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In my prime.... Zero debt. Low body fat percentage. Fluid balance perfect. Nutrition excellent. Cholestorol low. Mental health balanced. Zero alcohol, excellent hydration. This was my peak. I was eight years old.

Random....

My son just turned up this morning to show off a Royal Enfield Himalayan with just over 1,000k on the clock that he got for a great price from a guy who had to sell it for health reasons. Kitted out with panniers and other extras so he's very happy. I don't know much about bikes, but it looks great.

Jerry, if I read the first post correctly, you said you paid 1500 for this bike. Given the ongoing electrical problems, if you can get 1200 for it, that would seem to be an excellent option.

This image isn't mine but it is taken from a better angle. Also, when a motorcyle is cornering, the rider holds the front wheel a bit away from the direction of the turn. That is counter intuitive, but the artist seems to have captured that.

One winter's evening we found an straggly cat at our door. 
She was a sorry sight indeed. 
Starving and dirty, she smelled terribly and all her fur all matted in lumps. 
We felt so sorry for her so we put her in a carrier and took 
her to the vet. 
 We didn't know what to call her so we named her 'Pussycat.'

 The vet decided to keep her for a day or so. 
He said he would let us know 
when we could come and get her.

 My husband (the complainer) said, 
'OK, but don't forget to wash her, she stinks.' 
He reminded the vet that it was his WIFE (me) that wanted the dirty cat, not him.

 My husband and my Vet have never seen eye to eye. The vet calls my husband 
'El-Cheap-O', and my husband calls the vet 'El-Charge-O'.
 
They love to hate each other and constantly 'snipe' at one another, with my 
husband getting in the last word on this particular occasion.
 
 The next day my husband had an appointment with his doctor, 
who is located in the same building, next door to the vet.

 The MD's waiting room and office was full of people waiting to see the 
doctor. 
A side door opened and the vet leaned in - he had obviously
seen my husband arrive.

 He looked straight at my husband and in a loud voice said,

'Your wife's pussy doesn't stink any more. We washed and shaved it, and
now she smells like a rose. Oh, and, by the way, I think she's pregnant.
 God only knows who the father is!' Then he closed the door.


Weell. Not that anyone would ever do this.... but hypothetically if they did.... If I was powerful and wanted to tank the dollar and get rich off it, here is exactly what I would do.I would hire a Treasury Secretary who already made $3.5 billion crashing another country's currency. I would put my guy in charge of the agency that approves bank charters. I would install a crypto czar with $200M in crypto holdings and give him an ethics waiver so nobody could challenge it.Then I would sign an executive order banning the government from ever creating a digital dollar so there was no competition.Then I would have my family launch their own private digital dollar. My family takes 75% of net profits. I would grow it to $4.6 billion in circulation and route a $2 billion Abu Dhabi sovereign fund deal through it to prove it works.Then I would get Congress to pass a law requiring every stablecoin in the country to hold short-term Treasury bills. Now every dollar of my digital currency is a forced buyer of government debt. Brookings projects $2.3 trillion in captive demand by 2030.Then I would have my OCC guy grant my family's company a federal bank charter. Now I can issue my digital dollar with federal authority.Then I would have my Treasury Secretary weaken the actual dollar. Bond buybacks that suppress yields but tank the currency. Build a $950 billion war chest for more. Let the debt hit $40 trillion. Dollar index drops to 99. Gold goes to highest point ever.Then I would kill the Corporate Transparency Act and delete the FinCEN beneficial ownership database. That was the one law that required every shell company in America to report who actually owns it. Without it, nobody can trace who is buying my stablecoin, who is routing money through it, or where the profits land.Then I would let the loop run. Weaker dollar drives demand for "stable" digital alternatives. The law I passed forces those alternatives to buy T-bills. That funds the government's debt. My family takes profit on every transaction. Foreign central banks walking away from Treasuries get replaced by legally mandated stablecoin reserves my family controls.Then I would use sanctions to start cutting countries off from the dollar system entirely. And when those countries need a new way to transact in dollars, the only federally chartered private digital dollar in existence is mine. They can buy it through shell companies nobody can trace because I deleted the ownership database.I just built a toll booth on the global financial system. I take a cut every time someone uses the dollar. And I made it so nobody can see who is paying.And every single step I just described has already happened.So what does that mean for you and I?The reason the United States can borrow at low rates and keep your mortgage and your car payment and your import prices stable is because foreign central banks hold trillions in dollar reserves. That system has always been public. The benefit went to everyone. Lower borrowing costs, cheaper goods , and the single biggest economic advantage any country has ever had.What I just described is the privatization of that function. The entity buying the debt is no longer a central bank acting in the public interest. It is a private company taking 75% of net profits for one family. The reserve function used to generate a public benefit. Now it generates a private fee.Your purchasing power shrinks every time the dollar weakens. Your 401k buys less in real terms. Everything you import costs more. And every time the dollar drops, demand for the private digital alternative goes up. The one the president's family owns. The one that by law must buy government debt.You absorb the cost of a weakening dollar. His family collects the profit. That is the trade.The enforcement mechanism to stop a sitting president from doing this? There isn't one. Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter says it would be a violation for literally any other federal employee, but not the president.Nobody voted for this. No one was asked. There was no debate. There is no enforcement mechanism. There is no one investigating it. The Senate tried and it was blocked.This is the largest conflict of interest in American history happening in broad daylight while everyone argues about something else.So what do you do? Share this. Make it impossible to ignore. Send it to your representative, your senator, every journalist you follow. We make them answer for it. Because the only thing protecting this scheme right now is the fact that not enough people understand it yet. But that would never happen, would it?

