onetrack

Breakfast, because it ends in FAST.

I must say the vast majority of the officers in the Australian Army were good, and competent. But as always, there were a few who were just a PIA, and up themselves, and incompetent with it. There were several incidents where infantry troops became enraged at officer incompetence, and poor treatment of other ranks, and this resulted in none-too-subtle warnings such as a grenade rolled into their tent. In those cases, the officer was normally shipped out pretty rapidly, and replaced. Australia has few Generals because our military forces are few in number. In fact, senior officer positions are very limited and anyone wanting to further their career usually leaves the military for a position in civilian life. Engineering skills are in demand in civvy street, and I know more than one Vietnam veteran RAE officer who made a successful transition to civil engineering. John Tick is one such individual, he runs an engineering consultancy business here in Perth. He was formerly Capt John Tick in Vietnam, and CO of 2 Troop, I Field Sqdn, RAE. He's taken a leading management position in MIVAC, Mine Victims and Clearance, a very worthy non-profit organisation that cleans up residual mines in Vietnam and Laos, and which assists mine victims and communities affected by the huge number of residual mines in the region. https://www.aprodem.com.au/home.html https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1159948 https://www.mivac.org.au/2012/10/john-salter-and-john-tick-visited-ban-xai/ https://www.mivac.org.au/about-mivac/

Of course, when you're worth $300B (and increasing), and have the ability to buy any home you like, it must feel good to develop homes for those you've shafted to gain your wealth. I'm talking about PayPal fees, just for starters.

I can see where armed groups of MAGA supporters will try to enforce the removal of illegal aliens, on the basis that they're "patriotic Americans" - which could result in bloodshed if the aliens fight back. Just the term "patriotic American" is enough to produce a visual image of an armed MAGA adherent spouting hatred and divisiveness. I wonder how long before all the Jan 6 rioters are released from jail? That was a Trump promise that he really can carry out. Some of his other promises are just in his imagination.

The bottom line is that corruption is endemic in every society and only those countries with laws to try and control it make any attempt to rein it in. However, despite all the laws we have as regards secret commissions and corruption, every day brings up another story of someone in a position of power who has been discovered to be corrupt. The anti-corruption laws only drive corruption underground. But only a small number are discovered, because the other parties involved in the corruption - the facilitators - are not going to squeal, because they know they'll face penalties as well as the corrupt person they've been paying off. Corruption can range from petty demands for payment for "assistance" right through to public servants fabricating invoicing, and determining the awarding of jobs, right through to politicians taking secret payments from lobbyists to ensure important decisions go the lobbyists way.

Interestingly, the U.S. military found that using "comic-book" style instruction was a very important educational tool during WW2. This style of education seems to have taken a back seat to more intensive text-based education in many areas since the end of WW2. However, I'm always amused by the number of Americans who claim to have a "college education" or even a degree, but they lack the ability to spell properly, and they're "just plain dumb", in many other areas of knowledge. I've always believed the University of Life and Hard Knocks is your best educator.

After being in business for many years and dealing with many clients, business partners and associates, and employing (and also training) a lot of people, I can only say that every person has a peculiar and individual set of skills pertaining to "intelligence". Some people are fast learners, some are slow learners, but they often end up better at their job. People take in instruction and teaching in different ways. Some are good at graphics, some are good at written communication. Some people need things explained to them in different ways, so they can grasp the principles. I can remember learning a huge amount as youngster simply by watching, and I think many others do, as well. I struggle with deep, abstract ideas, and written teachings. I'm slow to pick up on them. But in my military training, when I did the (standard for the time) military testing to determine aptitude, problem-solving abilities, and general intelligence, I was marked as "highly intelligent, suitable for highly skilled training". Of course, as a "Nasho", I never got anything like a recommendation for a Commission, because very few Nashos got Commissions, and the primary requirement for Officer training was being in possession of Tertiary qualifications, which I never acquired, because I left school at 16 to go into business for myself. I would imagine that Officer training was very useful, as all the blokes I knew who went through Officer training, ended up in major positions.

I was a little surprised to see that PhotoScape is designed for all the earlier, and now essentially obsolete, MS Operating Systems - such as Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8. They have a version for Windows 10, called PhotoScape X, but no mention of Windows 11. As MS essentially now only supports W11, I'm surprised that the PhotoScape programme only caters to obsolete MS Operating Systems.

The Dems should be appalled at the level of voter support they lost and they need to go back to square one and figure out why they lost so badly. Kamala would never make a leader or stateswoman, and I stated that from Day One. Obviously inflation and the cost of living has hit a lot of Americans badly - but it won't get better under Trump, it can only get worse as he brings in a huge level of tariffs, and ring-fences the U.S. from the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies will boom under Trump, and the Wall-building construction companies will be clinking the champagne glasses.

They're all just crossing their fingers, and hoping it all goes to plan!

The safety levels of vehicles today is so far in front of the 1970's vehicles, it's not funny. In the old days, we had crap crossply tyres, drum brakes, no airbags, no crumple zones, and metal projections in the cabin everywhere. But the old vehicles still went fast - and the roads were narrow and twisty. In those days, you could repair anything and put it back on the road. A mate is restoring an FJ Holden sedan - it was written off 3 times in the 50's, 60's and 70's, and rebuilt each time! The amount of body filler in the car is amazing! And the body is twisted out of shape, no-one ever checked it for twist of alignment ( and yes, the manufacturers had data that you could refer to for twist, and diagonal measurements, and all sorts of reference points - but many smash repair shops ignored them). Today, cars are made of high tensile steel and it's thinner than ever, and if it's torn, and a "structural component", it cannot be repaired - both legally and physically. The metal is too thin to weld or braze, and heating via welding ruins the heat treatment of the metal. With todays high-technology in cars, even immersing in as little as 150mm of water over the floor means the vehicle is a statutory write-off - because many electrical components associated with safety devices are mounted in footwells or under seats, and once they're immersed in floodwater, they can stop working, or only work intermittently.

