Jerry_Atrick

A lot of people these days (and I am sure in days gone by) have substituted real happiness with material happiness.

Despite the CBF1000A haviong a notorious reputation for buffet with its standard screen, my short posterior stature must hit the sweet spot, as I don't get any at high speed. Of course, when I am passing a boxy vehicle like a van or a truck, the wholle bike likes to do a minor boogie dance in their turbulence, but I had that on my VFR750 and ER6F as well.. Yes, debris can be a real pain at these speeds.. I have had the odd stone thrown up and hit me, but the protective gear makes it noticeable but not hurt. However, it is rare. The motorways here are really well looked after and there is little of it. In fact, I can't think of any debris that has hit me on the motorways.. it has been on A roads - usually the A303. It is about risk assessment and the Motorways here are brilliant for higher speeds.. Or at least the ones I travel on mostly, which is the M3, M4, M5 and occasionally the M40. When I last rode, I also used the M1, which was also excellent. I must admit, it is one thing I am really going to miss about the UK when I return to Australia. I heard a rumour that some Australian states banned filtering in heavy and slow moving traffic, but a check of Google tells me that it is legal in all states/mainland territories. Phew!Although, I have to admit, I trust London divers far more than at least Melbourne drivers when it comes to filtering.

Anyway, quite timely in my YT feed:

Ha Ha Ha.. Probably both 🙂

And adopt a righty mindset? Well mate, I hope you're not on a state pension as that will eat into their sponsor's profits, so you can expect that to be eroded.. and any of the local services you get will probably come under the knife, too. Health? Privatise the lot. You don't have to look too far to see what is likely to happen.

That may be true, but I think that is also a product of our society, and statistics.. I thought I was a baby boomer, but actuall am Gen X (just). I lived and was schooled at both ends of the socio-economic ladder (although, we really were on the lower end where my father made sacrifices to get me into a well reputed grammar school in Melbourne for a couple of years). The state education system at both ends of town were very much around learning enough to get through, get a job, retire. The government will look after your health and welfare needs beyond that. Work hard, and you will be able to afford the house, a car, 2.5 kids, a dog and life will be sweet. Don't worry about anything, don't think about anything (as it will upset the apple cart), and just vote the way you normally do. Everything will be sweet. That was the same in the deprived areas of Melbourne I lived and the upper middle class area I lived (for state schools). The grammar school was different in that it tried to instill leadership. This is not a slate on the teachers - the most important teacher in my life and the person I credit to transforming a troubled child into an almost functioning adult is Claire Kelly - a unionist lefty, socialist, I think lesbian who came to my rescue in the darkest part of my childhood/early adolescence while living in what is an economically depraved area of Melobourne. There were many good teachers in state schools at both the lower and upper end of town, and they were no better nor worse than the private school teachers I came across. The difference is the system that constrains them. I digress.. So, you have a system that produces people who are trained not to really think outside getting a job and the rest will fall into place.. and we wonder why they don't think about it beyond they did what they were told and, despite there being battles to be had, things were generally OK. Now, their kids can hardly afford a tent in a caravan park let alone a house, prices are skyrocketing, the corruption or favoured treatment is so rife it can't be contained and no one is really doing anything serious about it, they can barely afford to keep their cars on the road after being told that fossil fuels are the way to go, they are taxed to their necks while those with the money seem to avoid it nicely, and all their life theyt have been told no worries - don't think too hard the government has got your back.. I guess they missed the bit of the knife in the back? You're right - they aren't thinking it through.. Or maybe they are? I mean, more of the same is just a slower walk to oblivion, but we will get there the way we are going. Get someone in who will bring that oblivion forward and maybe it will be cleaned up in their lifetime - may be exactly how they are thinking. Look at the problem Australia has with its fuel reserves. It is neither ALP or LNP that you can blame. It is both. A part of the nations critical infrastructure; a vital part of its securtity (I don't think fighting forces are electrified yet), and we are toast. This and so many other every day things seem to be abandoned by the majors. Its not liek just the governing leadership have lost vision and become stale; it is like the whole political system has. So, yep, they may not be thinking it through, but they are probably thinking anything is better than what is there today to shake things up. This is the message that is being lost on the major parties.

