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I've figured out some positives. Life is good. We've had twenty seven inches of rain so far this year and the country is looking great. It's finally stopped raining and the beautiful clear and cool weather is here. I have a debt free roof over my head, lots of food, a motor car that works, I can walk, talk, breathe, hear and see and have plenty of fun stuff to do. The first photo is the front yard, the second is the back yard, and the third photo is my best mate outside the kitchen window trying to shame me into giving him some dog biscuits. I've known him since he was born, so he's known me his entire life. There's nowhere I'd rather be.

if you took the time to listen you would realise she is not rascist. thats just a word lefties like to throw around when they have nothing better. you still love albo and snake chalmer even after all the lies and the damage to our land and economy with the stupid net zero plan that most countries have abandoned. hopefully labour are out at the next election and the country can recover. go one nation . out with the left and the woke clowns.

I admit that at first I thought that Donold was just using theatrical BS to wind up the dumb redneck voters. It was all just an act, to get the top job. How wrong I was. I didn't believe that anybody could be that dumb, foolish, shallow, narcisstic and sociopathic, and yet survive to such an age without somebody topping him. And I mean, before he ran for president the first time. But here we are. Not only that, but he gathered together so many like minded people to protect and enable his corruption without any thought or consideration for the wellbeing of the people.

I was reading an article about "Libyan desert glass" today, and how the scientists are totally perplexed on how it formed. It is primarily silicon, but it contains microscopic zircon crystals - and it has been fused at temperatures unlike anything ever found on Earth - even in molten magma. The general opinion is that it formed in a meteorite burst over Libya in antiquity - but the scientists still say that doesn't fully explain the intricate atomic patterns found inside the glass. More recent scientific studies say the Libyan desert glass was formed via a massive asteroid impact. But the problem with that line of investigation is - there is no impact crater anywhere near the Libyan desert, capable of supporting that story. The experts claim the crater is depply buried under the desert sands and needs more investigative work to find it. In the article, they showed the Winged Scarab Pendant found in King Tut's tomb. It contains Libyan Desert Glass amongst the inlaid gemstones. Now, just looking at the close up of the pendant, I'm blown away by the skills, the complexity and the workmanship in this pendant. The experts say the ancient Egyptians were a race of primitive idol-worshippers who somehow managed some impressive building feats such as the Pyramids, using primitive transport methods. They had no electricity, no high-tech steels, only wood-fired furnaces, no modern grinding equipment, and supposedly just primitive hand tools. I call BS on those suppositions - these people were an advanced race with skills and equipment equalling modern techniques. It takes over 1000°C to melt gold, and intricate, high-tech tools to work it - to cut gemstones - and it takes artisans of exceptional skill to cut and shape those stones and fabricate the precious metals into shape. Take a close look at this pendant, you can expand the photo substantially to see the detail. https://egypt-museum.com/winged-scarab-pendant-of-tutankhamun/

It's interesting that Trump and the MAGA mob have just lost an important gubnertorial election in Iowa to a Democrat by the name of Zach Lahn. Lahn defeated the Republican incumbent, Trump-backed Randy Feenstra. Despite Iowa being a big support zone for Trump, with the State being a huge farming State - Lahn won on multiple angles associated with health issues that the State is grappling with. Des Moines water is so polluted with nitrate run-off into water aquifers, they have had to install special filtration equipment. Cancer rates are skyrocketing in Iowa, and a lot of Iowan people (including farmers) believe high levels of pesticide and herbicide use is to blame for both problems. Trump is trying to ensure Monsanto can't be sued, and has watered down EPA laws and controls. The Iowans see it differently, they want Monsanto held to account, and EPA laws and regulations kept in place. Lahn campaigned on the MAHA ticket - Make America Healthy Again, a vocal group who claim that Americans suffer from an epidemic of chronic illnesses, driven by ultra-processed foods, environmental toxins, over-medicalisation, and corporate corruption within the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. MAHA is championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Lahn also campaigned on reducing major corporate ownership and control of farmland. This is an interesting turn of events, a Red State turning against Trumps corporate-loving policies.

I’m sure that’s true. It’s the same here. Most people live their lives day to day without necessarily paying much attention to politics or the state of the world in general. However, the fact is that everyone is affected by the economy, the judicial and health systems, global supply chain disruptions, taxes, and the quality of the nation’s leadership. It’s the ordinary people who suffer the most when those systems don’t work for them and there’s a lot of that going on in the US these days. The wealthy are doing fine. Trump’s manipulated stock portfolio is looking pretty healthy, he can afford his increasingly frequent medical checkups, enjoy his special tax relief status and not worry about the cost of jet fuel for his weekly golf outings. Most Americans are just trying to make ends meet and get through another day.

