onetrack

It's interesting to see, that if that US$38 trillion is a correct figure, then that is 143% of America's GDP.

Interestingly, the levels of Govt debt are excessive in many developed countries (as well as the well-known undeveloped ones). America's debt level, measured by debt-to-GDP ratio is 125%. The U.K. stands at 115%, while France stands at 101%. However, Japans debt-to-GDP ratio is 230% It is the most indebted country in the world. But .... drilling down into the figures, the debt owed by America, the U.K. and France, is to many and varied global lenders - including other countries. However, the largest proportion of Japans debt is to its own banks. They don't owe a huge amount to overseas investors. So the problem is, when global investors start withdrawing support for your country and your Govt, by moving their funds elsewhere, the amount of overseas debt your country owes is going to be the major item affecting whether your countrys economy goes into a slump - or into the sh****r. Japan can conveniently ignore a lot of its debt because their lenders are their own people and institutions. At worst, in Japan, when debt repayments fail to be made, the worst that can happen is few Japanese banks go bust, or are forced to amalgamate - and their economy slows down. That's what happened in the 1997 Japanese/Asian recession, which was largely caused by excessive property price increases - a property bubble - however poor Japanese Govt decisions also led to the economic collapse.

Major global investors are fleeing from investing in the U.S. dollar, thanks to Trumps erratic and inflation-causing trade policies. Those major global investors are countries as well as financial institutions. They are all concerned that Trumps policies will lead to the U.S. dollar losing its place as the premium financial investment choice. Trump is doing nothing to address America's constantly-ballooning Govt debt level - as with all U.S. Presidents and senators, they continue to keep kicking the can down the road. Sooner, rather than later, they will run out of road to kick the can down.

It is good that NO2 have decreased, and EV's are certainly playing their part. However, constantly tightening emissions regulations for IC engines must also be adding to the effect. Electric trains and electric buses and a huge upsurge in solar panel and wind turbine power generation can also be added to the picture, all of which are eliminating NO2 emissions. There has been a substantial decrease in the demand for fossil fuels, which is making the oil producers scramble for market share. This will place downwards pressure on oil prices and slow down the uptake of EV's.

No it's not. Diesels are the main source of NO2, that's why AdBlue was introduced.

SWMBO wants to know, exactly what destination you plan to send your wife to, with this book??

The world needs more Mark Carneys. Luckily he's taken over from Trudeau, who wouldn't have the intestinal fortitude to tell Trump to shove his trade and allies policies where the sun doesn't shine.

It's been a while since anything positive was posted in this thread - so to counter the negativity, here's some party photos! SWMBO and I went to a friends party (Christie, and she was 50) on Sat 17th. It was held at a local bowling club and we all had a good time - despite the fact I rarely go to parties now. Christie is a senior ER nurse, she's got a lovely nature. She laid on some great finger food, she had a DJ with some great 80's music, and there was dancing and good general fun. One of the most amusing parts of the evening was, Christie hired a portable photo booth for the evening and it came with a pile of props, and everyone had a ball with it! Christie is the girl in the blue, off-the-shoulder dress, and her daughter Molly (20) is in the white dress with the black images on it. Her younger brother Sam is in all black, and hubby Gary is wearing the check shirt. The images start at the bottom, where setup and testing the day before, produced some interesting "test" imagery, mostly involving Gary and Molly. See if you can spot OT and SWMBO, we're halfway down the images, posing with Christie, and I've got my best Elton John shades on. https://gallery.glowbooth.com.au/view/e85ec5e4-2f3e-4634-a126-076cff8346cd?

When I mentioned to SWMBO that a woman invented the windscreen wiper, she retorted - "That'd be right! Always doing the cleaning!!" 😄

In 1906, this chatty little handbook was released. It was called "The Woman and the Car". In the book, advice was given to women who chose to drive a car (gasp!), to .... 1. Carry a revolver, carry a small mirror for seeing behind them, for summoning help, and to also carry some chocolate (yes!) 2. The book also advised bringing hairpins, a pair of clean gloves, an extra handkerchief, a clean veil, and a powder puff for neatening up at the destination! I notice that there was no advice to wear goggles, which were pretty necessary for driving in 1906 due to a lack of proper windscreens, and very dusty unsealed roads. In incidental motoring news, a woman actually invented the first windscreen wiper!

