onetrack

I have no power connected to my industrial block in a small country town in W.A. It's only 130kms out of town. But a 3 phase powerline runs past the street corner, only 50M away. However - to try and get the power connected to my block is the biggest rort of all time. I have to submit an extensive plan of what equipment I have, how often it is used, and its location. This is pretty difficult to do, given I don't even have a shed on the block yet. Then I have to submit my power request application, along with a substantial fee - it's $497 just for the application fee, and $1320 for a "small commercial connection". You then get an invoice for the estimated total installation cost, after you've forked out all this money. But if you decide their total installation cost is not economic to proceed with, you forfeit $550 of your fee money. In addition, it can take up to 14 months to get the power connected. It's a bloody joke. Lots of people, myself included, have just bought diesel generators. The only cost is a bit of diesel when the genset is running. If I go away, there's no ongoing monthly costs to be sucked out of my account. https://www.westernpower.com.au/products-services/install-something-new/connect-my-home-or-business/new-business-commercial-connections/small-commercial-connection/#:~:text=Other fees&text=The cost of an electricity,Distribution Low Voltage Connection Scheme.&text=The type of connection provided,a stand-alone power system.

The most interesting part about Nuclear power stations, is that when a failure occurs, NO-ONE can actually physically inspect the core to see what has happened! The scientists can only use instruments and second guess what actually happened in any meltdown. In Chernobyl, it is believed the reactor core melted right through the containment vessel and into the Earth itself - but no-one really has any idea of what happened in there exactly. With Reactor No. 2 at Three Mile Island, it took the operators and scientists FIVE days to even try and get a handle on what happened, and what was likely to result - and even then, there was much uncertainty as to what had actually happened inside the reactor. https://americanhistory.si.edu/tmi/tmi03.htm

Well, that's a pretty dumb set of regulations. What kind of idiocy allowed that system to be introduced into NSW? Energy provider lobbyists hold the most sway over NSW politicians? In W.A., there's nothing to stop you from having a stand-alone solar or battery system, you simply have to request power disconnection from Western Power, our energy supplier. Of course, WP will try and dissuade you from having a stand-alone system, they hate losing customers. https://www.westernpower.com.au/news/myths-about-solar-and-batteries/

To elaborate, Three Mile Island consists of two separate Reactors. The one that had the nuclear meltdown accident in 1979 is Reactor No. 2. Reactor No. 1 continued to operate until 2019, when it was shut down. Constellation Energy owns Reactor No. 1 on Three Mile Island, and says it will cost US$1.6B to bring Reactor No. 1 back on line by 2028. Reactor No. 2 is to be dismantled. The devil is in the detail though. Constellation is seeking a U.S. Govt loan guarantee for the $1.6B, to reduce their borrowing costs. This essentially means taxpayers are on the hook for all the debt, if Constellation go tits up. The proponents of the loan guarantee say that's not right and Constellation is responsible for all the debt. That works fine while Constellation is solvent, but the proponents seem to forget that companies become insolvent every day of the week, and can't even pay their rent or employees wages. Constellation is no different. Then there's the "greenwashing" by MS. The power to be produced by the refurbished Three Mile Island reactor is simply being fed into the grid - it's not going directly and exclusively into MS servers and data processing operations. The deal is simply "creative accounting" to ensure that MS meets its green power targets - on paper. There's a good article about the deal in the linked site below. https://cleantechnica.com/2024/10/04/refurbished-three-mile-island-payment-structure-is-not-quite-what-it-seems/ What makes me leery of the whole deal, is refurbishing a nuclear reactor that was built using 1960's technology and which ran from 1974. That means ALL the infrastructure in the reactor is over 50 years old. The reactor is a "pressurised water" design, same as the 100 other U.S. nuclear reactors. The system is extremely complex and using water in the entire system means constant corrosion problems - even when using stainless steel. Even stainless will start to corrode after 50 years or more - and lots of equipment in the reactor will be made of less durable materials than stainless steel. Concrete starts to decompose and deteriorate after 60 years. The reinforcing in concrete is the major component that starts to corrode, and this reinforcement corrosion is what starts cracking in concrete. https://americanhistory.si.edu/tmi/tmi02.htm#:~:text=Metropolitan Edison%2C a subsidiary of,and continues in operation today. I wouldn't like to see what those 50 year old structural components in the reactor are looking like, after 50+ years of service (and neglect). Companies are notorious for ignoring danger signs in refurbishments, and continuing with them against educated advice. We had an excellent example here in W.A., where a major coal-fired power station was refurbished at massive cost, despite huge levels of corrosion, which kept being discovered, the more they repaired it - and which kept adding to the refurbishment costs. After it was refurbished, the power station only operated for a short time before a boiler exploded, and the Govt mothballed the station. The fiasco (a Liberal Govt one) cost the W.A. taxpayers around $266M - and we still ended up without the extra power station. Govts take advice from "experts", but the "experts" are usually swayed by economic reasons to pursue refurbishments that should never be carried out. https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/botched-power-station-fix-to-cost-taxpayers-250m-ng-ya-274023

