onetrack

8:15

Because America is the Land of Lawyers, and the Land of Lawsuits, it comprises a major portion of their economy. I've seen articles comparing Japan and America, as regards the number of lawyers and the number of lawsuits in each country. The conclusion was that the vastly increased size of the American legal profession was a burden on America. Japanese have a cultural attitude that it's not right to sue other Japanese, as it weakens the nations cohesiveness, and the countrys economy. The Americans are diametrically opposite in their view, they'll sue the pants off anyone they think has a capacity to pay. There must be a huge inbuilt cost in all things American, to cover their legal burdens.

Why would you want pink bats? They'll only burn your house to the ground, and leave you homeless!

There's nothing left to argue when all the hollow Trump BS is removed from his depositions. A fair while ago, he'd had something like 60 of his appeals and lawsuits thrown out or lost - and you can count his legal wins on the fingers of one hand. He must be getting up around 100 legal losses by now - a fair number of which, didn't even get to first base, such was the level of absurdities involved.

A couple of stories below on the pursuit and fining of Aboriginal Corporations over stock deaths on their stations .... https://nit.com.au/29-01-2021/1713/two-aboriginal-organisations-charged-over-hundreds-of-cattle-deaths https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2024-01-05/yandeyarra-cattle-death-fine-criticised/103256696 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-02/pga-slams-animal-welfare-sentencing-over-kimberley-cattle-deaths/101603238

The same has happened with several Aboriginal Corporation-run Stations in the W.A. Kimberley region. The RSPCA investigated, but couldn't pin down any "responsible person". Part of the problem is the structuring of the Stations ownership under leasehold title. This goes counter to the trend of returning the land to the Aboriginals as freehold land. But the main driver of the problem is a lack of managerial ability amongst the few higher-educated Aboriginals, as regards running the stations effectively. Too many white scumbags moved into prime positions in the Aboriginal Corporations and then conducted fraudulent activity with Corporation funds, resulting in massive losses for the Corporations. And a number of the senior Aboriginal Corporation executives transferred funds to family members illegally, or spent the Corporations money on unauthorised purchases. Oversight of Aboriginal Corporations management has tightened a bit, but it still has a way to go. https://wafarmers.org.au/freehold-the-land-to-save-the-mob/

The oil price has been going down - but the 3 major Eastern States are hotbeds of petrol price rorting. We benefit somewhat here on the left coast, because we're closer to Singapore, which is where around 80% of our refined petrol comes from. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/oil-prices-are-dropping-this-is-when-australians-will-see-the-benefit/a72e7k4y0 Petrol is going down to 152.7c tomorrow at Costco, adjacent to Perth Airport. It was 154.7c today. Many local servos are coming close to matching Costco's pricing, which always been 4c-6c cheaper than other servos. Servos in the Perth Metro area are obliged to notify FuelWatch of their following days pricing by 2:00PM each day - and then set that price for the entire period between 6:00AM and their closing time on that following day. https://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/

Agreed, the price of steel is incredible today. Makes me glad I've gathered up a lot of steel over the years, I don't have to buy a great deal of it. But the cost of building a steel shed has rocketed. In 2019, I got several quotes for the construction of a large shed (12M x 24M x 4M gable height), and they came in around $35,000. I got another couple of quotes the last couple of months, and the price has more than doubled in 5 years. But I also think a lot of shed suppliers are having a good old rort, because I can't really see how they can justify the prices. A lot of shed suppliers have been spoilt by orders from big miners and big farmers, and I'm stunned at the size of some of the sheds that have been built on mines and farms, they're like covered football fields.

There's an interesting COVID-19 study that has been carried out on the U.S. population, by Lancet, the British medical journal. Lancet found that death rates from COVID-19 were measurably higher in States that voted for Donald Trump - due to resistance to vaccination, and obviously, beliefs that COVID-19 was "only a kind of 'flu", or didn't exist, or it was just a left-wing plot. Kind of like a self-centering device, COVID-19 has eliminated higher numbers of the MAGA adherents, and reduced their numbers in the general population. There's still a lot left to go, though. https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(23)00461-0/fulltext

Fridges can't have lights in the freezer, because the light panel will frost over, making them next-to-useless.