An amazing statue dedicated to Australian motorcyclist Kenny Blake. Located in Strathalbyn, South Australia. "Surely it is one of the most amazing and continuous tributes to a mate ever known. They come from afar to cheer this bloke, a motorcycling legend who won 11 Australian motorcycling titles. Some say he would have been at least the equal to Australia’s more recent champions Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Casey Stoner had he not been forced to race on a shoe-string budget."

Did they think you just had a happy end to your car trip? Lucky you!

Seems the Globemaster was accompanied by a C130 - probably carring the catering truck. Just in case.

Just got a call from the shop. Apparently the connectors on the loom side of the regulator were knackered (though I thought I checked them... so when I pick up the bike I will see what I missed).. And also, the new regulator itself is a dud. So they are taking a video of it so I can use as evidence to get my £ back... The company that supplied me the regulator should be OK with it though, as the shop is replacing it with one from the same company I purchased from and they have good reputation. Regulator won't arrive until tomorrow and I will not be able t collect until Thursday afternoon... So to London by train this time.

I bet they call it 'Almond Milk', because nobody can say "Nut Juice" with a straight face.

I think I'm drawn to yoga....

Companies who make profits in Australia often have overseas shareholders. I reckon if you compare remittances to the money going overseas to those shareholders, it'd be a drop in the bucket.

Money spent by the government on overseas aid is not a handout, it's a hand up. It typically goes to health, education and development in poorer countries as well as direct food aid in times of famine. As for people who send some of their money back to their families to help them out, it's their money. They earned it, they work here, pay taxes and also support our economy so they are doing their bit for this country as well. Saying that foreign aid recipients expect a handout as their human right and acquire a distorted sense of their own value and worth because they benefit from the aid is nonsense in my opinion. Trump got rid of USAID, which cost the US a relative pittance in cash but a huge amount in international goodwill. People in recipient countries died as a result. Was that a good outcome? in any case, Australia only ranks 25th out of 32 donor nations measured as a proportion of each country's national income, so you can hardly say that we are an overly generous nation.

