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I saw a good old Gardner 6LX on marketplace for $4,000. I love those old Gardners and used to like listening to them cruising at low revs out from the Mooloolaba port when I worked on a boat there for a year. Our little trawler has a noisy 2 stroke GM 671, but the Gardners had a beautiful sound.

-I've been with AGL for a few years. We got a smart meter at least 6 years ago, way before my wife passed. The meter is read remotely. I can log onto my account, see the current accruing cost and an estimate of what the bill will be in X number of days. These figures are constantly updated. This helps my budgeting. I wish they could do the same with gas.

Good job GON. Even if you only save a small amount, it is good take action and feel that you have some control.

Had a good laugh about the latest American, "shoot 'em up, and ask questions later", mentality. It seems that U.S. Customs and Border control were running a drone looking for illegal immigrants near the Mexican border, and they strayed into a U.S. military area. The Pentagon ordered their latest laser drone-killer into action, to defend against the "military threat", and blasted the Customs drone out of the sky, no questions asked! 😄 Naturally, Customs is furious, and is raging about everyone doing their own thing with no consultation (led by the White House, of course) - and even the FAA is getting dragged into it, with their over-arching control of airspace, and no reference to any other Govt authority. What a typical, complete CF, of American gung-ho adventurism!! https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/26/us/pentagon-shoots-down-cbp-drone

Our dog used to glare at me and roll his eyes when I farted. I think he learnt that from my wife. Life is so unfair sometimes.

This is one of my favourite old lanterns, a Dipti brand made in India. I don't know how old it is but I'd guess 1950's or 1960's. It's a great old lantern, very solid metal and thick embossed glass with the name Dipti Oriental Metal embossed on it. That's the old company name; they're Dipti Metal Industries these days. It also burns perfectly and never gives any problems. It's in the top three in lantern status around here. Fairly rare in this country and not easy to find one.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest photo was briefly displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris by activists from the anti-billionaire group Everyone Hates Elon on Sunday, February 22, 2026. The framed photograph, taken by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, shows Mountbatten-Windsor slumped in the back seat of a Range Rover after being released from Norfolk police custody following an 11-hour detention on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The image was hung on a wall at the museum alongside the caption “He’s Sweating Now”, a reference to a controversial 2019 interview where Mountbatten-Windsor claimed he couldn’t sweat due to a Falklands War injury, contradicting allegations by Virginia Giuffre. The display lasted only 15 minutes before Louvre staff removed it. The stunt was part of a protest against Mountbatten-Windsor’s alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein, including emails suggesting he shared confidential government information while serving as a British trade envoy. The group stated their goal was to show “how the world will remember him” and called for “Justice for all Epstein survivors.”

And they are VERY GOOD at it. The safest form of Nuclear energy is the SUN. At some locations Nuclear is Probably the only way to run a modern way of life but it adds to the Heat that is HERE and the Sun's energy Comes anyhow and will for as long as the Planet is Liveable. Recycling has to Play a bigger part of the Picture. China would have to be the Most Fair dinkum Country in this respect, now. The USA is Probably the Least at the Moment.. Not all Americans agree with Trump but he's done a lot of damage with His Lack of Knowledge and sheer Ignorance of many things. Cites in Europe used to Just STINK of diesel fumes. They don't NOW. Science Continues to look for facts and not beliefs. Science is NOT "Just ANOTHER belief as T Abbot put's it. He's a good Public example of how Lack of at Least SOME Science in his Education can do a lot of damage. and cost a lot of Money.. Aeroplanes are Not Designed in Monasteries, Safe bridges are designed and built by experts and People who know what they are doing. Not By FAITH..Nev

Renewables are cheaper, greener, and don't harm the ecology - or human health for that matter - anywhere near as much as fossil fuels. Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would argue against them, whether or not they accepted the science proving anthropomorphic climate change.

