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Back on the road Peter! Let me know if you'd like to go for a ride sometime. One of my favourites is to Richmond via Grasstree Hill then back via Tea Tree and Brighton.

I got a fright tonight when I dropped one of my favourite lanterns (in the top four) onto the verandah floor from well above waist height. One of those times when you're not game to look down and see the damage. Luckily it's a strong, well built lantern and survived without a scratch. An el cheapo Chinese one I have would have been busted up badly in a fall like that due to it's paper thin constrction. The dropped lantern is a Sunlight brand cold blast lantern made in Indonesia. It's a large size, basically styled on a Dietz No.80, so a bit of weight to fall from that height with a full tank of kero. I think there's a couple of reasons it's such good quality, one is that the company's main business is making 44 gallon drums and the same gauge steel is used in the lanterns. They are also very well built and a factor in that is that I think they're mainly produced for the domestic market in Indonesia which requires a sturdy, useable product. A lot of contempory Chinese lanterns on the other hand, are made especially for the junk export market and are of low quality. The older lanterns made in China and Hong Kong were fairly good quality. I have a very old Hong Kong made Globe brand (aka The World Light Factory) hot blast lantern and it's of good quality. Of all the lanterns I have, a mix of hot blast and cold blast lanterns including brands from the USA, Germany, India and the UK, in my opinion the best of them all is the old humble Australian made Lanora hot blast lantern. They're not flash, but solid as a rock, burn beautifully and function mechanically way better than any of the others. I have two of them, the attached photo shows the yellow one burning away on the verandah. The Lanoras were circa 1940's/1950's, very common lantern and widely used by the military, railways and government as well as household use.

His new avatar:

There's a rise of far-right populist parties everywhere. Reform in UK. AfD in Germany. Fidesz in Hungary. National Rally in France. The MAGAfication of the GOP in the US. PHONey here in Australia. If you want reasons, how long have you got? Growing inequality. Billionaires profiteering while simultaneously disenfranchising workers. Overpopulation, destruction of the natural world while those same billionaires resist any limitations on resource extraction. Journalism hollowed out by concentration of media ownership to the same billionaires and their mates who own the fossil fuel and tech industries. Loss of traditional industies to automation, robotics and AI, and the necessary transition of energy systems. Difficult and existential questions which require actual thought, wisdom and cooperative planning, at a time when our attention span is the shortest it's ever been. Into this complicated reality, populist parties provide simplistic answers and attract followers who like simple answers. Climate change isn't real so let's drill, baby, drill. Everything will be ok if we send all the immigrants back to where they came from. It's all the fault of the Somalis/Muslims/Jews/Pakistanis/pick your group. Cut taxes while simultaneously increasing services. Sound familiar? If you really think that Pauline is a deep thinking, compassionate and forward-looking leader, then by all means vote for her. Personally I think she's an opportunistic, racist rabble-rouser who appeals to the worst bits of human nature, so her party will always be last on my ballot.

They made a documentary about that... It's called "Terminator"

Our deep south sounds positively balmy compared to your riding environment. Last year I folded to sensible behaviour and sold my bike. No sensible 70 year old would be so silly as to have a motorbike! I finally gave in to my pining for a ride. Collected a little 250, (a lighter thing to pick up if it falls over). A pleasant enough 8 degree day. It's heated grips worked all the way home. Of course as soon as I hit the highway the clouds closed in and the previously nice winding roads had me nervous because I was still getting used to handling this light responsive bike, on wet roads. Home in one piece. Nice hot shower, hot cuppa and happy. For future adventures, I will include a weather forecast in my flight plan.

This image gives an idea of the airflow direction. Not visible from the outside is the plenium, described here as the air gap, which is an empty compartment above the fuel tank, and receives the air circulating down through the side tubes. The air from the tubes via the plenium to the burner is force fed air, very critical to how they burn. Without that system they'd just be a glorified candle like the wall mount type lamps that are called a dead flame lantern as they don't have any forced air, just drawing it in from the grate at the base of the burner.

Yes they do, and very loud. Not as loud as the butcher bird's but close. They wake you up at night. For years I thought the sound was some weird bird up in the roof ridge cap until I did some googling and found out it was the geckos. I originally thought they were the native gecko, dubious dtella. but with more googling and some close up inspection I'm fairly sure they're one of the introduced Asian species. They moved in here when I built the place in 1996 so are probably into the fifth generation by now.

I think the light output is a bit like our refrigeration expectations nowadays. When we lived without electricity he light from one of these would have beaten a candle by tons, better than a campfire. Imagine people having to live without electricity, having a coolgardie safe only no to keep their food, and maybe an underground cellar. hey Willie, do your geckos make audible sounds. We ha geckos all over a villa in the Maldives that called to each other all night. Never heard lizards making any thing other than hisses when threatened.

