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Just to let you know there is no AI on the site, there is only NI

Have been going through the process of scanning some old photos into digital form. I don't know what film format these are; Red would know. It's whatever type of compact camera one would have had in 1988. A couple of photos for onetrack as it's sort of over his way in a roundabout fashion. Unloading at Legune Station, 1988. Legune is in the Territory up near the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf but is accessed via Kununarra and then up through the Ord scheme farmland. I remember well that horrible trip. I flew to Alice Springs and picked up the truck and machine and drove it from there all the way to Legune in hot weather with 55mph diffs and no lining inside the cab roof, just bare metal. For anyone who hasn't driven a B model, there's not much room between your head and the roof so it was certainly cooking the melon. To get anywhere soon, I had to push the foot down and with a very heavy throttle spring, the right foot was numb most of the way. One saving grace is that it didn't have 48mph diffs. That would have been too cruel. The plan was to go back to Alice springs and bring the second machine up, but fortunately they found someone else to drop it off at Katherine, so the second trip was only from Legune to Katherine and return. The tractors were stick shift D7Gs with manual angle blade, rippers and scrub canopy, about 27 tonne in weight. The float was a side load float that swivelled sideways and you could pin it solid but nobody ever did. It didn't sway much out on the road unless you really cranked it around a tight bend. Not the sort of thing you do in a B model anyway. To end load it you needed a big bank or ramp as it had full size 20" wheels on the back, and was only done if loading graders. I learned to side load with this same truck and float four years earlier when the leader of our pack led us across a Quinyambie Station track on a trip from Toowoomba to Frome Downs. He wasn't the world's best navigator. The track was passable for single trailers but had too many sandy dune crossings for doubles. Not high dunes, but just raw sand with no clay on the dune crossings. We had a 375 V8 R model Mack with a dozer on a float, and a second hay hauling trailer carrying a grader hooked on behind, and it got stuck on almost every dune for about 140 klm of the trip. He would drive until he got stuck, then I'd pull up behind him in the old B model with the single float and dozer, unload the dozer, then tow him over the dune, reload the dozer, then follow on to the next dune and do it all again. From memory it took about three days and I side loaded and unloaded that machine about a million times. I'd never side loaded before that trip. The old B model with the quad box was good in the sand dune country. You never get stuck for a gear in one of those. Just rattle the sticks round and round and it will always drop into a gear somewhere. At Legune The camera catching the blade as it's about to topple over. This is the second machine (with new tracks) Retirement is good; there are some things I miss but I don't miss the flies and getting up at 4am..

Well they couldn't really say "Here LIES Donald Trump", because he's been doing that all his life.

In USA a far right influence group called Turning Point Was started up by Charlie Kirk & Bill Montgomery They promoted open gun ownership & anti vax Covid conspiracy. Kirk died by gun violence Montgomery died of Covid. The dildo of consequences seldom arrives lubricated.

I've enjoyed having my 10 year old Canon EOS 700D working again. Sometimes the phone camera just isn't enough. I misplaced the Canon battery charger and had been looking for it on and off for about 18 months, so that's how long the camera has sat idle. I was about to buy one on eBay when I finally found the charger (in the most obvious place). Here's a couple of pics of the birdy friends hanging out at the verandah bird bath. First one is three Butcher Bird fledglings. It's a family of five this year; mum and dad Butcher Birds are very proud. Second one is a Blue-faced Honeyeater. Lens is a Canon EFS 55-250mm.. I'm not much of a photographer, just point and click, but I do like to keep it on the manual focus setting instead of full auto.

Nev, Your going to be 68, celebrate that and enjoy dyslexia.

