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I've figured out some positives. Life is good. We've had twenty seven inches of rain so far this year and the country is looking great. It's finally stopped raining and the beautiful clear and cool weather is here. I have a debt free roof over my head, lots of food, a motor car that works, I can walk, talk, breathe, hear and see and have plenty of fun stuff to do. The first photo is the front yard, the second is the back yard, and the third photo is my best mate outside the kitchen window trying to shame me into giving him some dog biscuits. I've known him since he was born, so he's known me his entire life. There's nowhere I'd rather be.

It's a beautiful day. I'm going for a ride shortly. Thinking Bothwell way.

I'm doing a lot of thinking about the Hereafter. I go to a cupboard and think, "What am I here after?"

Announced Policies are generally not believed anyway. The public has lost trust in what politicians and speechwriters say.

I didn't think that JerryA said 'its better'. Sure. But not just USofA. It's a first step toward starting to address the sorry state of affairs in all our various democracies. All the world should be cleaning up their (our) own back yatd. More importantly for us, along with rising the ire of the voters, it brings the whole issue of corruption into the public awareness. Politicians must be aware of the groundswell of discontent. The polls have been showing it for years. We are tired of turning a blind eye to corruption whilst hoping for crumbs of integrity. It should be seen by the political parties as a big warning that the voters want a better deal - one where the wellbeing of the public is served better than the corrupting moneyed minorities (such as tax avoiding business entities)

Jerry, you're spending a lot of time defending the indefensible. Saying that it's better to have a massive amount of corrupt behaviour because it's transparently visible rather than a small amount of hidden corruption (which usually comes out anyway) doesn't seem logical to me.

For a while now, finding the Money for essentials when living on the OA Pension is a big challenge and the Boss and I have a few Medical challenges. She had open Heart surgery about 8 years ago and I have a very thorough Neuro person who is always Making me do tests and imaging. Yesterday we were in Bayside St Kilda and a low flying formation Led by a DC3 flew above and out over the Bay at about 1500 feet with magnificent noises coming from it's radial Motors. That Plane would be well over 80 Years old and Pt Phillip Bay was like a Millpond. Other Places in the World are Being bombed daily by R soles. Nev

Wille, you have just described my worst fears. Although I am not alone, that path of losses and degraded quality of life is my worst dread of all. And not just for myself. I feel badly for my wife having to go through that on her own if I lose my marbles. But for now, we take each day - one at a time - and find something positive to offset the gripes - of - the - day. Last night we went out to the local historic theatre (run by volunteers fighting the boredom of ageing). Watched an engaging but forgotten old movie. Today is the first sunny day for weeks. And I have good reason to get out of bed; It's my turn to put croissants in the oven for breakfast.

The scary part about getting older is seeing the younger set going ga-ga over some historic, vintage footage, from ancient times, about 50 or 60 years ago - then you look at it, and realise you were there as an adult, and everything is very familiar! I can also recall when middle nephew (about 10) came home from school and asked his Mum (SIL) if she had any old photos for a school project. When his Mum said, "How old?", he replied, "Oh, from about 60 years ago, when you were little!" His Mum was 30 at the time! 😄

I'm writing a book. It's all about things I should do. It's called 'Oughtobiography'

