onetrack

Ahhh, yes - Sugar, another favourite of the manufacturers labelling obfuscation. I pick up a nice packet of (almost always American origin) dried cranberries. I look at the label and find they are something like 40% or 50% sugar content! The cranberries are laced with sugar in the dehydration process. So I go to the "sugar-free" dried cranberries (same company), expecting them to be sweetener and chemical-free - and I find they have a massive amount of saccharin added, in place of the sugar!! Now saccharin is a chemical nasty that has a big cloud hanging over it. It's banned as food additive in Canada, and the EU has severe restrictions on its use. It's been proven in testing to cause cancer in test animals. It's not something I want in my food. None of this stops food manufacturers from using it wholesale. It's a major ingredient in virtually every toothpaste brand on the market. Then there's the labelling that is hidden under the flaps of wrapping. This is prevalent in chocolates and other sweet treats. You actually have to peel back the flap that is hiding the ingredient list - which generally reads like a rocket fuel chemical list. It's way past time to get tough on companies that put profit before truth in food labelling. I always have to question the idea of putting "natural flavouring" or "natural colouring" in processed food? Why does the food need added flavour or colour to give it the desired flavour and colour? Is it because the end result is a pretty horrible-looking tasteless concotion that only becomes attractive and edible when the flavours and colours are added? I'm convinced a lot of this stuff is added because the additives are quite addictive, and addictive chemicals are a godsend to the highly processed food manufacturers. I reckon Chicken salt has to rate at the highest level of undesirable chemicals in its makeup. Not surprisingly, Chicken salt doesn't contain any chicken, thus leading to the best definition of misleading labelling. But Chicken salt does contain a wide range of spices - and generally, at least two "flavour enhancers" (sometimes more). These flavour enhancers are MSG and its derivatives (621 and 635 typically). And these chemicals are produced in industrial treatment processes, which turns me right off them being added to foods. Add to that, the number of people who are MSG intolerant, and it surprises me that the stuff is still on the market. https://www.thefoodintolerancedietitian.com.au/post/what-you-need-to-know-about-msg

Well, the question was "how many WORDS were changed in the first verse...?" There were only two WORDS changed, but the number of TIMES they were changed, amounts to five.

An ABC news article is reporting that food labelling requirements will be overhauled after food manufacturers have been found to be "gaming" the labelling system - and that "self regulation" of the labelling laws is not working. You don't need to be Einstein to figure that out. One spends a lot of ones time in supermarkets just trying to figure out how many lies are being told, information being obfuscated, and additive origins and exact ingredients descriptions not provided. Classic examples - "70% Australian ingredients". So which ones exactly, are Australian? If the product is 70% water, it means only the water is Australian origin, all the other ingredients are foreign. "Natural flavours", "Natural colours". O.K., so they may perhaps be "natural" in origin (and that description is wide open to definition) - but exactly chemical is used as the "natural" flavour or colour? Is is a product of natural origin that has been processed in an industrial process utilising industrial chemicals? Or simply acquired as a natural process (such as refining, crushing, heating, etc) Vast amounts of chemicals added to processed foods have their origins in industrial processes, or are simply by-products of industrial chemical processing. The petroleum industry produces a vast range of food additives, and not many people understand that. What is worse, vast amounts of food additives come from China in 200 litre drums, and the processes involved in making them are very opaque. I've even seen an ingredient in a Butter Chicken ready-to-eat meal labelled as "Butter Chicken". Hmm, there's a major educational advance, I didn't know cows could produce chickens! After having been conned way too many times by dubious meat content in Butter Chicken that didn't contain chicken meat, I'd have to say that introducing actual MEAT origin testing, should be a high priority in revised food labelling laws. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-14/overhaul-of-health-star-ratings-labelling-and-marketing-of-food/104217784

Unfortunately (and adding a negative to the thread), the Sydney Golden Wattle was transplanted to W.A. as a decorative garden plant, but it escaped into the wild, and has now become an invasive species here, with major concerns that it's overwhelming local wildflower species, and increasing the bushfire risk. Many of these wattle species will burst into explosive flames when green, such is their volatile eucalyptus oil content. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-19/wa-wages-war-on-invasive-sydney-golden-wattle/102749548

Ahh, I see it now. The answer is Two.

One

Spacey, installing 80W and 130W globes for low and high beam is most certainly illegal in all States, and will get you an unroadworthy sticker. Plus, the extra load on the headlight wiring can blow headlight fuses, or even melt plastic components anywhere near the globes.

