Leaderboard

The Pope and Trump are on stage in front of a huge crowd. The Pope leans toward Trump and said, "Do you know that with one little wave of my hand I can make every person in this crowd go wild with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display, like that of your followers, but go deep into their hearts and for the rest of their lives whenever they speak of this day, they will rejoice!" Trump says, "I seriously doubt that. With one little wave of your hand? Show me!" So the Pope slaps him.

I got a fright tonight when I dropped one of my favourite lanterns (in the top four) onto the verandah floor from well above waist height. One of those times when you're not game to look down and see the damage. Luckily it's a strong, well built lantern and survived without a scratch. An el cheapo Chinese one I have would have been busted up badly in a fall like that due to it's paper thin constrction. The dropped lantern is a Sunlight brand cold blast lantern made in Indonesia. It's a large size, basically styled on a Dietz No.80, so a bit of weight to fall from that height with a full tank of kero. I think there's a couple of reasons it's such good quality, one is that the company's main business is making 44 gallon drums and the same gauge steel is used in the lanterns. They are also very well built and a factor in that is that I think they're mainly produced for the domestic market in Indonesia which requires a sturdy, useable product. A lot of contempory Chinese lanterns on the other hand, are made especially for the junk export market and are of low quality. The older lanterns made in China and Hong Kong were fairly good quality. I have a very old Hong Kong made Globe brand (aka The World Light Factory) hot blast lantern and it's of good quality. Of all the lanterns I have, a mix of hot blast and cold blast lanterns including brands from the USA, Germany, India and the UK, in my opinion the best of them all is the old humble Australian made Lanora hot blast lantern. They're not flash, but solid as a rock, burn beautifully and function mechanically way better than any of the others. I have two of them, the attached photo shows the yellow one burning away on the verandah. The Lanoras were circa 1940's/1950's, very common lantern and widely used by the military, railways and government as well as household use.

Not quite a conversion on the road to Damascus, but it looks like I'll be taking my first ride in an EV next week. My son has bought a BYD Shark 6 for himself and a BYD Sealion for the family car. My son has a business pimping up 4WDs. He worked out plans to do what he wants to his Shark and has had initial talks with the sellers of BYDs, interesting them in his idea. If his talks produce anything, his business will contract to do up these cars as special vehicles, which will add something special to retailer's offerings. From what he says, he thinks he will be starting limited production around Spring. As well as doing this stuff with BYDs, he will still be doing similar work on the usual suspects. It's good to see a young man (geez! He's 36!!) having a go. I can only wish him success. However, no matter how successful he becomes in business, he'll still be my dickhead of a son.

Apparently these buzzwords are used to express power in interpersonal relationships. If a person is on a lower rung in the ladder than the person using the buzzwords, then the one on the higher rung is exerting power over the other. These words are also used to exclude outsiders from inner circles. These words are the trade jargon of the administrative classes. The one I hate is "on my watch". I could see it being used by John F Kennedy and the elder George Bush who both served in the Navy in WWII, but its use by people with no navy service grates on my nerves.

Corporate buzzwords and phrases. It was things like "bringing them along for the journey".. The latest is aligned.. as in "lets all get aligned".. These things are repeat ad nauseum... I am not sure people even know what they mean. P155es me off.

Back on the road Peter! Let me know if you'd like to go for a ride sometime. One of my favourites is to Richmond via Grasstree Hill then back via Tea Tree and Brighton.

His new avatar:

There's a rise of far-right populist parties everywhere. Reform in UK. AfD in Germany. Fidesz in Hungary. National Rally in France. The MAGAfication of the GOP in the US. PHONey here in Australia. If you want reasons, how long have you got? Growing inequality. Billionaires profiteering while simultaneously disenfranchising workers. Overpopulation, destruction of the natural world while those same billionaires resist any limitations on resource extraction. Journalism hollowed out by concentration of media ownership to the same billionaires and their mates who own the fossil fuel and tech industries. Loss of traditional industies to automation, robotics and AI, and the necessary transition of energy systems. Difficult and existential questions which require actual thought, wisdom and cooperative planning, at a time when our attention span is the shortest it's ever been. Into this complicated reality, populist parties provide simplistic answers and attract followers who like simple answers. Climate change isn't real so let's drill, baby, drill. Everything will be ok if we send all the immigrants back to where they came from. It's all the fault of the Somalis/Muslims/Jews/Pakistanis/pick your group. Cut taxes while simultaneously increasing services. Sound familiar? If you really think that Pauline is a deep thinking, compassionate and forward-looking leader, then by all means vote for her. Personally I think she's an opportunistic, racist rabble-rouser who appeals to the worst bits of human nature, so her party will always be last on my ballot.

