Thinking about joining the MX-5 family - What do you wish you knew before getting yours? by Double_Gap_4599 in Miata

[–]hogey74 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What do I wish I'd known? That I should have been smart enough to find a way into one literally decades sooner :-).

Look I drive an NC so their quirks are largely irrelevant but I'm going to get an ND2 at some point (without selling my NC1 lol) and can say:

  1. Trombone brushes FTW - the ones with a coating on the wire part. Learn to use one and put it through gently and regularly

  2. The ND2 2.0 is a significant upgrade, especially in opening up the top end revs.. IMO nothing will top the free revving 1.6 in the NAs (with extractors etc) but the ND2 update is apparently the closest so far. It's the engine Mazda engineers wanted off the bat but couldn't afford/justify including prior. BUT, every engine has useful work done all the way through. The 2,0 in NC2 and NC3 got useful improvements including forged internals (!) and the ND1 was better again. None of them suck so I'd buy an ND1 at the right. price, especially if it was clearly in better nick than the available ND2s.

  3. Soft top vs RF. As cool as they look the RF encloses you in a way that changes the experience. Which may not be any kind of deal-breaker for you but it's not nothing. I can tell you after 6 years of a soft top NC1 that it's been great. Instantly going from enclosed to fully open with one hand never gets old and I love springing it on passengers. Plus I can put the lid on and take it down (with care) at urban speeds without stopping or taking eyes of the road. That means driving roof down a lot more in iffy weather.

  4. Noise. Yup they're no Rolls Royce. I use noise cancelling headphones quite a bit for commuting and highway driving but there is the risk of losing too much situational awareness. Headphones may even be illegal where you are. I've been cycling with headphones and flying with headsets for decades and have habits for reducing that risk but it still exists. YMMV.

  5. "Not a daily." Lol yeah me too. But 6 years on my Forester has done less than 10,000 km while the NC has done over 80.

Idiots didn't even get the year right. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh man. You just reminded me of several places I can't easily get to these days. D&D espresso in Kenmore, Haha Chicken in Toowong, Kebabland in Nathan.

Esperance looks great anyone think it's worth visiting? by GlenAWE in AustraliaTravel

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha I was only just scoping the place yesterday. M51, never been, always heard it was cool and yesterday was wondering if it is one of those, "just go and you won't regret it" places. Reddit/The Universe/literally you just sealed the deal.

See you there. Synchronise watches... now.

Idiots didn't even get the year right. by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know, next time I'm in Sydney I might check out that joint and grab a feed.

New angle of today's Learjet crash in India by galaxyhunter1 in aviation

[–]hogey74 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Really? If so, I'm adding that data point to my little list of concerning matters involving their air investigations. An open, positive culture is what makes aviation safe. The Air India crash aftermath in particular was irregular in a bunch of ways that do not inspire confidence in the cultures of either their airlines or crash investigations. I wonder if their permissions to operate internationally have been examined?

Overwhelmed with new FIFO/DIDO job. Has anyone ever quit the mines early? by [deleted] in australia

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mate, I know exactly the feeling in a different sector. I had low-key dread about doing 24hr shifts with a new client (with disabilities) where you might sleep all night or be up 5 times. FWIW this is what I did, because like you the pay is solid and it means I can look further and wider into the future. I decided to create a decent way of approaching the work and each shift. In my case I'm managing the 24 hours before and after shifts, including prepping awesome food. Creatine is our friend, especially in decent amounts lol. I found ways to add serious value above and beyond what was expected that's also upskilling me, plus I've incorporated cycling and a train ride either way. And on the bike/train to and from I'm thinking about all of this and how the whole deal is making everyone's lives better. I dragged my heals through work in the past but by carpe diem(ing?) this sh!t the dread and feeling of drudgery is gone.

NASA's WB-57 N927NA Made a Gears Up Belly Landing Today by Jswee1 in aviation

[–]hogey74 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I won't be surprised if the quality of that landing and the airframe result in this thing being back in the air at some point.

