onetrack

They didn't make anything lightweight in the old days, and cast iron was always preferred to cast aluminium! - mostly because it was much cheaper!

Ha ha! Don't you just love the fan on the electric motor hanging out in space, with no shroud? - and they keep checking the motor to see if it's getting hot! Makes you wonder why they even left the fan on the shaft! When we had the Blokey Shed going, one of the Victorians on there (he was from out Gippsland way, I STR), had done a lot of slicing and dicing of timber and he reckoned he could never ever, get a good accurate cut with a bandsaw blade. He reckoned, no matter what you did to try and keep it true, it always wanted to woofle around and give you a wavy cut. He swore that steel disc sawblades were the only way to cut timber straight and true. But you need a darn big blade to cut any kind of decent width. I gotta laugh at the Americans referring to their "hardwood". They wouldn't know what a hardwood was! It never ceases to amaze me how fast their timber grows, though.

All the words contain all the vowels, but FACETIOUS is the only one that has them in the correct order.

Heroine

.....in everything, except spelling, obviously.

ENT - The letters are the first letter of the words for consecutive numbers, starting from 1, going through to 10.

I think the most despicable part of any warmongering group is the way they teach their toddler-age children that firearms are something to be worshipped, and how they teach their children that belief in the power of firearms is the way to go. The Middle Eastern terrorism groups are big on this, but they're followed closely by American Fundamentalists. I find their attitude of a love of firearms repugnant, it's nothing short of idol-worship, and yet they fail to see it.

D - the table. The first three are the equivalent of peoples names - Olive, Holly and Cliff. I haven't come across anyone name table yet, but I guess there's always a chance I will, judging by some of the weird names I encounter today!

I think the important thing is to distinguish the introduction of the involvement of innocent civilians into politically driven murders, assassinations and kidnappings. It's one thing to seek out and kill combatant and warmongering enemies who have clearly stated their aims - it's another thing altogether to kidnap and murder innocent civilians, and use them as pawns to gain power and territory. This is the most repugnant of all the acts of warmongering, and almost universally identifies the perpetrators as terrorists and indiscriminate, ruthless killers. However, as ever in this world, civilians are always the ones who suffer greatly when combatants engage. The pure misery on fleeing civilians faces in wartime, is always etched on my mind.

A, because it's the only shape that IS a square.

Jerry, you obviously haven't studied up on the Stern Gang and the Irgun, both groups being essentially terrorism gangs, who indulged in many terrorist acts against the British. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stern-Gang And as for Nick Freitas - well, he's a Fundamentalist Christian Republican who joined the U.S. Army as method of revenge for 9/11 - he supports Trump - is dead against Obamas Affordable Care legislation, and wants it dismantled - is rabidly pro-gun - opposes any increase in the Federal minimum wage - and wants the Wall finished on the Mexican border. A fine example of a rabid right-winger in U.S. politics, and no doubt a vocal backer of the Israel of today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Freitas Regardless of Freitas Crusader approach, I do agree with a lot of what he has pointed out, about the Palestinians and their constant return to terrorism.

Bring Up the Bodies - the first word of each title in the other four books.

This is in the wrong thread - but it's a warning - you'd better stock up on chocolate and Tim-Tams, because the world is facing a drastic cocoa shortage, that has seen the cocoa price reach a 50 year high. Fortunately for me, I'm not a chocolate aficionado, I never eat Tim-Tams, and I only rarely eat chocolate of any kind. But I can see a chocolate tragedy unfolding as chocolate prices go ballistic and people start wearing T-shirts saying, "Step away from the chocolate and no-one gets hurt!!" 🙂 https://www.perthnow.com.au/lifestyle/food/chocolate-prices-and-shrinkflation-set-to-soar-with-full-impact-of-global-cocoa-shortage-yet-to-be-felt-c-16186758

Having said the above, I have little time for the Israelis, either. The current day Israelis shoved their way into the "Holy Land", using terrorism tactics (the bombing of the King David Hotel being the worst episode), on the basis they are the Jews, described as the Chosen People in the Bible. But the Israelis of today have very little in common with the original Tribe of Israel as mentioned constantly in the Bible, they have merely imposed their "mission" of rebuilding Jerusalem onto the multitude of Arab nations who now live in the region. These people (todays Israelis) are the descendants of the Pharisees, the people that Jesus Christ didn't have a lot of time for, because of their greed for monetary wealth, and their incessant religious rule making - none of which rules are found in Biblical teachings, or the teachings of Jesus Christ. They are a dysfunctional group, gathered from many races, from all corners of the world, simply on the basis that they have some faint Jewish ancestry, and are worshippers of the Talmud. The ultra-orthodox Jews make claims to a special position in the world, which will not withstand scrutiny when the final Judgement Day arrives. But the part that worries me, and a lot of other people, is how slavishly American Christian Fundamentalists follow the erroneous religious belief that the Jews are the Chosen People and must be protected at all costs. If America stopped supporting Israel slavishly, and with a blank chequebook for armaments, then the Israelis would pose a far lesser problem to world peace, than they do today.

