Open Thread – Wed 14 Feb 2024


The Fight Between Carnival and Lent, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559

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Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 3:56 pm

I worked for them when they were respected in the biological sciences. Those were the days.

I’m now retired so the last time I did anything with them was about decade ago. They had excellent equipment, like zirconium autoclaves! But we had to scope the project contract so anally and precisely that they had absolutely no room to be silly buggers. They had zero understanding of the real world. It was tiresome. By contrast the commercial labs and ANSTO were a pleasure to deal with. You could say ‘go test this’ and they’d do it and send you the report and the bill. Done and dusted.

pete of perth
pete of perth
February 15, 2024 3:57 pm

Bruce, was seconded to their the lab assaying the products. Mostly ICP plus a few titrations etc. Link.

pete of perth
pete of perth
February 15, 2024 4:02 pm

I have also joined the retired ranks. Last payday Jan 12th this year.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 4:11 pm

Last payday Jan 12th this year.

Pete – Congrats are in order!

I still get dreams that I’ve been working for months and months in labs for no salary. I ask myself (in the dream) why am I doing all this without being paid? A weird sort of mild PTSD. Pilot plants! Endless dreams about laboratories and pilot plants.

You have been warned. 😀

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 4:12 pm

And not one word about Hekmatullah the bastard who BRS was chasing after he killed 3 Australian soldiers;

Nor the Imam of Hekmallatah’s mosque, who swore an oath on the Quaran that he was a loyal Afgahni..

Zatara
Zatara
February 15, 2024 4:16 pm

dover0beach
Feb 15, 2024 9:46 AM
OSINTdefender
@sentdefender
5h
A U.S. Intelligence Official has reportedly told CNN that the National Security Threat is a “Highly Concerning and Destabilizing” Capability established by the Russian Armed Forces.

Wonder what this is about.

The clue is in the timing. The Senate passed a Ukraine funding bill and the House said it is dead on arrival and they won’t even bring it to a vote.

Suddenly, there appears a mysterious new ‘Russian threat to US national security’ that must be addressed by, you guessed it, giving Ukraine $85 billion.

Yeah, it didn’t make any sense when they said it either. But that didn’t stop them.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 4:21 pm

Hi John H

There are many different competitors to this but what of this or a similar product?

https://alkalinesuperfoods.com.au/products/pro-healix

Spinning Mouse
Spinning Mouse
February 15, 2024 4:21 pm

‘Sydney is at risk of becoming “the city with no grandchildren”, a senior government official has warned, as high housing costs drive young families to leave.

The state capital is losing twice as many people aged 30 to 40 as it gains, according to a paper by the NSW Productivity Commission.

And what should Government do about this?

Nothing. Let market forces do their work.

There will be a cycle of younger families leaving larger cities, larger cities decline, prices fall or stabilise, families return.

Make government smaller. Mantra for the next century.

Zafiro
Zafiro
February 15, 2024 4:24 pm

It is a horror show dude. Appalling.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 4:24 pm

Pete – That is an awesome pilot plant. Giant glass reactors! Wow.

I’ve done a great deal of that scale of stuff. When I joined BHP I said to boss, here’s my pilot plant plan (built out of old jam tins and rubber bands). He said ‘Bruce, you are working for BHP now!’ Suddenly somehow an amazing pilot plant got built.

I’d wanted to test out all the aspects of the process at small scale first, but Melbourne were going a thousand miles an hour, so we built something and hoped. It didn’t work. 😀

I’ve fond memories of BHP. Frenetic drop everythings, vast resources, but no patience whatsoever.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 4:24 pm

And what should Government do about this?

Nothing. Let market forces do their work.

The gist of the report was that state & local governments need to reform restrictive zoning laws to make housing more affordable.

Then the market might have a chance to work as it should.

Zafiro
Zafiro
February 15, 2024 4:33 pm

I was responding to Carpe Jugulum. Excuse my nuffyness

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 4:33 pm

Now even Putin is complaining that Carlson didn’t ask him tough enough questions.

Chuckle.

Rabz
February 15, 2024 4:36 pm

The gist of the report was that state & local governments need to reform restrictive zoning laws to make housing more affordable.

Any mention of winding back red and greenfilth tape and the extortionate taxes levied on new dwellings, ditching NABORES, etc?

Presumably not. We’re talking “Top Men” here, after all.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 4:36 pm

A 1970s build family home out in Dural or Kenthurst with no pool and only very minor renovations can rent out for 1200, to 1800 to 2000 pw.

“This is fine!”

I saw one unit, already rented out today in SW Sydney for 300 pw. Everything else under 300 pw is a pub room, single room etc.

550-600 pw for a single bedroom unit Bondi now. 400 pw for a single rented room in Bankstown.

This is the cost of:

Too much government
Too much concentration of government
Too many building restrictions
Very high taxes and charges on dwelling construction
Too many rules on how to build
Intentional hobbling of primary industries destroying regional population growth
Six colonial governments still existing instead of a confederation of 13 – 20 Republics…

I want the government to truly do nothing, but they can’t stop doing something.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 4:37 pm

Wesfarmers will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 91 cents per share, representing a 3.4 per cent uptick on the same time last year.

Very nice, thank you!

Rabz
February 15, 2024 4:38 pm

Putin is complaining that Carlson didn’t ask him tough enough questions

The Pute: Ask me a tough question, you soft American clown.

Carlsoni: Would you fix me a polonium sandwich?

Bruce in WA
February 15, 2024 4:40 pm

(Repeated from the Aging thread)

Hey, Winston, if you see this:

Did a walk this morning, followed by a session with my physio/chiro. Back home about 11.00 am and still fasting, did a BGL.

5.6!! Outstanding. Thank you.

Rabz
February 15, 2024 4:41 pm

Carlsoni: The Pute, are you “gettin it on” with Anna?

Zafiro
Zafiro
February 15, 2024 4:47 pm

550-600$ for a one bedroom flat in Bondi? Gimme a break. Was just talking to the 25 year old tradie kid who sleeps in the back room.. He doesn’t see a way out of this without mucho violence.

Entropy
Entropy
February 15, 2024 4:47 pm

Sydney is at risk of becoming “the city with no grandchildren”, a senior government official has warned, as high housing costs drive young families to leave.

somehow the bureaucrat will be thinking the solution will be dog box “build to rent” slums.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 4:48 pm

Very nice, thank you!

This week is CBA and TLS for me. Telstra increased their dividend. I didn’t think they would, but I certainly am not complaining. Apparently they’ve been gaining a lot of pissed off Optus customers lately, for some inscrutable reason, and are feeling warm fuzzies.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 4:50 pm

Any mention of winding back red and greenfilth tape and the extortionate taxes levied on new dwellings, ditching NABORES, etc?

NABERS…the “outcome” when green-left bureaucrats hold a meeting to work out how to make housing even more expensive.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 4:52 pm

somehow the bureaucrat will be thinking the solution will be dog box “build to rent” slums.

And young families will continue to vote with their feet and move to the regions.

Alamak!
February 15, 2024 4:57 pm

somehow the bureaucrat will be thinking the solution will be dog box “build to rent” slums.

Solutions never considered

– move bureaucrats from cities to country towns. nobody works in canbra for 1st 10 years on the job
– cut bureaucrats & their salaries to fund construction outside cities
– ban immigrants from cities until/unless they pay housing levy to construct moar boxen
– cut immigration until housing capacity increases
– national service provides public housing ticket after 5 years

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 4:58 pm

Was just talking to the 25 year old tradie kid who sleeps in the back room.. He doesn’t see a way out of this without mucho violence.

Zafiro. perhaps the tradie needs to think about moving out of town. Regional areas are screaming out for qualified tradies and houses might be slightly more affordable.

John H.
John H.
February 15, 2024 4:59 pm

Dot
Feb 15, 2024 4:21 PM
Hi John H

There are many different competitors to this but what of this or a similar product?

https://alkalinesuperfoods.com.au/products/pro-healix

I thought you were pulling my leg.
Look at the footnotes for this article. Many promising results.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8504390/

According to Wiki BPC-157 is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency(2022).

