onetrack

A postbox always has more letters in it, than a single envelope!

The items being packaged are all neat shapes and have no projections or areas that need extra protection. I'd like to see the machinery operate with some awkward shaped items with sections that can be easily damaged. You need extra padding protection for sharp edges and delicate sections of goods. I've been selling on eBay for nearly 25 years and I know I spend a heap of time figuring out the best way to pack and protect items so they can arrive undamaged after long trips where they've been used as footballs by the rock apes in the parcel handling industry. One of my greatest efforts involved sending a Komatsu front end loader air conditioning condensor to an American buyer, from Perth to the Turks and Caicos Islands! You all probably realise just how delicate A/C condensors are - but the condensor arrived in perfect condition, thanks to my careful packaging. What I found amazing was the route the condensor took! It went Perth-Singapore-Shenzhen-Anchorage, Alaska - Kansas City - Miami - Turks & Caicos!

Unfortunately, there is one simple, over-riding fact, weighing on American voters at present. Joe is "past it", it's that simple. He's become decrepit, and it's time for him to pull the pin. But, as with so many leaders, they fail to understand when their time is over, and continue to hold on to the power they love to exert. What is worse, in Joes case, he picked a VP that is unelectable, a disliked and incompetent VP who has little leadership ability, who was only picked because she fitted the "coloured" mold. It's time for the Democrats to make a major U-turn and recognise that they're on the path to major vote losses, and ditch Joe, and bring in someone like Gretchen Wittmer, who really has shown true leadership ability. But the namby-pamby power brokers running the Democrats are all dead scared of being the one that pulls out the revolver, and gives Joe a merciful shot, and puts him down - for his own sake, the sake of his family, the sake of his Party, and for the sake of America. Trump is going to walk in the Presidency at the rate things are going, and that's not a scenario that the majority of the world wants to see. The next Trump Presidency will see a rise in vicious, abusive retaliation from Trump, as he ignores democratic principles and establishes himself as a truly evil Fascist, with every one of his decisions designed to be twisted, centralised, self serving decisions, helped by appointed lackeys in all the critical Governmental areas.

I can recall purchasing a Lotto numbers scheme in the early 1990's from a bloke in Qld, who obviously genuinely believed he'd calculated a system that worked to improve your chances of winning. Sadly, despite paying for his "foolproof" system for quite some time (I STR it was over 12 mths), I never really made any decent lotto gains with it, and gave it up for random ticket purchases. I must say I'm quite amazed at the number of people who have had multiple sizeable Lotto wins. Either they purchase a LOT of tickets, or they're just plain lucky. I've been buying Lotto tickets for around 40 years, usually at least 3 times a week, and the biggest wins I've had, was one win of $120 in 1991, and one win of $350 in 2009. I did win $1000 worth of new steel from a steel supplier, in a steel fabrication competition in 2013, where you had to provide photos of something you'd fabricated from steel. I built a neat mobile steel bench out of RHS offcuts, and my offering was the prizewinner! And in 2005, I won a new bicycle in a local street carnival raffle. The bike was valued at $275. But I hadn't long bought a new bike, so SWMBO became the beneficiary of the win!

My late stepfather used to wisecrack about his family tree - "I paid $2000 to uncover my family tree! Then I had to pay $10,000 to cover it up!!"

I often wonder if someone is going to start using AI to predict wins on lotteries. I remember a story about an American woman with a Stanford PhD who gamed the TX State lottery. She won the TX State lottery 4 times, then someone started to question why she was winning consistently. It turned out she had recognised a pattern in the numbers being drawn, and had calculated the winning numbers successfully the 4 times. https://www.inc-aus.com/bill-murphy-jr/this-stanford-phd-reportedly-figured-out-texas-lottery-won-20-million-playing-over-over-for-years.html#:~:text=Her name is Joan Ginther,of dollars' worth of tickets.

You talking about our loveable, harmless Skippy? Nahh, you must have the psycho 'roos at your place.

Need a side-by-side photo comparison. Jay Leno has a very distinctive facial structure, with a huge prominent jaw. The condition is known medically as mandibular prognathism. He is also dyslexic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Leno#:~:text=Leno is known for his,Leno is dyslexic.

Tornados seem to be a bit of threat to wind turbines. It's just amazing watching them get ripped apart in this storm chasers video. https://x.com/ReedTimmerUSA/status/1804690861768233102

Let's see him do it again - without the marker stone!