Well said Jerry. Firstly I'm breaking my golden rule here. I had a lengthy break from the forum and set a rule for coming back on a regular basis that I would avoid the politics section, so this is a relapse. I think it's a turbulent time in politics for a lot of the reasons mentioned by you in the above post. It's a good way to analyze the issue, otherwise it just turns into an us against them mudslinging match. Devotees of the major parties often like to think those on the fringe should come into their fold because it's the only way to provide stable government. Here's the catch - a lot of those people only have one small part in the power structure, and that's their vote every three (or four in some states) years. A lot of them use that vote to send a message to the majors, and let's face it, without a reality check, complacency will rule. While it's a sound two party system where we have this eternal your turn, my turn setup, performance of governments and major oppositions will always be pedestrian. A lot of the disgruntled people don't want to reward that. I don't think the shift to the right is a blip, and it certainly won't be halted by simply denigrating those people. At the moment here in Australia, Labor has a declining primary vote in the polls, but with the number of seats held, should be right for a while without having to go to a Labor/Green coalition. The immediate problem is for the conservatives with their primary votes bleeding to minor parties, mainly ON. There's a possibility if voter disillusionment with the major parties is not addressed, we'll see a shift to more European style government where it's rare for parties to form government without cobbling together a coalition of parties. Be prepared for the possibility that might be the new normal in Australia in the not too distant future. Liberal/National/One Nation coalition or a Labor/Green coalition with a few independants thrown in here and there.

Edit: [Poor comment from a moderator. Cut it out. You set a bad example. The subject needs to be delved into a bit deeper. Nev] Nev, as an example of the point I'm trying to make, the above quote has been edited to normal text. Yes, I know you do it for emphasis, but your posts don't need emphasis. They are short enough to be clearly understood without caps. The fact is they are less understandable with the cap emphasis you put in the posts, and can visually look like a rant. Have a good look at the two versions above and try to imagine them through the eyes of others; it's not hard to see which one looks more polite. You don't need a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

This coulda gone in the trump thread, but I laughed. Maybe there is hope? Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi in an oversight hearing Wednesday

Unbelievable! America failed to win gold for shooting, at the Olympics! (Well, it wasn't held in a school)

Even though they can't spell, it's true. One Nation is a protest party. They have no workable policies and no chance of successfully governing, in the catastrophic event that a majority of voters lost their minds and voted them in. If you want a government that hates the environment, loves guns and bibles and is paid for by (and works for) billionaires, move to the USA.

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday. 55 minute wait beyond appointment time. He gave me a referral to a mob to check out my loss of balance and very bad hearing. The place was called Dizzyology. I called to make an appointment. Got a recording saying "Our reception operates 9 to 5:30 Monday to Friday." then nothing. As It was only 3 pm, I rang again, got the same. Twice more, the same. I thought, I'll go down there, because I have difficulty hearing on the phone, even with plug in ear phones. Looked at my watch, it was flat (rechargable). Plugged it in to recharge. Opened the front door, the dog shot past my leg and across the street. Rounded him up and got under way. School leaving time, Mum's taxis everywhere, plus 2 buses in a narrow street. Driving in the left lane, a line of cars stopped to turn left. Eventually got into the right lane, a line of cars stopped to turn right. Twenty metres from just about every set of lights, they turn amber. Finally got there at 4 o'clock. It was 12 km. Walked into the place, a room with 6 chairs, no reception counter. A table with a sign "Have a seat, someone will be out at your appointment time." I was there to make an appointment. Took a seat and waited. The walls were frosted glass with about 18" clear at the bottom. I could see a man's legs moving around a treatment table, and voices like he was talking to a patient. I waited....and waited. After about an hour and 20 minutes I saw the hydraulic thing under the treatment table lowering it so the patient could get off. The door opened and the man came out followed by the patient, whom he directed to the toilet. He said, "I'm sorry, we don't have a receptionist. I'll be with you when I finish this appointment, It may be about half an hour." The patient returned, and they went into another consulting room. After about 10 minutes, they came out, the patient left and the man took my referral letter, went into an office and organised the appointment for March 20. He explained that there were only clinicians at this location, the receptionist worked from home because only people with an appointment went to that location. So, after well over an hour and a half wating I finally left just after 6 pm. I wasn't driving all that way and leaving without the appointment. I got to explain the back story to my problem, and learned more about cochlear implants, which he thinks I have a good chance of qualifying for. Guess today's date.

