onetrack

Had a ripper thunderstorm from about 3:30 to 4:00PM today, we got a hammering with around 16mm of heavy rain. Very nice to be cooled down, after the temperature peaked at just over 40° at around 2:30PM.

It's high time that a major clampdown on the illegal firearm industry is commenced. You get found trading, dealing or holding illegal firearms, you go to jail for 10 yrs minimum. Apply terrorism laws to them. Holding, storing or dealing in illegal firearms is simply preparatory planning to kill numbers of people, that should be a terrorism offence and receive major sentencing accordingly. We need to drive these people out of Australia. Tens of thousands of innocent, honest, careful gun owners have been treated like criminals and forced to give up thousands and thousands of their firearms - but this does exactly NOTHING to prevent criminals such as this pair from acquiring high powered firearms and lots of ammunition. Hunt down all those involved in the supply of the illegal firearms and ammo, and send them down for 20 or 25 yrs. They're oxygen thieves. GON, surely you jest about taking up firearms again at an age when a lot of people are in retirement and nursing homes? I haven't fired a shot in over 40 years, since my house burnt down and I lost my rifles and shotguns - and both you and I would certainly be no match for a fit and active 20 or 30 yr old with a firearm. I get down on the ground now, and it takes me 20 seconds, to get back upright again!

I think it's normally called Fate. If you're destined to die that moment as an innocent victim, that's it. Had my share of narrow squeaks with the Grim Reaper, and rarely due to anything I'd done wrong.

Time to have a good sweeping clean-out of Western Sydney - home of thugs, criminals and now, mass-murderers.

The Chinese are driving EV (and battery) development with relentless research and development. The latest news is BYD has patented a Variable Flux, Permanent Magnet, Synchronous Motor. The ability to vary the magnetic flux levels in an electric motor that is running, leads to more consistent torque output and reduced energy loss - especially at highway speeds. This ability to vary the magnetic flux of the motor then leads to improved EV range, and lower thermal stress levels on the battery. BYD's research also indicates they are developing improved stator and rotor designs, and magnetic flux control components, which all lead to greater EV efficiencies. https://carnewschina.com/2025/12/14/byd-advances-variable-flux-permanent-magnet-synchronous-motor-technology-patents-unveiled/

The EV sales figures have been skewed by Govt intervention, rebates and incentives, tariffs, the Chinese assault on global car manufacturers, and much misinformation. In my neck of the woods, tax lurks such as salary sacrifice and novated leasing has propelled EV sales. On a stand-alone basis, EV's are still too expensive, and their depreciation is still high. The Europeans have shot themselves in the foot, trying to protect their (very profitable) local car manufacturing industries. They introduced high tariffs on Chinese EV's being imported into Europe, and the Chinese simply imported more hybrids and IC-engined vehicles, and therefore STILL improved their overall sales levels. The Chinese EV sales into Europe dropped 10% as against this time last year, so that probably explains all the cries from the fossil-fuel adherents, of "EV's are finished, sales are falling, now that people have woken up!!" The bottom line is, the Chinese attack on the global car manufacturers is relentless, and they will undoubtedly win. Their productive capacity is mind-boggling, and their cost base is 30% lower than anywhere else in the world. I wouldn't buy a Chinese EV today, because I believe there's going to be a shakeout in the Chinese car manufacturers within 4 or 5 years - but I'll wager in 4 or 5 years time, over 2/3rds of cars (and trucks and buses) on our roads, will be Chinese. I just sighted the Chinese car market stats, and they currently sell 114 brands and 1,142 models of Chinese cars within the country. That is just staggering, and there will surely be many of those brands fall by the wayside over the next few years. https://www.drive.com.au/news/chinese-ev-european-tariffs-have-backfired/

The indigenes now drive much newer and better cars than the rest of us mere mortals do - I guess that's a total turnaround from the days of my youth. Here on the Left Coast, every single member of the "Stolen Generation" (those indigenes classed as "mixed race" and removed from their families in a well-intentioned attempt to break cycles of poverty, homelessness, drunkenness and abuse) are now entitled to receive a payment of $85,000 each, as compensation for their enforced removal from their family. They don't have to prove anything, except that they were taken away from their family as children. Unsurprisingly, a large number of the Stolen Generation have done quite well for themselves, and become productive members of society, after generally being educated in normal social obligations and acceptable behaviour. Unfortunately, some members of the Stolen Generation were badly treated, and abused in foster homes, and this has cast a black mark over the whole original scheme. I trust the monetary compensation goes some way towards appeasing their grief and anger about being removed from their families, but I would estimate a lot of the money will be dissipated by useless relatives, and spent on rapidly-depreciating items, and their anger and claims for further monetary compensation will only return after the $85,000 is all gone.