I don't have any problem with Israel taking out many screamingly mad Islamic terrorists. These people live to just murder, their religion tells them constantly to murder anyone who doesn't follow it, and Hezbollah and all the mad Iranians are responsible for a multitude of acts of terrorism, starting with the taking of the American (civilian) hostages in 1979. The way they treated those hostages was animalistic, and that's probably insulting to animals. These people have a constant record of taking innocent hostages for military and political gain, and I for one, would be quite happy to see Lebanon and Iran reduced to rubble. These are the descendants of the Canaanites, they have incessant murder in their DNA. The part that worries me, is we have already allowed too many of these people into Australia, and they will soon infect many others with their murderous teachings.

The Ghan doesn't travel through the Kimberley region, so someone has misled your brother. The region it does travel through is the more heavily timbered, semi-tropical region between Darwin and Katherine, but that area has nothing on the Kimberley region, which is in the far North of W.A. The Kimberley region possesses some of the most stunning and most remote areas of Australia, including the Mitchell Plateau, the Horizontal Falls, the Ord River and the Ord River Dam, Parrys Lagoon, the Gibb River Road, and Purnululu (the Bungle Bungle Ranges).

I see a power saw. Be very careful with power tools, and your already-displayed, lack of care towards body parts. We don't want to have to rename you "Lefty".

The 'Ghan is far from cheap unfortunately, and I can't really see why they charge so much. They could add a few more cars and reduce the cost to a better level. At around $2500PP for the cheapest seats, it's definitely not good value, IMO. You also MUST book a long way ahead, if you want a seat, and want the best price. Some say, "Oh, but, it's 3 days and 2 nights and 7 meals in a luxury moving hotel, and you're paying for the views!". However the views can get pretty boring over a lengthy distance, and 2 nights in a luxury hotel gives you more room to move, and a better bed - for probably less than $500PP. 7 meals, even at $100 a meal? - and I think the value of the Ghan still falls short. The Ghan is not a high speed service, either, as it could be. The locos are speed limited to 115kmh, and they often only cruise around 100-105kmh - on the more open sections. The average speed for the whole trip is 85kmh. From Greece (Athens), we went to Turkey (by air - Sabiha Gokcen, Instanbul), then to Cairo, then 1st class (air - Qatar Airways) to Doha, then business class on a B777, Doha to Perth. That flight from Doha to Perth was a special, it was only $1900 - and it remains the best flight I've ever been on. 34 seats in business and only 9 occupied! Meals cooked to order (no set menu) and the best lay-flat seats (complete with inbuilt massage!) that I've ever laid in! 10 hrs of pure bliss!

Did everyone pay homage to the Aboriginal football players that started the game, 40,000 years ago?

When we travelled around Spain, France, Italy, and Greece during the period from 2010 to 2014, we were impressed with the level of public transport in all those places. We travelled by hire car as well, but the trains and coaches were very good, and surprisingly new, in most cases. Unfortunately, vast distances and the relatively small population of Australia means we will never be able to match the public transport of Europe and the U.K. However, the Labour State Govt here has just invested mega-billions into extending and upgrading the rail network, and we are possibly reaching a level of superiority to the other States as regards the city train network. But the country rail services are non-existent. However, we do have large 3 axle road coaches that are Govt-owned, and they provide a reasonable level of road bus service. The private coach operators here have virtually all vanished. Greyhound used to run road coaches all around Australia, but cheap airfares wiped them out. They have recovered a little, but are only a shadow of what they once were, and they no longer service the Left Coast, apart from a service to Kununurra and Broome, from Darwin.

We used to waterski on Lake Dumbleyung when I lived in the W.A. wheatbelt. Lake Dumbleyung is a salt lake, but when it fills every few years, it gets quite deep, about 4.6M (15 feet). It's 13kms long and 6.5kms wide, so it's a big lake. We'd get out there early on a Sunday morning and the wind would not yet be up, and the lake would be a complete millpond. So you'd be skiing along on this stunningly dead-flat sheet of water, like skating on an ice rink - it was absolutely magic.

