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Out in the shed with Ted

Ted McEvoy

Veterans Affairs

Those eligible for the DVA Utilities Allowance will have their payments increased from $107.20 to $500.00 a year per household. The payments will be paid in quarterly instalments to meet quarterly utilities bills. The increased allowance will also be extended to all service pensioners and income support supplement recipients. Seniors' concession allowance will also be increased to $500 a year for each eligible self funded retiree and paid in quarterly instalments. The first payments at the new rates will be made on pension payday 27 March 2008.

If you have a home internet connection in addition to your telephone connection, your rate of telephone allowance will be increased by 50 percent - from $88 to $132 a year per household. In order to receive this increase, you will need to have a home connection to the internet and notify DVA via the ‘Application for Increased Telephone Allowance’ form (if you have not received this form please contact DVA). Both allowances will be paid automatically on the next pension payday after the 20 March, 20 June, 20 September, and 20 December.

Ordering a cake by phone:

Okay, so this is how I imagine this conversation went.............

• Cake-shop employee answers phone..., "Harro, dis Emaneul's cake-shop, how can I be of helping you?"

• Customer, "I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week."

• Employee, "What you be wanting writing on cake?"

• Customer, "'Best Wishes Suzanne'.... underneath that 'We will miss you'...."

Click HERE to see the cake...

This has to be the

THE poster of the year.

School 1960 vs. School 2008.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1960 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.

2008 - Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. Both boys are charged with assault, AVOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 Internet sites.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.

1960 - Jeffrey is sent to the Principal's office and given a good whack on the back side. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2008 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1960 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to uni, and becomes a successful businessman.

2008 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang.. Psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.

Scenario: Mark, a college student, brings cigarettes to school.

1960 - Mark shares a smoke with the school principal out on the smoking area.

2008 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Vinh fails high school English.

1960 - Vinh goes to Remedial English, passes and goes to uni.

2008 - Vinh's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against state school system and his English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Vinh is given his Y10 anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.

1960 - Ants die.

2008 - Security and ASIO are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Windows Service Pack 3

Are you a Billy Gates Windows XP user.? If not, go to Goodbye, else read on.

What service pack is installed on your PC?? You dunno..??

Here's how you find out. Click on Start/Control Panel/System. The General tab will show you what service pack is installed. Service Pack 3 has been released by Bill and his crew. You can read all about it HERE.

If you want the new service pack, you can get it HERE. It's one Mutha of a download at more than 300 Mb. If you're on dial-up ......... forget it. I've had it running it for over a month and it hasn't crashed or hung yet = bliss!!

The cyber-rumours are suggesting it makes Windows XP run 10% much more better. I haven't carried out any tests, but it appears to me to definitely run much much more betterer - perhaps I've become starry-eyed.

Goodbye.

Butterworth.

If you were at Butterworth, then a 50th Anniversary reunion planned for the 23-25 May 2008 might interest you. You can find out more info on the reunion HERE

RAAF Boeing 707 End of an era

On 30 June 2008, the last RAAF B707 tanker/transport aircraft will officially retire from Australian Defence Force service. Plans are underway for a ‘hangar bash’ at RAAF Base Richmond on 28th June 08, to celebrate the contribution of past and present members of the RAAF B707 community and to farewell this historic aircraft.

The RAAF has been flying this aircraft type for 29 years. Five RAAF B707's are used for air-to air refuelling and transport and are operated by No 33 Squadron from RAAF Base Richmond, near Sydney. The 707 can be configured in a number of different ways to allow the best mix of passenger and cargo space for a mission. A 707 tanker can carry up to 43 tonnes of fuel, as a comparison, a Hornet's internal fuel capacity is only 5 tonnes. The 707s regularly deploy entire Hornet squadrons to Singapore and Malaysia to take part in regional exercises.

The wingtip refuelling pods are removable to reduce weight and drag and increase range on non-tanker missions. As a transport aircraft, the 707 can seat up to 152 passengers or carry 60 tonnes of cargo. It will be progressively replaced by new KC-30B Multi-Role Tanker Transports, which are a modified Airbus A-330.

If you would like to attend, email the Boeing 707 ‘End of an Era’ planning committee at the following email address:- B707.Farewell@defence.gov.au with the following information:

1. Your name (surname, first name and title),

2. The names of any guest(s) (surname, first name and title),

3. Mailing address (postal and email address),

4. Contact phone number(s), and

5. Details of your association with the RAAF Boeing 707.

Only the full contact details for the sponsor of guests are required. Whilst this event is not open to the general public per se, all organisations and personnel who can demonstrate an association with the support and operation of the B707 during RAAF service can register to attend.

If you have any images (electronic) of your time with the B707 please forward them to the above email address so they can be incorporated into a commemorative montage or presentation.

The quick brown fox??

No doubt, Microsoft does some funny things. Try this, open Word, then type =rand(5,1) and press enter. You'd wonder why they would incorporate that feature into their word processor. You can change the 5 and the 1 to different values to the max =rand(200,99) or =rand(99,200) - but why would you??