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I wonder if this makes payment optional?

Today is the big day. I have been to the Cochlear Support Centre and received the external sound processor, which is now turned on. It sounds completely different to what I expected, although I knew it sounded different to what I have been hearing. For example, the ticking of a digital clock sounds like someone tapping a metal pipe with a small spanner. I now have a couple of months for my brain to learn to deal with sound frequencies it hasn't received in years, and for the device to be calibrated to my hearing.

I have sent OneTrack an email and am awaiting a reply.

He has disappeared for weeks and months a couple of times in the past, so I hope no cause for alarm.

17th century English explorers thought it looked like a pine cone but tasted like a fruit. Apple was a common name for fruit of various kinds at the time so it became pineapple.

There was an earthquake in Victoria this morning, at 2 am, near Leongatha. It was felt by hundreds in Melbourne, although I was in bed and didn't feel it. My daughter came to my room to check if I had. One woman on Facebook said the shaking lasted long enough for her to wake her husband and ask "Did you feel that?" He got quite excited for a second.

HEs MAD and dangerous like the rest of them. Nev

Beautiful British humour!

I was redundant years ago but the firm hasn't realised it yet so I'm still there.

I don't know where to put this... post, so this thread is as good as anywhere. Kicked off a project today that will ultimately result in my redundancy. My initial thought: I need to get it done before the big move. Some people were a little gloomy at the prospect.. I was very excited.

I stood upwind. The incineerator was in a rural area. I stoned the crows.

Sounds like my trip to the loo this morning.

So far, I am averaging a couple of dollars a day in feedin to the grid. And virtually nil consumption. Might not sound much, but that should add up to at least $700 credit a year. I await in anticipation to see if the new smart meter agrees with the solar inverter logs.

Two guys at the bar. One says: "you won't believe me, but I can bite my right eye. One beer if you loose the bet? " They shake hands or whatever you do in that part of the world to seal a bet and then our guy takes out his right (glass) eye and bites in it. One beer later our guy says "you won't believe me,I but I can bite in my left eye as well." They confirm the bet. Our guy takes out his dentures and bites in his left eye. One beer later our guy says "you won't believe me , but I can piss in your right trouser pocket and you don't get wet". Well, the bet is confirmed, our guy takes out his noodle and pisses in the right pocket of his betting partners trousers. "Fuck, my trousers are all wet!" (giggling) "Sorry, sometimes I lose a bet...."

I had the smart meter installed yesterday, so hopefully all the problems with idiot meter readers and estimated bills have gone for good. It went quite well to my surprise. Considering the disfunctional way power companies operate these days I thought it would be another sh*tfight trying to extract any common sense from them, but luckily the technician was just a normal tradie subcontractor who subbied for the company contracted to supply smart meters for the power retailer. He also happened to live just down the road from me and they'd given him my phone number, so he was able to ring me from the gate. Being just a normal tradie, he was quite happy to throw his gear in my car and let me drive him the 400 metres up to the meter box and back. He had a big front wheel drive van and wanted to give it a go driving that up. I tried my best to talk him out of it, but fortunately he came to a wheel spinning halt in the first fifteen metres so didn't do any damage to his vehicle, and it was easy enough for him to reverse back down to the gate. I'm glad I was there as I had three analog meters and one has never had an outlet to use power so has read 00000 kWh for thirty years or more. The technician wrote the numbers down as 99,999 kWh which would have given me a $3,000 bill for power never used. It took a fair bit to convince him he was wrong but he eventually came round. Attached photo shows the meter. Apart from no more meter reader access problems and issues with power retailers who can't read analog meters correctly, one thing I really like about the smart meter is that it gives one combined power useage figure for all three phases. That unused meter that reads zero has been a headache for years. If you submit a self meter read, the software spits the dummy if you enter the same figure as last time. In that case you have to photograph the meters and email them to people who can't read a meter and always stuff it up. I've even had an inspector from the main power supplier show up to check that I wasn't stealing power, as the zero readings were flagged as suspicious.

