John Williamson

John is an Australian country singer some might liken his songs to folk songs and I would not argue with that.

I think he is good personally; my musical tastes are diverse and I like serious music as well as heavy rock, pop, many country and western singers Johnny Cash was a favourite of mine still is I guess.

Bruce Springsteen is another favourite of mine and yes, I know they are a bit long in the tooth now.

Thankfully not as old as some that a few of my e-mail friends send me, most of the time I just delete them I believe in the future and not the past.

John Williamson is definitely a true blue, as you will see by these videos courtesy of You Tube.

The last one Waltzing Matilda is not our National Anthem either and for years it was forbidden to play or sing it at Rugby test matches but we now do, I guess its our answer to the New Zealand Haka!! However, I digress so please watch and enjoy these Videos, first up is true blue then old man Emu and finally Waltzing Matilda

Enjoy

The Rove resignation

It could not have happened to a nicer bloke it is just a shame it never happened some time ago.

I love the B/S picture of the pair of them

I read it on the BBC thanks BBC you made my day and most likely quite a few friends of ours in the USA.

All I have to say is read the report on the BBC regarding this.

One gone and the main one still to go you know the one that is responsible for the secret CIA prisons.

Remember the famous saying, “the buck stops here” it wont be long and It will have stopped good riddance to all conservative parties everywhere

Sourced

The scoffing scientist

Why not he is a member of the US Coastguard team aboard a US Coastguard ship which is headed to the Arctic to map the sea floor off Alaska an American state BUT Russia Denmark and Canada are asserting their claims in the region which of course has potential oil and natural gas reserves.

The thing is they are denying flag dropping such crap; they would I guess the USA does not like being usurped.

It might look legit but under it, all is the certain worry that Russia, Canada and Denmark may have something to say about this.

In the past, the USA has helped immensely especially in world war’s one and two but the role of the world’s police has not helped their image.

It is far too late for George Bush to go out like a lion with petty tactics like this.

He is without a shadow of doubt the American peoples worst ever president; I cannot even liken him to our own incumbent Prime Minister and he is a bloody ratbag in my opinion. What that makes Georgie boy is anyone’s guess

However, remember Russia, Denmark and Canada this is being done with him and the USA in mind.

A good thing would be for these three countries who have laid claims in this arctic region are to gang up on George and his icebreakers forthwith.

Thank heaven the man clears off next year most of the world are absolutely sick of him and his dastardly politics.

Its a sad thing when folk ordinary folk in the USA are charged horrendous fees for medical etc and the head honcho is responsible for yet more irrational behaviour.

If you do not have money in the United States, you go under simple as that and their government is elected in the same way.

What is more the ordinary citizens do not vote their new President in either it is all done with an electoral roll.

I for one hope the bloody icebreaker breaks down and has to ask for assistance.

I hope they have to ask their neighbours CANADA for help.

It is not right that the average American should have to withstand the worst of the C in C’s errors.

I hope that the USA will God willing regain its self-esteem. All this is due to the Republican Party and their policies.

sourced

Will Honest John make history?

The way things are going in the conservative camp this is a distinct possibility (I am cheering) the last time a sitting Prime Minister lost his seat was in 1929 yep a long time ago but with the way things are going today re terrorism and immigration this country needs a change like never before.

We have had a conservative government for many years now it is about time Australia had a change in my opinion.

He certainly does not look confident does he and the mere thought that the treasurer Peter Costello might take the reigns of the federal government has most people worried if they are honest of course; quite a few are not honest.

The swing by the way is not due only to labor voters but conservative ones as well this to me signifies his own mob is sick of his style of government.

I know I am, the bonus of 500 bucks whilst welcomed by me will not sway my decision one iota when it comes to polling day.

One only has to look at Costello in the Parliament he looks like a smirking schoolchild who has farted why the public has put up with this jerk is beyond me.

Frankly yes, I want Johnny come lately to make history; this country was built on blood sweat and tears and does not need conservatism to take it away from the working person.

It will also make history in another way as then a duly elected Australian labor party, which I do not think has ever happened, will run all governments of this great country.

At least we make our vote count here not like the UK or the USA, as we are obliged by law to vote thereby ensuring at least a 95% turnout at the polls.

I write to folk from the UK and most of them although arguing politics rarely turn out to vote.

So I surely want glamour Labor candidate Maxine McKew to beat Johnny come lately for sure in fact I want her to zoom in and knock the old crock out of it so go Maxine go go go

Sourced here

What a cruddy bunch of wimps especially New Scotland Yard

Who does New Scotland Yard think they are good grief they make blue after blue after blue with information on the cruddy way we here in Australia handled the Haneef affair, then they decline to comment.