It appears to be a potent nitric oxide agonist. That can certainly help with brain injury because of nitric oxide uncoupling induced vasospasm. It would also help with cartilage etc because of reduced blood supply. There is more going on but no-one seems to know what. At a guess: stem cell\tryosine\growth factor activation.

Could be very useful for injury recovery.
A potent nitric oxide donor might present risks for healthy people(hemorrhagic stroke).

Too much to unpack.

Next to no research on humans.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
February 15, 2024 5:01 pm

Is it uncharitable to point out that Rabz’s Russki femme has telltale signs of FASD?

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 5:02 pm

Regional areas are screaming out for qualified tradies and houses might be slightly more affordable.

Anecdotal, but a lot of southern origin tradies in these parts and apparently no shortage of work.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 5:02 pm

Zafiro
Feb 15, 2024 4:47 PM

550-600$ for a one bedroom flat in Bondi? Gimme a break. Was just talking to the 25 year old tradie kid who sleeps in the back room.. He doesn’t see a way out of this without mucho violence.

Nephew-in-law currently working for me is looking for a share at $350 a week in inner city melbourne. Bondi sounds cheap. 🙂

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 5:03 pm

Russian space nukes !!
Who would have thunk it.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 15, 2024 5:05 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Feb 15, 2024 4:12 PM
And not one word about Hekmatullah the bastard who BRS was chasing after he killed 3 Australian soldiers;

Nor the Imam of Hekmallatah’s mosque, who swore an oath on the Quaran that he was a loyal Afgahni..

A true oath, Hekmatullah was and still is loyal to Islam and the Taliban. That’s the same as Afghanistan, isn’t it?

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 5:07 pm

According to Wiki BPC-157 is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency(2022).

Next to no research on humans.

Cue my favourite bemusement musical theme.

Maybe we should ban vitamin C and collagen powder as well. 🙁

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 5:07 pm

Zafiro – you’re in Victoria – right? Advise you backroom boarder to do a runner to a country region.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 5:08 pm

Anyone know how to pronounce Prabowo ?
I’ve heard a couple of different takes on it from different news organisations.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 5:08 pm

Zafiro
Feb 15, 2024 4:47 PM

550-600$ for a one bedroom flat in Bondi? Gimme a break. Was just talking to the 25 year old tradie kid who sleeps in the back room.. He doesn’t see a way out of this without mucho violence.

Hey! You can get a 3 bedroom townhouse with 2 bathrooms & large for 1-2 cars in the western suburbs of Sydney – eg in St.Marys, Penrith, Werrington – within walking distance to station if you need to travel. – for this amount! You can share, if you need too & landlords (like yours truly) are OK with it.

When I was living at home & at uni I had to get a bus/train & then walk 15 minutes to uni. Same when working.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 5:08 pm

Judge retires to determine Shane Drumgold decision in case with Walter Sofronoff

By ellie dudley
Legal Affairs Correspondent
4:15PM February 15, 2024

Walter Sofronoff’s alleged “preferential treatment” of The Australian’s columnist Janet Albrechtsen over other journalists, and the frequency of his “private and secretive” communications with her, must have influenced his judgment during an inquiry into the handling of Bruce Lehrmann’s rape case, a court has heard.

Acting Justice Stephen Kaye has now retired to determine his judgment of the matter brought by Shane Drumgold and the inquiry, chaired by Mr Sofronoff, which ended his career.

Mr Drumgold launched legal action against the ACT government and Mr Sofronoff’s inquiry last year, challenging findings in the inquiry’s final report that he engaged in serious malpractice and grossly ­unethical conduct during Mr Lehrmann’s trial for the alleged rape of Ms Higgins.

Mr Sofronoff’s report found Mr Drumgold betrayed a junior lawyer who trusted him, acted with “Pilate-like detachment” during the trial and treated criminal litigation as “a poker game”.

It also vindicated police officers involved in investigating Ms Higgins’ claims as having “performed their duties in absolute good faith”.

Mr Drumgold is seeking a declaration that the report is invalid.

Throughout the three-day hearing Mr Drumgold’s lawyer, Dan O’Gorman SC, has argued Ms Albrechtsen wrote regular “adverse” and “negative” commentary about Mr Drumgold, and “poisoned” Mr Sofronoff’s mind against the former ACT DPP through her communications with him.

Mr O’Gorman has said text messages, emails and phone calls shared by Mr Sofronoff and Ms Albrechtsen – as well as a lunch in Brisbane – indicate Mr Sofronoff was “infected” by Ms Albrechtsen’s bias, and the frequency of the was “so extraordinary in the circumstances” that he could not find comparable cases.

Mr O’Gorman also argued that Ms Albrechtsen would privately message Mr Sofronoff asking for information, and then be encouraged by Mr Sofronoff to put the request in a formal email to “give the impression that it was the first time she’d made such a request”.

“These exchanges highlight the private and secretive nature of some of these text messages,” he said.

Earlier in the hearings, which have run over three days, counsel for the ACT government Kate Eastmann told the court many of Ms Albrechtsen’s stories, cited by Mr O’Gorman, were not reflecting her personal opinion but rather the opinions of those she was writing about.

One of the articles, written by Ms Albrechtsen and journalist Stephen Rice on December 3, 2022, was about senior police officers believing there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann.

Another, written on December 6, 2022, included the comments of a leading Canberra criminal lawyer who called for Mr Drumgold’s immediate resignation.

However on Thursday, Mr O’Gorman said it was up to Ms Albrechtsen to determine who would be the subject of her articles, and therefore whose opinions she showcased.

“Ms Albrechtsen is the person who chooses whose views she will reflect in her opinion pieces. She is the one that chooses that,” he said. “You will find the views of many people who expressed views … adverse of Mr Drumgold sprinkled throughout Ms Albrechtsen’s … Certainly, there are a number of views of other people that are reflected, but it’s Ms Albrechtsen who chooses to write up those opinions.”

On Wednesday the court heard Ms Eastmann argue there was “no proper basis” for a finding that Ms Albrechtsen could be characterised as an “advocate” who actively swayed the opinions of Mr Sofronoff.

“The critical plank in this is whether the contentions about Ms Albrechtsen, her state of mind or her bias, can be established by the information,” she said. “That shouldn’t be part of your inquiry. Your Honour is not asking whether she was biased, but is the available information sufficient for Your Honour, to start that first step in the steps. This is where we say, a fair look and consideration of the available material will not satisfy this element. And, if this element fails, the whole of the claim would then fail.”

Counsel for the board of inquiry, Brendan Lim, told the court on Wednesday that Mr Sofronoff would engage with any journalist who approached him, and Ms Albrechtsen was just “the most persistent”.

Acting Justice Kaye has now retired to determine whether an impartial bystander would reasonably apprehend that Mr Sofronoff exhibited bias while conducting the inquiry into the handling of Mr Lehrmann’s rape case.

He said his decision would not be made “overnight” but indicated he would hand down a judgment promptly.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 5:11 pm

Zafiro – you’re in Victoria – right? Advise you backroom boarder to do a runner to a country region.

Yes – but even in some NSW country towns – houses are not all that cheap to rent. Eg suburban 3 bed house in Mudgee will cost you $500 plus to rent.

My view is that these city trade renters need to rent in cheaper suburbs. Thinking you can get cheap rent in a Sydney beach suburb is madness.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 5:16 pm

Young people have been moving from rural regions to the cities since the Industrial Revolution. These days it’s more likely not to just be about work but because they want to have fun and socialize with other youngans. The idea of young well comped kid moving moving to the sticks would be like being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 5:21 pm

My view is that these city trade renters need to rent in cheaper suburbs. Thinking you can get cheap rent in a Sydney beach suburb is madness.

Vicki – I’m talking about tradies heading to regional Victoria inland – not seacoast NSW.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 5:21 pm

Hey! You can get a 3 bedroom townhouse with 2 bathrooms & large for 1-2 cars in the western suburbs of Sydney – eg in St.Marys, Penrith, Werrington – within walking distance to station if you need to travel. – for this amount! You can share, if you need too & landlords (like yours truly) are OK with it.