It all depends on how much money you've got, what your dream is, and how much determination you've got, to achieve that dream. One of the most amazing restorations I've seen is a split window Kombi, salvaged from the Higginsville Pumping station - where the entire front of it had been cut off, the body stood on its front, a huge chunk cut out of the side of it, and then it was used as a dunny!! But a bloke set his heart on having a fully restored split window Kombi, and he recovered every part of that "dunny Kombi" and restored it to superb driving condition!! It reportedly cost him $100,000! Why anyone would do this, to end up driving a gutless old pile of VW crap, is beyond me! But that's just my opinion! This is the Kombi when it was used as a dunny, I can't find photos of it when restored, I did see them on Instagram, but can't find them now.

I am getting through my copy of Peter’s book, nice to have a break from fiction for a bit. Some real interesting stuff in there. the amount of golden ounces pulled out of that ground is staggering. £3 an ounce might have been a fortune then, but t the ridiculous prices seen lately the numbers are staggering.

Driest start to the year since 2009 in Melbourne with some gauges not recording 1 mm since mid November.

It wasn't actually sold, it was a 99 yr lease. A pretty cunning way of getting around FIRB examination. But an undesirable deal, regardless, and basically a bloody outright stupid deal.

OK, you two. We know that you each sit on the otehr side of the fence. We accept that. What is not acceptable is personal attacks. Please play the ball and not the man.

On the grain season side in W.A., the farming community has just produced the biggest-ever grain crop to come out of W.A. It was truly a bumper season - 27.35M tonnes of grains in total, surpassing the former record-breaking 25M tonnes in 2022. That's 4 out of the last 5 years that have been bumper grain seasons for W.A. farmers. The taxman will be rubbing his hands! Surprisingly to me, barley was the biggest crop winner this season just gone. A far bigger area cropped to barley than normal, and high yields for the 2025/26 season, made barley the standout for this years grains. https://www.giwa.org.au/wa-crop-reports/2025-season/giwa-crop-report-february-2026/

I sometimes qquestion the wisdom of buying a heavier bike, but despite the electrical issues, my last ride back from London, and its general handling characteristics in the current weather has confirmed it. I am doing a few more push ups and squats per day - not because I keep dropping the thing, either.. but I do know I need to have a bot more strength than I do, should I drop it again. Once the electrical gremlin is sorted, and/or the weather warms up, it will be a beaut! Today, went to Yeovil - about 30 miles away to a brand new Infiniti Motorcycles store. It was in the car and took a bleedin' hour and a half. But, I picked up an opening deal on a diual set of intercoms; they were missing an adaptor plate for my helmet, so, on Saturday, we will be there on the bikes to get the intercoms fitted to the helmets. But, I was very thankful I took the car in the end. It absolutely hammered down for about 10 minute. It would have tested the best made motorcycle clothing. And the wind whippted up to about 20kts..

Thaty's the principle behing the Stirling engine. A Stirling engine is a heat engine that is operated by the cyclic expansion and contraction of air or other gas (the working fluid) by exposing it to different temperatures, resulting in a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work.

You can change your display name, not that I've heard of it being done, or what impact it will have on your previous posts. Click on your avatar at the top of the left margin. From the dropdown menu, select Account Settings. The first item is Display Name. Click on the Change button. Enter and save your new Display Name.

I have to admit.. as a bit of pyrophobe, I am happy they are not in common use anymore, but the engineering is interesting.

In addition to kerosene lanterns, we had a kerosene fridge. It was my job when I was in high school to keep the kerosene tank filled up.

In this ABC article, election analyst William Bowe has produced this graphic based on averages of polling. It shows voting at the last federal election compared to averaged voter intention now. One Nation is up 20% which is made up of a 5% loss to Labor, 10% loss to the coalition and 5% to those listed as others. The only one that hasn't moved is the Greens steady at 12%. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-15/story-lab-one-nation-polling/106322978

There used to be LOTs of them in Cairns, mostly upside down on the ceiling. Nev

Here's a bloke who specialises in "oil" lamps, which description seems to cover any type of lamp or lantern that is fossil-fuel-powered. https://www.oillamps.com.au/

The WHOLE world, even. Nev

We had a couple of those on the farm when I was a kid - 75 years ago. Also had the Tilley pressure lamp with the pump to pressurise the tank.

My childhood involved Tilly lanterns for camping, which I think must have been like that Aladdin.