I quite like the idea of, I think it was @nomadpete's from some time ago about introducing a transaction tax - that is basically every transaction is taxed a percentage.. So, I did something not necessarily statistically valid and haven't yet validated any of it; and I think the idea would have to be refined (e.g. not to price us out of export markets, etc). I asked ChatGPT if we removed all taxes from Australians and replaced it with a flat transaction tax that is not able to be offset like CGT, and the transaction tax is applied at all levels in the Supply Chain, what would be the % required to replace the existing revenues of the government. To ChatGPT's credit, it did also inform me there are many variables and it needed refinement itself, but settled on 10%. I asked it what would be the cumulative impact on consumer prices (so not house transfers, financial investments, loans, etc), to narrow it down. I asked chat as I couldn't be bothered doing the compound math myself, and it said for a 3 stage supply chain process, 33%; 4 stage 47% an d 5 stage 63%. Ouch, but that is a raw value and it doesn't take into account some reduced costs on the way, but businesses would probably take these into profit for a time before competition started to take effect - as per the Whitlam years when he removed a lot of import duties. Also, note, you take roughly 10% off for CGT from those (not entirely accurate but for these purposes will do), as well as for some products (e.g. wine) the baked in taxes that are already there. Next I asked what would be the impact on net disposable income in quartiles from the lowest income earners (minimum wage) to the highest reported income earner. As expected, this would be regressive, but not by as much as I thought, with the lowest quartile being between 5% and 10% worse off, the next being between 3% and 4% worse off the third being between 3% a 12% better off and the top 25% of earners being between 15% and 55% better off. I didn't go into comparing to how much disposable income each quartile has against some average cost of living for a comparison as that was not the purpose of the exercise. And note, this does not include state and council stand alone revenue and I have not validated how Chat came to its answers. But it leaves some food for thought for a complete tax overhaul along these lines. The obvious risk is an increase in black market activity to circumvent the taxes. Leaving that aside, I asked Chat what non deductible tax to apply on a proportional basis to the 3rd and 4th quartile to allow the government to distribute income to the 1st and second quartile to ensure that the bottom two quartiles can be directly distributed the money such that they will be no worse off - i.e. net disposable income is the same as the current process. It was 0.55% for the third quartile and up to 2.0% on the 4th quartile. Of course, there will be lots of statistical error in these numbers, but it gives a guide that for no other than a consumption tax, the bottom two quartiles cost of living will not change, yet the top tier will be better off and with a much smaller PAYG tax rate. Of course, it leaves room to move a little more income to those on lower income and according to Chat, around 4.5% applied to both tiers would make the bottom two tiers 10% better off than they were. This would leave the third tier up to 7.5% better off and the top tier up to 49% better off.. and the government still gets the same money. It would probably be in large corporate taxation. They would now have to pay the tax where a lot don't pay anywhere near where they should be. And then you can factor in additional taxes that we should be charging like the fossil fuel export royalties to the correct level, and you have a far more fairer, flexible, and targetable taxation system. Of course, this is rudimentary modelling.. There are second and third order factors that have to be addressed. For example, the cost of compliance (accounting, legal, etc) will drop massively as there aren't complex accounting rules required for taxation. This will result is a lower level of transactions and therefore, tax. It may result in increased unemployment as you need less para finance and para legals as well as less tax compliance people in ATO, and if we went federal for all funding (local and state), less public servants at that level collecting, keeping track of, etc. Also, less transactions to billing providers, software, etc. Which can increase government costs (welfare) and reduce taxation, which can increase the transaction tax required, or increase other taxes such as fossil fuel royalties, etc. But,if we are looking at fairer taxation, then surely the whole system needs reform. (Sorry for the long post.. first day off for ages.. and I am in a boring meeting).

I have to admit; I am struggling to see what the issue us, except that a property that has been used to reduce your normal tax liability is now assessable - and still at under the marginal rate they would have used the property to reduce from. It is in effect still a deferment of tax. Yes, I know that the reduction of your assessable income during the negative gearing years are a loss made thanks to the interest payment and rather generous depreciation rules, but the reality is, you can't offset the costs of establishing any other investment against your PAYG income - although happy to be corrected in the case of sole proprietorship or partnership - so why housing? What leaves a sour taste is the excuse of the fairness of the tax system when the government still allows transfer pricing and does not tax our fossil fuels and other assets for big corps properly.

Yep - no skills, but she wants to fly the plane.......

I know polling has its limitations, but the polling suggests people are increasingly dissatisfied with DJT. https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin Whilst it is easy to say that all politicians are bad, DJT takes it to an extreme level. Sure, he will probably be gone in a couple of years, but the ongoing damage will take years to fix. The problem is the creeping acceptance of deviance. As a rational person, I look at some of his appointments, and I can't believe it. The health of the nation is in the hands of crazy RFK. An advanced nation is being led away from rationality. Yes, of course, I am not an American citizen, and it is up to them; however, what a powerful country like the US does has an effect on the whole world. I, too, have a couple of US friends, and they do despair at where the country is going. It is easy to judge what people are thinking from their own individual silos. The polling could be getting it wrong, of course, but we shall see what happens in the midterms. DJT is already trying to say that the elections in California must be rigged (because he doesn't like the result). Is this how elections are going to be lost or won in the future?

