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An atheist was out rowing on Loch Ness when the monster came up and almost capsized his boat. The rower shouted "God help me!" The Lord came down and chased the monster away. He turned to the rower and said, "Why did you call for help from me? You don't even believe in me." The rower said, "Fair go, 10 minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster."

Yesterday I had a calibration appointment for my Cochlear implant. It started with the audiologist connecting the device to her computer and playing a range of beeps at various frequencies, starting too low to hear, and increasing them until they were at a comfortable volume. She then read out a number of words from a printed list of about 30, with her face obscured, and I had to locate the word on the list and repeat it without being able to lip-read. Passed that without problem. Next, she placed a page of 12 half sentences in front of me. Again, obscuring her face, she read out the full sentence which I had to repeat back to her. The example I recall was: Printed: She cleaned the floor.... The spoken sentence: She cleaned the floor with a mop and broom. I passed all 12 sentences at the first attempt. She said she normally doesn't get to pulling that page out until the second month. I've had the device for 9 days. I can now hold conversations, watch the TV, and talk on the phone without the hearing aid in the other ear.

Trump's limo driver got arrested for possession of drugs. They found over 230 pounds of dope in the back seat.

An Airline Pilot I once knew went into a Hardware store dressed like that and Ordered a Bottle of Methylated spirits. He rubbed it fondly and asked "I don't suppose you Have a COLD one , do you?" Nev

I distract them by throwing in a packet of condoms.

Here is a Google AI search of car age on Australias roads Fleet Age Breakdown National Fleet Average: 11.54 years Passenger Vehicles Average: Roughly 11.2 to 11.4 years Oldest State/Territory Fleet: Tasmania (average age of 13.5 years) Youngest State/Territory Fleet: Australian Capital Territory (average age of 10.4 years) [1, 2] Fleet Composition & Stats Total Registered Vehicles: Over 22.3 million motor vehicles across Australia New Vehicle Turnover: About 25% of vehicles are under 5 years old, while around 27% are older than 10 years. No Road Salting Effect: Because Australia does not salt its roads in winter, vehicles suffer far less rust damage, allowing older cars to stay functional and look newer longer on Reddit. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Cynic! Yes there are lots of similar crazies out there. And the fact that such examples are so easy to find, means that there are also statistically significant multitudes of slightly less laughable examples as well. Still indicates all is lost. I will match your cynicism and dig a pit of utter distain beneath it.

The problem really is that it is a hybrid, designed to appeal to those with a fear of full electric and rusted on range anxiety. A hybrid is the worst of both worlds. The battery is small so the electric range is woeful. The ICE engine is also small so needs to work hard to replace the energy drain from the battery. Charging a battery from an ICE engine is very inefficient. It has all the disadvantages of every ICE engined vehicle of consuming fossil fuel including maintenance and complexity. How this bloke with the Shark got 24 litres/100k crossing the great dividing range which is essentially up hill overall and 44 on the flat doesn't add up. Was he driving in to a 50-80kmh headwind on the flat with a big flat fronted 3 tonne caravan? You cannot regenerate anywhere near the energy going downhill lost going uphill to the top. Only a long sustained down hill run will increase the energy level of the battery.

True, But he is dragging the Tasmania govt into huge debt and letting corporate mates get free reign over public assets. So the whole country will pay via federal bailouts for things like the aluminium smelter and all sorts of dodgy shit. Bet they ask for a bigger GST slice plus more health and education funding to cover their arse. A blind dog could manage a economy better.

My Prado diesel tows my van at 15-16 l/100km.

I can remember it was fairly common for old blokes to live permanently at a pub in one of the rooms. Often WW1 vets. When I was growing up we had one old fella living permanently in our local pub. He had the nickname Woody as he used to chop the pub's firewood and do odd jobs for his board and lodging. He didn't drink, just lived at the pub. Woody was a lovely old bloke, a real gentleman. I got to know him quite well as he used to come out to the farm and stay and look after us if my dad had to go away for a couple of days. In those days the adults would go to the pub and take all the kids with them. Us kids would play around in the pub's backyard and climb the big tree there and at some stage we'd always end up going to see Woody in his room and have a yarn with him. After I'd moved away as a late teenager/early adult, whenever I was back visiting my dad I'd often drop in and see old Woody at the pub. Eventually he got so old and frail he ended up in a home.