I can recall reading a "Boys Own" story in either Pix or People magazine, around the late 1960's about a young Chinese pilot named Ho Fun, in WW2 Burma, during the advance of the Japanese into the country. The expats were fleeing any way they could, and the men were trying to get their women and children out. The Japs had already bombed the local airstrip and written off nearly all the aircraft - but one civvy DC-3 managed to survive partly intact. It had holes blown in it everywhere, but the locals, assisted by some Allied troops, patched the holes in the wings with sheets! They then roughly filled in as many bomb craters as they could in the short time available, to make a barely useable, but much shortened runway. Then they dragged the Dakota backwards to a large tree, and secured the tail to the tree with a big hemp rope! - after which they loaded around 40+ women and children into the aircraft! Capt Ho cranked up the engines, opened the throttles, and waved to the troops at the rear of the aircraft - whereby they promptly cut the rope with an axe! The Dak took off in the shortened area available, and they made it to Singapore, with sheets flapping terrifyingly. After unloading his precious cargo, Capt Ho badgered the Allies to refuel the Dak so he could go back and pick up more expats! The aviation people in Singapore were appalled at the condition of the Dak, but Capt Ho must have been a persuasive talker. He managed to get fully refuelled, but upon takeoff, just as he reached near V2, a main gear tyre blew, the aircraft slewed badly, cartwheeled, burst into flames, and Capt Ho was incinerated. The story was worthy of a movie, but no doubt, so were many more instances of great bravery in WW2, that were never recorded. The best "warry" book I've read is "Ring of Fire", the story of the small band of Australian commandoes from the 2/2 Australian Independent Company - Sparrow Force - who kept the Japanese tied up on Timor for over 7 months with hardly any logistics support. Only a couple of hundred Australian diggers kept something like 10,000 Japanese troops on edge with constant ambushes, and they slaughtered over 1,000 Japs with only a small number of casualties themselves. A second book about these blokes is titled, "The Men Who Came Out of the Ground" - a term they picked up from the frightened Japanese, who reckoned the Aussies popped up out of the ground like phantoms, and then promptly disappeared again! The secret to their success was the Timor terrain - a narrow coastal plain running into deep ravines and high terrain, heading inland. The Japs would always march along the beach in a large group - the Aussies would hide in the ravines, ambush the Japs, and give them curry - and as soon as the Japs went to ground and started to try and ouflank them, the Aussies would do an orderly retreat up the ravines, into the mountains, and disappear into the jungle! The Japs would always give up trying to find them. The blokes of 2/2 had a good laugh over an episode where they heard over the airwaves that a famous and indefatigable Japanese senior commanding officer, called the "Singapore Tiger" was coming down to head the group, and wipe out the Australians, once and for all! The Aussies kept careful watch on the beach, and before long, they spotted this gloriously-outfitted Jap senior officer goose-stepping along the beach, leading his large group of troops! It only took the first shots of the next ambush to dispatch the goose-stepping senior officer (and then dispatch a few dozen more of his men), before the Aussies retreated again into the mountains - and they never heard any more Japanese bragging about a "Singapore Tiger"! 🙂

Bruce - Yes, you're correct there, W.A. was the last State to join the Federation. But the State was overwhelmed by the number of Victorians digging for W.A. gold, and they swung the vote in favour! W.A. was going to be left out of the Federation, the Eastern States had already decided that! We could've been an independent nation today, imagine that! You'd need a passport to visit us!! 🙂 https://exhibitions.slwa.wa.gov.au/s/federation/page/reluctant#:~:text=On 31 July 1900%2C Western,union with the eastern colonies. Re the railways, I was referring to the West Australian Govt Railways, when I mentioned railways. The Trans-Line is, and always has been, owned by the Commonwealth Railways, and there was only one private railway operator in W.A. - the Midland Railway, which was a British company that built a narrow-gauge rail line between Midland and Walkaway, about halfway between Dongara and Geraldton. The Midland Railway ran up substantial losses over many decades, and was eventually sold to the W.A.G.R. in December 1963. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Railway_of_Western_Australia

Turn all your lights and heaters on!!

The buyer of the Gorilla brand bow shackle may be located in a remote location where acquiring hardware items is costly, due to local high prices and long drives to get anything. When I sold a fair bit of NOS industrial items (parts and tools) on eBay, the largest proportion of my buyers were based in remote rural locations and it must have seemed magical to them to be able to buy items at half the cost of local purchases and have them delivered right to their mailbox in the price! But yes, there's always the suckers who just buy items without checking - usually as part of a "package deal". I recently acquired a couple of pallets of NOS, 500ml Hills Garden Trigger Spray bottles at auction. They were surplus from Chevron, and unused in their original cartons. These are top quality spray bottles and Woolies charge $5 each for them and Mitre 10 charge $4 each for them. So I'm selling them for $2 each (because I'm not greedy, I'm only making about 800% markup - :D ) So a bloke contacts me from FB and wants to buy a pile of them. It turns out he has a hydroponics shop - and he sells everything you need to "grow your own"! But get this - he sells the Hills Sprayers as part of his hydroponic package - for $15 EACH!! I don't understand how he can get away with this, when a simple search turns them up for $4 or $5 each - but I guess it's all about "buying the complete package, without having to run around"!