Goats Pine for their owners, and can be very upset. when left alone. They are good at eating blackberry bushes. I suppose My Dexta Tractor is able to mow when the slasher is attached to it, That's one of the reasons I bought it second hand in 1973. I've had the exhaust Manifold soaking in degreaser for about a week to remove the Internal carbon deposits. Not far off firing it up. It holds only 5 litres of coolant. Like all such jobs you spend about 5 times what you expected to on it and it's been very hot in the Place where I'm working on it. Kitchen Stove just being replaced at the Moment, right on the deadline for Xmas EVE. I had great difficulty getting it. My pet Blue Tongue has deserted Me. My beautiful Howard Rotary Hoe has a new Owner. It's practically Never had a spanner on it. Never Monstered or left out in the weather. Happy Xmas everyone. I might Make 86 in 10 days. The trouble with that is the majority of my contacts/ Friend s and relatives have Passed on. . Cheers. Nev

This 1982 photo shows the Simpson Desert the driest I've ever seen it. The only vegetation visible from the air was the shrubs and trees, no grass to be seen. The drought broke the following year with a lot of flooding. The photo is taken from a Cherokee Six just entering the Simpson from the east en route from Windorah to Alice Springs. Everything went ok until halfway across when the alternator died and the battery went flat, so no radio or instruments, just the compass. We landed on the strip at Ringwood Station on the western edge of the desert, and luckily the station owner was home to see us come in. He drove over and picked up the pilot so he could use the station radio to call Alice Springs airport to clear a space for us to fly into there, being pre satellite days when the stations relied on HF radio for communications. We got to stay overnight in Alice waiting on the new alternator to be fitted, then on to Bililuna in W.A. the next day. Another surprise there on landing - the client (Shell if my memory is correct) had given the crew three days off as the Halls Creek annual races were on. We took off again to Halls Creek which took us straight past the Wolfe Creek crater, so that was a good sight from the air. It was a memorable trip for different reasons. When the battery went dead over the Simpson, it really got us thinking how little preparation we had in regard to survival gear if we had to put down in a dune corridor. We didn't even have near enough water required to stay on the ground any length of time. As a comparison of seasons, I took these photos with a digital compact camera in the Simpson in 2010 after an extended wet period. Most of the green you can see is grass and herbage that burns off with hot, dry conditions. It was very different to the other deserts I've been in which have more permanent vegetation in the dune corridors, and much more spinifex. Edit: Just as a post script, it wasn't far from where these three photos were taken that I came across an old survey marker peg that was the site of Geosurveys Base Camp #1 from Reg Spriggs' first motorised crossing of the desert in 1962.

Season's greetings to all 🍾

I can confirm that I am both alive and well. I have been popping in for a look around, but I don't think I have signed in lately. I do tend to drift in and out. I did send Spacey a private message a couple of weeks ago to see if he was ok, but no answer.

I recently installed a new system as when we bought the property it had 8 x 175 watt panels approx 20 years old & the best out put I was getting in the middle of the day in Spring was about 950 watts. Each new panel is rated at 440 watts but are bi-facial so also generate from reflected light from the roof below. I have 20 panels arranged in 7 East facing, 6 North facing & 7 West facing on my Garage & Shed roofs at approximately 15 degrees of tilt. Total theoretical maximum generation 8.8 kW. Also installed is a 10kWh hybrid inverter and an 18.64 kWh battery. Installation was on 24 November 2025. Results to date are astounding. Heat hasn't made much difference as far as I can tell. We have had numerous days in the mid 30s & a few high 30s. The maximum generation has been 10 kW from a theoretical 8.8kW. Documentation states Up to 15% more from the reflected light to the under side of the panel so that is almost what has been achieved. There is considerable skepticism as to bi-facial effectiveness but my system proves it works as specified. Not only that, I haven't used any grid power at all & have had air conditioning on most of the time with everything in the house electric (except the gas BBQ & solar hot water). I have also charged my EV & 80 volt zero turn mower from the system. The total cost was $11,600.00 & I reckon 4-5 years payback. Anyone with a reasonable rooftop solar system should take advantage of the battery subsidies on offer. Our battery has never depleted below 60% overnight so a large battery (more than 15 kWh) is likely to be overkill for most people. The Federal subsidy scheme has been so successful that the $3.2 billion, expected to last till 2030 is half gone already & the scheme is being modified as installers were encouraging huge batteries (up to 50kWh) not up to 15kW that they were expecting. This was due to the subsidy being based on $ per kWh & a big battery could be installed for way less per kWh than a small one. All I am paying now is the daily supply charge. Some retailers are now charging over $2.00 a day for this. If all goes well over the next year I may pull the plug on the grid entirely.

