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Starting a new topic, similar to the "tell us about your last flight" on the sister site, but for motorbikes. (Or whatever else you've been riding. Just remember it's a family site 😜) Had a lovely ride this morning, met @nomadpete and his better half for a coffee then down to Dover. From there I took the Esperance Coast road (which I've never done before - but it was a beautiful riding road), which comes out at Surges Bay. Beautiful day, no pesky cars in the way for most of it. Pure fun!

Pocock is (or appears to be) on the correct side of most issues. The trouble is, for every Pocock there's a Bob Katter, a Clive Palmer, a Barmy Joyce or a Pauline Hanson. Well that puts them in front of PHON then, who have thought bubbles instead of policies and can't even agree amongst themselves as to what they are. Look I know the Greens sometimes seem nutty. My point is that if you want to park your vote with a protest party, at least give it to the nutters who have the best interests of the planet at heart, instead of the nutters who want to destroy it.

This sounds like a brilliant move.... Trump's Dallas mid-term convention site has been possibly sabotaged. The address redirects to the DOJ Epstein Library. http://gopdallas2026.com/ Try it. It really does!

This discussion has becomve very depressing, except for one thing. No matter where on the political spectrum each of us lays, we all seem to be in agreement that we have little or no say in how our country is governed and the direction its elected leaders want to take it.

Maybe wrong thread for this, but.... Russia has been creeping up and reenforcing positions near Polish and Finnish borders Neither China or Russia nor America can be trusted and have been the enemy of peace since the end of the last World War when they all began their land grabs.

And the recycled pollies PHON have at the trough are different in what way, exactly? Jerry, they've done something else before politics. They've had real jobs and careers. It's not hard to research. Pauline fried fish, Barnaby was a bean counter, David Farley started out as a jackeroo and ended up CEO of Australia's largest agricultural company, NSW leader Mike Newman is a former investment banker and NSW trade commissioner to Japan, Luke Herdegen who just won the WA byelection is a small busnessman who owns gyms, Tyron Whitten the WA senator is a former concretor and business owner, Rod Caddies the WA leader has worked in child protection, construction, mining and as an ADF reservist, and that's just some of them. Even Malcolm has had real jobs but I reckon he's too nutty to talk about.

OMG, they allow wimmin to do anything these days! Anyway. Just you wait until you get your wind farm. Especially in summer. Every wind farn I visit has got a nice cool breeze comming off them big fans!

You've got to be kidding! Why waste a good rant by reading provided refrences beforehand?

Going back to that assessment and prediction from Tony Barry of Redbridge Group, here's a quote of his opinion (based on polling) on reasons behind One Nation support: “For about 15 per cent of One Nation voters, they self-report immigration as their key consideration. But for most, they’re looking for an anti-establishment party. It’s a rejection of the two-party system,”

I came across another photo repair website which offered a free trial. I uploaded one of the most damaged photos I had, of my wife's aunt and cousin. here are the results.

Guess what! A splayd is an eating utensil which combines the functions of a spoon, knife and fork. It was invented by William McArthur in the 1940s in Sydney. I've still got the boxed set of Splayds that Mum got back in the day.

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Being a federal politician can't be easy. Imagine the protocols, rules, how policy is developed, getting information from the APS, what to declare, how to bargain with all the others without getting screwed over, your every mistake and misstep scrutinized by the press, working and networking all hours of the day and night. So if we don't want professional politicians, then we want "normal people" from all walks of life who can also be media experts and able to understand the implications and anticipate consequences of complex legislation. Which means that in most cases they will be heavily dependent on, and guided by, their staff. Who elected them (the staff?)

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It would be good to get rid of career politicians in all partys.

Ukraine probably offers really cheap flights to Australian soldiers looking to take a working holiday.

All three have imperialist intent and stop at nothing to seek their aims. China does the long game extremely well.

I can relate to that, having never owned a new car. The newest I've bought were a couple that were around six to seven years old. Most have been in the ten to fifteen year old range. I never saw the point in going tens of thousands of dollars into debt to buy a new car when a good second hand one costing a few thousand does the same job.

