onetrack

Yes, an extended drought can be quite depressing. Even more so, when your income relies on reliable rains. But we live in country that regularly sees extended drought periods, and then often followed by excessive amounts of rain. The people in the Gulf and the SE parts of the NT are probably looking forward to that long-awaited rain finally stopping.

We can all be wrong in guessing what the future will bring - and that wrongfulness is caused by the inability to include future major research developments, and valuable discoveries, that alter the trajectory of innovation and manufacturing. I still feel that the Roomba gent is correct, in that many of Musks ideas are largely fantasy.

The thumb is classed as a digit of the hand, according to my information source. But that source also tells me that an upraised centre digit, conveys unspoken messages more effectively. 😄

The bloke in the article below, who developed/designed the Roomba vacuum, has a completely different take on the robot threat - and is especially derisive of Elon Musks dreams of making robots that will save America from itself. He points out that it is impossible to create a robot that is fully capable of replicating the 17,000 low-threshold mechanoreceptors in the human hand, that are used for picking up light touches - which mechanoreceptors become denser toward the end of the fingertips. The complexity of human movement and behaviour is beyond replication in any type of electro-mechanical device. The very fact that every one of us responds in a different manner to stimuli, to what we are seeing, to what we plan to do, in response to particular situations, means that at best, AI-powered robots will ever only ever be capable of repetitive behaviour and actions, that has been programmed into them. The belief that we can produce robots that go on to become human-like in actions and behaviour, is pure fantasy, as the gent claims. Just like Musks fantasy that homo sapiens could live successfully on, and colonise, Mars. https://fortune.com/2026/02/25/mit-roboticist-irobot-cofounder-roomba-robot-vacuum-elon-musk-tesla-optimus-pure-fantasy-thinking/

The Tuvaluans are planning on thumbing their way to high ground?? How innovative of them!

OME, your turn will come! When it does - don't come back to us, crying, "please make it stop raining!" 😄

I've got a small industrial block in a small country town, in the Wheatbelt of W.A., about 130kms NNE of Perth. Despite having a 3 phase powerline only 50M away at a T-junction, the power has never been supplied to my block. The worst part is - if I want mains power, I have to submit a usage plan, pay $450 application fee to Western Power, plus about another $1300 for them to investigate, doing engineering studies, and provide me with a quote for running mains power to my property. It's highly likely that quote will come in anywhere between $10,000 to $20,000, just to run the powerline 50M to my property. Such are the joys of our W.A. mains power supply being a Govt-owned monopoly. And if I reject their quote as too costly, I lose my $450 application fee. If I go ahead with the proposal, I'm then looking at a monthly supply charge plus power usage costs. Likely to be at least $30-$50 a month bare minimum. To top it all, the area suffers from frequent blackouts - as a result of a long power line supply. Apparently some of those blackouts have lasted for up to a week. Accordingly, I bought two excellent condition small diesel gensets - one single phase 6KVA, and one 3 phase 19KVA. They cost me less than $5000 in total. I use about 20L of fuel a month, probably less than the cost of the supply charge for mains power. I can run them when I want, and not run them, if I don't need the power. I'm shortly going to invest in a solar and battery setup, utilising used solar panels and used lead acid batteries. I reckon that setup will cost me no more than a couple of thousand dollars. That will then give me a constant power source for fridges and lights, and if I want to do some welding, grinding, tyre changing, or run my big air compressor, I fire up the gensets for the necessary period required. You have a multitude of options in todays world, unlike people in the fifties. But even back then, most rural people had small Dunlite gensets and batteries - and Dunlite even built small Wind turbines, which turbines are still sought after today for their durability.

Nev - Nothing new about nepotism in politics, and private industry is worse.