I like looking through my dad’s old photos, that same square format, often on that embossed texture type material. he had a lifetime of travelling the outback shearing from the age of 19. There are shots of a bunch of is mates and him drinking flagons crossing the Nullarbor for the first time, looked dirt still then, in a Hillman hunter sports sedan. there are shearing sheds in the middle Queensland and many places I remember him describing to me as a child looking through the albums. i kept these when I lost him as I found them more precious than the physical goods he had. I will sit down and show my grandson through them when he is old enough to understand what they are. is their anyone on the forum who was a shearer in the 60’s and 70’s or around the big shearing properties back then?

Same to you Nev, and I hope you last a fair bit longer than the next 10 days. I'm a bit younger than you, but I'd say everyone here has lost friends and relatives along the way. That's life, unfortunately, but much better to still be here among the living than listed with the missing.

Burial at sea for me, straight into a shark would be best. Spend the bucks on a boat ride and party.

Another one to ponder

Here's a clever post from FB supposedly written by a US soldier, going by the photo that was attached to it. I’m the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you tried to mug the other night. You pulled a knife on me and my girlfriend, demanding I hand over my jacket, and also asked for her purse and earrings. I hope you come across this message because there are a few things I want to clear up. First off, I’m really sorry for the embarrassment you must’ve felt. I didn’t expect you to literally crap your pants when I pulled out my pistol after you took my jacket. I mean, it wasn’t that cold, and I had the jacket on for a reason. You see, my girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Custom Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for my birthday, and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that same night. It’s a pretty intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, isn’t it? I can only imagine how unpleasant it was walking away from me especially barefoot after I made you leave your shoes, wallet, and cell phone behind. I figured without those, you wouldn’t be able to call for backup or run to get help to mug us again. After that, I called your mom yeah, she’s listed as “Momma” in your phone and explained the situation. Then I went to fill up my gas tank, using your credit card. I wasn’t the only one filling up, though I also took care of four other people’s tanks at the gas station, including the guy with the motor home who was super grateful after I filled up 153 gallons for him. I ended up giving your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go’s, along with all the cash from your wallet. That definitely made his day. Oh, and I tossed your wallet into the big “pimp mobile” parked at the curb, after smashing the windshield, side window, and keying the whole driver’s side of the car. Had to make it memorable, you know? Earlier, I made a few phone calls two to the DA’s office and one to the FBI. I mentioned President Obama as a possible target, and the FBI agent I spoke to seemed pretty serious. We had a nice, long chat (guess he was tracing your number, etc.). Look, I should apologize for not just killing you, but honestly, I think what I did is a far more fitting punishment for your crime. You can reflect on your choices while dealing with all the issues I’ve just handed you. And remember, next time you try something like this, you might not be so lucky. Best of luck sorting things out.

People say they will be the best looking battleships ever built. Like nothing ever seen before. Not even close.

it's BS really. The" Majority" wants a review as things have changed since the Last Howard "thing" He's only echoing LITTLE to Be PROUD of's Line. I don't think Albanese would get away with just tightening the existing rules. Nev

I learned a bit about the changes to the Firearms Act that NSW Premier Minns is trying to make. If introduced then the administrative burden on Police will be terrible. 1. Licence period reduced from 5 years to 2. The number of staff at the Fireams Registry was already overloaded trying to deal with paperwork before Bondi. I have recently experienced dealing with these Public Servants, and they are hardworking, helpful people. But by reducing the time between renewal if licneces and permits, their workload will markedly increase. Will the Government employ more staff? If it does, how long before the new employees gain the knowledge and experience in dealing with a very complicated set of rules? 2. Maximum ownership of 4 firearms. OK, there is going to be a buy-back. During the 1996 buy-back the amount of extra work thrust onto police working at the front counteer of police station impacted the availability of police to be assigned the normal day-to-day police functions. Firearms were not simply hand over the counter and tossed into collection bins. Receipts had to be issued, and at the time these were handwritten. Maybe some sort of database could be developed to create digital records. There's the cost of developing the database that the government must meet. As well, other police were attached to warehousing duties where they were involved in picking up surrendered firearms from police stations across the State. 3. Valuation of surrendered firearms. A big joke about the 1996 buyback was the profits made by gun owners when they surrenderd a firearm. Crappy .22 single shots were bringing big bucks. Once that became known, a lot of gun owners handed in crap and then spent the money received on upgrading their firearms. Where did the money come from? Taxpayers of course. 4. Additional work for oveworked General Duties police. One of the firearms regulations is that gun owners must enable police to inspect firearms storage. I remember being assigned a list of firearm owners addresses and being told to go out and inspect their firearms and storage. This wasn't to be my sole assignment for the shift. I still had to attend to the normal calls for police service such as domestics, break-ins, shpolifters, drive-offs. Needless to say that I rarely got time to do a firearms inspection. It's all well and good to tighten the control of firearms. However, policing those controls has to be possible for the existing police staff to do within the number of personhours in a day while providing the a level of attention to the things that the Public expects police to attend to. It's easy for politicians to make grand statements and make rules, but a rule that cannot be policed with resources available both in staffing and finances is not worth putting on the books. You will note that I have not spoken about the rule limiting the number of firearms owned to 4. That is a whole different can of worms. The political backlash could effect many local Members regardless of Party since the rule changes seem to be getting bipartisan support.