Obama and Biden weren't openly and transparently corrupt. They didn't put morons in charge of the armed forces, the FBI, the education system, the health system, etc. They didn't do everything they could to wreck the world's longest lived modern democracy for personal gain and to satisfy a bloated ego. They didn't do everything they could to stop the fight against climate change. They didn't rip up international agreements like the Iran deal just because they had a petty dislike of the previous president. They didn't shut down news organisations and use stand over tactics like thugs when facts were aired that they didn't like. But hey, if all that means absolutely nothing to your friends, I guess they have the president they deserve.

They're awful things; two things I don't miss about out there are corrugations and flies. The worst corrugations I've ever encountered were on the Kintore road after you turn off the Tanami road. From the turnoff it's about 375 klm to Kintore and about 200 klm of that was really bad corrugations with no let up hour after hour. It was the sheer distance of the corrugated section that made it so bad. We had a couple of casualties - one of the towed dongas had some suspension come apart so we had to take the wheel off and chain the axle up. The worst bit was late in the afternoon when a fuel tanker on the back of a body truck split a seam. We off loaded as much fuel as we could into trucks, machines and Toyotas but had to leave the tanker truck there overnight. Moving it would have ruptured it more and been a major fuel spill. With the level lowered, the pressure behind the leak wasn't as bad but it still lost a lot onto the road which the local council wasn't happy about. We borrowed a heap of 44's from a local station and a couple of the blokes came back with the float and a hand pump and offloaded fuel into the drums. They were going all night and into the next day to get all the fuel, about three trips they did. We found the best trucks to handle that rough country were the W series Kenworths. The cabs held up much better than Macks and other makes. You could buy some really good second hand road train rated W series trucks at fairly cheap prices. For the people selling them, they were no longer viable or economical for highway work, but they were still good for many years of desert bashing.

Thanks octave, that brings back a lot of childhood memories. As a kid I had mates who lived in the local small town and I sometimes stayed with them on weekends and got to do town kid stuff. A few of our activities involved the steam trains that were the common train back then. The rail bridge had a small nook in the concrete abutment directly below the train line, so two or three of us could squeeze in there and watch the trains go over our heads only inches way. It was exciting stuff, a lot of anticipation when we heard the noise and vibration of the train coming, and then totally cacking ourselves as it passed overhead. Sometimes we got burnt a bit but that was ok, it was all good fun until we eventually got busted. When the train drivers were shunting wagons on the spur line they would let us ride up with them in the loco and work the brake lever and stuff like that.

The imbecile is unhinged and living in an alternate reality. He wakes up un the middle of the night and goes on hours-long rants on social media, BS-ing about how wonderful his plans and results are - when the reality in the cold light of day, is the exact opposite of what he's promoting. He raves on last night, claiming the Iranians are ready to sign his peace deal on his terms, and it will be a wonderful peace deal, and so great for America. Then the reality in the cold light of day is the Iranians have cancelled all peace negotiations due to Israels attacks in Southern Lebanon, and they won't restart them until Israel stops its attacks there. If this BS-ing, lying, abusive moron was in a job anywhere else, he'd have been shown the door as regards his unacceptable behaviour, and told to never come back. Yet, his entire sycophantic, mealy-mouthed, gutless bunch of equivalent morons in his administration, continue to support every lie, every mouthy piece of BS, like it was Gods own Truth. I cannot believe America has descended into such a state of propaganda and alternative reality, that it makes the Goebbels reign look like pure unadulterated truth. The Iranians have it all over Trump, he has achieved precisely nothing in his massive war expenditure and aims to reduce Iran to a submissive ruin. He has brought about increased costs for every single country in the world (including America), and he still tries to claim the American economy is booming, and Americans have to thank him for leading them to increased prosperity. I don't really know how long it will take for the Americans as a whole (including the dumb Republicans who continue to support Trump) to come to the conclusion that Trump is the biggest disaster of a leader that has ever sat in the White House. An abusive, disruptive, totally corrupt, totally self-centred narcissist, who cannot utter two sentences, without at least one of them being a total lying fabrication that tries to reverse the truth.

I've given up believing anything that Trump is reported to say about the Middle East situation. This morning the ABC reported that he had said that he had got Israel and Hezbalah to stop shooting at each other. He also was said to have claimed that a peaceful end of the Iran situation was at hand. To my mind those were the ravings of a person with no hold on reality.