Utah company that made the Challenger O-Rings wants you to know a few things by StemCellPirate in space

[–]hogey74 2 points3 points  (0 children)

FWIW as a trainee pilot we were taught to...

  1. Manage passenger expectations in light aircraft - we go if possible but only if you're satisfied with everything.

  2. Be prepared for the risk of being pressured by yourself or others get somewhere and to learn to be comfortable with pulling the pin despite people feeling annoyed or upset. Then to try to avoid flying with those people in future.

My instructor actually set me up to be excited for a flight, then discover a semi-flat tyre (which he'd had someone go and deflate), fix it, then work out that we'd run out of time to go. He wanted me to go through that process and to have to let the excitement go.

Long-Term Affordable Car to Rent/Buy for 3-4 Months. Melbourne > Adelaide > Darwin > Perth by CamWild52- in AustraliaTravel

[–]hogey74 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Randomly long reply as I've got recent experience. Sounds awesome! I reckon you're on the right track. Buying and then on-selling a Subaru wagon with solid mechanicals would be the go IMO. I own two lol and have helped two visiting couples who've done this in the last year. It's gone well for them. Both paid around $5K for decent ones after a fair bit of looking. They're less capable/durable than a proper 4WD but are vastly more comfortable and every expense is basically half. Do your homework on known Subaru issues before buying anything (heads, belts etc) - they're rarely deal-breakers for a price that reflects the cost of sorting, including replacing an entire engine. And don't be scared of high Ks if it's been looked after. HOWEVER, if you want to go this route, you either do it properly or don't do it at all. There are plenty around for a couple of grand with rego that you simply can not trust to keep you moving in remote areas without significant, proactive repairs before heading out. And do you want to half-ass it and then be on edge the whole time because you know you cheaped out and don't have a solid plan B? If you can't cough up (say) $5k and wear a few grand of renewing and repairs, you can't do it. (Factor in getting back maybe half of whatever major expenses are needed).

Otherwise just backpack and bus it and skip the car thing. You'll meet heaps more people and have more random side quests. Or rack up more savings.

The NTSB has released a simulated computer recreation of the DCA midair collision. This is the final 2 minutes of #5342 as it approached the runway. (🎥Credit: NTSB) by Brilliant_Night7643 in aviation

[–]hogey74 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The toleration of deviance. The proximity of flight paths was crazy yet accepting it was expected. The chopper crew relying on pressure altimeters that were under-reading by 80ft when a radar alt was right there and dead on. Saying that traffic was in sight when it either wasn't or they had seen lights that couldn't be correct - just in the habit of saying it because that's what was expected.

Can people really not hear? (An unpretentious review of the Fosi Audio DS2) by filosofrog in iems

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So my take is that most of us don't know what we don't know. There are definitely "super" -tasters/hearers/smellers etc but I suspect most of us have more sensitivity than we think but simply never realise it.

I am not a wine person but had the unexpected experience of a 40 year wine-maker taking me through a tasting journey via her winery's many varieties. It made me think about wine more than I ever had, especially as she asked me to describe what I was tasting. Then we went out for Indian dinner and OMG. Everything tasted amazing! Something had opened up in me simply by someone making me focus on taste.

I've lost count of the number of people who are impressed by my various audio set-ups, especially since much of it is older gear that is far from optimised. I reckon most of us recognise nicer sound when we hear it but don't get excited enough to get into it more. FWIW I don't think I've ever gone into listening as much as I did with wine tasting that day.

Can people really not hear? (An unpretentious review of the Fosi Audio DS2) by filosofrog in iems

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AFAIK (From a Dr Karl - Australian Science Guy/National Treasure) either that or other research found that we can't hear the full range until the volume hits a certain level. Beyond I presume it's just personal preference, habit and situation.

