onetrack

Of course, no-one has asked whether Natn is a man or a woman. It would make a big difference if Natn was a woman. Thai girls can always start up a massage parlor in Australia, to earn good money. Then she could find out all about corruption and crime in Australia.

The internet is full of this kind of time-wasting, vacuous BS, that has exactly zero value.

Trump is in full dictator mode now. He gets information that disagrees with his manipulated economic story, and he promptly shoots the messenger. He's just organised the sacking of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after data showed weaker than expected employment growth in July, and massive downward revisions to the prior two months’ job counts. The Orange boofhead claims McEntarfer is manipulating the stats to make him look bad, because she was a Biden appointee. The problem is, the stats are estimated for the month ahead, then revised accordingly after that period has passed, and the companies actual employment figures come in. The U.S. BLS provides preliminary, second preliminary, and final estimates before annual benchmarking, which further refines the data. The Orange boofhead is upset because the employment stats just released, don't show the massive increase in U.S. employment that the Orange boofhead is looking for, to match all his MAGA BS. Next in line is Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman. Official U.S. interest rates are currently at 4.33%, a figure set by Powell. He won't change the official rate because he says all the economic indicators don't support any change to the official rate. Trump wants the official interest rate at 1%, and he's scheming how to get rid of Powell, so he can appoint a MAGA loyalist who will do exactly as Trump says. The problem is, it's not so simple to sack Powell, because he's not a political appointee. The Federal Reserve is a stand-alone institution with no political alignment, it was designed that way from Day One. Accordingly, Trump is scheming up a plan to sack Powell for some illegality, such as spending more on the Federal Reserve building improvements in Washington, than what had been approved. Meantimes, Trump is spending an outrageous $200M on a Trump ballroom on the White House grounds. So much for DOGE cutbacks. If Trump sacks Powell, the economic fallout for the U.S. economy (and the global economy) would be huge, as external investors see increased financial risk to the U.S. economy with politicisation of the Federal Reserve - and price in the financial risk, accordingly. It's rare that I link to SBS news articles, but the SBS has this Trump news article right. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/what-would-the-global-economic-impact-be-if-trump-tries-to-fire-jerome-powell/3f9w6fcqf

If you've wondered how the old-timers managed to build massive structures, here's an interesting outline of the movement of a 50 ton manufactured girder, produced for the Swanston St (Melb.) railway bridge in 1908. The girder was fabricated in the Dorman Long factory (count the rivets! - no welding back then! Arc welding didn't appear until 1923), and it was dragged by a team of around 60 horses to the site. The horses needed frequent rests, and it took nearly 12 hrs to move it, starting on a Saturday afternoon and going into late Saturday night. A special low-loader trolley was fabricated by Dorman Long for transport, it had multiple steel wheels of around 3 feet diameter (915mm). The front of the girder appears to be resting on two drays. At every rest stop, hydraulic jacks were installed at the rear to hold the girder from rolling away. Unfortunately, the photos don't show how they got the girder off the drays and the trolley - but it does describe how the girder was positioned with multiple numbers of 70 ton jacks - which is a technique still used today, but with electric-hydraulic jacks, instead of manually-pumped ones. The other interesting part of the story is the mention of "Wells flares" for worksite lighting. Remember, very little electricity, or electric lighting in 1908! I'd never heard of Wells flares before, but a quick search produces "Wells Light", which is basically, a kerosene fuelled blowtorch that was used to produce light for industrial sites back then. Click on the arrows up top to advance the pages. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-300629325/view?partId=nla.obj-300646414#page/n39/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_light

Between the couch cushions.

Interesting cast of characters.

I never even felt it! I was sleeping the sleep of the just, warm and comfortable.

This Tik-Tok video is bloody hilarious, watch it right through.....

That's because FB has been tracking what you're looking at on your computer - even though they won't let you in!!

It wouldn't take long for a smart animal to learn where to press it down so they could step right over it! Cows will lean on a fence until it falls over!

Sir Michael Hill, of the jewellery design fame, has passed on at age 86. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-29/michael-hill-dies/105586068

We did the Corroboree Billabong croc tour in 2012, it's scary to see 4.7M crocs eating a full-sized water buffalo - on the land!

We've had good rains since the middle of July and Perth is already over its July average at 174mm (the average is 172.9mm). The farmers are smiling, the good rains have spread widely throughout the Wheatbelt, except for the far Northern and Eastern regions, which are still light on rain quantities. Overall, it's shaping up to be at least an average season, and if we get good rains in August and good finishing rains in September, the potential is there for an above-average cropping season. Some areas on the South and S.E. coastal strip, are actually too wet, now - so the aerial urea applicators are making a killing. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-29/wa-farmers-rejoice-over-double-digit-rainfall/105578990

Only in Australia, could you get a big croc stuck under your ute, when you were crossing a waterway!! 😄 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-29/nt-video-shows-crocodile-stuck-under-vehicle-cahills-crossing/105585016

An 86-year-old man went to his doctor for his quarterly check-up. The doctor asked the man how he was feeling, and the 86-year-old said, "Things are great, and I've never felt better! I now have a 20-year-old bride who is pregnant with my child. What do you think about that, doc?" The doctor considered the question for a minute, and then began to tell a story. "I have an older friend, much like you, who is an avid hunter and who never misses a season. One day he was setting off to go hunting. In a bit of a hurry, he accidentally picked up his walking cane instead of his gun." "As he neared a lake, he came across a very large male beaver sitting at the water's edge. He suddenly realized he left his gun at home, and so, he couldn't shoot the magnificent creature. Out of habit he raised his cane, aimed it at the animal as if it was his favorite hunting rifle, and yelled 'Bang Bang'. Miraculously, two shots rang out, and the beaver fell dead." "Now, what do you think of that?" asked the doctor. The 86-year-old replied, "Logic would strongly suggest that someone else pumped a couple of rounds into that beaver." The doctor replied, "My point exactly."