Hmm.. (Added bold) How am I defending it, exactly? I am putting other points of view as I see them. Regardless of how bad Chump is, there are others doing it under a pretence they are working for the people. I merely gave examples. But I think people are getting sick of being taken advantage of.. Have they got it worse under Chump? Yes, of course. But do they care? I would argue for an increasing number, no, because they probably feel that they are already at the stage that they can only get their head above water for the odd gasp of air, so they don't care if it gets worse. It isn't only economic; it is cultural as well - perceived or real - that they are being left behind socially as well. More and more middle classes have less and less... is the feeling. In my case (of course, UK), my heating bill has quadrupled in 6 years... quadrupled. What about Australia's gas scam, where the Australia institute report that the Japanese government make more from Aussie gas than the Australian government - money that could be used for better education, health, lower energy costs, and the like. Yet, what does Albo (and the libs before) do about it? Nothing while the industry lobby pays a good whack of money to party coffers for the odd lunch. Chump campaigned on doing much of what he has done. People knew, or ought to have known most of what was coming. We all did. His Doge, his tariffs, his cosying to Putin in deference to Ukraine, etc.. ICE and undocumented immigrant deportations; the wall, ignoring the constitution; They were openly committed to during the election campaign, despite him distancing himself from project 2025 at the end of the election but never what he was going to do. On the other hand, I recall in these fora a disagreement about the utility of secrecy of the NACC, and it wasn't long before the conduct of the NACC proved my position - that Labor should have enacted - as they enthusiastically promised prior to the election - public hearings and a transparent NACC. When they got into power, what happened? Secret hearings. It may be small in the scheme of things, but a) it is not isolated; and b) it is seen as them protecting their mates from misconduct. That leaves a foul taste as does all other coverups and stealth operation, especially if you voted for them in good faith of keeping what should be fairly simple election promises. People are now sick of it... Chump is a product of that - a protest vote - people probably knew they were not going to be better off; for many they are not worse off or if they are, it makes no material difference. So, may as well stick it to the establishment. Do you think Farage, or Hanson, or the other European ultra right would start becoming successful if they weren't/ We often forget there is a silent majority, and now they are starting to no longer remain silent. Their motivation may be valid if the actions aren't. If you are not as angry about what your government is doing as you are about Chump, I would argue a) you don't really know what is going on in your back yard; b) you don't care; or c) your dislike is so profound of Chump (for which there is nothing wrong with such a dislike - mine is very profound), that you're not taking that big an interest in your backyard. I agree, other countries don't proactively air much Aussie news in the MSM; but today, it is very easy to find reliable news and facts today in any country that doesn't black out its internet.

The Govts definitely have to crack down on this "Middle Eastern crime gang" activity. It's just a daily occurrence now, to have major shoot-ups and gun murders in SW Sydney. Add to that, they steal and burn luxury vehicles daily - costing us all mega-dollars in increased premiums. If someone steals a car, carries out a major crime, and then burns it, they should get 10 years minimum, and be made to pay the value of the vehicle, plus compensation to the owner for his loss and costs of inconvenience. And the owner often has to carry the cost of increased insurance premiums, because his car was stolen. Car security is a joke today, they can steal any keyless car with code generators that are easily acquired from overseas sellers. Plus, where's the savage penalties for unlicenced firearms (often handguns), used by crims? There's no penalties for additional crimes, the police hit them with one charge, and let the rest drop, because any other sentence would be served concurrently. The sentences should be cumulative, take the bastards out of society for multiple years, even decades, because they have no interest in living in a safe, law-abiding society, so they have forfeited any chance to live in a safe, law-abiding society.