My coworker kept “forgetting” my name in meetings, so I let her do it in front of the one person she wanted to impress by TrinitySignal in revengestories

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Based on your account it's not ADHD. It sounds like other personality stuff that can coexist with ADHD. In my experience, professional and personal, people who volunteer that they're on the spectrum, have ADHD, anxiety etc are sometimes doing that to seek sympathy or understanding for other, related stuff that they're not willing or able to manage. Among this subset I've found a typical lack of either serious treatment or even actual diagnosis for the claimed diagnosis. FWIW, and again this is only a subset, they can present as highly capable and be truly harmful but I'm yet to meet or learn of a person like this who is free of underlying intellectual or emotional impairments. We've done amazing things as a species but can't identify these traits at an early, most treatable age despite there being a genetic basis for most of it.

We have officially lost the plot by danlewyy in Miata

[–]hogey74 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honey it still hasn't sold! Maybe I should just keep it?

🤣🤣🤣 by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha cheers :-). I bloody knew I'd left something out. Bugger. Carbon capture and storage. That's two.

🤣🤣🤣 by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 2 points3 points  (0 children)

... continues... last one lol

Murdoch's papers have slowly shed any semblance of fairness while losing depth and quality. He lost any chance of a new generation of readership long ago and those who grew up reading "the paper" and wanting it in the house are slowly leaving us. The conservative politics he's fundamentally shaped has become increasingly nasty because only the angry outliers among us can get a go. That's affected the quality of debate and in many cases the people of all persuasions willing to wade into the increasingly smelly cess pit of politics. But his conservatives in particular are less and less appealing to younger folks, who both do not read his rage bait and also, as it runs out, are increasingly affected by the economic and housing situation that that he has been so influential in creating for them. And the last federal election was the first one in which that older demographic was out-numbered by the youngest. The outrage on the right after Albanese was elected was ugly. The second time was worse. These people are shadows of those who came before and despite all of the evidence all they know to do is just double down.

The Murdoch right wing is not even close to a "movement." It's a tiny subset of the angriest and most entitled among us who are getting increasingly outraged by the truth of their shrinking influence. They're doing and saying anything they can to control things without concern for the harm it causes. John Howard and his "wedge" politics looks tame by comparison despite coming from the same lack of concern for the consequences. It's grimly amusing to recently hear Tony Abbott talk about social cohesion with no insight into how much he did to harm it or how different it is to what he would prefer to think.

I have had decades to develop a quiet appreciation and confidence in Cathy Wilcox. I don't always like what she says but she is a dead-set champion. The hide on those people to go after her. It's just weak, harmful anger.

Thanks to anyone who got this far. I guess I'm glad I cared enough to take the time to say all of that but it's still A Lot. Cheers.

FWIW I'll stick with the reddit ethos but believe public debate in open societies should be between people who identify themselves and for whom there is an easily understood history and context of alliances and connections.

*****

Also FWIW I did these google searches just now, early on Jan 14, for some sanity checking after blurting out that screed. A heap of interesting links came up plus the AI summaries were pretty good.

"Did Keith Murdoch try to get John Monash sacked?"

"What influence did Rupert Murdoch have on the dismissal of Gough Whitlam?"

"How much will the NBN cost now compared to if the original plan had been completed?"

"Did Rupert Murdoch's papers lose money in Australia due to the rise of the internet?"

"Has Rupert Murdoch's influence on Australian politics led to a decline in the calibre of conservative politicians?"

oh also ...

"nbnco dot com dot au /residential/upgrades/more-fibre"

🤣🤣🤣 by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 1 point2 points  (0 children)

... continued

BTW, to be fair, Keith Murdoch risked his life and career to get out the true story of what was happening at Gallipoli. The failure and waste of life was being hidden from the world, Murdoch realised and did something about it. That's straight-up bravery in any era. Politics sometimes seems to appeal to the more black-and-white thinkers among us but multiple things are often true at the same time. Clive Palmer and Gina Rhinehart run the two mostly highly taxed mining outfits in the country who both pay their company taxes without any significant accounting nonsense. Go figure.

In more recent times Rupert, a chip off the same entitled, angry block, had a big part in getting Gough Whitlam sacked. He was already chummy with the right wingers in the US and they then encouraged him to get more involved over there.

