Category: General Musings

I received this email from Defence.

Minister for Defence Media Mail List Monday, 29 March 2004 AUSTRALIA AND VIETNAM DEFENCE MINISTERS MEET WHAT: Photo opportunity Defence Minister Robert Hill will today meet with his Vietnamese counterpart, Senior General Pham Van Tra. It is the first time a Vietnamese Minister for Defence has visited Australia.

I have advise for Robert Hill Control your breathing, Remember to take first pressure, and Aim for the centre of the seen mass. After firing shout Dung Lai! (Halt!) At least I think that’s how we used to do it.

Warning. Emotive blackmail post Now into my third week of helping set up an auction for Brisbane Legacy time to blog has been at a premium. One of the staff stalwarts at Legacy had the temerity to fall ill and I’ve had to double as data entry chick person. All involved agree I’m far from an improvement and wish her well and back at work soon, as do I. If your into collectables and antique militaria you are invited to Legacy House Merrival Street, South Brisbane on Saturday for viewing and Sunday at 9:00 for viewing and auction start at 10:00. 600 lots of history. A Japanese Officer’s Samurai from the surrender ceremony at Singapore, uniforms from the Boer War, 18 century cutlasses, Light Horse webbing and equipment from the famous Beersheba stoush. Photos, documents. medals, bayonets, commando daggers, trench art and first edition books. Something for everyone with an interest in Australia’s military history. 20% of proceeds go to Legacy helping widows and children of Australian servicemen killed in defence of Australia. No politics here, just doing the Australian thing and helping those in need. Stories of gallant deeds of men never seem to mention the gallant deeds of the widows left to ‘soldier on’ with little Government help. Not being a voting block, the 120,000 war widows in Australia seldom get a mention in the media. Telephone bidding and catalogues can be organized by ringing 07 3846 4299. What about some of you armchair warriors pitching in? If you do I undertake to give you a full brief on whatever you buy.

The crowded beach Good house, good wheels Locals stop by looking for a handout. Why did I come back? Niall forcing me to think. Legacy want more work. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing – damn.

Last week I posted on the demise of the Huey and now the bloody C130 Hercules is under threat. Airbus A400 new Military Spec Aircraft Looks good but it has a long way to go beat the Herc’s record and of course Lockheed may have something to say about sales. They are not going to roll over without a fight. My career covered Herc modes ‘A’ though ‘H’ and while business executives notched up air miles in 707s, 727s, 737s and 747s I did it in Hercs. Few creature comforts but we could smoke and drink (mostly) and a hammock always beats an airline seat. The ingenious amongst us could get comfortable but poor insulation made it very cold and the noise made conversations difficult for days. I flew from Townsville to Perth when I was stationed in the West and we set some sort of record for slowness. 11 hours beating into a 200 mph headwind. An example of why soldiers get hard lying allowances In Thailand with US forces during the Vietnam War, the Commander gave us an Easter leave pass. A Colonel offered me a seat in a Herc to Sydney and back and I felt compelled to ask him if he had done such a long haul in a Herc before. He answered in the negative and so did I. You’ll spend most of easter in the air, Sir – Jesus had a better deal than that. The Colonel had one day of the four at home but he did bring back some ‘four and twenty pies’ and VB so at least some of us benefited. Which brings to mind the senior Aussie Sergeant Major who stated he was staying in Bangkok for the break while the rest of us took of to Pattaya. I said ” four days and four walls’ is not good for a man. He replied ‘Four days, four walls and four legs! Silly me! More>>> (on the A400)

Bunyip attacking the judiciary at his sarcastic best.

IT is a little known fact that we Bunyips have bladders larger than steamer trunks…Since the urge to urinate seldom arises until back at the Billabong, there is little reason to visit public toilets, meet some of Australia’s leading judges, and engage in critical discussions about the latest fashions in jurisprudence.

Hope you don’t have a reason to front court in the foreseable future Professor. Go read.

I’ll say this about actors. I like a lot of them when the are scripted but most lose me when they adlib. What is it with them? I’ve got a feeling they all start to believe their own PR and begin to think their opinions matter. Look at me – I’ve got an Oscar, obviously I know more than you non-actor types and my opinion is the one that matters. Bad news guys and girls, an Oscar, or a zillion teen-age fans only means you’re a good actor, or cute, or sexy. Don’t mistake any of those qualities for intelligence, rational thought, awareness of world affairs and don’t, whatever you do, think we care about your opinion about anything other than acting. Stick to feeding my fantasies of regained youth and power. Make me laugh and cry with your scripts and acting skills but, for God’s sake, stick to your scripts.

Study links oral sex to mouth cancer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t let the girls read this. Dress the editor of New Scientist in drag and kill, burn bash and bury the bastard. Withdraw all copies of the magazine and have a ‘burning of the books’ at some male dominated arena – the MCG maybe. Read the article. Remember the first principle of offensive action is to know the enemy. Where’s the censors when you need them?

A human interest story from Brisbane Craig and Rachael Halliday’s second son, Luke was born on the 22nd of Feb at 22:22 h, weighed 2.2kg and the birth notice cost $22.22. Go big on lotto guys, the number 22 has to come up. Full story here

A word to the wise about Telstra – don’t trust them! If you are looking at going Broadband take note of warnings from the industry. Telstra charge for uploads and downloads so the 200 mb allowance before 15c per Mb cuts in is very small indeed and can be eaten up without you knowing. I never download movies, never play games on the net, understand computers and still get caught with my 500Mb allowance. I exceeed the allowance by Feb 14 this month alone. You will get charged for just looking at pictures and if you hit F5 or refresh that will cost as well. They even charge for sending emails. Telstra has a corporate charter that is restricted to making money while a lot of small operators would like to build up a customer data base and try to offer a fair deal. More>>

From the New York Times

The 51 freight train cars — hauling sulfur, fuel oil and other industrial chemicals — caught fire and blew up outside Neyshabur, 400 miles east of Tehran, IRNA reported. The villages that were badly damaged were made up of mud brick structures and sat within what officials said was a 12-mile diameter blast zone.

Yep, 12 mile blast zone. Why worry about the expense of nukes. Ground zero is seldom that big. Google says 200 dead. These people do not need this.