Ahh, the old "pork bung"! Watch out for it being substituted for calamari!! https://www.google.com/search?q="pork+bung"

Unfortunately, at this time of year, that green tinge is likely to be unsupported by more timely rain and it will all die off pretty quickly with more Summer heat. We are having a hot start to Summer here on the Left Coast, I hope it cools down a bit, I have plenty of work to do, outside.

You jest, surely?? These are people who live in privileged, exalted positions of power and social standing, with pay levels that look like weekly Lotto wins, to the person on the average wage. They have expense accounts that the average employee can only dream about. They have massive levels of perks, from Commonwealth cars on call, right through to a Parliamentary dining room that provides subsidised meal costs (via the allowances or by offering cheaper food prices). The basic salary of an MP is $233,000 - then they have "additional salary" (determined as a percentage of the base salary, and based on "additional duties"). They get allowances galore, including a "deceased members allowance" - which payment goes to their estate. That death allowance is determined by the formula (A x B) divided by 26, where "A" is the base salary and "B" is the number of years served as an MP. The perks, gratuities and entitlements of MP's are excessive, and have been for decades. Whitlam even advised Mark Latham to rort the entitlements system, as much as he could. These people have the ability to pay a lot of their own costs, that ordinary everyday people regularly have to do, when they travel.

It's Putins aim to destroy any economic lifeline for Ukraine, and the attack was likely loosely designed just to hit the port, and the Turkish vessels would have just been collateral damage. Russia is intent on buggering up Ukrainian grain shipments, and imports of useful equipment to support the war. Regardless, it's not the way to improve relationships with a big neighbour who has a tendency to waver between supporting the West and supporting Russia. You win wars by garnering big heaps of supporting countries, and Russia is not garnering any more support for the war, than the few countries he already has onside. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/13/russia-damages-turkish-owned-vessels-in-attack-on-ukrainian-ports

I can recall a deadly wood chipper accident here, in Jan 2004. A crew were widening a road down near Busselton (W.A.), clearing the roadside vegetation with a tractor/backhoe, and feeding it into a big wood chipper to mulch it. The highway was still in use with traffic control, and a low speed limit for passing traffic. The chipper was operating on one side of the highway, and the tractor/backhoe was operating on the opposite side of the highway. The disc in the woodchipper broke in half due to a faulty, sub-standard repair earlier in its life (these discs hum at about 4000 RPM). The disc was 1650mm in diameter and 57mm thick. The biggest portion of the chipper disc departed the chipper and went spinning vertically in a boomerang fashion, straight across the highway. It sliced the entire front off a passing car (in front of the front wheels), glanced off another passing car, then kept going, still with massive levels of energy, and it hit the cabin of the tractor/backhoe, tearing through the heavy steel square tube sections of the cabin ROPS, and going halfway through the tractor/backhoe cabin. Unfortunately, in doing so, it killed the operator of the tractor/backhoe. A truly dreadful accident, but there was no reason for the chipper owner to know that his chipper disc was defective, as it was all hidden inside the machine. Worksafe conducted an extensive inquiry, and could never find out who had repaired the disc, as the machine had earlier been purchased secondhand in the Eastern States, and there were no records of any previous repairs. Worksafe set out a lot more stringent controls over big woodchippers as a result of the accident, with frequent close inspections of chipper discs, and requirement that no repairs or modifications were to be carried out on the machines, without the input of a engineer or the manufacturer. There were photos of the chipper disc damage levels to the cars and the tractor/backhoe on the 'net at the time, but they have since disappeared. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/12323073/17-04-wood-chipper-disk-failures

Didn't know where to put this - but this bloke needs to go buy a Lotto ticket!!

It's surprising the number of WW2 veterans still left alive. And the widows of WW2 veterans. They number in the tens of thousands, still. As OME points out, there were plenty of boy soldiers - and a lot of people do live for a long time.

A former farmer client of mine turns 105 on the 20th of this month, and he's as fit as Dick Van Dyke. But did anyone see Colin Wagener, the South Australian WW2 veteran, who turned 108 recently? He still runs a 60 acre (24ha) property in the Adelaide Hills, and still drives his mower, and rides his motorbike! His advice for a long life? Steer clear of alcohol, don't smoke, and keep up an active lifestyle. https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-oldest-wwii-veteran-108-birthday/2d8381cf-2c85-409e-a685-47e03cd2ef49