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

Thanks Peter. Will try to drop in from time to time to make sure you're all behaving yourselves. I've tried to cut down on screen time but it's easier said than done. Have been co-administering an inyourfacebook group so that's taken a bit of effort and tended to drag oneself back online. So all good, still breathing in and breathing out and wearing my trousers the right way round.

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.

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

You may have noticed that over the last 7 days, I have added 27 aircraft profiles in the AP site. I had a few problems with the last one, screwing up the photos and having to do a number of edits to the basic profile. Wherever possible, I include 5 photos on each profile, header and gallery. That may require searching through up to 100 thumbnail images for each aircraft, selecting the best ones to illustrate the aircraft. I try to select different angles and illustrations of features such as cabin access, folding wings, etc. I expand the thumbnail to the full size uploaded to get the best quality image and download that into a folder, one folder for each category - 3 axis, GA single engine, etc. With 1968 profiles completed, and a few more in preparation, that means about 10,000 images. However, a lot of these are far from acceptable. Most are too large, and a few are too small. I standardise all photos to an aspect ratio of 16:9, and a width of 750 pixels. ie., 750x422 pixels in size. This requires resizing and cropping. I am amazed at how badly exposed some photos are, very dark, detail in places like under wing indistinguishable, and if taking off in front of bushes or hedges, the background is a sold block of black. There are often odd items which distract from the image, such as tiedown ropes dropped on the ground, ropes and balustrades around the aircraft which I clone out of the photo. The original image is saved to an Originals subfolder attached to each category folder on my external hard drive. Therefore at least 20,000 images, just for the AP site. Here are a few examples from the last lot. They have been further reduced to 400 pixels wide, originals first, edited second.

My good friend Chatty gave me the following answer: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance argues that the deepest satisfaction in life comes from caring engagement with what we do, rather than from chasing abstract goals or rigid ideologies: by reconciling the “classical” mindset (logic, analysis, technology) with the “romantic” mindset (intuition, aesthetics, immediate experience), Robert Pirsig proposes that Quality—an unnameable but real sense of what is good—arises when we pay attentive, responsible care to both our inner lives and the practical tasks before us, whether maintaining a motorcycle or living thoughtfully in the modern world.

Make sure the oil hasn't spread onto the flywheel and coil. Take the engine cowling off and clean the outside surface of the flywheel and magnet and the section of the coil that sits close to the flywheel. Use some emery cloth to clean up the flywheel outer surface and check the coil to flywheel gap. Install a new spark plug (90% of starting problems). Use some "Carburettor & Throttle Body Cleaner" (spray can) to clean out the carburettor passageways. No sorry, all that above is made-up BS. What actually happened is, you killed the little hamster inside the engine that makes it go, when you tipped it over and left it. You need a new engine hamster.

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.

Getting back to the oriinal idea of this thread - the governmental knee-jerk to firearm possession, it is becoming obvious that governments have been resting on the laurels of the original gun buy-back and the laws made in the late 1990s. That was thirty years ago. Are you still using the mobile brick phone you had back then? Are you still using dial-up ADSL? BY the same token, firearms have developed a lot in that time, but the classification of them for licensing purposes has not. I was watching a video about the point of the failure of firearms classification to keep pace with firearm development. As with all laws and regulations, the devil is in the definition. Let's look at teh shotguns used at Bondi. How was it that they, in particular, are legal under the classification system? The types of firearms permitted in Category A, the most commonly held licence, are: Air rifles; Rimfire rifles (other than self-loading); Shotguns (other than pump action, lever action or self-loading), and Shotgun/rimfire combinations. The type of interest from Bondi is the Shotguns (other than pump action, lever action or self-loading. One thinks of the break action shotgun, single or double barrel. We see pump action shotguns in movies and news videos from the USA, so we are aware of how they are operated. Lever action shotguns operate in a similar way to what we see as rifles in cowboy movies. Self-loading means that a fresh round is loaded by using the recoil from the round fired before the round to be loaded. However, firearm manufacturers developed another means of rapid reloading from a magazine using a loading lever similar to the idea of a bolt action rifle. This is the type of shotgun used at Bondi. As of that date, bolt action shotguns were Category A and legal to own. I believe that these have a 6-round magazine + 1 in the spout. To see what I'm talking about, watch this video from the 17:00 to 20:00 time marks. The problem with any knee-jerk response and regulations made on the fly will have consequences that firstly will financially affect firearms owners and later affect lawful activities such as feral animal control. Feral animals such as pigs, foxes, deer etc are becoming a greater problem because landowners are denying permission to recreational hunters to shoot on their properties. And yes I know all about tthe horror stories of idiot shooters. While it is good to hear politicians on both sides joining together to attack the problem, one must encourage them to keep at it, but not make flash in the pan decisions.

The first ones that should be investigated and jailed or deported are the Imams and other clerics at the mosques, sprouting and advocating this vile propaganda.

But, there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world and 10% are radical, thats 180 million who want all the bad stuff, beheadings, sharia, wolrd domination, so are we wrong to want to stamp out these cowards and scum, the Israelis have it right starting at the head exterminate the head of the cowardly terrorists,and all western countries should deport ALL muslim s preaching thier foul hate and spew

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.