It won't. Trump and his MAGA employees and MAGA adherents are psychopathic and perpetual liars. They will continue to lie bare-faced, and present completely alternate "facts" about events, even when faced with sworn judicial evidence. Everyone is crooked, but them.

If lightning hits a dead tree, it will still travel down the tree to the ground (on the outside of the trunk), but it likely won't make the tree explode because of an inadequate level of sap in it. The reason trees explode when struck by lightning, is because the sap is superheated to steam instantaneously. The normal level of volatile eucalyptus oil naturally in the air, is at too low a level to be ignited by lightning. However, in a fire, heated trees close to the fire front can release large amounts of volatile oils that further exacerbates the fire strength. There is a known feature of bushfires, termed "a crown fire". A crown fire occurs in front of the main fire front, and is driven by strong winds, which send the fire front through the treetops, aided by the high level of volatile oils at the treetop level.

This is a piece of hilarious AI video work, on the part of a Danish woman, poking fun at Trumps grab for Greenland .... https://www.facebook.com/reel/2090905211646100

I can just hear the Tassie ukuleles from here on the Left coast!! 😄

"You ain't from around here, are you stranger?" 😄

That has to be an April 1st joke article, surely? Never seen a single millionaire who wants to pay more tax, they continually spent large amounts on finding ways to avoid any taxes at all. Just look at Paul Hogan - he avoided millions in tax by sleazy means, and whinged like a baby when the ATO came after him. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-30/tax-war-over-as-paul-hogan-settles-with-ato/3981546

Trumps murderous ICE thugs, on a par with Hitlers Gestapo. Operating in a country where the rule of law has been subjugated to the rule of monetary power.

H. The letter relates to the number, in words. The letter equates to its position in the word for the number. Very cunning.

The problem with rare-earth elements is the dreadfully toxic and extensive processes involved in extracting those elements. They consume huge amounts of energy in the extraction processes, utilise multiple toxic chemicals in the process, and produce multiple levels of toxins and pollution when doing so. Plus, a by-product of the rare earths extraction treatment is radioactive compounds. All this, to get the necessary elements to produce "green" end products?

That's the problem with very large houses, the sheer cost of trying to keep them warm inside. I hate to think what it must be like, to live in an English castle in Winter.

Oh Yes! - It must be great, being able to sit on a steady 80 knots! - in your 60 foot cruiser!! Just need a few oil wells on the home farm, and a following fuel tanker, to keep them fed!!

There's a lot of angry people out there, spouting foamy-mouthed visceral hatred. The disease starts with extreme right-wingers and Nazis, and goes right through to "Aboriginal activists", to radical Muslims spouting anti-semitism. I trust the new legislation captures them all, not just the anti-semitism promoters. "Aboriginal activists" are amongst some of the worst spouters of racist, foamy-mouthed, visceral hatred.

I didn't realise for years, how there was a corporate term, "captive customer". It means they sell you something that contains components or contents that are only available from their company, so you have no option but to keep going back to that company for parts, service or support.

The article about Chinese robots, in the link below is interesting, and the comments, which are mostly from Americans, are just as interesting. https://electrek.co/2026/01/21/humanoid-robots-build-a-new-excavator-every-6-minutes-right-now/

It would be good to have a public expose (a Royal Commission?) into the modus operandi, techniques and motivation behind the global tech giants design of their sites. Virtually all of their designs and operating principles rely greatly on subtle psychology and human behaviour patterns, to constantly feed their need to capture permanent "clients" for their advertisers. They rely on making people feel "wanted" and "attractive", and to want to belong to an important ruling group, with whom they can identify. And their power is highly addictive.