Not really related to the pros and cons of windfarms, but I figured this was the best place to show this video without starting a new thread. It deals with the way the blades for these generators are made and how they are repaired. Very interesting is the fact that the person presenting the video is an Australian - and a woman as well.

Sorry to be dissecting your post, but I am trying to get down to a useful conclusion about why not the Greens?... Although I have heard the above sentiment from others, and sometimes said similar myself, most really can't list all these BAD policies for me. Well that's what we all agree that's what gets votes for ON + Clive. But not working for Greens? But also don't like the major party's politics, either. Well, we all see a lot of nutty politicians in ALL parties. Disagree there. Greens have been bumping along the bottom for ever. Not likely to peak. Totally true. But we are accustomed to major partys doing that fairly often, too. After I started typing, others have touched on similar. I am puzzling how we can break out of this BTBD cycle before we follow the USA path. (BTBD = Burn The B Down and start afresh)

Did you actually read the article? "Premier Ben Carroll said if Labor won the November election, it would work with Corrections Victoria to develop a pilot program to put supervised, minimum-security prisoners to work performing roadside maintenance. The plan would include having inmates take over basic duties such as mowing lawns, controlling weeds, removing graffiti and picking up rubbish." A photo and then "Premier Ben Carroll, who served as roads minister between 2020 and 2022, said it would free up skilled roadside maintenance crews to concentrate on fixing potholes. Low-security inmates are already involved in day-release programs doing gardening, weeding and rubbish collection in some parks." So, there is no plan to use inmates to actually fix the roads... Another beat up

Actually - I don't buy it. The biggest reason things go downhill for blue collar workers is inequality. More of the pie goes to the massively rich and trickle down economics is the same joke it's always been. Even if they blame the major parties, they're voting for the fringe party that's bought and paid for by the same rich fucks that are already ruining their lives. If they truly wanted to change things for the better, they'd vote Green or progressive independents like Pocock.

It doesn't matter.. The fact we are heading downhill slower than the others doesn't make it good nor excusable People are wanting things to turn around, not to be told it will turn around and then the same path continue. After at least two generations of things getting worse, people are saying how do we change this. They only have one really big lever. The problem is, there is no one to step up with the real fixes so the only alternative is to, as @willedoo put it - burn the house down and start again. A lot of people don't see Chump's actions as anything but that... Even one of his MAGA supporters said it is the bitter medicine America needs to heal and get better (I am not sure I subscribe to that way of thinking, but the reality is there are far too many being pushed to the margins and they are getting angry).

Good job it was an Offenhauser and not an Oppenheimer. That would have been a bomb.

I've come to the conclusion that my hypothesis is WRONG. The British did not go to Botany Bay to establish a base for agriculture and commerce. They went there to create a dumping ground to releive the congestion in the hulks and prisons which were filled with souls whose crimes we now consider to be at the lowest end of criminality. I've reached this conclusion through a bit more reading. My main source that lead me to this conclusion is the book 1788 by David Hill. (See notes below for book identification) From this book I learned thatin 1717 the British parliament passed an Act which enabled the transportation of felons to foreign shores. At that time those shores were those of the American colonies, to which some forty thousand convicts were taransported (into slavery) over the following sixty years. Convicts committed to transportatin were sold by theo goalers to the shipping contactors, who took them actoss the Atlantic and sold the prisoners to plantation owners for the duration of their sentences. In 1777, the Parliament passed the Hulk Act, which allowed for the confinement of convicts in decommissioned British naval vessels on the Thames and other English rivers and ports. This was seen as a temporary measure until the American insurrection was quashed, but those colonies were granted independence in 1783 through the Treaty of Paris. leaving Britain with no place to transport convicts to, and crowding began to get bad in the hulks. So, based on the promptings of Sir Joseph Banks that the east coast of New South Wales (as Cook named it) would be a great place, in depth plans were made to sens an advance party to establish a colony to which thousands of convicts could be sent in future. The problem with Botany Bay was/is that it is no good for agriculture. (I grew up on its shores, and I know what the soil is like - crap.) Joseph Banks doesn’t come out of it very well. He enthused about Australia as a verdant land of opportunity when (a) his own notes were less effusive, and (b) he’d seen hardly anything of the place and was only here for a week. All he had done was collect a lot of plants. He obviously knew nothing of the requirements for agriculture. If these comments raise your interest in that bit of histroy, I recommend the book to you. After reading it, you will wonder at the survival of those convicts, Marines and officials during their first few years on these Fatal Shores. You can chase up the book with these details: Author: David Hill Title: 1788, The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet, Publisher: Random House (William Heinemann) ISBN: 9781741668001

How often do we hear of any good work that our Local Member does for the electorate? As Mark Anthony was want to say, "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones." If those good works were publicised, then a Local Member would be assured of continued support.