Looks like the pedals are an add on to get around the law

She is in the enviable position, to paraphrase el Chumpo, she could walk down Ann street in Brissie and shoot someone and no one would care. There is so much disenchantment with the poltical establishment, that a vagabond to that establishment has got sort of Ned Kelly status. As the article says, you can't attack PHON at the moment. Well, you can, but you do so at your political peril. It's the same here with Farage and BoJo when he was in power. If it were up to the people, BoJo woudl still be PM. This larrakin like approach to politics is winning over the disenfranchised, and like a lot of people who's values/agenda are corrected by fact, they tend to ignore the fact, or interpret it in a way that confirms their bias. The rebellion is starting, I guess.

Hi @willedoo - Sorry - missed this post as well.. I still use floorp, but there are some sites it doesn't work great with, so I revert to firefox for those. Floorp had its fair share of niggles but the last release seemed to fix most. I haven't had that on mine that I can think of, anyway. You may also want to look here: https://github.com/Floorp-Projects/Floorp/discussions

I did neglect to mention that I have changed my London days to Thursday and Friday. Thursday morning, it was bloody cold, starting off at 4am at 2 degrees. Those heated gloves worked well, except for the index finger on the right hand.. there seems to be a cold spot there, but on testing in the comfort of my room in the pub, it seemed OK. I am gettng more confident filtering through traffic with the big lump it is, but I am still no way hear as aggressive as others on bigger bikes. But, I am also older now, so a little more mindful of the possible consequences. Plus I can;t be botehred with the insurance faff if I damage someone else's vehicle or person. I left early on Friday - 4:30pm. The sun was shining, but I had to stop by the pub to pay, as I fell asleep on first going to my room on Thursday night and didn't awake until well after closing time (no dinner either). I then navigated peak hour traffic to get on the M4 motorway, which was moving well all they way and queues. COVID has had a benefit of bringing forward hybrid working and few people like to go to the office on a Friday. Once out of the vaiable speed limit area past reading (about 30 miles from the start of the motorway), with the weather still nice and the longer evening twilight, I did most of the ride at aorund 87mph - about 140kph. The limit is 70, but I had plenty of people overtaking me, and I was mainly overtaking trucks. The police are far more reasonable in the UK; although at that speed, you are likely to get done. Unless it is dangerous, they are usually tolerant to 80mph (130kph). With one stop for dinner and the diversion to Richmond, I was home a little after 8:30, which was not bad going at all. If I had taken the car, it would have added an hour to the journey I reckon. The train to North Sheen (next stop from Richmonnd and basically same route to M4) would have taken an hour; It would have been longer to the pub and a lot longer to the motorway as one can't filter in a car... Once on the motorway though, I probably would have been doing around 80mph all the way, so it wouldn't have taken that much longer for that part of the drive.

But, it is OK to bag, but I also prefer to offer some solutions. This has previously been discussed on these forums. but a couple from memory: Ban political donations more than a de minimis amount from one controlling person/group (to make it hard to create 100 cmpanies and each of them contribute a seaparate donation to the limit). Maybe restrict it to living people rather than corporations. I would personally advocate a ban on lobbying groups and companies. If you have something to say to the government, it can be done through a public forum where everyone gets to hear it and scrutinise it. And contribute to it. If not point 2, ban parliamentarians from lobbying or representing/being emeployed by firms in any official or real capacity that involves communication - directly or indirectly - with the government. Period. No cooling off periods, etc. Aussie media regulator, ACMA, being given real teeth over both mainstream and social media, which must have independence, legally trained/accomplished people adjudicating, where they can impose real consequences/punishment for intentionally misleading the public. Those impacted can appeal through the court systems if they want. Of course, paid advertorials that are clearly labelled as such would be exempt, however, if the publisher reasonably had facts that rebuke such advertorials, then they have to state this prominently either before or after ther advertorial. A new "offence" is intrroduced of high public misconduct (there is a public misconduct charge which is applying a damp wetted to the wrist very softly). For this, the bar should be recklessness in its criminal definition( foresaw the consequences that are likely to happen, didn't want them to happen, but went ahead with the action anyway) or intention. In other words simple incompetence or even negligence do not count. So, unless the polly clearly states the likely outcome of their policy, and it results in an absurd and large cost to Australians and the benefit promised doesn't materialise, they can be held liable, with the punishment being they and their controilling interests (so, for example, not hiding assets with a partner or company or whatever) can be held finalcially responsible (i.e. having to pay what they can back). The above offence would automatically include acting on prohibited lobbying. I am sure I could think of many more things, but I bet with the above, there would be far more transparent and hopefully logical and rational decisions made in the best interests of the country as a whole.

