onetrack

Best bumper sticker I ever saw was on the back of an old Kombi - "QUIT HONKIN'! I'M PEDALLING AS FAST AS I CAN!!"

With a village named like this, what man wouldn't be happy?

Airbags are the worst thing ever invented for suspension "improvement", and they only try to solve a problem that shouldn't happen in the first place - excessive tray overhang behind the rear axle, coupled with overloading. Airbags merely concentrate the weight in the centre of the chassis arch over the axle, and this is a guaranteed recipe for a bent chassis. The 'net is full of photos of "bent dual cab utes", and the repairers have a great time plating chassis' to try and get around the problem. However, plating usually only transfers the problem to somewhere else - failed wheelstuds, chassis bends behind the axle, instead of in front of it, and bent axle housings or damaged towbar mountings. Few people understand if you overload a vehicle, hook up a trailer or camper, do 100kmh with it on rough roads, drop into a washout, spoon drain, or even a sharp dip in the road - the loading on chassis and axle components, more than doubles!

But the Albion truck was Scottish!!

It's unfortunate, but these global corporations and investors are amongst the few who have the big money to pour into the often-necessary local business operations upgrades. The Chinese have poured a lot of money into agricultural operations, and their output has generally increased because of the upgrades. The worst part is the likes of the Chinese taking over our fishing co-operatives, such as Geraldton Fisheries Co-op. GFC source most of their income from the W.A. rock lobster industry. But the largest percentage of W.A. rock lobsters go straight to China - simply because of demand and pricing. The Chinese pay premium prices for our rock lobster, and Australians merely have to go along for the ride, paying the Chinese price for our own product.

I believe Eddie Jones is working on multiple new job applications as we speak. So much for the "Jones" training system. Maybe he was actually a Welsh deception implant, trained to ensure the Wallabies lost?

The place was called "Albion" in pre-Roman times.

I had a horse bite my hand when I went to pat it, when I was about 6. That probably led to my lifelong dislike of horses.

In my long lifetime, I've found it is utterly impossible to keep insects and spiders out of houses - no matter how "insect proof" you make your habitation. They can get through the smallest openings, and will continually look for openings that they can access - because they have nothing else to do but find good places to hide and source food they like. Spiders can flatten themselves into unbelievably thin profiles to squeeze through narrow gaps in doors. Insects are opportunists that can afford to wait until an opening appears - usually when a human makes a mistake and presents an opening for them. We have tiny spiders here, they must be no more than about 2mm in body diameter, and they hide inside clothes pegs - then make their way onto clothing when it's brought in off the line. Half the time they'll bite you when you put the clothing on - and the other half of the time, they'll climb off the clothing and find a spot to park, and spin a tiny web. And the buggers have a nasty little bite. SWMBO is allergic to bites of any kind, from sandflies to mozzies to spiders, and she comes up in lumps and rashes and itchy spots on a regular basis - most of the time, not even knowing what bit her. I fix these little buggers up by dropping the clothes pegs into very hot water, as often as I think of it - but they still make a nuisance of themselves. They walk straight through door and window gaps. Huntsman spiders are also excellent at flattening themselves right out to squeeze through tiny cracks. I don't mind Huntsmans in the house, but they can freak you out when they suddenly appear, or run like lightning from some spot where you disturbed them. I generally pick them up with an upended glass and a sheet of paper, and take them outside again.

"Wallow like a Liberian oil tanker in a heavy sea", comes to mind ....

Well, you can get "genuine" Toyota bullbars from Toyota dealers, so they must have manufacturer approval. I think all these bars are locally designed and manufactured by independent shops, but they sell them through Toyota dealerships, once factory approval is gained. https://www.toyota.com.au/accessories/guides/bull-bars-or-nudge-bars#:~:text=Toyota Genuine Bull Bars help,the front of your vehicle.

I've covered probably around 2.5M kays over 59 years of driving (I started driving at 16 without a licence, in a rural area!). The vast majority of my driving was on remote Goldfields and rural gravel roads and country highways. I've hit a fair few 'roos over the years - but mostly late at night, and mostly on moonlit nights, and after rain - which is when 'roos are more active. The 'roos like to snack on the green shoots by the road shoulders. I used to have bullbars fitted as standard to all my vehicles - both my vehicle and employees work vehicles. They saved me a heap of money and reduced vehicle damage considerably, over the years. But then came airbags, safety equipment galore, sensors, and multiple electronics around the front of vehicles. The bullbar manufacturers have developed new bullbars that work in with all these new safety features. However, I went away from bullbars probably about 20 years ago, when I started spending less time in rural and remote areas. I've returned to an increased degree of rural driving in the last 4-5 years - but my current 2013 Hilux is not fitted with a bullbar. I've toyed with the idea of fitting one again, but it seems that the 'roos are becoming more educated, or their numbers are down. I do see 'roo carcasses nearly every day, but they seem to be mostly hit by big trucks, late at night. I don't have much time for Cadogan, with his smart mouth, "clever" sayings (well, clever to him, anyway) and his patronising BS, he really gets on my nerves and I find I have to switch him off after a few minutes. It's like listening to Trump, just a real know-it-all. Bullbar manufacturers still sell plenty of their products, and I see plenty on 4WD's that have had a workout on livestock. It's not just 'roos, it's sheep on the loose as well, and even the odd straying horse or cow! I hit a big dog once, it had been out savaging sheep and was making a run back home in town, and I clobbered it in the early morning as it darted out from behind heavy scrub. It did a lot of damage to a ute that I didn't have a bullbar on!

Carburettor cleaner is one of the best paint spray gun cleaners I've ever tried and used. The Supercheap variety is good stuff, just make sure you use it in a well-ventilated area!

He looks like someone inserted a set of false dentures in his mouth!

Yeah, it'd be pretty crook being identified as offspring of felons. As my Mum used to say, "We came here on ASSISTED passage! - not INSISTED passage!"

In another interesting energy development, drillers in Eastern France have stumbled across what could be a massive deposit of natural ("white") hydrogen. The hydrogen deposit is mixed in with methane, but they found as they go deeper, the hydrogen increases in concentration, until at 1,250 metres, in an old borehole, the hydrogen concentration is 20%. The drilling operators think the concentration of hydrogen could reach 90% at 3000 metres, so a drillhole of that depth is planned, so they can evaluate the deposit. https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/09/french-drillers-may-have-stumbled-upon-a-mammoth-hydrogen-deposit/#:~:text=Based on the estimates of,—or naturally produced—hydrogen.

We had part of our sanded floors done initially, about 20-odd years ago, with a solvent-based lacquer. Either the solvent, or the lacquer itself, produced the most toxic fumes I've ever endured. We slept in the house the first night after it was done, and we had wild nightmares from the fumes. We got out of the house the second and third nights, and slept at the stepdaughters place. The floor sanders never even used any masks! - they should've been using air-wash helmets, IMO! I reckon the stuff contained iso-cyanates, that stuff is 100% carcinogenic, and the warnings on iso-cyanate labels and the MSDS's are lengthy. The next lot of boards we had done a couple of years later, we specified an organic lacquer. The fumes from that lacquer were non-existent. The finish was slightly different to the solvent lacquer, a little different colour - but it's proved to be as durable as the solvent lacquer.

I found an interesting AFR article outlining how Morrison has stayed in Parliament because he's not entitled to a PM's pension. He and Turnbull are the only two incumbents who no longer qualify for a generous PM's pension - unlike other PM's, who didn't need the money, anyway. Turnbull, as a banker, has no need for any form of Govt pension, but Morrison hasn't set himself up as comfortably as many other PM's. There's discussion in the article how a reasonable indexed pension for former PM's, is possibly a good anti-corruption measure. The previous PM's pensions were outrageous, and Johnny Howard knew it. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/how-to-avoid-scott-morrison-hawking-himself-around-the-jobs-market-20230502-p5d4tj#:~:text=Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison,upon their retirement from politics.

I can recall quite a number of years ago, the Brumby was outed on one of the Automotive sites, as being the most expensive vehicle to own and operate - higher owning/operating costs than many bigger vehicles - and the parts and panel costs were eye-watering. A mate has an old WRX, there always seems to be something going wrong with it, that costs big bikkies - and the engines are a bloody nightmare to work on. Changing spark plugs on them makes changing V12 Jaguar spark plugs look easy.

Caterpillar went away from many steel castings years ago, due to their massive costs. They prefer to fabricate items out of rolled, flat or formed plate today, and then weld them together to produce the finished component. They do use a small number of diecast components, but mostly in automotive/on-road applications where weight-saving is a priority. But high pressure die-castings are pretty common in automotive castings today, and magnesium is making a comeback. Ford use a number of magnesium castings in their F series trucks. The advances in metallurgy are seeing a whole lot of new alloys and metal treatments come to the fore, that can provide very satisfactory large castings. The problems, as the Reuters article points out, is the cost of the machines to do those huge castings, and the hassles associated with making changes to the castings when needed, for vehicle improvements, or for new designs. I saw a Tesla driving around yesterday that had been shunted in the rear. The damage was surprisingly small, just limited to the hatchback door, and it still fitted well - and obviously was still quite useable.

You'd better hope the Subaru Brumby doesn't need any money spent on it - they're a money pit when it comes to parts and panels pricing.

A Kombi for those people who never know whether they're coming or going.

On the Honda, it wouldn't have taken much to change the first letter to an "A", and the fifth letter to an "O", to provide viewers with an adverse owner opinion.