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bwilli123

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Successive federal governments wanted to keep up appearances with the US, & kept them on station for too long. Oversight & discipline became frayed. Certain US special forces wouldn't work with them because of it. The grunts were sacrificed to protect the top brass, but especially the politicians who looked the other way. Particularly embarrassing to do otherwise when one (Ben Roberts-Smith) has already been given a Victoria Cross.

University of Western Australia Study finds nasal spray could aid battle against COVID

Nasodine Nasal Spray is based on povidone-iodine, the same active ingredient found in Betadine throat gargle, and has been in development for almost a decade as a treatment for the common cold. Laboratory experiments showed a 15-second exposure to the nasal spray reduced infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 by 99.97 per cent, while a 60-second exposure completely eliminated viral infectivity.

  A subsequent pilot study of six COVID-19 patients, who were shedding the virus from the nose, looked at whether the laboratory results translated to people.  
The trial showed that a single Nasodine dose (four sprays per nostril) reduced viral shedding in five of the six subjects (83 per cent) at five minutes after the dose, with an overall 79 per cent reduction in viral shedding at one hour after the dose.

https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/Article/2022/February/Study-find...

Povidone-iodine (taken nasally or as a gargle) kills viruses and bacteria. All types, including Covid, with 99.9% effectiveness according to numerous studies. Has worked this way (and safely) since the 1950's. Given that it's effective, and cheap to produce it's no wonder big pharma lobbied so hard for their own expensive partial treatments.

from the twitter link ..."The Optus hacker says they accessed an unauthenticated API endpoint. This means they didn't have to login. The person says: "No authenticate needed. That is bad access control. All open to internet for any one to use. The API endpoint was api[dot]http://optus.com.au. Yes, that looks weird, but the hacker says it worked otherwise a DNS error occurred. That API is now offline, so there is no more risk for Optus. It was used in part to let Optus customers access their own data."

..."In my interviews with Baker and Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in 1994, Baker acknowledged (and Shevardnadze confirmed) that he told the former foreign minister the United States would not “leapfrog” over a reunified Germany to move closer to the borders of the Soviet Union. There are reports that Baker was willing to put this commitment in writing, but that national security adviser Brent Scowcroft convinced the president not to do so."

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/18/bill-clintons-role-i...

  It's reasonable to assume that Apple chose 30% because that was the prevailing standard in the physical retail world.
That markup has been competed away in some circumstances (eg Costco) but otherwise still holds generally (Walmart 32%) It reflects unavoidable costs to all retailers, like local rents, staffing, transport etc Given that tech does not have a retail's fixed costs why has that markup not been competed away to establish a markup based on tech's unavoidable fixed costs?

"The Taliban has fought against the US and the Kabul state for two decades in the face of casualties that would have shattered the morale and recruitment of almost any other army. The Vietnamese communists are the only parallel I can think of – and indeed, the Taliban may have learned the importance of discipline and organisation indirectly from communism. There are provinces in Afghanistan where five Taliban governors in a row have been killed – and yet a new volunteer for the position has always stepped forward. This marks a striking contrast with all previous religiously inspired Pashtun tribal uprisings, which grew rapidly but also collapsed quickly after the first major defeat." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00396338.2021.1...

...I've long since retired, my son's moved away I called him up just the other day I said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind He said, I'd love to, dad, if I can find the time You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kids have the flu But it's sure nice talking to you, dad It's been sure nice talking to you And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me He'd grown up just like me My boy was just like me...

The Cat's In The Cradle Harry Chapin 1974

A survivor of clergy abuse who started a Facebook group to help other survivors says he is "devastated" by the social media giant's decision to block Australian news. Key points:

    The group was started to share reporting on the Royal Commission
    The page owner estimates more than 2,000 articles were shared
    The articles trigger reporting of sexual abuse as victims recognise their abuser
Richie Scutt, who was sexually abused by an Anglican priest when he was 11 years old, started the Facebook group Survivors and Friends in 2016.

He said he started the group to share news reports on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and it became a lifeline for many.

Mr Scutt said the group had grown to around 200 members from across Australia and still primarily shared news stories.

He estimated more than 2,000 news articles had been shared to the Facebook group since 2016, and said he was devastated to find they had all disappeared when he logged onto Facebook this morning.

..."Facebook didn’t just shut down Australian news sites, it shut down government agency pages: Hospitals, Fire & Rescue, Bureau of Meteorology, just hours after Zuckerberg spoke to our Govt & without warning. If a foreign government did this(e.g China), it would be called terrorism."

  The Apples had to wait a decent interval after Jony's departure before they could switch the corpses. Magsafe was disinterred, and found to be still breathing. Touch Bar, which had been dead for years was finally lowered into the grave.
None of the formerly close family members attended, though the one lonely wreath had a card, which read. "You were always so misunderstood, so ahead of your time. They did not deserve you. Love,J.I."

The market could fix this if retailers were legally required to publish a searchable packaging database listing the total amount of packaging they use per item sold. Comparisons could be made. Worst offenders singled out. Consumers could force change by having the knowledge to make an informed decision.

America will not recover until it re-introduces tariffs. This was the original mechanism by which America first industrialized (see Jeffersonianism) It would also benefit the Chinese people by forcing China to prioritize raising the welfare levels of their own consumers who are 2nd class citizens alongside manufacturer/exporters.