I looked on Domain with those parameters up to 650 pw. 3 available right now in greater Penrith, one house. 550, 620, 650 and 570 pw respectively.

There’s 220,000+ people in Penrith, plus looky lous from Greater Sidonee and elsewhere…

Possible but not without a lot of competition. Rental viewings can get crazy. One place I looked at Cremone had 60+ people turn up.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 5:28 pm

There was a 5th one for 600 pw.

Only 2 / 5 were a 15 minute/longer but reasonable walk to a train station.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 5:29 pm

I’ve actually never seen the lines of young folks at “Open for Inspection” times like I’ve seen in the past odd year or so. There was one line with about 30 couples looking to go through a flat close to where I live.

I don’t quite get this sudden shortage in the cities in terms of what’s changed since before Covid and after.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 5:31 pm

I looked on Domain with those parameters up to 650 pw. 3 available right now in greater Penrith, one house. 550, 620, 650 and 570 pw respectively.

Dot – I claim some understanding of this issue, as I own rental properties in the area. Yes – there are ready available tenants, and the properties do currently come up in that range of $550 for a 3 bed townhouse, although – like everything- the rent escalates over the years with the cost of living. But these are comfortable townhouses, close to transport and shops.

BTW you are best to look at realestate.com.au which gives a more accurate range.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 5:33 pm

Real Estate is better.

But the app is not so good.

pete of perth
pete of perth
February 15, 2024 5:35 pm

Bruce, I think the glass reactors came from Germany or China. The whole process was done under a +ve hydrogen atmosphere with the saturated liquor at 80C (less temp and you get recrystalisation). Most of the steps to remove impurities such as Fe and Si. Final crystalisation controlled to produce the beta form (at least that’s my sketchy memory of it). Was at csiro 15yrs as technical support so the woke part of working in the lab was thankfully minimal. However, the researchers I worked for were biologist/ ecologist/ oceanographers so AGW was a constant theme. Some with acute TDS.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
February 15, 2024 5:35 pm

Perth Now 41.3°.

Sweating my box off! Time for a cold shower.

CO2 has f*ck all to do with it.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 5:35 pm

I’ve actually never seen the lines of young folks at “Open for Inspection” times like I’ve seen in the past odd year or so. There was one line with about 30 couples looking to go through a flat close to where I liv

JC, I can assure you that you don’t see queues for apartments/townhouses in the western suburbs of Sydney. According to real estate agents – on a good open day you might get half a dozen couples looking at any one “open”.

There is a VAST difference in desirability between the suburbs of coastal & inner Sydney & the western suburbs.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 5:37 pm

Daily Mail. Diddums! Mo doesn’t like it in tronk.

Notorious gang boss demands one of Australia’s toughest jails SHUT DOWN for ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’ conditions

Bassam Hamzy wants Goulburn Supermax closed
He claims inmates are exposed to cruel punishment

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 5:39 pm


My view is that these city trade renters need to rent in cheaper suburbs. Thinking you can get cheap rent in a Sydney beach suburb is madness.

Vicki – I’m talking about tradies heading to regional Victoria inland – not seacoast NSW.

OK, JMH. We are not talking apples for apples. I can only speak for regional NSW & both inner, harbourside & western suburbs of Sydney.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 15, 2024 5:40 pm

Albo is quite the catch provided the negative gearing rules don’t change.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 5:40 pm

realesate.com -vs- domain.com. RE win, in my opinion. For accuracy amongst other things. Prove me wrong.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 5:41 pm

Vicki, but even so, we live in a high density area with lots of flats and been here for almost 20 years now. The foot traffic I see has never compared to the past. It’s the usual Saturday morning traffic I’m talking about and over that time, you can see a pattern. Also, my nephew was telling me he’s been interviewing for a share and the folks have told him they’ve had up to 40 applicants. Sure, it’s inner city, but this doesn’t sound normal.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 5:42 pm

OK, JMH. We are not talking apples for apples. I can only speak for regional NSW & both inner, harbourside & western suburbs of Sydney.

No problem. Vicki. I speak for regional Victoria, inland.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 5:43 pm

Tickler, I always thought you were an insomniac from the East Coast. You’re a Perthian?

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 5:44 pm

I hope the 3 journos who did it for BRS get the pox.

Bloody hell, Cohenite.

You and a lot of others have a blind spot wrt hero worship.

BRS did it for BRS, no one else.

cohenite
February 15, 2024 5:46 pm

Just saw this name on the list of supporters for Ed Berry’s amicus brief about the Montana case about AGW.

Ferenc Miskolczi, Diploma in Computer Programming, 1974, Budapest; MS in Physics, 1971, Eötvös Lórand University, Budapest; Ph.D., Physics, 1975, Eötvös Lórand University, Budapest; Ph.D. Earth Sciences, 1981, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest; Independent Research Scientist, retired from AS&M (former NASA Contractor), Specialized publications (28+) on Greenhouse Effect and Ozone/ atmospheric radiation.

Miskoczi disproved AGW in his now unavailable 2007 paper: Greenhouse Effect in Semi-Transparent Planetary Atmospheres, Quarterly Journal of the Hungarian Meteorological Service..

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 5:50 pm

Also, my nephew was telling me he’s been interviewing for a share and the folks have told him they’ve had up to 40 applicants. Sure, it’s inner city, but this doesn’t sound normal.

Oh, I agree with that, JC. There has been a real demographic turnover in the inner city & “bohemian”/backpacker (showing my age!) eastern Sydney beachside suburbs. These area are magnets for young people & the competition for accomodation reflects it.

Wally Dali
Wally Dali
February 15, 2024 5:53 pm

Great way to bury an inconvenient scientific paper- publish it in Hungarian.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 5:54 pm

132andBush
Feb 15, 2024 5:44 PM
I hope the 3 journos who did it for BRS get the pox.

Bloody hell, Cohenite.

You and a lot of others have a blind spot wrt hero worship.

BRS did it for BRS, no one else.

Why would anyone sign up to the ADF after this frigging debacle.

Why would anyone in their right mind sign up for the SAS? Do it and get charged for war crimes. F that!

cohenite
February 15, 2024 5:54 pm

You and a lot of others have a blind spot wrt hero worship.

Yeah ok; now tell us about Hekmatullah and the 3 dead Australian soldiers.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 5:56 pm

I don’t understand renting out residential as an investment. Yield is about 3.5% to 4%. Meanwhile, depreciation is about 2.5% to 3% a year for the building. Then there’s taxes and all the laws set up against the landlord. I used to own rentals until I was clipped by a crook who moved in after paying the agent with the first dud cheque. It took me six months to clear him out. Even with a court judgment, the cops/sheriffs were reluctant to kick the prick and his family out of the place. They just went over there and “talked” to him a few times. Nicely, too, I guess. And let’s not forget the weekly, kitchen tap isn’t working call from the agent. Fck that. I sold all the crap I owned, tipped it all into stocks, and never looked back. With divs, you can get imputation and no headaches.

Sure, I get that land values go up, but that’s a guess in the same way as it is for stocks.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 5:57 pm

Bruce, I think the glass reactors came from Germany or China.

Really nice equipment Pete! I used glass reactors for many years, we got them from a place in Brissie – off the shelf Pyrex but the Brissie guys would indent the sides to produce baffles and graft on overflow ports by some neat glassblowing fu. Others we’d put in polyprop baffles, depending, but never more than 5 L since they were catalogue.

Generally for pilot plants like that we’d do them in FRP. Sometimes in high grade stainless. For heating we’d use commercial Ti sheathed immersion heaters or steam coils, although glass was good since we could have hot plates under them. I can see why those reactors might be needed if they were under a hydrogen atmosphere. Ti doesn’t like reducing conditions.

johanna
johanna
February 15, 2024 5:57 pm

There’s been a bit of an ant plague at the motel, some say it’s wet weather, my view is that ants have their own agenda. The last time I experienced an ant plague was during a drought. Then, the ‘experts’ said it was because they were seeking water.

They know nothing.

Anyway, a mysterious, ancient, figure with a spray bottle appeared. This was a few weeks ago. He squirted who-knows-what here and there, and the ants disappeared. Best not to know what it was.