Whatever you may think of Musk, Space-X is doing some amazing work. They had three rocket launches on one day this week, one taking four astronauts to the space station, another deploying 30 Starlink satellites and the third launching a military satellite, all while recovering their boosters for re-use. One booster has been re-used 37 times.

I had trouble in NZ pronouncing Manurewa. I thought I had the first part correct…

The silent letters throw a lot of newcomers to the language. B Dumb, limb, lamb, crumb, etc. K Knife, knee, kneel, know, knowledge, knight, etc. P receipt Plus others. Then there are letter combinations. OUGH Rough, tough, enough, through, though, bough, cough, thought, bought - 6 different pronunciations.

Donald the Dick Tator just checking his equipment. He had a damaging leak from his administration.

If you tripped over it, it was a logarithm.

Back in the 1970s I use to talk to Eliza, the very first AI, to amuse my children. Here is an emulator if you want to try it today. Eliza (elizabot.js)

If we members here want to get an understanding of AI, I suggest they read this Wikipedia entry describing the history of AI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_artificial_intelligence to acquant themselves with the road AI has travelled from a confluence of ideas that became prevalent in the late 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s. In 1950, Turing published a landmark paper, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", in which he speculated about the possibility of creating machines that think.[53][b] In the paper, he noted that "thinking" is difficult to define and devised his famous Turing test: If a machine could carry on a conversation (over a teleprinter) that was indistinguishable from a conversation with a human being, then it was reasonable to say that the machine was "thinking"

Were you hungry afterwards?

Good spotting. No wonder she's having a Puff. That will take the dull out of UllaDULLa Nev

So much for leaving the office on time yesterday - for the ride home. But thankfully, it wasn't too late - I left my desk at about 6:15 and was on the bike at 6:30.. It was starting to get dark - it is that time of year. But the weather is positively warm for the UK... I don;t know the temp, but I was sweating in my kit.. Although it is concerning from a climate and environmental perspective, I was selfishly appreciating it as my heated glove replacements have not yet arrived. That said, I didn't need the heated grips at all.. and I could have even used summer gloves instead, as it was warm all the way home. Even with a fuel stop about 3 miles prior, I was on the M4 by 7:15pm. I had an amazing run of lights through London and, with the exception of the ever increasing population of lunatic cyclists - electric and human powered, the traffic was quite light and it was easy to filter to the front of the queue at traffic lights. Except for the 20mph limited areas (sans cameras), I was sticking to the speed limit and taking it easy. Once on the A4, it is 30mph to the other side of Hammersmith and then 40.. so with lighter traffic, we were keeping up those speeds comfortably. I have to be honest.. I always approach these commutes with a sense of fatigue in doing them, but once I am on the motorway and in a rhythm, I quite enjoy the ride. For a lot of people, it would be boring, but there is enough to keep you alert and concentrating. This was no different. What I liked about coming home earlier than normal is there is slightly more traffic on the motorway, which provides further protection against any stray deer that may come along - although in all my time doing this route by car or motorcycle, I have yet to see one - dead or alive. The M4 from London to Reading is basically around populated towns/cities and well lit. Once past Reading, it becomes rural and unlit. At night I am a bit naughty and stay in the middle lane in case a deer does make its way onto the motorway - in which case I will have more options open to me (which is not really true, as to the left of the left lane is a decent hard shoulder to ride onto at speed if needed). I will normally stick to the limit until a car comes through going a speed I would prefer to be. And last night, there was no shortage of them to follow. And when they turn off, there's another to replace it within a couple of minutes. So, apart from two narrow bands of precipitation - one drizzle and the other moderate rain, it was a nice ride home. Whe turining onto the M5 from the M4 at Bristol, for some reason, the cars were handling that exit/entry really slow - so I did some higher speed filtering to keep up the pace (I was starting to feel the need for a releif stop). On the M5, it was much the same.. The phone went off as some evening software release didn't quite go to plan, but there's nothing I could do about it at 70mph -ish on a motorway. Got home by 10:30, which for that route was amazing timing (I ende up not stopping for that comfort break, but it was a rush through the front door). Bike is performing nicely.. and the decorator finished the study, so after work today will move my office back into there. He can then work on the next room..