Both countries made a huge blue with what transpired and it is my considered opinion that heads should roll namely the Commissioner of our Federal Police, Keelty and the immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.

In addition, while we are at this exercise get rid of the head of New Scotland Yard, as they are as much to blame as our blokes. Well worse as they lied about the circumstances.

Oh, no, they decline to comment as though they were still running an empire; both countries officials acted abominably but the stance taken by the pommy cops takes some beating.

It reminds me of the time my pension was due from the pommy government; I phoned the British High commission in Canberra in response to a letter sent by these clowns to my Australian address; their answer was you are not entitled as you live in Canada what a hoot.

When I tried in vain to tell the arrogant pommy sheila on the phone she just dismissively said HER BRITTANIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES I reckon you can guess my reply.

Sources

The Howard Regime and it's dirty tricks

I reckon that the Howard government is trying to do a Tampa as it knows dam well its in deep doo doo with the election almost upon us and the polls are rating the opposition a very good chance of taking back the helm of Australia.

It has always been my fervent belief that the Tampa incident swayed the voters into once again voting back to office the Howard government.

So what does he do he had this Indian Doctor arrested by trying to make himself look the epitome of society and using this travesty of justice to try to bolster up his chances of winning back government once again.

Good bloke that’s a bloody hoot he’s worried that’s the problem; and not only was this business considered unjust by most of the Australian people it now turns out according to nine news that our Premier of Queensland Peter Beattie was told to butt out, when at least 200 Queensland Police was used in this shady operation with the Federal Police.

Mr Beattie urged the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to publish the results of an investigation into who leaked incorrect information that Dr Haneef was being investigated for a plot to blow up a Gold Coast skyscraper. What a load of rubbish and it also turns out that the Pommy cops made a huge blue as this so-called SIM card was it seems nowhere near, where the Pommy cops said it was.

The immigration Minister Kevin Andrews needs his butt kicking and fired by his refusal to reinstate Doctor Haneef’s visa

And to think a week ago I went along with all this hoo-hah. I have apologised for that already so I will not rant on about it further.

For all sources read the links below. The BBC is a bit behind the times with some of it but it gives the circumstances of the lies more credence than our news in Australia.

Aussie news

BBC

Channel nine news Australia

The super dooper fastest information highway in the world.

I read this on the Washington Post with utter amazement a Swedish lady aged 75 has the fastest internet in the world. She may well be a latecomer to the net but she can download a full length movie in less than TWO SECONDS many thousand times faster than most residential internet connections.

I kid you not but the speed is 40 Gigabits per second on her fibre optic connection and not a misprint believed to be the fastest in the world at this time. My name is down already and I am considering a move to Karlstad in Sweden cold weather or not LOL.

The lady in question’s son who lives in California USA did this amazing feat of engineering in conjunction with the head of the Karlstad city network unit. It was done using a new technique sending data between two routers 1, 995.58656 kilometres or 1,240 miles apart

Was the Australian government wrong with the Indian Doctor?

Well I have a sneaking suspicion the Australian Federal Police jumped the gun which means I made a blue with a blog post on it last week.

It seems it all rests on a sim card for use in a mobile or cell phone and why is he in detention why has the case not been heard in a court of law yeah well we all know about courts of law look how young David Hicks was railroaded in Guantanamo he was not allowed to put his case before the American legal system it was all conducted off shore.

Now we have this Doctor from the sub continent and from the entire hullabaloo that is arising from his detention maybe he was just not involved after all.

The law council of Australia certainly thinks so on both cases and thinking more deeply about this maybe this Doctor should be allowed to go back to his own country; I have read and seen that the Indian government is a mite concerned about this and I have to say something seems rotten in the state of Denmark.

A lot of people are very concerned that this Doctor was in custody for two whole weeks without charges being laid whilst the prosecution got its case in order.

All the crap I read about the Brits wanting him extradited so where are these so called British cops. Gone home I bet it seems like a storm in a teacup.

It does not seem legal to me that he should be held in custody while some joker decides whether or not he has a case to answer.

This is the bloke who is or should be responsible for this the Federal Police Commissioner

Michael Joseph Keelty, APM

Some scenes behind the $100 laptop for developing nations

This scheme proposed five years ago is now ready for the mass production of these amazing learning devices.

In October of this year the first machines should be ready for children in the not so fortunate world that a lot of us live in.