Collgar Wind Farm has never had a wind turbine fire in 13 years of operation, and it comprises a total of 111 massive wind turbines. I think Vestas has enough experience now to be able to understand the conditions that lead to a wind turbine fire. Close monitoring of rotating components on a constant basis would be important.

Amazingly, I only sighted 2 'roos during the entire trip from Echuca to Calingiri - and they were in the middle of Berri in the vineyard area, just before dusk!! They were hopping from one vineyard on the left of the highway, to the one on the right of the highway - obviously sampling the local vintage!

The Saudis production costs for oil is $3 a barrel. Be assured, that as soon as EV's look like being a real threat to the fossil fuel suppliers, the oil price will be adjusted downwards to ensure it cuts the ground out from under the feet of EV and battery manufacturers. There'll be a war, alright, it will become a winner for consumers. The problem may end up an economic problem if a pile of EV manufacturers and battery manufacturers incur massive losses, and go to the wall, possibly even bringing on a recession or even another Depression.

That might change shortly as Joes drive to subsidise battery manufacturing in the U.S. is resulting in some monstrous new battery factories being built in the U.S. https://insideevs.com/news/556697/us-over10-new-battery-plants/ The end result is probably going to be a win-win for consumers as battery prices are bound to tank with the coming "battery wars".

I needed both lanes, to juggle holding the phone for the photo, and to steer!

I've heard that the FBI are still hunting for that dangerous Arab terrorist, Al-Gebra.

This is America. The Presidents in the U.S. have been provided by the biggest levels of corporate funding that money can buy. This is also sometimes known as "corporate governance".

"Puttin' on the Ritz"!

I made the mistake of going over to Iinet for one month last year, for my mobile, when Boost ramped up the 12 mth recharge cost - because Iinet always used Telstra. However, I wasn't aware that when TPG bought up Iinet, they changed over to Vodaphone for mobile services. Iinet offered a great deal - but when I drove out of town, the phone service virtually vanished! Vodaphone only service highly populated areas. I couldn't get back to Boost fast enough. As it was, I engineered a major discount on Boost when I renewed with them, because they were offering discounts for new customers - but not for current ones! Just the move to Iinet for a month, meant I was a new Boost customer again, and I scored the discount deal for a 12 mth plan!

I'm with Boost. They use the Telstra network. Never had any problem with them in over 2 years, but that means I also have no idea what their customer service is like, when things go wrong. They're much cheaper than Telstra.

I keep saying it, and few manufacturers at this point support it - but swappable batteries with a quick-change arrangement are going to be the only successful answer to all the EV gripes. An EV with swappable batteries makes perfect sense, and I will not be going EV until I can purchase one. The benefits are enormous. 1. You will be able to buy the car with no battery - hence, much lower purchase cost. 2. You only rent the battery size you need for the job at hand. You only want to run around the city? - you rent a modest-sized battery. You want to do a long trip? - you rent the biggest battery available. 3. Removing the cost of battery ownership from the EV owner and spreading the cost over the entire system relieves EV owners of the dreaded day when their EV requires a complete new battery at horrendous cost. That day comes way too early for mine. An IC engine lasts for 25 years easily - no battery in any EV has met this lifespan yet. 4. Battery swappable EV's lend themselves to improved battery technology, as it becomes available. No longer will you be stuck with obsolete battery technology once new improved batteries appear. No-one in their right mind buys their own BBQ gas bottles today. It's easier, simpler and cheaper, to swap them. Batteries for EV's will go down exactly the same path. The people pushing electric prime mover trucks (Janus) are using swappable batteries, and there is no way any electric truck could be competitive, unless it uses swappable batteries. Nio in China has reached a milestone of over 3000 battery-swap stations installed in the country and Nio is still rolling out the battery-swap stations at a staggering rate. They will eventually make the fixed-battery EV look like a Model T Ford.

