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Iran is already nearly out of water, and they don't even have a desalination plant to provide them with water, thanks to bungling Islamic Fundamentalist leadership. The water situation was previously so dire, the Ayatollahs were discussing moving Tehran to some place where there was adequate water. Where that place was, is anyones guess. There's going to be a lot of thirsty Iranian war refugees flooding into other countries soon. https://e360.yale.edu/features/iran-water-drought-dams-qanats

Most of the beef we export to the USA is lean beef mixed with fattier US beef for hamburgers, you know Trumps favoutite big Mac. The US cattle herd has been in decline for decades reaching a low of 86.2 million down from over 90 million a decade ago. It has been in decline for over 75 years.

I don't know why we import beef, but if you study Free Trade agreements, you'll probably find the answers.

Foreign corporations have feedlots here and the beef is exported. I think it's cheaper to produce it here. Aussie farmers got shoved aside once again.

Up till now the McLarens had it almost to themselves. I will have to watch it because it IS the Ultimate technology with the Worlds best drivers. Nev

Ours is much better so why would we import? Nev

I see that USA imports billions of $ worth of Australian beef, annually. Now I see that USA has exported $700,000,000 worth of beef to Australia. https://www.beefcentral.com/news/us-beef-officially-re-enters-australia-after-23-year-absence/ Can anyone explain how this makes sense? Are we exporting so much beef that we left our local market short? We do that with our gas exporting. Doesn't all this shipping back and forth push up the price to the public?

Trump must have received one of those letters from a Nigerian Prince offering a big monetary reward in exchange for military assistance to quell internal troubles. As in Vietnam, the USA is sending a small contingent of advisors. About 100 US soldiers have arrived in Nigeria to train the West African nation's armed forces and help them with intelligence in their battle against growing security threats from Islamist militants and other armed groups. But is his aim peace or petroleum? Nigeria's economy is the fourth largest in Africa. Nigeria is the 15th largest producer of petroleum in the world, the 6th largest exporter, and has the 9th largest proven reserves. Nigeria is an economic leader in Africa in several industries, including energy, financial markets, pharmaceuticals, and entertainment. Its financial services sector is well-developed, with a mix of local and international banks, asset management companies, brokerage houses, insurance companies and brokers, private equity funds, and investment banks.

Hitler was said to be a madman. However, when it came to preparing for war, at least he spent a few years making those preparations, especially in the area of war materiels. The current GOAT madman set out on a war/military intervention/egotrip without making those essential preparations. It now appears that he's chucked most of his stockpiled weapons at the Iranians and cannot replenish them. I guess he is just copying his pal, Putin.

On another Middle East note, as if the wars there aren,'t already dirty enough, it looks like a big escalation has started. For the first time, a desalination plant has been struck. The implications for civillians are immense. % Potable water from desal plants: Iran: 3% UAE: 43% Saudi: 70% Kuwait: 90% Israel: 70% Oman: 86% Of this starts a tit-for-tat response, a lot of civilians might get thirsty and desperate very quickly.

Oh the irony. Iran makes Shahed drones. They sell them to Russia to use against Ukrainians. Of course they are using them now at home. USA has been wasting very expensive missiles to destroy Shaheds. (Patriot missiles?) To the point that USA is depleting their missile stocks. Now Ukraine are sending their own designed and Ukr made Sting interceptor drones designed especially for Shahed drones to help the US out! Cost? About $3500 each.

Yes, diesel did go down to around $1.00 a litre during the worst period of COVID, but it didn't stay there for very long, only a few weeks. The price gougers love major disruptions - any chance to give a reason for a substantial price increase. Spare a thought for a mate, he's driving his Landcruiser Troop Carrier from Esperance back to Victoria this coming week. Diesel is currently $2.29 L at Norseman and $2.99 a litre at Nullarbor Roadhouse. But I paid $2.79 a litre for diesel at Mundrabilla on the Nullarbor, when I drove from Echuca to W.A. in May 2024, so maybe not such a big percentage increase in remote areas, as in the cities. Diesel at Mundrabilla was the cheapest across all the Nullarbor roadhouses, back in May 2024. Nullarbor Roadhouse is always the dearest, you avoid the place like the plague. I wouldn't fancy being a caravanner tripping around the country at present, the massive increase in fuel prices is going to see a lot of people curtail their caravanning holidays.