An old Streaker got the Prize for the Best Dried Arrangement. Smoking is a dying habit. Nev

They don't have one. Seems they hope to get in by 'at least we aren't Repugnican'. In the past it has worked in Australian politics. I think Donny and the repuglicans have given so much material that could be used.... but - silence is all we hear. I recall donny once said that if he ever ran for president, it would have to be with the repuglican party because republicans are so dumb.

Back in the early days of the Internet, we relied on dial-up modems and bulletin boards? Do you remember which search engine you used? I can recall one called Ask Jeeves. Founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California, the service became one of the earliest prominent search engines on the World Wide Web during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The "Jeeves" branding was discontinued in 2006 and relaunched as Ask.com, focusing more directly on competing with major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! Search, and MSN Search. Ask.com was shut down on May 1, 2026, ending nearly three decades of operation.

I remember back in the day when on Grand Final Day, the first match was the men's Reserve Grade Grand Final, followed by the First Grade. There were a couple of years in which the Grand Finalists in both grades were from the same club, and some clubs won both grades. In those times, during the competition season, there were three games played by teams representing each club. In other words, St George would be at home to, say, South Sydney. No other clubs playing on the same ground that day, and the games would be played at the home ground of the 'at home' team. Those grounds were rough and tumble suburban grounds. I suppose someting similar occured in the southern States.

Agree.. But does someone have his email address and can give him a buzz to see.

OneTrack hasn’t been around since June despite being a frequent contributor. I don’t suppose anyone knows what happened to him and whether he’s OK?

I can't see the meter readings on my laptop on the AGL Account login, but I can see how the bill is progressing every time I log in, as well as the current balance. By checking every pension day, and paying in a small amount to cover current usage, I end up with a paper bill of $0.00, no large amount to scare the hell out of me.

I was going to say Lycoming, but thought it would be too much of a "dad joke".

Rotax? 😁

Or idiots and crazy

I just love how they accuse everyone else of being exactly what they are... Except, they are also hypocrites.

From what I saw of his speech the ideological clown was definitely in and loaded up with testosterone. The patriotic cowboys must have been backstage.

Quote of the day, from Mr Hegseth: "The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top." I think the clowns have been out for quite a while.....

This is not really a gripe, just some observations for want of a better thread to post in. In some ways things are advancing and in other ways we're going backwards. I've noticed for a while now a lot of companies and organisations are becoming increasingly disfunctional. A lot are getting a fortress mentality where it's becoming increasingly difficult for customers and others to contact them. Too many working groups, team leaders, teams, team meetings, overseas outsourced support and the list goes on. It gives me the impression that a lot of people making the decisions these days wouldn't know if their arse was on fire. They think if you have enough blah, blah, blah, and keep kicking the ball around in circles, everything will work out. It's in government and regulation as well, or should I say over regulation. A good example I heard on the ABC radio today was that some operators of coffee outlets in Victoria are required to have up to thirty four different licences to pour and sell coffee. Another example of a disfunctional system is our banana quarantine system here in S.E. Queensland. I haven't grown any since the 1990's but am thinking of putting a few in again. The last time I grew them, the government took it very seriously. Non commercial household growers were only allowed to grow Lady Fingers and the suckers had to be sourced from a grower approved by the Department of Primary Industries. Transportation of banana material was restricted to certain zones (still is) and a strict planting window was in place with about a two month period that they were allowed to be planted. I got quite a shock last year when I made some enquiries into planting, as I wanted to do the right thing regarding disease control. Here's a comparison of how it was planting bananas in the 1990's compared to now. Back then I went to the local DPI research station for advice. They gave me a contact list of approved growers, and that was it. All I had to do was ring a nearby approved grower, buy the suckers and plant them. All legal and biosecurity compliant. Fast forward to now. Some time ago the DPI research stations stopped dealing with the public. Now they have no public phone numbers or any other way to contact them, and the stations are blocked to public access so you can't go and see them. Wanting to do the right thing, I rang the department headquarters in Brisbane and they didn't have a clue what to do. I then asked them if they had a list of approved growers and they said they weren't allowed to give out that information and suggested I contact the banana growers association. I rang them several times over a few days and nobody would answer the phone. They had a very loud recorded tune playing for waiting; it was the lyrics banana-nana, banana-nana excised from that kid's song and looped endlessly at irritatingly high volume. It was as if they were purposely trying to get you to hang up and go away. Nobody is going to sit there and listen to that for an indeterminate period of time. I think my record in all the calls was about 20 minutes of banana-nana, banana-nana and that was it for me. It's odd because the quarantine signs are still everywhere, and the relevant authorities' websites still bang on about how strict they are with banana biosecurity but government and the growers association are total fu*kwits about it. The problem with that is that people wanting to plant bananas are now just buying them illegally on FB Marketplace from backyarders. It's not legal to sell if you're not an approved grower and not legal to buy from non approved growers. The government and the growers association are talking the talk and not walking the walk. It's gone from a very efficient system to one that's completely disfunctional.

