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

Saw my first snake of the summer today - just avoided running over him on the bike, which could have been nasty for both of us.

I am not meaning to be a sinophobe, but China is positioning itself to be a global superpower like no other. Like the many countries but more recent stark examples such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, they start with a cheap labour force and other factors of production and start manufacturing the basic goods.. almost commoditised types of goods. It is cheap, breaks and generally OK to throw away after a while But then they invest in technology and manufacturing processes and their cheap goods soon become durable and relatively high quality. You only have to look at the Chinese car manufacturing industry to see how that has come leaps and bounds in a very short period of time - about 10 years in major exports (yes, they have had a domestic car industry for much longer time and they have been exporting cars for a longer time, too.. but not at mass scale as today). Certainly in my life time, Australia never really enjoyed comparatively lower costs of labour or other factors of production. So we are always going to struggle to compete. Although there was a vibrant manufacturing sector, it was largely domestic.. Now, China is advancing into the high tech manufacturing and doing a good job of it. But unlike the other countries named, there are two major differences: the population and size of the economy as its wealth from exports increases.. and the government still has largely autocratic control and it decides on the allocation of resources, unlike western type economies where managers focusing on the short term share price and bonuses as a result decide the allocation of resources. And the Chinese government plans for the long term. With a cashed up government thanks to exports and control over industry, China is perfectly placed rise to be the (not a) global superpower. That is a little dramatic but not improbable. Sorry for the thread drift.

Live a lot better, obviously. WAR is MADNESS. Nev

If the Landcruiser had not pulled out the accident would not have happened. Any rider with a fair bit of experience knows that many tin-top drivers make right turns in front of you and Hit you on roundabouts when you are on their right,and pull out from the side of the road without looking carefully. They ALL say "I didn't see you" as if that's a legitimate excuse. Yeah the rider was going too fast, but YOU are supposed to LOOK.

Qantas has been a very privileged and protected Airline many times during it's long History. Also some questionable management. Nev.

china may end up being a more stable superpower especially since they rely so much on global trade. look at the lunatics running the other 2 super powers, who would you prefer.

Ouch, Excessive speed definitely a factor. If it's a t bone, likely the cruiser pull out in front of bike. Sad. Generally it's biker dies and car driver is unhurt.

This is why I don't want to drive to Sydney anymore. If I did, I have to use this route and I can tell you, it's rooted.

The ex colleague I had lunch with yesterday who has been unemployed for some time. She works at the coal face in IT and says at that level, it is now who you know and not what you know. Her last three gigs were as a result of contacts. Some of it is displacement by AI. Some of it is offshored. In the absence of a complete tax overhaul so mega profits can be taxed to support s population for which there will be very few jobs at he coal face, I suggested a tax on jobs offshored (so not technically displaced by AI). If a company has operations in Australia and a job is being performed overseas in direct support of the Australian operations, then the firm should have to pay a tax to cover the displacement of the local working population. For new foreign start ups, they have a year to ramp up their local employment after which the tax will apply. Of course there are some pragmatic hurdles that have to be overcome such as identifying the roles overseas, but governments have put in "solutions" for trickier issues.. I am sure the right brains applied could come up with something no matter how imperfect

Tell me about it! People bring in all sorts of things to the Op Shop - bags and bags of clothes, shoes, bags, bric-a-brac like crockery. We go through it all and sort the saleable from the rubbish. We end up sending unwanted clothing to go to Africa (allegedly). Yesterday I sent away 220 kgs of clothing. That was after I had taken a ute load of solids to the tip to go into landfill. We are lucky in that our local tip does not charge us for that. Getting rid of this stuf costs Lifeline and Vinnies thousands of dollars each year. On the bright side, our Op Shop has distributed over $100,000 within the community over the past three years and still has a helthy amount of funds on hand. It is marvellous how much money an Op Shop can make selling just about everything at less than $5 each. It helps that it is fully volunteer run with no wages, but rent and consumables do take a bit each month.

Beautiful day in Melbourne, today. Life is good.

Primary Industries and Mining really don't do much to make a Nation economically strong. While both those industries generate income, they only generate service jobs for the rest of the community. Look at teh nations which became great, starting with Britain, then Europe and the USA and now China and India. Greatness came from making stuff from raw materials, not simply providing the raw materials.

Ahhh.. Blame the current bloke for the previous guy's failings. In the current value of money, here is Australia's debt curve... Adjusted for inflation of course.. So, the total debt in today's money has reduced slightly since 2022 not long after Albo had taken over. The graph steadily increases since the previous ALP government, continues during the LNP (we'll excuse the rate of increase over the 2 year COVID period).. Albo gets in and it steadily reduces, with a slight increase but still below the levels he took over. Yep, I agree.. with pollies, it's other people's money. But it clearly isn't Albo's debt - it is the previous guys.. the ones a lot of people think are the safe pair of hands with the economy because that's what the media owners want them to think. He could do his bit to reduce the debt further - property tax gas exports, reduce corporate welfare, etc. But the press don't like that.