40 Nev

This post is an exemplary representation of the way many voters feel today. It is no use arguing with the post or the reasoning because the post isn't arguing for anything better, worse of different than we have today. It's a recognition that the average person is squeezed and those in power are not putting the people first. There is nothing in the post to say ON will be any better.. it is about punishing those in power who are ignoring the people - plain and simple. For a stereotypical family, both parents are working and struggling to make ends meet when in yesteryear that wasn't the case as much as it is today. There are structural reasons for it.. modern life is more complicated. It is useless a polly saying don#t have your avocado toast, because it makes little difference in the end. You're lifestyle today is busier. People are working longer hours or when in the office travelling longer to get there and back. Many people when they get back do some form of work where that was rarer in previous generations. So, they are time poor and it is less of a luxury and more of a necessity - unless you want them to eat unhealthy processed food and eventually put more pressure on an ailing public health system. Ad don the need for smart phones for virtually all the family as you just can't do some things without them these days (or it costs you a lot more), tolls, longer hours, after school activities, child care for younger ones. And to help with a far more complex family life than in my day, it costs the government more. What people don't realise is the government has little levers to pull to manage the cost of living unless it starts taking measures that people will then complain of government overreach. So in some respects, they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. To make things cheaper for example, we need denser housing because Australia suffers from diseconomies of scale. A land mass the size of the USA and 1/10th of the population. The more land with the fewer people, the more it costs to get services - especially those requiring infrastructure - to the people. So when the incumbents start to take things for granted - such as a vote - and let's face it even Labor is being a little less conspicuous in that taking for granted, people get pissed off because they can see the parties working for vested interests of the few - and themselves - and not at least trying to make decisions that are better for the people at the same time - like finding a balance. The gas excise issue is hotting up and people are now well educated on how Australia is being fleeced. This is a deal I think penned in the Howard years, but it can be fixed. The ALP consistently refuse to do it. That would add if I remember rightly $16bn to the coffers per year. You could solve quite some issues with that. The persistent morally corrupt lack of support for veterans; the Robodebt royal commission has not resulted in any meaningful change. The gambling ads report has not been implemented at all; Upping the public take of the pokies and other gambling is not being done. Approving fossil fuel leases/mining when there is clear majority opposition to it - and these never result in the promised jobs for locals; And then there was a recent bailing out of a mine or something... when was it Woodside or BHP (can't remember which one) are making massive profits?? WTF. In the last administration, they threw away a nascent market advantage by going for an early transition of energy (Yes, Siso, I know you don't approve). It wasn't until it was clear that SFM was going to lose the election and backing fossil fuel companies was costing him big time did he do a back flip. The above post says we have had enough of being fleeced. We want to send a signal to the incumbents that just because they may be the better, it is of a pretty bad bunch.. and we don't care if the next ones are worse, because until you get it through your thick brains that we are onto you, we are happy to vote in the next bunch of idiots, because in reality, for us, it will make little difference in the end... I don't think they believe ON will be any better.. they may use it to justify their actions, but when inaction is so poor with the incumbents, I agree wit the post - ignore the people and you're done for. This is exactly what is happening in the UK until Reform shot themselves in the foot; and it is exactly what happened in the USA (with the help of a media hell bent on getting an outcome for its advertisers regardless of the impact on the country). I think it is what is happening throughout Europe. People are sick of the same ol' same ol'. May as well make life hard for the "establishment".

Well, I watched about 10 minutes but the bum in the jeans was nowhere to be seen. False advertising! 😄

Yep, Lots of great bargains for the canny and slowish rider. Some add a high compression big bore kit, cam etc with nice pipes, ecu change. It's a common mod that makes a big change in power. One such kitted would be great second hand.

There's a lot of good low mileage second hand Royal Enfields on the market for very cheap prices. The fact that the new price is relatively low has some bearing on their used prices. They usually don't have much on the clock for a couple of reasons. First one is that a lot of people that own them are only occasional riders, and a lot of old blokes get too old for riding and sell them, still with low k's. With second hand 650 Interceptors, it's often the case that someone has bought one and not far down the track realised they're not a speed machine, so they sell to upgrade to something a bit racier. You can pick up Interceptors with 4,000 k's on the clock for half the price of a new one.

