onetrack

This is local news from this morning, the weather has taken a turn for the worse this afternoon. https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-storm-leaves-thousands-without-power-across-the-state-20260531-p602e9.html https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-31/intense-storm-hits-wa-thousands-without-power/106741236 It's not being helped much by the current full moon causing high tides. So with the storm surge, a lot of places along the Swan River are under water.

No Willie, I've never been through it, although I've been through the Maritime Museum. I've been told numerous times it's quite interesting - to us, as blokes, anyway. SWMBO would never go through it, she is quite claustrophobic.

Gee, I never knew the Collins subs were so slow. By the time they got to the war zone, the war would be over. Small autonomous subs must be the future. Each one would be much lower cost, losing one of them would only be a fraction of the cost of losing an AUKUS sub - and sub crews are getting harder and harder to find. No-one wants to be crammed into a steel tube for weeks at a time, living in cramped conditions, and knowing that any genuine war fighting - or even a mistake or malfunction, could mean the end of their lives in a horrible manner.

I doubt very much whether ON has the leadership to run an effective, sizeable Opposition party. "Boof" Joyce is a dill, Pauline is just a stirrer with no concrete plans for Australia, worthy of consideration, and many of their choices for political representation largely end up being duds, often changing sides, turning out to have an unsavoury past, or just throwing in the towel.

The Canadians lost over $500M in the mid-1990's on a Defence acquisition plan for EH-101 helicopters, that was cancelled by an incoming new PM. But that amount pales into loose change when you consider we have signed up for a $368 BILLION deal for these subs. I don't know where that kind of money is going to come from - and if the deal is canned, we'll be paying multiple billions in penalties just to do that. We have already had the French subs fiasco, where we paid out $835M to the Naval Group in France for the French subs contract cancellation. I'm convinced some future Govt will can the AUKUS subs as unaffordable and technically obsolete.

We've certainly earned that moniker well and truly today. The wind is still screaming, and looks like keeping up for a while yet. They had a gust of 102kmh at Swanbourne, and gusts of 133kmh and 135kmh at the Capes this afternoon. Rottnest Island recorded a gust of 113kmh just before 3:00PM, but it looks like the wind knocked the recording station out, it's currently offline. This is the most intense low pressure system I've encountered for quite a while, so maybe the BOM was right about it being a 1-in-5 year storm. My SD is currently without power in Stoneville, up in the Hills.

Yes, electing Abbott as President of the Liberal Party is a guaranteed way to ensure the future Liberal Party will be able to hold an entire Party meeting, in a room the size of a disabled toilet.

We are only getting the used subs as a stop-gap measure until the new subs are built. But I still reckon the subs will be totally obsolete before they're even half built - leaving us with more monstrous Defence expenditure losses.

No, that's the priests in charge of the choir. How did you expect those boys to reach those high notes, without being grabbed by the nuts?

We've just had a pretty violent low pressure system move through the SW of the State, bringing much needed rain, along with strong winds. The BOM got a bit hysterical yesterday with a Severe Storm Warning, talking up a "one in 5 year storm" with 125km/hr winds, but the winds weren't quite that bad, with a number of areas around Perth and the foothills recording 98km/hr maximum wind gusts, with average wind speeds probably around 65-80km/hr. The SW Capes - Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin, recorded 109km/hr and 119km/hr maximum gusts, and Busselton Jetty recorded 109km/hr as a maximum gust. Rainfall overall was between about 10-25mm, with most inland areas receiving useful falls, although a few strips missed out and only recorded 6-8mm. There's the normal amount of Winter storm damage, a good number of trees down, a few sheds and sheets of iron went flying, and there's a few thousand people without power this morning. No damage to report here at home, although the fruit trees took a pummelling, there are mandarins and limes everywhere in the backyard, although the orange tree is O.K. They're all in full fruit, of course, as expected for this time of year.

