pmccarthy

Portland was recently named most affordable town. They have had big closures and a threat hangs over the aluminium smelter, but it is a lovely place if you can handle the wind and cloud. Our local pub is on its second Indian family and gets half a dozen patrons on a good night. They only open on Thursdays to Sundays. One local left his change on the bar and the barman took it.

Some pubs and restaurants are closing here in central Victoria. They can't get staff. People have less disposable income. The once thriving Hepburn Springs is half shut down. Radio Springs hotel, very popular, is closing due to lack of staff. Many businesses have been bought by folks from India who do not know how to run them, and they gradually fade away. Some pubs, like Redesdale, seem to be doing well because they have made a name as a weekend lunch venue. Restaurants in Kyneton are struggling. I don’t know about the border areas.

You might be like Lazarus. Once brought back, he was condemned to walk the earth forever. Or so one story goes.

I went the chemo route. Still a bit buggered eight years later but happy to be here.

But it isn't a battle, you just have to take each day as it comes.

In his final address to the nation as president, Joe Biden called for the creation of a new Constitutional amendment to demolish the concept of presidential “immunity” from criminal prosecution. But OK for your family!

Or hold their hose.

What he said. You apply the exponent first.

And there I was thinking he used voice to text.

Maybe she was chewing a lemon.

AI rendering of a motorbike?

A lot of people put their most precious possessions in the car, then had to abandon it to burn when they got stuck in the traffic.

You can't use an ASIC as it is not recognised by any authority as a valid identification document.

A dark side of the electric vehicle boom. BYD, Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen all buy nickel from Indonesia, where environmental and human rights concerns are growing. Tesla, BYD and VW purchase huge amounts of Nickel from Indonesia, which currently produces about 50% of world output and is aiming for 75% by 2040. A massive amount of coal is used to power nickel smelting. At three of the biggest nickel industrial parks – Obi Island, Morowali and Weda Bay – the country has planned to double the nickel industry's current power usage. The amount being invested in renewable energy projects to power the nickel industry is just a fraction of the investment in coal. The fallacy of using coal to power the 'green vehicle' revolution is not lost on Shennum. "At Weda Bay Industrial Park, once it's fully operational, there will be 12 new captive coal plants that didn't exist five years ago," she says. "That's 3.8 gigawatts of coal capacity, or roughly what is burned in all of Spain every year, just at this one industrial park in Indonesia." https://www.choice.com.au/transport/cars/eco-friendly/articles/a-dark-side-of-the-ev-boom?utm_medium=email&utm_term=N%2FA&utm_source=Dynamics-365-CIJ&utm_content=INSIDER_090125&utm_campaign=INSIDER_090125

Our town has no mail delivery. This will become more common in future as mail becomes more expensive to post.

You have forgotten the many appalling actions of Dems during Trump's first term.

I still have all my teeth because I took fluoride tablets throughout my childhood.

IC engines run on petrol. Electric cars in Vic run on brown coal. I know which is cleaner.

Did you know? The world land speed record was set at 91.37 miles per hour on January 12, 1904, by Henry Ford. The car had a wooden chassis and no body.

Once the bin is full, do we have a new search for bin laden?

Did you know? Sir Edmund Hillary led the New Zealand component of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE) in 1955-58, under the overall command of the British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs. The Christchurch Star had to recall its first edition due to its front page banner headline…. “Hillary, Fuchs, off to the Pole” Those were the days…..

We don’t want you carping about it.

A fish mallet.

I believe the duty cycle for the engine is much more stable, so it needs less attention. And the service charges are low, though that could just be a marketing ploy.

We have had two hybrids and they were/ are great. They don't run on the batteries, the batteries smooth out the power demand and give good acceleration from a car with a small petrol motor. Get about 4 litres per 100 km. Minimal need for maintenance, which is cheap. Currently have a Corolla Cross, which is all wheel drive.