When I used to canvas around the farms for contract earthmoving work in the Wheatbelt of W.A., and a woman answered the door, in my youthful brashness, I always asked for the boss! More than one I got told, "You're speaking to her!" 😄

E. The letters are the first letter of the words for consecutive numbers, starting from one.

Trump won? This must be the biggest Trumped-up election ever held!! 😄 Isn't it interesting how Joe Biden conceded the loss? A gracious outgoing speech, and an orderly handover in the transition. No screaming and ranting about fraud, illegal voters, stacked ballot boxes or even any attempt to rally backers to stop the handover in a violent fashion. That'll come with the next Presidential election, no doubt. https://thenightly.com.au/politics/us-politics/us-election-president-joe-biden-calls-for-unity-after-ramrod-vice-president-kamala-harris-loses-election-c-16677592 I guess winners here are the wall builders, I bet they're lining up to get a piece of the action making America into one huge gated community - because they're all terrified of the invaders at the border. Fear and loathing were the winners in this election. Imagine what's going to happen to the DOJ, it will be gutted, and Trump appointees will take their place, to hunt down all those criminal Democrats. No doubt Ivan Raiklin, the scariest murderous criminal I've ever seen, will be appointed to run the DOJ. He has a list of 300 Democrats he's going to jail and execute. Calls himslef the Secretary of Retribution. He's another Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, in a sheep costume. How this threatening criminal thug Raiklin, ever got to be an Intelligence Lt Col in the military, and a lawyer, is a mystery to me. Meantimes, every Jan 6 criminal now in jail will be pardoned and released, and probably given special medals, because they're actually wrongfully-jailed heroes!

It won't work, and it won't get past any legal challenges. There are better ways to increase taxes, and a simple increase in the tax rate for extremely high earners is warranted. People with huge unrealised capital gains may have little by way of income, and you can't tax people for capital gains that they haven't got in their bank accounts.

In W.A., it's pretty well known and understood, that a Welcome to Country ceremony, a Native Heritage inspection before development, or any other required Indigenous involvement in events, requires that payment is paid in cash money, or "liquid currency" (booze) to the Elder or Mob involved. It's a "nice lil' earner", as Arfur would say.

"D", because pea, eye and bee, all sound like letters of the alphabet, but hammer doesn't.

Back to school for you, Marty! 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_bear#:~:text=The Gobi bear (Ursus arctos,Species and by IUCN standards.

Any componentry to do with forklifts has suffered serious abuse, and is normally worn right out. They're they most abused machine around, everyone jumps on them and drives them, but no-one ever does any maintenance on them. I've got 7 forklifts in various stages of disrepair, and all but one (my best operational forklift) needs major work on them. Four are getting motor rebuilds, one is getting a complete steering system overhaul (including a reconditioned steer axle and a complete new steering box!), and the other one just needs a number of repairs, such as brakes and cooling system overhaul. Battery-powered forklifts get their batteries discharged excessively on a regular basis, and the batteries cost a fortune to purchase. I've never seen a worn out forklift battery that was still useable.

I can remember speeding with great pleasure, late at night down a great stretch of the M4, towards Reading, from London, in 1988 - in a hired Vauxhall, enjoying the great stretch of motorway, sitting on about 95mph. However, I was greatly surprised to have a marked police car pull up alongside me, and the copper in the passenger seat clearly mouth, "SLOW DOWN!" 😄 Of course, I did just that - and they kept going without losing much speed. I think they were enjoying a fast run, too! I must say I was surprised I wasn't booked.

Dec 1970, I did Bathurst to Uworra, NW of Ceduna, in a single day of driving in a HD Holden 179 sedan. 1175 miles or 1890kms. Sitting on 80-85mph (128-135kmh) most of the time, I left Bathurst around 0700hrs and stopped at a layby near Uworra at approximately 2230hrs. A 17 hour day with the time zones in my favour, I only stopped twice to catch quick bites and drinks. I went Bathurst-Hay-Balranald-Mildura-Renmark-Berri-Barmera-Morgan-Spalding-Crystal Brook-Port Pirie-Port Augusta-Ceduna-Uworra. The sealed South Australian roads were the best back then. I was young (21) and keen and silly, and eager to get home to a big-titted redhead, after 6 mths of no physical contact. No speed limits in those days, very few cops, and only low levels of traffic. But the roads were pretty ordinary, too. I think it worked out to about 115kmh average speed for the hours behind the wheel. The HD was pretty new, and would do 95mph. It still took me another day and a bit to get into Perth, approximately the same distance again, because the Eyre Hwy still had 300 miles of unsealed road, and that slowed me down a bit, thanks to dodging big potholes.

That's because you've got to be a real dickhead to play with matches!

The batteries need to be secure in their packaging to prevent arcing. The eggs need soft material protection. Even then, you often find cracked eggs - generally, right after you've checked and bought the carton, of course!

Sorry, I've been working my ar$e off, and travelling around the countryside, I've really been under the pump. And tomorrow is SWMBO's birthday, so that means I'll be tied up for multiple hours, got to find a good eatery for lunch, then in the afternoon, it's back to the grind. I've been working on acquiring a shed frame so I can erect a shed on my block in the wheatbelt. I found a pile of really nice proper-structural-steel portal frames, then I had to go 200kms South to pick them up. Got caught up in a massive traffic jam last Friday, when a bloke rolled his truck on the Kwinana Freeway, and ended up on the train tracks - and he killed himself. So the Police closed the Freeway for hours while they investigated, and every street for a dozen kms around, turned into a giant car park. What a nightmare, I've never seen anything like it.