The YooToob video is pretty useless, like a lot of the videos on there. If you insert a headlight globe without ensuring it's seated properly, I don't think you should be allowed to use hand tools without close supervision. The H4 headlight globe is foolproof, the 3 tangs are specially shaped, and only fit one way into their respective slots - you'd have to be a complete and utter dill to mess that up. The part that aggravates me is the smaller spaces the designers leave behind the headlights with every new model, that makes getting globes in and out, a complete PIA. You often have to remove adjoining components today to get the globes in and out. And don't get me started on the myriad of different headlight adjustment methods and special tools required - and the lack of instructions on what each adjuster does, and which direction to screw it, to alter the headlight position!! I guess I was spoilt with the superb headlight adjustment system on the HK/HT/HG Holdens. GMH installed a nice big hex-shaped plastic knob on each adjuster that was easily accessed and rotated with the finger tips, to provide the necessary adjustment. The designers that thought like that, with foresight and design skill, have obviously all died.

Well, I'll take my chances with the lawmen. With the amount of LED lighting on vehicles around today, banning retrofitted LED globes seems to me to be petty bureaucracy. Every second vehicle I run into on the highway at night now is ablaze with LED headlights, and LED driving lights. The long-distance road trains look like a circus carnival on fire coming towards you - and God help you if they're a bit slow on dipping their lights, you can't see anything for 5 seconds after a good eyeful of their high beams. The best part of the LED globes is that they're only 20W, as against the 50W/75W of the originals, so less drain on the electrics, and less wiring load. https://www.actionauto.com.au/product-category/led-headlights/#:~:text=Upgrading to LED car headlights,handy range of upgrade kits. It appears the headlight laws relating to LED use restrictions, centre around complete replacement LED headlight assemblies, which must be ADR approved, and originally fitted to the vehicle.

I've been considering ways of improving the lighting on my Hilux - which while reasonably adequate in its original form, could benefit from an upgrade. I did upgrade to Osram Halogen "Nightbreaker" globes a while back, and they were an improvement over the standard incandescent H4's. Despite that, I still felt the need to upgrade the lighting further. I've been weighing up purchasing some LED driving lights, but I don't have a bull bar or even a nudge bar to mount them on. Either items I consider to be fairly necessary for driving light mounting, as the plastic/ABS resin bumper is not really ideal for lights mountings. And then there's the cost of the LED driving lights, they are coming down, but they're still expensive. So I accidentally ran across Autobarn having a Fathers Day sale, and I saw these Philips LED replacement headlight globes on special. They were down to $109, as compared to a normal $149 - so I thought I'd give them a shot. Installation was simple, they're a direct replacement for the normal H4's, and the improvement in lighting is quite substantial. They're a brighter, whiter light, with increased illumination distance, so I think the investment was worthwhile. The only concern to me is that the box says "up to 1500 hrs life". I don't consider 1500 hours life as something to really brag about, and the "up to" seems to indicate they might only make 1000 hrs of life. I'm trying to estimate just how many kms or years that 1500 hrs of globe life will be, but it's difficult to do an estimation as I have no average figures to work on for average speeds, or hours spent with the lights on. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. https://autobarn.com.au/ab/Autobarn-Category/Shop-our-Full-Range-by-Brand-at-Autobarn/Philips/Philips-Ultinon-Access-2500-LEDH7-H18-6000K--11972U2500X2/p/210531

Nothing new there, Willie. In 1943, it was reported that there was great concern over having to "road" the General Grant (M3) tanks extensively within Australia, as the rail network was so poor, and it was often incapable of carrying the weight of the General Grants. Rail axle loadings of WW2 were often only 5 tons per axle, especially on the narrow-gauge lines. Many of the bridges were largely only relatively light timber bridges, and the frames of the railway wagons were also not designed to carry huge loads. The Grant tank weighed 26 tons and most rail wagons were only 4 wheeled, 2-axle units with a weight capacity of 10 tons. The concern was that the Grant M3 tracks were wearing out in about 1000 miles of roading work at full speed (which is 26mph or 42kmh), and this was leading to a substantial unexpected cost and considerable labour requirements. In 1943, a shipment of Grants destined for Western Australia, caused a major derailment on W.A.'s narrow-gauge line between Kalgoorlie and Perth, and I believe they were then roaded the remaining distance to Perth.