The cost of living is way too high. The ALP and Coalition have no idea how to reduce it, that's why One Nation is doing so well ... we've got to have a change. Yes, I have cash stashed already, for electricity, vehicle rego, compulsory third party insurance, Council rates (just increased 30%), and food bill increases are emptying my wallet. Petrol has gone up, so has diesel. A haircut costs me $35, nothing fancy, just a quick back & sides of my thinning grey hair. We need to put the major parties out to pasture, they've been at it too long. They've lost their way, they're still stuck in their old elitist ways. They're forgetting who the real boss is, us grunts trying to make ends meet. Ignore the people, and you're done for.

that i something I would believe.. though I am not sure they can produce it at the intensity of the players - though I am guessing there would be some relative to body size that would bring it closer than we (or I) think. I recall in year 8, Jack Leahy - my then English teacher - was telling us about an experiment where a bunch of toddlers/early walkers were put in a room behind one-way mirrored glass with a bunch of toys (those plastic type cars, balls, etc), and a bunch of relatively fit adults on the other side of the glass with the same sort of toys (obviously where necessary increased in size for the stature of the adults) and the adults had to mimic/copy everything their assigned toddler did throughout the day.. By the end of the day, apparently the toddlers were still more or less going strong, but the adults were completely stuffed. Of course, when the toddlers slept, the adults could only rest - but apparently some did fall asleep during those breaks, too. I have no idea if it is true or not, but he was one of the best teachers I had, so I have no reason to doubt him.

Unfortunately, Nev, what the rest of the world thinks, doesn't matter at all. Neither does what the people of his country think, either. Meantime, what he (and all those under him) DOES, is affecting a lot of people the world over. There is no win-win outcome. For every win, someone, somewhere, is losing. And that, my friend, IS 'The Art of The Deal'. P.S. yes, that is Capitalism as practiced in USofA.

Definitely 10.

Nice old Studebaker. I like the current culture where unrestored or minimally restored cars are as popular as full restorations. It makes it a lot more financially accessable for more people. For too long the main goal was to restore back to as new condition, and that was a very labour intensive and expensive process. It's horses for courses and the full resto people get great satisfaction doing their thing, but it's also nice not to see the history rubbed off or painted away on a lot of these old vehicles. I like the lived in look.

A man walks into a bar with a newt on his shoulder. "Cute pet," says the barman, "What's his name?" The man replies, "Tiny." "Why did you name him that?" asked the barman. "Because he's my newt." replied the man.

And yet, the accuracy of the art captured the whole racing motorcycle and rider.

This video is incredible. I didn't know where to put it. It is brilliant. So accurate. I hope you can view it. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1366620815311013

I look forward to suffering such delightful political boredom.

State and local governments are racing to entice data centres without any thought for the environment, or power costs for the rest of the population for that matter. Because a few dollars in rates and a couple of security guard jobs are far more important than all the downsides.

Now that's art I can appreciate.

I call my wife’s chai latte “Squirrel nut juice” bloody stuff is terrible. she does not like that name. Her cousins looked at me strange when I got to their place and explained the mess on my shirt as nut juice. Her over full cup had splattered all over me in the car whilst holding it.

one thing for sure..they wont declare any taxable income for the work processed, magically they will all run at a loss.

Probably picking up his job performance bonus from Putin.

Good thing they don't have almond cream then...

What I if told you, You the read first line wrong? Same the with second line, And also the third...

A belly button is basically a scar from when you got into a knife fight with a guy in a mask after being evicted from your first place.

If you look at the process of governing in a critical way, you'll soon see that a government elected by the people is only means of appeasement to the couner teh complaints of the people about the way they are controlled by faceless men. Just look at teh way multi-national corporations control your life. That's not something new. The American Revolution would not have happened if Britain's biggest corporation, the East India Company had not made the British Parliament mess about with the tax on tea and on the goods coming into the Colonies. No matter where on the political spectrum your politics lie, no Party can solve your problems.

Among that parade of cars I saw a fairly ordinary old station wagon drive by with a few passengers and a heap of gear in the back. Still not sure whether they were meant to be part of it or just someone like the Griswolds who had taken a wrong turn and got caught up in it all.

I have to disagree. To me it looks all wrong. Nev

I once had a 28 Studebaker. But back then raising a family was more important than playing cars. Last week a mate sent me this pic of one. On farcbook marketplace - complete & in running condition - too good to restore.