Thank's @willedoo. That s a hell of a swing to PHON. PHON most likely picked it up from most of the swing against the Libs, but that is diosconcerting enough as one would have hoped the majority of Lib voters were in the moderate camp. The Libs are a spent force at the moment and it is a long, if at all possible way back. But, this has let someone in who is even more loony right wing, which is in itself a worry. It has to be a wake up call to the pollies that they have to start changing. I don't think anyone but the fringes is calling for out and out socialisim, but at least get the billionaires and vry wealthy who manage to avoid paying their taxes tipping in and contrinuting - they explout what is on offer - that is only fair. And then the government should move more on what is better for the majority across all spectrums. It feels lik the silent majority are feeling more and more alienated and, with the only real leverage they have, they are starting to talk. Sadly, they can only exert leverage every three years.

Oh, well let's see that the MAGA Master of name calling does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_used_by_Donald_Trump Yet the minute someone offends his sensibilities, he is on the line to defamation lawyers. Now, who else has been on the line to defamation lawyers when people call her names? I reserve the right to bag anyone I think is not doing the right thing - that is a cherished right of freedom of speech... But I won't bag them without at least there being evidence to do so, unlike others aforementioned. @Siso - We all get your argument - she is playing within the rules so bag the pollies for not changing the rules and not the ones playing within the rules. If life were that black and white, it would be a better place. But the reality she and her ilk have resources and access to disproportionately bend the wilingness of the rule makers to their aims and objectives and they are not afraid to use it. Yep - she employs a lot of people, directly and indirectly. But she couldn't without all the other infrastructure that is in place from roads to education to provide those people she emplys. Yet, she is not willing to pay for it. When proposal for rule chnages are made to even up the playing field, she is in there pulling no stops to make sure those rules don't see the light of day, let alone get passed. So, too are her ilk; Palmer comes to mind, but all the faceless corporation heavyweights - ironically those owned by foreign investors.. The one thing is at least Gina's companies are Aussie owned. You can sit through the "well, she is playing by the rules, so blame the pollies as they can change the rules." Yes, in theory, but the backlash Gina and her ilk can unleash means pollies are very well constrained in what they can do. And the billionaires aren't the only ones. We had the BLF, and today we have the CMFEU (or whatever); Good ol' Jacinta Allan seems to be in their back pocket. Hard for her to change the rules to be more fair when her sponsors (and in her case, her husband) are calling shots behind the curtain.

Sorry, Nev. I missed your post. I bought it with 40,200+ miles on the clock. Today, it sits 3 miles short of 45,000 miles. When you think I had the bike for about a month before I did my first ride to London (from memory), it has clicked up 3.700+ miles in 3 months. The original tyres were at about 1/2 life, so they lasted as expected. I expected a few bits to be needed to be done. And sure enough, they do. I don't have all the tools and the space to DIY, and even if I did, it would take me 3 or 4 times longer than if I got someone good to do it. The latest mechanics were OK, but I noticed a few minor things they didn't get right. The new tyres are excellent. But, they didn't inflate them to the correct pressures. I had since corrected that, and it rides really well. The rear brake/wheel still has a squeak, but I have checked and there seems to be an issue with the piston - somethign I would have hoped they picked up when changing the disc. So, they are going to look at next week. I gave it a good dose of brake cleaner and it seems to have quietened it down a but. The heated grips no longer work. They wired them into the fuse box, and I guess the fuse has blown. I am thinking there is a short somewhere, but I don't have the space to take the fuel tank off to trace the wiring. Since they were playing up before I took them in to be rewired, I am guessing it was the previous mechanic who has probably cut into the insulation or something. At the end of the day, these are minor things. The electrical system initially worried me, but it seems to be functioning well (touch wood). The engine purrs like a kitten, and the clutch and gearbox seem in good shape, if a little notchy at times. For an 18 year old bike, it is still hanging together well. Well, this weekend, it was great riding weather, if a little chilly in the morning. Yesterday was nice and sunny and we hit abour 17 degrees. Today was more on the grey side, with the odd ray if sunshing getting through and it was 16. My son and I went for a ride both days and covered around 130 miles between the two days. We found some nice twisties with excellent rolling countryside views as well as views to the Bristol Channel. We stopped at the local Harley/Indian dealer, and then the Triumph dealer, where a bunch of young fellas made a bee line to the son's bike and they all spun a good yarn. We pootled/bimbled around a bit more and then all of a sudden, on a country road (we aren't short of them around here) he decided to open up the throttle and got the little beast to 70mph, I did ask him to read back his speedo (we have intercoms). Today it was back to the twisties and some riding in town for practice, where he did stuff up navigating a roundabout. He was very disappointed with himself, but as I point out, even the most experienced riders make mistakes, that he wasn't dangerous, and as long as he learns from them, he is in the black. The Biffa (nickname for CBF1000's here) is an absolute joy to ride. Smooth and very positive acceleration, respectable handling int he twistes (knee didn't quite get down - and I don't have sliders, anyway). Only real complaint is that over the potholes it is a bit stiff. Maybe I should take a look at the rear shock. Bikers were out in force both days, and the convention here is a tilt of the head to the middle of the road, with a slight nod at the same time. Most people do it, and some quite pronounced. The alternative is a wave of the left hand with an extended arm. All in all a good day.. Next week, the Halse Angels will head to a beach on the Bristol Channel - most likely Minehead, which is only 14 or so miles away. Then the real test for the lad - a ride into London.. to the Aussie High Coommission for an appointment for his Aussie passport renewal (his old passport isn't one fo the new tech ones, so it is like a new passport application. Looking at doing it Wednesday week.