The hot blast lantern like the Lanora in that photo has an air gap between the top of the globe and the chimney. In this photo the one on the left is a cold blast lantern and the two on the right are hot blast lanterns. With a hot blast, fresh air enters in the grate down near the burner. Some burnt gases exit the gap at the top of the globe while other burnt gases go into the hood, down the side tubes then into the plenium before mixing with the fresh air. With a cold blast lantern, the burnt gases go straight out the top chimney. Fresh air is taken into the side tubes from openings that are covered by the shroud below the chimney. This then goes down the tubes to the plenium. It's a more efficient design as a cold blast has only fresh air supplied to be burnt, fed from the plenium and the grate around the burner. Less smoke and a brighter light. The hot blast intake is a mix of hot, burnt gases from the plenium and fresh air from the burner grate.

First, I have no issue with Nev's style - yes, Internet etiquette says CAPS is SCREAMING, and I guess that is written etiquette, too. But in the absence of in person or at least voice to coice comms, where infelctions can be made, and in the absence of mid-caps to allow for emphasis (sometimes an exclamation mark won't do), I have come to accept that is Nev's way and I am comfortable with it. We all have our ways whe it comes to written word, so don't go changing at least on my account. @Marty_d's post has put far more eqloquently and completely the point I have been trying to get across.. This lurch to the right is a global thing, because globally, the symptoms and root causes have coincided. Add rabid religions to the mix of billionaires, and a synchophatic press mostly devoid of objectivity, and it is a recipe for disaster. The reality is these issues, which could have been solved by governments of different colours, but they continue. It is easy to throw stones at the pollies, but my guess is there are forces we never see behind the scenes that make it extremely difficult to survive politically, professionally, and dare I say personally (in terms of character assaniation and assasination) if the pollies upset the apple cart too much. The latter bit may seem a bit of a conspiracy theory, but I have seen first hand the extreme rage, anger and threats when someone very wealthy has stood to lose quite a bit of money. It is ugly, and while they have the money to fight, by god they do. To be clear, I haven't seen them take action against the person beyond the threats they have made.. but this person was in such a state, it wouldn't have been a great leap to do so. Also, once in government, the party of power wants to stay there, so there is a conflict of interest already building up with those who have the money (which equals power) to make life more difficult for them. Imagine a CEO sayin we will pull the business from your jurisdiction and move it somewhere else. Imagine all those jobs lost. People will still buy our stuff - you know that - so you better bend to our will or it is you who will carry the can. The issues that Marty raise, sadly transcend colours of both parties. The rabble rousers of whichever colour you want start to get attractive. The sad reality is that most people, even more and more into what was the middle classes are so busy keeping their and their families' heads above the water, they are too exhausted to look into the complex world of politics, have more and more been forgotten by those they vote for, and grab onto anything else that pretends to offer them a lifeline. The the press describe these people are those on the margins, no hopers, blaming the world for their problems. Well, just maybe, that is stereotyping them like stereotyping Muslims as all terrorsts... When you look into it, a lot of these people work hard, but due to the widening economic gap, struggle, and are left out.. maybe society is forgetting them, too? And now, they gravitate to parties that offer them something to blame, and a hollow salvation. The other parties have long ago fogotten them; here are parties that at least recognise them if nothing more. That is why I highlight things like Brereton. It is one thing to say well go live somewhere else, or we still have it good hear, but that does not justify the constant erosion of trust, integrity, and quality. Would we rather stop the rot before we sink to an autocratic dictatorship as the US has done, by which it is probably too late before blood is shed? Oh, wait, it has been shed already in Minneapolis, and no doubt by the Venezualans (but they were all bad, of course), and by the undocumented migrants cast to jurisdictoons with a clear disdain for human rights? At some stage a government is going to have to bite the bullet properly, or else we are headed in the same direction.

Yeah, but he'd not be allowed to compete while suffering football in mouth disease

Pam Bondi is really BAD News. (Like MOST/ALL Trump Appointees). Nev

My copy arrived today.. Looks like @pmccarthy is (probably once again) contributing positively to Australia's balance of Trade 😉

PHON has NOT got ONE Lower House Seat OR any Policies other that RACIST hate ( which changes according to the Occasion) and Bagging Labor She's Funded By Gina Reinhart who is worth 37 Billion and some of that Assistance ? will (and is ) coming under scrutiny. All the People rushing to Her are Malcontents and mostly Nats who have a complex situation in ARE in Queensland where there is ONLY a SINGLE Party. Hansens Popularity is Highest in Qld. HER approval rating is Only Based on Polling of a relatively small number of People. Murdoch is Pushing her but the Main damage is caused by the Behaviour of the NP to their Partner. in the Unholy alliance, called the Coalition whose Main Purpose, Particularly Lately was to Keep Labor Out. The NP more supports Coal and GAS interests than that OF Farmers and say NO to anything Labor proposed. The NP don't actually represent a LOT of people but a fair bit of area and they are rusted on voters. When Election time Come s scrutiny of what Policies are In Place& How they are likely to work Might Bring some reality into the equation and see How the DIVERSE views of the NEW additions to Pauline's Party will share the Power and Pecking order. STABILITY. Can't see it happening. Nev

