No. I do not believe in execution for drug offenses, if at all. I have known drug users and I have seen some die of them. That does not alter my opinion.

I think that what they did is a bit irrelevant to the outcome, though.

This issue was milked for the political winner that it was by the Australian and Indonesian governments both. It was the gift that kept on giving.  They both managed this well and got decent bumps in the approval polls out of it. That the outcome was execution was always going to be the case and I doubt that either lost sleep over that part.

Abbott and Bishop got to look important and presidential making a fuss about someone they did not give a rat's arse over and it helped distract from the series of disasters and incompetence at home. It's as good a distraction as playing the terrorist card and sending troops/planes to the middle east.

A newly minted Widodo got to increase his support by firmly resisting pressure from rich countries who are seen over there as patronising and bullying. The theatre of their transfer to the prison island said it all. Four naval ships. Armoured vehicles. Commandos. For what?  In case someone tried something? Please.  That was just an exercise in Indonesian national pride. It will have played very well on TV. As good as the ANZAC crap we have been rehashing endlessly for the last weeks.

I think the Federal Police have some responsibility here, as they shopped those guys. I would like to know whose decision that was. I would like to know what they or the Australian government got in return. I am certain they got something.

I'd really like to know why noone further up the supply chain was caught or charged. Surely this would have been a golden opportunity to do something other than stop a few bottom level mules and enforcer thugs. No?

Lastly, given the amount of consular assistance and pressure the Australian government has expended on these guys, who are (or perhaps were) essentially scum and thugs, why do they not exert similar pressure to try and help guys like Julian Assange, who performed some serious public service to us all, and is not yet charged with a crime. He has languished a prisoner  in a small room in London for some years now and must live with the distinct likelihood that he will end up in an American prison for decades at the least and might well be subject to torture by that regime, should he get there.

I want to know why they aren't helping that guy.

I throw in some Prime or a Prime clone, and from time to time some lake salts.

I love it when you contact them asking the dimensions and they say "it's 3 or 4 foot long" and if you ask them to actually measure it they get shitty.

You guys are worse trolls than me!

2228 are the shiznit. The other thing that leaks on the pro 2 is the tap unit. Have had to replace two.

More interesting lots added. Don't wait until last minute, folks...

The main raffle prize will be an Aleas AE 1381 canister filter from Steve at our sponsors Avid Aquaria.

You all have until Friday evening to get  your lots in, those who have not...

IDK... The aquarium hobby seems to be surprisingly chock full of people with axes to grind. Every group has members who left another group because they can't stand someone in it, or how it is run, or because someone answered them in an unsatisfactory manner, be it unfriendly, or teasing or unhelpful, or just voiced an opinion which was at odds with their own view. It's all so serious. As if we don't have enough drama in our lives.

People go and make their own groups because they can run them better, or person "X" will not be there. They go off to found the "true church", where all is better  and everyone is friendly and helpful and no sarcasm will ever ever be used..

Other groups form, with their own cliques and politics and the hobby fragments and churns. This effect can be seen in any school playground and is not in and of itself a bad thing; it just is. There is always a certain amount of churn, and often people who forsake this site for whatever reason find their way back after a couple of years. Some stick around but post on their other hobbies as they don't even keep fish anymore.

There are plenty of punters who like to ghost the forums and make pronouncements or funny posts or just troll, and that is fine. The internet is a playground and that is what makes it fun.

The main difference is this: The PCS is the only group I am aware of that holds regular meetings.

It has always been my observation that whatever people are like on the internet, they are all perfectly nice and friendly people in the flesh, and that the forum/facebook page is a poor substitute for a PCS meeting. In person people are usually both more friendly and more adult. In this the Society has it over the myriad facebook pages and the like and anyone who judges and discards the PCS based only on the website is missing out on the better part of the club.

Maybe my view is getting old fashioned, but that's just my 10c.

Weight, rather than size, is generally the main considerations with holy rock. "New" In stores it retails from $9 to 12 a kilo.

Eel tail looks to be neosilurus, yes?

Would not be PCS otherwise

Umm... Discus is already a New World cichlid...

Added some more lots. Some plants, filters and pretty uncommon cichlids. 1 week left to get your lots  in.

You are all wrong. That is obviously an  atractosteus spatula- alligator gar. Either that or Kleinz has been at the shrooms  .

He did say guess. No need to get the ruler out

Added.

A little over a week to go to get your lots in, people. Don't leave it until the last minute.

Wash wash wash. If you feel something is still in there, it very likely isn't, and it's just residual irritation.

Also, they have an insane number of fine bones. Filleting the way to go IMO.

Yep. Was at Vebas yesterday. They had them in 300 and 500. Think I saw at Rob's too.

I use a lot of different heaters. Each year I stick them in a nano tank with a couple of thermometers and check them. Then I tag the cord so I know if they are high, low or accurate.

Have had a Resun fail. but so far the rest are all hunky dory.

Using Eheims, Aqua One, Hydor inline, Fluval Tronic, Aqua Zonic, and some cheapies.

That looks like Carnarvon gravel

Blockheads FTW, Jase

Added a bunch of lots. So far so good Get in early and avoid the rush!

It's alright, Shayne. Jason was wearing a dinner suit when he typed that out , so the formalities were observed.

So I have a 4 footer with some South Americans. Eartheaters, mostly. I also have some L397 growing out and shaping the wood in there. My problem is that there is always a good deal of fine particulate matter suspended in the water. I think it's mostly wood dust that has been through a catfish. I do not think it bothers the fish much, but I'd like the water a tad clearer. the particles are so fine that the canister is just not collecting them. The water tests out just fine, so my particles are pretty much inert chemically.

Putting more wool in the canister is OK, but getting in there is a bitch, and I do not want to be cracking the canister every week.

In marine fishkeeping, don't they use filter socks? I'm thinking if I get a small HOB or something and have it run through something that will sieve finely, I can just empty that every day. Is this going to be fine enough to get ? Am I courting disaster and large puddles?

I mean, the obvious solution ( aside from removing the L397) is sticking another small canister in there that is all wool, but IDK if that will work ( maybe not fine enough) and I am looking for a better solution.

Whaddyareckon?

My fave threads are deleted, heavily redacted or archived