All Activity

According to Google, at the moment, from public records, the government is currently committed to around $2bn in spend under AUKUS. Of course, this is from what information is available publicly. But, these contracts will have escape clauses just like that of the French - especially since the US and the UK are under no obligation to deliver anything.. So, yes, it is likely we will lose some as we did with cancelling the French contract.. some $3.5bn in the end.. But even if we are on the hooks for say $10bn, it is still < 3% of the total budget of the program, so I would be happy t cut that cheque to be rid of it. And yes, I still pay tax in Australia.. The last guy setting it up excuses the cost of abandoning it; it doesn't excuse the continual accrual of a white elephant of a project to Australia committing that much money to it. Remember c. $5bn is allocated to uplift US shipbuilding capacity

On a positive note, yesterday's election results showed that democracy is not completely dead in the US and that the electoral system works despite huge sums of money being spent and plenty of vicious politicking. That's encouraging. Even so, a lot of the vote was a widespread vote against Trump rather than a vote for the Democrats, even by the democrats themselves. But at least now there's an opportunity to stop the ship from sinking totally. It's going to be a hard road to get things back on track and sort out the many problems, so I hope the new Congress and Senate can show a bit of leadership. They've got three months to get themselves organised, set a sensible and balanced agenda and then implement it. Hopefully the cooler heads can keep things on track and the hotheads under control. There's plenty of potential for it all to come unstuck, but at least they're off to a good start.

Cancer, I believe. He Put Australia on the F1 Map. Nev

Sad. I remember his awesome driving with Colin Bond in theyellow Ignis Alfa GTV in the touring cars. A little 2.5 litre taking it to the big V8s. Trounced everything in its class and often bettered the big boys.

He put a lot of effort to get where he Got in a sport which now costs millions of dollars to get anywhere. Down to earth and all round good Bloke. Nev

It inhibits Ride sharing. Nev

It will solve the fuel price crisis

Aussie F1 legend Alan Jones passes away aged 80.

It's definitely flammable I don't know about in Liquid form. Nev

They bottle it now?? I could make a fortune.

It won't be easy. If you got it wrong you could lose the Lot. I'd like to see who got the Kick Backs on that one. (And the Japanese one). Nev

The Horse darted into the fray.. Nev

A polite name for a fart.

I see your point. I don't have any on hand to check, but I can see that the edges parallel to the split in the 1925 design are flat. I suppose later improvements made those edges round. Probably made it easier to manufacture the pin.

Which needs to be ditched. Independent review (because the government wouldn't do it) has absolutely slammed it. We need some courage from Albo and the cabinet now.

I think she's stopped now.

We still have AAA rating , which Murdochs Minions will never Mention. That affects the rate of Interest the Gov't Pays on borrowngs. The big debt was for AUKUS which Sco-Mo got us into. Nev

You are not a Silly Old Fart, then. Everyone farts. Even the Queen. IF you do it in bed under the Blankets that's called a Dutch Oven. Nev

He says "he will work with them" IF they behave themselves?? 2 years to go. He might not live that Long. He certainly won't behave in a more rational way. He's a person where "everything is NOT Enough". They won't be installed for a couple of Months, but the results are astounding. Nev

I've never seen one with flats on the side as depicted there. They are used generally in conjunction with Castellated nuts. A cotter pin is a cylindrical bar with an offset thread on one end and a sloping flat formed along the side opposite the thread offset. . It acts as a wedge. There are also such things as Gib Head Keys, used in Locomotive work and also tapered pins of hardened steel to fix something in a precise position on a shaft, Nev

He said that four democrats had already called him after the election - two senators and three congressmen, and there were two more calls waiting. My guess is the actual number of calls was zero.

The thing Australians call a split pin was patented in the USA in 1925. https://patents.google.com/patent/US7413391B2/en This patent seems to be for an upgrade of pre-existing similar items. An earlier patent was granted in in the USA in 1902, and that item is of cruder design. https://patents.google.com/patent/US691730A/en 1902 version 1925 version There have been a number of later patents issued for amendments to this design, but these have been minor tweeks. The wedge-shaped piece or bolt that is/was used to fasten a pedal crank on a bicycle is known from the 1640s The word is of uncertain origin, perhaps a shortened form of cotterel, a dialectal word for "cotter pin or bolt, bracket to hang a pot over a fire" (1560s), itself of uncertain origin. Cotter-pin is attested by 1849. It would seem that the Australian term for the item provides a better description of how the pin is used and effectively differentiates it from the bolt-like thing.

Dunno about rain, but the wind has been pretty consistent up my way. Last night an isolated strong gust passed through. No! I don't suffer from flatulence.

Jeez! He slipped in unannounced!

I heard a couple of sound bites of Trump answwering questions after the election. He seemed very subdued, not his usual bombastic self.