They DON'T have to be and Islam is not the Only threat. Lack of TRUTH in the Media is a threat to Democracy and while we have a free Vote there is a chance of keeping the thing on the rails. Nev

Better IF he could ZAP him. Nev

You can't revoke the citizenship of an Australian if it would leave them stateless. This is not something Labor or even the LNP can do if they were in government. There is no doubt these women made a monumentally stupid decision (although some were pressured into it by family, and were only girls themselves). And some may remain a security risk. The government will need to eventually let them back, it has no choice. What it can do is charge them with whatever crimes they've committed and lock them up here. The question it's facing now is, does it leave them and their children (who are innocent) in a terrible place where their kids are likely to be radicalised themselves while it dithers with the political pressure, or does it act quickly and provide those children the support services they need?

Just on another EV related topic. BYD recently announced that development of Sodium phosphate batteries has proved successful and that BYD is moving towards full production of this type of enegery storage. I think that the main advantages of sodium phosphate technology is a lower cost of raw materials and the elimination of the fire risks associated with lithium batteries. BYD knows about economies of scale. Sodium phosphate batteries can only become the universal standard if the majority of manufacturers are using them. To get this change started industry-wide, BYD has apparently not patented the process, but is freelky sharing the knowledge with everyone who makes batteries. We shall see what we shall see.

That is the irony of Charity. All Vinnies, LifeLine, Red Cross and Op Shops suffer from the generosity of people. I'm battling the same problem in the OP Shop I work at. Too much stuff donated; not enough staff to sort it, and not enough demand for what is put out for sale. I'm bagging up good clothing to be sent to Africa. Doing that is better than sending it to landfill. Also, our tip operator (local council) does not charge to tip. The Metropolitan charities lose bucket of money paying tip fees. It's bad when you live in a town with an aged population. Boomers are dropping off the perch and their kids are cleaning out theie houses and dropping off what they don't want to charity shops. Just think of the wedding gifts you received at you first wedding. Nowadays, no one has dinner parties so there is no need for fancy dinner sets or glassware. Then over the years people collect stuff like Tupperware and cookware. You can't sell that sort of stuff, but people keep donating it. We can't sell electrical items because we don't have anyone to Test 'n' Tag each item, but we continue to get it donated. You'd be surprised at how many items of clothing still have the original retailer's tags on them. I spent today packing up Mum's stuff to remove it from her room where she lived for the past ten years. I packed away CDs, DVDs and casette tapes, as well as their players. Who would want her out-of-date clothing. I have just poured opened jars full of jam down the sink. And there are all her creams, ointments and soaps that can't be given away. And her shoes and underwear. The only thing we can do is to wait until the end of the bushfire season and have a big burn up.

You Mean it's ALL Bull? Cheeses Crust. Is Nothing sacred? Next you'll tell me there's no Dog, and I'm adopted. Nev

They're only selling it because we're buying it. I'd say the fault lies with us.

They tilt their tails and Have wing slats and they are Ornithopters. No Plane will ever be as good. Nev

in this space.. on the same page... circle back... low-hanging fruit... bring to the table... brain dump... get buy-in... game changer... take it off-line... reinvent the wheel... onboarding... in my wheelhouse... top down... putting out fires... There are heaps of them and they're all irritating.

They made a documentary about that... It's called "Terminator"

Our deep south sounds positively balmy compared to your riding environment. Last year I folded to sensible behaviour and sold my bike. No sensible 70 year old would be so silly as to have a motorbike! I finally gave in to my pining for a ride. Collected a little 250, (a lighter thing to pick up if it falls over). A pleasant enough 8 degree day. It's heated grips worked all the way home. Of course as soon as I hit the highway the clouds closed in and the previously nice winding roads had me nervous because I was still getting used to handling this light responsive bike, on wet roads. Home in one piece. Nice hot shower, hot cuppa and happy. For future adventures, I will include a weather forecast in my flight plan.