I think the Democrats are having their own existential crisis. All over the place, "socialist" candidates (translation: candidates who want to represent real people, not whoever pays the most) are winning elections - against the wishes of the DNC. So the traditional reps, who want the bribes, er, sorry, "donations" to keep rolling in, are shitting themselves.

He can name his end of it. But it still doesn't win his tariff tantrum with the Canuks

As mentioned elswhere, Trump's World Liberty Financial issued a stablecoin designated as $USD1. Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to a fiat currency, in this case, the U.S. Dollar. So what are a 'fiat currency' and its operating device, 'fiat money'. Fiat money is a type of government-issued currency, authorized by government regulation to be legal tender. Typically, fiat currency is not backed by a precious metal, such as gold or silver, nor by any other tangible asset or commodity. In days of yore, kings, emperors and other governing bodies facilitated trade across distance by producing tokens (coins) to which they assigned a nominal value, usually based on a set amount of the valuable physical item. Evenutally the valuable physical item came to be a metal. The metal could be gold, silver, copper or an alloy such as bronze. The common feature of the item was that it could be used to produce other things such as jewellery in the case of gold and silver, or simpler objects in the case of copper and bronze. The value of the item was related to a predetermined value of the metal, and that value was set by the producer of the item. As the populations of the regions using coins increased, and the amount of trade carried on over large distances increased, the amount of valuable physical material available to produce coins lessened. Also as the value of transaction increased, it became difficult to carry large weights of coins over long distances. So 'paper money' was invented. Paper money was first used in China in the 7th century A.D. Like modern banking, individuals would deposit coins with a trustworthy party and receive a note indicating the amount. The note could then be redeemed for currency at a later date. In other words, the note was backed by actual physical items. Eventually global trade grew to such levels that governments could not continue to meet the promise of exchanging note for valuable physical items made of "precious" metals. This lead to the adoption of fiat currencies and fiat money. In monetary economics, fiat money is an intrinsically valueless object or record that is accepted widely as a means of payment. Accordingly, the value of fiat money is greater than the value of its metal or paper content. Fiat money generally does not have intrinsic value nor a use value. It has value only because the individuals who use it (as a unit of account or, in the case of currency, a medium of exchange) agree on its value. They trust that it will be accepted by merchants and other people as a means of payment for liabilities. From 1944 to 1971, the Bretton Woods agreement fixed the value of 35 United States dollars to one troy ounce of gold. The Bretton Woods system required countries to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks. Other currencies were calibrated with the U.S. dollar at fixed rates: for example the pound sterling traded for many years within a narrow band centred on US$2.80. The Bretton Woods system was ended by what became known as the Nixon shock, a series of economic changes by United States President Richard Nixon in 1971. These changes included unilaterally canceling the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. Since then, a system of national fiat monies has been used globally, with variable exchange rates between the major currencies. In modern economies, relatively little of the supply of money is physical currency. For example, in December 2010 in the U.S., of the $8,853.4 billion of money supply in all forms , only $915.7 billion (about 10%) consisted of physical coins and paper money So now, all those trillions of dollars spoken of in relation to international and domestic debt are simply numbers in ledgers. Their actual worth relies solely on the promises of the buyer to pay the seller what is owed. Global debt reached a record high of nearly $346 trillion by the third quarter of 2025, driven by surging government borrowing in both developed and emerging markets. This figure represents over 300% of global GDP. That means that roughly only $115 trillion in debt could be met through productivity. The remaining $230 trillion is Scotch mist.

That's truly amazing. The more you look at it the more you see.

Maybe someone in the factory got the containers mixed up.

Well, we all know that you are rust free. Yoiu've told us many times already.

Of course, you won't need AI if you are already a rusted-on party voter.

No pictures please🤣

I'm just trying to put context and balance in to the story which is just there to get people worked up and think Poorlean is the Answer. We still have triple "A" credit ratings and a Lower debt to Economic activity than Most of the rest of the best economies in the World. under the stress and chaos of Covid and Later Trump and the ME chaos. Nev