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Starting a new topic, similar to the "tell us about your last flight" on the sister site, but for motorbikes. (Or whatever else you've been riding. Just remember it's a family site 😜) Had a lovely ride this morning, met @nomadpete and his better half for a coffee then down to Dover. From there I took the Esperance Coast road (which I've never done before - but it was a beautiful riding road), which comes out at Surges Bay. Beautiful day, no pesky cars in the way for most of it. Pure fun!

Got my bike back yesterday... I was bracing myself for a big bill haveing burned out one regulator and potentially damaged the shop's bench regulator... The total price, including VAT (20%) was £477.. This included 4 hours of labour at £70/hr (which is a little on the high side, but dealers charge £90). They only charged me one regulator and there was a few assorted other parts. It was mainly corroded connectors throughout. The regulator company credited me the burned out regulator that my bike caused. And to boot, the regulator was cheaper through the bike shop than direct - by £50. Who said customer service is dead. The bike is due its MOT (RWC) on 18th December... They are already booked out to the end of November... Shows how a good shop makes money.

Never was a problem in the good ole days - bikes had a kick starter and a magneto to make the motor go and a carbide lamp up front to light the path. Batteries? Bah!

From the workshop --> home... Electrical gremlin fixed; sunny day, light breeze, cooling weather (about 18)... traffic reasonable. Smile back on face.

This sounds like a brilliant move.... Trump's Dallas mid-term convention site has been possibly sabotaged. The address redirects to the DOJ Epstein Library. http://gopdallas2026.com/ Try it. It really does!

I see where a bloke from Anthropic rates it a 10% chance AI will cause human extinction by 2030. That's it, I'm definitely not buying a new car, the old one should see me out.

Almost Page 103. Nev

Come the revolution.... the enablers will rule the world. We might have more to worry about than the price of diesel.

Bob Hawke’s widow Blanche D’Alpuget has died, aged 82.

When I was young and stupid (I'm no longer young) I rode from Hobart to Surfers Paradise on my Honda VFR750 for a holiday. The viffer is a fantastic bike for throwing around corners, but it got a bit uncomfortable after 2500 km. I did it in 3 days from memory. About 800km a day is enough on a bike, especially when you're cruising at 150 and still getting overtaken by semis.

Diesel is $2.70 /ltr now. Ouch. Thanks Donold! But the USAnians are almost ready to riot over fuel goung up to $5 /gallon. Sooks! At least they are hastening the EV revolution, so that's something.

The two longest trips I ever went on were both two up with a mate on his Guzzi, sharing the riding. One was from Melbourne to Adelaide and back, around 1,500 klm, and the other was from the Sunshine Coast to Cairns and back, around 3,200 klm. There's a ton of bikes I could name that would make those trips a horror story two up, but the Guzzi was a great tourer with a nice long comfortable seat and quite low from top of seat height to the ground. I could imagine it as the sort of trip where a BMW would be good as well.

Give me an old car any day. A friend had a Mercedes. The tyres were $1000 each and had to be filled with nitrogen, not air. My sons Mazda CX-6 diesel Hybrid SUV tyres cost $550 each. Tyres for my 2004 Holden Astra start at $129 each, a number of brands at $189 each. And the techno gizmos to go wrong. My son's SUV has electric tyre pressure sensors and an electric oil gauge. For people too lazy to lift the bonnet. The only dipstick is the one behind the wheel. Even has a wiper maintenance mode for changing wiper blades.

The manufacturers would be screaming poor if that happened. Making things to last and fixable is not good business under modern standards. Look at printers, it is cheaper to buy a new one with ink in it than a cartidge for most. Fridges dont last because of the alloy tubing now used corodes from condisation and blown insulation turn to a mild acid and eat the pipes. In my old workshop i had a fridge that was new in 1991 still running with steel tubing, others i know are still runing 70s fridges in their sheds. Not the most power efficent, but better than buying a new one every 5 years. I like fixing stuff because i hate wasting what was already bought.

Hmm. That's not what "nork" meant when I was growing up. It was only used in the plural and usually preceded by the words "phwoah, look at those "

I came across another photo repair website which offered a free trial. I uploaded one of the most damaged photos I had, of my wife's aunt and cousin. here are the results.