Brushing scam - empty white envelope scam. https://www.facebook.com/reel/888913647281108

I found this interesting.

Well if you listened to the clip I posted above, you will see how A.I. is presently being implemented. Bear in mind that trump got the best A.I. to create his A.I. powered government website. Then, as soon as it gave inconveniently true answers to public questions, the administrators modified the A.I. to respond with answers that were politically modified. Of course greater computing systems COULD be a boon to humanity. But A.I.'s are being created by billionaires who care little about anyone but themselves, and are being facilitated by politicians with similar motives.

I don't think he will cancel the elections because early voting has already started in some States so it's getting a bit late. However I think he will do everything he can to disrupt the outcome and contest the results, as well as delay seating candidates. Assuming Democrats take the House and/or Senate he will ignore their subpoenas and investigations, drag everything through the courts, and try to block any kind of legislation they come up with. . He likes fighting so the Democrats will give him a tangible target to attack and his Truth Social posts will go into overdrive. Needless to say, he won't care about how the population is faring in the meantime and he will still be bogged down in Iran. His health is also noticeably deteriorating. His right arm twitches, his fingers seem to lock up at times. his face is sagging, he's slurring his words more and more, he can't walk in a straight line without lurching one way or the other, and he falls asleep in meetings all the time. I don't think he's going to last another two years.

They tend to go for HERO type personalities. Trump was supposed to be RICH. SO HE must know how to do things. His name was synonymous with success.. You'd go a long way to get a person more flawed and dangerous than this guy is. His Niece Mary, adequately warned ALL OF US. Now he will be very difficult to be rid of and is totally Unpredictable with any accuracy.. My bet is he will create a big(ger) Crisis and declare Martial LAW and cancel the Mid term elections. People voting for Pauline Hanson is even more inexplicable. Have a look as how HER Party is structured and Managed. The candidates don't really get a say. The GOP in the USA doesn't have the GUTS to take Trump on. Nev

Have you noticed that trhere never seems to be any videos in which a Democrat politician says anything to advance the Democrat cause? We nver hear anything about the Democrats' campaign for the upcoming mid-terms.

It seems we're in the ".... and then suddenly phase" of the descent into bankruptcy, with Trump and his incompetent financial team leading the way.

This bloke just keeps giving more and more amazing comically blind stuff. "There's a company known as Mesabi," the president said in the Oval Office. "And they're going to make a big investment in a place called Iowa. I love Iowa. I won Iowa every time. Today, we're thrilled to announce that Mesabi Metallics will be building the largest steel plant in American history in the great state of Iowa." What he didn't mention was who might fund it. Seems the guy behind it is #1 son of India's richest family, and India is industrializing like crazy but is iron ore-poor. As usual Trump is trying to take credit for something that he didn't do. And nobody can see that when India finds a cheaper place to make their steel, is that place is a third world country? Oh yeah, the art of the deal!