I emailed Spacey, Says he's well, but not wise. Says he can't log in at all. Didn't explain why.

There's a DIY kit for everything.....

The new BOM site wants to be part of social media, that seems to be the main problem. You can still access all of the old BOM site at - https://reg.bom.gov.au/

https://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/synoptic_col.shtml?utm_source=chatgpt.com

How all this scanning started was that an old close mate I'd known since 1971 passed away recently and I've been looking for photos of him from the old days to scan and forward on to his daughters. Scanning old photos is a bit like letting the genie out of the bottle, then down the rabbit hole you go.

Oh, yes, salt lakes have claimed many a victim, I've seen a couple where the machine was never recovered. Here's a bogged episode from 1966. You can see my near-new EH Holden ute in the first of the photos. Location, Bulyee, W.A. The brother was driving the D6C, enlarging a "Table" dam. A Table dam is where the wall is positioned about 4-5 metres away from the excavation. This was a design used from the earliest days of "tank-sinking", when horses, camels, donkeys and even bullocks, were used to pull simple hand-operated scoops and road ploughs, to excavate dams. The "Table" was made to allow the animals to turn around with the towed equipment. In later years, when bulldozers appeared, it was a simple enough job to excavate the section where the Table was, to make a "straight-push" dam, and thus considerably enlarge the dam capacity. The brother got caught by a pile of accumulated sand in the front corner of the dam, washed in over many years of filling up. But the accumulated sand pile sat on a layer of greasy, muddy clay. So when he drove onto the sand pile, the entire pile "took off" down into the deep mud in the middle of the dam, sliding intact on the underlying greasy mud - so it carried the D6C out into the main mud-filled area, then broke up, and dropped the D6C "right into the sh**". He was on hard bottom, but couldn't climb out, so local farmers arrived with their "big tractors" of the day - little Massey Fergusons! We even had a little International BTD-6 dozer helping - but they couldn't even get the D6C even halfway up the dam bank! So then the Hills Bros rolled up with their "big hitter" tractor - a tandem International A-554! Two A-554's coupled together without front axles, and boasting a massive 110HP!! The tandem A-554's made short work of dragging the D6C out - just by itself! The other tractors were still hooked on at the same time, but got left behind! Unfortunately, the photos of the A-554's and BTD-6 in action were amongst those lost - but the BTD-6 can be seen at rear in the second photo. The last two photos are of another bogging event with the D6C, when extending another dam. A stunt we used to use regularly when deeply bogged, was cutting a decent-sized log from any nearby whitegum, generally about 250mm in diameter and about 3M long - then digging down at the rear of the tractor (easier access at the rear), then dropping the log into the dug-out area, then tying the log to the tracks using old 1/2" (12.7mm) steel wire rope. Once the log re-appeared at the front of the tractor, you'd cut the SWR with a few accurate blows with a sledgehammer, where it sat across a grouser (the rib on the track shoes), and the log would then fall away. We would keep short lengths of SWR on hand for de-bogging missions where a log tied on was needed. Usually, just one log was all that was required. Two logs required, was a REAL bog disaster!

