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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 11, 2012 8:20:06 GMT 10
Apparently there's a personal connection between obama and the moderator for the coming VP debate.
I think the response is a _bit_ overblown. Folks perhaps need to remember that the presidential debate committee is rather independent. Obama being at the moderator's wedding 20 years ago is pretty insignificant (what, there were NO republicans there? Was biden there? So ... what?), but her hubby being picked as FCC chairman in 2009 is more an issue. Someone should have picked that up.
But on principle, I agree - Gwen Ifil should do all of the remaining debates.
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Post by angra on Oct 11, 2012 11:01:43 GMT 10
The Tele : "THE consumer watchdog has been flooded with complaints about the carbon tax since its July 1 introduction.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it has received 2500 complaints and enquiries about the controversial tax, introduced 100 days ago."
The SMH - "The consumer watchdog says price rises blamed on the carbon tax have sparked fewer complaints than it feared, so much so as to brand it ''an increasingly boring topic these days''.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims told a conference of the Australian Food and Grocery Council in Canberra this morning that his organisation had found the first 100 days of the carbon price ''fairly quiet''.
''I think the number of complaints we've had and the activity we've had to undertake is probably quite at the low end of what either we expected or we feared.''
Two completely opposite headlines about the same data. Funny that.
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Post by angra on Oct 11, 2012 16:00:32 GMT 10
Citibank are advertising on Australian TV again. I refer to GEM.
This is despite numerous scandals, and their (alleged) involvement in some of the worst GFC scandals.
How can they get away with this?
There are 1,360,000 Google results on "Citibank" and "Scandal". Nice to see Australian TV is so ethical.
Here are a few...
CitiBank Scandal - YouTube
Citibank's Indonesian Scandal Deepens As Convicted Debt ...
Citibank scandal: Did Francis Bryan Ang steal the money or not ...
Multi-crore scandal surfaces at Citibank | mydigitalfc.com
Citibank scandal: Two more Hero Group employees involved | The ...
Libor scandal spotlight on Citi, JPMorgan - Channel NewsAsia
Scandals tarnish Citibank's image in Indonesia - The Washington Post
Multi-core scandal at Citibank Gurgaon
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Post by angra on Oct 11, 2012 18:32:28 GMT 10
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Post by angra on Oct 11, 2012 19:29:20 GMT 10
The Higgs Boson - I think we have done before this before.
It has no mass!
The bugger has been found leaving traces in the mass/time continuum!
Hell I'm gone.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 11, 2012 20:05:55 GMT 10
"It has no mass!" Yeah, see, I'm not going to pretend to understand, but I gather that it's not the boson itself which creates mass, it's the higgs field which does that. And as for "but check these babies ..." Check THIS baby en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W125_Rekordwagen5.5 liter, V-12, twin supercharged. Clocked 268 mph on an autobahn, in 1938. Not that it was any kind of road car. The auto-union lads were out that day (running straight benzene as fuel, from memory), and their driver stacked his silver arrow on his run. The thinking back then was that wearing seat belts was a liability - better to be "thrown clear". He didn't live, obviously. And it was all NAZI propaganda. When you're done drooling, this is much better: If there's a top 10 of most gorgeous exotic cars ever built, that has to be in the top 5, or there is no justice.
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Post by angra on Oct 12, 2012 2:50:39 GMT 10
I suppose jumping to land-speed record designs is a bit of a cheat, but the Thunderbolt really is a monster from hell. It had TWO Rolls Royce V12 Merlin aero engines. Each engine was of 36.5 litres capacity, supercharged, and had an individual output power of 2,350 bhp (1,752 kW; 2,383 PS). All this power went through a single driven axle, albeit via 8 wheels. Cooling was via ice. Held the land speed record in 1937 and 1938. Reputedly got to 370 mph. Weighed 7 tons - so not really suitable for a trip to the corner shops. www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/world_land_speed_record_32.htm?ModPagespeed=noscript
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Post by angra on Oct 12, 2012 3:13:57 GMT 10
Captain George Eyston (who gained the land speed record in the Thunderbolt) really does look like Michael Palin. At the other end of the scale, he also won the Mille Miglia in 1934 in an 1100 cc. MG K3 Magnette. Now you COULD go to the corner shops in one of these. www.supercars.net/cars/3145.html
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Post by chookmustard on Oct 12, 2012 20:58:40 GMT 10
Another Spring, got the seedlings in and roses growing
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Post by angra on Oct 12, 2012 21:07:30 GMT 10
chookmustard - likewise I got mi tomatoes, chillies and some spring greens and new spuds in already, but the cold weather today is a bit of a bugger. The winter lettuce are doing OK.
Have you seen the bottlebrushes this spring? Bloody verdant! I'm sure this means something.
By the way - I hope your handle represents a good Coq au Vin with some decent Dijon with some crusty baguette!
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 13, 2012 9:17:27 GMT 10
"got the seedlings in and roses growing"
All I can offer is that it's a brilliant spring day. But I'll be inside tidying up for an inspection in a few days.
The cats are loving it, though. The weather, that is.
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Post by chookmustard on Oct 13, 2012 19:50:01 GMT 10
Trying to get the garden cranked. Melons, watermelons, capsicum, lettuce, artichokes,onions etc ready to plant. Hav to move a mountain of compost to make more beds though.
Had my little cat desexed the other day. Settled her down but now she's getting tubby
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Post by chookmustard on Oct 13, 2012 19:52:13 GMT 10
Re Citibank, they have upstanding chef Gary Meighan advertising for them on 10
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 13, 2012 20:10:43 GMT 10
Watching the round-up after the VP debate .... it's interesting.
Teh rights has completely forgotten about anything that went before. VP debates aren't (apparently) generally regarded as being all THAT significant, poll-wise, but this one's wiped out all discussion about obama's (apparently) miserable performance and the conventions.
And it's nearly all about style. Apart from the would-be october surprise about the libyan attack, all of the talk is about how beastly biden was. Not about the things that he said.
Personally, I think biden's "get a grip" approach was needed. He was facing B2 from a partnership that just previously decided that the "just say anything - anything at all" strategy was the go. Biden expected ryan to talk crap.
The main (nay, only) criticism of biden on content is the libyan business. The two GOP talking points are (a) they asked for more security and didn't get it, and (b) that the whitehouse deliberately lied about the cause.
(a) Seems like it might have legs, although we'll have to wait and see. It is possible that the request was rebuffed by state before it ever reached clinton. (b) doesn't seem to be as well-founded as certain folks like to make out.
But the attack has been very good luck for the romney campaign, no doubt about it. And they have sought to capitalise on it.
I wonder if the problem obama has is that he's not selling his plan for next term. It's all negative, picking off romney's plans. That might be justified, but it's not giving anyone a reason to vote for HIM.
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Post by angra on Oct 13, 2012 20:38:20 GMT 10
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