Interesting stuff


string theory is best studied in the summer months


seaslug wrote:string theory is best studied in the summer months
Gee...


https://surfd.com/2021/10/alaia-bay-wavepool-in-switzerland-breaking-bou...
Live pool cam is worth a look


Medan is a beautiful and interesting tropical city. I love it more and more every time I' m here .Currently here waiting for results of PCR tests to get on a plane . Hoping there 's no positives as that would really throw a spanner in the works lol
But , but the wife has the sniffles oh nooooo !!!
Champion Cafe is THE place to be for the best Batak music
The Bataks are easily the best musos in Indonesia and the fuckers love a drink and a party , good stuff . You want to talk about" traditional owners " well that's the Bataks of North Sumatra
Yes my wife is Batak
HORAS LISSOI


Horas wrote:Medan is a beautiful and interesting tropical city. I love it more and more every time I' m here
Ive never heard Medan described in that way, i dont go in there now that the airport is out of town, no offence i always thought of it very differently, i much prefer Padang as gets the sea breeze and you can still look out to sea.
BTW. Is your wife very string headed?
I know it's a cliche/stereotype but I've met half a dozen Batak women and OMG they all seem such strong women, you dont mess with them.


Moght want ti watch yiur typong there Ondi.
Was wondering what on earth string headed was.


Darko Desic back in court today
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/prison-escapee-darko...




doh


Speaking of prisoners, this video is quite old but it's complete gold.
Escaped from prison and convinces the cop he isn't the guy with some sweet talking.
From his Wiki page "Richard Lee McNair (born December 19, 1958) is a convicted murderer known for his ability to escape and elude capture.[1] In 1987, McNair murdered one man and shot a second man four times during a botched robbery. He is currently serving two terms of life imprisonment for these crimes including escaping from prison.
After McNair's arrest, he escaped three times from three different institutions using various creative methods. On his first attempt, he used lip balm to squeeze out of a pair of handcuffs. He escaped a second time by crawling through a ventilation duct. In his last escape from a federal prison in April 2006, he mailed himself out of prison in a crate and successfully convinced a police officer he was not the prison escapee but actually a jogger.[2][3] This resulted in his mugshot being featured a dozen times on the TV show America's Most Wanted, and made him one of the top fifteen fugitives wanted by US Marshals. McNair traveled to Canada twice in order to evade capture, traveling across the country for over a year before being apprehended in a random police check. Much of what the public knows about McNair's escape and his time as a fugitive is through McNair's prison correspondence with a Canadian journalist, Byron Christopher.[2]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lee_McNair
&t=450s

Interesting stuff!
https://web.archive.org/web/20200524034318/https://ajds.org.au/2018/06/a...


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/push-to-find-homeless-surfers-par...
Princess supposedly gets full Disabilty pension of $882 per fortnight..i wonder what he does with his money ?


from the vid...
"so why don't we hear about this in the media?"
"is it not interesting?"
indeed...
yet, a certain brand of moron will call you a 'conspiracy theorist' for asking perfectly reasonable questions...
reactively
incessantly
you gotta wonder...


might be worth pointing out that Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street are by far the biggest ETF (and managed/mutual fund) providers so this accounts for why they keep showing up with the largest ownership concentrations in the big corporate conglomerates.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268970/etf-providers-market-share-by...
see also say: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080415/5-biggest-etf-com...


gsco wrote:might be worth pointing out that Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street are by far the biggest ETF (and managed/mutual fund) providers so this accounts for why they keep showing up with the largest ownership concentrations in the big corporate conglomerates.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268970/etf-providers-market-share-by...
see also say: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080415/5-biggest-etf-com...
I have had a little look into ETF's and still wish to do a bit more research. Is there a recommended broker/ platform where these can be bought for what would be a pretty small scale investor?
Cheers.


andy-mac wrote:Is there a recommended broker/ platform where these can be bought for what would be a pretty small scale investor?
hey Andy, ETFs are traded on the share market like ordinary shares, so you just trade them through your usual broker.
I use commsec but only because I used to work for CBA and as an employee they force you to use only their products...
See for instance: https://www.commsec.com.au/products/exchange-traded-funds.html in which they say:
commsec wrote:Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are funds that trade on a stock exchange, just like ordinary shares.
You'll be able to trade ETFs listed on various other international stock markets too via the online trading from our big-4 banks.