Now they have re-appeared elsewhere in the building, and he is back. We exchanged war stories, and he had to admit that mine is worthy.

Just after I bought my house (an old weatherboard) in Narrabundah, in February the millipedes went on the march. Hundreds of thousands of them, and my house was apparently in the middle of their route.

I came home from work one evening to find the front veranda and the lower parts of the house covered with millipedes. As the night went on, they covered the entire front of the house, and came in via every nook and cranny, It was an old house, so there were a few ways for them to get in.

It was like a horror movie, except that luckily I knew that millipedes are vegetarians and not agressive.

Got the pest controllers in – turned out the woodchips to pretty up the place for sale are Heaven for millipedes.

Nature – never gives you an even break.

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 5:57 pm

Why would anyone in their right mind sign up for the SAS? Do it and get charged for war crimes. F that!

Murdering civilians/captured combatants was in the ROE’s was it?

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 15, 2024 5:58 pm

The Chiefs parade shooter looks diverse from the phone video where bystanders tacked him to the ground. He’s in a hoodie but looks up at one stage.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-super-bowl-parade-shooting-video-person-detained/46791224

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 6:01 pm

Yeah ok; now tell us about Hekmatullah and the 3 dead Australian soldiers.

Like I said the other day, by your standards Hekmatullah is a hero.

Infiltrated an enemy base.
Killed known enemy combatants who should have been armed or had weapons very close by.
Made good his escape.

cohenite
February 15, 2024 6:02 pm

Murdering civilians/captured combatants was in the ROE’s was it?

Fuk off.

Indolent
Indolent
February 15, 2024 6:03 pm
JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 6:04 pm

And while we are at it, remember that pox-ridden bint with zero military experience who tipped the bucket on a decorated soldier.

The ADF is a f/ing disgrace and will remain a disgrace until it purges the numpties. And hat may take years. Recruitment is at an altime low,. Why? This country is defenseless now and will be defenseless ad infinitum until some political arsehole grows a spine and jettisons the refuse.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 6:04 pm

Like I said the other day, by your standards Hekmatullah is a hero.

Err…no.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 6:05 pm

Why would anyone in their right mind sign up for the SAS? Do it and get charged for war crimes. F that!

Putting soldiers on trial, in time of war, for killing suspected enemy could set a nasty precedent.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 15, 2024 6:05 pm

The guy in the grey Chiefs T-shirt walking in front of the video is one of the men who grabbed him. He’s hyped up of course but well done that man.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
February 15, 2024 6:06 pm

There’s been a bit of an ant plague at the motel, some say it’s wet weather, my view is that ants have their own agenda.

As always, the world’s greatest spy shows us the way.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
February 15, 2024 6:06 pm

I don’t even know his name … the QLD premier has a very punchable head when looking at the thumbnail.

Land transfers to people who couldn’t even boil water. Today they use the magic of the white man and apparently they were cartographers, too.

Those maps we see detailing indigenous lands are for brainwashed f-wits.

All indigenous corps need to be obliterated.

Transfer of QueensLAND to First Nations

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 6:09 pm

After warning Israel this morning now Bad Penny warns China.

Wong warns sentencing of Yang Hengjun will ‘impact’ China-Australia relationship (Sky mainpage headline, 15 Feb)

When asked by Senator Nita Green how Australia would now engage with China in support on Dr Yang’s advocacy, Ms Wong reiterated she will “speak as necessary” on issues that matter to the nation.

“And we have been frank, we do not agree. We disagree with China on this outcome,” she said.

And if Mr Xi doesn’t relent she will disagree some more. Sternly! Pooh Bear will be quaking in his boots. Just don’t call her Frank, she’ll be upset at the misgenderization.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 6:14 pm

Murdering civilians/captured combatants was in the ROE’s was it?

Was it? Who’s “story” do you believe?

If I was sent under orders to be rid of the enemy, then that’s exactly what I would do. Further, an enemy that wears no uniform, in my opinion, has a target on it’s back. There should be no further questions.

Would I sign up now to defend this country? Nope. How about you, bush?

Winston Smith
February 15, 2024 6:18 pm

Bruce in WA
Feb 15, 2024 4:40 PM
(Repeated from the Aging thread)

Hey, Winston, if you see this:
Did a walk this morning, followed by a session with my physio/chiro. Back home about 11.00 am and still fasting, did a BGL.
5.6!! Outstanding. Thank you.

Did you do a pre exercise BSL? The time frame sounds like 2 hours and so everything was probably coming back into balance.
It’s the difference between the first and last measurements that give you the idea of how much exercise – or just normal walking – will lower your BSL before the liver starts to break down its stores and raises it again.
Only of use if you have a practitioner who is rabid about the numbers and they treat them instead of the patient.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 6:24 pm
Tom
Tom
February 15, 2024 6:26 pm

Elbow says he’s lucky to have found a partner he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

I bet he told Carmel the same thing a few years before he dumped her.

Still, Carmel has found her new sugar daddy, the government.

Go down on this, guv. Sorry it’s so old.

chrisl
chrisl
February 15, 2024 6:28 pm

In the coastal town I live in ( Victoria) the local council have put a ring around most of the towns i.e. no more developments . They have also banned multiple houses on one block, also no house may be built with more than one kitchen .
Result: Prices have skyrocketed, young people can’t afford to live here ,no rentals , 90 percent of workers in town come from elsewhere.

Rosie
Rosie
February 15, 2024 6:30 pm

Story I heard was someone got sick of captured taliban being released back into the wild.
If true, it’s unacceptable.
You don’t shoot unarmed prisoners.
Leave that to terrorists.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 6:30 pm

Michigan (Detroit) and Illinois (Chicago) really not helping lawful black firearms enthusiasts.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 6:32 pm

Further, an enemy that wears no uniform, in my opinion, has a target on it’s back. There should be no further questions.

The reason Australian soldiers in Vietnam wore the yellow rising sun flashes on their jungle greens was to give them the protection of the Geneva Convention…

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 6:32 pm

also no house may be built with more than one kitchen

That’s actually not practical once you’re loaded enough.

Salvatore, Iron Publican
February 15, 2024 6:33 pm

… also no house may be built with more than one kitchen.

I’d have to find some way around those pencil-necks, coz I’m having a kitchenette (which would pass as a “kitchen”) on every level, so I don’t have to walk up/down stairs every time I want a cuppa, or beans on toast, or whatever.

John H.
John H.
February 15, 2024 6:33 pm

Dot
Feb 15, 2024 5:07 PM
According to Wiki BPC-157 is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency(2022).

Next to no research on humans.

Cue my favourite bemusement musical theme.

Maybe we should ban vitamin C and collagen powder as well.

What are they going to do when viral vector mediated increases in IGF 1 and androgen receptors are used to increase muscle mass? They only way they could test for that will be muscle biopsy and that’s too invasive. In bodybuilding they have natty and open slather but too many proclaimed nattys are obviously on the horse juice. In a way its all a bit silly because elite athletes have a genetic advantage to get to that levels. Let ’em go for it, do what they like.

cohenite
February 15, 2024 6:35 pm

JC
Feb 15, 2024 6:20 PM
Get a load of the US homicide rates by race. It’s off the planet.

The black population of the US is 13% but responsible for over 50% of crime. But it’s not all blacks mainly black yooth between 15-25 who are about 20% of the black population or about 2.5% of the total population. So 2.5% are responsible for over 50% of crime.

pete of perth
pete of perth
February 15, 2024 6:36 pm

Bruce, Actually N2 atmosphere + hydrogen generated from dissolving the Ni metal in sulphuric acid. Apologies but details sketchy from 5 yrs ago.

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 6:36 pm

Dot Avatar
Dot
Feb 15, 2024 6:04 PM

Like I said the other day, by your standards Hekmatullah is a hero.

Err…no.

Of course not, he’s a cowardly dog.
But principles seem flexible around here.

Speedbox
February 15, 2024 6:36 pm

JC
Feb 15, 2024 5:56 PM
I don’t understand renting out residential as an investment. Yield is about 3.5% to 4%. Meanwhile, depreciation is about 2.5% to 3% a year for the building. Then there’s taxes and all the laws set up against the landlord. With divs, you can get imputation and no headaches. Sure, I get that land values go up, but that’s a guess in the same way as it is for stocks.

