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Many years ago I use to follow F1 quit heavily however having nearly all races in the middle of the night whilst also going to work I lost interest as I became sleep deprived however last year I renewed my interest in F1 being able to watch all races, through Kayo, and not being able to work. The other thing is having a great Australian kid in Oscar Piastri representing Australia to the world driving a Mclaren has been great to watch, becoming an Australian hero to all of us that are into F1. Anyway I imagined what it would be like to Australia if Oscar's car in the Melbourne Grand Prix was painted in the iconic Australian Green and Gold. What a marketing success it would be. So I created a mock up of one:

Oh that we should do the same.

Great news! Norway has a solution to the present international jitters. But it might not be welcomed by the major media industry. (Due to stealing a lot of media hysteria.)

This sad event is proof of the new faschist usa. Those ICE 'agents' are heavily armed, are masked (unidentifiable), uncontrolled, and know that they are above the law. Sounds like the infamous brownshirts. Each step that usa takes destabilises the world destroys trust in their country.

Meanwhile, an ICE agent shot and killed an unarmed woman in a car who was just trying to get away from the situation (she wasn't an immigrant as far as I know). The FBI, whose head Kash Patel is another unqualified Trump appointee, have taken over the investigation and not allowed local law enforcement anywhere near it. Meanwhile the administration are saying shit like "she was a domestic terrorist trying to kill the ICE agent with her car" despite plenty of mobile phone coverage clearly showing differently. ICE are the new Brown shirts. And the shit in the oval Office is Hitler.

Venezuela's current production is only about one million barrels per day, which is a drop in the bucket and certainly won't bother China very much. Estimates are that to get it up to even 1.5m bpd would cost about $7 billion and take 2 years. Chevron is the only major US producer with a significant footprint in the country, and Trump can't simply order other US producers to move into a politically unstable country and spend billions of dollars ramping up production as he claims, even if they are led by his cronies. At the end of the day they have turn a profit for their shareholders, and even if Venezuela is sitting on 303 billion barrels of oil, which the US doesn't own anyway, time is not on Donald's side in getting his hands on it in his political lifetime. At the end of the day, they may have Maduro in jail but not much else to show for their efforts.