The U.S. Council on Foreign Relations always produces informative outlines of other countries systems of Govts and political problems. The article below is a CFR article from 2008, and it has been archived because of more recent events in Iran, but it gives good information about how Khomeini was a hardline Islamic Fundamentalist who wrote a book stating that Iranian government must only operate under "velayat-e faqih" (guardianship of the Islamic jurist), which is deeply intertwined with Mahdist beliefs. Mahdist beliefs center on the messianic concept of the Mahdi (the "Right-Guided One"), an eschatological figure in Islam who will appear at the end of times to vanquish evil, restore universal justice, and enforce the true teachings of the (Islamic) faith. The Mahdi is known in Islam as "the Hidden One". Believed to be the twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, he is said to have entered a state of divine concealment (Occultation) in 941 CE, and will return at the end of time to restore justice. This Islamic belief is identical to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ will reveal himself in the flesh, and return to the Earth to rule it, at the future time known as "the Second Coming". Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Islamics believe that Jesus Christ will return with the Mahdi - but the Mahdi will be the prominent divine figure, and Jesus Christ will only be a returning prophet. The basis of all Mahdi beliefs is that the West and Christianity is corrupt and evil, and the repository of Satan (the Evil One) - and therefore, only true Islam, in the form of Mahdism, can produce peace and justice worldwide. The bottom line is Khomeini sought sole domineering control of Iran and its people, under a very repressive, undemocratic Islamic system that places religion, politics and everyday life into one tightly-bound structure, with Imams controlling every single action involving rule of the people, and with very little personal freedom - especially anything to do with ruling clique protests, or complaints against Imams, or trying to worship other religions. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders/religion-and-politics-iran

I blame the French for everything, especially anything to do with their odd, mangled-pronunciations language - large amounts of which have found their way into modern English, to confuse all those from non-English-speaking countries, who want to learn English. The strange part to me, is how English has become the primary language of technology, science, engineering, and even aviation. Anthropologists are always seeking to discover the exact point where language was invented (as it's presumed that sign language and grunts, and other animal-like sounds were humans only communication method, prior to that point of "inventing language"). I personally think they're going to keep doing a lot of guessing, as there is practically zero evidence available to determine when language was first developed and used. I suspect it was developed over a very long period of time, with a lot of trial and error and confusion.

There are rights and there are privileges. We have only minimal basic rights in Australia, but a lot of privileges extended to us. Privileges such as drivers licences, and firearms licences, and fishing licences. All those privileges can be restricted or withdrawn, according to the Govt of the day, reacting to pressure from parties involved with those issues, or the courts responding to offences against the Acts that govern those privileges. Ever-increasing restrictions on firearms ownership and use, is what seems to get a lot of people going - along with restrictions on fishing. Most people seem to accept the ever-increasing restrictions as regards driving on public roads. Ever-lowering speed limits, increasing levels of driving penalties, and intrusion by automation, such as AI-assisted cameras. Radar detectors are banned in every State and territory, another restriction that seems to cause great levels of complaint about Govt becoming Big Brother. We definitely have a vast array of major restrictions now, that we didn't have in my youth. I could buy explosives in any co-op and go and blow up anything I liked - all I needed was an explosives permit handed out by the local policeman, who just asked a few perfunctory questions. I could get multiple firearms and a licence with ease, along with unlimited amounts of ammo, and no need to tell any authority where I was going to shoot, or what I was going to shoot. I could go fishing nearly anywhere with only minor restrictions. I didn't need a boat drivers licence, I could go buy any boat and roar off in it anywhere. There were no demerit points and the fines for traffic offences were mostly mere annoyances. Drunk driving was regarded as a no-no, but no-one did anything about it, and it took a very drunk driver to get arrested. Even then, they were just released when they sobered up. We could knock down trees and vegetation wholesale and no-one could stop us. But nowadays, clearing bans and massive fines for "environmental damage" rule the day. Our basic human rights are still the same as they always were. We have no Bill of Rights, as America has, and the writers of the Australian Constitution decided there was no need for one, as we were a civilised country who treated people with respect. Well, the white Europeans, anyway. The Aboriginals rights were trampled for decades until they started taking Govts to court, aided by smart white lawyers - and they won a lot of concessions and reparations. That seems to stick in a lot of white Europeans throats, too. All in all, I think the biggest problem we have today is excessive bureaucracy. There are Depts and Divisions for everything, and ever increasing regulation of every single thing you want to do. Somewhere along the line we have lost a lot of the old "freedoms" - to do what we liked, when we liked, and where we liked. The cause of that has been vastly increasing numbers of people, increased numbers of badly-behaved people, and increased disapproval of activities that were formerly tolerated - not necessarily because they were harmless, just that few people saw it happening, and few people were affected by what is now regarded today, as unacceptable behaviour.