gsco wrote:andy-mac wrote:Is there a recommended broker/ platform where these can be bought for what would be a pretty small scale investor?
hey Andy, ETFs are traded on the share market like ordinary shares, so you just trade them through your usual broker.
I use commsec but only because I used to work for CBA and as an employee they force you to use only their products...
See for instance: https://www.commsec.com.au/products/exchange-traded-funds.html in which they say:
commsec wrote:Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are funds that trade on a stock exchange, just like ordinary shares.
You'll be able to trade ETFs listed on various other international stock markets too via the online trading from our big-4 banks.
Great, thanks for feedback!!


sypkan wrote:from the vid...
"so why don't we hear about this in the media?"
"is it not interesting?"
indeed...
yet, a certain brand of moron will call you a 'conspiracy theorist' for asking perfectly reasonable questions...
reactively
incessantly
you gotta wonder...
5 mins in and he's said nothing so far.
I don't have an hour to watch a vid on You-toob.
Whats the gist of it Syppo?


"A few funds have combined controlling influence in almost every industry"
On the first example of Pepsico and Coca Cola, on his own data, that claim does not stand up. The investment groups who have large shareholdings in both DO NOT have a controlling interest in either. To suggest that minority holdings of several companies in the same industry enables control of the industry is simply not true.
The fact that large investment funds have diverse holdings in many industries is hardly news and is a direct result of financial deregulation starting with the Reagan Thatcher era and pursued most enthusiastically by governments like our own bunch of neolib pirates. So if people are genuinely concerned about the concentration of economic power, the first (small) step would be to vote the current lot out.


So, just to save me an hour.
He starts by saying we are in economically depressed times (obvs not true for Aus).
Why would investment firms want to crash economies; they'd make less money?


The wealthy usually do well out of market crashes for a couple of reasons. One they don't need to sell at the bottom as they have plenty of wealth to see them through the short term crisis. Two, they have the cash reserves that enable them to buy at bargain basement prices at the bottom. End result? They have an even bigger slice of the pie.


A 30% holding requires the cooperation of a further 21%.


If the bloke, whoever he may be, is suggesting that covid and or the lockdowns were some sort of conspiracy then he is a know nothing bullshit artist looking to make a quick buck out of the gullible on YouTube.


Blowin it is hard to take you seriously when you go into insult mode and suggest that I have such ridiculous opinions. The issue is: should the video be taken seriously. I have stated my position that if he is presenting a conspiracy theory.....then it should not be taken seriously. If you have watched the video and disagree with my views please present the evidence for your view..


Glossy fear porn.


"You’re kidding right?
In the example you mention they control 30% of voting shares in the company. More than the rest of the top ten institutional share holders combined. Who do you think has voting control? Who do you think appoints and directs the executive and board of the company?
You think the power lies with the punter retail investors who vote with their 0.00000000001% of the share Register and have zero behind closed doors influence on proceedings?"
exaxtly...
not to mention the billionaires most likely have private holdings, beyond the behind the curtain big fund management holdings they influence...
bottom line is, all this big fund (investor hiding) fronts, are invested in both sides, be it pepsi versus coke... apple versus microsoft... whatever the business... they cannot lose...
(whilst the plebs are fed a steady diet of cut throat competition...)
then there's mr blackrock chatting to mr vanguard, chatting to mr macron chatting to mr biden...
...and the argument is the boardroom will keep it all in check...
fucking laughable...
"... Isn’t it amazing how the Boomer liberals ended up becoming the stooges for the elite power of the world?"
well, to be fair...
the machine has stealthly gotten us all tied up in this economic shitfuckery... through superannuation at a minimum...
people literally don't want to question stuff as their financial assetts are at risk... they would rather just look the other way...
and...
"it's easier to fool someone than convince them they've been fooled"


Charlatans playing fear porn to the max, actually, after visiting their website.
David Icke, and a whole bunch of conspiracy whack jobs in there with the conspiracy fear porn cranked up to 11.