Your power supply reliability is largely determined by the distance your power lines cover to get the power to you - and the terrain. If you choose to live in remote mountainous, or even hilly terrain, expect more blackouts than people in closer to the power generation facilities and in open, more level terrain. Living in Central Perth, I have experienced so few blackouts, it's hard to recall when I last had one. Mostly any blackouts happen after a long dry Summer and dust and salt build up on powerline insulators. Then we get a very moist morning or even a tiny amount of rain, not enough to wash the insulators, and we have "flashovers", where the insulators fail to do their job and the power supply shorts out. A lot of times, flashovers also cause pole crossbar fires, and that makes things even worse. We pay 32c a unit and a $1.16 a day supply charge. 45% of our bill goes to the company that operated, and maintains and manages our power network - Western Power. WP manage over $30 billion worth of assets, including 42,000 transmission towers and 758,000+ distribution poles. Our system is called the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) and it is the biggest totally isolated network in the world, and it covers the most populous areas of S.W. W.A. Currently we have only 3 coal fired generators left supplying our power, and they are slated to close in 2027, 2029 and 2030. Those dates may be extended a little. Those 3 coal fired generators are the most costly power generation in W.A. and have been losing money hand over fist for years. Failed refurbishment of one coal-fired power station here, cost taxpayers over $300M, to get nothing in return, except abandonment of the project, as the power station corrosion problems got bigger and bigger as the project proceeded. So there's nothing cheap about coal-fired power here in the West. We rely on natural gas power generation (15% of W.A.'s natural gas supplies are reserved for W.A. consumers and businesses), solar, wind, and now big batteries. By 2030, we will be running on solar, wind, big batteries, and minimal natural gas power generation. Solar power generation via household roofs in W.A. is a massive source of W.A.'s energy, and it is being harnessed via those big batteries.

The worst I've seen on FB is the fake story and photo about Pauline Hanson collapsing in Parliament. The scum producing this stuff really should be hunted down and exposed - and Zuckerberg and his company assist in promoting the rubbish, thus placing him, and Meta, and the scammers, all in the same information sewerage tank.

It's a cunning scammy website artfully drawn up as an ABC interview, but it has links promoting scammy cryptocurrency. I wouldn't even click on the cryptocurrency links in the article, it probably goes to North Korean scam websites.

Mushroom does it for me. I hate mushrooms anyway, and will never touch them under any circumstances - but sometimes, some chef or cook will sneak mushrooms into a dish I've ordered and eaten, and I don't find out until my anal region starts exploding, with a smell that makes a sewerage plant smell like a Chanel perfume factory. And the damage keeps up for 2 to 3 days. It also happens when I see a dish, and it mentions mushrooms as an ingredient - so I ask if I can have without mushrooms. This generally results in the cook just scooping out the visible mushrooms, but leaving all the mushroom sauce. The result is the same as eating mushrooms.

I'd have to say Yes. Kenya was a British colony until Dec 12 1963, when it gained independence. Google tells me this much (but it's still subject to variables) .... Birthright Status (1949–1963): Anyone born in the colony between Jan 1, 1949, and Dec 11, 1963, was generally a Citizen of the UK & Colonies (CUKC). Independence Act 1963: On Dec 12, 1963, most people acquired Kenyan citizenship, and automatically lost their CUKC status. The Exceptions: People were allowed to retain British status (becoming British Overseas Citizens or, in some cases, full British Citizens) if they, their father, or their paternal grandfather was born in the United Kingdom or a place that remained a colony. Disparity in Citizenship: This, in practice, favoured white settlers with direct, recent connections to Britain, while many Asian and Black Kenyan residents found themselves in a precarious position regarding their right to reside in Britain or Kenya. SWMBO initially married a bloke in the late 1960's, who was Kenyan born - of mixed descent. His father was British and Anglo-Saxon. But his mother was born in Nairobi, of Dutch-Lebanese/African parentage, and her parents came from the Seychelles. But SWMBO's daughter (my stepdaughter) found she was entitled to a British passport, because her dad, and both his parents, came to Australia in the early 1950's, on British passports.

