onetrack

It's a sad fact of life, that money, which originally came into use with a fixed exchange rate with silver or gold or copper, soon became highly variable in value when that exchange rate was dropped, and rulers/kings/dictators/emporers stated it would have "floating value". The rulers rapidly realised that allowing the currency to have different values at different times, gave them more power over their economys and peoples. We have fixed, set values for weights and measures, but have no set fixed value for our currency. Inflation is just part of our daily life today, and it goes up and down like a yo-yo, but the value of our assets and earnings constantly bounces around in real value terms, simply because our currency is constantly being devalued. No politician or leader would ever vote for a fixed currency in todays world. Billions are made in profits overnight, thanks to "currency trading", which is merely pea-and-thimble trickery, based on varying values assigned to various currencies at various times. Currency should never be traded, that is a sign of basic economic instability. However, financial experts and economists continually fiddle with economic and currency adjustments, and tell us all is well - we are much richer than we used to be, just look at the numbers!

If I had another couple of these engines, I could put together a Perrier-Cadillac clover-leaf power unit! 3 of them bolted together, powered the Australian-designed-and-built Sentinel tank.

Musk has made a startling announcement that his Tesla company will cease making Tesla Model X and Model S EV's, starting from the 2nd quarter of this year. Musk claims his company needs to concentrate on the production of its AI-powered autonomous humanoid robot, Optimus. Manufacture of the Model 3 and Model Y EV's will continue. Sales of the Model X and Model S and the Tesla Cybertruck fell by 40% in the last year, with Chinese EV's making inroads into Tesla EV sales. Musk said Tesla would make major investments in battery, solar cell, and computer chip manufacturing in the U.S., in 2026. It will be an interesting year, this year. https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/tesla-axes-series-s-and-x-to-build-optimus-robots.html#:~:text=Tesla will globally discontinue its,a surprise announcement on Thursday.

The BBC has a good article on fiat currency. Marco Polo became excited beyond belief, when he discovered mulberry bark currency notes circulating in China in the late 1200's. He wrote enthusiastically about the entire process of manufacturing the notes from bark, and how the ruler Kublai Khan authorised his deputies to put their seal on the notes, to guarantee their authenticity and value. Of course, as with all fiat currencies, a lack of gold or silver backing, counterfeit money, and excessive production of the notes led to severe devaluation, and the mulberry bark currency became worthless. It was possibly worsened by a decline in Kublai Khans power, caused by excessive warring (especially with Japan), financial mismanagement, corruption amongst Govt officials, and high taxation levels. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40879028 "THE TEXT: You must know that he has money made for him by the following process, out of the bark of trees – to be precise, from mulberry trees (the same whose leaves furnish food for silk-worms). The fine bast between the bark and the wood of the tree is stripped off. Then it is crumbled and pounded and flattened out with the aid of glue into sheets like sheets of cotton paper, which are all black. When made, they are cut up into rectangles of various sizes, longer than they are broad. The smallest is worth half a small tornesel; the next an entire such tornesel; the next half a silver groat; the next an entire silver groat, equal in value to a silver groat of Venice; and there are others equivalent to two, five, and ten groats and one, three, and as many as ten gold bezants. And all these papers are sealed with the seal of the Great Khan. The procedure of issue is as formal and as authoritative as if they were made of pure gold or silver. On each piece of money several specially appointed officials write their names, each setting his own stamp. When it is completed in due form, the chief of the officials deputed by the Khan dips in cinnabar the seal or bull assigned to him and stamps it on the tops of the piece of money so that the shape of the seal in vermillion remains impressed upon it. And then the money is authentic. And if anyone were to forge it, he would suffer the extreme penalty. - Marco Polo, The Travels, 14th Century AD"

I never knew the Italian car manufacturers made currencies! Do they have an Alfa-Romeo currency, too? 😄

