onetrack

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

Now Trump is going full-bore moron, by holding a gala event at Trumps Golf Club in Bedminster, for the Jan 6 rioters. Keeping up his lying BS about "stolen 2020 election" and heaping endless praise on his MAGA criminal followers who attacked the Capitol building, who were jailed for their criminality. But Trump still insists they were all "heroes", and they'll all be released once he becomes President again. Talk about handing the election to the Dems on a plate! Kamala doesn't have to do too much to get elected, Trump continues to dig himself deeper and deeper into his moronic tirades hole, and even pissing off huge numbers of GOP pollies. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/oh-perfect-a-january-6-awards-gala-at-trumps-golf-club-in-bedminster/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=right-rail&utm_content=corner&utm_term=third

Heather Locklear, looking pretty crappy. Decades of booze and drugs and possibly some lousy plastic surgery, have all taken their toll.

In related EV news, Ford's EV division is suffering severely from the Chinese EV onslaught. Look for Chinese-built, Ford-branded, "badge engineering" EV's in your near future. FORD NEWS: Ford is pulling back on its electric vehicle (EV) plans, announcing major cuts to its Model e division. In a statement released on Wednesday, the automaker confirmed that it’s cancelling a 7-seater electric SUV and delaying the launch of a new electric pickup truck. The brand revealed that it’s slashing its overall EV investment by 10%, redirecting resources to focus more on hybrid vehicles. Ford will now allocate only 30% of its budget to future EV investments. This change is partly driven by the need to stay competitive with the Chinese car industry. To do this, Ford is revamping its battery supply chain to cut costs and improve efficiency. But this shift comes with a hefty price tag. Ford, already losing about $140,000 on every electric car it makes, expects to take a $400 million hit in write-downs, alongside an increase in costs of $1.5 billion. Despite these challenges, Ford's CFO John Lawler emphasized that the company is focused on building a profitable business. "We are committed to creating long-term value by building a competitive and profitable business," Lawler said in the press release. With this new strategy, Ford will put more emphasis on hybrid vehicles, a move that could significantly impact its European operations by 2027.

Who would've guessed that Boy George could be so prophetic!?

The Aborigines did have extensive knowledge of the physical properties of the plants and products they came into contact with, and which determined their use. The use of tannins in trees and tree bark for treating animal skins, was obviously known to the Aboriginals. But this is still not farming, nor can it be classed as agrarian. https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/TeacherBackgroundInfo?id=56645#:~:text=Tanning is the chemical process,durable and to prevent decomposition.

I read it as "Dickin' Jane" - and the message is quite clear!

I know the EV's usually have plenty of power - I'm querying what numerous overtaking moves would do to battery reserves. Like, several overtaking moves in half an hour of driving might reduce your range by 150kms or more, and bugger up your trip planning. A power burst has to consume a lot of battery power and affect the range.

That would be a real worry, not being able to account for missing items, when you're building an aircraft.

Nah, we haven't forgotten - it's just that politics and U.S. politics in particular, can get pretty boring and done to death. I do await the next Trump tantrum, though, as he sees his popularity under siege. A sentencing for his NY crimes soon, might ring the bell for another round of tantrums and a popularity reset.

I reckon the price of oil will drop once the oil barons see their market shrinking. The cost of production of a barrel of oil in Saudi Arabia is US$3. That leaves a lot of room to lower oil prices and kick the EV's in the nuts.

Octave, thanks for the link, I was unable to find any mention of the ANCAP EV testing and ratings on the automotive news websites. Here's the ANCAP list for the "green" vehicles. https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.ancap.com.au/app/public/assets/32251a92f70da062227e5c5bf8e9c499c3d35949/original.pdf?1721792864