It seems various countries have already purchased these machines but they have not as yet been disclosed.

I can hear rumbles of discontent in some circles but one must agree and admit that children of these not so fortunate countries deserve just what is available to us; it is not their fault they cannot learn with modern methods what our own schoolchildren do. My country makes computers available at school and I know that this is the case in other western countries.

If our own children ignore in the main computers it is in my considered opinion it is their own fault as well as the parents.

These young children of developing nations do not have luxuries like we have and I know that they will take full advantage of them. Ok so they may have a little fun with them so what didn’t we have fun growing up? Well I did and without a computer.

Thanks to the BBC and its reporting it could also be made available to us ordinary folk so I read on here. There is a video explaining just a little of this laptop just below this line. Also there is one on this site but Firefox could not find a plug-in to allow viewers to watch it which rather annoys me to be honest

The chairman of intel by the way described it as a $100 gizmo whilst Bill Gates questioned its design; he would the greedy so and so.

Others may say there are more pressing things needed for these poorer countries and I agree but we all need knowledge and these kids need it very much so and what’s more are prepared to learn I don’t think our children fall into that category and I am not talking America here I am talking all western countries

As professor Negroponte’s said it’s an EDUCATIONAL thing and not just a laptop project it also has a Gigabyte of memory I haven’t got that luxury yet but I will.

It has a name it is called the XO and is built to cope with harsh living conditions and can be powered by solar or human power.

You can read a lot more about it including the harsh testing it has been given on this site the BBC

The world’s weird weather has spread

It seems that the unseasonable weather in Australia and no doubt other countries is migrating to of all places the red planet Mars the Martian Rovers from NASA are now into 3 weeks of dust storms and engineers are frantically shutting down systems on the Rovers as they are solar powered and no sun is showing because of the dust storms; is this a sign one wonders whether we should have landed there or not, I guess we will have to wait and see.

The current conditions on Mars is blocking almost a 100 % of the sun prior to this the worst weather was a blocking of 80 % of the sun.

Sadly this could ensure that both rovers could be severely damaged permanently I for one hope this does not happen as it cost a lot of US Dollars to do this experiment and they have been there a good three years now.

Plus it is my considered opinion that the money spent on this project should have been spent bettering the lives of the American people including health care. I realise things like this are done but to me they are not essential. when standards of living for human life are on top so to speak then yes these very expensive experiments could and should be done but until standards are well above the norm then the option is no.

BBC

A bunch of bloody weakies

That’s what category I am putting the Europeans in.

The USA and the UK with lots of commonwealth countries then known as the British Empire paid the supreme sacrifice to help a lot of European nations but it seems they will now not get involved with this Russian business.

My opinion is they should get their heads out of the sand and stand up to Putin and his mob in the Kremlin.

Putin is just a jumped up communist he was a member of the soviet communist party and also a member of the dreaded KGB.

He is still acting like a KGB member in this and lots of other matters I have read from time to time.

He is arrogant like a lot of other world leaders I know of and I admit well think that if GW Bush had not kept on with his policy in Europe re missiles and troops seemingly pointing towards Russia, quite possibly this may never of happened but then who really knows the mind of a communist like Putin.

I still think that the European Union should support Britain in this endeavour to try and solve this murder.

The Portuguese Prime Minister is just all talk and no action he simply does not wish to get involved I find it amazing he has not tried harder.

Now here’s a turn-up for the books the French actually support the UK something I never expected to hear or read about to quote "The murder of a British national on his home soil, using a substance that put at risk the lives of thousands of others is a particularly serious matter," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. "Given the gravity of the matter, we stand alongside the United Kingdom in its concern that justice be done" unquote.

Germany reckons the UK overreacted such rubbish from Angela Merkel will not sit well with the British government I fear. You made a blue Angela in my opinion you are frightened of the Ruskies as years ago the German people once were, thanks to you they may be still.

I do realise that the European Union and Russia are to close for comfort and Russia thinks this all an unpleasant surprise BUT how would Vladimir Chizhov the Ruskies rep in Brussels react if nasty things like murder had been done to his country better still his family feel. I suspect he would not like it.

But this Russian overseer Putin has warned the European Union to stay out of this argument and it seems that the weak European Union is doing just that

Sourced from here

Terrorist warnings For Sydney

So according to the BBC residents of Australia’s largest city Sydney are being urged to pack a survival kit in the event of an attack by terrorists; this is I agree quite a good idea however this should apply to all of Australian cities and towns not just Sydney.