Guess what! A splayd is an eating utensil which combines the functions of a spoon, knife and fork. It was invented by William McArthur in the 1940s in Sydney. I've still got the boxed set of Splayds that Mum got back in the day.

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Developing and implementing all risk systems for our whole European business.

Referenced to the Royal Enfield Twin.. Nev

Not mine. But OME's might qualify

Didn’t the Rams only just fly in on a 14hr leg this morning. short turn around for such a long trip.

I have grown my team from 3 to just on 100 over the last year. Well, I couldn't have done it alone and have had help. I have been in at least 100 interviews and it is gruelling. Some use AI to filter CVs; I tried, but found it was not much quicker than reading the CVs myself. But what I have found is, these days where every interview we conduct is over video conferencing, the candidates are using it real time. Initially the first interviews, which are technical in nature, were smashed by the candidates but the second interviews which are more exploratory were failed abysmally by at least 80% of the of the candidates. We worked out pretty quickly AI was being used in both interviews, but even voice recognition models were too slow to compose the answers for the candidates to read out. However, this morning, I conducted a third interview on someone. And they aced it - a little too good for my liking. So I paid closer attention and I would say the candidate used a teleprompter. So, I did a little research: https://www.lockedinai.com/ai-copilot?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21848747952&gclid=CjwKCAjwqonVBhA4EiwA9wYJ3Si5Hzj8rgagiXonKERUqArUhFkh9iprq5xbhOkNtAQJ3xNC_D6VRRoCMysQAvD_BwE And there is a plethora more, with teleprompters to boot. So, I find myself paying closer attention to their eyeballs than the actual answer now. I am sure there is one for interviewers as well.

As I said, it depends on the context of the use of the word major.. In the purely written form, we only have the words (and the very occasional emoji) to go with. We don#t have inflection nor body language, which usually make up the lion's share of communicating meaning and nuance. Here are the quotes: and then and then and then And i will stop there as the rest adds little value. The very top quote appears (in my perception) in the context of OME's comments which were implying (again, as it is pure written, my perception) that the global demand for nickel will drop and the mining companies value will therefore drop. The way I read the top quote of this post is nickel has other uses... and readers of that could imply all manner of other implications - that those uses can possibly pick up the slack and not impact the valuations of mining companies (which is how I read it). Or, readers may have taken it as it is written - simply there is other uses for nickel, which appears how SISO has taken it, as his post is yeah - in nuclear power plants. But, if someone else's context remained at the global consumption level, then while SISO's statement is not factually incorrect, within the context of global consumption, it is currently minimal. This is where the disconnect seems to start. The next post to me clearly read doubting NPPs used much nickel at all.. That is how I read it.. so now, my context shifted the conversation from global demand to it's use in an NPP. Others may have perceived it differently. And, due to to use of stainless steel, it is at least currently used extensively in NPPs.. And on a scaled basis disproportionately so. (well, except for stainless steel pots and pans I guess). We all seem to get caught up in these perceived context shifts and it is probably a function of only having the written word in front of us. I know i have often bashed out a response based on my perception and on re-reading posts can see how the context it was meant may not be the context in which I perceived it to be. So, this: I cannot disagree with.. it is back to the context of global demand and current projections. I think it would be a brave person or a Putin wannabe that would challenge that. Maybe we all can improve things by rather than doggedly standing our ground, reiterating in our post the background from which our comments are made. I don't believe we are here to fight or prove we know better than the other member - we are here to share ideas, debate positions, and learn from each other. And hopefully enjoy each others company. To be clear - this is not aimed at anyone specifically... We all can do better.

It's important that we know our 'lot in life' is not as bad as we often make out.

I'm heartily sick and tired of Trump; probably more so of the American Democracy. Every day we are bombarded withthis man's insanity, and yet there is no one with the guts to do something about replacing him.

Hopefully Albo knows that it plays far better with the voters if he stands up to the orange man-baby.

And this bickering is advancing the discussion related to EVs?

Talking about sobering. The 1930s are coming back in Germany. AfD is, of course, cheered on by Trump and Musk. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-08/afd-win-in-germany-state-implications-for-europe-ukraine-trump/107127334

RACV members have received a 5% discount when we presented our membership cards at a GG Ampol servo. I received an email today from RACV saying this will cease as from 21 September. No details wht.