Although it is Tazmania, the sun came out. Nice pleasant day. Bike hasn't run since last summer - no reason to ride for pleasure when it's raining for 3 months. Great to be alive riding our winding roads! Got home to find that old faithful had contracted Jerry's disease. I noticed the instrument lights were pulsing at idle. A quick check showed battery voltage only 12.8v after a big run. Should be 14v. Another check showed onr phase from the alternator at 0v. and the regulator running hot. Ordering a new stator and regulator. A bit of a dampener.

Perhaps the 2PP concept is out of date. The Greens, ON, Teals and unaligned Independents may be changing that. Perhaps we could end up like some European countries where no Party can gain a majority and must seek coalition partners, thereby watering down each Party's raison d'etre.

Angus doesn't have much going for him.

Now he wants an Ocean to be named after him. Starts a war he says he has won more than 63 times but can't stop. Hasn't stopped any wars but wants the Nobel peace prize & is cuddling up to Putin because his efforts have stuffed the entire Diesel supply & says Zelenskyy should go because Ukraine is stuffing up Russias petroleum industry & the US is running short of Diesel because of the war he started. He is a complete & utter fruit loop with no redeeming features at all but millions of stupid MAGA nutters believe all of it.

Angus Is both a swary consultant and a farmer, and dodgy as hell in both roles. He has broken the law heaps of times and as they were in power got to keep the grubby gains. Look up Jamland - profit from breaking environmental laws Also a big water deal that miracously changed directors from him to a Taxhaven just before his government paid millions for water that didn't exist. Barnaby was also involved.

He's just blasted Norway in a speech because they didn't give him the Nobel Peace Prize. He said he deserved it for stopping eight wars plus two more which he says he will wrap up very soon, including the one he started although he didn't mention that. What a loser. It's hard to believe that this moron is the US president. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgj921e14jdo

You've got our attention. Love sitting on the sidelines and following the thought processes. Keep us posted!

That's your intelligent opinion. Are we dealing with an intelligent electorate?

We grew up comparing the fuel consumption of vehicles in terms of volume per unit of distance - mpg or l/100km. From those figures we could work out how much it cost to travel a given distance. Now we are given the "fuel capacity" of an EV in kiloWatthours (kWh). Shouldn't electricity consumption figures be quoted in km/kWh? Here's an example: A vehicle can go 80 kms on a 30 kWh battery. That's 2.6 kms/kWh. One kWh costs, on average 30 cents. That's about 12 cents per km. Yes, I know. If you have your own solar generation the electricity allegedly costs nothing (ignoring set up costs for the solar system). But go away from home and you have to pay.

Don't be too sure of a Democrat landslide in the mid-terms. The idea of that happening is based partly in polling. Over the last three Presidential elections the polling has been way off compared to its accuracy before about 2008. There is a number of factors causing that. This video describes some of those factors. This video discusses the topic. The presentation is unbiased.

I have ridden in a few evs the last 2 weeks in the US. Uber rides, mustang mach e was nice . Kia evs good , didn't think much of the tesla 3 but liked the Tesla model s. All the drivers said they saved them a fortune compared to ice. But on hot days there range is cut right back running the aircon . My cousin in Phoenix bought a new all electric Audi last year but got rid of it due to range issues. I also got a ride in a hybrid camry, the driver preferred it because he doesn't have to lose time charging during the day and it returns around 55 mpg. And waymo driverless taxis are everywhere now, cousin's husband said they have 10,000 of them and more on the way.

I reckon they would have gone cross-eyed trying to design them. A simple construction requiring a complicated cam shape. This is the parts manual drawing; it seems to exaggerate the shape a bit.

Can you tell the difference?

Trump is telling the country to vote like his name is on the ballot. If this results in a slap in his face, we can expect crazy tantrums to result. He has a record of vicious revenge when things don't go his way.