I guess the same evaluation applies. Between 1900 and 2011, I lived on a beautifull 44acre bush block, although up until this point I had lived on grid power. This block was several KMs from the nearest power. I had three choices: pay around $30000 to extend the power poles, install a diesel or petrol generator or install a solar battery system, which at the time was in its infancy. We took the rational choice and installed solar. One of the things I like was energy-wise, we were standing on our own two feet. One of my crusty old conservative neighbours actually said that solar was "gay", they were the ones "cuckolded" by the power company with monthly bills. Now I am on the grid. Although I am now on the grid, I have solar that generates more than twice what I need. Of course, when it is cloudy or at night, I rely on the grid, which is either wind, grid sized battery or failing those 2 sources, filthy brown coal. Only an idiot would think the brown coal is preferable to the other two. If I had a home battery, I think I could once again. The economic case for a battery is just dubious at the moment but the price of this tech is falling all the time. Even the most ardent coal/gas/nuclear fans must admit that harvesting the more than ample energy that the sun provides us (solar wind, tidal and wave) is the holy grail. So we are not there yet, but only an idiot would think that digging for energy is somehow superior.

I live on the highway that runs to Warren. From my front gate it is about 70 kms away. Warren is on the Macquaie River. Although the Macquarie River doesn't have the deep gouge in the landscape that we associate with a "valley", the rain clouds seem to follow its course and that means it diverts away from my place. I drove into Dubbo yesterday for shopping. Dubbo is about 60 kms south from Gilgandra. As I got to about 20 kms from Dubbo I noticed that the paddocks were greening up. About 25 kms south of Gilgandra there seems to be a boundary between the catchments of the Macquarie and Castlereagh Rivers. This seems to split the path of storms. The radar often shows the storm cells tracking to the south of this divide, so the storms avoid the Castlereagh catchment. Since farming around here involves the growing of winter grain crops, most of the ground cover in summer is just dried standing straw. About the only greenery is the grass at the edge of the road that has been watered by the run off from small storms.

He and Netanyahu are more interested in triggering regime change than getting some kind of agreement on nuclear development. In his statement justifying the attack Trump listed all the Iranian attacks on US interests snd personnel going back decades. Putin won’t be happy because he may not get some of the drones he needs.

Trump's mantra is to prevent the Iranians from ever having nuclear weapons. He says they have been given opportunities to come to the table to negotiate but have failed to do so, therefore he is determined to raze their nuclear processing facilities to the ground.

Dafuq?? Do you really think Trump gives a flying f**k about the welfare of anyone who isn't Donald J Trump? Especially foreigners. Once again the stupid bastard is being led by the nose by Netanyahu, who needs yet another war to keep in power and out of court. Peace prize my arse. The only prize the orange clown deserves is "Worst President Ever", possibly upgraded to "Person who has had the most negative impact on humanity 2016-2020, and 2024 to impeachment"

We are promised 100-150mm over the next three days. Could be interesting.

I've been offline for most of the day, so you beat me with the report of Neil Sedaka. But there is a local one today. Lorraine Bailey, Grace Sullivan from the Aussie TV show The Sullivans, passed away today aged 89. A number of other TV and stage roles, and two Logies.

The bore water at my place must be very low in minerals. It does not leave crusts on the end of taps and seems to lather satisfactoritly. It may not actually be bore water, but just creek water since the bore is not too far from a major creek.

I did exactly the same thing just a few minutes ago. I was searching for a cheaper rate and chose Origin, then got a phone call from iSelect to change me over from AGL. After going over my bill, AGL failed to deduct one of my discounts. I won't chase the discount. Instead I've finished up with them

I do understand your comments Nev, and appreciate them. One thing with this project is that it's about the journey, not the destination. In regard to adding to challenges, I do a lot of that on purpose. It's the challenge of projects that attracts me, not so much the end result. Yes, there's easier way of doing things and if I just wanted the end product I'd go out and buy it and save myself a lot of time. But that's not what this project is about. All good advice from you Nev, and starting off with something good would suit some. In this case, I'm neither starting with something good, nor am I resurrecting a pile of junk. It's a scratch build; I'm building a pile of junk from scratch. That's the basic idea of it at ths stage. It will be a good challenge. I've done a lot of restoration work, but always restoring something to original condition. There's a lot more freedom in this project.

