onetrack

The part that gets up your nose is that over 80% of our petrol and diesel comes ready-refined from huge refineries in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and China. These refineries source their crude from probably 20 or 30 different crude oil sources - then blend it to make it suitable for their particular refinery feedstock. It's not like a slowdown in Straits of Hormuz oil shipping is going to affect our fuel supplies or prices to the levels we're currently seeing. Maybe 15% - 20% at most, not the 70% - 90% increases we are currently seeing. We're being reamed senseless with a large pineapple with no lube, when it comes to fuel. Only 25% of the worlds oil moves through the Straits of Hormuz, so that means 75% of oil supplies are unaffected.

Chip shortages still plague most car manufacturers, bu the Chinese seem to have gotten around it by using less chips, and cheaper varieties - and by ramping up their local chip production. They're satisfying themselves with older-style chips, and by eliminating high-tech options that require cutting-edge chip technology.

Just watch out if that red-headed woman gets the ball! Once that happens, she'll claim she owns the game!

Yes, you are covered for personal injury, loss of earnings, and death in a motorcycle crash with your rego, because there's an MAIB (Motor Accidents Insurance Board) insurance premium included in the rego cost. I think W.A. was the last State to go with the personal injury and death insurance scheme included in vehicle registration cost. It was introduced in W.A. in 2016, following other States adoption of the arrangement much earlier. It's no-fault insurance, so you get paid out, regardless of who or what caused the crash. In W.A., it added about $100 to the annual average vehicle rego costs. In W.A., rego is still called "licencing", not "registration".

They got outvoted.

EV sales will rocket now, as the combination of high fuel prices, a large supply of cheaper Chinese EV's, and ever-improving batteries and range make them a no-brainer. If you want an IC-engine Toyota, Toyota have "major supply constraints", and you're usually on a wait-list for a new one. But the Chinese keep shipping in cars by the shipload, and you have instant availability of any model, colour or options. There are holding yards full of Chinese EV's.

What a tiny boner? 😄

Terrorists specifically hold people as hostages to gain the ultimate power in decisions being made. They also kill people on a random basis to instill terrifying fear into the remainder of the family, group, nation, or power bloc. The Nazis used refined terrorism via the Gestapo. The Gestapo would kill dozens and even hundreds of unarmed civilians simply as a warning against trying to oppose the Nazis. On that basis, neither America nor Israel are currently terrorists, with their actions designed to destroy Islamic terrorism promoters. They are reacting with long-held hatred from previous terrorism attacks against them by Islamic terrorists, to destroy those Islamics they see as promoting terrorism against the West, and against the State of Israel. But both America and Israel have utilised terrorism in the past. The State of Israel was founded on terrorism of the British (and the Palestinians), and specifically by acts of terrorism by the Zionist Stern and Irgun gangs. American terrorism acts were were funded and encouraged by the CIA, often employing locals they'd trained. In places such as the Middle East, South American countries and Asian countries, where unstable Govts or dictators who were seen to be rabidly anti-American, the CIA set out to create disruption, cause regime collapse, and even carried out political killings. The assassination of President Ngô Đình Diệm in South Vietnam in 1963, by a group of Diệms army officers, was actively encouraged, funded, and supported by the CIA. Further back, the Americans killed a lot of Native Americans in what was essentially acts of terrorism, designed to acquire their lands and resources. The Wounded Knee Massacre is possibly the worst example of Americans killing unarmed or disarmed Native Americans.

Lots of shortcomings in Claudes answers, and "he" constantly probes for more information from Margaret, to add to his knowledge bank. Give it 20 years, and we may struggle to determine if we're speaking to an AI robot or a real human being.

Ahead of the curve.

Be careful what you wish for. The outcome of this punch-up could be vastly detrimental economically to all Western Nations, most companies and corporations, and certainly a lot of employees. Inflation is likely to triple the percentage of what it is now, interest rates will follow, and a major recession follows on from those two. I've seen 17% inflation under Whitlam and it's a shocking thing to try and cope with. You may recall the period, it was one of high unemployment as well as high inflation, as well as the ongoing effects of the '73 oil crisis. The oil price tripled from $4 a barrel to $12 barrel in late '73, long lines formed at servos, and there were major fuel shortages. The oil crisis only lasted from Oct '73 to March '74, but the effects of it lingered for years afterwards.

Peter, that's got to be some image manipulation, no-one could stack aircraft like that - and then, you'd have to ask why, if the image isn't falsified? Basic protection from attack is to spread out. One bomb in the centre of that tightly packed lot, and it's all gone.

Pete - Never forget, Russian spies are everywhere! Even in the deepest South of the Apple Isle!!

But - When Chat GPT is found out to be just a subtle manifestation of Microsofts aim to conquer Google, and rule the world with an iron fist, and make everyone pay for it, what then? 😢

The KC-135 wreckage has apparently now been found, and the U.S. military are stating there were 6 on board (not 5 as previously advised), and 4 have been confirmed as deceased. There is no word of any survivors, and I expect the reason is simply because the military still haven't found or identified, the remaining 2 crew members. I fully expect they will eventually be reported as deceased, too. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0dz5ql17vo