And that "no spare wheel" feature is something that is a real burden in rural and remote areas. The designers behind this "no spare wheel" principle work on the basis that help is only a short distance and a phone call away, as is typical in urban areas. That theory gets sorely tested once you get outside big cities. Here's an example. A mate has a 2002 Falcon ute. He lives in Nannup W.A., a decidedly rural location. He takes off in the early morning to head to Perth for a mid-morning dental appointment, allowing 4 hours for a 3 hour trip. His trip is via multiple country towns, many of them would be rated as "ghost towns" in U.S. terms, with low population numbers and a total lack of services. He's with the RAC of W.A., and has paid for a "roadside assist" service. Not too many kms from Nannup, in a rural region, he gets a flat tyre. He pulls out his jack, and goes to lift the ute, and the (original Falcon) jack breaks! He decides that rather than trying to stop someone and try to borrow a jack that may or may not work, he'll call the RAC. He's fortunate in that he actually has a phone signal, lots of rural areas have no mobile phone service. If he didn't have a phone signal, he'd be dependent on another helpful motorist stopping. Women make up a sizeable majority of vehicle drivers, and most women won't stop for a male looking for help by the roadside. They rate their personal safety highly and won't take risks. He gets hold of the RAC and they advise they'll contact a local RAC agent to come out and assist him. 5 mins later they call back and say, "Sorry, we can't raise anyone, because it's 7:20AM and businesses don't open until 8:00AM, so you'll have to wait. Imagine if it was evening, he'd really have a decent wait until they could find someone willing to come out after business hours. So, at 8:00AM, he gets a call from the RAC, saying there will be someone there shortly to help. About half an hour later, a mechanic from a nearby town turns up with tools and a jack, and they set about changing the flat. Incredibly, after pulling the spare out, his spare is flat as well! (most unusual for my mate, he's usually good on car maintenance). So the mechanic then has to go and find a local tyre shop and get the spare repaired. He returns 45 mins later with the repaired spare and fits it, and off he goes. Total level of lost time, nearly 2 hours, a 2 hr wait on a freezing cold morning, and he ended up only just slightly late for his appointment, after calling ahead and telling them he's running late. The dental surgery is agreeable, they're behind schedule too, so all is well. I wouldn't like to envisage what the circumstances would have been with an EV, with its special tyres that no-one in the country stocks. A mate runs a big country tyre repair/supply business and says he refuses to stock anything but mainstream sizes now, as the tyre sizes and types are so myriad today, that he'd need $5M to stock them all. You're struggling to get tube-type tyres today, even though a lot of vehicles still use them - even trucks. You're struggling today to get many 14" and 15" tyre sizes, as "mainstream" car tyres are now 16", 17" and 18" - and even 20"! The EV's are still pretty strictly a city vehicle, where connectivity and support is substantial. Go outside the cities and you're going out on a limb with an EV. I'd dearly love to move over to an EV and get away from constant fuel purchases, but the reality is, I'm going to have to buy fuel for many years yet, as the economics and practicality of EV's simply don't stack up yet. And don't even start me on towing and moving ute loads of stuff, that just wipes out any likelihood of an EV replacement for my diesel Hilux ute.

I trust the poll gain for Harris is not a temporary "love-in" effect, just based on relief that Biden has retired from the Presidential race. But the simple fact that the Democrats have raised over $300M in campaign contributions as compared to the US$187M of the Trump campaign, is galling for Trump, as he believes no-one has the outstanding ability to garner campaign funds like he has. It's a full-on slap in the face for him. However, the GOP is up to its usual devious tricks, and claims that Harris is not entitled under campaign laws to use campaign funds raised by Biden. There's a vast amount of untested legal loopholes in the U.S. election campaign funding, and the GOP is trying it's best to swing grey areas its way. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/21/biden-harris-campaign-dollars-legal-challenge/

Wind resistance is a big power-robber at speeds over about 80kmh. Then add in headwinds, which are common in flat lands in the interior, as the wind blows fairly steadily inland. Plus, the inland regions often have deceptively long gradients with 50 - 100 metres gain and loss of altitude, even though the land appears to look flat. And weight is a killer. Going touring means carrying numerous extra items, and EV's are initially heavy, and have only a small carrying capacity, weight-wise, as compared to IC-engine vehicles.

Russian military incompetence continues. One of their advanced Ka52M attack helicopters laid into a supposedly Ukrainian column of military equipment. However, the equipment wasn't Ukrainian, it was a Russian column of equipment, and the Ka-52M destroyed two advanced and powerful Russian self-propelled 2S19M2 Msta-S howitzers. The Russians crowed about their military "success", but quickly deleted the news when they realised they'd clobbered their own troops and equipment. But the Ukrainians picked up on it quickly. https://www.dagens.com/war/russian-helicopter-mistakenly-targets-own-troops In other good news for the Ukrainians, they have captured and destroyed a small number of advanced Russian T-80BWM 'Flying' Tanks in their push into Russian territory. These are amongst the most advanced of the Russian tanks, due to sophisticated fire control systems, improved armour, and being powered by a huge gas turbine, which gives them increased road speed, thus leading to their nickname. It appears several of these T-80BWM's have been destroyed, and at least one was captured in full working condition, when the Russian crews simply fled in fear and abandoned them.

