Australia's Olympic uniforms were unveiled on Wednesday, with big changes The green and gold used previously made sense as a reference to Australia's founding on gold mining and farming but all I see here is blue jackets and white skirts with yellow splotches on them that make it look like the ladies have wee'd themselves. They will be a laughing stock. Some people just don't know when to leave well enough alone. It's supposed to be "creative" but you need talent for that. Just being different is not enough A number of hopefuls took to Clovelly Beach in Sydney to pose in their new outfits ..read more

Love thy neighbour? What to do when you can’t stand who’s next door It's generally good advice below but having a dog in a small unit is generally unfortunate, including for the dog. When it comes to loud music I have a better idea than any mentioned below. I once had some young people move in next door and they liked their music loud. I called on them and asked them to tone it down. I also mentioned smilingly that we both had equal rights about playing music. When nothing changed, I dealt with it promptly. I put my HiFi speakers on the window sill nearest to them and promptly played Janac ..read more

Another limit to Australia's electric vehicle revolution If you are towing something with an EV, you can't just drive onto a forecourt and fill up as you would with a combustion-powered vehicle. Anybody who ever tows a trailer of any kind would be mad to buy an EV. EVs are just a rich man's toy I have financed an older couple to travel around Australia towing a long and very well-appointed caravan. A diesel Toyota Prado does an effortless and untroubled job of towing it. They pass through many country areas so would just not be able to do the trip with an EV. Aussie drivers have scorned ..read more

Love thy neighbour? What to do when you can’t stand who’s next door It's generally good advice below but having a dog in a small unit is generally unfortunate, including for the dog. When it comes to loud music I have a better idea than any mentioned below. I once had some young people move in next door and they liked their music loud. I called on them and asked them to tone it down. I also mentioned smilingly that we both had equal rights about playing music. When nothing changed, I dealt with it promptly. I put my HiFi speakers on the window sill nearest to them and promptly played Jana ..read more

Duck hunting season begins in Victoria despite inquiry recommending it be outlawed This is of course an emotional issue rather than a logical one. If you kill animals for food what does it matter which animal you kill? And poultry are a very widespread source of food. The KFC and Nando's chains would not exist otherwise. Hunting any animal is not for me but we have in fact evolved to kill animals for food. So hunters are doing a very human thing. One can only hope that the people "rescuing" ducks are also kind to their fellow human beings. I do myself rather like ducks both in the environ ..read more

The brutal new class division appearing in Australia This is not a new division at all. There have always been those who inherited significantly and those who did not. And being a "not" is far from a life sentence. Those who pass down wealth often started off poor themselves. I did. Nobody ever gave me a penny -- or even a cent for that matter. I earned it all. And I remember that. I now provide heavily discounted rental accommodation to five people and give half my disposable income to a charitable education cause. So the rigid class lines described below are a myth. There are such lines b ..read more

"Married at First Sight" TV show is a cry for help about the state of gender relations in Australia Rubbish! The participants are picked for drama potential, not representativeness Each relationship was not so much the beginning of two people’s happily ever after as it was project management for the brides of their of grooms. Take Cass – an admin officer from Queensland – who was bubbly, outgoing and optimistic while also mourning the death of her first boyfriend and mother. She was matched with Tristan – a 30-year-old events officer from NSW – who at one stage told the experts and his co ..read more

Aboriginal self-sabotage How can you provide facilites for them when their young people behave like this? It certainly validates the McElwain & Kearney findings about low average Aboriginal IQ The Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council has condemned the actions of vandals who broke into the Cherbourg Sports Complex, setting fire to equipment, flooding the basketball court, setting off powder fire extinguishers and damaging offices. The council said the community worked hard to acquire the equipment and facilities which were damaged or destroyed by the vandalism. “(They) are destroying our ..read more

Albanese government trying to put prices UP If they make supermarkets pay more for what they supply, from whom do you think that extra money will come? Santa Claus? Large Australian supermarkets could face fines of up to $10 million (US$6.57 million) for misconduct under a proposal to impose a mandatory code of conduct on the sector. It comes as supermarkets bear the brunt of criticism for alleged price gouging amid the country’s cost of living crisis. On April 8, the Labor government released its interim report (pdf) amid a review of the voluntary Food and Grocery Code of Conduct, which ..read more

Sam Mostyn: Yet another awkward tweet comes back to haunt Australia's new Governor General Having a political extremist as GG is totally inapeopriate. Albo should have stuck to retired generals The businesswoman chosen to be the King's representative in Australia once tweeted in support of the republican movement. Sam Mostyn, 59, wiped her social media presence clean before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the gender and climate activist as General David Hurley's replacement as Governor-General last week. But in a since deleted tweet on December 7, 2015, Ms Mostyn praised the fo ..read more