Has anyone checked what is happening to Tuvalu as regards whether it is sinking into the Earth? Parts of California and many other areas of the world have sunken dramatically over the last century or more. Jakarta is sinking so rapidly under the weight of urbanisation and the drawing down of the aquifer under the city, the Indonesian Govt is abandoning the place and building a new capital on Borneo. Mt Everest keeps on reaching for the sky, increasing height every year as it gets squeezed between tectonic plates. None of the above continental movements are caused by climate change.

The Gardners are the Rolls Royce of truck engines. Built by craftsmen who initialled the components they made. No-one scraps a Gardner if they have any nous. Rolls Royce made diesel engines for trucks and industrial use, too, but the Gardners were a better engine.

I use a nut splitter, they're a really handy device. The angled ones are the best.

Yes, the poor old dog gets blamed for everything. But when a dog farts, it leaves any human farts for dead.

Willie, if the fuse blew, the circuit has been overloaded. You don't mention the style of fuse (there are several). I'm speaking about the old glass fuses, now. If the fuse fell apart, or the ends fell off, I would put that down to age. However, the ends don't normally fall off, because they're held by the clips, they usually fall off when you pull them out. You can get intermittent electrical faults that are a PIA. A little patch of bare wire touching metal occasionally. A wire being occasionally crushed between other parts that move. It can be a real pain to track down a lot of the time. Look for areas where movement takes place, where things can be hit (taillights are often hit by road debris), or where moisture has crept in.

I'm confused on the "dual citizenship" angle. I was born here, so I'm an Australian citizen. But I got a British passport some years ago (about 15) because both my parents were British and I was entitled to a British passport. I got it when travelling on the basis it would make travelling around the EU on the Schengen Agreement easier. I never used it, my Australian passport got me everywhere with no problems. However, SWMBO and I got caught out with a US$80 entry fee to Turkey upon arrival, no-one mentioned it prior. We had to scrape around our belongings to find the necessary US dollars, and it was dead lucky we had it on hand. At this point, my British passport is long expired and I see little benefit in renewing it - but perhaps it might save me some money if I ever venture back to the U.K.?

The Liberals have virtually ceased to exist as a party in W.A. They could hold a cabinet meeting in a disabled toilet.

I always keep control of any fart. To do otherwise is dangerous, and can be embarrassing.

Citric acid is my regular go-to product for rust removal. I make up baths of 3%-5% citric acid and dump the rusty item in it and leave it for a few days, then pull it out and pressure-wash it. If it's needed, I put the item back in again for a few more days, then pressure-wash it again. Then I spray with a 10% solution of Ranex (phosphoric acid) in a spray bottle to prevent flash rusting. Citric acid is safe, doesn't affect base metal or copper, zinc or aluminium, and it cleans iron/steel items up beautifully. But the bath must be covered and kept cool, sunlight rapidly degrades the acid.

I don't have a problem with people at the pointy end of the actual hard yakka, getting good money for what they do. But the current figures show, that executive renumeration levels - and in particular, CEO renumeration levels, have been rocketing ahead in leaps and bounds, well above the gradual gains the workers negotiate. https://www.governanceinstitute.com.au/news_media/large-pay-rises-for-c-suite-executives-reveal-impacts-of-inflation-and-labour-market-pressures/

I use a 50-50 mix of diesel and ATF for breaking up corrosion in rusted cylinder bores - it seems to work pretty well, especially if left for a few days. ATF contains strong detergents that dissolve varnish and gummy deposits that will glaze up automatic transmission clutch plates, and gum up valves and spools in transmissions, causing erratic operation - and diesel is well known as an excellent penetrant and lubricant.

The developer who is charging ahead with the Trump Tower has been bankrupt previously - twice. So I guess he's in good company with a U.S. President who has sent six of his business ventures bankrupt. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-24/trump-tower-developer-went-bankrupt-twice/106379446