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Topics - LP

31
Blah-Blah Bar / Commentating your own Team
Been trying to watch some of the Big Bash today, but the commentary makes it closer to dragging some fingernails across the blackboard.

I do not get why networks think it's acceptable to allow commentators to commentate on their own clubs/teams. Today it's Mark Waugh commentating his Sydney Thunder vs Melb Stars, it's horrendous and I have to switch off. I'm not sure if that's because BBL is a bit passé, but it's not helped by Waugh who turned into broadcast Valium when the Stars were actually scoring against his team. He was so sour he made normal sour look sweet, and they want people to pay for the right to turn this crap on!

Not a word about two very ordinary LBWs, then Waugh talks up the Thunder bowlers except that two of the opposition's main batsmen weren't out by the laws of the game!

FWIW, the same applies to AFL, I just can't tolerate the guys who are unable to leave personal emotions in the shed when they commentate their own clubs. A few are bit more professional than others, McGuire is quite good when commentating Collingwood, but the bulk of them are horrendously conflicted and drag down the already ordinary quality!

These guys will be on big dollars to gee up the games and build some interest, spudding it up doesn't count or qualify as a wage earner!

So I think the rule should be no, with no exceptions!

Am I unfair?
33
Blah-Blah Bar / Microdots for Firearms
I was talking with a colleague today about the raids on the Mongols clubhouses, apparently it resulted in the seizure of dozens of illegal firearms that are rendered untraceable by the bikers, they remove serial numbers and swap parts around. But the colleague posed this question to me, and I couldn't give him a reasonable answer.

Why can't firearms be covered in microdots like new cars are?

On many new vehicles RF microdots get dispersed by the million in paints, adhesives and rubbers on many new vehicles and are almost impossible to eliminate completely. They are tiny the size of a grain of dust, and the volume and scale means it's effectively impossible to remove them all.

It seems like a reasonable idea?
34
Blah-Blah Bar / Electric Vehicles
First it was Ferrari, now it's Masserati, they are going electric.

As a hobby I use to build/rebuild engines, mostly V8s, nothing like firing up a lumpy cam V8 on the engine stand with just a couple of headers attached and no mufflers. All the tools I needed come from Sidchrome, Kinchrome and Bahco and the like, maybe the only thing with power was the worklight. Even the impact driver was the old type that you use with a hammer!

But I've suddenly realised my work and hobby is merging, I spend most of the day with advanced technologies using oscilloscopes, robots and computers, to control, repair and diagnose equipment. Now if I'm working on car motors as a hobby it'll be using a PicoScope, Computer, Bluetooth and Multimeter.

FMD, perhaps it's time to retire! :o

But I wouldn't advise going off-road all electric just yet, good luck finding a local mechanic with spares or knowledge to repair those 128-Bit encrypted computer controlled monsters, you'll probably need to local computer shop or hackers!
35
Blah-Blah Bar / Lawyer X - Police
I'v followed this debate with some interest, and in particular as is my bent how the media portray this story.

I'm made curious by this almost universal lack of a single perspective, there is almost zero commentary about "The Truth", an absence that to some degree exposes the hypocrisy of people.

Sure LawyerX is a snitch, but isn't that how the police get their information, and isn't that also how the media get their information as well?

To paraphrase, the outrage seems to be "Lawyers don't protect and project my lies!", and police have used nefarious means to expose the lie a lawyer used to protect a client.

Is a lie really privileged information when the lawyer knows it is a lie?

What of the lawyer's liability in this?

Even in the growing list of appeals, there seems to be little regard for the truth!
36
The Sports Desk / Melbourne Storm
Just a thread for general Melbourne Storm discussions, I was a bit surprised to find we didn't already have one!
37
Blah-Blah Bar / Tea or Coffee
Now I know I've run this poll before, a long time back on the old site, but I think it was time to update peoples preferences and see if things have changed for any of us as all things do. Plus it adds a little levity to an otherwise boring trade period and concluded US election.

I myself have been a swinging door over the years, as a young person tea, then coffee(maybe due to more money to waste on half drank cappuccino), then tea again before now a bit of both.

My daily ritual is a mocha(moka) bean based double espresso, maybe with a second one some days, all before mid-morning. No more milk or other such additives for me, just plain good quality coffee with a precise crema.

