mauriesy

In my local area I buy Pauls or Great Ocean Road milk. I buy it because even though it's $1.50 per litre, compared to the $1 per litre for Coles or Woolworths milk, it gives a better return to the farmers themselves. It also just happens to be 'permeate free'. If you want to buy full-cream Jersey, or A2, or Farmers Fresh for upwards of $2 per litre, then that's your choice. Good on you. But your usage of words like 'adulteration' and 'hidden additives' is just rubbish. It's also marketing spin from the boutique producers trying to make a point of distinction. All the material composition of the various brands and types of milk is just actual components of milk, some of which may be separated and re-added to make various levels of fat and protein. The nutritional information is always available on the side of the pack. If you don't want milk with some whey put back in it, then you fortunately have that choice. Lots of others want other choices too. The market needs skinny and low-fat milk (which I personally hate) to supply a need, just as much as full-cream and A2. I'm wondering if you could suggest how milk companies can achieve a standardised 3.6% fat year-round for 'normal' milk, when the milk that comes in in winter or from Holsteins is 2.9% fat, and the summer milk from Jerseys is 5.4% fat ... if they aren't allowed to adjust, extract, alter, re-add and/or blend it? P.S. the $1 a litre home brand milks are loss-leaders anyway. They are there to get you into the supermarket to buy other stuff while you're there, and to kill smaller opposition, like milk bars and 7-11s.

You mean milk as fashion photoshopping.

The problem is with extremists and fundamentalists, no matter what the religion. Taking a literal view of any religious script is very, very dangerous. As are concepts like immortality, the after-life and hell. The issue is then whether religion actually encourages that literal viewpoint. No wonder suicide bombers are happy to do it. They've been indoctrinated by their one religion to think that what they do is 'good' and when they die they're going to a better place. However, Christian priests have also been creating fear by promoting heaven and hell as an incentive to follow their religion for centuries. The problem with priests abusing children is not just bad choices, it's a systemic organisational issue in attracting then isolating troubled and perverted men through a doctrine of celibacy (and also locking them up together). BTW Hannibal ... ... I agree with your view on the Old Testament. But it still forms part of the Bible, and is a favourite with most dangerous fundamentalists. When Christianity totally abandons the Old Testament it will be a good day. But there's so much doctrine there that they desperately want to hold on to e.g. Genesis, creation and metaphorical tales of 'good and evil' like Sodom and Gomorrah, that I can't see it happening. ... the Koran does contain lots of thoughts on love, tolerance and understanding. And some of the great philosophical, mathematical and medical thought, plus the establishment of universities and libraries for public use, originated in countries in the Islamic world when the West was still feudal serfdoms. However, in my very humble opinion, belief in any God is a delusion. And when we die we go back to where we came from i.e. nothing. But everyone is free to think what they like. Simple, eh?

This is an old Today Tonight beat-up from nearly two years ago. Most suppliers have stopped permeate addition. I think it gets fed to pigs again, like it used to be. However, you know that permeate is just the whey from cheese manufacture, don't you? It came out of the milk in the first place. I'm not suggesting it's right to add it back again, but it's hardly some sort of dangerous product. If you want a standardised milk fat and protein level year round, it has to be adjusted, because cow's milk varies seasonally, and between breeds. There's no researched and validated scientific proof that A2 milk actually does what it says. I really like the taste of it but not the expense of it. But again, A1 (non-permeate) milk is not the devil. BTW, Holsteins and other breeds can also be A2A2 i.e. produce A2 milk. It's a recessive gene, not restricted to Jerseys and Guernseys. Jerseys also produce milk that is higher in fat (about 5.5%) compared to other breeds (about 3.5%). Jersey A2 full-cream milk may not be suitable for people who need a low fat diet. If milk companies were adding melamine as a 'filler', like the Chinese once did, then I'd be really worried. That kills.

"The Dees are going to be something" ... Bruce McAvaney in the commentary.

No, I'm not.

They still tell students that often. It's what they have career teachers for. Something else governments have cut. Pressure to stay to Year 12 comes from a variety of sources, most often parents. I went to Year 12 because my father made me. He wanted me to be a 'professional' and believed trades were for the 'working class'. While I ended up getting two university degrees in Education and Arts, but I might have been much better off being a carpenter and becoming a builder. It would have been something I really loved.

A Year 9-12 teacher with a high ATAR is the rule, not the exception.