Sometimes I do wonder about people's ability to think logically. We have yet to buy a replacement for the written off mini. It is really my partner's car and she flatly refuses to drive a manual. Which is a pain in the UK, because most cars - even luxury ones - that are sold are manual. So, after fruitlessly searching for a replacement for her that was in budget and auto, I took a look at some EV cars - as they are all "autos". Used car sellers here work a bit dfifferently to Aus (at least when I last purchased a used car in Aus, which was admittedly about 20 years ago). If you know what you want, you can buy online unseen from a reputable seller and if you're not entirely happy with it whtin 2 weeks or something like 1000 miles, they will refund you in full and take the car back. In addition, most offer 12 month warranties under similar terms to new car warranties. And of course, if the car they sell you has a balance of a new car warranty, that transfers to you (as long as the previous owner/s have kept to the terms of the warranty) and they will make up the difference if the balance of the new car warranty is less than the 12 months. There is also statutory protections as well that the larger used car dealers adhere to without resistance because they work on a model to stack them high and kiss them good bye. They don't make much on the sale of a car, but on the finance. They don't much like cash buyers, but to ensure they get the volume, they do a lot to preserve their reputation. Some of these are not venturing into making the used EV purchase a virtually risk free proces as they see a big market of better value cars and better demand. So I was looking at autotrader.co.uk for cars with bettter than 250 mile range. I selected a few, of which the MG ZS 72.x KW was one, and checked out the ads. The reputable dealers have RAC or AA battery tests performed. Fore about £9K, I was looking at 2021 - 2023 models of varying mileage, but averaging arount 30k miles (50k kms). So much for 10% degradation per year of the battery - most were showing 98 - 99% of life left in them, and the lowest was about 96%. I did some research and, ironically, apart from the mini, the real world ranges were not far off the claimed range - probably on average 10% less than claimed range. The batter checks also stated claimed range and provided estimated real world ranges at 0 degrees c ambient temperature and 25 degrees C ambient temperatures. At zero degrees, it was about 25% less range than at 25 degrees. OK, for the cars I was looking at, and taking into account the decreased range at motorway speeds, I should still be able to get to London without needing a charge and have some in reserve. Sticking it on a charger overnight would have me right tor the trip home and assuming it would be 0 - 100% charge. cost me about £35 - half that of the Volvo and about 2/3 that of the now dead mini. Not to mention the generally lower servicing costs, less to go wrong and therfore more reliability, etc. it sounds like a no-brainer - especialliy when you consider partner's driving - glorified shopping trolley and occasional run to pick up the daughter - on A roads as she doesn't do motorways/highways. So, even then, her range will normally be longer than the average. So, I decided to broach with her the subject of getting an EV. I was met with a resounding "no" at every turn. But no logical argument to say why not. Just "I want a petrol car..." I was flabbergasted.. Why? Eve3rything she read was about EV fires and lack of infrastructure. Also, when we sell this house, she may end up in a mid-terrace house with no guarantee she can park outside to connect the car to charge. OK.. the infrastrcutre down here is not what it is in London. But there is good infrastructure. First the chances she won'[t have a driveway are pretty low. But even on that assumption, I explained the area she was looking at has a public charging point and there is no petrol station for about 10 miles or so heading towards Exeter. So, it would be easier for her if she was low on fuel to get the battery topped up than petrol in her car. Then she said she would use it only hopefully once evry couple of weeks and the battery woudl discharge.. I could have put any number of stats in front of her to say that it would take anything from 6 months to a year to discharge a 72kw/h battery not in use.. and that she could expect the lead acid battery to discharge enough to make the car unuseable loing before that. Still she wasn't having a bar of it. Oh well, she will have to live with it and the costs. But the research I did made EVs even more compelling to me than they were beforehand. [Edit] I forgot to mention, most of the batteries still have 5 years of warranty left and a lot of the cars still had 2 - 3 years of warranty left, too.. Don't get that with the petrol cars of the same age.

Banks are withdrawing ATM's due to the cost of servicing them. With the reduction of branches and tellers, and people requiring access to cash, this has left it up to privately owned ATMs. They also have to be serviced by companies like Brambles to top up the cash dispensers, which costs money, hence the charges. Private ATM owners also have to pay rent to shopkeepers for the space the ATM occupies.