I thought it would've been a no-brainer to check vehicle registration when examining roadside camera photos. While they're at it, they could use facial recognition to check up on felons travelling around the country - rather than waiting until they actually commit a major crime - and then have the Police asking for help with info from private vehicle dashcams, or home or building CCTV recordings, to catch them. Here's a chuckle. My stepdaughters partner smashed his Falcon wagon last year when a bloke turned in front of him at a set of lights. He was pretty morose about the whole exercise, because he'd just spent weeks finding a pristine, used BA Falcon wagon (he loves them, because they can haul his drum kit around) - and he'd only just picked up this great, one-owner, perfect condition Falcon wagon. As it was, the insurance company wrote it off, and allowed him to buy the wreck - and he got something like $4000 insurance payout - and he repaired the Falcon himself for about $2500, and ended up with spare cash. So, feeling sorry for him, I lent him one of my utes - a 2004, 2WD Hilux - while he got the Falcon back on the road. He works some horrible shift work hours as a train controller - and on one of the homeward stretches from work, at around 8:00PM, he gets flashed by a speed camera, as he comes over the top of Greenmount Hill in my ute - a known mobile camera spot, and one he should've been aware of. Anyway - he gets the infringement in the mail - along with the photographic proof, and luckily it was only a minor infringement of $100 for doing between 1 - 9kmh over the limit (it was 80kmh where he was snapped). But here's the chuckle - the perfectly clear photo shows him holding on to, and using his phone!! No-one in the traffic infringement dept even checked the photo, it must all be automated!! Needless to say, he paid the $100 very quickly, before anyone in authority woke up, and sent him an infringement for $1000! - the fine for using a phone whilst driving!! 😮

I've found the sticky fly/mosquito traps are pretty effective, and cheaper than lots of fly spray. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/1005006538232848

Winter is still with us here on the Left Coast, it just won't stop raining! We're off to the Dowerin Field Days tomorrow - at least Wednesday is forecast to be "Partly cloudy" out there, while Perth is expecting more rain tomorrow afternoon, more rain on Thursday, more rain on Friday and Saturday - and only a short break from rain on Sunday, before we get MORE rain on Monday! 😮

Yeah, I reckon we should refer to them as Tasmaniacs! 😄

I've always found the "no-name" fly spray cans have virtually the same amount and types of pesticides in them, and they work just as well as the Brand Name ones we see advertised on TV constantly. At $2.50 a can for the no-name variety, you can see just how much goes on advertising, and the high profit levels, of the Brand Name varieties!

More rubbish about Aboriginal agricultural production in the article below. Bruce Pascoe has conned the ABC journos into writing up a big booming article about his major bush food production from the "Aboriginal" farm he's developed. First off, the land Pascoe is operating from would have been cleared by whites (never seen any Aboriginal clearing efforts for agriculture) - and he's producing bush foods such as flour from wattle seeds and kangaroo grass. Secondly, Pascoe and his operatives are letting the native plants regenerate naturally - meaning the farm is basically going back to native vegetation! But get this - he and his operatives are producing just tiny amounts of these bush flours - to add to bulk grains produced by the white colonists! And their flours are running at $180 to $450 a kg!!! I'm sure we could feed a lot of tribes cheaply, at that rate!! 😄 https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2024-08-27/native-superfoods-flour-grasses-seeds-kangaroo-grass-black-duck/104153962

I remember reading an article about the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Border Wall materials that were piled up in Texas and Arizona deserts, rusting away unused, since Biden was elected. The Wall has to be the biggest waste of money the Americans have ever poured mega-dollars into. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/12/steel-trump-border-wall-rusting-desert/621005/

The Transit Van!!! What a godsend to Irish Customs smugglers - and the Pope!! Margaret Thatcher talking on TV, looks so sincere, as she says to me, "There'd be no unemployment if, you all used a bit of initiative", I was on the dole, I was broke and bored. Says, "Aye, I'll take her at her word!" Got a loan from a credit union man, and bought meself a Transit van, My next step up the ladder now, I bought meself an old fat sow, Crossed the border quite legally - collected a Common Market Subsidy, Signed all the forms and gave back the pen - smuggled the sow back home again. Ten times a day I'd work this plan, Meself and the Sow and the Transit van, Travel sickness the sow picked up, says "Aye, it's time to diversify", Took all me money from the biscuit tin, filled the van to the roof with Whiskey and Gin, Around the South, my wares I'd sell, in public houses an' hotels. There was never a Garda, nor a Customs man, put his nose inside the Transit van, Festivals and Fleadhs and Fairs - if the craic was good, you'd find me there, At all big matches in Croke Park, and I danced with Springsteen in the dark, I fought with the tinkers in Ballinasloe, I danced on the streets around Listowel. Mothers had there daughters warned - "Stay away from the Transit van!", It being Lent and the drink trade slow, I changed to carrying video, When on the road to Ballybay, found a Customs roadblock in my way, Faced the border, I got her turned, the engine roared, and the tyres burned. Five patrol cars fully manned, were in hot pursuit of the Transit van, Through Clontibret I did go, I was heading for the county Mayo, Roundin' a corner, I hit a dog, went over the ditch, landed in the bog, I sat on a bank watched all I owned, sinking in the bog hole like a stone. She was lying on the roof the wheels still turning, and the stereo playing Daniel O'Donnell, Now I'm back where I first began - no job, no money - but I've a plan - There's a girl down in Mullingar, she can hold my future in her hand, She doesn't look like a fillum star, but she's been telling me about her Da. He has no property or land - But he has two sows, and a Transit van! The Queen of England drives a Rolls Royce car .... Her son Charlie has a Jagu-a-r .... But when the Pope came to Ireland ... Like myself ... He drove around in a Transit van!