Nev, do you mean 32 volt? That's what all the properties ran when I was growing up. Still got the generator in the shed. I just wish I still had the Southern Cross diesel we ran it with.

Why do you want all that Power? You can't use it. Mass low down makes it safer. Reverse can be an Electric Motor. How far do you go in reverse? Blip that engine and you will tip the bike up sideways Nev

You can check the facts on that IF you want to on relative costs. Old Coal is unreliable. That's WELL understood. The Grid infrastructure needs Work no matter what we do. You may be in an area where you nave no choice in who your Provider is. IF you are in a very remote area others will be subsidising you. Every Person with a solar and battery is helping you.. Old Coal was Amortised The costs of setting it up written off long ago because it's now beyond it's useful Life . When it fails it's usually under high Load on a hot day. Backup is costly. because it's inactive till it's needed and has to respond immediately. Battery and Pumped hydro and gas in that order. Nev

I haven't been there for at least 15 years but I've driven past it 2 or 3 times a year for the past 15 years when I am heading for Noosa. I did go there a couple of weeks ago but the only reason was to leave it for NZ via the airport. Populated by the very wealthy with all their flash toys who could not care less for the environment. Very pompous & lacking of any good taste in architectural design. A slum for the wealthy. It was named for the high cost of real estate & rapid development in the late 50s. Used to be the South Coast with Southport, Coolangatta & Burleigh Heads the main centres. It was probably quite nice back then.

Trailers develop places where a Wire can have the Insulation rubbed through.. Some trailer wiring is shoddy. You also may have a FAULTY RELAY, The original fuse may not be big enough to carry the extra stop Lights current draw. Nev

In my experience, the only fuses that fail for no reason, are the glass tube ones. Never had a modern moulded plastic type fail without real overload. Twice I have had difficult to track down overloads in vehicles, caused by unsecured wiring that vibrated or moved against bodywork. One made my headlights (only rarely, but that was too often) go out on left hand corners. The other made the engine fail, but only on right hand corners when accelerating hard. In that case the engine loom moved a certain way that it rubbed on the firewall. Intermittents are the worst to fix. Do not start fitting bigger fuses unless you wish to replace an entire loom or deal with a fire when the fault returns.

I love 💕 gargner engines in big boats.

Friends won a house on the Gold Coast. They moved there but couldn't stand it.

One thing is certain. There are many many variables in this debate. For instance, how does anyone safely assert that sea levels are rising (or falling). The sea sure aint flat, nor the same 'level' all around. I suspect that modern satellite work is now busily averaging the numbers. But these are new algorithms, so cannot be used to compare ancient 'levels' with present ones. Following is from Wiki but is food for thought. "There are also "holes" in the ocean. Gravity lows. Geoid lows. The surface of the ocean tends to be perpendicular to gravity. But the composition of our planet is not homogeneous, so the gravity field deviates from any idealized form you might expect (oblate spheroid, globe, etc). The indian ocean geoid low causes sea level to be around 100 meters lower than it would be if it followed the WGS 84 geoid. NOTE: this does not mean that water is rushing in to fill the low. Gravity itself is distorted. The water is in its gravitationaly favorable location already. But by measuring gravity in that location, or by using high resolution surveying, the low can be detected." Also, coriolis affect makes oceans tend to pile up more on their west side - & the amount will depend on ocean current strength. And... every 1 millibar change in atmospheric air pressure causes a 1 cm change in sea level in the opposite direction. (Haven't fact checked that one) However, all the water from those melting glaciers & icecaps must be going somewhere.