We've had a very large wind farm at a place called Collgar, just S.E. of Merredin in W.A.'s Eastern wheatbelt in operation since 2011 - so, it's 13 years into its projected 30-year lifespan. This wind farm can supply enough energy to power around 150,000 homes (at rated output), but of course, it doesn't produce the makers full nameplate power all that often. However, it does provide a sizeable percentage of power for Southern Western Australia, and it has been very reliable. The Collgar wind farm cost around AU$750M and the calculations on payback were calculated on 30% of the makers nameplate output. It has been a success by anyones measure and despite a few gripes from aviators in the early days, due to the height of the turbines, no-one has hit a turbine yet with an aircraft - and the farmers who rented the land for the turbines are quite happy with their lease money returns, and they can still farm underneath the turbines, and no-one has complained about turbine hums or tones or noise levels. Plus, I think the local birds have adjusted to the turbines existence, as no-one has produced any evidence of an excessive number of bird deaths due to the turbines blades. https://www.collgar.com.au/_files/ugd/5b2fe6_1bbfa037cbfc4d82b259ae838e9c8fa4.pdf

I went onto Amazon and put an item in my basket. They kept asking me to join Amazon Prime. I declined. When I got to the checkout, I found I'd been signed up for Amazon Prime at $9.99 a month - bloody scammers! I cancelled the order and deleted my Amazon account. Then, the next day, I got an email thanking me for joining Amazon Prime!! I keep watching my CC for any payment to Amazon that shouldn't be there. That Jeff Bezos is a bigger scheming arsehole than that scumbag Mark Zuckerberg.

I still don't understand how the Europeans, and especially the Danes, in the shape of Vestas, got the jump on everyone with the manufacture of wind turbines. Despite the fact that Vestas operates manufacturing facilities in about 12 countries, the fat profits are going straight back to Denmark. And they are fat profits. I'd like to see Australian companies benefiting from the surge in wind turbine demand, instead of us adding greatly to the Europeans wealth and social welfare taxes.