If I kept all my "certificates of completion" from the last 50 years I could wallpaper the house. They're meaningless. So do you think an employer will pay much heed to someone's resume that includes a VCE "completion" certificate showing an ATAR of 20? Unless they're a cake shop? So what does it really matter if someone gets one? Try thinking beyond "pass-fail". Besides, do you really want to formally endorse heaps of kids as "failures"? What will that achieve? The longer you go in life, the more irrelevant VCE becomes. After gaining university entrance, I have never, ever needed my "Matriculation" certificate. I think I lost it quite some time ago. BTW, businesses are the greatest proponents of certificates. Sales, marketing, HR, management ... you never have to "pass" anything, just attend, participate ... and get a certificate.

So how is the label important to the education debate, other than you wanting to inject your usual right-wing irrelevance? I suppose any union by your out-dated perspective will be "left-wing". Time we moved past such divisive language and got around to improving the teaching of kids.

So you think an ATAR below 50 is a "fail"? A certificate of completion is irrelevant to anyone with a low ATAR. They can do nothing with it.

Because you said "In other words the pass mark for teaching is barely a pass mark and that's the quality we are getting".

There's no such thing as "passing" your VCE. You get an ATAR, which determines your percentile rank. You won't do much with a low ATAR anyway. I know a girl who spent six years at a private school, got an ATAR of 20 and is working in a cake shop. In regard to Education degrees, you won't get entrants with a high ATAR until you pay teachers more. What's the incentive? Politicians make promises like Bailleau, then reneg. You don't need a high ATAR to be a good teacher in the lower grades of school, although it helps. My wife is a lecturer in Education at a Victorian university. She says the best students are those with a high ATAR, good at communication and understanding teaching concepts, and working with kids. They're the ones who will often end up as leading teachers and principals. Not far behind are those with lower ATARs but who still have the idea of what makes a good teacher. Some of the worst are those with higher ATARs but who have no commitment. As you go further up the years at school, a high ATAR is more important because the knowledge of the subject matter demands it. But again, there are teachers with very high ATARs who have continually poor teaching skills and poor communication. So a good ATAR is important and would improve the teaching profession, but not the sole determining factor, or even that critical. My daughter is a teacher and has a double degree in Arts-Science from Melbourne. She teaches VCE Psychology and Biology and currently tutors in graduate education. For the last two years she's actually written the VCE Psychology paper, and is currently working on a project with a number of universities to include Neuroscience in the Psych curriculum. For the record, she had an ATAR of 94. IMHO, notions of problems with 'left-leaning' teachers are spurious and irrelevant, dragged up by politicians when they want to divert an educational debate.

The embodied energy in a solar PV system is no more than 18 months of its lifetime production. They have an anticipated lifespan of 25+ years. The current economic payback period, or return on investment, for a correctly-sized household solar PV system is 5-6 years, even with the current feed in tariff of around 8c/kWh, which is not much more than the average wholesale price of electricity produced by coal-fired generators (5-6c/kWh). The payback for solar water heating is even less, because they have even greater efficiency. Try basing your argument on the correct facts.

Longer-distance events are full of athletes peaking in their 30s. I'm not surprised Cross finished well up in the time trial. He's had years of training to accumulate the endurance required.

We turned the heater on last night.

A team at the bottom is a team at the bottom. Comparing poor performance with poor performance is sort of "duh". Where I think the 2012-2013 Melbourne FC, the current England and the Australians under Micky Arthur can be compared is in their coaching and training approaches. Coaching regimes that are overly directive, defence-first, emphasise conservatism and adhere to strict systems in every aspect from fitness to diet, are being shown to fail. Above all, they lack enjoyment, which is what gets players into the game in the first place. Train hard, but get the enjoyment back into playing the game. Treat players like mature adults with responsibility for their own outcomes. Set standards, but avoid the trivial punishments and 'homework'. Above all, set the first priority to develop confidence rather than fear of failure. The Poms might have been better off with baked beans rather than quinoa salad.

This thread reminds me of this:

The last imcromprehensible thing I ever saw was the final goal in the 1964 premiership.

Why?

Maybe the total denial from Bombers supporters is only matched by the salivation from posters here who relish the idea of Essendon being in great trouble. I suspect things won't be as good or bad as both sides make out, because the one thing both share is a great deal of bias.

Maybe it's demeaning not just because of the dress but because it treats women's sport as a joke. The AFL, in which King is a player, has a Respect and Responsibility Policy, part of which aims "... to foster a culture that creates an environment of equality between women and men. It is difficult to ensure that an environment of equality is generated where women ... are portrayed as sex objects or otherwise marginalized rather than being recognized for their skills and contributions".

I think he should be criticised more for associating with an event that is so demeaning of women.

Funny, Johnson is the only one who hasn't taken a wicket.

Hope not. Court reporters have to be fair, unbiased and accurate.