Phosphoric acid is a substantial acid ingredient in carbonated drinks, and is by far, the most destructive acid on teeth. I have to confess, I was a Coke addict from a young age, and no-one gave me advice to avoid drinking it. As a result, my teeth suffered severe decay, and I had to have a large number of teeth removed and have dentures fitted, when I was still in my late teens. Even then, no-one told me to stop drinking Coke. I didn't stop drinking it until I was about 40, and I rarely touch carbonated drinks today. You're lucky if you can reach 70 and still have all your teeth, simply because of the level of acidic additives in our food today. Some people simply have good teeth, I don't think our family have good teeth genes. I'm jealous of those who have near-perfect teeth, the young lass who is my dentist, has a perfect stunning set of teeth, she's obviously obsessed with good oral care.

In a somewhat staggering piece of news, Microsoft is launching full-on into AI. They need so much additional computing power, MS is going to invest US$80B (yes, that's BILLION) just this financial year alone (U.S. businesses FY is Jan 1 to Dec 31), to increase the number of AI data centres (worldwide - but half of that expenditure will be in the U.S.), specifically for training AI models and launching AI-based features worldwide. The staggering part about this development, is that this massive upsurge in data processing and AI development, is going to require so much electrical energy, that the U.S. is going to restart the mothballed (in 1997) Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, in 2028 - and MS has contracted to take ALL the energy that the Three Mile Island plant can produce, for the next TWENTY years!! 🤯 https://www.perthnow.com.au/business/microsoft-to-invest-129-billion-in-ai-data-centres-c-17281410

Oh, I forgot to mention - the front axle on the Brush was made of wood, too! Oak, Hickory and Ash featured large in the car's build. To add even more oddity to the design, the engine ran anti-clockwise! This was an idea thought up by the designer, who figured that it was less dangerous for right-handers to crank an engine that ran anti-clockwise. Kickbacks from clockwise-running engines when hand-cranking, often led to broken thumbs, and even broken arms!

Ya wooden want to park around termite-infested areas with Henry Fords 1904 race car! In 1912, Francis Birtles and his driver, Syd Ferguson, made the first trans-Australia trip from Perth to Sydney in a 1911 Brush car (which arrived in Sydney in early 1912). The Brush featured a wooden chassis. On their Trans-Australia trip, 73 miles out of Broken Hill, the LHS chassis rail broke in half! In a most fortunate event, Birtles and Syd Ferguson had just passed a bloke sawing wood! They drove back and acquired a length of freshly-sawn 4" x 2" timber (102mm x 51mm for the inch-measure challenged). Birtles and Ferguson jacked up the broken chassis rail until it was straight again, hand-drilled two holes in the chassis rail, and using fencing wire they carried, they wired the 4 x 2 timber in place, and continued on merrily to the completion of their trip in Sydney! Here is a photo of the Brush on the trip, driver Sid Ferguson is in the drivers seat. Interestingly, Birtles couldn't drive a car! He took all the photos and navigated the route, as he'd previously done the trip by bicycle! Surprisingly, the car is LHD.

An optical illusion. A tree at the far end of a grassed area, and a wall behind the tree.

