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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 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."

So its trully terrible then.

I call a big fat bullshit to almost everthing Musk says and does. I dont see his flying car as anything but hyper marketing that will be nothing like the car that is on sale. The acceleration is technically possible but highly suspect. Some hyper electric cars can do a sub 2 sec claimed to 100, the worlds fastest is 1 sec and thats a special electric hyper go cart of small size and massive short term power. Its drivers report a very scary drive and G block would be a thing if not for the very short drive time. This is more that F1 acceleration. Anything under 3 secs is extreme acceleration and requires great skill to safely use and the right conditions. My BMW bike is capable of 2.6 sec to 100kmh and that feels extreme and keeps rocketing once you get past that. 80kmh overtaking can easily be 160 if passing a truck in mere seconds, any car capable of that type acceleration would be deadly in most hands. We absolutely do not need more cars like Musk is pushing. On to the flying claims- absolute bullshit. The "car" that had rockets and apparently suction fans seems fake. Yes, the fans are possible as they are proven on the Mcmurty Sperling, but thats a track dedicated single seater and relies on pressure gradient to suck it to a surface. It has no rockets, and as soon a ground\surface contact is lost, so is the suction. I would think the flying one is a 200-300kg dummy made of carbon with thrusters and fans or even a electromagnet on the track it climbs and clings to. It falls and moves to smoothly in the video to be realistic. Or a hidden arm not seen on camera, I am sure his AI could hide the arm. I think its just a big bullshit campaign to push share prices and way overpromise as per normal. I await years of promises, lost money and then followed by claims that the FAA banned it because it could "really Fly".

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

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.

Yes. The person is a paraplegic, having been shot through the spine during the incident. Wouldn't look good shooting a cripple. Shades of the SS. Not the usual image of the condemned man backed up against a wall, being offered a last cigarette and a blindfold.

If you think that the things will change on 4th November if the Dems gain a majority in either House, you are wrong. The winners of local elections will not take up their seats until 3rd January 2027. Between November and February, each State has to confirm and certify the winners of each seat within it. This can takes weeks and you can be sure that both Parties will be calling for recounts in close seats. How close? How long is a piece of string in the case of teh Republicans. After each State has confirmed the results in its seats, a certificate is sent to the Clerk of the House. Then in January, all those who have been elected congregate in the House they have been elected to and the Clerk Clerk calls the roll, giving a seat to the person called. That's why that ruckus happened on the 6th January 2021. It could happen again. Here's a video that give a description of what Trump and his cohorts could do if the Republicans cop a beating.

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?

I think the Republicans realise they will lose the House, but Trump will do everything he can to hold onto the Senate. If the Democrats win the Senate as well, they will be in a much stronger position to make his life miserable. My concern is that the Democrats are so focused on campaigning against Trump that they haven't figured out what they're actually for and what they would do to turn the ship around, so nothing much will get done for the next two years.

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.

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

Another scam by the man.

It's useless anyway. Musk himself said the rocket version would be illegal on public roads. And if it's a normal EV weight (plus the weight of the rocket system) then one of the 5 second stunts it did probably drains the rocket fuel.

Karoline Leavitt was no dummy. She was confident and articulate and a very good press secretary for the Trump administration if you only judge her performance on those terms. It’s a pity she was batting for the wrong side and mostly spreading fact free propaganda, but she did it well.

Is that a useful vehicle, or just another vanity wankmobile?

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.

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.

What is the difference between a French Kiss and an Australian Kiss? An Australian Kiss is down under.

Regarding Katter's idea. How would the government for a State in that area firstly establish the structures necessary to run things like health, education, law? Secondly, how would it obtain the money to do these things? It is idealistic, but not practical to create a new State in an area that does not have the population to carry out teh necessary functions of government. I think that's why Western Australia shelved the idea. Besides, I don't think it would be permissable under the Constitution.

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

But back then they wer giving away the fuel when you compare price per gallon then and now (and allowing for inflation).

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.

I don't tow caravans, nor have a big ute, but I suspect that an acceptable fuel consumption for an ICE towing a typical caravan would be in the range of 13 to 18 litres per 100 km. That's why the figure in the 40s was such a shock. I really don't think that these massive EVs are suitable for towing much more than a tradies' trailer. I don't mean to be nasty about them, but it's always horses for courses when selecting a tool to do a job.

It's Barry Jones, Pick A Box wizard and Labor politition.

Beautiful old F-5 Ford with the original V8 flathead just listed on marketplace in Brisbane.

There's always a Wind on a Motorbike. It normally comes from the front. Don't ride when there's HAIL in it.. After a while, your wet weather Gear keeps the Water IN. Nev

You didn't. I was acknowledging that such projects are like other art forms - it's not done for profit.

Eric Abetz is still around, but he's in Tasmanian state government now. So while he's still a pain in our arse, at least the rest of the country is spared.

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.

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

Nobody took his $5000 bonus for a Republican win seriusly, so he tries to bribe with the very thing that Yanks need above all else - automotive fuel. The Roman Emperors gave bread and circuses. Tump has a bigger circus that P T Barnum and the contemporary bread is automotive fuel.

Nah, People Love it. I wouldn't want to go to a Place that Has the death Penalty. It's state Sanctioned Murder. A poor example to exhibit, especially in a Country that Pretends to be Christian. Thou shalt NOT KILL. Also Let He who is without sin, Cast the first Stone, Judge NOT, Lest thee be judged. Nev

He also tried to Get Clover Moore out of the Sydney Mayors position by making wild claims about Aircraft expenses, so his wife could have a go at it. He has NO shame. He hasn't got NICE teeth Either. Nev

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.

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

They're called Maggots.

And let's not forget, his last electoral win was the majority of people who turned out to vote... Not just the electoral colleges - but also the popular vote. I can't be arsed looking at what the voter turnout was, but if it was low, there were enough pricks who didn't care enough about it. (Remove from the USA population those who turned out to vote against him from the prick population of the USA). And for the context of being pricks, I include some good friends of mine in the USA who thought for some reason it was a good idea at the time.

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