Agree with that. I’ve looked repeatedly at rentals but just don’t see much upside, at least in comparison to shares. Certainly not enough to justify a switch. There are plenty of blue chips that pay 5-6% dividend (100% franked) with no problems. Year in, year out + some capital gain. Sit back and do nothing. Beyond that, there is a good number of others who pay higher dividends with (usually) only a modest increase in risk.

I suppose it depends on the rental property/location and whether you strike gold of a long-term careful tenant. But, in many instances, it appears that the cost of owning and maintaining a rental property, and the accompanying potential headaches, don’t stack up.

Happy to hear alternative views from Cat slumlords.

Speedbox
February 15, 2024 6:39 pm

Maybe it’s a tax thing – negative gearing and all that.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 6:40 pm

Albo is quite the catch provided the negative gearing rules don’t change.

You cynic, you.

Tom
Tom
February 15, 2024 6:42 pm

In the coastal town I live in ( Victoria) the local council have put a ring around most of the towns i.e. no more developments .

Sounds a lot like Lorne. The local council ringfenced the Victorian tourist town from development half a century ago. Result? You can hardly buy property there for under $2 million.

Plus Lorne is full of hippies and greenies, which ensures the whole town will be burnt down or badly damaged by fire every half a century, driving bushfire insurance rates through the roof.

Indolent
Indolent
February 15, 2024 6:43 pm
cohenite
February 15, 2024 6:43 pm

Story I heard was someone got sick of captured taliban being released back into the wild.
If true, it’s unacceptable.
You don’t shoot unarmed prisoners.
Leave that to terrorists.

Before I swear at you I repeat my question: what about Hekmatullah and the 3 dead Australian soldiers.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 6:44 pm

Maybe it’s a tax thing – negative gearing and all that.

I think that’s the key for certain investors.

I looked into it a decade or so ago and stocks outperform property consistently.

[ This is not professional advice 😀 ]

Bruce in WA
February 15, 2024 6:44 pm

Did you do a pre exercise BSL? The time frame sounds like 2 hours and so everything was probably coming back into balance.
It’s the difference between the first and last measurements that give you the idea of how much exercise – or just normal walking – will lower your BSL before the liver starts to break down its stores and raises it again.
Only of use if you have a practitioner who is rabid about the numbers and they treat them instead of the patient.

No, I didn’t … but noted for next time. Thank you again. And yes, I think my Dr is a by-the-numbers man.

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 6:45 pm

If I was sent under orders to be rid of the enemy, then that’s exactly what I would do. Further, an enemy that wears no uniform, in my opinion, has a target on it’s back. There should be no further questions.

Sonds like you’d fit right in with hamas, give them a call I hear they’re in need of a few hairy chest thumpers.

Would I sign up now to defend this country? Nope. How about you, bush?

Yep
When compared to the rest of the world this country is still worth saving. Some of the f^ckwits running it not so much.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 6:47 pm

Of course not, he’s a cowardly dog.
But principles seem flexible around here.

Actually he’s quite fearless (I won’t say brave or courageous), but not a hero.

I have high standards with evidence. The practical and moral equivalence does not exist.

cohenite
February 15, 2024 6:50 pm

Of course not, he’s a cowardly dog.

BS, he’s a mad dog. All mad dogs should be shot.

But principles seem flexible around here.

All members of the taliban, isis, hamas etc should be summarily executed. How’s that for an inflexible principle. Channel nein’s SC admitted the 4 scumbags allegedly executed by BRS were taliban; the 3 afghani witnesses used by nein were also probably taliban.

Are you chris masters or nick mckenzie?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 6:51 pm

Been unavoidably involved in smallgoodsery pursuits the last couple of days.

Quality discourse, by and large, on the Cat.

Bonhomie and good cheer were also present. Not universally, but you can’t have everything.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 15, 2024 6:51 pm

Story I heard was someone got sick of captured taliban being released back into the wild.
If true, it’s unacceptable.
You don’t shoot unarmed prisoners.
Leave that to terrorists.

Rosie, you live your life by rules that have been made by other people. Not everyone does. Some of us have to deal with an intransigent reality that can kill you if you get it wrong. We look at the probable consequences of an action and choose from those where we survive.

If letting captured taliban into the wild means that sooner or later one is certain to try to kill me, I’ll kill him first. If it’s him or me dies, it will be him.

There’s a deep divide between people who think like you and people who think like me.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 6:51 pm

When compared to the rest of the world this country is still worth saving.

Upticked.

If not for God, King and country, then for kith and kin.

Bespoke
Bespoke
February 15, 2024 6:52 pm

When compared to the rest of the world this country is still worth saving. Some of the f^ckwits running it not so much.

Me too Bush.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 6:53 pm

Albos on the old good time taxpayer unwritten pension scheme.
If he dies, what percentage goes to Carmel, what percentage goes to the new one?

Zatara
Zatara
February 15, 2024 6:53 pm

Putting soldiers on trial in a civil court rather than at court martial for alleged actions taken in their military role is a gross violation of their rights as a soldier. Otherwise what are courts martial for in the first place?

Allowing that to happen is the mark of a political and military hierarchy that forgot they have a duty of being responsible TO their soldiers as well as for them. Soldiers shouldn’t have to fight the government to protect their rights. In fact they are generally forbidden to do so directly, that’s what flag rank officers and Ministers are supposed to do in a functioning system. Their failure to do so in the AFG related cases reflects extremely poorly on their honour, integrity, and most of all, loyalty.

Instead they allowed their troops to be attacked by the press and the political system, exposed to being judged by people whose knowledge of the military or combat service is limited to what they ‘know’ based on watching war flicks or the reports of the sensationalistic press with no support or protection from their service.

A country which asks everything of their service members but hangs them out to dry when it suits someone’s political agenda deserves its self-created recruiting nightmare.

Indolent
Indolent
February 15, 2024 6:54 pm
JC
JC
February 15, 2024 6:55 pm

Maybe it’s a tax thing – negative gearing and all that.

You can also negatively gear stocks

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 6:56 pm

You don’t shoot unarmed prisoners.

Not even when that’s their rightful due, under international law, and the Geneva Convention?
For example, the North Vietnamese office, captured in 1968, under arms, wearing civilian clothing, next to a trench full of dead South Vietnamese civilians, and photographed being shot, was receiving his rightful due, under international law….

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 15, 2024 6:56 pm

Maybe it’s a tax thing – negative gearing and all that.

You still need the capital gain to make the numbers work. And a suitable marginal tax rate when you realise the gain. Most of the simple comparisons do not include rates, land tax and all the other property on costs. When I was renting in Melbourne (albeit a long time ago now) the strata fees alone were about $80 a week for a 25m pool and pretty mediocre gym.

Bespoke
Bespoke
February 15, 2024 6:58 pm

Some of us have to deal with an intransigent reality that can kill you if you get it wrong.

Really? Do tell about your life threatening experiences.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 6:59 pm

Earlier:

You and a lot of others have a blind spot wrt hero worship.
BRS did it for BRS, no one else.

I have heard it said that among several portions of our excellent SF people, there are little cliques that make it their business to pursue ‘gong-hunting’. That is, that a competition of sorts develops among those who can get noticed enough to be cited for, and awarded medals.

If one were to look at the annals of VC winners since their inception after the Crimean War, there is an amazing number of those people who have said words to the effect of ‘I don’t know why I was chosen for this. There were people where I was that did far braver things’.

For clarity – I am NOT saying BRS shouldn’t have been awarded the VC, nor am I saying he should give it back, or anything like it. I am NOT saying BRS committed war crimes. Far from it.

I AM saying that people do what they do for a variety of reasons, and altruism isn’t necessarily at the top of the pile for all of them.

Gong-hunting. It’s a thing.