My opinioon, from my experience, but not in road construction, is that it is the geology that makes constructing roads for heavy weights the problem. Over nearly all of the continent, the ground is sedimentary material. Very few places have the surface close to bedrock. That results in great difficulty building a sound base layer upon whihc to build a road. Also, the way we seal the surface of our roads is a compromise between cost and results. That's why we have our roads sealed with bitumen sprayed over gravel. Where the roads are made opf concrete, the failure rate os a lot less, but the cost per kilometre is much more.

Lame duck l'orange.

Jerry, don't forget to take into account that it doesn't matter how big, long or how much weight a truck carries, it's the axle weights that mainly impact the roads, ie: the ground pressure. A tandem axle grouping on a B-Double carries no more weight than the tandem axle grouping on a heavy rigid class truck like the bogey drive tip trucks we see everywhere.

He kept saying "Imagine I'm on the ballot." America did, and said "Up yours."

Trump can VETO everything and probably will. What a silly system they have there. Republicans will ARC up too. There's too much Power to a President. SCARY. Nev

Most bikes have headlights on permanently too. Sounds like speed was definitely a factor (although as OME says, it's probably based on a witness who would have no idea what 200kph looks like).

I wonder how they determined that the bike was traving at 200 kph? At a speed of 200 kph the bike would be coveing 55.4 metres per second. I know that the specialist crash investigators will be involved, but that collision only happened a few days ago. There's not enough time for them to calculate speed at impact. I guess that the "200 kph" came from a witness who was passed by the bike and formed the opinion that it was going like a shower of sh!t. I won't deny that the bike was flying. Also, for a bike to be capable of a very high speed, it would have to be a modern bike, with electronic speed display. Anything displayed on the instrument cluster would disappear with the loss of power at impact. Another factor relates to the ability of the driver of the motor vehicle to see the bike. Wwe know from our flight training that it is difficult to determine the speed of an object approaching from abeam. Further, the frontal area of a bike is small and often dark in clour. If it is dark, it would blend with the colour of the road surface, making it still more difficult to see. Then there the environmental factors such as light and theposition of the Sun. Were there clouds creating a dull background. Unfortunately, the strict liability of the Law places the blame on teh driver of the vehicle, but commonsense says that the cause was the bike rider.

why haven't the government covered every major industrial are in solar panels instead of transporting power hundreds of km with the associated power losses that brings. is it because there is more money in carbon credite for large windfarms. not to mention all the snouts in the renewable trough. even slimy malcolm turnbull is destroying prime farmland with a project. why couldn't you have wind turbines in an industrial area also.

love that area.

Country intersection Narre Warren. A bike hitting anything at 200k/h would demolish anything. Rush on wise guy, Hell ain't full yet. The intersection.

Actor Stacy Keach has passed away at the age of 85.

They don't all run around pretending to be the Spirit of Australia. Nev

i have asked for this post to be removed. i don't want to get into another shitfight with a left loony

Yes, that's a type IA-double here, commonly just called a double.

vicroads will only pay claims if they are over $1600 and even then i don't think anyone gets paid, they just drag it out for years.

The management is using AI as an excuse/scapegoat but the biggest driver is executive bonuses tied to profits. Short term decisions for personal gain. Spirit of India would be a better logo. They've lost me.

Actuyallk my gripe about the route over the Blue Mountains relates to the fact that the Minns government sput the stoppers on the tunnel, yet they will spend billions on roads criss-crossing Sydney. I can bitch and carry on about time taken to do the trip, but after nearly five years doing it, I know how long the different sections take to travel and where I can stop for refreshment. But I'm not counting the economics of teh delays that poor road causes. I should really be bitching about what those delays cost me when I go to my local supermarket to buy my Weet Bix and frozen veggies. Not to mention the extra cost for other goods that have to be transported from the coast. Those costs must be playing havoc with the viablility of so many businesses west of the Divide. In that video it mentions the multi-lane road on the western side of Mt Victoria which was supposed to form the exit to the tunnel. The road bypasses the locality of Little Hartley. A few years ago a business started there selling lollies. It did alrigh until one night it was struck by lightning and the shop burned down. So the owners rebuilt and re-opened, still doing a good trade. The the bypass opened and traffic no longer goes past its door. I believe the business now gets a lot of its sales on line, as well as from the trade of people who knew it before the bypass and are willing to pull off the main road to shop there.

There is an alternate route. It means going on the Golden Highway towards Newcastle, then down the M1 to Hornsby then the M2/M7/M5 to my journey's end. Accordning to Google Maps that involved 6 h 31 m drivng time. which is about an hour more than what it used to take me when the route over Mt Victoria was open. That time also depends on traffic flow on the M2/M7 stretch which can be a bitch in the afternoon when I would be going through there. I suppose I should go that way next time. I'm bored shitless going down through Mudgee and Lithgow. But that route takes 5h 30m and is about 100 kms shorter (that's 7.5 litres of fuel in my car).