This image gives an idea of the airflow direction. Not visible from the outside is the plenium, described here as the air gap, which is an empty compartment above the fuel tank, and receives the air circulating down through the side tubes. The air from the tubes via the plenium to the burner is force fed air, very critical to how they burn. Without that system they'd just be a glorified candle like the wall mount type lamps that are called a dead flame lantern as they don't have any forced air, just drawing it in from the grate at the base of the burner.

Yes they do, and very loud. Not as loud as the butcher bird's but close. They wake you up at night. For years I thought the sound was some weird bird up in the roof ridge cap until I did some googling and found out it was the geckos. I originally thought they were the native gecko, dubious dtella. but with more googling and some close up inspection I'm fairly sure they're one of the introduced Asian species. They moved in here when I built the place in 1996 so are probably into the fifth generation by now.

I think the light output is a bit like our refrigeration expectations nowadays. When we lived without electricity he light from one of these would have beaten a candle by tons, better than a campfire. Imagine people having to live without electricity, having a coolgardie safe only no to keep their food, and maybe an underground cellar. hey Willie, do your geckos make audible sounds. We ha geckos all over a villa in the Maldives that called to each other all night. Never heard lizards making any thing other than hisses when threatened.

Well said Jerry. Firstly I'm breaking my golden rule here. I had a lengthy break from the forum and set a rule for coming back on a regular basis that I would avoid the politics section, so this is a relapse. I think it's a turbulent time in politics for a lot of the reasons mentioned by you in the above post. It's a good way to analyze the issue, otherwise it just turns into an us against them mudslinging match. Devotees of the major parties often like to think those on the fringe should come into their fold because it's the only way to provide stable government. Here's the catch - a lot of those people only have one small part in the power structure, and that's their vote every three (or four in some states) years. A lot of them use that vote to send a message to the majors, and let's face it, without a reality check, complacency will rule. While it's a sound two party system where we have this eternal your turn, my turn setup, performance of governments and major oppositions will always be pedestrian. A lot of the disgruntled people don't want to reward that. I don't think the shift to the right is a blip, and it certainly won't be halted by simply denigrating those people. At the moment here in Australia, Labor has a declining primary vote in the polls, but with the number of seats held, should be right for a while without having to go to a Labor/Green coalition. The immediate problem is for the conservatives with their primary votes bleeding to minor parties, mainly ON. There's a possibility if voter disillusionment with the major parties is not addressed, we'll see a shift to more European style government where it's rare for parties to form government without cobbling together a coalition of parties. Be prepared for the possibility that might be the new normal in Australia in the not too distant future. Liberal/National/One Nation coalition or a Labor/Green coalition with a few independants thrown in here and there.

Edit: [Poor comment from a moderator. Cut it out. You set a bad example. The subject needs to be delved into a bit deeper. Nev] Nev, as an example of the point I'm trying to make, the above quote has been edited to normal text. Yes, I know you do it for emphasis, but your posts don't need emphasis. They are short enough to be clearly understood without caps. The fact is they are less understandable with the cap emphasis you put in the posts, and can visually look like a rant. Have a good look at the two versions above and try to imagine them through the eyes of others; it's not hard to see which one looks more polite. You don't need a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

This coulda gone in the trump thread, but I laughed. Maybe there is hope? Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi in an oversight hearing Wednesday

Unbelievable! America failed to win gold for shooting, at the Olympics! (Well, it wasn't held in a school)

Even though they can't spell, it's true. One Nation is a protest party. They have no workable policies and no chance of successfully governing, in the catastrophic event that a majority of voters lost their minds and voted them in. If you want a government that hates the environment, loves guns and bibles and is paid for by (and works for) billionaires, move to the USA.

