Ray!

http://www.news.com.au/money/cost-of-living/power-bill-hikes-hit-aussies-as-winter-bites/story-fnagkbpv-1226374987439 What I'd like to know is who are the extra 400,000 that will be spending more than 10% of their disposable income on power. Soon it'll be like living in a tent in the High Country. Cheers Ray

You should definitely be getting better than 16 with the Di, it's generally only some versions of the CRD that seem to have pretty woeful economy for a diesel. With my previous Di, I was getting an average of 11.7lt/100km, which included off-road trips and towing, over a period of about a year of driving. Cheers Ray

A lot of farming land is rapidly disappearing due to urban sprawl, all around Melbourne's fringes. A lot of vegetable growing is under threat and the only option will be importing. There was a recent article about this, but the only one I can find (The Age) keeps crashing the browser. Cheers Ray

I worked on my uncle's farm for nearly a year and while I really liked it, it wasn't something that I would have considered doing forever. But it sure did give me an appreciation of what farmers have to do to make a living. Whilst modern technology has made some aspects easier, animals and plants are what they have been since farming was started, they move in their own cycles. Cheers Ray

I don't think the average consumer could be dumbed down any more than they are right now, anything that will help them think about the operation and maintenance of their car is useful. Many that are driving cars, simply shouldn't. As for the 4PSI rule, I've always used the hand temperature rule. After driving a reasonable distance to properly warm up the tyres, at least 10km on a summer's day, I put my hand on the tyre and if the temperature is reasonably even across the tyre, then it's at the correct pressure. Now that I have one of those IR temp gauges (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Non-Contact-LCD-Digital-IR-Infrared-Industrial-Thermometer-Temperature-Meter-/300672871584?pt=AU_B_I_Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item46017feca0), I really should do the same and see how good my hand is compared to a more precise instrument. Cheers Ray

Victoria's rules are a little more open to interpretation in some respects. If there's a track closed sign, gate or no gate, stay out. But there are lots of tracks that stay open in winter and DSE have been know to fine people in those areas; usually if they are going through bogs holes and the like, under track damaging rules etc. The Wombat Forest here is one that they patrol in winter. Cheers Ray

Nothing unusual there, but I do find this statement somewhat vague: Are you, or are not allowed to enter the forest for legitimate reasons? Cheers Ray

It's not a gimmick, as this is exactly the same principle as the aftermarket tyre pressure alert systems, warnings are given inside the car if there is a pressure loss below that which is acceptable. The pumping up feature just helps those who are filling up from air outlets that don't have the warning/preset features available. Also, I haven't been to one servo where a pressure gauge has been anywhere near accurate. Cheers Ray

It's interesting to see that car manufacturers are begining to install systems that have been available in the aftermarket for a while now: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/nissan-easy-fill-tire-alert I wonder if this takes into account cold tyres pressures and hot tyre pressures? Also, it would be very annoying if you're deliberately dropping pressures because of road conditions. And what happens when you replace a tyre/rim combination that doesn't have a sensor installed? Cheers Ray

I have one of those cheap Chinese head units, one SD slot for GPS and another SD for music and whatever. It also takes CDs/DVDs and has connectins for external players. It has worked quite well. Cheers Ray

Here's an interesting article about the loss of physical media: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/ber-waste-as-schools-scrap-books/story-fn59nlz9-1226373017622 I do understand that a lot of research is done on the web, I do it myself all the time, but getting rid of books from a library is an interesting move. One of the things that I always found of value in a library and it's something that I know to consider when looking for information on the internet, is finding the less obvious references. When I search for some information on the internet, I do not just select whatever comes up on the first search results page, but often may go through 20 or more pages to see if there is anything else that may be remotely related to the search query. I also often query using many different search variables, as they can often bring up different sources of information. So I wonder whether the school kids of today will do that, or just select the first thing that pops up and use that as the reference source? There are potentially other implications as well, such as intentionally manipulating information dissemination, but I hope we never see that happen. And will we, over time, simply lose sight of the older books, writers and ideas, which may be just as relevant, but simply overlooked? Cheers Ray