Whilst on this subject I think it only fair to say that this kind of thing is exactly what terrorists want; they want to create havoc and terror and this warning whilst a good one is silently sending a message to the Islamic fundamentalists telling them we are worried.

This effort should in my view been done by local authorities in all shires, counties and states in Australia and not globally by the media it might make good reading for an editor but it really is not something we should make headlines about.

These filthy creatures that use terror against anybody are just that filthy creatures; they use young children promising them Paradise whilst they sit back and make even more grandiose plans.

I believe in sending back from whence they came from; any Islamic fundamentalist who was not born in this country they should be deported forthwith.

I would not have minded had our incumbent Prime Minister in conjunction with the treasurer said he would arrange this with the department of immigration if Australian senior citizens gave back the bonus we received in order to make this happen.

Cast your minds back to the grand mufti of Sydney the one who was in the end replaced, he was rude to our women and our whole way of life, he was also a migrant from Egypt so he should go back there.

Whilst I believe in anybody migrating here I don’t agree with those religious zealots living here at all.

This country always was a Christian country sadly it is not anymore; to a degree I can understand this and am tolerant of all religions with one exception Islamic fundamentalists as there is quite a difference between those and ordinary Moslem's.

Complacency and terror

I notice that when things are not going so well in the run up to our Federal elections that the incumbent Prime Minister Honest John as he has often been called (cuz he is so crooked I guess)

Decides that he will now do something about welfare payments, family payments to parents that abuse the system; two of my grandchildren do this in a way they drink their family payment away and down the toilet it goes.

Why should the heavily burdened taxpayer buy them drinks and worse still why at the expense of their children, obviously they are not alone in this to just read the attention its getting in this election run up.

No doubt the 7.30 report had something to say about it sadly if so I missed it

It matters not how he does this one iota in my view, does he think we the voters really care HOW of course not the actual question is WHY was this allowed to happen in the first place he will take money from senior citizens etc to bolster his grandiose schemes so how did this happen, well my view for what its worth is he really doesn’t give a dam he is only doing all these things because Kevin Rudd is the front runner in the polls (I have still never been polled by the way) I certainly hope Kev stays in front no even better gets voted in to form a government.

So ok senior citizens were given a substantial bonus and I was grateful but you do need to do a lot more than that Prime Minister to secure your election chances with the Grey Army; so far you have come up with zilch.

Sorry Mr Howard you will not get my vote.

Brisbane Courier Mail

_______________________________________________________________

Well enough of that this Doctor has finally been charged I see just after I did a blog on it as well oh well

Somebody has at last awakened up to the fact there is enough evidence after all what annoys me is the fact that the good old Aussie taxpayer will have to pay for all this and the maximum sentence is 15 years.

Why did they not allow extradition at once and sweep it away who knows, also it seems a practice of Indian doctors in a Perth suburb was raided by Federal and WA police amongst others.

If we as a nation are not careful more and more like practices will also be discovered well WE don’t want that so maybe it is just as well we are taking the Americans ideas on terror a lot seriously now much more than before.

It might be annoying to be subjected to searches at airports but if it in any way helps stamp out these terrorists I am all for it.

The Sunday Herald

My view re the Doctor from Queensland

I reckon personally that this joker should definitely be held on suspicion of the terror attacks at Glasgow Airport Scotland; he may be guilty he may not be guilty BUT in today’s version of terror and attacks things should be done a tad differently

Ok if by chance we were wrong we can always compensate him can we not? Well I would have thought so but at the very least why don’t the British police just apply for extradition; case is then solved for Australia.

I mean they (the Brits) are withering on about it why has this simple thing not been sought? Maybe he is innocent I certainly hope so as I loathe terrorists especially the suicide type so I would hate to see an innocent railroaded but as my father once told me there is no smoke without fire, so come on now do this thing NOW and make the extradition order

Sourced from Sydney Morning Herald

The story behind computing in brief

There were in fact computers in the 18^th Century but at that time it meant a mathematician just a guy that was good at math and so a computer in those long ago days was simply somebody who did complicated calculations for other folk.

The idea of a computer in the techie sense seems to have been in the 19^th Century; I read all this info in a history book I did not get the info from a site.

Simple calculating machines arrived at the start of the 20^th Century in of all places Germany and not the USA.

A building engineer name of Konrad Zuse decided the decimal system would not do the job which is very practical for us mere humans but not for a computer and thus used the binary system.

It gets a tad complicated as 0 and 1 are already binary numbers, this was fixed by using electricity Zuse used relays to switch current on and off this 0 or 1 is called a bit.