Getting bogged can be connected to stupidity or sometimes to necessity and at other times, just bad luck. I'll own up to this one, just not sure which category it belongs in - necessity I think as a crossing had to be found one way or another. This is crossing the Macumba River in 1984 and it was like wakling through a minefield as you couldn't visibly pick the soft areas from the hard. I found the soft bit. The scary bit was looking at the flood debris in the tree tops on the opposite bank. Taking into account a 10' bank, that would put this machine about 30' under water in a flood like that. Edit: the rippers are upside down as it had previously been ploughing explosive cord into the ground with one central ripper, similar to the way they lay cable.

There's something about getting bogged that attracts cameras. This one wasn't my doing. What possessed the driver to think driving on to a salt lake was a good idea, I'll never know. Even in those days it was a serious environmental breach for starters. I got woken up at midnight after they'd been trying to dig it out for hours and given up on the shovel, so had to walk a machine for about eight hours, pull him out and then turn around and walk it back again.

I Picked Cherries in the 50's at Orange. and Dug Opals at Lightning Ridge. Nev

M I used to think that solar panels needed full sun. But my biggest surprise is seeing useful energy whilst it is overcast and drizzling. Sure is is only a tenth or so of the maximum. But that is still useful and free energy. Recent mostly rainy winters days have provided up to 8kwh a day from a old 3kw system. It had paid for itself about 3 years ago.

I'd rather sit on her Knee than Santa's. Nev

He already knows how to weld. Far better than those DEI welders. Some people say he may be the best welder ever.

First - he's going to have to build a giant sewerage ship, to carry away all the s*** that comes out of his mouth. Just wait, tomorrow the battleships will be forgotten, and some other totally unbelievable BS idea, will take their place.

Sometimes it's hard to tell. Even with some of yours. But some things are clearly a joke. Take USA administration. That's a joke. And believing that Epstein's death was guilt inspired suicide is as likely as my ridiculous pretend conspiracy theory.

Aaah the delightful ambiguity of communicating by short text. So many ways to misinterpret. And that's when the fights start.

They would be happier with one that reads “ here lay Donald J Trump”

Goats are excellent mowers and tasty when the jobs done.

Far more useful than the real thing

Bought this for a lark today, I'm never going to Oshkosh at this rate ever now so it can't get any worse. I think is meant to be Donald Dump.

Black lines scream "incriminating". Call me a conspiracy theorist. I reckon there is more to hide, than a sex scandal. Everyone already knew that old mate Gropenfuhrer seems proud to be a sex offender.

Oh, I thought A.I. stood for 'Average Idiot'. (My level) Darn these acronyms!

Hooray! The Epstein files are being released! And look what we learned....

True, but in those areas, firearms are "tools of trade". Criminals possess them for the purpose of carrying out their trade. Their preferred firearm is a pistol. Also they have more important things to do than get involved in racial politics. Also you are concentrating on "illegal" firearms. Actually it is the possession of firearms in contravention of the Regulations that makes most firearma illegal, although there are firearms that are intrinsically illegal by definition within the Regulations. Onetrack, widen your scope. You have honed in on people from the Middle East. Have you forgotten about White Supremists? Remember the mass shooting in New Zealand that was carried out by an Australian White Supremist?

Make your concerns known to Minns an Albo. Rules are useless if they can't be enforced.

Once lightened, I had to have a good look to make sure I wasn't asleep in there.

How long is a Piece of string? Even on HOT days MY solar Array (Now over 15 years old ) puts out about 20 KWhrs per day THAT would charge the Usual Battery TWICE over. It's been washed ONCE. The original MAx Rated was 4.15 Kw. It HAD to be less than 5 in those days and I paid 4x what you would get better for today and that's numerical. No allowance for Inflation. Nev

I'm posting this link to a video, not for the subject matter, but to get you to look at the background images. The video is about how sheep fixed a problem with weed control on a solar farm in China. We have talked about grazing sheep under solar panels, but what astonished me was the size of this solar farm.

I think the only holy thing was the condom her lover wore.

Have any of these incidents been definitely traced back to terrorist organisations which provided the planning and materials for the incidents? As far as I can see, these incidents are carried out by individuals who claim affiliation with the organisation, but are lone wolves and the acts are not operations sanctioned by those in control of the organisations.

Redacted $#!t Raises More Questions and fools Nobody, Epstein didn't KILL himself. USA IS a wild Place. Nev