If you had Taipans there Marty you'd want to be wearing leather pants. They have a bad habit of rearing up and striking passing vehicles. I've had one strike at a Toyota at the top of the wheel level. Tiger snakes up here do the opposite. With an approaching vehicle they do a big aerial backflip and go in the opposite direction.

Yeah - data centre proponents keep saying that AI will increase productivity. That's great for shareholders. They never mention that this will come at the expense of jobs. What's the point of great productivity if the population is unemployed?

Ignore OME Jerry, I agree with you.

That's shameful. People trying to do the right thing and its all a hoax. Nev

Had lunch today with an ex work colleague I have not seen since 2005. When she worked with usm she was 20 years old.. She now has a family and is nice and settled. We had 21 years of catch up and it was great to see her again. We had lunch in a cafe in Dorcas street, just around the corner from Clarendon Rod, South Melbourne. Itis a lovely part of Melbourne with old architecture, but nice wide streets. Food was a little pricey, but good quality.. we strolled to a cafe on Clarendon Street and watched the world go by reminiscing about the good old days, having a moan about growing old, etc. The only rel complaint was the parking stasi.. they were in force and swooped quickly in expired motorists. I managed to avoid one but a few seconds. The $105 bill is not that big its about 80 pounds in London these days if you pay it in 14 days and doubles if you pay it in 28. But, where we were, there were plenty of spaces empty.. as there were shops as well.. so I am not sure it was because of the parking fees and fines there was so many spaces. When there are that many, they should probably allow 2 hour free parking - if you stay longer then you get the bill.

Hey babe; take a walk on the wild side.

Here is someone who has a plan to help people. I haven't seen the whole press conference, but we need more people in politics thinking like this: Note, it is mainly foreign shareholders that really benefit from the current arrangements and yes, business won't like it, but when there's enough money still to be made, they will stay Norway, Qatar, and a host of others have proved it.

No so good for union apparently https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-09/live-updates-england-vs-wallabies-nations-championship/107351328?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other And according to the article, England have beaten Australia 12 of yhe last 14 times. Money back in England is not going to be fun

You can see examples all over the World. China is in the best Position with a Large Population able to afford stuff. No one can Match them. Nev

Australia is actually doing alright but you won't see that expressed often here.. Nev

Aren't those Christmas lights in a certain section of Amsterdam?

Ball and socket joint

This post on a forum did a good job of summing up some botched software updates. He's referring to CCleaner 7, but it could equally apply to others: ' If there’s one genuinely good thing about CCleaner 7, it’s that it now serves as a masterclass case study for product professionals everywhere — on how a trusted, legacy product can lose its way through poor change management. Reading through the forums, you’ll find hundreds of frustrated posts — one user summed it up perfectly: “You should have warned me this wasn’t just another update. You should have told me to save my configuration. You should have let me defer this until I was ready. But you didn’t.” That single paragraph captures everything wrong with Version 7. The release dropped with no clear communication, no migration guidance, and no empathy for long-time users who had built custom cleaning rules, cookie whitelists, and workflows over years. The result? Years of personalization wiped out in one “update.” The interface overhaul might have looked modern on a whiteboard, but it ignored how people actually use CCleaner. Merging the Registry Cleaner into Custom Clean broke functional separation and user intent. The new UI stripped out critical control options, like protecting specific cookies — the kind of tiny but meaningful feature that represented loyalty and trust. And then, as if on cue, a new “Ideas Board” appeared — asking users to submit feature suggestions for the “future of CCleaner.” The irony is almost poetic. You don’t need an idea board when your community is already shouting feedback you refuse to acknowledge. From a product-management lens, CCleaner 7 illustrates several timeless lessons: Communicate before you change: Never disguise a fundamental overhaul as a routine update. Respect user configuration: Data, preferences, and habits are part of the product’s emotional value. Don’t break muscle memory for aesthetics: A sleek UI means nothing if it disrupts daily usability. Empathy beats innovation theater: “Listening to users” means fixing what you broke before asking for new ideas. Ironically, this release has made CCleaner more valuable — not as software, but as a cautionary tale. Every product manager, designer, and QA lead should study Version 7 as a reminder that progress without communication is just chaos with better branding. Maybe the next time someone in a sprint review says “Let’s modernize the experience”, someone will pull up CCleaner 7 and reply, “Let’s also make sure we don’t modernize our users right out of the product.” '

What would we do with all the money spent on defence if peace suddenly broke out?

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

When I go into Melbourne the Large Number of Giant trucks is what I notice most. Upping the Allowed weight of them wouldn't help road surfaces, particularly when there is a Lot of rain. Once water gets under a road it's stuffed. Nev