Heavy going huh still by 1941 Zuse built the worlds first completely programming machine I think it was called the Z3 and used punched tape and those old fashioned radio valves.

It never saw the light of day luckily for us as it would most likely have been a secret weapon for Nazi Germany; and Americans still insisted they invented the computer.

This is not to say they were developing one as they most certainly were another awful thing I think is the mere fact that all these important inventions came from military needs.

America worked frantically to make a super brain which could calculate gunnery tables but it was not finished until 1946.

This machine was known as ENIAC it weighed in at 30 tons (don’t lol) had 18,000 valves; it needed its own power generator just to run the thing.

Still we should not laugh indeed I am grateful as we would never be where we are today. All the same today e-mail and web browsing can be done on a cell phone things certainly have changed.

The world’s first production computer was called UNIVAC and popped up in 1951; it created history by predicting the victory of Ike over Stevenson in the United States Presidential elections in 1952.

It ended up a film star in Hollywood.

There is a lot of activity re computers between then and now which I won’t go into IBM is or was a big name in computers I know.

The net also it seems was for the exclusive use of scientists from the USA and the Soviet Bloc.

The race between the two superpowers of the day speeded things up computer wise in the race to the Moon; the data or info passed between computers on the net were called packets and still are.

When it started to become available for the public and called a PC much work had to be done to eliminate the need for us to learn one of the computer languages COBOL was one FORTRAN was another; there were many more of course; today there are even more computer languages. And I don’t just mean Java.

The reader may find this site of interest; I did.

I did read somewhere that Vincent Cerf is or was considered the father of the internet but I just cannot see that at all; but then I could well be wrong.

In 1991 the World Wide Web was introduced; it is still growing at a fearsome rate, according to the site above the internet is almost impossible to destroy although I have heard folk say they would.

I certainly hope this never happens as the knowledge and things to do on this medium are immense and bring folk much pleasure.

I think most home computer users would be lost without a computer I know I would and that is just taking into account e-mail alone mail which is sent electronically and takes roughly 3 minutes to arrive.

Then of course are video clips, digital photography, slide shows the list is endless;

Schoolchildren use them at school they are in public libraries and then there is the internet cafe not the coffee drinking kind.

Games are played on them real time messaging happens quite regularly, one can even see the person thousands of kilometres away with a web cam or conduct telephone conversations with voice internet protocol (VOIP)

Today on my computers I can watch internet TV or listen to internet radio and frequently do in fact without a computer I would be lost.

The first home computer built by Adam Osbome which came out just before the IBM 5150 PC that most personal computers (PC’S) of today are based upon pictured below, notice how small the monitor is in relation to the rest of it.

If anybody finds errors in this blog post please comment and I will endeavour to rectify it.

I figured I’d get a new mobile (cell) phone

So yeah I was just hobbling from my car to our Library last week and wonder of wonders the cell rang cripes I thought an accident of a family member; I rarely get calls on it and use it for emergency use usually.

Mind you I do make calls on it at times mainly when they are free, so back to the caller; and guess what it was a salesman with my phone access company suggesting I update; it cost extra cash of course but I questioned the bloke about the phone and it seems the numbers on the touchpad were slightly larger than my old one which is the same make shown here the old one is on the right.

Yeah right so I bought it stupid me still it is great for texting when your eyes are not the best.

They both have cameras, voice recorders and all that jazz I have never yet figured why a phone needs a camera oh well, the jazz includes Java script for games ah I get it for folk without the internet on a computer? nope that's not it, ah who cares.

I did get a shock when the courier delivered it a pert young thing with a smile would you sign here please says she and proffers an electronic sort of keypad with a stylus.

Golly I said we are getting modern and I thought I was modern she smiled again; to be blunt I was hooked I signed but I still recollect her face.

Not bad for an old joker I guess.

Happy Birthday America

Enjoy the fourth of July as it most certainly was a struggle to obtain it this site has the original document of independence on it and many links of interest strangely enough never actually quoted as that but after 3 fierce days of haggling it was finally passed by the Congress on the 4^th of July by the original 13 states; as others joined the union they also appended their signature’s and today July four 2007 there are fifty states of the union.

This site here depicts the timeline leading up to the declaration

GOOD ON YAH AMERICA FOR THROWING OFF THOSE AWFUL BRITISH CONSTRAINTS

What we in Australia called the British Yoke

What new goodies will we be offered next?

The new Apple iphone it seems has had folk in the USA queuing or lining up as it’s known there, some folk have been queuing for days to obtain one (there is a limit of 2 per customer so I read on the BBC.