I don't think anything has changed since WW2. America only ever sees Australia as a convenient Southern base to protect its national and corporate interests. During 1942, the Americans moved in and took over a lot of Australian real estate, built a substantial number of airfields on land they didn't own (and the Australian Govt was very slow to compensate for land losses during WW2, not making reparations in some cases until 1947 and 1948. And even then, the compensation was poor), and set up "joint forces" command groups - where the Americans had virtually all the say. That was because they had an Army, Navy and Air force, that dwarfed ours. We built three new hospitals and turned them over to the Americans for their exclusive use, for their injured and sick military men. That grated on a lot of Australians who had to go without medical assistance during WW2, simply because it wasn't available. We both built and requisitioned vast amounts of military accommodation for American servicemen during WW2. Some of the those installations held up to 20,000 American troops. We supplied about 90% of the food the American servicemen consumed in the South East Asian region. At the end of the War, the bills were totalled (with "Reverse lend-lease" included, where Australia supplied goods and services for American military use), and the final result was that the Americans got more from us, than we got from them. The only real gain Australia made was the purchase of all the remaining U.S. military equipment left in Australia after the War. This was purchased at a value of around 5% of its manufactured cost, and it was nearly all sold at the Commonwealth Disposals Commission auctions held between late 1945 and early 1950, and these CDC sales reaped a very substantial profit for the Australian Govt. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69591061

The Soviets got 440,000 trucks during WW2 from the Americans. They received nearly 2000 locomotives, and tens of thousands of railcars. They also got the manufacturing machinery to build a lot of American machines and equipment. Entire factories in the U.S were dismantled and re-erected in Russia - such as complete tyre factories. They received tens of thousands of machine tools, vital for manufacturing and repair of equipment. America provided almost half of the high octane aviation fuel used by the Russian Air Force during WW2. Even Stalin admitted privately, if it were not for American equipment and logistics assistance during WW2, Russia would have been overrun by the Germans.

If he'd used a Whirlpool machine, it would've worked even better! 😄

The woman is Cass Elliot, better known as Mama Cass. She died of a heart attack in her sleep, aged 32, in July 1974.

We got promised a huge strong cold front last night, but we only got 18mm in Perth City overnight, and a lot of the Wheatbelt and inland areas, got very little. It's been a very dry May. The BOM is promising another bigger and better cold front on Sunday and Monday. It remains to be seen if that one is a fizzer, too. The long range forecast is saying a wet June, and then a dry July and August, thanks to El Nino. In El Nino years we seem to get a cutoff in Spring rains here on the Left Coast.

What else would you expect from an abusive, vicious President who has started fights with every single person on the planet who disagreed with him!

You want to RE-WRITE the American Constitution?? Wash your mouth out, and apologise to every flag-waving American patriot! This Constitution was written by God himself, looking over the shoulders of the Great American Founding Fathers! It is UNTOUCHABLE!!!!! No-one is ever allowed to re-write even one line of it!! 🙄 The world will end when that happens, and every American will retreat to their end-time bunkers with all their firearms, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammo, and tons of dried food supplies, to take on the hordes that are coming to TAKE THEIR CONSTITUTION AND THEIR GUNS AWAY FROM THEM!!!! 🙄

The indicator side problem is directly related to cost-cutting by car manufacturers. They refuse to manufacture a "mirror-image steering column" with the indicators on the RH side of the column, for RHD vehicles, they simply fit steering columns from LHD vehicles, so the indicators and wiper controls end up being reversed to normal RHD layout. It's good enough for the manufacturers to keep the A-B-C of the foot controls in the right order, in the switch from LHD to RHD, so the other controls need to be mirrored as well. Imagine trying to drive a RHD car with the accelerator on the transmission hump side, needing to use your left foot to alter speed! 🙄