Oops. Ahh.. OK.. this is not the militarisation of the police like the US.. The police here do not use brutal tactics as they do in the USA. They are trained to first de-escalate and they don't usually send in fire-armed police as a first option unless the threat assessment is very serious. Whether you think it is right, PA is a proscribed terroirist organisations and there are laws against showing support to proscribed terrorist organisations. And the police have to uphold the law irrespective of their own political beliefs. Frankly, anything coming out og the UN Human Rights agency, council or whatever they call themselves has to be treated initially with some degree of scepticism. Apparently up to 10% UNRWA, a body within the UNHROC were affiliated with islamist militant groups including HAMAS. Yes, they are supposed to have all gone now, but does that remove the bias that allowed them there in the first place? Secondly, look at the members of the UN Human Rights Council: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/membership I would suggest that those who have an honest repect the basic freedoms and rights of people ar probably in the minority. It is strange that they have sent delegations to Australia report on violence against women, yet have not sent delegations to Saudi, Pakistan and the like - other member nations. You can guess, I don't hold them in high esteem. The article purposts that PA has been a proscribed terrorist organisation becausde they damaged a few planes. Unfortunately, their website notifies they are proscribed, requests a donation in some obscure crytocurrency, so I cannot go to the source for their actual policies, agenda, etc. On the internet, it mainly talsk about them targetting Israeli firms in protest and limits it to property. However, the UK government has documented the following in https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/803/pdfs/uksiem_20250803_en_001.pdf "Palestine Action 5.2 Palestine Action is a pro-Palestinian group with the stated aim to support Palestinian sovereignty by using direct criminal action tactics to halt the sale and export of military equipment to Israel. Since its inception in 2020, Palestine Action has orchestrated a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions, including key national infrastructure and defence firms that provide services and supplies to support Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), “Five Eyes” allies and the UK defence enterprise. Palestine Action has also broadened its targets from the defence industry to include financial firms, charities, universities and government buildings. Its activity has increased in frequency and severity since the start of 2024 and its methods have become more aggressive, with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence. Its activities meet the threshold of being concerned in terrorism as set out in the Terrorism Act 2000. There are varying defnitions of terrorism, but this is what Google spat out: Terrorism is the calculated use or threat of serious violence against people or property, intended to intimidate the public or coerce a government for political, religious, or ideological goals, often by creating widespread fear . Key elements include violent acts (murder, damage, endangering life) and specific intent (influencing government/public, advancing a cause). Definitions vary, but generally focus on these core components. So, it would seem the general definition is not limited to violence, despite being played down by the artiucle you present. Now, the UK may be unfairly acting against Palestinians and Muslims/Islam in general, but I don't think so on the evidence and definitions. After all, the UK, to its moneatry costs in exports of education, are not sanctioning the Muslim Bortherhood, where others do: https://www.ft.com/content/f256cc27-b80f-4fce-88cf-e80cb2451ef5 Also, as a display of how police tactics try (possibly too much) to de-escalate, here is a video documenting a policewoman receiving potentially life changing injuries at the hands of a PA protestor: Unf, I couldn't find the video my son dug up, which was far more graphic. And this was before they were proscribed? Peaceful prtest, eh? Just like Sydney jews were actively encouraged not to walk near the Palestinaian protests in Sydney and Melbourne because they were in danger.. because of the possibility ov violence purely because they were Jewish. But I gues it is OK for some Palestinian supporter to taunt the Jews at Bondi after the attack? Actually, it is a free world so yes, but I recall the Jews getting heated but no violence emanating from it. Wake up and put your prejudices aside for a change. I am happy to say there are times where the UK police go too far, but seriously, peaceful protest! FFS! Israel also have stuff to answer for. But to paint the Palestinian protests in the UK as peaceful is generally a joke.. Yes there have been few - very few of them. Shall we mention intimidation and threats of violence on the campuses etc.. where Jes had to be protected or refused entry to the campus. The lsit goes on. UK police are generally very good.

An interesting perspective.... https://www.upworthy.com/american-in-europe-realization

This is partially the same bike a year later. I bought it back from the insurance company and rebuilt it into this. It has the original tank, side panels, engine and gearbox, but everything else was replaced.

So many points tocomment upon. I believe that the American influence has not been introduced by police. In my opinion the generations which have come after the Boomers have had their attitudes towards Society molded by what American entertainment media has poured onto them. There is definitely a failure to acknowledge that the exercise of one's Rights as granted by Society has to be balanced by the acceptance of one's Responsibilities towards Society. It is that abandonment of Responsibilities that has lead to Society reducing many previously granted Rights. Should our police regularly carry long arms? Definitely not, for the simple reason that using high powered firearms requires a lot of skill to avoid 'collateral damage'. Gaining those skills takes long and frequent training to do which would markedly reduce the number of police available for the day-to-day duties involved in keeping the Peace. Competency with firearms cannot be obtained through a one day per year revision session on a range under virtually stress-free conditions. I agree that a small police unit of police regularly trained and disciplined in the use of these more powerful firearms is required for those operations aimed at the arrest of person reasonably expected to be prepared to use firearms to avoid arrest. These are planned operations in which each participant has a defined role within the team. Arrest by persons other than Police. I've explained before that anyone can arrest an offender in the act of, or immediately following the commission of an offence. Obviously a security guard would not want to do it because such an action is likely to result in loss of time by the employer if the security guard is required to attend Court as a witness. From my expereince, security guards are mostly just full of piss and wind. The Media. Once again the Media make matters worse by publicising situations when specialist armed police are in action, even if that action is simply patrolling on foot at New Years Eve events. One heavily armed police constable wearing body armour gives a false image when the majority of police are getting atound in cargo pants and shirts. When you see those bulky vests that regular police wear, they are not wearing body armour. The vests were introduced becasue police were carrying too much equipment on their waists and this was causing lower back injury. The introduction of vests was a Work, Health and Safety measure.