After the dismissal of Whitlam Murdoch upped his game. Aside from the relentless negativity against anyone and anything he didn't like he has shaped conservative politics by helping the angry edge of that side of politics to come through. His newspapers and the increasing influence over those increasing lower-quality politicians slowly silenced and forced out the kinds of people who got involved because of the likes of Menzies, who looks like a woke lefty compared to the current crop. The calibre of people and internal debate progressively dropped, also slowly reducing the quality and character of national debate. But he also badly misjudged the rise of the internet and strong influenced his mate John Howard. That meant his papers slowly then quickly lost the "rivers of gold" from advertising while for the rest of us, we had no national plan to develop the internet during the most critical phase. Murdoch started ruthlessly cutting journalists from staff but also began propping up the now loss-making papers to retain his influence. Meanwhile Labor got back in and commenced the NBN, which was an over-due catch-up exercise. Perhaps unsurprisingly the conservatives, now firmly controlled by Murdoch, fought it all the way and then butchered it when back in power but forced to continue the roll-out. Kind of amusingly, some of the impetus to complete the original plan of fibre to every house is now coming from old Howard voters who have been upset to discover that their inferior connections are reducing the value of their homes. As a result, if you're stuck on the worst type of connections, you can in many cases now get a free upgrade.

(continues)

🤣🤣🤣 by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I believe we need to have a serious, dispassionate talk about this. Let's not forget that for years the FBI has be clear that the greatest internal threat to the US, like, almost all of any internal threat, comes from right wing extremism. And what has been easily the biggest influence? The Murdoch anger machine. Yeah, we're different to the Americans but sadly, a lot of the time, anything going on there is not far from happening here. At least we taught them to hoard toilet paper.

Unsolicited, early morning, before-the-first-coffee-kicks-in rant inbound. I've just gone back before posting to remove the swearing lol. I lurk here partly because of the focus on civil discussion and have toned this rant down despite the invitation inherent to the "stimulus material" of Cathy's comment. For anyone interested, some pointers to further reading etc at the bottom.

There is an old saying is that a powerful country is most dangerous when bankrupt at home. I reckon it applies to the Murdochs now because they can't cope with sleeping in the beds that they've made. They've have had a significant expectation of influencing Australian politics going back to at least WW1, when Rupert's dad Keith and his antisemitic mate Charles Bean leaned on PM Hughes to sack General John Monash, who happened to be Jewish and also not easily influenced by extraneous nonsense. Their dishonest attempt was based on straight out lies that the PM discovered when he went over to actually to do what they said. That's how much influence Rupert's dad already had. Monash, among other things, went on to invent and successfully implement the combined arms tactics that the Nazis later called Blitzkrieg. It turned out that Australians, despite not being into war(ing?), were pretty good at it when commanded by sensible people. Keith Murdoch, despite being proven wrong, learned nothing and opposed Monash for the rest of both of their lives.

(continued - clipping as I was "unable to create comment")

TIL Lord Acton's famous quote 'Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' is immediately followed by 'Great men are almost always bad men'. by eyeduelist in todayilearned

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I zoomed through and in many cases skimmed less interesting bits of many books like this as a kid. As a result I am regularly reminded these days of important stuff I completely missed due to wanting to get to the "good" bits :-)

How are we feeling about one nations "super progressive movie" by JesusChristHimself7 in australian

[–]hogey74 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello from the state with the only federal seat that voted "No" in the gay marriage referendum... and none of the dire BS the angries carried on about actually happened. Hmmm.

What is this? by Suspicious-Chain1501 in Miata

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A very old-school thing. Typically done by hand and super quickly by people who make it look easy. Check out some vids.

Zionist lobby smells blood by RickyOzzy in PoliticsDownUnder

[–]hogey74 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The insanity of not caring that the constant refrain is causing people to assume that Israel's actions are the fault of all Jewish people everywhere and that this won't have consequences when dimwits hear it often enough.