There are a few things I don’t like about it still I have until next year to buy one as that’s when it will be available in Asia so I presume that works for Australia as well.

I shall not buy one of course I mean I need a cell phone for phone calls and text messages not as a mini computer which after read more thoroughly on the BBC does not have certain programmes on it.

This problem may have been ironed out by 2008 but I will stick with my trusty Nokia I think.

This video featuring Google CEO courtesy of the BBC does not give much away about it however see what you think

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA

July one is Canada day (Fete du Canada) July one 1876 established Canada as a dominion indeed it was even called dominion day. It is a federal holiday with some exceptions by most businesses and provincial governments across Canada. Oddly enough the Red Ensign is flown along with the Maple Leaf in some Royal Canadian Legion halls, as well as by many individual Canadians. I can understand this as those folk in the Canadian legion fought under that flag as did Australians who fought under our flag which still has the union jack on it which is why we have resisted a flag change although it will happen I guess in the end. In fact I read a lot of Canadians fly both flags very patriotic as are some Americans and Australians with flag flying and yet strangely in the UK I have never ever noticed that at all. With most commonwealth countries (then called the British Empire later the British Commonwealth, later still simply the commonwealth of nations) they sustained heavy losses in World wars in which Britain was involved. Really heavy ones in Newfoundland and Labrador so this day is also recognised as a remembrance day and I did read flags are flown at half mast. Things are rather sombre until noon as ceremonies are held at cenotaphs around this province then I gather things get more festive.

Enjoy the day Canada we enjoy our national day as I know you will

Some facts

Washington lighthouse, Hong Kong 10 years on, Atlantis return and the great Aussie petrol rip off.

A friend of mine took a party of scouts to see this lighthouse I was amazed to see how orderly it was on this picture.

There is a great website if you wish to go see it and get some more facts here

I know we have them here as I have been to a couple but this one in Sequim WA really does look in tip top condition, I guess they are not really needed now in this day and age but it seems they still have a lighthouse keeper, I do believe the light is lit but could not swear to it.

Its also hosts wildlife and there are restricted areas but most marine life that are not in a restricted area are still protected as indeed they should be in my opinion.

This is definitely well worth seeing if I ever get there and I am determined I will visit I shall go and look naturally.

Hong Kong ten years on yeah well according to this news report Great Britain was definitely not snubbed at the celebrations and they were rather proud of the world class success by HK officials but would like the democratic process sped up a tad the Chinese mob in Beijing may well say this was not the case but of course it was.

The Chinese want the best of both worlds no doubt one of the reasons for the snubbing but really I don’t care the lease on HK was up ten years ago and that was that.

Welcome to Terra Firma brave crew of the Atlantis especially Sunita Williams world record holder for the longest human in space.

This mission was put back for 3 months but in the end succeeded with doing the job it did a lot of work to the solar arrays on the ISS; this will provide electrical power for Europe’s Columbus laboratory.

I bet Sunita found it strange after so much time in free fall.

You all did a great job I reckon.

Sourced

Yeah the great petrol rip off I reckon they should be gaoled myself a bunch of crooks is all they are, its all on here.

The head of the ACCC wants to gaol these crooks that are found guilty of price fixing and my view is yep do it it might make the greedy swine think a bit more; lets face it if I did this or it was a share fixing gaol would be on the cards so why should they get away with it is my thinking.

An item of considerable interest

_____________________________________________________________________________________ I recall it fairly well actually

HM Ship Amethyst in 1949 steamed 104 miles about 160 kilometres down the Yangtze River and rejoined the fleet being fired on by the people’s liberation army of the red Chinese.

This account here by Wikipedia has not given all the facts really in actual fact the ship whilst on a routine mission to Nanking (now called Nanjing) was driven ashore by heavy gunfire with a considerable loss of life.

Damage and casualties also occurred with HM Ships London, Black Swan and the consort who gallantly tried to aid the frigate HMS Amethyst.

What is not so well known is the fact that the radio operator sent messages back to the British fleet for a good twenty days without proper sleep and was awarded a bravery award of some kind.

This incident was also made into a movie starring Richard Todd.

The ship’s cat Simon had a job on his hands when a particularly large rodent named “Mao Tse-Tung (I love that) was eventually killed by Simon who was awarded the Dickin Medal sadly posthumously

A little bit of history now almost forgotten strangely the actual ship was used in the movie, the skipper was Lt Cdr J.S. Kerans D.S.O RN.