VERY SAD to Hear. I know the Area well. Great stress for Many in such times. Keep safe. Nev

How many Aussies still want to ditch our King? Looking at the failing democracy in usa, I sure don't like going down the path of having a president! It's not working out too well for them!

Nah. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Back in my (working) day, I had great data security....

I hate cheap thongs, and only wear Slappas thongs during Summer. Cheap thongs nearly killed me once, I went sprawling over a rock embankment of the Ashburton River bridge, when I lost my footing as I started to climb down the rocks, taking a shortcut back to the caravan park. I was just lucky I landed on my side on a huge flat rock, not a big sharp-edged one, like all the rest were. I would have incurred very major injury, maybe even killed myself, if I'd landed anywhere else. I still did a lot of damage to my outer thigh muscle, I couldn't walk for a week afterwards, and I was in agony for most of that week. Dirt-cheap footwear is a mistake when you get older. Spend the money to get good foot support, it not only assists with balance, but you walk better in them. A lot of Chinese footwear puts you off-balance from the word go, because the soles are rubbishy design and they consist of crappy materials.

I think there is a misspelling in that sentence. 'Own mortality' looks more like it.

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." It pays all free peoples to be vigilant to the possible loss of liberties. That means careful monitoring of our system of leadership. Fortunately our Australian system has the means to remove leaders who remove liberties. However that often simply results in placing a similar type in the role.

The latest executive order is commanding the US secretary of defence to build up the national guard. The purpose is to have a larger readily available force for rapid deployment anywhere within the country. Why? Recently the national guard has been used to suppress political dissent. Some are comparing this to the SS.

What the USA is doing is proving that the US style of democracy is a failure. In other countries with true democracies, Trump would have been ousted from power by now.

I would try to keep a stiff upper lip.

His reason for pardoning Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández? "He reminded me of myself."

You lusty Lethario!

The Chairman of the NRMA was quoted today saying that we can expect petrol prices to drop to about 2020 levels simply because there is a it of a glut in the market. He did not atach the cause of that glut to Trump's latest actions. Perhaps EVs are causing a drop in demand, or maybe Trump's tariff attacks on oil producers are causing the producers to sell in other markets. If the USA cannot meet its own domestic demand for sour crude, then we might see lots of Yank tanks abandoned on the side of the road. Look out for the Amish to take over long haul transport!!

The Express is extremely alarmist, and nothing sells news like saying WW3 is upon us. Putin is too smart to confront the U.S. directly, and he'll find a way to undermine the Americans efforts in Venezuela.

Have these idiots not seen Avatar one, two, or three? Or Afghanistan, Vietnam, or Iraq? Foreign invaders seldom get along well with the invaded. Buy more popcorn folks! We all thought it was winding up, but the story has just begun.

I have found similar EV advantage here in AU, too. Our Mitzi is getting a bit wheezy, with 340,000k on it, and dropping a new (s/h) motor into it will cost more than she is worth. There are some nice new EV's coming onto market at last. But the market is not settled yet - who knows which brands will still be around in a few years? The S/H market looks quite good. And battery degradation (as you noted) doesn't look like being an issue. Next car will definitely be EV.

It's generally accepted that Maduro was every bit as bad as his reputation suggested and his demise is welcomed by most of the population. However, Trump is far more interested in getting his hands on Venezuela's oil than in restoring democracy. He will prop up whoever he thinks will facilitate access for American companies to get their hands on the oil reserves. Like Canada, Venezuela has the heavy crude that US refineries are set up to process. The US produces a lighter grade that doesn't suit their refineries and most of Venezuela's current limited output goes to China which is another reason he wants the oil. His biggest problem will be that US companies will be very wary of pouring a lot of infrastructure development money into a country that is politically unstable. Even if they did, it would take years to get a significant increase in production because the existing infrastructure is in such bad shape.