So ... surely some of the elections for the members of the Reps and Senate must have already been held? I wonder if the member vote results would be different now, if Kamala had been appointed much earlier?

This quote from the above site is the most important point of all ...... QUOTE: "Keep in mind that polls are a snapshot in time, reflecting public opinion when they are conducted. As such, they may be of limited predictive value until the election gets much closer."

I wouldn't like to test the accuracy of the signs statement. I reckon regular doughnut consumption would be the major factor behind many Americans short lifespans and circulatory and health problems.

Yes, I do that too, in hilly country. I'd like to think I'm saving fuel, but I think the fuel savings are minimal, I expect the engine wear level is reduced. I've just done a wheel swap on my N70 series 2WD Hilux, it had 205/70R15's from the factory and I believe the ute was under-tyred - and the engine was pulling 2600RPM at 110kmh, which I reckon is too fast. Once I go much over 2500RPM, the fuel consumption seems to increase disproportionately. I've always believed that diesels do best on fuel at a maximum of 2200-2400RPM. So I rounded up a full set of wheels and tyres from a later N80 series (2015-2018) 2WD Hilux, which are 215/65R16's. They fit straight on to the N70 series, the PCD and rim offset are identical. There's about a 3.7% increase in gearing by using the bigger wheels. I was hoping this would improve fuel consumption by reducing engine speed a bit. However, I was quite amazed at the improvement in overall performance - apart from a barely-noticeable reduction in acceleration, the Hilux now feels like a completely different vehicle. It rides and handles better, engine speed and noise is down, and I'm convinced there's been an improvement in fuel consumption. I know the wheel changes affects the speedo reading, but I measured the speedo at 110kmh using a GPS app on my phone, and it's now showing 110kmh at 108kmh, so it must have been out by at least 5% on the original wheels. The best part was, I picked up a full set of unwanted N80 Hilux wheels (from a car yard, of all places!) for $300, and the tyres were all between 65% and 90% tread! So I made a double gain for a relatively small financial outlay.

It's a rare event to get a 3rd term in Govt in Australia. No doubt the big businesses are rubbing their hands over the huge increase in opportunities to shove unpopular business decisions through in the NT, now.

Oh, No! - surely not!! I get all my news from SKY news, and they're SO informative, about what and who is causing all the worlds problems! - and how it can all be solved by getting rid of all those anti-capitalist politician radicals!! Why, I even saw an interview with one journo on there, who talked about and praised Trumps fabulous story-telling ability!!😄

Starters are cheap, compared to the fuel savings. Todays planetary and outside geared reduction starters (PLGR & OSGR) have softer flywheel ring gear engagement events, than direct drive starters. Flywheel ring gears take a long time to wear out, but keeping a wonky starter in use, instead of replacing it, is a good way to shorten ring gear life. I don't know that the additional amount of starting events is going to reduce engine mount life all that much - but if it does, engine mounts are easy enough to replace, and generally not too expensive (unless they're the fluid-filled type, which adds cost). A lot of people don't understand that clutch shudder on takeoff is often caused by deteriorated engine mounts - and the removal of asbestos from clutch linings contributed to an increase in clutch shudder problems. I guess not a lot of people are affected by clutch shudder today, as around 80% of vehicles today have automatic transmission. My 2013 diesel Hilux is starting to suffer from clutch shudder at 130,000 kms, it only does it when cold, for the first few takeoffs, but it's annoying, and I'll have to inspect the engine mounts to see if there's any deterioration there. My Hilux doesn't have any engine auto stop/start feature, but I regularly shut the engine off at the lights if I have to wait for multiple light changes and slow traffic light changes. I'm still on the original starter, and it shows no sign of deterioration. https://www.roadrunner-starters.com/pages/starter-motors-a-brief-history-lesson