One thing I use social media for is as a diary. Some people keep a written diary, but I am far too lazy for that, so it is mainly pictures and videos. Most mornings, I will be presented with memories from 1, 2, or more years ago, which is nice because I usually only post good events. This video came up today from 3 years ago. It was on a rail trail that we ride fairly regularly. The rail line, which is only 16km long, is used by a couple of tourist trains. One of these serves a three-course meal and has live music. Whenever I see this train, I will usually take a pic or two, but after a while, all the pics look the same. On this occasion, I thought about how I could video this from a unique angle. I think I may have posted this video before, but I think interesting enough for another airing. Untitled 556.mp4

Australia being able to defend itself is a definition of Impossibility no Matter how Much we spend. It was Abott and Morrison who stuffed up the Subs deal and alienated the French and tied us to AUKUS. I'd like to have seen that all investigated.. Nev

Ever wonder how come corrugations form on an unsealed road? Here's a video which explains it. The video is a bit slow to start so advance to 6:30 to miss the fluff.

I'm writing a book. It's all about things I should do. It's called 'Oughtobiography'

They used to employ Nuts each side with Tapers, but it's better to Have More metal to press into The spline thing has been used for years now with No problems. Later Harley bottom ends are used for a lot of performance Specials. High interference Press fits cause distortion in what you are pressing into and you end up with unsolvable run out issues. Nev

"someone" Mentioned to Trump that "we" might have to Borrow and funnel the money but he thought they said Burrow and tunnel.. Nev

Well according to the defence chiefs, 3 second hand subs were the original preference as they would be delivered sooner. Why do we need 3 nuclear powered submarines anyway. The navy is spending $1.7 billion on a fleet of our own designed Ghost Sharks. They are designed to do almost everything that manned submarines can do at very low cost as well as low operating cost and we can have heaps of them. They won't say how many but there are apparently dozens being built. Aukus is costing at least $368 billion. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/10/ghost-shark-submarine-drone-australian-navy-explainer

I think that may be a better outcome than sticking with it. Short term cost to save a lot more in the long term.

It is Mrs Octave's birthday so we are spending a couple of nights in this shabby place. Yes we are going to drink wine in the enormous bath.

Well, my rebate arrived in my bank account. Spent already, of course.

What do you mean "at least there is transparency?" Like on Truth Social? Anyone who spills their Guts gets get SHAFTED. , Businesses are Ruined. Trump wants to Make the USA Great Again. He's NOT doing THAT is He? He's a CROOK. Only looking After himself and his Mates. and drunk with Power. The People Have No idea how to get rid of Him. Nev

Most of his appointees are pretty short on intelligence. And morals, ethics and character

New research also shows that they were making complex copper alloys, deliberately adding trace elements to adjust the properties such as strength and hardness.

There's a financial component too I believe. Labor made changes around electoral funding which benefits parties over independents. One commentator said they could form a party called "the Independents" and allow conscience votes on every issue.

700 Quid built a good House. Mind you It wasn't nearly as grandiose as what we want now. NO air conditioning or Insulation. A fireplace was it.. No garages. Maybe we expect too Much these days? Nev

I nearly died when I was 16 working on building concrete wheat silos. I'd put my age up, you were supposed to be 18 minimum to get a job there. They were four silos joined together and the working platform raised up as the concrete walls grew in height, a bit like a big extrusion machine. Concrete trucks would dump into a hopper which went up an elevator to the top where labourers with wheelbarrows would wheel it to the formwork rim. There wasn't much in the way of concrete pumps back then. It gives me the shivers when I think of the workplace safety standard back then. The only thing to stop you falling off the scaffold was a handrail made of tomato stakes cobb and co.'d together with tie wire. Pure luck it held up when I fell against it; it was about an 80 foot drop to the bottom at that stage. On the thread topic of positives, I made a lot of money for a 16 year old, had a big adventure and got to keep the hard hat at the end of the job.

A pound a Lb it was for Merino fleece. Rolls Royces abounded in Places like Tamworth and Cocky's all had Planes to fly around in. I flew some Blokes out to Burren Junction to Set up the Wheat silos there in the 60's from Rutherford. ( West Maitland). They were of Concrete and probably still there. Nev

It's astonishing how many of those who support him still can't see what he's doing to their country and the world. I can understand that people may be on side with his policies, such as they are since he doesn't seem to have any idea of what his job is supposed to be, but how they can accept his corruption, lying, incompetence, racism, bullying and general nastiness is beyond me. I think a lot of his supporters don't follow politics and don't know much about what's going on in general.