I also note that if BRS was in fact going after Hekmatullah, he didn’t find him.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 7:02 pm

Oh, please, Indolent. Jeffrey Sachs? Sachs was/ or is an economics professor at Columbia. He was one of the architects of the sharp shock theory, advising Yeltsin. It almost destroyed Russia and went close to sending it back into the arms of the Communists. That’s a name that should live in infamy.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 7:02 pm

The weather forecast has just informed us that Sydney can expect rain, storms or showers until further notice. So much for the El Niño and so much for BOM who cannot back down and admit that they made a mistake, lots of mistakes.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 7:05 pm

I don’t understand renting out residential as an investment.

I think you invest in what you feel comfortable with. It is an investment that is conservative, but solid. It’s divisible in terms of a portfolio. I will always recall that my family relatives survived the Great Depression comfortably via their property (domestic & commercial) investments.

We have had both residential and commercial property over the years. Commercial is too often a headache. Businesses go belly up & loss of rent can be substantial. Residential tenants can scarper – but if you buy in sought after areas, you can readily find new tenants. Over the years, property damage has been very minimal. However, it helps to have a good agent who keeps an eye on employees looking after the property.

In our case, our early business life financed property investment. We have never regretted it.

BTW yes – you can get better returns in other investment areas – but if you have located a good agent it is “set and forget” – to a large extent. And again, investment in good areas will always attract an excellent long term capital gain, as well as regular income.

Helen Davidson (nmrn)
Helen Davidson (nmrn)
February 15, 2024 7:06 pm

I suppose it depends on the rental property/location and whether you strike gold of a long-term careful tenant.

One bad set of tenants will put you off for ever.

When my father passed away, my mother rented out the family home so she could move closer to family while she figured out what to do.

Unfortunately, she had one lot of tenants who owned a pet shop and used spare rooms in the house for their stock. They kept parrots in my old bedroom, and bred litters of puppies on the back verandah.

I was only ten years old, but the smell when we walked into the house will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 7:08 pm

BTW re land tax – apartments & townhouses attract far less land tax than individual homes for obvious reasons.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 15, 2024 7:09 pm

Really? Do tell about your life threatening experiences.

I’ve been married twice.

Alamak!
February 15, 2024 7:15 pm

Quality discourse, by and large, on the Cat.

Bonhomie and good cheer were also present. Not universally, but you can’t have everything.

Improved over this week, quite tolerable today.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 7:16 pm

132andBush
Feb 15, 2024 6:01 PM
Yeah ok; now tell us about Hekmatullah and the 3 dead Australian soldiers.

Like I said the other day, by your standards Hekmatullah is a hero.

You seem to have a problem with the concept of enemy.

Indolent
Indolent
February 15, 2024 7:16 pm
cohenite
February 15, 2024 7:17 pm

I also note that if BRS was in fact going after Hekmatullah, he didn’t find him.

He found him. The yanks had him in the clink and wouldn’t release him to BRS. Then the corpse got elected and ran from afghan like the shithouse rat he is. Where is hek now?

‘I will continue killing foreigners’: soldier who shot dead unarmed Australians treated as ‘returning hero’ by Taliban

Indolent
Indolent
February 15, 2024 7:21 pm

This is from a month ago but I don’t think it’s been linked. Exactly like the jab, if our “leaders” were actually interested in health and safety it would be banned.

Sudden EV Explosion, Rockets up 5 Meters, Close to 100 BYD Autos Spontaneously Combust

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 7:21 pm

cohenite
Feb 15, 2024 6:35 PM
JC
Feb 15, 2024 6:20 PM
Get a load of the US homicide rates by race. It’s off the planet.

The black population of the US is 13% but responsible for over 50% of crime.

They also seem to be in most official positions, almost every mayor or police chief seems to be black. I expect most of it is due to affirmative action and DEI but it is odd that this is the case even in non-black majority areas.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 7:22 pm

One bad set of tenants will put you off for ever

Indeed, but in some cases it shouldn’t.

I bought my first house in the Macedon Ranges with the ex-Mrs KD, aka The Skank, in 2001 or so. An acre block, in the town, a three bedroom tidy brick arrangement. Got it for $155K, which was steal even then as the vendor was apparently an airline pilot moving overseas.

All we did was polish the floors, put a deck out the back and build a decent shed in the back corner of the block.

About two years after we moved to the NT we became aware there were some shit tenants – so much so it necessitated a plane ticket and a bit of a visit. However, all that needed replacing were a couple of doors.

Three years of nagging after that and I went ‘fine’ and sold it. I had a look out of curiosity earlier this week – it sold two years ago for $880K.

It’s not entirely The Skank’s fault because I eventually caved, but still.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 7:22 pm

It was like a horror movie, except that luckily I knew that millipedes are vegetarians and not agressive.
Got the pest controllers in – turned out the woodchips to pretty up the place for sale are Heaven for millipedes.
Nature – never gives you an even break.

Jo – the worst I’ve experienced was on Christmas morning two years ago. We had all our family (unusual) in the house at the farm for Christmas. At midnight on Christmas Eve our daughter appeared at our bedroom door & said there’s a drama in the kitchen & dining room. Got out of bed & was horrified to find that the entire ceilings of both rooms were black with little flying insects. Grandson had gone in the Gator to the front gate where he could get a signal for his mobile – and, of course, had left the door open & the lights on! It was the “night of the flying insects” which happens in summer.

There was absolutely nothing we could do at midnight. Son-in-law, husband and I got up at dawn and vacuumed every damn insect before I could even start cooking the Christmas dinner. From recollection, it took about two hours.

John H.
John H.
February 15, 2024 7:23 pm

Knuckle Dragger
Feb 15, 2024 6:59 PM
Earlier:

I AM saying that people do what they do for a variety of reasons, and altruism isn’t necessarily at the top of the pile for all of them.

Good point. Altruism should be way down the list of possibilities.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 7:25 pm

Sonds like you’d fit right in with hamas, give them a call I hear they’re in need of a few hairy chest thumpers.

That’s a stupid comment, bush. I expected better from you.

Would I sign up now to defend this country? Nope. How about you, bush?

Yep

Provided you were NOT deployed into a war zone.
Correct?

When compared to the rest of the world this country is still worth saving. Some of the f^ckwits running it not so much.

The first sentence I disagree with. The second, onboard!

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 7:25 pm

I bought my first house in the Macedon Ranges

For clarity – first and only. I most certainly do not have a portfolio of Macedon ranges housing.

Much to my chagrin.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 7:26 pm

The other thing about stocks vs real estate is this, or at least I think it is. People may be spooked by the fact that stocks are priced each day and move up and down. You see a stock say lose 2 or 3% in a day and people could be frightened off.

However, when you think about it what would be the bid on a piece of real estate if you wanted to move it in a single day? I reckon the starting point would be at least 25% below comparable.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 7:27 pm

Wow.

I don’t normally watch Friendly Jordies, but this is wild:

Coronation Constructions, Tony K, money owed, etc.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 15, 2024 7:27 pm

On Monday `twas on the news that a $700M indigenous employment programme was being launched. More “closing the gap” themes.
The blockage of The Voice is not going to hold back the river of cash that the Voice would have handled.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 15, 2024 7:28 pm

They kept parrots

Parrots. My head hurts. Literally. I was in the back yard short while ago and a cockie landed on my head. Several others were around also. I reached up and handed head-cockie a piece of bread, but he didn’t want to vacate my scalp. He just gripped harder, munched his bread and shed crumbs into my hair.

Finally after a while, and in some pain, I reached up and slid my fingers around his feet. Then lifted him up and away. Amazingly the cockie was fine with this and sat happily on my hand, still munching on his piece of bread.

I have a witness, since my neighbour was watching all this transpire. She’s used to my antics.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 7:28 pm

Would I sign up now to defend this country? Nope. How about you, bush?

Yep
When compared to the rest of the world this country is still worth saving. Some of the f^ckwits running it not so much.

I see bushie you didn’t exactly commit yourself to doing so, I take it you want somebody else to do that while you pass judgement on them.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 7:37 pm

I see bushie you didn’t exactly commit yourself to doing so, I take it you want somebody else to do that while you pass judgement on them

My young bloke is still seriously thinking about it after he finishes his trade and gets his ticket.

Should he do this, he will undoubtedly – if it comes to that – go beyond the wire. He is prepared to sign that contract and join something bigger than himself, and do something that isn’t directly connected to personal benefit.

