onetrack

The move to ensure new cars have familiar buttons and switches for the primary basic controls in a car is gathering pace, and it's being pursued by safety authorities. It's long overdue. Every car should have a similar familiar layout, to enable easy transition from one vehicle to another, without confusion or distraction. The safety authorities are becoming concerned that touch screens with many of the vehicles primary controls on it, are a safety and distraction hazard. Manufacturers are starting to agree that they went too far in trying to make cars into mobile phones on wheels. The comment from Aston Martin director of design is very relevant. He speaks of how touchscreens take away from the driver, the feel to be able to properly use the car. It's interesting to see that the ultra-conservative Toyota is still using the approach of retaining buttons and switches for the basic vehicle controls. Numerous Chinese and European and Korean vehicles have gone too far in making touchscreens the primary control device in cars, and now a number of them are admitting, they have to return to a Toyota-like, controls design. https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/big-touchscreens-to-give-way-to-physical-controls-as-car-brands-ditch-annoying-feature-and

Yeah, old George was certainly the caravan flogger. But he died in 2013 and Apollo Motorhomes, a publically listed company bought his business as a going concern in 2017, and bought the rights to use his name as well. Then in 2022, George Day Caravans was merged into THL (Tourism Holdings Ltd), originally NZ's biggest RV rental operation - but the merger with Apollo, an Australian company, sent them global, and they operate in a multitude of countries. They are huge, and own all the major well-known RV rental brand names. So Georges name has gone global, thanks to the corporate global aims.

Clinton - His passing was noted on the Aircraft Pilots forum, so it seemed unnecessary to post the same info here.

It only works selectively. I use Google Chrome. I tried variations of the search, such as "-AI: What is Antonov AN2", or "no AI: What is Antonov AN2", and AI generated answers still appeared - but they were clips of text taken from websites (to which, they did add the link, I must say). I have to agree with Willie, that Google's use of short lengths of text from websites is a bit "iffy". However, they would no doubt quote "educational use rights", whereby you can copy parts of text of authors/websites, and it is regarded as "fair use" under copyright terms. And they do send you to the site quoted. However, Google generates income from doing so, so that negates the "fair use" angle, IMO.

The Govts definitely have to crack down on this "Middle Eastern crime gang" activity. It's just a daily occurrence now, to have major shoot-ups and gun murders in SW Sydney. Add to that, they steal and burn luxury vehicles daily - costing us all mega-dollars in increased premiums. If someone steals a car, carries out a major crime, and then burns it, they should get 10 years minimum, and be made to pay the value of the vehicle, plus compensation to the owner for his loss and costs of inconvenience. And the owner often has to carry the cost of increased insurance premiums, because his car was stolen. Car security is a joke today, they can steal any keyless car with code generators that are easily acquired from overseas sellers. Plus, where's the savage penalties for unlicenced firearms (often handguns), used by crims? There's no penalties for additional crimes, the police hit them with one charge, and let the rest drop, because any other sentence would be served concurrently. The sentences should be cumulative, take the bastards out of society for multiple years, even decades, because they have no interest in living in a safe, law-abiding society, so they have forfeited any chance to live in a safe, law-abiding society.

The uncontrolled immigration started under Malcolm Fraser and a Liberal Govt in 1976, when he let "refugees" from Lebanons civil war into Australia with inadequate background checks - against Immigration laws and regulations and against the advice of the Immigration Dept. It was called "The Lebanon Concession". "The Lebanon Concession" was an Australian immigration policy introduced in 1976 by Malcolm Fraser's government that temporarily relaxed standard migration criteria for thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing the country's civil war. The policy allowed many Lebanese nationals - often categorized as "quasi-refugees" because they were escaping civil conflict rather than direct state persecution - to enter Australia without the usual requirements for employment skills, language, or assimilation ability. Implemented in response to advocacy by influential Christian leaders and the worsening humanitarian situation, the policy resulted in the arrival of roughly 20,000 Lebanese immigrants between 1975 and 1980. Prior to the concession, Australia's Lebanese community was predominantly Christian. The relaxed criteria inadvertently facilitated the arrival of a significant number of Muslim Lebanese from rural backgrounds, who made up just under half of the arrivals. Many of these new migrants settled in south-western Sydney (such as Lakemba and Arncliffe), utilizing family reunion provisions in later years to establish a major, enduring community. The Fraser government abandoned the concession in late 1976 after immigration officials raised concerns that many entrants were illiterate, and admitted without sufficient regard to "economic viability, personal qualities, or capacity for successful settlement". What is not stated that a large percentage of these Lebanese immigrants were criminals.