Gee, that must have been some bargain, to warrant going to Fremantle from Tassie to pick it up!! 😮 That's on a par with my recent effort. In the best classic fashion, where your plans go to Hell in a handbasket - In early March, I purchased 4.5 tonnes of Caterpillar parts and attachments for my little Cat track loader that I'm restoring, from an old contractor who was retiring - at Seville, East of Melbourne! He was doing a complete clean-up of his yard and workshop, and we did a deal for $4000 for me to take all his surplus parts and components, which parts/components all fit my tractor, and many of which, I'm sorely in need of. There was a fully reconditioned bucket, a canopy (the canopy on my tractor is missing, and I was quoted $2500 from a tractor wreckers to supply one - IF they had one, which they didn't!), a full set of tracks in good condition, many other undercarriage components, hardware, hydraulic cylinders, many miscellaneous new parts, and rock guards for the lower track frames. This was all organised just a few days before I got notice to vacate my factory unit/workshop. I estimated I could freight the Cat parts and components across to W.A. for around $1500-$2000 - but, in the finest Murphy fashion, things didn't actually take a turn for the worse, they immediately went to Hell in a rocket-powered sled! No sooner had I cut the deal, than the Eastern parts of W.A. endured flooding rains that exceeded all known records. Some parts of the Nullarbor received 250mm of rain. The Trans-Australian rail line went under deep water, and the line was closed - for THREE weeks!! The line has never been closed for more than about 2 days, even in the worst rail line disaster. Then the flooding reached the Eyre Hwy, and the Eyre Hwy went under water, West of the West Australian border for four days! All transport to the West was cut off. Shops in Perth started running low on supplies. Trucking companies were swamped with freight being transferred to trucks from rail - but they couldn't handle the massive levels of extra freight, anyway. Freight quotes went ballistic. I was getting quotes of $5300 to $6000 to transport my parts and components - it was ridiculous. So, I made an executive decision to go pick them up, and transport them myself. I reckoned I could pick up a cheap little truck to do the job, and sell it when I got back to W.A. As luck would have it, I found a 1979 model 5 tonne Fiat truck for sale at Pyalong, N of Melbourne - for $3000! It was unlicenced, but roadworthy and in good working order, and the owner even sent me a pile of short videos to show it running! It would cost me $60 for a unlicenced vehicle movement permit from VicRoads, to drive it from Pyalong, all the way to my destination in the wheatbelt of W.A.! I bought the truck in late March, and arranged to pick it up on the 6th May. I had a pile of Velocity Frequent Flyer points with Virgin Australia, and used them to get a one-way ticket to Melbourne. The flight cost was something like $199 or 20,000 FF points. The seller, who was a builder/house renovator on a few acres, was happy enough to hold the truck for me until that date. I was working on having finished my workshop move by 6th May - but as it turned out, I still had a month of cleaning up and moving to do, on that date! Regardless, I still went - telling my landlady I'd be back in a week, to finish moving out! The flight to Melbourne left just 5 mins late at 6:30AM on Monday 6th May, into beautiful weather, and a superb trip. I simply slept for the first 2 hours! I had a window seat on the port side, and enjoyed the last hour of the flight in beautiful clear conditions. We landed at Tullamarine just 5 mins late at 11:30AM, and a mate from Echuca was waiting to pick me up in his Landcruiser troop carrier. This mate was a godsend, I'd already arranged to transport the parts and components from Seville to my mates farm at Echuca, as the seller of the Cat parts had advised me his property handover date was April 26th, and everything had to be gone from the property by then! My mate Mike took me to Pyalong (it's on the way from Tullamarine to Echuca, anyway), where the truck was located just 500 metres off the highway. We checked the truck out, chatted to the owner, got a rundown on all the tricks and tips associated with the trucks operation, and cranked her up! Unfortunately, the batteries were toast on the truck, so we jump-started it and worked on acquiring new batteries in Echuca. We got to Mikes place around 4:30PM on the Monday, and we checked the truck out a little more thoroughly, and found that all the engine belts were looking the worse for wear, so it was decided to replace them, as well as the batteries. Mikes wife Anna put on a great meal on the Monday night and I retired to a neat and clean caravan in Mikes back yard that he used for visitors, and I slept well. Tuesday morning, I took the fanbelt set and air compressor belt off the truck, got the part numbers off them, called a few places in Echuca, and found an industrial supplier that had them all in stock! We drove into Echuca, Mike gave me a quick tour of the place (the Mighty Murray was looking decidedly like a big creek, rather than the massive river it had been in the earlier floods!) - then we called by a tyre and battery place, picked up two new batteries, stopped at the industrial supplier, picked up the belts and went back to Mikes place, about 15kms S of Echuca. I fitted the new batteries and belts, greased the truck - Mike loaded up the pallet boxes and bucket and canopy, and I strapped everything down. I had previously arranged to send 8 new ratchet straps directly to Mikes from a supplier in Melbourne, so they would be there when I arrived. Wednesday morning arrived, another fine day - and the best part, a gentle tailwind from the S.E.! I hit the road just after 9:00AM, after thanking Mike for his invaluable assistance and accommodation, and we were rolling coal! I went North-Westwards, through Echuca, Cohuna, Kerang, Lake Boga, and Swan Hill. Just N of Swan Hill, at Piangil, I turned West, heading to Ouyen and Pinnaroo. I was making good time and the truck was running well, but I was using more fuel than anticipated, I was running at 24L/100kms, whereas I was hoping the consumption would be more like 20L/100kms. The old Fiat engine wasn't in the best condition, and it was likely to be in need of a set of new fuel injectors. Regardless, it was going just fine, otherwise - apart from a few minor issues such the speedo and the fuel gauge not working! Mike had