Some commenters here will never, ever sign that contract and go beyond that wire, yet still see fit to pass ‘judgement’ on those that may.

This country, for the information of anyone who has never been overseas, still kicks arse over almost every other country anywhere. The aggravating circumstance is that it could be so much better if it wasn’t run by self-interested dickheads.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 7:42 pm

The blockage of The Voice is not going to hold back the river of cash that the Voice would have handled.

The Voice was never going to administer programs and funding.

It was an added pseudo-parliamentary layer on top of all that.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 7:43 pm

Zatara
Feb 15, 2024 6:53 PM

So well stated that I couldn’t single out any paragraph to quote as example.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 7:48 pm

Some commenters here will never, ever sign that contract and go beyond that wire, yet still see fit to pass ‘judgement’ on those that may.

KD, I have a personal stake in this debate as my grandson is in the navy. I am horrified that he may one day be at the mercy of the media and people like some commenters here.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 7:50 pm

I’ll just go and milk the cow while the page refreshes.

Indolent
Indolent
February 15, 2024 7:55 pm

Oh, please, Indolent. Jeffrey Sachs? Sachs was/ or is an economics professor at Columbia. He was one of the architects of the sharp shock theory, advising Yeltsin.

Whatever his shortcomings as a economist, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the U.S. which is determined to prolong this war, never mind the futility and the casualties.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 7:58 pm

I’m surprised Russian space nukes isn’t the global news it should be.

Vicki
Vicki
February 15, 2024 7:59 pm

My young bloke is still seriously thinking about it after he finishes his trade and gets his ticket.
Should he do this, he will undoubtedly – if it comes to that – go beyond the wire.

KD, I know it is “soppy”, but I can’t bear the thought of my grandson going into battle. If I could, I would kidnap him & hide him in our valley.

A woman’s stupid melancholy. But as every day seems to bring us closer to global madness, I think about it.

Bespoke
Bespoke
February 15, 2024 8:02 pm

Crossie

What limits would place on them?

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 8:03 pm

Bern

I know treaties aren’t worth the paper they’re written on, but hasn’t there been a treaty that bans space based nukes? So Putin is going to break the treaty then?

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 8:10 pm

According to the intelligence briefing today, Russia is on the cusp of having them.
May or may not be related to the Ukraine spending bill that goes to the house over the next week.
Also, I think the FISA reforms bill may or may not be related.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
February 15, 2024 8:10 pm

Said in a whiney voice for general effect when the muzzie reavers come calling, “why doesn’t someone do something”. Do it yourself, oops too late so sad. Don’t expect someone else to do something you won’t do yourself.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 8:11 pm

No matter what, the security state is going to ensure this spending bill passes.

Muddy
Muddy
February 15, 2024 8:12 pm

Re BRS & Ali Jan:
How is ‘unarmed’ defined?
That may seem a ridiculous question, but if Ali Jan’s body was not found with a weapon close by, and if he was not visibly armed when BRS allegedly ‘kicked him off a cliff’, had he been detected firing at the Australians prior to the kick n’ shoot, and dumped his weapon?

Essentially, I’m asking what are/were the ROE defining an enemy combatant and ‘imminent threat?’

I realise the following is a different context, however I believe the reason for the storage of small arms in various civilian homes in Gaza, is that while traveling between hides, h@m@s/pij etc can claim to be unarmed civilians if confronted by the IDF. Combatants killed while on the move and unarmed, can also be claimed as civilians.

JMH
JMH
February 15, 2024 8:15 pm

Just to be clear when I said “nope” re. my reply to bush.

The rules of war have changed. in so many ways. Why would I sign up with the ADF to be sent overseas to kill an enemy (where the rules of war have changed) only to be charged with war crimes for doing what I was under orders to do when I returned to Australia. Nope.

There needs to be a reckoning.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 8:17 pm

GreyRanga
Feb 15, 2024 8:10 PM
Said in a whiney voice for general effect when the muzzie reavers come calling, “why doesn’t someone do something”. Do it yourself, oops too late so sad. Don’t expect someone else to do something you won’t do yourself.

I don’t. COVID changed everything for me.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 8:17 pm

I have a personal stake in this debate as my grandson is in the navy

Fair enough Crossie – but you may as well say your grandson works in a city somewhere and you don’t want him to be hit by a bus.

Lightning does strike. Yes the ADF has gone to shit, apart from some specialised elements, and yes the media has (quite often an erroneous and ill-informed) say in certain circumstances which is due to tech advancements, which has been the case since Vietnam.

However, there will still be that core of people who join for the right reasons, and excel. Whether or not those individuals are targeted by couch-sitting Neville Nobodies is up to the gods.

For the Navy though, apparently they still can’t walk around at night so that might be different.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 15, 2024 8:19 pm

Wesfarmers will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 91 cents per share, representing a 3.4 per cent uptick on the same time last year.

Very nice, thank you!

Too bad the real inflation rate is around 10%

Rabz
February 15, 2024 8:21 pm

Walli – FFS, are you severely visually impaired? This imbecile has FASD.

Trigger warning: Ignorant illiterate innumerate anti-scientific ahistorical imbecile …

cohenite
February 15, 2024 8:22 pm

I give up. I have to switch off Sharri who’s listing the leftie scumbags who have been doxing Jews, including that kunt with teeth clementine ford. I then go watch Watters and he has on Matt Taibbi who’s been working with Shellenberger in revealing the obuma, shrillary, brennan cia/fbi conspiracy to fame Trump; all the lies and corruption is just too much. I’ll watch Hitchcock’s Marnie instead. It’s about a lying woman saved by a good man.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 15, 2024 8:24 pm

Dot that friendly jordies thing is over 40mins long.
Is it that good?

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 8:25 pm

So Putin is going to break the treaty then?

He’ll claim a historical precedent.

From the 17th C.

Rabz
February 15, 2024 8:26 pm

BTW, once apprehended by coalition forces, hekmatullah should have been summarily executed.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 15, 2024 8:26 pm

The rules of war have changed

No, they haven’t.

The ROE (that’s Rules of Engagement) change dependent on where you are and what you’re doing.

The ‘rules of war’ have never included media scrutiny.

The job still needs to be done. What’s your exact solution, apart from ‘there needs to be a reckoning?’ Would that include being driven from your house and thrown in a pit?

No? Didn’t think so. That would be someone else’s fault. Obviously.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 8:27 pm

Trump telling Leslie Stahl in 2020 on the US edition of 60 Minutes that Obama used the FBI to spy on Trump’s campaign is a certified hood classic.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 15, 2024 8:27 pm

I don’t even know his name … the QLD premier has a very punchable head when looking at the thumbnail.

Aha, an easy diagnosis then!

https://germanyinusa.com/2019/02/22/word-of-the-week-backpfeifengesicht/

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 8:28 pm

Yes it is.

In the last 10 minutes he does start touching himself when he can lay the boot into his mortal enemy though.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 8:29 pm

I meant CIA, not the FBI.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 15, 2024 8:29 pm

BTW, once apprehended by coalition forces, hekmatullah should have been summarily executed.

By being fed to pigs.

Roger
Roger
February 15, 2024 8:29 pm

an historical precedent…

What was I thinking?

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 8:29 pm

Dot on Open Thread – Wed 14 Feb 2024
February 15, 2024

I meant CIA, not the FBI.

Same difference.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 8:31 pm

Sky News at night certainly has a lot of really great women such as Rita, Shari, Caroline Marcus, Danica De Gerorgio, Liz Storer. I’m sure I have left out more of them. I think they easily outnumber and outflank the men.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 8:34 pm

Japan & the UK are now officially in recession.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 15, 2024 8:34 pm

johanna

Feb 15, 2024 5:57 PM

There’s been a bit of an ant plague at the motel …

Lizzie sent them.
She’s got the locusts on backorder.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 8:35 pm

The CIA doing it is a lot more illegal!

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 8:37 pm

Dot

I have high standards with evidence.

