Jerry_Atrick

https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html Looks like big oil may be an objective after all

I don't doubt this for a minute., but Iran has one of the world's largest known reserves of oil.. and el Chumpo would love for the USA to have first dibs at knockdwon prices, if not control the reserves. Since he meeds to find a supply his sponsors can use (cf. Venezuela), then, I bet there will be large contracts to be had - by US firms.

Does Iran have oil? That may provide the answer to Chump's ultimate goal, I would think. Does Iran pose a threat to Israel? I would suggest that is Netanyu's motivation, as well as keepong out of court. Does that make Chump subservient to Israel? Hmmm.. I will leave that one to the court ofpublic opinion. Do Iranians want to be free of the Sharia based regime? I guess that makes them at least partially supportive. Will the civilian deaths directly resulting from the offensive be more or less than those by the regime resulting from what looked like peaceful protests? We'll have to wait and see. Is there a good chance it will get worse before it gets better? Definitely.# Is there a good chance it will eventually get better (by that I mean restoring Iran to its political place or better than it was pre-1979)? Andiwhat time would that good chance take? That is subjective, but based on history of these interventions, especially in the region, I would not give it 50/50.. Is it justified?

I'm assuming there is some humour in the above, as there's been a fair share of slap-dash, if not shady mechanics in my pre-UK years. It has gone imnto the shop today, for the first time, I rolled up to a red light with both hands off the handlebars to relax them a bit. Blimey, the front wheel started oscillating right to left - not tank slapper terriroty as it steadied as soon as I my hands ont eh handlebars. So, I am guessing it is a balance issue - which will be done with the new tyres I decided to get. I have to admit, I am disappointed with the previous mechanic - he took over the business from the mechanic I used to use, who was a ripper. I didn't know, but all three motoircyclists in the village that I know used the same bloke, but switched to the one I took the bike to today because of hacing the same experience as me. I found that out afterwards of course.. should go to the pub more often, but I have all but given up drinking. Back onto the riding: Am now riding weekly into London. Apart from the heated grips, the bik performs very well and is comfortable. I would prefer it had slightly less fuel consumption, but, it is around 1/2 the consumption of the mini and a little less than that of the Volvo. Also, I am not spenging £24 for two days of travelcards (£10 on fuel and parking is free). Ride extensively with the son as we have an intercom set and he likes the company. Yesterday, the weather was OK and we did about 50 miles of just cruising around - windy country roads, which I don't like, and better A and B road twisties, as well as a stop for lunch. Nice continued bonding time. Son is prepping his license, which at 23 will give him up to a max of 47hp.. We love his little 125, which is quick for a 125, but he has already outgrown it. The plan is for him to do the theory test, which has two components - pure theory and an interactive threat awareness/avoideance test - the latter of which you cannot prepare for. Then he will do a 1 week course, which they book his test at the end of. When he has done that (and assumed he has passed), we will sell the 125 and look for a second hand Triumph Tiger Sport 660, Trident 660, or a Scrambler. If they are over 47bhp, then they can be restricted as long as they don't have a power rating greated than 94bhp.

er.. specsavers is a UK brand.... My guess is fixed speen cameras have been around a long time and they had to be that size to be read.. Or maybe an EU thing, as German, French, and Italian seem to be similar sizes.

I think the regime change in 2021 worked wonders.. Sadly it reverted in 2025.

I dunno.. the regime change in 2021 in the US was a big improvement, I thought.

A bit of an update. The mechanic who I had look at the bike when I purchased it seems to have cut few corners, although the amount of rain we have had and the distances I cover may have something to do with it. The grips were wired direct to the battery, presumably as they detech the voltage that indicates the battery is not charging and then decide to cut out automagically - allegedly. As the bloke who jump started me said, the shoudl be wired into the fuse box. I decided, on a recommendation, to give another local mechanic a look. He said the same thing and that the heated grips were notorious for the controllers losing the ability to self-switch off. Then he pointed out wither the gripes weren't glued to the bars, not enough was used, or some inferior gluwe was used as he was able to move the grips around the bar. Then he pointed out a few things, including completely worn front sprockets, all of which I asked the last mechanic to look out for. And, to boot, the rear disc needs replacement.. which is better than the wheel bearing, which is what I thought could be the problem. He pointed out everythign I asked the last mechanic to look out for. FFS. As I have 10 thumbs when it comes to engineering, I basically have to pay up. Which I was expecting most anyway. So, it goes into the shop tomorrow for its fix. But, I had ridden it to London and back, and am riding with the lad, still. And, it is great fun, even in the wet, with freezing hands, and a little less fuel economy than I was aiming for.

My son's 125cc bike gets 140mpg; I may have to start using it.

More ammo to justify the war, I guess. Containerised freight futures are down; may be a good time to go long on longer dted contracts.

My son calls them bomb-villes. I told him what an old bomb is in Aussie auto vernacular.. He wasn't too happy.. he is a Triumph-o-phile They do look nice, though..

Oh, I give up 😉

Indeed, and Iran have confirmed Khamenei is dead

Sweetie?

Don't call me baby.. ?

You got out alive! Well done.

There is a young lady who works in the pub at Butterleigh, not far from Exeter University, where my daughter goes. She is from Warren, about an hour west of you, OME. Butterliegh is a village that in UK terms, is not remote, but distant. I was suprised to see any Aussie working there as it isn't in a major centre, let alone someone from Warren. I aksed her what she thought of the UK? It was just before Christmas and her response was, "it is bloody wet..".. I guess they get as much rain as you do, as at that pointl it was a reasonably dry start to winter.