Sourced

Lots of activity up in space

Seems the Atlantis mission has been on overtime up above whilst we all ate worked and slept or whatever.

2 days and nights overtime hmmm with danger money wow.

In all seriousness they fixed up the Atlantis so it will re-enter our atmosphere safely.

Whilst on the ISS itself a couple of Russian crew member’s re-booted the station’s computer after a repair job on them to fix oxygen, it seems they have 6 processors up there now all are fully operational and the computer glitches vexed engineers in Moscow; they vex me as well lol this report courtesy of the good ole BBC

Sunita Williams pictured here now holds the record for being the longest human in space and did say people tend to forget things are still very dangerous up here in space she sure got that right.

This image from NASA TV shows the crews from the Space Shuttle and international space station holding a joint news conference, Saturday, June 16, 2007. Front row space station flight engineer Clayton Anderson, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineers Sunita Williams and Oleg Kotov. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

An interesting weekend I guess

Actually it started a couple of days prior to the weekend’s fun and games with the installation of Vista Business and office 2007 I was a little wary and am not quite used to it as yet.

At this moment in time I don’t recommend it my main grievance being that a lot of necessary programmes I use will not run on a Vista installation and this I might add includes antivirus and I did read on here it also affects messenger services I have not yet tried that out but to my utter disgust I could not use my choice of an antivirus programme that alone annoyed me.

You can customise it a tad and kind of make some programmes look like windows XP, I did this at first but then thought no as after all it is a different system entirely and one cannot learn that way I figure that one note is something like word pad or notebook but very different as indeed is word itself.

On the other hand it may not be as I can still use notepad that was installed with my old installation of windows XP

It also seems to have an annoying habit of turning the monitor screen black after clicking on certain things, I discovered this in outlook office mainly but it then reverts to the usual colour.

I have only just found out how to enable my custom dictionary as it kept reverting to American English which I don’t use; don’t get me wrong here I could enable it but only for each e-mail but all is well now.

As usual click on the images to view them they are of vista you can see the black I mentioned on the screenshot of my desktop; in actual fact it all goes black briefly for a second or so before it comes good.

Will you buy it or won’t you that is the question it is not cheap but the home edition may be; home Premium or ultimate I read but I just have a business edition which was very expensive but then again it can be put on at least ten computers of your own a fee is paid to Microsoft annually for this.

So go up to the pub or club discuss it with your mates and choose after a beer of course.

Who do these morons think they are?

I think I speak for most Australians in saying that the gang of thugs that rule China have absolutely no right in saying what they are saying re our Government finally deciding to hold a conversation with his Holiness the Dalai Lama.

I suggest readers and the Red Chinese Government read this article about a Roman catholic a cardinal from Hong Kong who has also been to Shanghai his name is Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun.

I also read about footage of slaves in China and I suggest and none too politely either that the thugs who run this huge country look after their own instead of mouthing off to other countries as to what they should and should not do.

I may be outspoken but I don’t really care I loathe the Red Chinese government.

MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS CHINA AND BUTT OUT OF OUR AFFAIRS

At least we hold fair elections we are not an Autocratic government like your detested one

Our long weekend the Queen's Birthday weekend

Yes our long weekend the head of states official birthday and Kerrie-Anne-Walsh writing in the Sydney Morning Herald wants it stopped; the excuses are so mundane excuses like Elizabeth has ruled over us for 55 years WRONG we are a monarchy true but we have a duly elected government who in effect governs our lives wake up Kerrie; she’s been here for 15 brief visits so what the less the better; if you did your homework Kerrie you would find that when the government a long time ago asked the Brits for her salary it was refused why should the good old Aussie taxpayer shell out hard earned Bucks to pay for her visit.

Hence fewer visits Kerrie not very bright are you for a news hound.

At the same time we cannot see the harm in having a public holiday at the governments excuse whatever the reason.

Note well that the average Brit does not get this holiday by the way.

A flag marshal and you don’t know what it means Kerrie so look it up in the Dictionary, just going on what you wrote in your article how did you score your job you don't need this holiday I agree so I hope you stayed at your desk.

The average Aussie will take a holiday ok whatever it’s for but you need some education still so I suggest you swat up on your history lessons.

__________________________________________

Nothing new really just a Whinge

This sort of thing happens quite regularly here in Oz to be honest; mine was acting up last night quite a lot very annoying when one is instant messaging etc.
It mentions on here it was resolved by 10.30 PM well I can tell you I was in bed then but it was still happening today so that report is sheer B/S what’s new with newspaper reporting I guess we are all inured to it by now; the thing is it should not be happening at all; Telstra is obviously at fault in my opinion not a humble one either I just tell the truth as I see it.

