Chess players are nothing if not temperamental.   The story so far – at least as I could be bothered learning about it is that:

1. Topalov’s camp protested about the frequency with which Kramnik was going to the toilet(!)
2. The officials seem to have required Kramnik and Topalov to use the same toilet.
3. They locked Kramnik’s private dunny.
4. Kramnik wasn’t happy about that and refused to play until they’d unlocked it.
5. After his clock had run down by an hour he forfeited the game. With the white pieces too!   So there you go.

Who knows what will happen when the next game is scheduled tomorrow.

I wouldn’t fancy any of the players in the Australian weekend finals chances if they refused to play until their private toilet was unlocked.

Two weeks ago Ken wondered aloud on ‘weekend reflections’ that it might not work all that well on Troppo.   It had only attracted between four and ten comments in the past.   Anyway, the very thread he wrote this on attracted some interesting comments.   Last week’s weekend reflections is still going – 81 comments and counting.

So who’s going to start it off this weekend?

In 1963 the Australian Government ordered the F111 at the then astronomical cost of $112 million with the final cost a decade later being 324 million. It has been the best bang for the buck purchase Australian has made in defence. Like all good deterrents it will be retired without being used in anger.

The JSF will replace the F18/F111 in Australia’s armoury and is facing potential cost increases from about $47 million USD per unit to $60 million. We will face a capability gap with the early retirement of the F111, which has led some to promote the F22 over the JSF. We are not the only ones in this position, the USMC is running up airframe hours on their aircraft in Iraq and have no replacement until the JSF comes on-line.

Then there are those, like the Cato Institute, who advocate the JSF being the last manned aircraft and instead focusing on cheaper alternatives like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles [UAVs]. But the American experience with UAVs is that they are more expensive than manned ones to operate. They carry the same infrastructure and maintenance costs – but with added labor costs.

Where a pilot comes back from a mission, rolls the manned-aircraft into a hanger, eats dinner and goes to bed; with a UAV the operators run in three shifts to keep the UAV in the air longer. Labor and maintenance costs make up a large chunk of the defence budget anyway and a UAV adds to that.

Big money, big tech … it is going to be an expensive exercise no matter what.
Continue reading →

There is nothing, I’m sure you’d agree, more fascinating, more delightful to observe, or more satisfying to the soul, than to see two grown men poke their tongues out at each other, fully extend to the other, the middle digit of both hands and for good measure unbuckle the belt, lower the trousers, and let loose with the most farshtinkener of commentaries about the other’s general history in business and public life.
 
Such has been the antics on radio, in print and naturallement on the blogs of Melbourne identities Stephen Mayne and Andrew Landeryou.
 
It’s been an incredible week.   A week of hawking up the biggest mucus laden gorbies and projecting them with a lack of subtlety that must have Tim Blair green with envy.  It’s been a week that the people of Melbourne have simply loved.
 
For those unfamiliar with the back story, it’s all about the forthcoming State election.   Mr. Mayne, of Crikey fame is involved in a fledgling political party known as People Power, and the boys got rowdy when one of People Power’s main candidates quit, and Mr. Landeryou claimed credit for the scalp.
 
Ever since then it’s been the best entertainment going in Melbourne this week, and even I have made a surprise appearance in my deliberately mistaken identity cameo role,   but hey, that’s OK.   It’s all part of the fun.
 
I’m not sure how much more entertainment the boys will be able to squeeze out of this story, but Melbourne awaits with spine tingling anticipation to see if the gauntlet will truly be thrown down and if these middle aged gentlemen will do the honourable thing and have it out in a mud wrestling ring in the nuddy, live on TV.
 
It is inspirational stuff, and it inspires the social philosopher in me, and so I leave you with this observation.   Although Sydney might have its glistening harbour, and Brisbane the weather, Perth the money, Adelaide the hills, Hobart the quaintness and Darwin the possibility.   There’s no question about it.   Melbourne has the culture.