I suspect one root cause of the malaise, is that politics has become a business dominated by professional politicians. Their greatest motivation is a desire to keep their job and rise through the ranks. They act as though it's a game of 'say whatever it takes, to get the votes'. The electorate no longer believes anything any of them says (even the honest ones). To restore trust they will have to get the punters to start saying 'Hey, thank goodness, xxxx did this for us! '

You are having a bad day. Don't feel bad, it could be worse. Imagine running into a wall with a boner, and breaking your nose first.

Plenty of other used for Nickel. Nev

Toyota has been banking on its Solid State battery technology that it has been developing for a number of years but there have been constant delays & 2027-28 is the current launch date. Meanwhile they have teamed up with arch rival BYD to use their tech in Toyotas. Toyotas main effort in the BZ4X aka Subaru Solterra has met with poor sales due to a number of factors including price & range. Japanese manufacturers should have cleaned up the market with Nissan Leaf being one of the first EVs & Toyota the biggest & longest standing Hybrid manufacturer, but they were caught & overtaken & largely pushed aside by the Chinese. Chinas electrification plan began back in 2001 & no-one took any notice & the legacy automotive market has been blind sided & left in the dust.

My last ride wasn't very exciting at all. It was on a battered old postie bike down the driveway to pick up the mail from the letterbox. Uneventful trip down but broke down halfway back up and that's where it stayed for a few years. Haven't had a road registered bike for quite a few years now. Still remember my first ride (175cc BSA Bantam) and some of the more exciting ones. Some memories I cherish, some involving hospitals I'd rather forget.

And that's why you get the big bucks. Good luck! (seriously)

Randomly, should we ditch Mercator's famous projection? Maybe use less distorted country sizes at the higher latitudes? I see USA doesn't like the idea.

Motivation I would say, How would you know they had the ready money? Maybe they borrowed it? Nev

I handed in all my welding rental cylinders years ago, paid a fee to Gasweld for “ownership”, only pay gas price when swapping. my oxy set ones are from another swap group through local owned ag store in Tamworth. I am going to change gasweld ones to Metal land system though because the shop is 3 doors down instead of a 100km round trip now. some years I not even get a refill, so rent was dead money with 6 cylinders.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1506510993864134

It's somebody's idea of desirable. Why even THINK of having a Law against it.? It's only a consumable and they are not rare or very quick. . USA is a bit hooked on chrome. It will Probably run OK for years. Nev

I was wondering why Finnair were offering discount fates to Aus :-)

I wonder if they'll have the warder on the horse with the pilot sunglasses and the shotgun.

And the recycled pollies PHON have at the trough are different in what way, exactly? Oh, you want people with proven skills at sticking their snouts into the trough doing it. I get it.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1730843141534127

Just to clarify, Marty. The Haha icon I left on your post is not to put shite on the post; I just thought your post was a rather witty response.

I think you'll find they get their information from their bank account and what is left in them after the bills are paid.. or their crumbling health services, etc. Murdich makes it easy ti fund someone to blame and someone to use to punish the incumbents. Look over here.. a PM who finally gets it and with really tiny tweaks, the protest party, Reform and his mates are imploding in the polls

I kind of agree but only where the holder of such views influences others with them. If it's just your average idiot on a forum, no. If it's an influencer with 10,000 followers, yes.

There is no emoticon for.... admiration of their spirit

I don't think our system of preferential voting is the fault. The fault with modern elections is the contributions made to Parties by organisations. Dose an organisation have a franchise to vote? Is an organisation a person? We are coming to the conclusion that donations to political parties by organisations are bribes - a rose by any other name.