MarkF

I don't know how unemployment stats are arrived at in the US but here in Oz it's all very strange and borders on being an outright lie. If you are of "participation age" ( between 15 and 65 and not being educated either part of full time ) and are working ONE hour or more per week, doing 15 hours per fortnight voluntary work or are engaged in a Work for the Dole activity, you are classed as employed. Nearly 32% of people of "participation age" are actively looking for more work. Very nearly 50% of "participation age" people in Oz are receiving some level of unemployment benefit. I work in the "Welfare to Work" sector and on a daily basis see that the government numbers are bordering on being a lie. If you want to read about a TRULY brain dead government initiative do a google search for "work for the dole" or "WFD". It does NOTHING that the government claims that it does and the government funded "Job Network" commonly use WfD as a punishment for being enemployed.... What I'm saying here is that government numbers are very nearly lies and that government is doing nothing constructive to help those who with a bit of REAL assistance will gain full time employment and will no longer need unemployment benefits to survive. I bet that the "system" in the USA is not all that much different. I'm not for a nano-second defending those shit-for-brains bludgers who are quite content to exist (and exist is all it is) on unemployment benefits because they just can't be bothered working for a living. Ooroo Mark F...

Politics is the reason alright. John Howard is up for an election this year and the Australian community at large is getting a bit antsy about how little JH and our govt. had done for Hicks. The upsot of Hicks being given a short term - after 5 years imprisonment without a trial - is that JH can say the "we" (govt.) got Hicks back home and he (Hicks) is gagged until well after the election. Howard has managed to take the heat out of what was becoming a real election issue. Ooroo Mark F...

Let's go a step further and have two sets of games, races, whatever. An "off yer face" set and a "no enhancements allowed" set. Of course you'd have to take a bit of care in setting up the sites for the throwing type sports - javelin, shot put, hammer throw, etc. but it'd be interesting to see just how far performance enhancing stuff of all natures could take human performance...:-) Ooroo Mark F...

That's funny, I don't remember you being here. Obviously you were else you wouldn't be calling me a liar in an open forum, would you ? Ooroo Mark F...

Actually they were from the Protestant church around the corner. This arvo I went around there and had a "Chat(tm)" to the Vicar. He tried to justify their behaviour by telling me that the congregation was shrinking and he needed to get more people in and that "door to door" was the way to do it. Needless to say the "Chat(tm)" was immediately upgraded to "Spray(tm)". I also promised that if it happens again I WILL be in his church and I will be a long, long way from welcome by the time I'm finished.

And why can't bloody christians let ME believe what I believe ??? This morning at 0730 I was RUDELY awkened by some fuckwit banging on the front door trying to "sell" christianity. I'm an atheist and not the slightest bit interested - especially at 0730 on a Sunday morning after working until 0300. I do NOT take kindly to strangers on my doorstep berating me for not being in church. The very first words, after "good morning" were "why aren't you in church?" As I said - fuckwits. Edited to add that very, very rarely a week goes by without some form of god botherer coming to my door trying to, usually, "Save" me. Unacceptable - I don't go around telling people that their belief in god is stupid. Nor, as a vegtarian, do I go around telling people to stop eating meat. By the same token NEVER have I had a meat eater seriously try to convince me that vegetarianism is all wrong and I MUST start eating meat. Ooroo Mark F...

Both the Icom and the Yaesu are OK, so's the Kenwood TH-F6A for that matter. They'e no substitute for a mobile/base radio but they do the job OK. If you want repeater bells and whistles (IRLP, etc.) then either one is a good choice. If you want it for six metre DX then you're probably out of luck...

Compared to The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment is a short, sharp, to the point, exiting tale...