I was quite surprised to see a 1987 Bentley Mulsanne at Albany W.A., advertised on FB Marketplace for just $25,000. In immaculate condition, with only 78,000kms, too. That's a cheap Bentley Mulsanne. I wondered if it was originally Paul Terrys personal transport - he was a whizz-kid in finance and sold his business "Monitor Money" in 1987 for around $50M (when $50M was really big money), just prior to the 1987 stockmarket crash, which he predicted. He retired to Albany W.A., and lived in extreme luxury and became a bit of a philanthropist, but killed himself in a helicopter crash in Hawaii on his first solo. He would've been better off staying in the finance business, he obviously wasn't cut out for a flying career. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/terry-paul-27662 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/491449117238739

You NEED a gun in America, because the place is full of nutters who will kill you just for trespassing on their lawn.

The "Godfather" of the EV, one Andy Palmer, who was responsible for the Nissan Leaf EV, is telling anyone who'll listen, that hybrids are a "fools errand", and that the Chinese will undoubtedly end up winning the EV "race", and that Western car manufacturing companies need to get their act into gear on EV's, and make like Chinese car manufacturers, or they won't survive. I believe Andy Palmer is spot on with his assessment that increased tariffs only made the local manufacturers lazy and make them fail to innovate. And so many countries are bringing in tariffs on Chinese EV's, fearful of what is happening to their local car manufacturing. It's like King Canute trying to hold back the tide. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/the-godfather-of-evs-explains-why-china-is-winning-the-race-to-go-electric-and-why-hybrids-are-a-fool-s-errand/ar-AA1wt9nj?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=dee145dfafd24b2c8f309730b002c2e1&ei=27

I can't believe they'd sell all that stuff without the mandatory safety warning labels!!

Let's get back to the basic problem. Islam is a form of Cancer. Radical Islam is the worst form of Cancer. Radical Islam believes it is O.K. to kidnap innocent civilians, hold them hostage, torture them, and even murder them - all in the name of advancing the Islamic religion. Remember Islam is politics and religion rolled up into one, and constant murder of innocents is their forte. The radical Islamics will utilise any ideology to advance Islam, including Marxism, Leninism, and any other radical, anti-establishment grouping that supports terrorism to overthrow established civilisations. The Islamic God, Allah, is a murderer, he tells them to kill people in the name of advancing Islam. They even kill other Islamic adherents when they consider they're being heretical, by starting a new division of Islam. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was a warmongerer and a murder. Muhammad was involved in no less than 86 warmongering campaigns. We can perhaps more accurately pronounce the name Muhammad, by accenting the last three letters of his name. Doctors try their best to cure patients with Cancer. They cut out tumours and treat Cancer patients with highly dangerous drugs to try and save their lives. Despite their best efforts, the Doctors often kill good cells, good tissues - and even sometimes kill the patients trying to cure the Cancer. This happens because the Cancer is ingrained in the body, in the cells, and despite the best and cleverest medical research and innovation, Cancer continues to persist and return on a regular basis. Benjamin Netanyahu believes Islam is a Cancer. He lost his brother Yonatan at Entebbe, where Yonatan led Israeli Special Forces that rescued civilian hostages on a hijacked civilian aircraft, from Islamic militants. The Sayeret Matkal saved 102 civilian hostages lives from Islamic murderers, with 4 hostages killed. The greatest number of hijacked aircraft have been hijacked by Islamic militants. Benjamin Netanyahu is a crusader against terrorism - and especially Islamic terrorism. He is a Cancer Doctor, trying to destroy as much of the Islamic Cancer as he can. Unfortunately, innocents are being killed in his attempt to root out that Cancer. I believe Benjamin Netanyahu should be supported and encouraged to continue his drive to root out the Cancer of Islam, because it is rearing its ugly head again, in many places on this planet, and 2025 is already starting off as a year of increased Islamic terrorism. https://answering-islam.org/BehindVeil/btv2.html

This is the one? It's been on FB Marketplace for 21 weeks, so he might still be waiting a while for a buyer. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1002280831392625

Always remember that 90% of the Harleys ever built, are still on the road. The other 10% actually made it home. 😄

I suspect that was either a terrorist attack, or a simple accident, the Cybertruck was reported to be full of fireworks.