After that it's tea, black or green, select varieties as a lunch or workplace drink, Sri Lankan small leaf, Jasmine, Sencha, plain old good quality green. Can't say I've ever been a fan of Earl Grey or English Breakfast, I'm not a fan of anything too flowery either like those Bergamot blends or Chinese teas that look more like last weekend's garden pruning. I'm not afraid of that nutty flavour you get from some nice roasted rice or sesame seeds in some Asian blends, with good quality Sushi nothing else seems to fit!

For those of you with a savoury bent, but not tea fans or otherwise trying to avoid caffeine, bitter buckwheat tea is quite a nice change up. But it's very hard to get good quality locally, and you need to like that nutty flavour.
38
Blah-Blah Bar / COVID Reminiscing
It is interesting what this COVID situation does to you, in regards to returning to basics.

I had the opportunity to drop into a local traditional Italian deli late last week, and I thought or felt I should give them a bit more business than just a takeaway coffee. So I purchased some cheese, few hundred grams of cured meat, peppered mortadella, etc., etc, some crusty bread rolls. It took me straight back to my youth in the years I spent working in and around the CBD. Back then I spent most of my time in Flinders Street, but I would look to occasions to get up around Queen Vic market and the RMIT area, perhaps as an excuse to head towards Lygon Street. But often Lygon Street was too busy, bustling as a hive of activity, and it was tough to get fast service with limited time for lunch. So frequently I head up past Queen Vic to the North Melbourne area, the traditional Lebanese and Italia Coffee shops for lunch. My frequent fare of choice, a simple crusty roll, some peppered mortadella, a slice of some real cheese, sun dried tomato and some nice relish or olive tapenade as a spread, all washed down with some serious serious coffee occasionally with a small "correction fluid" chaser. Long before Subway existed! I can't recall what they called it, modern cuisine labels it a muffaletta but it's not something invented in New Orleans.

It's still a winner!
39
Ladies Lounge / Sarah Hosking - Sayonara
We get pick #9 for Sarah Hosking to the Nthmond.

As discussed sad to see her go, I wish her well but not against us!
40
The Sports Desk / IPL in the COVID era!
Seriously, I read that there are players threatening or considering bypassing the domestic season so they can go and play in the IPL over in India.

I mentioned once before the BCCI uses the IPL as a way to disrupt and destabilise opponents, it's not an accident that these scheduling conflicts occur, and even less of a coincidence in the current circumstances.

The BCCI want us to ask the question, if they choose to go in pursuit of the holly dollar, do we have to let them back in? But if we ask that question we play into the hands of Indian cricket.

Money is power.
42
Blah-Blah Bar / Big Footy Hacked
Hi, just an FYI for forum members as I know many of you have accounts across the web.

Bigfooty has been hacked, exposing the profile details of many user accounts. If you've got an account over there you might want to review your account and see if any of your other accounts share the same password.

Bigfooty will probably force account users to change the passwords on their site, but if that password is shared your other sites are at risk!
43
Blah-Blah Bar / Kim Jong-Un
Clickbait I know, but still discussion worthy.

There are some rumours floating about that Trump's little RocketMate has taken a turn for the worst following some unplanned heart surgery, he is apparently gravely ill and in serious peril, but not nearly as much as the heart surgeon!

This is the last thing the world needs right now, because if "Lil Kim" bites the dust some loony General will probably get the gig!
44
Blah-Blah Bar / Price Gouging - Covid Style
I thought we could keep a lookout for deals or fire off warnings to people as required if we had a thread. There are innumerable good deals going down, as well as many dodgy operators.

My first one is the local freight companies, all are now gouging people because of COVID. Some have hiked prices by as much as 300%, at a time when wages are being subsidized by the government and fuel prices are at a low not seen for many years. It's criminal behavior.
45
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: CV and mad panic behaviour
it is simply not possible to convey complex ideas and concepts in a wholly unambiguous way. The problem of misinterpretation exists with every book of note ever written.
Aren't we publishing the very same conclusion.

Authors know that fact, so why would a Prideaux publish such an article that effectively distils down to that critique, that the error is in the reader?