Aaarrrgghh!! Does anyone else hate those video shots where a monstrous machine passes over the top of the camera? Watching it, I feel like I'm tied to the railroad tracks! My innate fear must come from the nightmares I had as a child, where I used to dream about being stuck to the ground, and a big tip truck backed up to me, and dumped its load of sand on top of me! I'd wake up in shock and fear, and probably crying out, too. It was terrifying as a youngster. I have no idea what caused me to have such terrifying nightmares.

Finally got to see the rest of your clip. How long did you have to lie there on your back, waiting for the train?

I was listening to a talkback segment on the ABC radio tonight and the publican from Eulo rang in. He was on his way back home from Roma and mentioned that when he bought the car in Roma, the dealers offered a free 1,000 kilometre checkup. That's about 60 k's short of the distance to drive it home from Roma to Eulo and turn around and drive straight back to Roma.

Victoria has been losing a small number of people to other states, but not on the scale seen during the peak COVID years. In the year to March 2025: Victoria's net interstate migration was -2,318 people. That means about 2,300 more people moved from Victoria to other Australian states and territories than moved into Victoria from elsewhere in Australia. For comparison: State Net interstate migration Queensland +24,015 Western Australia +11,675 Victoria -2,318 New South Wales -26,560 So Victoria is still seeing a net outflow to other states, but it is relatively modest. In fact, recent government analysis noted that Victoria recorded positive quarterly interstate migration for the first time since the pandemic, suggesting the trend has been improving. According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Victoria’s population reached about 7.05 million people by March 2025, up by roughly 124,600 people over the previous year. That was a growth rate of 1.8%, equal to Queensland and above the national average of 1.6%. Victoria had: +33,730 people from natural increase (births minus deaths) +93,176 people from overseas migration −2,318 people from net interstate migration (more people leaving for other states than arriving from them) So the interstate migration loss exists, but it is relatively small compared with the gains from overseas migration and natural increase. Victoria is still adding well over 100,000 people per year overall.

That was true for wartime submarines that were basically surface ships that would only submerge when necessary. I think the Collins subs can do closer to 25 kts than 20 when submerged. My niece’s husband was chief engineer on one.

My scarey random thought for today.... I just realised that 1972 and 2026 are as far apart as 1972 and 1918....... Pause for mind boggle.

I noticed on that unsealed road beside my place that the corrugations run from one side of teh road to the other. It's a road that only has one vehicle at a time on it so there is no need to keep to the left. Most people would drive straddling the crown. One would think that wheeltrack ruts would form and that the corrugations would be only in those ruts. I wonder why, then, that the corrugations are right across the road.

This is the satirical headline story from the Bell Tower Times - Perths equivalent of The Onion. The bloke may not be familiar to East Coasters - but he's John Hughes, W.A.'s longest-lived car dealer, and a legend in W.A. He turned 90 last December, and still runs personalised TV ads and asks car buyers to call him personally, and regularly states, he's "W.A.'s most trusted car dealer". He's also Alan Bonds BIL. Yes, THAT Alan Bond. But John Hughes has managed to evade any of the Alan Bond taint, in his business dealings.

Random history borrowed from another thread..... 25 years ago today, a big clash of the superpowers - the “Hainan Island Incident”, which is described in a book “Pacific”, by Simon Winchester. Hainan Island incident - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org U.S. intelligence gathering plane operating in the South China Sea, whose air and water China considers its territory, the U.S. not so much. Chinese jet, flown by Lt. Cdr. Wang Wei -who had intercepted US planes before, getting close enough to display his email address on a paper sign through the cockpit- gets a bit too close this time and collides with the U.S. plane. Wang’s plane is heavily damaged, goes out of control, he ejects, parachute malfunctions, he disappears into the sea. The U.S. plane, with 23 aboard, heavily damaged but still flying, makes an emergency landing without Chinese permission (none of their distress calls had been responded to by the Chinese) at a sensitive military base on large Hainan Island (which is a long time target of US spying) on the SE coast of China, surrounded by armed troops upon arrival, who force their way into the plane. (Plane was later retuned to the U.S. , dismantled in wooden boxes, on a Russian cargo plane.) What was going through their minds…. “For the next 26 minutes, the crew of the EP-3 [US plane, after it was stabilized following a big rapid descent after the collision] performed an emergency plan which included destroying sensitive items aboard the aircraft, such as electronic equipment related to intelligence-gathering, documents and data. Part of this plan involved pouring freshly brewed coffee into disk drives and motherboards and using an axe from the plane's survival kit to destroy hard drives.[15] The crew had not been formally trained on how to destroy sensitive documents and equipment, and so improvised. As a result of the destruction, the plane's interior was later described as resembling "the aftermath of a frat party".[12] The air crew was interrogated and held for over a week, diplomatic crisis, etc etc. Among other things China learned from the plane in its possession —although the crew destroyed a lot of info and spying equipment aboard - including after landing while Chinese troops banged on the windows and shouted at them with bullhorns to come out— China learned that the U.S. could track its submarines via signals intelligence. The end was a letter, or letters, “the two sorries”, issued that allowed each country to save face. 25 years ago today (Bush’s first foreign policy crisis.) Could’ve been a lot worse. Let’s avoid this kinda stuff in future, shall we? Air and sea patrols have continued since then, but US crafts have learned to be much more careful since. Imagine if this incident had occurred while Trumpster was *resident…