There's a good joke about that, I'll add it to the funnies.

Geez, that old bloke obviously owns a dozen coal mines, and his political views are well to the Right of Ghenghis Khan. I bet he reckons all Greenies should be hunted down and shot on sight, too!

We only genuinely wanted to secede once - in 1934 - but we have threatened to secede several times since - unless you're nicer to us. Oh, and we nearly didn't join in with Federation, too! We were producing all the countrys gold, back then - and so many Victorians flooded in looking for that gold, we had a name for them - "T'othersiders". I don't think many Tasmanians have left Tasmania, but I've known a few West Aussies who went to Tasmania and stayed. Cheap houses were the attraction back then, but I think that's changed now, too.

Octave, he should sell that little crawler to the Ukrainians, fitted with a remote control, so they can get their explosives or cameras right up close to the Russians.

The spout is rotted out, the minerals in the water react with the poor quality brass in the tap spout, and this etches out the metal, and creates pinholes in it. I have to replace our sink mixer every couple of years, it does the same thing. You can't fix them, or buy parts for them, just buy a new sink mixer, they're only about $35 - and they're just about all made in China, we make only minimal amounts of tapware in Australia today. You can buy Methven for lots more money, the Methven stuff is made in NZ, but the Methven stuff is horribly expensive. Phoenix, Brodware, Astra Walker, Faucet Strommen, and Sussex are made here, but are "exotic" in their pricing, too. The Estilo, Mondella, Caroma, Dorf and a few other brands are all made overseas, in China and Malaysia. They have a warranty period of between 1 and 2 years. I bought a Methven shower rose head with adjustable arm about 3 years ago, and the pipe on the arm rotted out, and developed pinholes, and sprayed all over the shower. I pulled it off, and found it was made out of a cheap-arse really thin piece of brass pipe. Then I studied up and found out Methven have a lifetime warranty! So I contacted the Methven agent here and told them my sob story, and sent them photos of the arm. In the best fashion, we'd lost the receipt - but I had the original box it came in, so I gave them photos of that, too. They hummed and hah'ed, and said by law, a receipt is required to claim (which is correct). So they thought about it for about a month, then said they'd replace it, as an act of grace. I waited about another 6 weeks, and was getting ready to contact them, when a parcel arrived. It contained a whole new shower arm, including the adjustable pivot ends (not just the pipe) - and this replacement unit was made out of a MASSIVE piece of brass, with the setup weighing about 2kgs!! I was amazed, and convinced they'd sent the wrong part. But I waited a week and heard nothing, so I thought I'd try fitting it up. It fitted perfectly to the old shower head, and looks a million dollars. The stunning part is - we paid $117 for the original shower head and arm - but the same part number is still available at Bunnings, and it's now $265! They must have lost a lot of money on warranty claims and are now making up for it! I have to say, the new shower arm looks like it would last the average persons lifespan.

*Queenstown - sorry about the spelling error, my proofreading needs to improve.

Nomadpete wants a meteorological instrument that predicts when it's going to stop raining for him, for at least half an hour. 😄 I can recall a bloke telling me how he worked at Queentown, and it rains so much there, that any time the sun came out for a few hours, workers would knock off and go for a picnic, just to enjoy a couple of hours of sunshine!

Trump is only interested in Trump, and making himself richer at every turn. He's corrupted the position of the U.S. Presidency into an extension of Trump Inc. businesses. Never read a Bible in his life, but sells them to Christian Fundamentalists at $75 a pop - when every Christian organisation in the world will give you a Bible for free. My Father was a member of The Gideons, they distribute Bibles to anyone and everyone in the world, for free. Trump would know nothing about giving things away for free, he wants to be paid handsomely for every single thing he does - and the suckers and losers who love him and think he's God, continue to fork over millions to him, so he can continue to shaft them ruthlessly, while they think it's Love. He's a grub, and a lying, BS-ing misogynistic one at that. If he hates Socialism so much, why does he reckon Putin is such a great bloke? It's because he loves the way Putin has suppressed every bit of opposition to him, so he can rule like an Emperor. Donny can only dream of doing that, but he threatens every lawmaker that proposes to stop his plans.

They had a fox-shooting weekend in Feb 2019 in Boyup Brook, W.A., and the final tally was a total of 705 foxes, 170 rabbits, 18 cats, and 2 pigs. I think there were about 30 or 40 shooters. The local farmers organised it, as they were sick of losing hundreds of lambs every month to foxes.

In an ironic turn of events, heavy rain has come with the hay runners, to the extent that some farms are now too wet to get the trucks into them - so the hay will be delivered to other points in S.A. This rain may turn out to be the point in time, where this dreadful S.A. drought ended. Here's hoping. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-27/hay-convoy-delivering-drought-relief-reaches-eyre-peninsula/105576844