone bold

… try not to chuck another spazz JC

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:56 pm

MatrixTransform
Oct 29, 2023 11:54 PM

you cannot win JC

it’s because your construct is nothing but a fiction in your noggin mate.

… yr a bit of a mental fecker aren’t you?

Sure, to a God Oracle I’m all that an more. Impossible to win.

Salvatore, Iron Publican
October 29, 2023 11:57 pm

as you are almost everybody is well aware, the resident sociopath has a penchant for inventing shit in his head

Been self-evident for years. It’s like “sun rises in east” “bears grogan in the forest” etc.

No need to post it.

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:57 pm

I’m all that an more

retard

Mark Bolton
October 29, 2023 11:58 pm

@ John H.
Oct 29, 2023 11:47 PM

At a Subatomic Level Huh ? I have done some introflection … and gave it a bloody good wringing out …let me tell you … so far i am stuck at the cellular level but hope to drill down…. Sir you put me to Shame !!

I can only dream of being insulted on the sub atomic level… I guess it gives me something to aspire to?

MatrixTransform
October 29, 2023 11:59 pm

bring it jC

the war of words

come on … out with it

tell the readership the basis for your 2 year tirade of personal invective

bitch

JC
JC
October 29, 2023 11:59 pm

Trans

Just out of curiosity, what set you off trolling this evening. We hadn’t interacted for days and then this evening you went batshit trolling like you’re foaming now. What’s causing this? What was the trigger as I’m interested in knowing? Are there certain words that set you off? What?

Gabor
Gabor
October 30, 2023 12:02 am

MatrixTransform
Oct 29, 2023 11:00 PM

Several folks over at Discord showed it was a lie
omg … there’s a Catallaxy meta-verse … who knew?

Is there Cat version there?
Tried to look it up but no luck you have to be invited.

Mark Bolton
October 30, 2023 12:02 am

These people …well it was a while ago… I dont recalll if it was these exact same people … but ,back then, they were witty and well connected and a great source of news aggregation …

Now ? Not so much .

MatrixTransform
October 30, 2023 12:03 am

out with it JC

MatrixTransform
October 30, 2023 12:05 am

Is there Cat version there?

no, it’s where the cartel that holds this joint to intellectual ransom hold their meetings

JC
JC
October 30, 2023 12:05 am

tell the readership the basis for your 2 year tirade of personal invective

Trans, anyone who’s reasonable can see that you spend most of your evenings trolling and trying to start stoushes. I only interact with you as a reaction to your pathetic trolling like this evening, for instance.

The fact that I don’t like nor respect you is not really important because I’d be happy to never interact with you. However, if you troll me I will.

Mark Bolton
October 30, 2023 12:12 am

But Feisty!!! Feisty I will give them that !! “Not while there is breath in me !!! ” They passionately refute my opinions about the conflict in the Middle East despite that I never offered any ….

But good for them !!! They make the argument for me on my behalf and go on to refute it….

“Angry of Mayfair” ….. these little snots cant even make thier own argument for us to refute !!!! They rely on US for EVERYTHING !!!!

“Disgusted of South Bunbury” grunts in approval !!!!

bons
bons
October 30, 2023 2:46 am

Extraordinary.
There was a woman on tonight’s Antiques Roadshow whose only item on display was a baby’s quilted jacket.
That was the jacket that she was wearing when she was found abandoned in a stairwell in Hong Kong during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.
The odds of her winding up in the UK and having kept the jacket must be incalculable.
Not a hint of victimhood.

Gabor
Gabor
October 30, 2023 3:37 am

MatrixTransform
Oct 30, 2023 12:05 AM

Is there Cat version there?

She is right MT any site that secretive doesn’t interest me.
Let them brew their witches brew.

rosie
rosie
October 30, 2023 6:50 am

Why would you ‘take shelter’ at what everyone must know is hamas headquarters, in the north.
As for casualty figures, 1500 hamas fighters killed inside Israel but very coy about how many killed in IDF raids targeting hamas sites in Gaza, could it be they are lying?
It’s also very obvious hamas are preventing foreign passport holders from leaving Gaza, the border is opened to let trucks in, Hamas has released four Israeli hostages for propaganda purposes then, no-one.
If they can escort out two by two they can escort out anyone they want.

Mohamed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza’s biggest hospital Shifa, said “the ground shook” with intense Israeli raids.

“No one knew where they (strikes) were coming from — north, south, east or west.”

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
October 30, 2023 7:17 am

me, I, I , me, me, me, I, me, me, me, I, me, I, me, me, me.

13 10

What on earth is this supposed to mean, JC? People talking about cruises is verboten?

You talk about lots of stuff that interests you. New York property prices, for instance, and the I and me pronouns litter your commentary. As is right and proper, because that’s the case with many contributors here. Makes things personal and fun.

I enjoy your interests, so I don’t scroll. Others might.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
October 30, 2023 7:21 am

A Gaza hospital is the last place any civilians should be.

Hamas have no conscience about human life and use hospitals for their human shields.

Check yourself out and get treatment at home if you are stupid enough to stay in the South of Israel, against Israeli advice that it is to become a battlefield. Preferably, load up your sick rellies and go north. This is war.

JC
JC
October 30, 2023 8:51 am

Liz

It wasn’t directed to the Vicpol cruiser.

Go back to bed.

Mark Bolton
November 21, 2023 5:01 pm

@KD

we already had that debate … I only sought out, such as you, by way of a counterfactual…

The other perspective is such as The Greyzone and Garland Nixon …

Once upon a time I saw the Cat as a reliable source of an honest, well informed, and engagable community …

I asked the question .. I got the answer.

School is out … the debate we had was the one when you were demanding I had one .

Mark Bolton
November 21, 2023 5:05 pm

@KD

the one we had when you had verballed me and cried “Victory! “because you were so convinced you were already right … and always will be ..

I got what I came for …

Mark Bolton
November 21, 2023 5:38 pm

Much and all as Christopher Hitchens so often got it wrong… He was never afraid to make himself a “Hostage to Fortune” … by making predictions about Geopolitics.

Unlike so called whorenolists that just pretended to to be clever … and never actually say anything definitive … Hells Bells Mate I wish you had chucked in the Gaspers !! … I miss you so much … your’e best work was left undone …

He Had passion … was right occasionally ..was wrong occasionally . But When he first emerged I fact checked Him relentlessly …never dissapionted, so I stopped bothering … ..he might be annoying and insane , but he never knowingly lies … same with his Brother

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  1. Thanks for that, Bruce. So many Mark Studdocks in the world, too few Puddleglums. Although Studdock saw sense in the…

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