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday. 55 minute wait beyond appointment time. He gave me a referral to a mob to check out my loss of balance and very bad hearing. The place was called Dizzyology. I called to make an appointment. Got a recording saying "Our reception operates 9 to 5:30 Monday to Friday." then nothing. As It was only 3 pm, I rang again, got the same. Twice more, the same. I thought, I'll go down there, because I have difficulty hearing on the phone, even with plug in ear phones. Looked at my watch, it was flat (rechargable). Plugged it in to recharge. Opened the front door, the dog shot past my leg and across the street. Rounded him up and got under way. School leaving time, Mum's taxis everywhere, plus 2 buses in a narrow street. Driving in the left lane, a line of cars stopped to turn left. Eventually got into the right lane, a line of cars stopped to turn right. Twenty metres from just about every set of lights, they turn amber. Finally got there at 4 o'clock. It was 12 km. Walked into the place, a room with 6 chairs, no reception counter. A table with a sign "Have a seat, someone will be out at your appointment time." I was there to make an appointment. Took a seat and waited. The walls were frosted glass with about 18" clear at the bottom. I could see a man's legs moving around a treatment table, and voices like he was talking to a patient. I waited....and waited. After about an hour and 20 minutes I saw the hydraulic thing under the treatment table lowering it so the patient could get off. The door opened and the man came out followed by the patient, whom he directed to the toilet. He said, "I'm sorry, we don't have a receptionist. I'll be with you when I finish this appointment, It may be about half an hour." The patient returned, and they went into another consulting room. After about 10 minutes, they came out, the patient left and the man took my referral letter, went into an office and organised the appointment for March 20. He explained that there were only clinicians at this location, the receptionist worked from home because only people with an appointment went to that location. So, after well over an hour and a half wating I finally left just after 6 pm. I wasn't driving all that way and leaving without the appointment. I got to explain the back story to my problem, and learned more about cochlear implants, which he thinks I have a good chance of qualifying for. Guess today's date.

It all depends on how much money you've got, what your dream is, and how much determination you've got, to achieve that dream. One of the most amazing restorations I've seen is a split window Kombi, salvaged from the Higginsville Pumping station - where the entire front of it had been cut off, the body stood on its front, a huge chunk cut out of the side of it, and then it was used as a dunny!! But a bloke set his heart on having a fully restored split window Kombi, and he recovered every part of that "dunny Kombi" and restored it to superb driving condition!! It reportedly cost him $100,000! Why anyone would do this, to end up driving a gutless old pile of VW crap, is beyond me! But that's just my opinion! This is the Kombi when it was used as a dunny, I can't find photos of it when restored, I did see them on Instagram, but can't find them now.

I would say that it is the children who are the problem. Imaging how they think after growing up in an ISIS dominated society. I bet none of those children knows how to play Footy or League; has ever ridden a skateboard, or done anything that kids of a similar age in Australia have done. Those kids ae, unfortunately, the next generation of Islamist radicals.

Can’t turn or are just in a hurry to get away?

When you stick a grass straw up a March Fly's bum and let it go, they fly off in a straight line and can't turn.

Must be close to the LEAST CLASSY and Most UNCOUTH person in the World. Nev

I reckon any "Blacks for Trump" placard wavers are feeling buyer's remorse right now. He also shared a video of the Obamas on monkey bodies. The man is scum.

Incidentally It Makes 82 HP with those heads (from 1,000cc) which are flowed and have a changed (reduced) included angle on the Valves and SMALLER exhaust Valves. The original Valves are Bigger than Optimum in the IRON head. This gives an increase of torque of up to 42% with no cam changes and no More Revs needed and the Ignition advance reduced by 8 degrees. The Oil temp is also significantly reduced because of the Alloy Heads and the flatter top ARIAS forged Pistons have Less area to absorb Heat.. It's all XR 750Tracker technology. The after market heads and different Manifold and rockers head bolts Pistons Pushrods and covers were Very expensive and they only made 400 sets. The Later alloy Motor can be Modified to equal these performance figures and the Buell Motor is there already. 100 HP/1200 cc with a much stronger bottom end and Lighter clutch. Nev

Actor Robert Duvall has passed away aged 95. He died peacefully at home surrounded by family.

Thy will, be done. On earth as it is in heaven. By then A.I. will be so logical that it will remove the plague of humans and bring lasting peace to Earth. So, it would indeed work very well.

Marry a wealthy Person. IF Love dies the money is still around. Marriage is a Lottery so, Perhaps Buy a lottery ticket now and then. Without a Job to Motivate you to Get out of bed you might Just stay in Bed and that is No good at all. You need to be physically and Mentally active. Have a good Veggie Garden, a few fruit trees and some chooks. Nev

I spent 3 months in the U.K. in 1985, mainly in London. I was there July, August and September and it was beautiful warm sunny weather. I left the first week of November and the last three or four days there had cooled down to the point of wearing a coat. But before that it was three months of T shirt weather. The locals called it an Indian summer and said it would happen only about every 20 years, so I've been there but never experienced the cold rainy weather they often get.