already clued me up about avoiding delays at quarantine checkpoints - you know, the ones where the inspectors hold you up in a line for half an hour or more, so they can check your lunchbox for fruit! I'd already grabbed a superb roast beef roll and cup of tea from the bakery in Ouyen for lunch, and I had no fruit on board - so I took Mikes advice, and turned N at Panitya, just before Pinnaroo and the S.A./VIC border, drove N for a few kms on the Panitya North Rd, then turned West to meet up with the Browns Well Hwy, where I turned N again to head to Loxton and Berri - thus avoiding the quarantine checkpoint! I got into Berri around 5:00PM and fuelled up and hit the road to Burra as it got dark. This wasn't a fun drive, it was straight into the setting sun, and I was worried about 'roos. But I saw no 'roos and the trip into Burra was uneventful. From Burra, the plan was to cut NW to Spalding and Gulnare, and then onto Crystal Brook, where I could join up with the Augusta Hwy, heading to Port Augusta and the West. Unfortunately, getting tired and in the dark, I missed the turnoff to Crystal Brook, went N to Georgetown - realised my mistake, and had to backtrack to the Crystal Brook road. I got into Crystal Brook just after 8:00PM and found the heritage Crystal Brook Hotel in the main street looking very inviting. Despite the dining room officially closing at 8:00PM, the bar and kitchen staff knocked up a feed of beef schnitzel and chips for me - and I then retired to a comfortable upper-storey single bedroom ($120) for the night! A hot shower was very welcome! I left the truck parked in the side street. 7:00AM the next morning saw me hit the road to Port Augusta, where I fuelled up again, grabbed a bite to eat for breakfast, and then started off on the long trek to the West! I made Ceduna by 2:30PM, where I fuelled up again (the truck was fitted with a 180 litre fuel tank, which was just great for distance work), grabbed a late-lunch burger from the local KFC (yes, KFC has made it to Ceduna!) and hit the road again. On through Penong and Yalata, and the Nullarbor roadhouse (no-one stops there if they can avoid it, it's the dearest fuel along the route!) - then the long stretch to the W.A. Border, and Border Village, and the dreaded W.A. Quarantine checkpoint - which I reached around 7:30PM W.A. time, having had the advantage of turning the clock back 1.5hrs, to gain extra hours in the day! I had previously made sure the parts and components were pretty clean, and I was lucky in that I got a cheery and friendly young bloke, all done up in hi-vis, doing the quarantine inspection. He was happy enough with what he saw, but he had to get his leaf blower out and blow the load down, just to make sure he got all the weeds and seeds! After making it through quarantine, it was time to find a bed. I pulled into Eucla, just a short distance up the road from the Border, and the Eucla Motel had just one room left - a family room - at $200!! Beggars couldn't be choosers, so I took it. I was out of luck on meal availability as the motel restaurant was shut, and I had to resort to scrounging a meal from the few food items I had with me. The weather up to now had been superb, 12° to 22°, mostly sunny with scattered clouds, and a tailwind all the way. But Friday morning saw a strong South Easterly wind blow a pile of moisture onshore, and I woke to a very foggy morning in Eucla! It took me about 20 mins to clean all the windows in the truck. Fortunately, the fog started to break up as soon as the sun rose, and I was on the road again by 8:30AM. A quick stop to refuel at Mundrabilla Roadhouse, then on to Madura and the Madura Pass! The Pass was bit of a grunt for the old Fiat, I was down to 2nd gear (5 speed gearbox) climbing that! I zipped through Cocklebiddy and stopped at Caiguna for a steak sandwich. Caiguna Roadhouse used to brag, years ago, about having the best burgers and steak sandwich across the Nullarbor, and despite the place changing hands to some Asians (perhaps Thai people), the steak sandwich was still excellent! I fuelled up with the minimum required to reach Norseman (where the fuel is much cheaper), and got going again. The sky started to blacken as the afternoon wore on, and the wind turned Northerly as a weak cold front approached, as I headed to Balladonia and the Fraser Range. I tried the windscreen wipers and found they weren't working, either! Bummer! I crossed my fingers and hoped any rain would dissipate before it reached me. As it turned out, that's exactly what happened! The cold front broke up and dissipated, and by the time I reached Norseman, there was only scattered clouds! I refuelled in Norseman, hit the highway again, and headed for Coolgardie, which I reached about 5:30PM. It was dark as I refuelled and I pulled out quickly to head to Southern Cross, 200kms away, where I had a cabin booked in the caravan park. The trip to Southern Cross wasn't enjoyable, the Great Eastern Hwy is undergoing a huge amount of road works, and I ran into 200 or 250 East-West road trains heading East, as they all left Perth on Friday afternoon! It was a relief to reach Southern Cross just after 8:00PM, where I enjoyed a good feed of fish and chips and salad at the BP Roadhouse, and retired to the cabin at the nearby caravan park. The cabin and the park (owned by the Shire Council) was delightful - clean, near new, and well run by a couple of ladies who were professional, to say the least. I enjoyed a good shower and a sound sleep here - all for $120. Saturday morning, I was on the road again to my block, after adding some more fuel to the truck for the last leg. At Southern Cross, I turned N and went through the Northern wheatbelt, via Bullfinch, Mukinbudin, Bencubbin, Koorda, Cadoux, Wongan Hills, and thence to my block in tiny Calingiri. I grabbed some lunch in Wongan Hills (pop. 1200), and arrived at my block around 1:00PM. The trek was over! - and it was highly successful! Nothing broke on the old Fiat, nothing fell off, and I never even had to top up the oil or coolant! I burnt up just under $1700 in fuel, and the total cost of my trip, including accommodation, food and spares, was under $3000! That was a huge saving on quoted freight costs - and I'm pretty sure I can get my money back on the old Fiat, by selling it to some truck collector! Plus, I got to see and stay with a bloke I've wanted to catch up with for some time - and I got a great tourist trip from East to West! The Nullarbor has never looked so green and verdant, thanks to all the recent flooding rains.