That is not true. Government and its representatives can be criminally responsible. If it was unconstitutional, it could have been challenged in the courts, and lawyers even then, looking for their next fee and publicity would have approached many to commence an action. The government is elected democratically and makes laws on behalf of those who elect it. Therefore it was democractically done. The constitution (includes the writtten constitution, the body of conventions, and the developed case law to that point) defines the powers and obligations of the government. If it was unconstitutional, it would have been against the law. An action could have been brought against the government. In fact, apparently there were many challenges to the High Court, with the focus of the interpretation of the law rather than whether it was constitutional. No doubt, as part of those challenges, if the legal opinion was that it was unconstitutional, especially given the controversy at the time, it would have been constitutionally challenged. Your perception of a threat is sort of illogical. A valid law will may have consequences of not complying with that law. That is the same, say for not acquiring a licence to drive. You may be the best driver in the world, but if you do not fulfill your obligation to have a current drivers licence at the time of driving you will be fined and/or imprisoned. If you do not have a valid excuse for performing your duties under the law, you will have a consequence (usually). If you consider it a threat, I suppose every possible criminal punishment is a threat. In the context of the above, this is illogical, except that one of the things you will have learned is to seek legal advice on situations where you believe you have been wronged, even by government or its agencies. You wouldn't be punished for slipping up (i.e. a genuine mistake), You would be punsihed for intentionally not complying. This is called the guilty mind or mens rea. It is an element that is required to be proved of most crimes. You may have been anxious and felt you were under duress, however, these may have been grounds for being excluded. Did you review what the exclusions were and what your options were? If not, maybe that is a lesson learned. Did you not receive shelter, food, clothing and pay. Did you not learn practical skills or the like? (Genuine question). Your definition of duress is correct, but in the context it was the punishment for not meeeting your legal obligations, which is almost everywhere in the law. However, I do get that this was not for safety or the well being of society, so I agree, it was not right. But there is little you can do now, except take the learnings from it as positives and move forward.

The 750 Kombat was even worse. Big Capacity Vertical twins can Vibrate a Lot .The Norton also have a driveside Mainbearing issue at High Revs. Edge Loading of a Roller Bearing causing Premature Failures. Lightening reciprocating Mass Helps. The Most Powerful Norton Ever had an AMC (AJS) vertical twin engine. Vee Twins can be better Balanced and don't suffer from having BOTH pistons stopped at the same time. You don't feel that, but it affects low RPM smoothness as piston mass contributes to Flywheel effect. Motors in Bikes are balanced to a factor found to be most suitable by test and somewhat dependant on the Frame it is in. Singles and Vertical twins start at around 65 % Factor. That Means you factor the Reciprocating Mass by That Figure and adjust the Flywheels Mass distribution to achieve it. Equally on BOTH flywheels on singles and dynamically on vertical twins. Nev

A couple of codes I find helpful. If you want to type degrees, as in 0°C, type the 0, hold down the Alt key, and type 0176 . then the C. To type the degree symbol on a Mac, press Option + Shift + 8 When typing an area, as in 25sq m., type the number and the scale (m, ft, km, etc) then hold down the Alt key and type 0178. The result is 25m². (If you copy a text with the superscript 2 in it and paste to these forums, you will get number, m2. I encounter that when creating aircraft profiles.) To type the squared symbol (²) on a Mac, you can open the Character Viewer by pressing Control + Command + Space, then search for "superscript" and double-click on the number 2. Alternatively, you can go to the Edit menu, select "Emoji & Symbols," and find the superscript 2 there. For a cubed number, use Alt and 0179. 3 m³. To type the cubed symbol (³) on a Mac, use the keyboard shortcut "Option + Shift + 3." This will directly insert the cubed exponent into your text.