SWMBO is good at booking us into shows such as rock tribute bands or classical guitarists (she loves classical guitar), so we get out and about, and dress up and socialise. It's very necessary to keep up a social life as you age, or you just become an old stay-at-home grump. That's the reason I have my block in the wheatbelt, and all my restoration projects and shed-building plans and construction. I get out into the country around 3 times a week, that in itself is invigorating. I get a change of pace, and I get mental stimulation repairing equipment, buying (and selling) parts and components, and I get to meet new people in that country town regularly. My wheatbelt block neighbour is a fencer, and has an excavator, tip truck and a Dingo, and he's always coming in looking for a BS session, help with something, or even giving me surplus fencing materials and steel he doesn't need. He can't weld for sh**, so he always gets me to do little welding jobs for him. Life is good. We're off to see the Lightscape show in Kings Park soon, we went last year, but it was July 17th, and it was absolutely pouring with rain! You can't pick your day, you get tickets for a set day and time, and that's it - you take your chances with the weather. The lightscape show last year was absolutely spectacular. I took a swag of photos, then lost them when my Motorola phone crapped itself completely. https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=LSPTOURS26&utm_source=ovation&utm_medium=pmax&utm_campaign=LSPTOURS26&utm_content=conversion&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23841141822&gbraid=0AAAAADpZSCT_kspIAeL1Pye-3H_K2rlTo&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrZTRBhDSARIsAHidYfcriQwFvXDUHdq0eIP10u5K_mfUlQsVSlUoudQ4XtUW5aLccL7Dou4aAr1oEALw_wcB

We see a lot of normal cars and bikes with historic rego. Yeah, it makes me feel old. Worse still my bike, a model which I recall lusting after back when first seen in showrooms, is now on historic rego, same as it's owner. Not 'collectable' like OME's though. I cannot understand the logic behind spending maybe $20k and a thousand hours 'restoring' an old car that was never desirable even when new. But it seems many do. Nostalgia is an expensive thing to keep in the garage.

You know you are old when you see the first model Commodore or an XD Falcon with historic plates.

It's been a long, long time since I could wake up on saturday morning and wonder idly, 'I wonder what I'll do today?'.

I think this about cars. I had a 1927 Chev in 1977 and it was ancient. I felt very brave when I drove it from Ballarat to Broken Hill and back for a rally. Equivalent now would be a 1976 Kingswood, which would still suit me as a daily driver.

The big problem with corrugations is that sometimes you have no choice but to put up with them if you want to get where you have to go. Depending on the vehicle, sometimes it's better to travel a bit faster rather than real slow, or as Nev pointed out, drive on the other side where the wave shape is more in your favour. Which ever way you tackle it, eventually some part of the vehicle will complain.

Isn't that where your wife writes it for you?

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but.... The very first task that AI should complete successfully is to redesign itself to use far less electricity and no water. If it can't solve that problem, why should we trust it to do anything else?

Did that include the $57.45 worth of stock in the stores?

This is the satirical headline story from the Bell Tower Times - Perths equivalent of The Onion. The bloke may not be familiar to East Coasters - but he's John Hughes, W.A.'s longest-lived car dealer, and a legend in W.A. He turned 90 last December, and still runs personalised TV ads and asks car buyers to call him personally, and regularly states, he's "W.A.'s most trusted car dealer". He's also Alan Bonds BIL. Yes, THAT Alan Bond. But John Hughes has managed to evade any of the Alan Bond taint, in his business dealings.

They used to employ Nuts each side with Tapers, but it's better to Have More metal to press into The spline thing has been used for years now with No problems. Later Harley bottom ends are used for a lot of performance Specials. High interference Press fits cause distortion in what you are pressing into and you end up with unsolvable run out issues. Nev

"someone" Mentioned to Trump that "we" might have to Borrow and funnel the money but he thought they said Burrow and tunnel.. Nev

Well according to the defence chiefs, 3 second hand subs were the original preference as they would be delivered sooner. Why do we need 3 nuclear powered submarines anyway. The navy is spending $1.7 billion on a fleet of our own designed Ghost Sharks. They are designed to do almost everything that manned submarines can do at very low cost as well as low operating cost and we can have heaps of them. They won't say how many but there are apparently dozens being built. Aukus is costing at least $368 billion. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/10/ghost-shark-submarine-drone-australian-navy-explainer