Something else I am not happy about is my ISP (WESTNET) who up till now have been a very good provider but today they certainly got my e-mail accounts in a right old mess.

The Westnet Whinge

They insisted I had a different address such baloney I have two addresses one was ok and one was not and yet I could send myself a message on it.
They are on the ball when your account is due but not on things like this.
In all honesty I must say this is the first time since I have used them as my ISP that they got things horribly wrong, they have messed up at times true however the fact remains that they did so I reckon I have a legit reason for a grumble.

Mind you if they don’t pull their socks up I shall find another provider.

The Telstra/Bigpond Whinge

Deep down though I suspect Telstra is at the root of all broadband connections noticed their shares lately have you.
Their commander in chief gets a larger salary than our present incumbent Prime Minister’s how big and generous of Telstra’s shareholders to grant this I (don’t think).
The sooner we get a fibre optic network the better in my opinion.
I read all this rubbish in our newspapers (online naturally) but the standard of reporting is slack bloody slack.
I may make the occasional error it’s true but I try to research a post before I post it on the internet.

Chinese brutality at it’s very best

Most folk wonder why I am not a lover of the Red Chinese Government but I don’t really care I just don't love them and this video clip is not about their government as much as their bloodthirsty citizens not all of them naturally but a lot are mere babes and children one wonders why these babes are allowed to see such cruelty . This is merely one of many disgusting bestial things that the Red Chinese allow; they have good reasons for permitting this and here is my government kowtowing to them every step of the way. But first of all I am reminding them of the disgusting manner in which they portrayed themselves during the battle of Tiananmen Square.

Freedom to the Chinese will not be allowed in my lifetime I know that as a certainty but it may happen; it did in Russia after all but nobody really knows. Look at the way they decided to make Tibet part of China again as I believe it was very many years ago long before Mao and his band of thugs took charge. Tibet was once the happiest land on Earth; traditionally ruled by the Dalai Lama but in 1949 those thugs invaded under the label of the peoples liberation Army they even used MIG Fighter aircraft to attack Lhasa the capital city of Tibet. The occupation of Tibet has completely changed lives and lifestyles of Tibetan Citizens and not to better them indeed they are much worse off now under the harsh regime of these Chinese thugs. During the invasion and even now I read Monks and Nuns were raped in Chinese prisons this is the same Government Mr Howard you kowtow to. It is a wonder you can sleep at night I sure couldn’t. The Dalai Lamas photos are banned; according to a document captured by guerrillas who fought the Chinese army from 1959 until 1960 the number of Tibetans killed after torture and the inevitable starvation that followed exceeded a million so I would say many more now. Your barbaric practices are much known by us in the west so not only Tiananmen Square then but the bestial zoos you have Here first is a video on the massacre of your own citizens who stood up to you well they gave it their best shot I don’t suppose they actually thought that you thuggish lot would go through with it. And here is the one of the bestial zoos you maintain one wonders is it to keep your people bestial! Surely not as I write to a lot of Chinese or did but it is getting harder for them to write I have noticed Sourced

So they are at it again

KEEP YOUR EYES OFF OUR WHALES

I am talking of the Japanese now with their whaling programme; and I don’t like the idea of them stirring up trouble trying to get at what we regard as our whales.

If the Australian and New Zealand governments cannot stop the Japanese from this farce of killing the Minke Whale for scientific research why do they want our Humpbacks; I’ll tell you why plain and simple it is for them to eat greed is written all over their faces and it really gets up their noses when Greenpeace has a shot at them I am with Greenpeace all the way let them import their food like other countries who are in a similar position to the Japanese.

There is a moratorium on this subject and the Japanese are doing their damdest to walk over the rest of the world.

We need support on this we don’t need whale flesh to eat; we don’t need by-products from whales anymore nor do the Japanese either; there are times when I seriously wonder who beat Japan in W11 Americans and their allies gave into them far too easily in my opinion.

Now I read how the Queen of the UK and several commonwealth countries sat down and had dinner with the Emperor of Japan who in days not so long ago was regarded and indeed treated like a God instead of a normal human being like most of us.

I do not believe in war especially in today’s climate but when the Japanese were finally thwarted over their horrendous acts towards several countries in my area on the Pacific Rim; the supreme penalty should have been paid by the head of this small nation.

It was not of course and is far too late to emend it in fact we should not emend it in my opinion but it gets me going when I read and see on my TV the way in which the Japanese treat anything and anybody.