Rich People don't fight in Wars, They are too busy making money from them in the Name of the Money God. The Peasants do not question WHY and are never consulted. Wars are also supposed to be declared. Most Armies are DEFENCE Forces. Trumps is NOW the DEPT of WAR. Ready for Action to Back TRUMPS annexation and THEFT Of ANYTHING He desires. That's AMERICA FIRST. IF YOU don't like it, TOO BAD. YOU are Nothing. Nev

There are more than enough recordings of the incident made by independent witnesses that any body-cam video would be redundant. The problem is that a Federal Authority is ignoring the sovereignty of a State, something that is unconstitutional. But we are talking about the Trump Federal Government.

Well I arrived back in Tassie and stepped off the plane into 29 degree heat (yeah I don't expect you lot to call that 'heat'). A total fire ban was imposed all weekend due to heat and expected wind up to 100kph. Tassie being tassie, whilst heatwave and wind stoked the fires ravaging the mainland, we got a cool weekend - dead calm and rain. CRIKEY IT'S WET! Thankfully only one vegetation fire down our way and it started in the middle of the night. Promptly dealt with by a couple of crews. Wilder fires are the new norm.

It appears the americans can.

Trump banishes fruit juice and urges red meat and butter as he declares WAR on American junk food giants https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15213933/trump-rfk-jr-saturated-fat-new-dietary-guidelines.html?utm_social_handle_id=164305410295882&utm_social_post_id=644993859&ito=social-facebook

Brute force is the Chump way. In this presidency, he used the brute force of America's dominant domestic market to try and force other countries to kow-tow to his will. He is using brute foce with the ICE; now he is using brute military force. He doesn't care if it is allies, nuetrals, or foes he uses that force against as long as it is for what he wants. The the previous presidency, he used brute force to try and overthrow an election. He uses brute force of money to intimidate people through legal proceedings and the like. Ehther it is uncivilised or not; whether it wrong or not, it is sort of true. Most of the outcomes he has acheived have been through threats that he would carry out. Want to get Nato to spend more on defence. Threatend withdrawal. Want to get an oil producer - go and invade. The western world didn't stand upo to Putin because they were scared of a failing military power - they sure as hell aren't going to stand up to Chump because they have a lot more to lose. The vomit induing performance put on by Starmer was playing to what he wanted and there was no guarantee of him doing what Starmer wanted in return - in fact, he didn't do anything he did for Aus with a leader who provided a more measured approach. The reality, unless people are willing to stand up to bullies, which they won't if they feel they are powerless in comparison, then the mightier one will get the choccies.

That’s true but Trump’s focus is now on the Western hemisphere and he’s pretty short sighted when it comes to strategic thinking. Hopefully his more level headed military advisors would stop him walking away completely. Even so, his instinct is to reduce his overseas forces and get the NATO countries to make up the shortfall.

America has been self Indoctrinating for a Long time. ie the government, FBI, CIA is always your enemy which cannot be trusted. It's been correct enough times to consider, but it's Just another manifestation of all pervading corruption of a greed filled Society being overcome by temptation and MIGHT is Right.. Not the Only Place in the World with THAT Problem. That's WHY we Have RULES and DUE Process. ( Or DID Have). Nev

Sadly, in jest. It would improve the lives of the vast majority of Americans if it happened

Council turns AJ Burkitt Oval into an aquatic centre. Saves ratepayers a fortune.

I talked my wife into a New Superbug and it was the worst pile of crap we've ever owned.. Mechanically Noisy, thirsty, not powerful. Dangerous in a prang. LOUSY warrantee response. BIG Mistake on my Part. Nev

Don't remind me! 😉

The actions of the USA in South America have been empire building under the guise of protecting South American countries from becoming parts of the empires of European countries. It all stems back to what is caled the Munroe Doctrine of 1823. I am short of time this morning to post about the Monroe Doctrine and history arising from it. I'll post something tonight (5/1/26).

The ironic thing about what Trump has done is that the majority of Venezualians are celebrating the arrest of Maduro. But remember that a lot of Sudeten Germans celebrated when Hitler annexed the Sudatenland.