We've got that bullshit here and let me tell you that farmers are NOT happy. We've got to keep fertilizer under lock and key, we have had to have police criminal records checks (which we have to pay for) just so we can purchase the stuff AND we have to account for every kilogram of it. It's no surprise that the price has gone up about a buck a bag as a direct effect of the new handling, purchasing and auditing requirements. Farmers everywhere use shit-loads of super and diesel, the costs of which have risen a LOT over the last couple of years. Can we pass on the costs - hell no. Grain buyers will take as much protein and as little moisture as they can get for the lowest cost possible. These rules WILL price some smaller farmers out of the market and off their blocks. For example - this year I had a good crop - not great but a good yield with good protein and not quite low enough moisture to make the Aust. Hard One grade. Over the last four years I've had no farm income, in fact we lost a good deal of money. This year I'll gross around $4 million for the crop and by the time I take out costs I'll have enough left over for just about minimum wages. (zero wages for the last 4 drought years) An extra $0.50 / bag for super would've left us with less than the poverty line for income. We are, in size, an above average to large cereal crop holding at 14.5k hectares (~36k acres) and have kept our losses to a minimum and we're struggling. How the hell a small blocky is to survive on the land is well beyond me. Ooroo Mark F...

Hmmm too much beer.... Over the week beginning 1 December there will be new speed limits on some roads in an area 80km in diameter centered approximately 20km around about northish of Melbourne. Only a select few special traffic police will know what the new speed limits are and to which roads they apply, and will rigidly enforce them The first you will know about having broken them is when you're being punished for having done so. Did I get it...???

Gotta be a bit careful about "beefing up security" though. The "terror laws", not all of which have been introduced to parliament, are among the most draconian laws imaginable. Especially the "Sedition" provisions. Remember that we have no first amendment rights here - we have no bill of rights at all. Our "New Terror Laws(tm)" will quite possibly make the US Patriot Act look piss-weak. Now, having said that. IF the people arrested get a fair, open and transparent trial then there's not a lot of harm done - even if they're innocent. Remember that so far the people arrested in Melbourne have done nothing more than belong to an un-named terrorist organisation. I dunno about the Sydney people - they appear to have been charged with much more serious crimes. Ooroo Mark F...

Good - I was wrong in assuming an export subs. I'm still a bit puzzled as to how US , and to a lesser degree, European wheat can be got to the middle east chaper than I can grow it for. Oh well, like farmers everywhere, we'll just suck it up and try and get more for the crop than it cost to grow. As I say - like farmers everywhere.... With or without anyones help - cereal croppers don't make much over cost. Was there any payment on lamb this year ? We compete with the subsidies ONLY if we export to the US which we don't - we export to, if you can believe it, an even more heavily subsidised Europe... Think of all the super and diesel I have to account for and keep under lock and key. Think of the BANGS I could make if I wanted to when I have truckloads of fertilizer and diesel all over the place...

Well I have a largish interest in 14,500 hectares ( a bit under 36,000 acres ) of cereal (wheat and barley) and lamb but I can't help you out. I have to compete with SUBSIDISED lamb and wheat from the USA. Thanks to US farm subsidies I've lost a wheat contract because my prices are too high. Apparently US farmers can get wheat to the middle east cheaper than I can produce it for. I haven't had ANY subsidy for more than 20 years. Ooroo Mark F...

There's nothing unlucky about showing up fat for spring training. Yeah but.... You've got to remember that they ALL show up for the TdF a good percentage UNDER weight. They have to shave weight somewhere for the "hilly" stages and the best returns are from shedding some body weight. Perhaps he doesn't function well while that much under weight. I dunno.... He still scores brickbats for showing up in something less than peak TdF condition though. Yep and that's really going to hurt him. Especially the big gear issue. LA spins like a demon which means that he can change speed a LOT easier than someone pushing a big gear. If the required speed and the grade was constant then you go with what's most efficient. Clearly in JU's case grinding it out in a big gear is the way to go for efficiency - it limits his responses though. The one day cricket was about as close as you can get - a tie...

Poor old Ullrich - the unluckiest cyclist alive. I don't think he's ever failed to deliver it's just that LA has delivered more. Imagine being as good as he is and having to compete in the same era as LA. Poor bastard... We get it live here for the FIRST time on free to air TV.