Ray!

It happened in Rio: http://joannenova.com.au/. Cheers Ray

I knew a guy who used to make these small engines and he brought a radial engine he was working on to work one day. From memory, it was about 60mm in diameter and not only did it look beautiful, it turned so smoothly it was amazing. I never got to see the finished article, but I'll never forget the workmanship. Cheers Ray

This is amazing: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/06/watch-this-guy-painstakingly-hand-build-the-smallest-v12-engine-ever/. Cheers Ray

It sounds then like you followed through as well. Cheers Ray

I just thought I'd update this considering the latest report of a 3.8 magnitude earthquake in NSW. Not a lot of people realise that the Richter Scale is logarithmic (just like sound pressure which is measured in decibels) such that each step is 10 times greater than the previous ie an earthquake registering 4 is 1/10 of that registering 5. So the 5.3 magnitude earthquake really makes the NSW 3.8 a mere tremor; whereas, the NZ 6.3 (especially as it hit a major city), made the Vic one a mere shake. Here's a graphic to illustrate how the scale works: Cheers Ray

It won't end until the Greens have locked up all of Australia and this is the UN once again sticking its nose into other people's business. What I found ironic this week, with all the rain we had, was that the Yallourn power station once again was affected and there are fears that we would only have around 80 hours of reserve coal. Now those complaining the most are ones who seem to be backing the closing down of coal fired power stations. We will, or could have easily had, a very good taste of life without coal fired power. Cheers Ray

I wonder whether they would really care; the number of cheese graters (fishing rod holders) I see attached to bull bars in quite amazing, yet no one seems to care. Cheers Ray

Most suppliers with recommend and fit the gear that makes them the most profit, or whatever they have a license to sell. What I consider to be great ride and handling, others might consider to be crap. You're only going to find out by spending money. Cheers Ray

You'll find that will happen if you take their standard setup for a 2" lift. You have to insist (beat them over their thick skulls) that they install the Comfort Shocks, as the installers will instinctively reach for the standard shocks and install them. I had this happen to me and when I drove out of the shop, I went about 500m, turned around and went back to the shop and told them I wanted the Comfort Shocks installed. When they checked, the installer had put in standard shocks. For the life of me, I can't understand why they don't try and promote the Comfort Shocks more, as they'd have a shed load of happy people recommending them far and wide. Cheers Ray

I've used the OME 2" springs with the Comfort Shocks for years now and have found that combination to be excellent for ride and handling. I've had the OME standard shocks in the past (the ones they always try to install with the 2" kit) and found them to be extremely harsh. The Comfort Shocks have softer valving in the compression stroke, so you don't get the jolt (lift) on bumps like you do with most other shocks. I've done a 100,000+km on my current setup and still going strong. Cheers Ray

Little wonder that the quake felt so strong, we were around 20 km or so from the epicentre. It's interesting that when I was Googling earthquake last night, it came up with listing of earthquakes for the area almost a year apart over the last few years, as if this is an annual event. And why do all of these things have to happen in the middle of the night, when it's the most difficult time to react or do anything? Cheers Ray

Just had an aftershock. Cheers Ray

I just experienced my first earthquake ever. I had no idea what was happening, the entire house was shaking and there was a noise that I couldn't figure out what it was. Man, what an experience. Now to try and find out where the epicentre was situated. Cheers Ray

Who cares! It tasted devine. Cheers Ray

I've never had pork belly in my life, but today when we went shopping there was pork belly on special at about $8, so I bought a packet expecting to get some cracking and not much more. Boy, was I surprised. I made a spicy rub for the underside of the pork belly using garlic, chilli, ginger, black pepper, salt and agave syrup; and oil and obscene quantities of sea salt for the rind side and then baked the lot in our turbo cooker. OMG! I don't think I can ever buy a pork roast again, as I have never had a pork roast that comes even close to this. Cheers Ray

There are three lots of fuses used in the Patrol, the common ones under the dash in the right hand side panel, under the bonnet on the drivers's side, in front of the battery, and fusible links. The alternator, according to my manual, uses all three fuses. Cheers Ray

Thanks. I don't think I'd want to run anything full time like that and the market is saturated anyway. But I like hands on stuff and building things, so small, one-off, jobs would be great, but unlikely. Cheers Ray

Century batteries have always been very reliable and I'd look at the Overlander version, which is supposed to be more durable. Cheers Ray

In auto mode, the way the hubs work is that there is a series of bearings that act to lock the hubs when the axle turns. This allows a degree of freeplay that when subjected to shock loading can cause impact damage. When the hubs are manually locked, the bearings are locked in and can't move whatsoever and the hub effectively become one solid unit like a fully manual hub. If you've ever seen or used one those bearing operated ratchet spanners, which have oval bearings that lock in one direction and run freely in the other, that will give you an idea of roughly how the auto hubs in the Patrol work. This type of mechanism is inherently strong, but not as strong as when the bearings are fully immobilised. Cheers Ray

http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/14/facebook-security-tips/ Cheers Ray

I took early retirement last year, so I have a bit of free time on my hands at the moment. I want to start looking for some work but, around here, finding hen's teeth is easier than finding work. Cheers Ray

IE9 has tracking protection as well and I have it turned on for most sites. Some Youtube and Flash ads seem to be the most common way for trackers to collect information, as these are always blanked out on sites that have tracking blocked. Cheers Ray

Excepting the ATO and Visa, my bank knows more about me than anyone else. Cheers Ray

A government website to assist illegal immigrants: http://www.immi.gov.au/ima/ All politics aside, this is a sign of the times. Cheers Ray

Maybe Facebook is following the activities of all registered users. Cheers Ray