onetrack

I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm staggered at the number of blokes I worked with in the Vietnam War, who have passed on. This has only been reinforced recently, by entering a FB group for my Squadron, and meeting up with colleagues who contribute to the page - and by finding out from them, about a lot more of our blokes who have died. Quite a few died early, from car accidents, disease and suicide - but most have died between their late 60's and late 70's. Of those who have died, many died from cancer and other nasty diseases. It's quite disturbing. I'm sure ciggys and excessive boozing must have contributed to their relatively short lifespans.

We call the central item in any mens social gathering around a table, "The Table of Truth". 😄

Ouch! Hidden fencing wire takes down bulldozers, too. It gets caught in the tracks, then wraps around the final drive, and cut into the seals and destroys them. I spent a lot of time educating trainee dozer operators to stop, the instant they see wire in the tracks, and to get off and cut it, and pull it all out. We kept wire cutters on every machine.

The above sounds very much like a Russian war bloggers contribution - especially the last sentence. There's no indication anywhere that Wilson went to fight in Ukraine simply for the money - which was likely less than what he was paid in the Australian Army. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-01/australian-russell-wilson-was-remembered-as-corageous-soldier/106191082

Nev, my ancestors on my mothers side were the McLeans and the McKenzies. They came from Ballachulish ("Balla-hoolish") in the highlands, alongside Loch Leven, and not far from Glencoe. My Dad came from Portsmouth. Mum told us whenever her sisters would come home with a boy, her fathers interrogation would go like like this; "I see ye ha' a new man. What's his name?". And if the girl said a surname that wasn't Scottish, her old man would go (in disgust), "Ach!! A Sassenach!!" 😄 Unfortunately my mother married a Sassenach, so that didn't meet with his approval, either.

Now, all we have to do is preserve what little fish we have left, from the predations of the other nations fishing fleets. In W.A., a total ban on demersal fishing has just been imposed, because fish stocks are now lower than they have been since records started being kept. The problem is, many of our finest eating fish take many years to reach maturity, and the prized metre-long jewfish can be up to 80 yrs old. The State Govts decision has effectively bankrupted a large number of W.A. commercial fisherman, and the anger is palpable. There is a Govt buyback of fishing licences, but the amounts offered are minimal, and the Govt deal doesn't offer any other income alternatives for those fishing people. The decision was taken with no consultation with the fishermen, a move that really rankles.

The NY Times has ripped Trump a new one, with a headine article outlining the endless Trump personal greed.... https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/20/opinion/editorials/trump-wealth-crypto-graft.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1A.Ynrv.OQ52hwdiBxQN&smid=url-share

As in the highlands of Scotland?? That's where my ancestors came from - I couldn't live there, and I can't imagine what it must have been like living there, especially in the Middle Ages.

I only got 33 out of 50 right, in the Kellogg Uni fake images quiz. That's not very reassuring.

If I had a dollar, every time some feted clairvoyant, religious nutter, or other predictor of doom and gloom, made a worldwide announcement, that a huge cataclysmic event was going to happen on a certain day (usually the end of the world), then I'd have enough money for a decent holiday!

I can't remember the last time I paid for any news, it was at least a decade ago. Oh yes, I remember - I paid for a "subsidised" short subscription to one of the local Murdoch newspapers - about 3 mths, I think. Then, when I decided that paying for loads of useless crap disguised as "news" was a dead loss, I decided to cancel my subscription. Holy Mother of God, what a devious and convoluted performance, that immediately turned into!! Every single obstruction that one could think up, was placed in my way, to avoid cancelling my subscription. They even called me, to try and pressure me, to NOT cancel!! It was unbelievable, they were operating like a multi-level marketing scheme, trying to ensure you never left their snare, and you provided a permanent source of income for them! The exercise has made me very wary of devious corporate behaviour when it comes to subscriptions, and the lengths these scumbags will go to, to ensnare you. I see where Amazon has had to refund customers that they deviously trapped into paying for Prime subscriptions, when they never intended to subscribe. Unfortunately, it was only Amazon customers who signed up to the Amazon U.S. site, Australian Amazon customers get nothing.

That bloke is SCRATCHING all the new paint on that Dexta, by driving it straight through the scrub, like a bulldozer!! Hasn't anyone told him, that's what bulldozers are for? 😢

He's got a real thing about being a King. He can't wangle being named King of America, so he'll find other "Kingly" names for himself. His mindset is that of a 5 yr old.

Perhaps the "swamps of the Indian Ocean" are the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, or the mangrove swamps in the Bight of Sofala, in Mozambique.

Some thoughts .... 1. Nothing in that video looks like fun. Freezing cold, and even more freezing cold on top of that. I hate to think what it's like anywhere near those big fans. However, there are many people who seem to love Canada and its dreadful (to me) conditions. A best mate had two of his three sons move from Perth to Canada. They're not coming back, they've been there for a decade or more. They love the place. One lives in Vancouver, the other lives in Toronto. Their lifestyle is nothing like the lifestyle they had in Perth. 2. The wear on that skirt must be horrendous. I wonder what kind of material can withstand that constant abrasion, over every type of surface imaginable? 3. Hovercraft seem to have very little by way of lateral controls. I wonder why that is? I would design in rotatable thrusters to give me some substantial degree of lateral control. 4. No-one seems to bother with any kind of immersion suit or even lifejackets. I wouldn't like to think what your survival chances would be, if that chopper went down into that icy water. I'd at least be wearing a full-length wetsuit to give me a fighting chance, in case of immersion.