onetrack

They got outvoted.

Working on my craft.

Just a quick correction, my Ruston engine is a VSO, not a VSH. Faulty memory there, and I had to go back and check. I recall I had trouble identifying the engine model until I found "VSO" cast into the cylinder head part number. This means it does 1000RPM maximum speed, the later VSH model was upgraded to 1500RPM. My VSO has cast iron pistons, the VSH went to aluminium pistons.

What a donkey. I guess he destroyed his last few functioning brain cells too, with that overdose. There are warnings on the packets of all dangerous products, but it's amazing the number of people who don't even read them, or just dismiss them. Old Italian farmers using pesticides and other farm chemicals are notorious for not reading the labels. Re the SR1, they're a good old engine, but the accent is old, now. They're tricky to work on with largely hidden diesel injection plumbing. The injection parts are where the $$'s are, but they last a long time if they haven't been run with dirt in the fuel. Usually, with most old diesel Listers, pulling the head and doing a top overhaul will see them go for a long time yet. When I was goldmining and re-treating tailings, our partnership bought dozens of new LT1 Lister engines to drive little centrifugal pumps to circulate the cyanide solutions on tailings dams. They're the smallest of all the Lister engines and run from about 1.5HP to 9HP maximum. You can run them at 3000RPM, but they're pretty noisy at that speed. We used to run the pump engines at about 2000RPM, they would only put out about 5HP at that speed, but it was plenty for the small pumps. In the multiple years we owned those LT1's (all through the 1980's), we never put a spanner on a single one of them, even though they ran 24/7 when pumping. I've got a stack of engines lined up to restore (after all the tractors and trucks and cars!), but the pride of my collection is a Ruston Hornsby 3 cyl VSH engine rated at 34HP at 1500RPM. It is a monster of an engine, it weighs over 700kgs. It is a 1943 model and was in a powerhouse in a refractory brick plant, but the place was shut down and abandoned, and the thieves got in and stripped anything of value. The aggravating point here is the thieves stole all the brass ID plates and the exhaust manifold, so I've got some work to bring her back to original condition.

You blokes don't know how good you've got it. My 2.7L petrol 2WD traytop Hilux costs $914 for annual rego. My diesel 3.0L Hilux traytop is $954 annually. My Ford Ranger 3.0L diesel 4WD traytop is $1017 annually. But my 5 tonne Isuzu truck is only $1050 annually. Go figure. It used to be that small vehicles got a sizeable saving in rego - not anymore, it seems the authorities just want around $1000 for every vehicle on the road.

It's not legal for Iran to charge ships for using the Straits of Hormuz, it's International Waters. They're resorting to blackmail, or a form of piracy. They can no more lay claim to the waters in the Straits than they can lay claim to the worlds Oceans.

It's not the first time a keen innovator has built a Lister-powered Rat Bike!

Pure right wing American, MAGA-land, unadulterated BS. This part is especially untrue - "The contradiction being that Europe’s energy systems, industrial bases, and geopolitical sermons 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭." Europes energy systems don't ALL depend on America. They get energy from Russia, from Norway, Azerbaijan, and Algeria for pipeline natural gas. They ship in millions of tonnes of Australian canola and turn it into transportation fuel. They ship in Uranium for nuclear power plants from Canada, Kazhakstan and Australia. They have huge hydro, windpower and solar energy projects. They have diversified their energy suppliers since the start of the Ukraine War. And at the end of the day, European consumers of energy use around one-quarter of the average American energy user. They drive fuel-efficient vehicles and EV's, not gigantic V8 fuel guzzling urban assault vehicles, and even their homes only use modest levels of energy because they're well insulated. It is pure American propaganda. The Europeans are primarily seeking a ceasefire, as they see massive global upheaval, a huge global recession, high interest rates, and vastly increased levels of unemployment, if this idiocy of Trump and his sycophants is left unchecked.

It is largely true, and the legislation has been passed by the Idaho legislature - but it hasn't been signed into law by the Idaho Governor yet. Then, it appears, if the law is signed by the State Governor, there will be a Federal legal challenge to it. https://idahocapitalsun.com/2025/03/24/idaho-legislature-widely-approves-child-sex-abuse-death-penalty-bill-sending-to-governor/

This is a South African story, and despite the storys sadness, the newsreader just loses it, laughing about the scenario ..... (you need your sound on) https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVEKlGcjEiu/

Not for much longer, I'll wager! ....

Spuds don't handle heat and humidity very well at all. On Cocos and Christmas Island, they struggled to survive the trip from W.A., and if they made it, they went "off" in days.

We export 100,000 tonnes of carrots (mostly from W.A.) to the rest of the world annually, and 48,000 tonnes of that goes to the Middle East. But the blockage of the SoH has effectively blown up that market, with $2M worth of Australian carrots currently on the water, unable to reach its destination. There will be serious losses for Australian carrot growers if the blockade continues, and there will be a lot of people in other parts of the world who will go without food, because of the blockade. I'd rather be here, than in a place relying on Australian produce, right at present. And we have no need to import frozen veggies, we can grow all we need right here. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/middle-east-conflict-may-end-some-carrot-farmers/106474078

I tend towards the view that BP guidelines are a bit like BMI guidelines - they were decreed many decades ago, without taking into account, enough of the factors that affect them. I've seen people who lived with high levels of hypertension for years, whereas others with relatively modest levels of hypertension, keeled over early.

Well, they must all be working, Peter, you're still kicking along O.K. A lot of people I knew, never made it to 80. My brother is 86 this year and still getting along just fine, he still drives everywhere in his Landcruiser, and helps out his sons. He got a new knee about 18 mths ago, and had his prostate removed about a year before that. He's a tough old geezer, I think he'll probably make it to his mid-90's O.K.