The Brent Crude price is still lower than it was at the height of COVID: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/brent-crude-oil I recall Australia feeling a bit nervous about dunny paper, but not petrol. I guess not being allowed more than 5ks from your home probably had something to do with it. Yes. the Strait of Hormuz was still open, but freight wasn't going terribly quickly between places and it was super expensive to boot. In Australia's case, it would appear our polliies since Howard may have had something to do with our current predicament:

I would hope very much that Albo (or whoever is in government) is going to negotiate hard for Australian interests in any demand from any government. Too many times it appears various countries, inclduing Australia roll over, especially for Chump on threats. If we clearly have an upper hand, we should use it to our advantage. I remember years ago when the US government decided to heavily subsidise and agricultural product to protect their farmers. I think it was sugar. Australia protested to the WTO as I recall, with little effect. I think ti was 3LO that had the US secretary for agriculture of the time on for an interview. The US offical repeatedly stated the US government has to do what is in the best interests of its growers and that the Australian government should do the same. When quizzed about how the US wwas pursuing open markets and it was hurting Australia's growers, he repeated the mantra. When asked about using their disproportionate economic clout to protect their farmers and their markets were also of disproportionate size, the US official repeated the mantra. Well, if Australia has the wood over the US in this, they should definitely negotiate hard to the disadvantage of the USA and claw something back, taking into account the bigger picture.

Yes.. and if you did read my post properly, your would recall I wrote that you can get your protest vote but still dend a preference to the least unliked candidate likely to get elected. Meaning it would still facour the dominant parties or the dominant dandidates in the electorate. My post started with I prefer proprotional sytstem of voting or some such words, but put forward arguments in a hopefully unbiased way. I suggest you read posts in the same vein.

Both quotes posted to keep context... Can you pls explain how a big community committee would work for all of the stuff government provides (and is expected to provide) on a national scale for a country the size of Australia, when there are many complex issues presenting and needing decisions on a daily basis? I am genuinely interested because, as I undestand (from my son and I haven't checked him), Lichtenstien sort of operates in a similasr way. Except that it is a country of 40,000 people and has a small geogrpahic area. It has a power sharing agreement between the monarchy and the elected representatives, and, as I understand, on items of political importance, it goes to a popular vote. Again, I am not sure how a system that works for a much larger country economically, in complexity and geographically. It's GDP is a tad under USD $9Bn; this is barely the budget of one department in Australia,m which as a GDP of a tad under USD$2tn. And, according to Google, Lichtenstein fits into Australia a little over 48,000 times. But, I am genuinely interested in how a community committee could scale to Australia.

This works well on a small scale and for local management, but could you really organise it for the defence of the realm or the provision of hospitals, justice, etc?

I don't seem to be able to find the swing across the state at the moment, but is seems the LNP are bearing the brunt ov votert dissatisfaction. https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/sa/2026/results?sortBy=margin&filter=all&selectedRegion=all&selectedParty=all&partyWonBy=all&partyHeldBy=all With 63% oif the vote counted and 9 seats in doubt, Labor seems to have romped it in. But, some of the biggest individual seat swings at present are to Labor. For example, Waite has an 18.3% swinf to ALP. Note, in Kavel, there is currently a 17.4% swing to Libs from the independent. Until the vote is counted, we won't know across the state, but it will be interesting reading You can thank Abbott for that. At last look, Australian internet was slower than Khazakstan's on the whole. In London, you can get gigbit internet unlimited for £20/month, including a landline. We are getting in the sticks early 2027.