ALL of that Coast is rather nice. Nev

There used to be LOTs of them in Cairns, mostly upside down on the ceiling. Nev

The WHOLE world, even. Nev

I used to think the tubes running down each side were just part of the framework until I found out they are critical to the way the lanterns work. A bit like intake manifolds, but act as structural integrity as well. I usually burn one or two at night on the verandah. It provides a nice soft light and keeps the geckos happy hoovering up the moths attracted to the light. Another benifit is the nostalgic smell of burning kero; it reminds me of growing up with the kero heater. The kero heater was a stinky old thing and didn't throw out a lot of heat. I can't remember what year we got mains power on and would have changed to an electric heater. Before the mains power we had a 32 volt generator run by a single cylinder Southern Cross diesel. The battery bank was stuffed so as soon as you cut the motor to go to bed, all the lights went off. I've still got that generator but unfortunately not the engine.

My childhood involved Tilly lanterns for camping, which I think must have been like that Aladdin.

Yeah, but he'd not be allowed to compete while suffering football in mouth disease

There are striking similarities between UK and AUS politics. Normally, I would say to predict what is going to happen politically in the UK, just look at Australia's recent past. The libs impending implosion and the lurch to the right are the two exceptions, where the UK leads, but Australia is following. The conservatives have been out of ideas and losing relevance for a long time. Brexit was a way they could lay the blame of the malaise they imposed on the country and solve it in one foul swoop. Of course, when that didn't work and the chickens came home to roost, it showed how hollow they were - out of touch with the electorate; out of touch with business; out of touch woth foreign policy.. the party kept on proffering candidates who seemed to be stuck in the old colonial days. Brexit initially delivered the conservatives a large swing from Labour. But they have no oether swung back, or swung to Reform - Nigel Farage. Brexit was a protest vote - people who were on the margins, which seemingly more and more of what should be the middle classes find themselves. Conservatives followed suit - their party in disarray, not representing the rank and file. First, they tried emulating reform. Once it became clear that conservative voters had shifted, so too have some of the lesser qualified conservative MPs. Reform took third place in the popular vote in the last elections; I would say they are even money, if not staring down taking first place of the popular vote at the next. They are unlikely to grab the premiership due to the concentration of their votes, but taking the popular vote is a big boost. Yet, their policies will hurt the ones that vote for them most. Australia is heading that way. The Libs are more and more irrelevant. They have a habit of nominating candidates that are less and less competent. Lib voters are moving to PHON. As the Libs implde, some will see the personal value of defecting to PHON. Labor lost some ground in the primary vote in the last polls. That is probably more attributed to Bondi and general incumbent blues than a shift to PHON at this stage. There has been no Brexit moment to pull Labor voters away. But, there are things creeping in that may move Labor voters at a higher rate. There is stuff like the NACC, where Labor have proved not much better than the Libs at the end of the day. That is minor in the scheme of things, but these sorts of things that can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, Despite Australia looking after its poorer and lower mddle classes better that the UK, we are seeing a wider gap between the haves and the have nots; we are seeing constantly increasing costs of lving, and hot topics like property rental and purhcase prices spiralling continues unabated. The result, more and more people will feel forgotten, get pi55ed off and cast their prtest vote. The difference between the UK and Australia is that voting in Australia is compulsory (or at least getting your name marked off the electoral roll is, anyway). This will mean those thast are p155ed off are more likely to cast a protest vote than in the UK, because many who would say normally vote conservative wouldn't turn up for the election - which happened in the last UK general election. Of course, Australia has a preferential system rather than first past the post, so that works in favour of keeing PHONies out., But don't bet on it. Libs and Labor have lessons to learn if they don't want a rabid right wing mob with significant power.

I am getting through my copy of Peter’s book, nice to have a break from fiction for a bit. Some real interesting stuff in there. the amount of golden ounces pulled out of that ground is staggering. £3 an ounce might have been a fortune then, but t the ridiculous prices seen lately the numbers are staggering.