Willie, that's a great aviation start there! - you just need to hunt down the rest of the AN-124! 😄

It's a PIA, and standardisation of internal layout is sorely needed. If someone driving becomes immobilised (medical event, for example), and you have to jump in and move their vehicle, it should be easy to do - not become a 5 minute exercise in frustration, trying to find out all the control positions, while traffic is banking up. The worst piece of automotive designing is moving all the controls to a bloody great touch screen in the centre of the dash!! FFS!! LED screens crap themselves on a regular basis. So, you're driving down the road and the whole screen goes black, and you have to try and stop, indicate, and activate warning flashers! What do you do when the screen is black or blank? I see where more than one car manufacturer has admitted they "went too far" in putting all the vehicle controls into touchscreens - and they have stated they will return to basic buttons, knobs and levers. There is action being taken by licencing authorities in other countries around banning touchscreens for the major vehicle controls, and making manufacturers install buttons, switches and levers. https://www.autonext.co/news/europe-and-china-push-back-against-touchscreen-overload-in-cars-the-return-of-physical-buttons NEWS QUOTE: "The most notable admissions (to design failures) and rollbacks from major manufacturers include: Volkswagen: VW design executives publicly admitted their touchscreen-only push was a mistake. They confirmed that physical buttons are returning for the "big five" functions - volume, heating on each side, fans, and hazard lights - as well as on the steering wheel. As Design Head Andreas Midt bluntly put it: "Honestly, it's a car. It's not a phone, it's a car." Mercedes-Benz: After rolling out massive, dash-spanning displays, Mercedes acknowledged that consumers prefer tactile feedback. The company has been gradually reintroducing physical dials and rollers (such as in their latest GLC and CLA models) after executives admitted they sometimes needed to, "take one step back to take two steps forward." Porsche & Audi: Both luxury German marques admitted that removing essential controls in favor of touch-sensitive panels and sliders was overly frustrating, and have reintroduced more tactile, clicky buttons. Hyundai & Genesis: These brands admitted that their previous push for buttonless center stacks was a case of "style overrode safety". They have been reincorporating conventional hardware, as seen in newer models like the updated Tucson, Santa Fe, and Santa Cruz." https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/why-car-makers-are-ditching-touch-controls-in-favour-of-buttons/ The simple fact that you see so many car drivers driving around at night with headlights off, is indicative that current vehicle controls and dash indications are inadequate, and they need serious levels of modification to ensure that basic controls are visible, immediately identifiable, usable without referring to operating manuals, and have clear indications of what that controls position is in. In recent times, I went to pick up an item of machinery that I purchased from a Shire Council via a Pickles Auction. After going to the Shire reception, and organising pickup and entry to their yard, I was told a young man would go with me to oversee the pickup. Said young man rolled up to the yard in his car, we went and found the item - only to find another Shire worker had parked a 5 tonne Hino truck directly in front of my item, at right angles to it. I said to the young bloke, "You'll have to shift that Hino for me so I can get my item out". He looked a little embarrassed and said, "I don't know how to drive a truck!" FFS! The Hino was nothing more than a big car! Luckily, having a heavy articulated licence and decades of experience with machines, it was easy enough to find the master switch, turn it on and start and drive the truck forward, so I could extract my purchased item. I often wonder about the future abilities of our nation.

The BOM has good advice as regards setting up weather stations and recording equipment, giving useful advice as to location and placement. A rain gauge needs to be positioned between 0.3M and 1.0M from ground level to prevent splashback, and must be well clear of obstructions such as overhangs and buildings, to give good accuracy. 10M is the recommended clearance to buildings. A good rain gauge has a wide metal funnel on top of a tubular metal support, with a graduated glass collector directly below the funnel. These are durable units and the funnel provides greater accuracy in catching rainfall. Yes, there can be a wide variation in rainfall over relatiely small areas. The topography plays a big part in whether clouds drop their moisture, and often, the topography shape and effect is subtle.