It sounds like NZ has a pretty fair system as I was wondering how the independents would fair in a national vote under proportional representation. I think the idea the the proportion of representation based on peoples' first preferences is the better one. If 30% of the nation has PHON as their first vote, well, then that would be significant enough to warrant a decent representation in parliament. You or I may not agree with it, but why shold 30% of the population be deined representation of their preferred politicians/party. You can no longer call them fringe if that was the primary vote proportion. In the same way that it is argued their should be representation proportionally on diversity/ethnic grounds, surely the same applies on ideology/protest grounds, regardless of whether or not one agrees with them. That is the tenet of a democracy. One of the possible benefits of proportional representation is that it may lessen the protest vote, too. If you know that your vote is more likely to end up in some representatio of your protest party of choice, you may think twice before casting that vote. This should result in a moderation of the protest vote. However, I see this as a drawback against preferential voting. Under preferential voting, if you are tha pissed off, you can cast a vote for your protest party and then give your second preference to the party more likely to get in that you would prefer over the other (except for ultra-safe seats). This sends a clear message to the parties that you really are pissed off with them, so they better take notice. In that way, you get more for your vote than a simple proprotional representation. You get to say, "hey we're really not happy with you" without eelcting people who would destroy the place, but still have your vote count towards the party/representative that is more likely to get in and would better represent you. Which one is better is a matter of opinion/values. My guess, or at least hope, is that most of the vote to PHON is protest and they don't really want them anywhere near the levers of real power. If that is the case, then preferential voting has the better outcome in terms of sending a clear message to the parties, giving PHON some reason to continue as a protest party, but utlimately landing representation where the bulk of the population want it. If the votes who put them number 1 on the ticket really want them there, then proportional voting would be the better representation of what people want, regardless of what comes next. While the political parties may get the message that voters are unhappy, one of the problems is they think they have to mimic the protest party de jour. This is proving in the UK to be the deat knell of the conservatives, and the LNP may well follow suit. The problem for them is the electorate are wondering why vote for the imitators when you can have the real thing, and that the parties that lurch with the protest parties are of no sunstance or vision - they don't stand for anything except getting votes. And that costs them.

I haven't done one for over 30 years. They are popular here.. The offer all sorts of different prizes and themes. You can stand behind someone at the counter who chooses them like kids at a lolly shop. Amazing how much speople spend on them both in money and at the counter selecting them.. the latter being a pain.

Part of the fun is anticipation, though

Yep. That was the first day with those gloves and I can only think in that case I just plumb forgot, or hit the switch, but not properly (neither would be the first time). A couple of times since, I have pressed the button to stop the indicator but it not registered.. Small thumb (and fingers).

On another note, one of the interesting things to come from this was our refugee system, which is considered one of the worst ones in the development world and freuently is the subject of intenational condemnation, including from teh UN: https://www.unhcr.org/au/monitoring-asylum-australia Despite the reasons for our asylum system, and despite the need to ensure all apoplications meet the criteria required that they are not a risk to Australia and that if returned to their homeland, they are likely to be persecuted, killed, etc for the people they are (e.g. activitists, gay, etc). OK, the Ausssie government could easily identify them, but how could they in a day determine their status and likely safety at home? Yeah they are footblallers, yeah they are women.. Did that make them eligible or able to be ualified as not being an undue rrisk? Yes, you could argue they were to go back to a war zone, but there are many refugees in camps and detention centres in that position, so why wouldn't it apply to them. As it turns out, they themselves deided they no longer needed asylum and it was safe to return.. to a war zone. Of course, there could be something more nefarious at operation - they may well have received threatd or legitimately been concerned of the ramifications them staying in Australia would have on their families by the regime. But now, it beckons the question - if it is good enough to turn around anylum claimes very quickly for some footballers, then why is it good enough for us to virtually torture our Asykum seekers? Yes, we shoiuld be diligent with applicants and make clear economic migrants should be sent back to go through other routes of migration. But waiting up to 4 years before one can even get permission to apply for asylum is cruel.