The first post in this forum sort of sums up the above: https://themotorbikeforum.co.uk/topic/54673-ai-fail/#comment-665689

As I saidf in my post, I don't know what his objectives are. My point was if he brings regime change that is representative of the people and preferably democratic; and that elimiates Iran from state sponsorship of terrorism (I get it, to some they are freedom fighters), then surely, that would be good. regardless of the objective? The fact Netanyahu is in office at the moment, is happy coincidence to keep him out of court. Regardless of who is in power in Israel, Iran has vowed the elimination of Israel. Israel for years has pursued attacks on Iran when they felt, presumably on half-reliable intelligence, that they were getting too close to nuclear and advanced missile systems. The civilian protests and killings (which I remind you seem to be on a trajectory to take as many civlians in aroudn 5 months as Palestinians taken in 28 months), for which the rest of the world seems silent about, is being committed by the Iranian regime. Perfect time for regime change, which Israel does want, and so does the USA (and, I bet most f Europe, Canada, Australia, and many other democratics and peace loiving nations).. Just the opportunity to justify it hasn't been so blatant before. So, yeah, Chump probably couldn't give two hoiks about the average Iranian - but seemingly, neither does the rest of the world. But, if his action makes it more peaceful - and that is an if, then I would be happy for him to take a peace prize. I would still inscribe on it, it took him a lot longer than Obama to get it. If Europe led the attack under the banner of linerating Iranian civilians, would that be pallatable? Agree. Except it isn't just Netanyahu, but it is also appears to be the majority of Iranians want it, too: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202508212335. And they are getting slaughtered for wanting it - at a far faster rate than the last couple of years which caused outrage. Of course, Netanyahu and probably every Israeli (Jewsih - not the Arab) politican does, too, as it would, in theory, neutralise a threat. To say anything different would be illogical. Correct. What I meant was the current Iranian regine is a Sharia law based regime, which most Iranians weren't and aren't. I agree. I did not say it would end up with a lovely new democratic, representative, and secure government. I wish it would, but it would be unlikely. Again, my question was if... . It may well make them unhappy... Other things he has done has made them unhappy, but he seems to have applied a lot of teflon to those shoulders!

Hmm.. thinking about it, if he succeds and restores a government that is democratic and/or representative of the people, maybe he should get a peace prize. For some debate on the amount killed over a month, it has ranged from the official 3,000 purely civilian population, to up to 30,000: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/iran-protests-death-toll-disappeared-bodies-mass-burials-30000-dead That article is a month old; Wikipedia quotes different sources with wildly different estimates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres So I think 15,000 a month is not unreasonable. To put it in perspective, if it were to continue, it would equal the number of Palestinians claimed to have been killed by Hamas (currently around 76,000) after 2 years in 5 months. Also, there is the veil if not reality that Israel is targeting th emilitary that hide behind its civilians, and Hamass has not yet differentiate the number of cilvilians and mitilarty/terrorist personnel killed. But, for the sake of the argument, let's assume they were all civilians and Hamas doesn't release its military killings. Given most Iranians are Persian and not islamic, and the definition of Genocide (at least according to Google AI is: "Genocide is the deliberate, systematic destruction—or intent to destroy—in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group... " and incl;udes destruction, which is not necessarily killing... would it not seem that the Iranian regime is on that path against anyone who doesn't give the pretence of converted to Islam, or wants their own self-determination? I have no idea of Chump's objectives, but if an unintended consequence is the re-impostiion of a government represntative of the people, preferably democratic, and disollution of state sponsored terrorism, then, well, it does deserve a peace prize, does it not?

It was cheap and reliable, but so were model T Fords in their time. Times and technology has moved on, and, sadly for some, the alternatives are cheaper, more reliable, require much less maintenance, and produce less emissions to boot. Model T fords in today's money were about USD $15000 (AUD$21,000). For $19,000 you can get small hatch backs.. now, who is going to buy a car to the Model T spec for $21,000 when you can have the alternatives cheaper? Not too many takers, I would think. Yes, there has to be an investment to bring it on to critical mass, just like there was an investment in coal stations. Remember, all of Australia's power generation was originally government owned because of the investments required - before the governments sold the family silver. I guess candles and horses weren't enough. It's not woke, it's economics - pure and simple. I recall plenty of blackouts as a kid... when it was virtually all coal. And a hell of a lot less demand than today - no air conditoners and the like fo us commoners. When I worked in the industry, the maintenance of coal plants was horrendous compared to even nuclear (nuclear was more expensive due to the standards, not the actual work that had to be done). We live in thereal world, with real data, not some nostalgiv throwback.

@Grumpy Old Nasho - if I remember corectly, you are in QLD (but maybe mixing it up with Willidoo). Anyway, the numbers don't like. Coal is still the majority source of electricity generation - at around 60%. The solar is about 28%, then comes gas and other renewwables: https://electricity-generation-map.treasury.qld.gov.au/ Now, if you live in SE QLD, then max your electricity usage at midday to 2 or 3pm from memory. And that is THANKS TO SOLAR If you live outside SE QLD, it is likely coal and gas that is holding your prices up. Ironically, most of the solar farms in QLD are SW QLD. Just stick with coal and your prices will continue to rise as it is more expensive to produce electricity, and getting more expensive to extract. You're welcome

I don't get the furore around the new uk passport rule. Australia has had the same rule for years

yah.. its for the wheels