The minerals and elements in the soil definitely affect the taste of the fruit or nuts. In my neck of the woods, the gravelly ironstone soils of the Darling Range produce superb-tasting citrus and stonefruits. Your Pacific Ocean-facing slopes are possibly mineral deficient, after millions of years of increased rainfall causing soil leaching, as compared to the lower rainfall, Western slopes of the GDR. The water in the Perth Hills is highly mineralised, with dams having a blue water colour, due to the mineralised water. The minerals are generally calcium, magnesium and silica, and they are leached out of the weathered granite and dolerite rocks, the pipe clays (kaolin) and the lateritic (ironstone) gravels, that are the common rocks and soils of the Perth Hills. This water is used to irrigate the orchards and provides additional beneficial minerals to the fruit and nut trees. "Cracker dust" (fine dust from dolerite or granitic rock crushing for roads and ballast) is often used as a fertilising agent, which dust acts as a slow-release provider of calcium, magnesium, silica, and other beneficial minerals to plants, as it breaks down over time. Elsewhere in W.A. where "light" sandy and sandy gravel soils proliferate, there is a need to apply trace elements to enable the plants to take up the nutrients in the soil. Failure to apply trace elements means poor crops and trees, and plants that struggle to thrive - even if you have applied other fertilisers such as nitrogen, phosphate or sulphate fertilisers. The primary trace elements needed are copper, zinc, manganese, and molybdenum. As indicated, only "trace levels" are needed in the application, but the results are impressive when carried out. For many decades, "light" sandy soils were regarded as useless in W.A., especially for grain cropping, until an ag researcher at the UWA in the early 1930's, found that trace elements were needed on the sandy soils to enable the plants to uptake the nutrients in the soils. Once this was done on a broadacre farming scale, the yields of wheat, barley, and oats multiplied enormously, and large areas of light land were then cleared for agricultural use. Trace element application is generally only needed every 5-10 years, it is a long-lasting soil beneficiation treatment.

I reckon there's a few here who would NEVER vote Labor, no Matter what the situation was. At one time or other. I've voted for Most of the Parties. It depends on the Local candidate a lot, The More you know about them the More value you vote will Be. The OLD Country Party had the Most rusted on adherents. The days of Ian Sinclaire. (Sinkers) He used to ride with TAA a bit. to Mt ISA if I recall correctly. I get stuff from quite a few Politicians. Listen to it on the radio and watch Parliamentary Question time.(Which can be a bit disappointing with some of the rudeness). I can Pretty much assure People here that I won't be voting ever for Hanson. Nev

There's a lot to be said for a very major reform of our taxation system, one that ensures taxes are paid according to the rules, and which system would not allow "creative accounting" or "loophole exploitation", as practised by many global corporations today, and who have done so, for many years. When the GST was introduced, it was supposed to result in a fairer and simpler system. It has turned out to be anything but that.

Does that mean that ON can quickly adapt its policies to changing circumstances?

How many of us are right-handed? Cars are designed for countries which drive on the left right side. That means that dashboard layouts are suited to a driver who has controls accessible by the right hand. Here, that same dashboard layout is on most people's left hand side. Those people aren't used to doing accurate things with their left hand.

Abbot, who Lost his Blue ribbon seat to an Independent. His new job is NOT supposed to Involve Policy Making, but that doesn't stop the Mad Monk getting straight into It. He's also on Rupert's Payroll and RUPEE's show supports Hanson.. What about thinking of the REAL liberal supporters. A top WOMAN figure in the Canberra scene has Just resigned, saying the Party is TOO TOXIC to remain in.. The Party of RG Menzies may well be finished. Nev

Yep their new president Tony Abbott is guiding them down the path to true irrelevance. They haven't learnt anything from their electoral failures.

Problem is Marty, the polls are showing us that an increasing amount of people think we've already got that.

A circuit breaker is a very important thing in a circuit, but it doesn't do the work the circuit is meant to do.

And there's the rub for the government. Increasingly less and less people think they are providing wise governance. What's behind the swing to One Nation is that a lot of people are increasingly feeling like the government and opposition have failed badly and they've had enough and want a circuit breaker. It's like a mild form of anarchy; tear down the house and start again type of mood.

