Fah Kiew Tu

Except you didn't win the Vietnam War and you're not going to win the Afghanistan one either. FKT

As the Vietnam War and more recently Afghanistan demonstrates so clearly... FKT

Same applies to the invention of EPIRBs. FKT

The money is kind of an insult here. Buying a 6 pack of favourite brew and dropping it off is a better way to go, assuming the person drinks. It also shows that you're prepared to make an effort to think about it rather than just pay cash. Friend of mine spent some time checking out a horizontal boring mill I wanted an opinion on - it was in Melbourne, I was in Hobart. He wouldn't take any money for the job. Next time I was passing through he got a really good bottle of Scotch as a Christmas present in July. That was acceptable and much appreciated even though the value was less than his time was worth. And if I need something else done, he'll answer his phone. But, as you say - we pay people a living wage. Tipping is an attempt to outsource that. I hate the entire tipping culture. FKT

He's fine, playing with his new boat. FKT

How many boats have hour meters though? My engine didn't come with one. It was one of the first things I fitted. Might go 2 years between haulouts if the antifouling is good but no more. It's not that expensive and I want to take a good look at the underside every so often. FKT

It's not only US dumbasses - the Brits and the Irish get a guernsey too. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-26/nsw-coronavirus-nine-local-cases-restrictions-back/13015272 ================================================= Police were called to Bronte Beach late on Friday after around 100 people gathered for a Christmas party, breaching current public health orders. Many in the crowd were believed to be British or Irish nationals wearing Santa hats. =================================================

You can both adjust the Autostream prop in the water and grease it. After doing a lot of diving in the tropics there's no way I'm diving in 12 to 16C water though. If we had a bigger tide range I'd put my boat on a sand bar as does Steve with PANOPE. Can't do that here. FKT

I couldn't really get into that one. Like his most recent one, Dodge in Hell, after I finished it I wondered why I bothered. Not a patch on Cryptonomicon IMO. FKT

Bullshit. Utter and total bullshit. Tipping is not a thing in Australia and we pay our waitstaff a decent amount. We're the last thing from a servant class culture you're likely to find, even moreso than the USA. You guys most certainly have a much stronger class system than Australia does. Same goes for New Zealand. I tipped when I was in the USA because I knew the pay structure was set up that way but not places like fast food outlets. FKT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising And lots of other rebellions. Given Ireland was internationally recognised as a UK possession, the UK still has the right to take Ireland back - on your logic, if you want to say China has the right to take Taiwan back. After all the Irish Republic is only 23 or so years older than Taiwan so you don't even have longevity going for you, do you? Funny thing is, it's you that isn't capable of nuance. All you can concentrate on is USABad and let's not mention China at all. Find one post where I've disagreed with you about things the USA has done. You can't. Then quote a single post where you outright condemn anything that the Chinese have done. You can't. The difference is quite stark and it isn't in your favour. Also your willingness to sell a functional democracy down the river because it suits your political beliefs is sufficient to show that our political take on the world will never agree. FKT

Same in the public service. If you pulled that shit on me you were guaranteed a performance review that was just good enough that you'd have no chance getting it overturned and zero opportunities at the good stuff like desired training courses, conferences etc. More than one way to skin a cat. As for those who tried the line that they should get a pass because X was worse and not getting punished, you just ask them if they're laying a formal complaint against X so you can take action on it. Never happens. FKT

Sure, best steel boat designer on the planet. Any planet. Just ask Brent. FKT

You'd be one of a very few who has, then. WRT Bob & Brent, Bob is a conceited prick with a lot to be conceited about. Brent is an aggressive arsehole who is profoundly ignorant, quite vicious in attacking anyone who disagrees with him and has no level that he won't stoop to. Bob drove Brent mental by simply posting pictures of boats he'd designed. That was extremely effective, seeing as how Brent had never really designed anything but thought he was the sole source of design wisdom and everyone who disagreed was a fool, corrupt or most likely both. I preferred Bob's approach. Hard to argue with success. And mostly I don't like his boats. FKT

Yeah but as you're over the border from the shining country on the hill, by definition you live in a shithole place. Reminds me of one of our ex Prime Ministers who said that if you weren't living in Sydney, you were just camping out. Of course what he really meant was, if you weren't living within 2 suburbs distance of Rose Bay, you were camping out. I doubt he even knew how to find the western suburbs without a native guide. FKT

Yeah they should be fine. IIRC my GF made a heap of apricot jam in those jars. She has a big set of Vacola fruit bottling gear too, I heard her planning on a bottling party with her sister in the new year. Birds got a lot of the cherries because I didn't put the nets on soon enough but - shrug. Plenty left for us so I don't really care. We'll be eating freshly picked fruit & berries for the next couple months at least. FKT

As we used to say - everyone contributes positively to the success of this enterprise. Most by their continued employment, but some by their departure. FKT

Sitting here eating cherries freshly picked off of my own trees so guaranteed free of any pesticides etc. Apricots are maybe a week away from full ripeness. The trees are loaded so we'll freeze a lot for later on. Just finishing the last frozen ones from last year. Apricot crumble and ice cream. Maybe tomorrow we'll go fishing. It's a tough life in the remote shithole places. Just count our blessings that we don't live in a place where 1 in every thousand people have died in the last 9 months and 90% of them due to entirely preventable incompetence. FKT

Well, not in my case - I don't automatically fuck dogs. I leave that to others. GH41 for example, assuming he could find one slow enough. FKT

Thank you. I originally joined in reaction to Brent Swain coming here stalking Bob Perry and continuing spewing the sort of crap that got him thoroughly discredited on boat design. It's been entertaining enough that I've stuck around past his demise. And anyway, it's a historical allusion which you'd realise if you had read the correct book... FKT

Makes sense. I have an Autostream, I pump in grease until I can see it coming out around all the blade bases. Pretty sure this is what the manual calls for - I did read it (once). The manufacturer is in Australia and I've called them for spares, nice people to deal with. Quite expensive units but I'm very happy with mine. I've got it over-pitched really, need to back the pitch off a bit next time I'm on the hard. Can be done in the water but - not that much rush. I can wait. FKT

Yep, that's fucking hilarious. The UK would be well within its rights invading and re-colonising the Irish Republic following that logic, as a takeover of a rebellious territory. Cue 'but that's DIFFERENT' any second now. FKT

Totally ignoring the fact that when Taiwan seceded, mainland China didn't have the military ability to prevent it, sure. Your comparison is quite apt. FKT

I've read that last one 3 or 4 times over the years. Still have a copy in storage, it's survived at least 3 book culls so far. FKT

I really hate to say it, because I've nothing but contempt for Dog, but - he really schooled AJ on that one. He's headed off with his tail between his legs. Knows he fucked up, can't bring himself to admit it. FKT