Shuff's General Chat Thread ... #73 - Talk about anything and everything...  

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the water twice,

because the flow that has passed will never pass

again. Enjoy every moment of life.

As

a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked

by a funeral director to play at a graveside

service for a homeless man. He had no family or

friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's

cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and,

being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had

evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in

sight. There were only the diggers and crew left

and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and

​apologized to the men for being late.

I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was
already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played "Amazing Grace", the workers began to weep. They
wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen anything like that before, and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

Apparently, I'm still lost....it's a man thing.

And I wont say I told ya,this outcome was inevitable,even 'Jack Boot Johny' weighed in

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25806244/partie...-to-carry-guns/

oh Shiiiiiiiii

you would have thought they would put something more other then
a beanbag on that wall..

that is all. had mine done there.. Shannon does a great job.
over at Eagle Farm.. just around the corner from Option 1
http://www.solarstyle.net.au/
https://www.facebook.com/SolarStyleAU

gets alot of hot cars in there too..
XOX was one of them

I think they could've filled the whole footpath with beanbags,and it wouldn't have helped at that speed.Haven't checked them out yet,but the preview clips,when the vid finished made it look like 2014 might have been a bad year for prangs on the island

Comment: Pakistan attack reveals the truth about terrorism - it kills more poor Muslims than rich westerners

Those who suffer most from Islamist extremism are not people in rich western nations, but other poor Muslims.

This is the fundamental truth that obliterates the false cloak of righteousness so ostentatiously donned by Islamist jihadists: the very people these misguided men and women claim to be fighting for, are the ones they kill in greatest numbers.

Headlines in the western world seize upon the self-evident fact, borne out by the statistics: terrorism is rising, and more and more people are dying from it. But there is a fundamental deceit to this claim. The devil in the detail lies in who is being killed.

The city of Sydney – however the attack in Martin Place is characterised – has been shaken to its core by brutal, senseless assault this week, as London, New York, Madrid, and others were before.

But the Taliban’s attack on a school in Pakistan a day later, killing at least 141 people, 132 of them schoolchildren, is a stark reminder of the outsized price paid by the Muslim world for vile actions of a misguided few proclaiming the cause of their religion.

The global terrorism database maintained by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland shows a surge in terrorist attacks in recent years – from around 5,000 in 2011 to more than 8,000 in 2012 and nearly 12,000 in 2013 – the three largest years on record for terrorist attacks.

But, as Bernard Keane analyses here, the raw numbers are not the full story. The number of terror attacks in western countries did rise, and rise significantly, last year.

In 2012, there were 140 incidents of terrorism in the west. In 2013, that figure was more than 250, the increase driven by a sharp rise in attacks in Northern Ireland and Greece. Twelve people died.

But those figures are dwarfed by attacks outside the west.

In non-western countries, the increase was from 8,000 incidents in 2012 to more than 11,000 in 2013, the rise driven by continuing sectarian violence in Iraq and Pakistan, and deepening unrest in the Philippines and Egypt.

The number of non-western terrorism deaths in 2013 was over 22,000.

In November of this year, nearly 5,000 people died in Islamist fundamentalist terror attacks, the majority of those at the hands of Islamic State (Isis) or Boko Haram.

Just over half the dead were civilians, “the vast majority … Muslim,” the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation said.

The “war on terror” is a tool of political rhetoric, not a real war. But its victims are real. And, overwhelmingly, it is the world’s Muslims who suffer most. Pakistan has lost more civilians to the “war on terror” than almost any other nation.

In the wake of the Peshawar attack this week, the hardest part for Pakistan now will be to hold its line. The country’s greatest weapon against the scourge of terrorism is not more bullets in response, but education.

It is girls and boys in school.

In Pakistan’s Swat Valley two years ago, I visited an army-run school called “Sabaoon”, an Urdu word that broadly translates as “the first light of dawn”.

It was a school for suicide bombers.

The boys who sat quietly there, in their green-and-white-striped uniforms, had previously been kidnapped or brainwashed by the Taliban. They’d been arrested or rescued from the insurgents’ mountain strongholds. Some had carried weapons into war, some had killed before.

One 15-year-old told me how he’d been dressed by his militant “brothers” in his heavy explosive vest one winter morning, and carefully told which wires to touch together when he reached the police checkpoint. Then he was driven to the police post, and told to walk towards the men in uniform.

It was only the intervention of a quick-thinking officer, who saw him shaking in fear as he approached, that meant that this boy was alive and in school to tell his story.

I asked the head of the school, a gruff, uniformed major, what the root cause of radicalisation was.

What was the fundamental, underlying reason why these boys could be convinced to kill in the name of a distorted religious interpretation, to don a vest they knew would kill them and walk towards a target?

“Poverty,” he said.

“It’s poverty, and that comes from a lack of education.”