Trumps new appointee to head the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh is seen as a "hawk" on U.S. interest rates, with a desire to keep them up until inflation in the U.S. is tamed. Trump wants the interest rates dropped NOW, and that made all the investors flee to gold and silver for fear of Trump getting his way, and causing more inflation. They feared that any Trump appointee to the Federal Reserve would just be a loyal Trump stooge, doing exactly what he wants. However, once all the investors learned that Warsh was being appointed, they dropped all their gold and silver investments (it's called "profit-taking" anyway), and put their money back into treasury bonds and other financial instruments. It seems obvious their fears about Trump ruling the interest rate levels and destroying the U.S. economy with his lack of economic knowledge has evaporated with the appointment of Warsh, and Warsh might have some backbone to resist Trumps demands and abuse. Jerome Powell certainly knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of Trump abuse, lawsuits and outrageous demands. It's critical that the Federal Reserve remains independent of any external political pressure - everyone in the U.S. knows that.

I've got a 1938 Cadillac V8, 346 cu in engine to restore. It's side valve, but has hydraulic valve lifters! - and it produces a whopping 135BHP! I saved it from the scrapman - it was one of two, that powered standby 40Hz generators in the Metro Theatre in Perth (which opened in Sept 1938). The Metro was demolished with little care in 1973, and they dropped roof beams on the generators, and smashed them up, breaking carbies and distributors and other parts. But I managed to acquire most of the damaged parts over the years from eBay, from sellers in the U.S. Now all I have to do is rebuild it. It's a massive donk, it weighs over 500lbs (227kgs), and I don't really know what to put it in. T It's reported that they run smooth as silk, and this engine was fitted to a number of WW2 tanks, and noted for its smoothness and quietness. They drove GM Hydramatic trannies in the tanks.

Yeah, but the compression ratio of the Model T Ford was around 4.00:1 when it was new! - imagine how soon that dropped to 3.5:1 with the materials used back then, and the lack of filtering! An old farmer client (long deceased, he died in 1994), cut a Model T engine in half and used it to power a grinder in his workshop. What is even more remarkable, he found the crank throws needed to be realigned, so he cut the crank in half again, and re-aligned the crank throws to a flat plane! This was all done with the most basic farm workshop tools. The cut-in-half engine ran just fine, and powered his grinder for years and years.

Willie, I asked Mr Google about the aircraft rivet hardening, and this answer I got, appears to be reasonably accurate. The information relates specifically to solid rivets, which I presume is what you're talking about. It jells with what I know about metals treatment. "Yes, certain old aluminium aircraft rivets can go hard and become difficult or unusable, due to a natural process called age-hardening, but whether they are truly "useless" depends on the alloy and storage conditions. While they get stronger over time, they also become less formable, which can cause them to crack during installation. Here is a breakdown of how old rivets behave: 1. The Common "AD" Rivet (Dimpled): The most common structural rivet (AN470AD or AN426AD, identified by a single dimple on the head) is made of 2117-T4 alloy. Aging Behavior: These are designed to be stable. While they may slightly harden over decades, they generally do not "go bad" and are considered usable indefinitely. Issues: In some cases, 20–30 year old AD rivets might feel harder to squeeze, but they are rarely useless. 2. The "Icebox" Rivet (DD) The rivets that truly go "hard and useless" with age are the 2024-T3 or 2017-T4 aluminum alloy rivets, often known as "DD" rivets (identified by two dashes on the head). Aging Behavior: These rivets are heat-treated to a soft, ductile state, but they begin to age-harden at room temperature within 40 minutes to a few hours. Storage: They must be stored in a freezer (hence "icebox") to prevent hardening. If left at room temperature for years, they become extremely hard and will crack if you try to buck them. Remedy: They can be re-solution heat-treated (annealed) to restore their softness, but this requires precise temperature control. Summary of Risks: Hardness: Old rivets may crack, specifically in the tails (shop head), if you try to drive them. Corrosion: If stored in a humid or corrosive environment, old aluminium rivets can develop corrosion, making them unsafe to use. Work Hardening: Even if the rivet hasn't hardened with age, if you are using an old rivet and it requires too many strikes to set, it may "work-harden" and break. Conclusion: If you are working with old rivets, test them first. If they are standard AD (dimpled) rivets, they are likely fine. If they are DD (double-dash) rivets, they are likely too hard and need to be annealed or replaced."