The Dems don't seem to promote any meaningful platform. The most they are offering is 'Vote for us to make things like they used to be'. Are they forgetting that the Trump led Republican administration got elected because the public don't want the previous style of corruption and warmongering? Sure it isn't draining the swamp. But will a Dem win be enough to bring about a shift away from billionaire controlled government?

My goodness! The wear must be crazy. Side thrusts everywhere!

I'm still saving up for a EV. But I put a self imposed deadline on myself. Only put 6 months rego on the old faithful Mitzi Outlander. With 350,000k on the clock she is getting a bit tired. At last oil change I gave her some 15w 50 oil which quietened the engine rattle down a lot.

HIS team are really "Freaked out" about the Mid terms. There might even be a few who do a runner to get away from the Courts. I wouldn't be surprised if DT did something dramatic and uses it to Declare a National Emergency and declare Martial Law.. Desperate people do desperate THINGS. Nev

Interesting figures which few Down-Southers would realise. Re the Constitution Sections 121 and 124. Both have big hurdle words - 'may' and 'consent'. It takes a lot to get over them, especially when Sect 124 means that Lower Queensland would lose a motza in royalties etc.

The chairman ( He who gets the Chairs) at the MEN'S Shed ( It's HIS shed) has a Geely Ev and a new Hip and It's ON tomorrow. The Men's shed. Whoopey! Another Member Swapped his Volvo for a Geely Hybrid. No money changed hands. My solution has been at a lot lower level. A bit of overdue TLC for MY 1998 AU Fairmont with 367,000 Kms and runs on GAS at 1$ / Litre, Never garaged. It's probably running better than it ever has. The motor turns over about one turn to start and makes NO clicking Noises. It's good enough for me. (AND the Dogs). Nev

The country may be doing well internationally but feel there is a lot more homeless people around. Have seen tents set up in places that normally don't have them that have been there for a while. I think people at the lower end of earnings are doing it tougher.

As for the reversal of the indicator and lights stalks, this is the standard that has applied in Europe for decades and also China. The UK, Japan, Korea & Australia made vehicles were the opposite. My MG4 made in China conforms to the European standard not its original British heritage.

It would take a legal Expert to work that out. Way Beyond my pay grade. Nev

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2242806886285552

Riding in hail is never fun. Like been assualted by an angry dwarf with a little ball peen hammer. Makes snow and black ice seem like fun-almost.

With Many Years of flying into Cairns I can honestly say I've never encountered RAIN as Heavy in any other Place. You just marvel at How a Plane can even fly in it. And there's that Great Hill just to the west. Everything goes Mouldy. Gekko's on the roof upside down. The only place to be is in an airconditioned Bar. Humidity is 100%. Shorts worn half way down the Backside is De Riguere(sp). Nev

Great that you were out too Peter! The missus and I rode to Nicholls Rivulet to visit Crawleighwood Gardens. I agree, good day for it, would have been even nicer with no wind.

Abbah? Yeah they were gods.

Some actual numbers. Considering the population of the USA is 10 times more at least than us and their farming is far bigger than ours...I dodnt really think this diesel deal is really anything special except a token thing for the farmers in the USA On October 9, 2026, President Trump announced an agreement with Russian President Putin under which Russia would supply diesel to the “American and Global Marketplace”: More than 300,000 metric tons immediately 500,000 tons in November 1 million tons “immediately thereafter” Up to another 3 million tons depending on the condition of Russian refineries (which have been affected by Ukrainian strikes) how many tons of diesel is used in australia on a daily basis Thought for 34s Approximately 76,000–77,000 tonnes per day. Based on official Australian government data (primarily the Australian Petroleum Statistics and Australian Energy Statistics from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water): Diesel consumption was 33,297 megalitres (about 33.3 billion litres) in financial year 2023–24.⁠Onlyfacts This equates to roughly 91 million litres per day on average (33.297 billion litres ÷ 365.25 days). Recent indicators (including Minimum Stockholding Obligation data and combined petrol + diesel figures around 135 million litres/day in 2025) are consistent with diesel at ~90–92 million litres per day.⁠Dcceew

I think the House will go to the Democrats but the Senate is probably doubtful. I also think Trump and his minions are planning a lot of disruption in States that they look like losing. It won't be a clean election and the results will be disputed in the courts for weeks if not months. Trump will do everything he can to avoid losing and he has the Justice department, Russ Vought and a bunch of election deniers in influential federal and state positions to help him do it.