I doubt whether there could be another Chad Morgan. Definitely a cultural cringe for many Australians.

Sorry Jerry, I don't know if it's just me or what, but the joke is over my head?

I'm amazed at how you get anything to dry in your current weather. At least, in our climate, we can still have days in Winter where it's warm enough to dry. However, I can remember several bitterly cold cloudy days in past late Junes, where I had a struggle getting paint to dry.

The gloom here is the State road death toll, it's close to exceeding our worst road toll year, in 2016. They keep wiping themselves out. A lot of it is just plain simple stupidity behind the wheel - Darwinism in action generally, but also resulting in the deaths of innocents as well. I don't see things changing much, just more road cameras, more fines, and more infringement notices for the rest of the population. I thought 2024 was a tumultuous year, I personally think 2025 will be a lot worse. A narcissistic, totally chaotic sociopath, in control of the worlds largest economy - an emboldened Putin who will "win" the Ukraine War as Trump slices support for Ukraine - because Ukraine doesn't contribute to his personal coffers - an emboldened Kim Jong-il who will gain great military assistance from Russia, and up-to-date combat experience for his troops (just what he wanted), and a devious China ever-ready to bend the world to what it wants for itself. Here's hoping more dictatorships fail though, in 2025 - although sometimes it's hard to see what will bring them down. We have to look for the rays of sunshine in the gloom. Happy New Year, everyone!

The Arabs have become dumber and dumber because they murder all their intellectuals with their Stone-Age interpretation of Islamic beliefs - which have become their form of Govt and rule. There is no separation of State, Judiciary and Religion, as we in the West have developed. The Islamic religion is Law, Govt, and State Rule all rolled up into one, and unelected Imams hold all the power - including the power to rule moral behaviour, and dish out death sentences for Islamic Law infringements that are regarded as only deserving custodial sentences in our Western societies. As a result, democracy doesn't exist in Islamic Law-ruled countries. The Islamic rulers behave like rock apes in the Stone Age, and I'm surprised there's not more revolt against the Imams and their ruthless dictatorial behaviour.

I'm still around 75kgs and still in good shape, body-wise. I've always been careful about what I eat. A lot of people might call me a "picky eater", but I think it pays in the long run. I've always avoided eating heavy, tallow-like fats. I cut most of the fat off any meat I eat (and I love red meat). I've never eaten much pork and I only eat an occasional bit of bacon today. Once again, I prefer lean bacon, not the American-style "streaky" bacon, which is more fat than anything else. I believe if you have a fat (or oil) that doesn't dissolve rapidly in warm water, then the body is going to have problems processing it. It will take longer, and the body will not utilise it for energy production, but decide that it needs to be stored in the fat cells. Vast amounts of processed and fast foods are manufactured using heavy tallow-type fats that we often wouldn't even eat if offered up in their original form. All animal carcasses are fat-trimmed to make the product more presentable and more tasty. But the "lean trimmings" as they are called, run into hundreds of thousands of tonnes, even millions of tonnes in places such as America - and believe it or not, they're no longer discarded and regarded as a money maker, and re-processed to make manufactured/highly processed food. There is actually a futures market in lean trimmings, such is the volume of them. Lean trimmings are ground to a paste, the so-called "pink slime", and often treated with industrial chemicals ("hydrogenated"), chemical additives added ("to improve flavour" - i.e. - make the product more addictive). This product is then added to many processed foods, primarily hamburger patties, and a hundred other highly processed foods. In this manner, heavy tallow-type fats (and chemicals) are consumed by food buyers without any knowledge or understanding of what went into their food. So many Americans are grossly obese due to their addiction to these heavy tallow-type fats, particularly pork fat, and they consume vast amounts of them in their poor diets. Add in the dozens of addictive industrial chemicals added to processed foods, and you can soon why Western nations suffer such an obesity problem. Go back 100 years, where highly processed foods were minimal, and look at the people in photos and films of that era, and you'll see a lot less obese people.