There are striking similarities between UK and AUS politics. Normally, I would say to predict what is going to happen politically in the UK, just look at Australia's recent past. The libs impending implosion and the lurch to the right are the two exceptions, where the UK leads, but Australia is following. The conservatives have been out of ideas and losing relevance for a long time. Brexit was a way they could lay the blame of the malaise they imposed on the country and solve it in one foul swoop. Of course, when that didn't work and the chickens came home to roost, it showed how hollow they were - out of touch with the electorate; out of touch with business; out of touch woth foreign policy.. the party kept on proffering candidates who seemed to be stuck in the old colonial days. Brexit initially delivered the conservatives a large swing from Labour. But they have no oether swung back, or swung to Reform - Nigel Farage. Brexit was a protest vote - people who were on the margins, which seemingly more and more of what should be the middle classes find themselves. Conservatives followed suit - their party in disarray, not representing the rank and file. First, they tried emulating reform. Once it became clear that conservative voters had shifted, so too have some of the lesser qualified conservative MPs. Reform took third place in the popular vote in the last elections; I would say they are even money, if not staring down taking first place of the popular vote at the next. They are unlikely to grab the premiership due to the concentration of their votes, but taking the popular vote is a big boost. Yet, their policies will hurt the ones that vote for them most. Australia is heading that way. The Libs are more and more irrelevant. They have a habit of nominating candidates that are less and less competent. Lib voters are moving to PHON. As the Libs implde, some will see the personal value of defecting to PHON. Labor lost some ground in the primary vote in the last polls. That is probably more attributed to Bondi and general incumbent blues than a shift to PHON at this stage. There has been no Brexit moment to pull Labor voters away. But, there are things creeping in that may move Labor voters at a higher rate. There is stuff like the NACC, where Labor have proved not much better than the Libs at the end of the day. That is minor in the scheme of things, but these sorts of things that can be the straw that breaks the camel's back, Despite Australia looking after its poorer and lower mddle classes better that the UK, we are seeing a wider gap between the haves and the have nots; we are seeing constantly increasing costs of lving, and hot topics like property rental and purhcase prices spiralling continues unabated. The result, more and more people will feel forgotten, get pi55ed off and cast their prtest vote. The difference between the UK and Australia is that voting in Australia is compulsory (or at least getting your name marked off the electoral roll is, anyway). This will mean those thast are p155ed off are more likely to cast a protest vote than in the UK, because many who would say normally vote conservative wouldn't turn up for the election - which happened in the last UK general election. Of course, Australia has a preferential system rather than first past the post, so that works in favour of keeing PHONies out., But don't bet on it. Libs and Labor have lessons to learn if they don't want a rabid right wing mob with significant power.

Crazy prices for split window Kombis. I remember them as an underpowered tin box on wheels. But they had a lot of character.

That's ok Nev, enjoy your junk free retirement. I haven't quite got to that stage yet; achieved the retirement part but still haven't cured the junk addiction.

spielberg the director

To each his own. Nev, you do what you enjoy in life and I'll do the same.

So, how is it pretty much all crap?

Has Trump ever paid what he owes? You have to wonder why anyone would take on a job for him. How does he keep lawyers working for him?

I have no desire to watch "Melania, The Movie". BUT... I am most curious about E. Jean Carroll. Want to hear the story of the woman who took on Trump? The one who beat him in court. Twice. https://askejeanfilm.com/ The thrilling adventurous life of beloved advice columnist and journalist E. Jean Carroll, the only woman to beat Trump in court. Twice. "Ask E. JEAN" is the story of E. Jean Carroll’s life, from her early days as Miss Cheerleader USA to her rise as a journalist, author, and advice columnist. Carroll broke barriers as the first female editor at Esquire, Playboy, and Outside, helping to redefine women’s roles in media with her sharp wit and fearless voice. In recent years, she stirred public discourse by standing up to power, becoming the only woman to beat Donald Trump twice in court.... But I don't think she gas managed to make gropenfuhrer to actually pay her the court ordered compensation.

Did you know that artists are not paid a fee for performing at the Superbowl halftime show? The NFL picks up the bill for staging the show but does not pay the artists a fee. The exposure of being on such a show is considered sufficient compensation.

Doesn't that just 'roll off the tongue!'