The greatest worry for many Democrat-voting Americans is that the GOP believes that armed Republican citizens should patrol the voting booths - purportedly to "keep the peace". The sight of multiple armed civilians at voting booths is enough to deter anyone who is fearful of being attacked as an "outsider" at voting booths, either due to physical appearance, racial targeting, or being targeted as an illegal voter or illegal immigrant. Few people rolling up to voting booths would carry all the necessary evidence that they were entitled to vote. Just making voters give up, because it's all too hard is one of the subtle Trump and GOP tactics.

It's interesting the mention of the charging cable length variations, which obviously posed a major problem for the travellers. I saw nothing mentioned about the lack of interchangeability between the multiple types of charge connectors. This is something that needs to be addressed promptly, it's a nasty hidden downside of EV's. In the U.S., vandalisation of chargers is also a huge problem - from two sources - EV haters, and copper thieves. The latter are a constant headache anywhere copper is used in any quantity.

I bet that car drives like it's towing a load of logs!

I saw that photo way back in the year, it's a bunch of superannuated old Aussie rock stars! From left, Jade Hurley, Lucky Starr, Dinah Lee, Digger Revell and Little Pattie. They look alright for "oldies" who were ragers in their day! I can recall Little Pattie doing tours of South Vietnam to entertain the Australian troops. Some of those blokes are a bit careless with their weapons handling!!

The push is designed to make Putin look incompetent and have his supporters lose confidence in him - and hopefully, it will work.

Well, the video does advise "altered or synthetic content"!

It's all Greek to me, but I'd have to say C.

SWMBO got 2 new knees in November 2008, and had just turned 58. One was a full knee replacement, the other a partial knee replacement. She's got big chunks of ceramic and titanium in both, and going through airport security is a major hassle, she has to be taken away and dealt with, as a "special case". You can't just say, "I've got metal and ceramics in my knees", they just ignore you. Her original knee joints ended up bone on bone, due to arthritis. She selected a knee specialist after about 4 or 5 years research, and going through multiple knee specialists - some of whom were absolutely useless. One advised her to "just keep off your feet". The surgeon specialist she ended up selecting is world renowned in his field, and actually designed specialised replacement knee parts and got a patent on them. He gave her extensive advice and support, and the important advice was "lose weight". She went on a rigid diet before the op, and lost close on 10kgs. She's a big-boned girl and tall, so she still ended up at a soild weight for her height and frame. She mentally prepared for the op by getting hypnotised to deal with facing the trauma of the op. The op took the best part of a day and I was stunned to see when I called on her in the evening, that they had her legs strapped to a machine that was moving her legs and bending her knees, as soon as the op was over. It was all part of the programme to ensure the joints worked, and stayed working. She spent 10 days in hospital, and then went home, and was on crutches for 3 weeks. We had to rent equipment such as a raised toilet seat to enable her to use the toilet. She recovered quickly, and it wasn't long before she was back to normal walking. As part of the op, the surgeon aligns the legs and readjusts them for even length, and alignment (toe-in/toe out, just like a car). She's had those replacement knees for 16 years and has had no problem with them in all that time. The only drawback is they don't allow you to squat, the surgeons work on getting your new knee to bend to 90° or a little better, and that's it. She can get her knees to about 110°, but that's the limit, and the surgeon was surprised she could get that level of articulation. Her new knees effectively meant she got her life back, and I no longer have to park right by the shopping centre door, and figure out the minimal levels of walking required for everything we do.

It must be time to go waay back in the piece, and have a good chuckle at a Trump Parody again - simply because nothing has changed. If anything, Trump has only gotten worse. Don Caron - Sounds of Silence Trump Parody ....

Some of the wildflowers have been out for 2-3 weeks in my neck of the woods. The Northern Wheatbelt region of W.A. is in for a bumper wildflower season, a wet Winter produces a bumper crop of wildflowers. The last time we went on a Wildflower road trip to the Northern Wheatbelt was 2018, it was a spectacular year for them, that year. https://www.australiasgoldenoutback.com/itineraries/wildflower-way