The "Princess Royal" underground gold mine was one of the mainstays of Norseman for many decades, producing a pretty consistent half-ounce of gold to the tonne. The ore body was accessed by a decline shaft, a shaft constructed at a steep angle, rather than vertical. The decline shaft is designed to allow better access to steep-sloping ore bodies. The Princess Royal was turned into an open cut mine in 1975, and I have some photos of that early large-scale open cut operation. It was opened up by Charles Hull Contracting of Waroona. Charlie Hull is a legend in the earthmoving, roadmaking and mining construction industry, I'm pretty sure he's still alive, he must be around 95.

None of it is correct, it's all urban legend, typical of rumours and gossip that grow into "truth". Even Monument Australia promotes the urban legend of the horse that founded Norseman. I guess there is a degree of correctness in stating that the Norseman monument acknowledges the part played by the invaluable animals used by prospectors. https://www.monumentaustralia.org/themes/culture/animals/display/60895-norseman The real story is substantially different, I'll let you read the family history website to garner all the correct information, directly from the original people. https://taylorfamilyhistory.com/2022/08/02/norseman-find

Were there around a couple of hundred Indians sitting on top of the jets, expecting a free trip home? 😄

Ion Idriess books are all worthy reading, if a little dated today. There's a historian lady in Kalgoorlie (Moya Sharp) who has an amazing website covering the history of the Kalgoorlie Goldfields. It's mind-boggling what she's dug up. She originally had two women helpers, but it appears they have both passed on, so she's running it solely on her own now. She covers everything from tragedies, to family histories, to gold and lease scams and gold stealing, individual prospectors stories, train crashes, and histories of a multitude of Goldfields ghost towns. Some of the tragedies of the Goldfields would make you weep, especially the ones involving children. Life was hard and short for many, back in the "good old days". There are enough stories on this website to keep you occupied for months, if not years. I'm about to give her a few bucks to support her site, because she has done such an amazing job of recording the history of the Kalgoorlie region. https://www.outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com/about/

We've got a big 3HP Mitsubishi reverse cycle air conditioner that cools virtually the whole house when it's running, and we keep the house closed up. The unit isn't that expensive to run, but we've got 6.8Kw of solar panels on the roof that do a good job of keeping the power bill down. The original unit went well for 18 years, then a power surge blew the circuit board in the A/C section on the inside wall. It effectively meant we had to scrap it. No-one would accept responsibility for the power surge. We know it was caused by tree loppers a few streets away, they dropped a limb over a power line, and when Western Power restored the power again, it surged and blew the board. WP refused point blank to accept any responsibility and our insurance company declined to pay for repairs or replacement, because the power line didn't fall on our property. So we had to wear the $1800 cost to replace the entire unit. We bought an identical unit, as the Mitsubishi A/C's we have, have performed so well. We have two other units in 2 bedrooms, they are 1HP each, and they have been in service since 2005 and still work admirably. Evaporative A/C's are alright up to a point, then you have to open up the house to get rid of the humidity buildup.

You mean to tell us? - that an image of Trump wasn't in the first results?? 😄

The old outback stations all had a room with broombush (brush-wood) walls, an iron-roof, and with water sprays trickling water down the walls from a tank mounted up high. In essence, a big evaporative cooler or Coolgardie safe. People retreated to the coolroom on days that were blisteringly hot, usually over about 42 degrees. Naturally, you needed a good water supply, which most outback stations had, via bores and windmills.

What is that? A cane railway drawbridge?