An interesting article from the Weekly Times: http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2012/05/30/488991_national-news.html. My uncle was a dairy farmer who also grew hay and timber for sale, and my brother-in-law was a dairy and sheep farmer; they called it a lifestyle, I use to call it a life sentence. Most city people have no idea what goes into farming; without farmers we couldn't exist, but it's not a life I could ever have handled. Cheers Ray

I still have a few years to go and I hope that if I ever get that bad, someone takes away the car keys. Cheers Ray

I installed a set of brand new Holden Calais seats in my MQ years back, got two from a Holden store in Port Melbourne that had a bunch of stuff going very cheap. Installation wasn't overly hard, as all I had to adjust for was an height offset, between the console and door side of each seat, with a riser. From memory, a couple of the bolt holes even match up. It may be worth having a look around at similar seats from other sedans and then considering the options. Cheers Ray

That's kind of interesting, as I can tow a 2 ton trailer or my campervan behind mine in my automatic, which doesn't have the ideal gearing at times, in the Gippsland hills (which aren't just rolling meadows), without any issues whatsoever. I did a V8 conversion a long time ago to one of my Patrols and while it went, it sure did hurt the back pocket. Enjoy the conversion, I had fun with mine, but I couldn't keep up with the fuel payments today. Cheers Ray

Any reason why you're ditching a common rail for a petrol V8? Cheers Ray

I have to say that I really like the way that the chip can be tuned. After dropping down the peak settings because of the severe boost spikes that I started experiencing, I was somewhat unhappy with the resulting performance, so I did some adjustments to peak settings and was able to test the results by driving around the local area and a trip to Melbourne last week. The driving experience has been much better, no boost spikes, and in fact somewhat better than with the orginal settings and that has been borne out after I refuelled today at Morwell. I had travelled a total distance of 557.9 km and used 63.77 lt of diesel. That equates to a fuel consumption of 11.43 lt/100km and that is with an auto. One has to be happy with that. Cheers Ray

The reality is that you probably don't hear about the majority of incidents, it's only on a slow news day etc that one or the other is published, or it's a particularly dramatic stroy. Just as you don't hear about every death that occurs due to one vice or the other, they are happening all the time. Cheers Ray

There's another thing that came to mind in respect to facebook etc. In the past, people used to write letters, send postcards etc when away on holidays and whatever. These provided a record that recipients could keep and put away in scrapbooks and the like (my wife has plenty of these) and look back in the future at these as a bit of family etc history. That's just about disappearing, as people now seem to be facebooking and twitting their experiences, and if you're not on facebook or twitter, these transitory messages don't even exist. It's a bit like photographs as well, few actually print anymore and everything is just held on a hard drive somewhere, which may just as easily be wiped at any time. I wonder how historians will see us in the far future? I think some may come to the conclusion that at one point, in large part, humanity lost the ability to record social experiences. Cheers Ray

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2012/05/29/488275_latest-news.html Memo to family member: When son needs to go to the airport, take a taxi or let family member do the driving, not an 86 year old. Cheers Ray

Well, I use Windows and my security hasn't been jeopardised, but others have had different experiences. I guess it depends on how you view your security arrangements and act accordingly. Cheers Ray

I do exactly the same. You can never know if or when such a photo could be used to accuse one or more of doing something wrong, when they are completely innocent. Just consider that recent thread on P4x4 regarding the accusations made against someone in WA. A vehicle was spotted on a private road/track, the owner accused of destroying property and their identifying details posted on the forum, with no proof of them doing anything weong other than inadvertently being on a private road. Cheers Ray

Someone, some years back, did an analysis of chipped and non-chipped Patrols and it appears that chipped Patrols were less prone to having issues. I seem to remember that report saying there were no chipped Patrols that reported issues, but I can't remember that for certain. Cheers Ray

I just don't understand it. People seem to throw all caution and common sense out the window when it comes to posting anything on facebook. Some of the things that have been related to me about the younger crowd and what they say on facebook beggers belief. It's like they become someone else once they hit that screen. I've also heard similar stuff happen even with the older brigade; very little consideration and contemplation as to what they are about to post. Things people wouldn't consider sending out in an email becomes the norm on facebook. Cheers Ray

That is pretty amazing, and he still has all his fingers as well. Cheers Ray