I haven't filled up for a couple of weeks, it was $2.50 then. The highest I paid earlier in the year was $3.50.

I only drive 10 km per day, 5 days a week, rarely more than that. Usually 50-60 kph, occasionally 70 kph, all on bitumen roads. I don't think I will have many more years driving, so the old Astra will do me.

Spares cost, availability and Price of labour dictate when it's time to be rid of the Old vehicles. Corrosion Metal fatigue, Bad Paint and reduced safety features,also. Modern cars are More value for Money than many other items. I tend to Keep them Longer than most People I Know. but I look after them better than most People I Know... Nev

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1375910511381842

These manufacturers really aren't doing the planet any good, yet I bet most of them have a page on their webpage saying how green they are.

Plenty of other used for Nickel. Nev

Toyota has been banking on its Solid State battery technology that it has been developing for a number of years but there have been constant delays & 2027-28 is the current launch date. Meanwhile they have teamed up with arch rival BYD to use their tech in Toyotas. Toyotas main effort in the BZ4X aka Subaru Solterra has met with poor sales due to a number of factors including price & range. Japanese manufacturers should have cleaned up the market with Nissan Leaf being one of the first EVs & Toyota the biggest & longest standing Hybrid manufacturer, but they were caught & overtaken & largely pushed aside by the Chinese. Chinas electrification plan began back in 2001 & no-one took any notice & the legacy automotive market has been blind sided & left in the dust.

The knork is a combination knife/fork with a sharpened side to cut food and eat it. It was developed for Horatio Lord Nelson who had lost his right hand and allowed him to eat without having his food cut up for him. The original one had a knife blade attached to a fork with a screw.

If Donny sees how small Greenland really is, will he still want it?

Compressed gases are dangerous things. I would trust a BOC agent to handle cylinders with much more care than a casual employee of Bunnings. There has been a lot of Comment about how Bunnings is applying the tactics of other corporate ogres such as ALColesWorth by lowering the quality of its products by replacing the traditional brands with homebrands, made to a price but lacking the quality.

Thanks ome, I found it and it's total BS, probably put there for a bit of dramatic effect.

The USA has considered the Americas its domain since the collapse of the Spanish and Portugese empires. The Monroe Doctrine is a United States foreign policy position that opposes any foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere. Originally concerned with European colonialism, it holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States. The doctrine was central to American grand strategy in the 20th century. President James Monroe first articulated the doctrine on December 2, 1823, during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress.

Yeah, Nah, Maybe. I recognise the voice. It's not an AI voice. I can accept the 65,000 years for primitive tools as I think it aligns with 'out of Africa' findings. I reject the pottery images for a couple of reasons. If these dated back 65,000 years, and were the efforts of first arrivals, then since we know that trade routes existed throughout the continent later on, that tehnology would have been widespread well before European arrival. Further, the decoration and apparent quality of the pottery is too advanced in for 65,000 years ago. Has pottery of that quality been located elsewhere in Africa/Eurasia and dated back that far? There are well-know fish traps on the Darling River near Brewarrina that are accepted as being very ancient. The photo in the video is not of those traps. I think it's AI. A stone circle with apparent astronomical links has been discovered in Victoria. I don't recall if a date of construction has been assigned to it.

You could say the same for any hot rod.

It's somebody's idea of desirable. Why even THINK of having a Law against it.? It's only a consumable and they are not rare or very quick. . USA is a bit hooked on chrome. It will Probably run OK for years. Nev

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Everything else Marty said already applies to our current politicians. They have communications teams, speech writers, media experts, are heavily dependent on, and guided by, their unelected staff. In due course, once the oligarcs have dissolved democracy and implemented their corporate dictatorships, this debate will be forgotten.

OMG, they allow wimmin to do anything these days! Anyway. Just you wait until you get your wind farm. Especially in summer. Every wind farn I visit has got a nice cool breeze comming off them big fans!

Companies who make profits in Australia often have overseas shareholders. I reckon if you compare remittances to the money going overseas to those shareholders, it'd be a drop in the bucket.