Oh, my jolly goodness!! Built by my cousins in Madras!! Finest product of the sub-continent! Fits a family of four!! 😄

It's a new subdivision in Alkimos, W.A. Developer greed at its finest. No thanks.

It's not hard to lose money on gold mining pursuits - especially if hard rock and underground mining is involved. I've never been deeply involved in underground mining, but I've certainly seen a lot of mining companies come and go, and seen vast sums of money lost. I think I've seen figures that reported only around 30% of mines are profitable. When we were at Higginsville, the old Slav prospector who remained there - Mick Urlich - living in his old prospectors humpy, was a constant source of stories about the exploits of would-be miners in the area. Mick told me he came across a couple of blokes digging a big hole in pure white quartz, on the track between Higginsville and Eundynie, sometime in the 1930's. These blokes had a nice stockpile of broken quartz, which Mick looked at in puzzlement, as it contained no visible gold - nor any signs of the quartz even showing indications of being gold-bearing. It was just pure white, clean quartz. He went over to them and asked if they were onto anything of value. The two prospectors, very obviously greenhorns, stated that they were onto some good gold, as shown by the quartz! Mick went on - "But have you crushed or panned any of the quartz to see if there's actually any gold in it?" The prospectors looked a bit blank. "But it's quartz, it must have gold in it!", one stated. Mick replied, "No, just because it's quartz, doesn't mean it actually has gold in it! Quartz is a good indicator of gold-bearing lodes, but it usually has to have banded iron in it, or even visible gold, which is called specimen stone!" "You can have quartz that is totally barren of any gold, you have to crush a small sample and pan it off, to see if there's any gold in it! This stuff you're digging out here is just barren, pure white quartz!" At that, the pair of greenhorn prospectors developed downcast expressions. "But we got told, all we had to do, was find quartz, and we've found gold!" one replied, now looking in despair at their stockpile of barren quartz. Mick said it rapidly become obvious the pair had exactly zero knowledge of gold prospecting, and had not even studied up on the basics - but they were fully equipped, and full of enthusiasm, and possessed a gung-ho approach to gold prospecting, thinking that gold was everywhere, and you just had to dig a hole to be rewarded. He remarked how often, other prospectors were misled by "old-timers diggings" - with many modern prospectors stating with confidence, "the old timers dug holes and shafts and drives here, there must be gold here!" Mick said that if more of the modern prospectors had any idea of how little, a lot of the "old timers" knew about gold and prospecting, and had just dug holes in enthusiasm, with little gold prospecting knowledge, then those modern prospectors would be sorely disappointed with their confidence that the "old timers" actually knew what they were looking for!

The world is full of entitled idiots who think they can do what they like, without any consideration for anyone else. You could spend a lot of time trying to ensure they get fined.

Venezuelan oil is classed as "heavy sour crude", and is especially good for the likes of asphalt production. It must undergo a lot more treatment to extract the lighter fractions that are used in lubricating oil. Many refineries blend the crude oils from various countries to produce a mixture that is easier and lower cost to refine.

OME, the troy ounce system is used exclusively for precious metals. A standard pound of weight contains 16 avoirdupois ounces, a troy pound weight consists of only 12 troy ounces. Grams are the favoured gold measurement in Australia today, but gold bars are nearly always marked in troy ounces, and troy ounces is the standard for trading in precious metals.

I have never forgotten a quote from a book I read - where the author quoted John Maynard Keynes (the worlds leading economist in the early 20th century), who stated that "gold is a barbarous relic that has no place in a modern monetary system". The author went on to say, "Six leading global economists today, agree with Keynes opinion with regard to gold - they only have to convince six billion people in the world, that they are right, and the six billion people are wrong". 😄

It must be time to start up a "pothole repair" business, as a highly profitable side-hustle, Jerry. "Mr Pothole" here on the Left Coast charges like a wounded bull, and makes substantial profits. https://www.mrpothole.com.au/