Prince Punt? Runt? Nah you've lost me Peter! 😆

I accept that our forum debate boils down to discourse about the rate of ACC rather than the existence of it. Which still validates the wisdom of reducing our atmospheric pollutants. My opinion is that there is a big problem with the "Climate Change Debate" itself. Allowing the world media to argue obsessively over CO2, takes focus away from the multitude of other pollutions, which increasing slide under the radar. Industries (including mining, gas & oil) tend to use the most cost effective processes. They prioritise profit over human health. Individual people are not motivated either.

As long as she is not doing anything illegal, good on her still. Large companys always push the boundrys. Qantas selling seats on flights that don't exist, com bank, woolies, coles. Put some CEO's in jail will fix it.

The problem with sending that video to your uncle who doesn't believe in climate change is that his pea brain is so entrenched he won't believe it and has no understanding of or care for science. Trump is a great example of one of these Uncles.

Announcement: the dear leader had an election this morning. We hope this eladicates any confusion.

Ruins a lot of good relationships. When you make a mistake there you can lose everything. . You keep paying for the Ticket AFTER you've LOST the Lottery. It's better to try Before you Buy. That's what I did the second time but I did consider NO second time. Nev

Obviously there are a lot of bloody idiots.

I don't have any philosophical objections to nuclear, where it is found to be the most practical solution. I think, in fact, the solution will not be just one method. Every generation source has its pros and cons. My scepticism over nuclear in the short term is a matter of time and cost. Sure, start planning and building nuclear where it will be most appropriate. In the meantime, keep building the lower-cost, quicker solutions until nuclear can be built.

The other choices are pretty crap though. As long as Gina isn't breaking the law good on her. She is obvously a smart woman who employs a lot of Australians. If people don't like how the system is set up, ring and email your politicians and try and get stuff changed. That is their job. They won't always answer but at least you can say you've tried. i was emailing one regarding one of the local roads which was OK. When I asked how much the disastrous H2 plant cost including the cost of the hydrogen department he stopped answering my emails, but at least I tried.

Are you serious? This poor couple made an administrative mistake and you think that deserves months in prison? Meantime you try to link it back (once again) to something that happened to you 50 years ago? I give up. Live in your upside down bubble.

When we sold our last place I paid to have the outside cedar weatherboards repainted in red cedar colour. The buyer repainted I white immediately.

Exhausted from flogging a dead organ. . Nev

Debates are Combative by nature and a winner is decided which has Litle to do with the subject chosen. Even the Insurance companies Militaries and Oil companies don't dispute the reality of anthropomorphic Climate change. Farmers who keep records know it too. Sea level rises Ocean temps and acidity. More EXTREME Climate event . Ice Melting at the 3rd Pole. ( the Himalaya's) that threatens the future food security of Millions. CO2 records show what is happening. The climate change deniers are Running out of ideas as more evidence emerges We CAN easily Make this Place Uninhabitable. We cannot burn much More of the Oil Gas and Coal available and not make things rapidly worse. Energy from other sources must and can be used. Nev

Generally you don't add as much value as the cost if you spend BIG as the result May be More to your taste than Prospective buyers. might want. Nev

Probably summing up the relationship he has with Putin.

Look at this! The president of Magastan has changed parties! He got elected by the RED states. He always used to wear a red tie. Now he has gone to the blue side! Not sure what he is describing with that hand signal, though.

On April 20, 1945, during an air battle over Germany, Eduard Schallmoser's Messerschmitt Me.262 collided with an American Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber. Schallmoser managed to bail out and open his parachute. He landed in the back garden of his parents house, right in front of his amazed mother!

I think Jerry might be getting confused with the Holden Camira or the Holden Captiva. The Camira was bad enough, but the Captiva was worse! (if that's possible!). A mates sister bought a new Camira and on the first week of ownership, the entire dash fell out, into her lap! The Captiva was built by Daewoo, and promptly got nicknamed the Craptiva. But the Holden Nova was simply a rebadged Toyota Corolla, and those little Corollas were one of the best cars ever built. I've seen many of them with 300,000kms on the clock, untouched, and never a stoppage of any kind.