He's certainly unimpressive. I think there's no doubt Josh Frydenberg would be their leader if he'd retained his seat.

That's a matter of opinion. I think Chalmers, Marles, Bowen and Burke are all strong contenders for the top job. Certainly more talent than the LNP given the dingbat they made leader.

Close enough. The actual lyrics of the Lionel Ritchie song are "I just called to say I love you."

Jim Chalmers must be feeling its effects today. The "abolition" of credit card surcharges to make the coffee cheaper according to Albo resulted in the ATO scrapping taking credit card payments for tax. I am not sure, but I thought the treasurer would have been consulted before the ATO decided to scrap the ability to pay with a credit card, especially if so many small businesses rely on it - which is in itself a worrying sign. I am trying to work out if this is really unintended consequences or just incompetence. Here is my conspiracy theory. When a consumer is presented a bill at the counter, and they will be slugged a fee for using the credit card, unless they are broke or tempo short of cash on their debit card (assuming they are not going to cop a bigger charge on their debit card use), then they are likely not to use that credit card. That causes a bit of a headache to the credit card companies as that is less lending they are dolling out and less transaction surcharges they are making. So, maybe lobbying the government (and i have no evidence of this), they managed to persuade the government that not allowing credit card surcharges was in the consumer interest. Or maybe consumer groups took the kool-aid and suggested the same to the government - with good intentions. What people forget is that, especially for small businesses - these charges can be 3% + a minimum transaction fee. For small items like a coffee, that can be a bit of change per transaction for the flat fee. But, if a business can't charge a surcharge, they are left with two options: 1. absorb it because all small business owners are greedy bar stewards and want to fleece the public, right? Or two, just pass it on in increased prices - to everyone. But, that way, if you're tempted to use your credit card and avail yourself of the, is it 55 days interest free period, you will do it. The credit card companies still get some money and you're none the wiser. So, Albo spruiking the coffee being cheaper is not quite true and there were stories of before and after prices of the surcharge ban coming in was a biot of an own goal depending on where you purchased your coffee (and other things). Now, the ATO issue. I get that little issue of credit card surcharges on the tax payment may have slipped Chalmer's mind. I mean I am not sure he has had the experience of running a small business and the cash flow issues that come with that. I am not even sure he would have bothered to consult the ATO on the move because the ATO is about tax, and not credit card payments. But, surely, the ATO would have consulted Chalmers before making a unilateral decision to withdraw accepting credit cards if so many small businesses make their payments with credit cards. After all, the ATO just can't raise its prices. In which case, maybe Chalmers forgot to ask how many make the payments and how much is paid using credit cards. I would guess that the ATO would have presented it as, "Gee, boss. If we can't make credit card payment surcharges and unilaterally increase the corporate tax rate, GST, or whatever taxes are paid this way, then we will lose $xbn to the credit card companies." And everyone got fixated on the cost and not the impact. So rather than ask why that would be the case and what would be the impact of going ahead or not introducing a carve out for ATO payments (apart from that being political suicide), the ATO just went ahead - after all - they are a bit of a law unto themselves. Well, it has come to bite the government on the bum. In the scheme of things, not in a huge way, and it will all blow over - The problem is that the decision to allow credit card payments to be taken by the ATO will only be for a year. What then? But, this is an example in poor thinking. The idea that the surcharge would be a boon for consumers is a joke. Ye, only 17& of cafes in this case have unilaterally increased their prices - you can bet others will follow suit. Also, you don't, as a consumer get to take advantage of a lower price by not using cheaper forms of payment. How is that a boon for consumers? Yes, you coul argue it punishes those who are skint at the time.. Er.. if you;re skint, shouldn't you be paring back a bit anyway - using a credit card will just make you skinter. And you have just cut off an important cash flow management capability for small businesses. Well done. I used to have a small software reseller in Aus.. I can't recall if it was Westpac or Anz that provided the merchant facilities to take credit cards, but I recall in the contract, I couldn't apply surcharges (well it was worded I couldn't offer discounts to those not using a credit card that wasn't available to those who used credit cards, if I recall correctly). The transaction costs sometimes made a sale unprofitable when competing with the big fellas. I managed to eek out a living from it, but jeepers it was tough. And that was offering support to try and bring in some margin against the big fellas. Almost every consumer is cost conscious - one learns that very quickly despite what the text books say. I put these sorts of government decisions more to incompetence than to unintended consequences - but the latter is usually the result of the former.