Obviously higher than those of BRS.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 15, 2024 8:44 pm

On the sudden excess demand for rentals.
Two possible factors:-
1. Young ones who went the full B2M* during Covid are tunneling under the wire as job prospects have improved;
2. People who own multiple properties have decided to “land bank” them because the 3-4% rental return isn’t worth the gutsache. Probably running a sham rental to a rello to preserve negative gearing deductions.

* Back To Mums.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 8:44 pm

Video doesn’t lie, or does it?

Is the horse moving backwards or forward?

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 15, 2024 8:49 pm

On the sudden excess demand for rentals.

Net immigration of 600k pa isn’t helping.

Top Ender
Top Ender
February 15, 2024 8:53 pm

Katarina Carroll: Police Commissioner facing open revolt as ‘exhausted’ officers consider no-confidence motion

The Police Commissioner is potentially facing a no-confidence motion as 300 senior police officers meet to discuss concerns over the service “failing Queensland”.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll is facing open revolt, with rumblings growing of no-confidence motion from “exhausted” cops fed up with fighting an uphill battle against youth crime and domestic violence.

More disgruntled police have come forward to say they’re at breaking point from the constant pressure of staff shortages, the gruelling demands of dealing with youth crime, domestic violence and mental health issues and disciplinary notices being “handed out like confetti”.

The Courier-Mail has been told the state’s most senior police are meeting around their concerns over the direction of the police service and the service “failing the Queensland community with their core responsibilities of policing”.

The Queensland Police Commissioned Officers’ Union is speaking with its 300 members, ranked Inspector to Chief Superintendent, about the direction the senior leadership is taking them.

A senior police officer said the service had taken on responsibilities of the State Emergency Service, Maritime Safety Queensland, Queensland Ambulance Service ramping, youth justice including the government’s five-point plan, Queensland Government Air, Protective Services and Queensland Health responsibilities during the Covid-19 years.

The officer said taking on these other roles had impacted the efforts of frontline police to protect the community, which was their core responsibility. The officer said the senior leadership of the QPS was not listening to concerns by the state’s most senior police, when they had tried to raise their concerns.

“We have been seeing the consequences of this for quite some time, however the separation between government and the current leadership is questionable,” the officer said.

“The Queensland Police Service is now the agency that is being completely relied on by the government to solve all their problems.

“We have gone from the thin blue line to a wafer thin blue line. Resources are of a bare minimum.

“The direction the leadership is taking us is not right.

“We have concerns that the lessons of Fitzgerald have not been learnt and we are being driven by the government rather than the service leadership.”

In a statement, Ms Carroll told The Courier-Mail she had been “very open and upfront about the challenges and pressures being placed on our frontline while they continue to rise above and deliver outstanding policing services throughout Queensland”

“Since COVID-19, we have experienced exponential growth in demand for policing services through population growth, an unprecedented rise in mental health matters, serious youth crime, Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) occurrences and cost of living pressures.

“I completely understand how challenging these pressures are for our frontline and that is why I will continue to work with other government agencies and various stakeholders to drive reform and efficiencies, particularly around DFV.

“I will always provide frank and fearless advice to government and as Commissioner, I will continue advocating for additional resources, system improvements and the support police need to keep Queensland safe.

You mean the 10 ribbons she’s wearing on her uniform aren’t inspiring confidence?

Courier-Mail

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 8:56 pm

Crossie
Feb 15, 2024 7:16 PM

132andBush
Feb 15, 2024 6:01 PM
Yeah ok; now tell us about Hekmatullah and the 3 dead Australian soldiers.

Like I said the other day, by your standards Hekmatullah is a hero.

You seem to have a problem with the concept of enemy.

No problem at all, Crossie.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 15, 2024 8:57 pm

Even under Howard,who was the source of the problem (as usual), it was manageable at around 180k I believe. Haven’t checked the exact numbers. I still can’t understand the unemployment numbers, we all worked some shitty jobs through uni in the 80s as there just wasn’t the jobs around.

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 9:00 pm

JMH

Provided you were NOT deployed into a war zone.
Correct?

And you accuse me of a stupid comment.

Signing up means you go where you’re told.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 9:00 pm

Oh yeah, there was the immigration factor.

There were also a million Aussies who repatriated during covid and now the foreign students.

Crossie
Crossie
February 15, 2024 9:02 pm

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll is facing open revolt, with rumblings growing of no-confidence motion from “exhausted” cops fed up with fighting an uphill battle against youth crime and domestic violence.

Another woman promoted beyond her capabilities but as long as the government can tick the feminist box it’s all that matters.

Dot
Dot
February 15, 2024 9:03 pm

Signing up means you go where you’re told.

That also means that command responsibility exists.

Winston Smith
February 15, 2024 9:03 pm

Crossie
Feb 15, 2024 7:21 PM
JC

Feb 15, 2024 6:20 PM
Get a load of the US homicide rates by race. It’s off the planet.
The black population of the US is 13% but responsible for over 50% of crime.
They also seem to be in most official positions, almost every mayor or police chief seems to be black. I expect most of it is due to affirmative action and DEI but it is odd that this is the case even in non-black majority areas.

These are probably the whites who voted for Obama. Anything to avoid being called a racist.
How’s that working out for them?

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 9:06 pm

Crossie

I see bushie you didn’t exactly commit yourself to doing so, I take it you want somebody else to do that while you pass judgement on them.

So it’s a pissing contest now is it?

John H.
John H.
February 15, 2024 9:07 pm

Sancho Panzer
Feb 15, 2024 8:34 PM
johanna

Feb 15, 2024 5:57 PM

There’s been a bit of an ant plague at the motel …

Lizzie sent them.
She’s got the locusts on backorder.

Thank you Sancho. Fortunately I wasn’t sipping coffee at the time.

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 9:12 pm

That may seem a ridiculous question, but if Ali Jan’s body was not found with a weapon close by, and if he was not visibly armed when BRS allegedly ‘kicked him off a cliff’, had he been detected firing at the Australians prior to the kick n’ shoot, and dumped his weapon?

Muddy,
Read up on the evidence presented in the Brereton report and in court.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 15, 2024 9:12 pm

JC

Feb 15, 2024 7:26 PM

The other thing about stocks vs real estate is this, or at least I think it is. People may be spooked by the fact that stocks are priced each day and move up and down. You see a stock say lose 2 or 3% in a day and people could be frightened off.

However, when you think about it what would be the bid on a piece of real estate if you wanted to move it in a single day? I reckon the starting point would be at least 25% below comparable.

I reckon the first couple of years of owning shares you gasp a bit when you log on and are greeted by a sea of red ink.
I’ve been at it for 25 years and can honestly say the only disconcerting time in the last twenty was some of the freefall during Covid. Not even the GFC really threw me off. In fact I bought during the GFC.
A good analogy for property would be if you could look up the spot value of your house when you are on holidays and your teenage kids are having a massive party with vomit and UDL cans all over the un-mown front lawn.
The spot price wouldn’t be optimal.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 15, 2024 9:15 pm

Heard our Prime Mongister on the radio.

” 9 out of ten jobs in the future will require Tafe or university credentials”…

Because the dipshits have confused education with competence
Credentialism is stupid.
It’s not like our education system is covering itself in glory installing basic literacy/ numeracy.

132andBush
132andBush
February 15, 2024 9:20 pm

I have a personal stake in this debate as my grandson is in the navy

Ahh
It is a pissing contest.

JC
JC
February 15, 2024 9:21 pm

The spot price wouldn’t be optimal.

LOL. Imagine though if there was ever a time when every bit of real estate is priced like stocks along with an opening and closing price. Imagine the reaction from the punters seeing 50% swings in a day.

shatterzzz
February 15, 2024 9:24 pm

“Handsome Boy” … the engagement pix …!
https://ibb.co/2hc0MHM

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 15, 2024 9:27 pm

flyingduk

Feb 15, 2024 8:19 PM

Wesfarmers will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 91 cents per share, representing a 3.4 per cent uptick on the same time last year.

Very nice, thank you!

Too bad the real inflation rate is around 10%

The Wesfarmers share price has nearly doubled in the last four years from $33 to $61, coupled with fully franked dividends of $1.70 rising to $1.90 per annum over that time.
I think that beats inflation.

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