Boys in school, he explained, didn’t grow up to become suicide bombers. Young men with good jobs didn’t run away to the hills to join the Taliban.

Literate girls go on to lift entire families from poverty. Women with an education don’t allow their sons to be radicalised.

The cost now might seem too high, but Pakistan must keep its children in school.

That’s how the war will be won. And the whole world will benefit.

gotta admit, knowing what I was going to see, I decided I didn't need to watch the clip. sry doc.

Honda NSX

The Ferrari will have another rival on its hands next year, too, as – finally – the new Honda NSX is go for launch. Hybrid power, a dual-clutch gearbox and superb styling means it’s already sold out. Second-hand prices are going to be interesting.

good article. tldr version, muslims kill themselves more often than so called 'western targets' and education of children will help overcome radicalisation.

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/commen...gWeYN?ocid=iehp

What was the fundamental, underlying reason why these boys could be convinced to kill in the name of a distorted religious interpretation, to don a vest they knew would kill them and walk towards a target?

“Poverty,” he said.

“It’s poverty, and that comes from a lack of education.”

I am guessing you have had no problems with the tint?
THey look like they have a good reputation with the quality of cars coming in
I'll definitely be stopping by and doing my car

THANKS DOC

It all happened that quickly,that by the time the camera panned around,bike and rider were sliding across the road,but it looked like he may have nailed the beanbag dead centre!

Eight children reportedly stabbed to death at Cairns property


Eight children are dead and a woman is in hospital after a multiple stabbing in far north Queensland.

Police have confirmed the victims are aged between 18 months and 15 years.

Emergency crews were called to a home on Murray Street in the Cairns suburb of Manoora, around 11.30am on Friday.

A 34-year-old woman has been taken to hospital and is assisting with police inquiries but is not under arrest.

Cairns Regional Crime Co-ordinator Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar could not rule out that the number of deaths may rise.

The street has been cordoned off and a crime scene will remain in place for at least the next day, Det Insp Asnicar told reporters at the scene.

It was an "extremely distressing" scene for the first response officers, he said.

Detectives are speaking with neighbours and police have not yet established the relationship between all of the children and the woman.

The 34-year-old's cousin, Lisa Thaiday, told AAP at the scene the children were all siblings.

The woman was their mother, she said.

"I'm going to see him now, he needs comforting," Ms Thaiday said.

She described the family and extended relatives as close-knit.

"We're a big family and most of us are from the (Torres) Strait," she said.

"I just can't believe it. We just found out (about) those poor babies."

About 20 to 30 people, including neighbours and locals, could be seen to be visibly upset and comforting each other at the scene.

Forensic officers have "locked down" the scene as they carry out their investigation.

"The crime scene could continue for another day or two... the scene is still locked down and that number (of dead) could go up or down.

"But this will not be a quick job, we will investigate this to the nth degree."

He also assured Cairns residents that they were not in any ongoing danger.

A woman who works at a business on Murray St told ninemsn there had been a lot of traffic in the area since early in the afternoon.

"There's been a lot of traffic, a lot of ambulance and police," the woman said.

"We're all pretty sombre about it all. We're feeling not real flash ... school holidays just started for most of them."

Greg Swifte, who lives nearby, said it was a quiet suburb that would be shaken by the tragedy.

"It's pretty tragic, there's no doubt about that," Mr Swifte told ninemsn.

Paramedics remain at the scene.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” by the events.

JAMES BROWN IS DEAD

Wife of Martin Place shooter has bail revoked

The widow of the Sydney siege gunman has had her bail revoked and will be held in custody following a hearing at Downing Centre Local Court.

Prosecutors made the argument that comments made by Amirah Droudis in a YouTube video were reason enough to have her bail revoked.

In the video, which she recorded with her husband Man Monis, she made a series of extreme comments.

The court was told that the judge who initially granted her bail may not have been aware of all of the circumstances and of the risk to the community.

She has been charged with the murder of Monis's ex-wife and has been on bail for 12 months.

Noleen Hayson Pal was stabbed 18 times and set on fire in the stairwell of an apartment building in Werrington in Western Sydney.

Ms Droudis was reportedly calm when the decision was read out. She was handcuffed and taken to Silverwater Remand Centre.

She has remained silent in the wake of the Martin Place tragedy that claimed two innocent lives.

NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard had asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the original bail decision.

"The charges laid against Amirah Droudis are extremely serious and her alleged actions involve a murder," Mr Hazzard said in a statement last week.

"On behalf of our community I want to know whether every aspect of her being on bail has been examined in all possible detail."

The review comes after questions were raised as to why gunman Monis was also out on bail on accessory to murder and 40 counts of sexual assault.

The case has been adjourned and Ms Droudis will return before the court on February 27.

Doc, Musashi P30 high protein is on special at chemist warehouse 26/12 - 1/1/15 half price $30.85 choc/van/straw.