The way it's been so quickly rolled back has been a tell that you are right. Surreal. Mea Culpa.
Anyway, here's some cute fear porn on that ownership topic:


I haven't gotten to the conspiracy bit yet...
but the first half is just laying out easily checkable facts about the media / government / investments mega-complex...
the media is totally controlled, as is 'the narrative' ...it's clear as day.... day in day out... the same messaging across the networks...
and, the ngo mega-complex... where the left has basically been bought by billionaires avoiding tax, by paying for a plethora of cottage industry ngo causes and offices to appease the plebs...
the crew getting cash generally don't ask questions...
but thankfully oxfam do!
I've said this before, oxfam basically singlehandedly changed the whole political conversation about 10 years ago... long before bernie sanders did... long before donald trump... when they exposed the ridiculous wealth the 1% are accumulating... and using...
it's all smoke and mirrors, ...and a tax dodging, government by-passing, big money free for all... enabled by the ngo megacomplex... the privatisation of social causes... public infrastructure... and public health...
neoliberalism 101
no conspiracy...
it's just how shit is...
financial 'cooperation' of the elites
or collusion ...for the cynics...
tomatoes
tomatos


.


I think that will be the next cult conspiracy site anyhow, possibly bigger than Q-Anon.
No doubt "they" got heaps of shitt incredibly wrong, including the Indonesian forecasts.
Doesn't change the fact heaps died of Covid there.
But when the smooth brown-eyed presenter said "the only way not to starve to death would be the acceptance of govt support", while he was detailing the New World Order I cringed.


The usual random selection of assertions without any attempt at corroboration from the usual suspects who don't even understand that when THEY make a claim, THEY have to provide the evidence.


I don't watch TV, so I have no idea what is being peddled on there.
I get my news from the ABC, which is centre left, but basically factual.
I just don't swallow this "theory" that Covid is an intentional pandemic, that it is part of some Global Reset/NWO agenda whereby authoritarian govts using Communist Dictatorship playbooks are all going to control us at the behest of a shadowy elite.
But lets come back in a year/3 years/5years.
I could be wrong.
My prediction: we'll be free of most restrictions by summer-time, the economy will come roaring back and we will find a way to deal with seasonal outbreaks of Covid the same we do the flu.


The question you are asking: were the lockdowns justifiable considering what risk the virus posed>?
For Sydney and Melbourne, possibly. Possibly not. I think time will tell.
For the rest of the country, those lockdowns have meant most of the rest of the country has barely experienced Covid.
it has effectively quarantined the disease to urban areas, in a way that few other countries have achieved.
Outrageous and unforgivable fear campaign?
If you believe the available evidence that 700000 people died in the USA, then it seems most people were prepared to temporarily suspend normal civil liberties like freedom of movement so that could not happen here.
I guess we will see at the ballot box how true that is.


Blowin wrote:You want fear porn?
Here you go…..this is what Australia was fed with a straight face by the MSM in order to induce the trauma that people like BB still suffer. It was an unmitigated shock and awe campaign to scare you into foregoing every reservation you would have over the government’s plan. A plan they revealed step by step so as not to allow common sense resistance to overrule the contagion of fear they instigated with 24/7 messaging.
Here’s your fear porn. Screenshot taken April 2020. At time Indonesia had about a dozen deaths. Don’t act clever with your throwaway references to fear porn until you are ready to accept that you’ve swallowed the biggest lie for 100years.
Shit that didn't age well.
I do think during Covid a lot of people have lost more trust in main stream media.


"I just don't swallow this "theory" that Covid is an intentional pandemic, that it is part of some Global Reset/NWO agenda whereby authoritarian govts using Communist Dictatorship playbooks are all going to control us at the behest of a shadowy elite.'
you don't have to
not the intentional bit anyway...
but it's pretty clear certain forces have leveraged it for all it's worth
geez even eternal lefty good guy (girl) naomi klein has mentioned that...
the reset bit is on the record
no secret...


Ok, so the Covid media conspiracy complex has faked the death of hundreds of thousands of people in America.
(And the rest of the world presumably.)
so they can usher in a control society where we are all going to starve unless we bow to govt masters.
Maybe you are right.
Maybe it's a clusterfuck of unknown origin as Syppo contends, where certain forces have leveraged it for all its worth.
That could be true too.
I'll withhold judgement for now, and if in a years time, that is the case, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong.
For now the official story: a zoonotic virus, lab or animal derived, has become a global pandemic and govts around the world have used a variety of methods to try and control it, successfully or unsuccessfully.
Many people have died, most of them old, or obese.
Many have been put into hospital, most old but some younger and healthier.
We are now coming out of the pandemic as the virus becomes endemic and measures used to control the virus are receding as countries rely on vaccines.
Thats close enough to the story that seems most plausible to me.
Have it cunts