The totally off-topic thread

[Pushka]

Or we could stop the big companies profit shifting offshore.

Good luck with that. It's a worldwide issue and Australia is an infant at fixing it. But I certainly agree.

I really hate the 6 months expiry thing on passports for various countries. So not ready to start applying in a few months and my esta and Canadian visa is for the expiring one.

 

[drron]

They only faith I have in any Government is that they will always do the right thing by them.

Ronald Reagan had a few things to say about that-
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

 

[love_the_life]

Just the one pair of thongs within eye sight in the Melb QP just now - leather but certainly no ankle strap. Have they given up trying to enforce this?

 

[JohnK]

Not another desk move?

Ask for $1,000 every time they want to make changes just for the sake of it. That should slow them down.

Do you think they'll give me $1000? It's the same people making these decisions. Think we know where the problem lies.

I have a different desk every day.. Doesn't bother me one bit!

I suspect you don't spend very much time in any one office?

 

[Major]

The grammar school for daughter was chosen before she was born. I thought it was $15,000-$20,000/year for say 13 years. When I checked the website the other day found it was only $9,000-$12,000/year in today's fees. That was a huge relief.

I am saving her school fees now while I have job. Then at 60 I am going to "retire" and get a payout of my superannuation and that will go into daughter's trust fund. There may even be a little left over for us.

I'm not a fan of capital gain tax. I need the ~$75,000 tax the government will take from me. Trying to think of ways to offset and the only one I can think of is to stop working in the year the capital gain tax is due.

Another way would be to take a capital gains tax hit now and re-invest. That way I take any uncertainty out of the equation. I do not have any faith or trust in any government to do the right thing by me.

If she is smart enough she may qualify for a scholarship. One of our sons did and it saved me heaps of dollars. He is now a High School Maths teacher at a Brisbane private school

 

[RAM]

Ronald Reagan had a few things to say about that-
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

..an excerpt from the classic joke:

What are the three most worn lies?

1) Of course I'll respect you in the morning!
2) The cheque's in the mail!
3) I'm a public servant can I help you!

 

[love_the_life]

..an excerpt from the classic joke:

What are the three most worn lies?

1) Of course I'll respect you in the morning!
2) The cheque's in the mail!
3) I'm a public servant can I help you!

As an ex public servant I do take a little exception to the last line of the joke. Our section had a lot of interaction with our clients and we went out of our way to provide the highest level of assistance and service. Not all PS can be tarred with the same brush.

 

[Cossie]

As an ex public servant I do take a little exception to the last line of the joke. Our section had a lot of interaction with our clients and we went out of our way to provide the highest level of assistance and service. Not all PS can be tarred with the same brush.

I certainly agree with this with regards to the organisation I worked for before we were outsourced.

The day we were outsourced was appropriately enough, the 1st of April. Purely politically driven, with absolutely no regard to saving anything financially for the taxpayer. We did lots of measurements to prove that we could do it cheaper than anyone else. It shall happen, were the orders from above!

More fool them!

 

[amaroo]

What a difference 6 months can make. Olympic legacy!

The ghost of the Maracana - CNN.com

 

[JohnK]

As an ex public servant I do take a little exception to the last line of the joke. Our section had a lot of interaction with our clients and we went out of our way to provide the highest level of assistance and service. Not all PS can be tarred with the same brush.

Why doesn't a public servant look out the window in the morning?

Yes poor jokes and some public servants work very hard. I was a permanent part-time interpreter for DSS for 12 months. Some days not much to do but other days no time to breathe.

 

[RAM]

As an ex public servant I do take a little exception to the last line of the joke. Our section had a lot of interaction with our clients and we went out of our way to provide the highest level of assistance and service. Not all PS can be tarred with the same brush.

That is the way of generalisations. Some do respect the other in the morning...

 

[straitman]

As an ex public servant I do take a little exception to the last line of the joke. Our section had a lot of interaction with our clients and we went out of our way to provide the highest level of assistance and service. Not all PS can be tarred with the same brush.

Don't worry LTL.

IMHO this does really apply to a lot of public servants but just as equally it doesn't apply to many. A lot of tradesmen are just as bad.

 

[QF WP]

The joy of helping someone find the owner of a BP fuel card, where they only have a NSW car rego.

The questioning that it started about the registration of ones own company car, so decision to check...