I bought 3 pairs of Dunlop steel-toe workboots in the mid-1990's, because they were going out cheap. I didn't need them immediately, but I thought I'd "stock up" for when I did need them. I never even got to wear them. Within about 18 mths, the rubberised soles had turned into a gooey globby mess, that just fell off the uppers. So I ended up with a set of 3 perfect leather uppers with no soles. I kept those new uppers for ages, thinking I might be able to organise new soles of some type for them. No bootmaker would even look at them, so the uppers laid around my workshop for years, until I was evicted from it, ahead of workshop demolition, in early 2024. So they went in the bin, in the huge cleanup associated with the move out of the workshop. What a bloody waste. I know now, why they were going out cheap. Dunlop carried out some disastrous product moves in that era, and it still dogs them today. No Dunlop tyre I have ever bought, or acquired, has reached its full life without carcass separation, or just blowing out. I just disposed of the last of 4 Dunlops I acquired on 4 wheels I bought to fit my Hilux about 3 years ago. They were almost new when I acquired them. One separated within about 3 mths, another separated about 6 mths later, and the third separated about 6 mths after that. They just went completely out of round, developing huge carcass distortion. The last one nearly wore out, but the tread started coming off on the inside, and that scared me a bit, because it was on a front wheel. So I ditched it for a new Bridgestone A/T697 Dueler. I haven't actually bought any new Dunlops for about 40 years, I refuse to buy them. But I keep "inheriting" the darn things when they come on vehicles or wheels that I buy. They are total rubbish.

There is a type of soft rubbery material that reverts to black crude oil over time and blackens your hand. I threw out a set of screwdrivers like that. Yesterday I spent a few hours replacing the foam surrounds around the speaker cones in my 30-year-old stereo, which had turned to black grease. And I have a pair of binoculars that have gone like that, I am reluctant to throw them out but they are black and sticky.

A friend just came back from the USA, says that ordinary people are just getting on with their lives and seem unaffected by it all.

That's a very informative video ... I should send it to my Local Council with a request to fix my unsealed street. In fact, I've heard rumors they will be doing something about it soon before One Nation cracks down on them.

I think it's already too late. Most of the damage is now baked into the system and the worlds psyche, and it will only get worse before Trump and his enablers get thrown out. Well, they're getting royally shafted now. There is transparency alright. The incompetence and corruption is out in the open for all to see and on a scale they will probably never see again. If they feel that's a win, then they can well admit that it's a sad state of affairs.

You only have to be an enthusiastic supporter of Trump to get a Job.. What a disaster in the Making. Nev

Just HOW can you have a "Party of Independents"? Nev

The US education system doesn't cover much that happens outside of America. Their right wing media tells them they are doing well everywhere with Trump at the helm but most are completely insulated from the rest of the world. These are the MAGA nutters. You tube is full of clips showing their complete ignorance. Trump needs them to bolster his own ego and to relieve the complete insecurity of his pathetic existence. The problem is that the reality of inflation from his crazy tariffs and cost of petrol etc affects them as it does everyone and they are starting to run out of reasons to explain it all away. The mid term elections could change everything.

In my thirties I used to dream I was flying a light plane from Paris to London then realise that my licence had expired, I would wake up in a panic. When I got my licence back the dream went away. If Freud is about sex, you know what to do.

There you go Nev, there's a post for you that's not generalised. Very specific I woud say.

It looks like someone's buttons are being pushed.