Nobody is just shocked anymore, they are always shell shocked. Which is a different thing entirely.

None are built in the USA. BMW would never stoop so low. They do however make the X series AWD cars there. The biggest baddest cruiser the R 1800 flat twin is proudly Berlin built.they are about to release a R2000, yep a two litre twin. Also a new version of the six cylinder K1600 as a wild 1800 cc. The biggest selling large bike model in the world is the mighty GS range, now the R1300GS, expensive yes, but sales envied by Harley and Ducati Adventure bikes. Some of the new small 450 models are built now in China and India using their designs and machines. This makes them as cheap as the competition. Some of the smallish parallel twins were Austrian built. As fast road machines, tourers, adventure and racing BMW have been the top of the market for the last 20 years. Now they are tackling the small Learner approved -lams market and will sell a motza. My current beasty is a 2005 K1200R motorsport, the new hyperbike that year with a mere 167hp, 138 nm and only 214kg. The fastest acceleration for a Bike on the planet, 2.8 seconds to 100, limited by Aero to 280km/h. The Japanese absolutely lost their minds when a shaft driven bike slaughtered their hyperbikes. Then BMW made a six version to take Goldwing sales for those who wanted actual very high speed touring. Then the S1000R came out and slayed the race tracks. Modern R and K shaft driven bikes have none for the rise and fall of the shaft of old generations. Handling and brakes are world class, even a tourer will scare a sports bike rider.

Unlike most other bikes, the cranks on the big BMWs are extremely solid and failures or wear are very rare, same with most mechanical items. It means dirt cheap parts second hand, a friend is replacing his K1200 crank- previous owner failed to service it. The crank in perfect condition only $150 from a wrecked bike. Try finding a jap bike crank or Harley one for that price. Even better, you can remove the crank with the engine in place and box still attached, takes 30 mins to remove. Crank is driving a gear to the flywheel, just remove sump and unbolt the mains. New bearings, for crank and seals, total job under $500.

Over the past 10 years the old bike market has changed greatly. The most sought after bikes for actual use and still able to handle daily duties and modern traffic are the big euro bikes. The BMW twins and K series fours are popping everywhere with full restorations, original recomissioned and retro modded. They are highly prized, easy to work on and suit today's heavy policing regime. Plus parts are available new from factory.

That was great. I went past New Norfolk as far as Gretna, fantastic road. Almost tempted to keep going. I was going to go through to Elderslie then back to the highway, but the cross road was gravel so I turned around and came back the same way. Very enjoyable.

Like Arte Johnson as the letch and Ruth Buzzi as the frump in Rowan and MArtin's Laugh In. The letch sidles up to the frump and asks "Do you believe in the Hereafter? Then you know what I'm here after."

I drove this way on my recent trip to Myrtleford, and I would say there is definitely some hyperbole here. I did not see cars with broken axles or tyres lined up on the side of the road. There were probably more potholes than the last time I drove this way; however, I think we probably encountered 6 or 8 potholes, mostly on the edge of the road. We are quite aware of potholes because we use Waze, which is a phone GPS that includes hazards like potholes, cars stopped on the shoulder and other hazards (dead animals on the road). Every pothole we came across, we had 500 meters warning and a countdown. We always report hazards to Waze. Very useful.

Just found out that Lorraine Bayley (Grace Sullivan) passed away on 28 February 2026 aged 89.

High speed stall on Jets they describe similarly. It's like a shudder. I've experienced it. The road surface has been subject to Compaction. by oscillating Impact forces reaching a Harmonic. As Drivers seek better surfaces the Ridges spread out on the New Path. It appears to Be directional to a Point. IF you drive on the wrong side of the road the effect seems Less. I've Known People to tear the shock absorber Mount Points off the Chassis. I've wrecked 2 rear shock absorbers south of Winton. Nev

Don't tell Jerry that!

Farley seems like a reasonable sort of individual with a realistic outlook, that is less hardline than Paulines approach. I'm surprised he's thrown his hat in with ON. Perhaps he'll be the sure hand on the tiller of ON and bring some stability to the Party. Or perhaps he won't last long, and there'll be a falling out, and he'll be booted from ON.