The feeling in the pit of ones stomach when one realises that the company car they are driving is unregistered (expired 19/11/16)

The benefits of online chat function for Transport & Main Roads and consternation of not being able to advise the correct address on record until I found the previous CTP notice with address on it

Finding out that address was old work street address and rego notice not returned to DMR or forwarded to us :evil::evil:

The relief when one can finally can get company CRN, payment ref and go online to pay by CC :mrgreen: (now I can drive it home)

 

[JohnK]

I'm a firm believer that time travel is possible and the future is interfering in the events of the past.

Why me you'd ask? I'm just a nobody right?

- Yesterday's 9:18am to Springfield Central was ~13 minutes late at Milton
- This morning's 9:48am to Springfield Central was ~4 minutes late at Milton
- Wife and daughter's flight looks like has left ~12 minutes late after telling them to rush out of lounge and be at boarding gate early
- And this afternoon the 4:59pm to Toombul left the DFO ~4:55pm and the 5:14pm to Toombul has arrived ~12 minutes late

You'd have a hard time scripting these delays to occur for the same person day after day.

 

[QF WP]

Not at all JohnK. That's normal post-peak hour public transport in BNE these days - for anything to run on time is unusual, rather than the norm. Having said that, my local bus to City is pretty much one time every time I catch it

 

[love_the_life]

The joy of helping someone find the owner of a BP fuel card, where they only have a NSW car rego.

The questioning that it started about the registration of ones own company car, so decision to check...

The feeling in the pit of ones stomach when one realises that the company car they are driving is unregistered (expired 19/11/16)

The benefits of online chat function for Transport & Main Roads and consternation of not being able to advise the correct address on record until I found the previous CTP notice with address on it

Finding out that address was old work street address and rego notice not returned to DMR or forwarded to us :evil::evil:

The relief when one can finally can get company CRN, payment ref and go online to pay by CC :mrgreen: (now I can drive it home)

That sounds a little like my brother who has residency in Ireland. He has to renew it every few years and took the papers in to the local Guarda (who then send them on). He can be a bit slack and so took no further interest (basically forgot for several years), but when he wanted to come back to visit mum, had a quandary as to whether he should admit he did not have the permit or chance it (travels on AU passport). Decided to come clean so went down to the Guarda who rattled around a bit and then found the original paperwork still on the shelves as they hadn't sent it on as they should have. So he was one happy chappy.

 

[Pushka]

I'm a firm believer that time travel is possible and the future is interfering in the events of the past.

Why me you'd ask? I'm just a nobody right?

- Yesterday's 9:18am to Springfield Central was ~13 minutes late at Milton
- This morning's 9:48am to Springfield Central was ~4 minutes late at Milton
- Wife and daughter's flight looks like has left ~12 minutes late after telling them to rush out of lounge and be at boarding gate early
- And this afternoon the 4:59pm to Toombul left the DFO ~4:55pm and the 5:14pm to Toombul has arrived ~12 minutes late

You'd have a hard time scripting these delays to occur for the same person day after day.

Or maybe you just dont need to sweat the small stuff? None of these delays really matter in the overall scheme of life and you have much bigger fish to fry. There is so much traffic disruption these days across well, across the world that timetables might be seen as just an indication.

 

[JohnK]

Or maybe you just dont need to sweat the small stuff? None of these delays really matter in the overall scheme of life and you have much bigger fish to fry. There is so much traffic disruption these days across well, across the world that timetables might be seen as just an indication.

Who said I was sweating? Just an observation that it'd be near impossible to predict my movements and cause constant delays on the services I use. Unless of course you already had access to that information. Like say from the future?

But it's not just the small stuff? Is it?

 

[Pushka]

Who said I was sweating? Just an observation that it'd be near impossible to predict my movements and cause constant delays on the services I use. Unless of course you already had access to that information. Like say from the future?

But it's not just the small stuff? Is it?

But you are always using such things as delays as an issue for you in your life.

 

[love_the_life]

Who said I was sweating? Just an observation that it'd be near impossible to predict my movements and cause constant delays on the services I use. Unless of course you already had access to that information. Like say from the future?

But it's not just the small stuff? Is it?

I think you will find, though, that other trains have been delayed not just the ones you are on.These sorts of things happen all the time (except in Japan which is gloriously on time). Not predicting your movements at all, just coincidence IMO. Sometimes better to just go with the flow.