The engine will have had a good soak by then.

You always need to know Ground Height and your actual height to determine Height above ground. Putting in the Local area QNH, OR setting your altimeter to read the Aerodrome Height when you are on the ground will achieve that, and separate you from other traffic referencing the same Info. Nev.

I agree with most of your post.. and I agree that those who need to roll over credit every month are susceptible to failure. After all, the stats for new startups is never great. But there are two things to point out. First, those businesses that are needing to use it every time and liable to fail, probably do within 12 months. They will use all credit available to them. The banks aggregate your credit risk across all known forms you can have. If you have a mortgage, a credit card, a car loan, a personal loan, are the director is person of control in a private company that has a company loan and company credit card, chances are they know about all of them them and they aggregate them to give a credit risk profile. So chances are, if you're in stress, they will know. And then, if you default on one of those loans, you default on all of them - that is under the BASEL rules (2.1 to be precise), which Australia has incorporated in its law. So if you are making out your credit cards, chances are the house of cards will come falling down fast. My point is, if you are constantly relying on the most expensive form of debt to keep you afloat, you are only prolonging the inevitable a short period of time. However, how many of the businesses may (and I stress, may) be using it for the occasional - or even frequent, but not financially punitive cash flow management. For example, you may have a bunch of clients that are poor payers.. As BAS accrues generally in the period the sale was made and not the cash was taken, you would be simply waiting for payment )yes, there are exemptions to allow payment of BAS in the period payment is collected, but that is by far the exception). So, to cover the BAS and prevent punitive penalties, you resort to a credit card. I imagine a fair share of those that avail themselves to their credit cards are in this or some other bucket that doesn't mean they are about to go to the wall. There are over 2.5 million small/medium businesses in Australia at last count; there is ample room for the temporary cover versus go under businesses. Until we know the stats, jumping to the conclusion that all, or even a vast majority are about to go to the wall is just that.. jumping to a conclusion. But that is thread drift. The thread is about government decisions and unintended consequences. What no one has picked up on is the fact that the "removal of credit card surcharges" is likely to mean that everyone pays for it whether or not they use a credit card.. and that it hides information from the consumer to give them a choice (or accept it). If I were a coffee shop owner, I may think I don't have the spare margin to absorb this. So, I would look at my sales of both credit and non credit cards; average them out and then apply the addition across all of them.. and the non credit card consumer subsidises the credit card user because I would want to keep my price increases as small as possible. I would say that can become an unintended consequence - mainly because those in the position to make the decision have probably not thought about it.

Not how it actually works. The problem was/is that when a business pays via a credit card it's the receiver that will pay the surcharge from the credit provider. This doesn't happen with direct transfer or debit cards. The card company charges not a flat fee but a % of the payment. Then it also hits the payer with interest. A normal transfer EFT or debit costs a fraction of a cent, hence the policy change. Thus the ATO was up for a minimum $200 million bill for accepting credit payments under the new system from all the small businesses. Should we the taxpayer subsidise small businesses to pay via credit? Also that they rely on a constant credit card rollover indicates poor practice and a susceptibility to failure. Business used similar scare stories about needing to pay superannuation employee contributions when they a paid wages rather than using employees money as a piggy bank for months. Similarly this practice could and did lead to companies going bust and super never been paid. Policy wise it was and is a smart move, as it will create a change in business practices. Certainly way too many firms have dodgy finances, and need culling. I bet the banks are spewing also about all the lost revenue from credit card taxation payments.

I think you will find the best paid CEO rarely pays much tax at all.