I thought that big fat grub, Clive Palmer, had disappeared off the political scene, with my unreliable memory recalling that he said he was done with politics at the last election, where his party got hammered. But this morning, I got a flyer in the letterbox from Clives Party, like they're on the campaign trail again? Turns out, he's re-registered the United Australia Party again, after burying his Trumpet of Patriots Party unceremoniously, so he IS on the campaign trail again. He's talking about spending billions on advertising, to ensure he wins the next election. He obviously believes his money can buy every Australian, same as it does in America. I've got some news for him, he may waste a lot of his money again to achieve very little again, politically.

"Keep the change, ya filthy animal". The famous line from the gangster movie being watched by Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone.

The Addams Family.

TV is just rubbish, haven't watched it for years. Rubbishy news and rubbishy, mind-numbing "entertainment", mostly American crap. SWMBO likes the game shows, and things such as "Would I lie to You?" As a coppers daughter, she's big on sorting out the lies! I can't hear the voices on TV, so that's a blessing in disguise.

A correction, thanks to faulty memory cells. We installed the smaller VH44 unit on the EH - the VH40 is the larger, higher pressure unit, generally used for the bigger commercial vehicles.

An old WW2 Veteran and the local Shire Foreman used to expand on that line, in the mid-1960's - He would say, "Do you believe in the hereafter? If you do, then you know what I'm here after! And if you don't, you'll be here after I'm gone!" I think the line must have been around for a long time, possibly even before WW2.

SWMBO is good at booking us into shows such as rock tribute bands or classical guitarists (she loves classical guitar), so we get out and about, and dress up and socialise. It's very necessary to keep up a social life as you age, or you just become an old stay-at-home grump. That's the reason I have my block in the wheatbelt, and all my restoration projects and shed-building plans and construction. I get out into the country around 3 times a week, that in itself is invigorating. I get a change of pace, and I get mental stimulation repairing equipment, buying (and selling) parts and components, and I get to meet new people in that country town regularly. My wheatbelt block neighbour is a fencer, and has an excavator, tip truck and a Dingo, and he's always coming in looking for a BS session, help with something, or even giving me surplus fencing materials and steel he doesn't need. He can't weld for sh**, so he always gets me to do little welding jobs for him. Life is good. We're off to see the Lightscape show in Kings Park soon, we went last year, but it was July 17th, and it was absolutely pouring with rain! You can't pick your day, you get tickets for a set day and time, and that's it - you take your chances with the weather. The lightscape show last year was absolutely spectacular. I took a swag of photos, then lost them when my Motorola phone crapped itself completely. https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=LSPTOURS26&utm_source=ovation&utm_medium=pmax&utm_campaign=LSPTOURS26&utm_content=conversion&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23841141822&gbraid=0AAAAADpZSCT_kspIAeL1Pye-3H_K2rlTo&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrZTRBhDSARIsAHidYfcriQwFvXDUHdq0eIP10u5K_mfUlQsVSlUoudQ4XtUW5aLccL7Dou4aAr1oEALw_wcB

So, it's really only a nail starting guide, not a nail gun as such? I'm amazed, with the Americans propensity to put explosives in anything, that they didn't adapt a revolver or pistol bullet casing to fire nails.

Brakes are the worst thing on older cars - especially GM brands brakes. Not for nothing were Holden drum brakes known as "go-faster" brakes. And they pulled like buggery, either right or left, depending on the road surface, and you never knew which way they'd pull. The brother and I bought a new HR Holden sedan in 1967 and we ordered it with disc brakes, the first time disc brakes were available as an option on Holdens. We were staggered at the difference in braking as compared to our near-new EH ute. We did put a PBR VH40 brake booster on the EH, and it did make a considerable difference to its braking. Old VH40 or VH44 boosters are in great demand for reconditioning and installing on older models of drum-braked vehicles.