Yeah, 1.10- 1.05. You see, people don't even notice, so weird. Start of Covid and Ukr war, 1.05, 1.10 where l was. That was typical though as l was going up and down to Melb all through that too and passing 100s of servos

Diesel was 1.10 where you are? It hasn't been much below 1.80 here for years.

It's just the Australian way, see a chance to gauge , go for it. Aussies will just take it on the chin pms will just go about their day and the gaugers line their pockets unscathed- so what's new right. Same with our super markets , gas, elec, costs of living, no one touches them and dumb old Aussies just soldier on, few gripes, that's ok super markets and all the rest are all use to that doesn't even phase em they know to well they laugh all the way to the bank behind closed doors and that's as bad as it'll get. l can never believe some of the delusional reports we hear on even just fuel. Oh fuels gone up 30%, 50% , since Covid/Ukraine or whatever other rubbish. Bullshit, in my area diesel was around 1.10 and over night flew up to 2.25. Ahhh, that ain't 30 or 50 , it's 100%, doubled. And since it's come down to about now 60-70%, pends where you are. Still 1.85 up here in a lot of places. Coles or Woollies still asking 16 and 20bucks for coffee that use to be 8 and 10, just to call one thing, it's right through anything they sell on and on but off they all just merrily go.

Frump tried following his love Pute in this earlier and called it some bs don't remember how he put it. But l saw a clip of him yesterday actually calling it a war , full stop. Me, l'd call it yet another Frump shyt show that hasn't even begun, just sadly more tragic than his usual but eh, he's still alive so what's he care .

Back to topic. This is an interesting report:

The WLTP range for the MG Excite 51 is 350km not 405km. The WLTP range for my MG Essence 64 is 435km with the lower spec Excite 64 it is 450km. None of the models has a quoted 405km range. This is the old out dated NEDC range which was very inaccurate & was created in laboratory tests in the 1980s based on urban driving. It was last updated in 1997. A friend of mine has an Excite 51 & gets over 300km. In mine the range is about 380 to 400km based on 110km highway driving & some 50 - 80 km driving. Driving around in an urban environment at 50 - 60 kmh gives me much higher range. The range estimator (also known as the guess-O-meter) has given me 505km from a full charge & that would have been close if I hadn't gone over 50kmh. It has a level of intelligence that works out the range based on your driving style & it is surprisingly accurate. It is 182km from my house to Gold Coast Airport & a few weeks ago I left with 100% charge & arrived with 52%. Most of this was at 110kmh on the Pacific Highway. I could have got home without getting a charge but just like with my old petrol car I would never let the fuel get that low. I spent 15 minutes at the BP in Ballina for a comfort stop & coffee & added some charge. Cost me $9.04 but there was plenty left when I got home. Other than long trips it costs nothing to run my EV as I charge from solar, supplemented by my home battery and 3 hours of free power every day. I'll never have to worry about the price of petrol going up because of wars or other reasons for shortage. In any vehicle, electric or internal combustion it all depends on how you drive, the terrain, weather, the total weight of the vehicle and use of accessories like air conditioning etc.

Oh, jolly good show! Has Nev ever pranged a kite? Did he really know Pilot Officer Percy Prune? What about RAF and RAAF bumf? 😄

So it wasn't invented by Biggles then?

It appears that 'prang' is a relatively new word, created by the RAF. The date might be the mid-1930s, but its first documented use was in 1940/41.

The ridiculous thing was petrol going up and down like a bride's nightie, from $1.59 to $2.29 per litre every few weeks, without a major war anywhere.

It's all about the F-word - and as to its quality as a linguistic presentation, it's pretty f***ed. 😄

The price per barrel of oil has gone up 12.5%. That equates to 21c a litre at the bowser. Anything more than that, is simple price gouging.

I am not into F1, but a mates son is in college doing engineering and has an placement on a scheme run by the F1 teams to bring on the next round of engineers. All he has wanted to do in his teenage years is work on F1 cars, so best of luck to him. I saw a headline on the Age' website quoting Piastri as sayingthe Mercs are just too quick.. Not sure in what context, but that doesn't bode well for McLarens. A bit of trivia.. My old home airport, Fairoaks, was right next to the McLarens Technology centre, where they did most oftheir F1 development: