onetrack

I couldn't tell you, Spacey - but it wouldn't surprise me if he stayed on the East Coast for a considerable length of time. These corporate high-flyers rarely stay in their "home" for any length of time, they are always on the move, doing "deals".

There's no fine for leaving W.A. - but if you leave and try to come back in to the State, you must self-isolate for 14 days. I can't see even Kerry Stokes getting around that one.

He's already self isolated for 14 days after returning from the U.S. on April 8th. But he got an exemption from having to self-isolate in a hotel (on medical grounds), and self-isolated at his riverside mansion, instead.

Wow, you got lucky there, Skippy, sounds like you could've easily ended up like Steve Wittman.

..... starting kicking it along to crank it up. But alas, if wouldn't start - because Turbo Enterprises had let the build contract for the turboencabulator go to the lowest bidder (in the finest free-enterprise fashion) - and the Chinese had won the contract, and they had then decided to save on material strength at every turn.

Not only had they saved on material strength, they'd eliminated a lot of the wiring as unnecessary, and shrunk the diameter of the remainder of the wiring.

This meant the turboencabulator would often fail to fire up at first kick - and if it did, it would often backfire - then self-destruct in a pile of burnt aluminium foil.

Turbo desperately looked behind him, only to see the angry crowd of delegates gaining on him. It was about then he became religious, and started singing this song to boost his hopes .......

A big feed of KFC would've slowed you right down! LOL

Who drew the short straw and got to sleep on the ground?

It's a pretty awful indictment of the British military of WW1, that they refused to allow pilots to carry parachutes.

The excuse that there was no room to carry a parachute on the WW1 aircraft doesn't wash, it would taken only a small amount of redesigning to make room for them.

http://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/machineaesthetic/absent-parachute/

I have a copy of Vol. XII of "The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918" - the Official Photographic Record of the War.

The book contains 753 photographic images of WW1 by official photographers, such as Hurley, Wilkins, Campbell, Baldwin and others, and those images are the most enduring images I have ever viewed.

The photos of the wastelands of the Battlefields of France are simply staggering, and one can only marvel how men actually lived, fought, and survived under those conditions.

Of course, we know now, that 62,000 Australians didn't survive, another 156,000 were wounded, gassed or captured - and uncountable tens of thousands of Aussies came home seriously pyschologically maimed.

War is Hell, and nothing represents that Hell, as well as the images of WW1 fighting and destruction, do. Here are just a handful of those horrifying battlefield images.

https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search?query=St%20Yves%20&collection=true&facet_type=Photograph&facet_related_conflict_sort=8%3AFirst%20World%20War%2C%201914-1918

The Celtic gene trail is quite interesting, and what it reveals, is often different to history records. What is revealing in gene tracing, is that many groups were not wiped out by any of the invaders.

The Romans particularly, had little genetic impact on the British people. But the Anglo-Saxons were the invaders that had the major overwhelming impact on British genes.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/18/genetic-study-30-percent-white-british-dna-german-ancestry

Well, it seems fairly obvious the Su-25 has minimal accidental launch protections. As with all Russian designs, they would be essentially simplistic. Master arm, press fire button, you have missile launch.

I would expect the rockets are early "dumb" rockets (i.e. - not laser-guided), as the Russians would be wary of giving the Chad AF the latest technology.

What I find interesting is why the rocket didn't explode when it contacted the fuel tanker tank. I was under the impression all rocket weaponry involved explosive initiation upon nose contact.

Either the rocket was a training dummy, or the initiation system failed, or had degraded to the point of malfunction.

He might have been quite good at teaching the theory of flight, but was all thumbs and left feet when it came to actual flying of an aircraft, and sensitive manipulation of the controls.

I guess that's why good pilots are outstanding in their abilities to both understand the physics of flight, and to be good at controlling their aircraft with fine motor skills, and a good "feel" for what the aircraft is actually doing.

......followers in such a short time?" But the speaker system of the auditorium, being of Russian origin, made it sound like Turbo said "hobbled our followers", and all the delegates started looking puzzled.

It got worse, as Turbo launched into a promotional spiel about TE, and the potential of TE skateboards to replace cars as a primary form of global personal transport.

Thanks to the crap sound system, the delegates heard "cars" come across as "czars", and "primary" as "primate", and "transport" as "trainspot".

Along with many delegates having English as a second language, their initial puzzlement turned to outrage, as they thought Turbo was taking the mickey, calling them a bunch of monkeys, and making fun of their fine European train networks.

They rose in a combined roar of outrage, and pandemonium ensued, as they advanced on Turbo, muttering colloquial threats in every second European language. The Russians were the most offended, and Turbo suddenly realised........

Unfortunately, there's just a little problem with identifying people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry today, accurately!

In the 12th Century, the population of the British Isles was around 2M people. But reportedly only 10% of those people left descendants!

So that makes all people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry today, descended from a pool of 200,000 Anglo-Saxon offspring of the 12th Century.

Accordingly, that makes every person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry today, a 36th cousin to every other person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry!

And that is the reason why so many people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry have similar faces, to the extent that numerous people are often said to have "twins"!

I don't believe any wanted person on Interpols list could hide in Australia, unless they positioned themselves in a very remote part of Australia.

Spacey, if you know where Lord Lucan is living in Australia, I'm sure Scotland Yard would be interested to know his address! Or is he just one of the homeless layabouts, with no fixed address?

Hello aleDF - Thank you for your interesting contributions, and your interesting aircraft. May I offer one small hint for power tool use?

I see you are using a small angle grinder to cut the metal. I would advise that you install screens to protect against the shower of sparks, and the flying small hot metal and grit particles.

Even cutting discs produce sparks of hot metal and grit, and these are particularly destructive. The small hot metal particles and grit can embed themselves in glass and seriously damage it, even up to 10 metres away.

Also, it is easy to start fires with angle grinders! I have done this myself! I accidentally started a fire at the far end of a workshop, about 20 metres away, with an angle grinder!

I have also known a repair workshop that overhauled engines, who had reconditioned engines suffer bearing failures soon after repair.

The problem was traced to small particles of carborundum grit entering the engines when under repair, because one other person in the workshop was using a small angle grinder, some distance away.

The tiny airborne particles of carborundum grit from the angle grinder discs, found their way into the engines under repair, and led to scoring of the bearings, and rapid engine failure!

Good machinists will never let anyone operate an angle grinder within 20 metres of their lathes, because the airborne carborundum grit particles land on the bedways of the lathe, and cause rapid wear!

I trust you take this advice in good spirit, it is not criticism of your workmanship, which appears very good to me. The advice is merely my personal knowledge and experience being offered to you.

.... they could be described in the sales literature as, "the skateboard that gives you wings!". Unfortunately, when the skateboard buyers found out that Steggall was a pollie, the skateboarders turned into political groups, with Left Wing and Right Wing skateboarders, and even a few Independents.

Things got really ugly whenever the Left Wing skateboarders and the Right Wing skateboarders arrived at the skate park. They started off slandering each other, then the skateboarding got really ugly, with near-misses and distinct head-on skating threats, along with threats to "run them over!".

It made the Mods and Rockers fights of the 60's, and Parliamentary Speech Time, look tame by comparison. The threats erupted into physical violence, with skates being used as weapons.

One Left Wing skateboarder suggested they arm themselves, as the attacks from the Right were beginning to get really vicious. Another dressed as Tony Abbott, intent on getting his "Steggall Revenge".

Turbo saw more sales opportunities in these class and political divisions, and set about manufacturing armaments for skateboards. He sprouted, "With my skills, this will be just a.....

You don't lose anything you've written in the message box with this forum programme, unless you purposely delete it. Whatever you write up is automatically saved, even if you click off the page.

You only have to go back to the thread, and insert your cursor in the message box, and all that you typed, re-appears.

I considered taking a Bank to court once, for a very obvious breach of contract which cost me dearly. But the lawyer was very good, and his advice was pointed.

He said, "It will cost you a minimum of $300,000 (this was 1995) to initiate the lawsuit, and I can assure you the Bank will indulge in every strategy and delaying tactic, that ensure you run out of money, long before they do".

In the case of the Bell Group lawsuit, carried out at high level by W.A.'s State Govt Insurance Office (as a major creditor to the Bell Group, having lent the Group $150M) - whereby the lawsuit hinged around the argument that the Banks lent Bell Group money, when the Group was already insolvent - and as such, were not entitled to remain as secured creditors - the Banks ensured the lawsuit continued for 18 years without coming to a satisfactory legal conclusion.

At the 18 year mark, the Banks agreed to conciliation, whereby they offered $1.75B to settle the lawsuit, without incurring a legal result, of liability found against them.

But then, bystanders in the form of other unsecured creditors of the Bell Group, initiated claims on the money offered by the banks - without ever having been party to the original action.

The W.A. Govt, totally frustrated by the endless fiasco, then introduced State legislation, barring any further actions in relation to Bell Group monetary claims.

Then the aggrieved parties that came in late, looking for money, took the W.A. Govt to the High court, claiming the W.A. legislation was unconstitutional, and of course, the High Court judges agreed with them.

The arguments over the funds offered by the Banks were only just finally settled in Dec 2019 - but the final legal bill has been around $300M.

As the old saying goes - lawyers are the people who referee the fight, and keep the purse.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/alan-bonds-bell-group-has-so-far-cost-a-staggering-263-million-in-legal-fees-and-charges-ng-b88785072z

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-21/decades-of-litigation-end-as-bell-group-claim-settles/11821040

....Mk 1 versions, and who was now paying the price (literally) by continuing to use it. "I can trade your Mk 1 in a Mk 2 for a very good changeover price", offered Turbo, who was engaged on designing the further improved Mk 3 model, which was an even greater marketing idea, because of the increased potential to trade both Mk 1's and Mk 2's in on new Mk 3's.

Turbo had gained his insight into the excellent marketing opportunities in the Mk 1, Mk 2 and Mk 3 model naming, when he worked at International Harvester designing trucks that had increasing levels of unreliability.

The unreliability was addressed by adding a Mk 2 or Mk 3 decal, thus convincing buyers the original disastrous engineering problems were cured.

He'd also served time in GMH and Ford Australia, with his time there leading to the equally disastrous engineering flops in the Mk 1 and Mk 2 Commodores and Falcons.

"That Pipistrel Sinus (avref) is just what I need in this Virus Age, to go with the Mk 3!", exclaimed Turbo, as he spotted yet another marketing opportunity.

He gloated - "I could import a shipload of them, re-brand them as the Pipistrel Turbo Clear Sinus, and we'll be laughing all the way to the bank!"

"There's nothing like a 'Turbo' decal, and a 'Clear Sinus' name, to give you an air of authority and confidence!"

"In addition, we can advertise the Pipistrel Turbo Clear Sinus is fitted with a virus-free Turboencabulator, and we can also throw in a Mk 3 Rectal Photon-emitting-Turboencabulator for the driver, at no extra cost!!"

"It's a win-win situation for everyone! Imagine the happiness pervading the aviation scene (avref) when everyone in back in the air with all this latest technology! It's the only way out of this current aviation gloom!"

"There's just one little flaw in your Great Plan", said OT thoughtfully. "How are you going to get around..........

.....been omitted from the set, and great pain was being experienced by the users. Turbine Medical stepped into the breech and offered cheap painkillers to make up for the lack of lubricant.

"This is worse than riding a Harley Davidson for a fortnight with a busted seat!", exclaimed Cappy. "No it's not, I've done that, and the lack of lubricant is worse!", said Hi Ho.

Very soon, it was obvious by the number of users hobbling and crab-walking stiffly, the lack of lubricant was going to kill sales of the Rectal Photon-emitting-Turboencabulator.

"We'll have to cut back on the steak knives, and ensure the lubricant pack is added!", said Turbo. "Surely, we can still get sales with a rubber knife set?"

"No, that's been tried before", said Bryon. "We found that quite a number of people can injure themselves with a rubber knife, and the lawsuits nearly broke us!"

"I know!", said Turbo, with his usual flash of marketing brilliance. "We'll shrink the size of the Rectal Photon-emitting-Turboencabulator, charge the same amount, and because it's smaller, no lube will be needed!"

"You know", said Cappy, "You're not just a pretty face, are you? That is marketing gold, straight out of Coles and Woolies food portion sizing! Before long we'll .......

Flexible Drive Industries are the people who will supply everything you need by way of control cables. You only need to supply a length, diameter, construction material, and types of ends required, style of yoke or ball stud coupler, and they will offer a mind-boggling array of solutions, with one that will suit your requirements exactly. And if it's not in stock, they will manufacture it for you.

You need to know the style of cable ends in particular, this relates to the amount of travel arc the arm is moving in (degrees) - which means if the arc is small, you utilise a cable with a fixed end - or if the arc is large, you need a cable with an inbuilt pivoting end, to allow for the amount of bending at the end of the cable.

https://www.flexibledrive.com.au/

The ATO used to have first dibs on any money, now they have to line up with the creditors. Thus the reason the ATO is harsher than they used to be, on any company that is lax with tax owing.

The banks, as secured lenders, only have first dibs on secured assets, if it can be proven they only lent funds to the company, while the company was solvent.

If it can be proven they lent money while a company was insolvent (and they knew it), they then become unsecured creditors, and have to line up with the trade creditors.

An associate here on the left coast was the bloke who pursued this legal technicality, because he lost a lot of money in the early 90's (hundreds of thousands) to a company he had been dealing with, when they fell over.

He was then outraged when their bank grabbed all the company funds, telling the creditors they had first dibs on it - leaving nothing for the creditors.

But he reckoned the bank knew they were insolvent for a long time, and kept giving them more money - because they weren't ever going to lose anyway, because all their lending was well secured.

He took the bank to court, and it went through every court in the country, ending up in the High Court - whereby the Judges of the High Court agreed with him.

It took about 10 years, but it was a revolutionary judgement, and the decision made all the banking institutions crap themselves.

So, from that day onward, if the liquidators can prove the company lenders knew the company was insolvent, but kept lending them money, the lenders are no longer entitled to be preferential creditors - no matter how good the security is.

Other way around. ( I think) The boomerang came first and was slow and underpowered

Not according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, Nev. They say the Wirraway came first.

In late 1941, Lawrence Wackett, Manager and Chief Designer of CAC, began examining the possibility of designing and building a new domestically-designed fighter aircraft.

The main challenge to this ambition was the fact that fighter aircraft had never been manufactured before in Australia; according to aviation author Rene J. Francillon, many experts considered that the licensed manufacture of a complete fighter aircraft would be beyond the capabilities of Australia's industry at that time.

Wackett quickly made the decision to use elements of aircraft which were already being produced in Australia. Only two military aircraft were in production at the time: the CAC Wirraway, based on the North American NA-16, and the Bristol Beaufort bomber.

His shares are worth 8 cents each so there is no way he is going to throw any good money after bad

No - he just wants mug taxpayers to foot the bill so he can make another billion out of his shareholding and naming rights over the next 10 years.

Might as well re-arrange the company structure, give the debtors 1c in the $1 (I've been offered worse) - and re-name it Australian Airlines right now, thus saving $100M up front for a good start.

.....just lining up for the toilets. But the problem was, the local Gum trees were being stripped bare to try and meet the demand. The local Council and Environmental agencies stepped in and stopped the Gum-leaf stripping due to excessive environmental damage. That, of course, made the price of Gum leaves skyrocket, and they went to $30 each - if you could get one. Naturally, Turbo was quietly observing all this, and decided here was a marketing opportunity too good to miss.

He arranged, via Turbine Music Enterprises, to manufacture 15 million artificial Gum leaves in China, for immediate delivery. The landed price was 0.02c each, so the stage was set for Turbine Music Enterprises (a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Caribbean Holding company, which in itself was part of a larger Turbine Trust, based in the Cook Islands), was set to rake in millions overnight, all tax-free, of course - due to the Charity Status of Turbine Music Enterprises, which was registered as a producer of Gospel Music, so therefore a Religious Organisation.

But as soon as the Gum leaves were delivered, and budding Romeos tried their hand at producing, "Sail Along Silvery Moon" on the leaves, to serenade their girlfriends, it was found the leaves were.........

The Boomerang design was derived in haste from the Wirraway, with a much larger engine in the Boomerang. The financial and qualified personnel limitations of early WW2 made it necessary for Wackett to dredge up as much as possible of currently-available materials, designs and structures, using less-than-desirable numbers of design people, to produce a fighter as fast as possible, and within tight financial restrictions.

It's interesting that Friedrich W. "Fred" David, an Austrian Jew who arrived in Australia as a refugee from Nazi Germany (and who was registered as an alien, and who had to report to Police weekly), was a particularly clever aircraft designer, who had worked for the Nazis on Heinkel designs - and he had also done design work for Mitsubishi and Aichi Aircraft Co. He had major input into the Boomerang design.

David's major design contributions to the Japanese military aircraft companies resulted in the Mitsubishi A5M Claude fighter and the Aichi D3A Type 99 Val dive-bomber.

It's unfortunate that Davids crowning effort, late in WW2, resulted in the CAC-15 - an outstanding aircraft that was scrapped simply because it was designed as the jet age arrived, and it was obsolete as soon as it was ready to enter production.