No one should be able to act BEYOND the LAW "Including" some bosses. Check out the countries where Unions are Not allowed. You wouldn't want to Live there. Collective representation is a RIGHT Under UN declaration. Left unchecked Wages would be driven down by the Wealthy to increase Profits . Also corners get cut and safety standards Lowered. Nev

The shooters and fishers have had too much influence in NSW Politics Permitting. Shooting in National Parks is not something I Like. Responsible Gun Owners would agree some Limits must Be imposed and enforced. The Permit holder can't LEND guns or it's Meaningless. Accidents with Guns have always killed people AND they Must be safely stored. That's not easy. Being like America is not the Answer. It's INSANE over there. Nev

I grew up in the shadow of the Barrier Industrial Council. School bullies became union officials. It was oppressive, but now it all seems so tame compared with the deep corruption and underworld ties of some of our unions nationally and here in Victoria.

He had a mental and physical breakdown which he describes in the book.

Ah, 14hp means 14 Hamster Power? Thanks gents!

Its "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance". Riding is incidental.

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 Don't reckon they Made Condoms then . You were SUPPOSED to got Forth and MULTIPLY. That's why we are in the Mess we are . 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.

Funny how the security cameras weren't working at the time of his death

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

My first school was Avondale Heights primary school, and to be honest, I can't recall anything there re anti-semitism. I finished there in Grade 2. Avondale Heights was a new family area/new estate at the time. My next school, was Kew East primary schoo, which was a middle class area of Melbourne, I was there for Grade 3 only, after which my parents split up (and eventually divorced). From Grade 4 to Grade 6 I was in Hadfield Primary School, My step father was a racist, but a particulalry ardent ant-semetic. I mean, almost a daily sermon on the problems with the world were down to Jews. If it were only him, fair enough - there will always be people with their pet hates. However, the pupils at the school were definitley generally anti-semetic. I am sure we have all joked about the miserly sterotype of a Jew in the saame way over here the Scots are joked about. But there was something vicious in their "joking". There was a real hatred in the way they would call someone a fucking Jew if they saved a penny, or were talking about things going on and could use the analogy. To my knowledge, there were no Jews at the school, and I doubt if anyone had ever met one.. Maybe some of the parents worked for some Jews as a lot of parents were factory workers at the time, and yes, Jews did own some of the factories in Coburg and Brunswick. This persited at Glenroy High School for the year I was there. Both of these schools were in a lower socio-economic area. At the end of the my first year at high school, living with my stepfather became too untenable, and although it broke my mother's heart, I moved in with my dad in Glen Huntly/Ormond - a middle class area. My father managed to get me into Caulfield Grammar School. a Church of England school, bang smack in the middle of a Jewish area of Melboune. The orthodox Jews kept largely to themselves, but I got to know a few secular Jews - some that went to Caulfield Grammar, and some that we just met. They were nothing like what my step father described. They were defintiely close knit, but I suppose circumstances dictated that somewhat. They were welcoming, and pretty well like most other people I know, with the same mannerisms, culture, etc. They didn't like Four n Twenty pies, though. But even at Caulfield Grammar, which had some kids of prominent Jews attend, there was some downright hatred and at least psychological abuse wielded. The teachers, however, were quick to shut it down. I do recall, a Cadet Under Officer (highest rank a student in the cadets could attain) went a bright shade of red, and the anger in his face when someone even uttered the workd Jew in front of him. He didn't care too much for me, but he turned to be and said in a quiet rage, "I fucking hate Jews..". Wow.. For all he knew I could be one... but he could not care.. He was so angry and festering - like spitting from mouth - I dared not ask why. I finished my schooling at McKinnon High School (now secondary college) as my father simply couldn't afford the fees in the later years of Caulfield Grammar. We used to play soccer at lunch time (as I had moved from AFL, being the shorter posterior I am). The players were mainly Greek, Cypriot, and Italian from memory. There was a Jew who also played, and he was a) quite talented, and b) a really good bloke. Actually, I think he liked Four n Twenty pies. Towards the end of our time at McKinnon, one of the Cypriots turned to him and said, "You know, I hated Jews until I met you..". I thought it was quite a candid admission... The Jewish student asked why, and it was because that is the way he was brought up. Throughout my working life in Melbourne there seemed to be an undercurrent of anti-semetism when the discussion ventured that way. In the UK, I didn't really notice it.. It's not that I was looking for it. I sent my kids to the local primary school in a middle to upper socio-economic area of London until we moved to the South West, after which I sent them to the local private school - A Church of England school (grammars here are better performing state schools). I recall, not long after my son finishing, we pulled up at a servo and there were a family of orhtodox Jews pumping petrol or something. My son remarked how the students at his school hated the Jews. Again, I have no idea if a Jew went to that school or not - pronbably not, to be honest. I haven't knowingly worked directly with any Jews, but have worked alongside them. Apart from the skull cap, you wouldn't know they were Jewish.. We can't demonise Muslims, either.. There are almost 2bn Muslims, and yes, there are issues, but how many out of 2bn? There are 300m Americans, and yet every day there is a mass murder it appears.. On a per capita basis, it is probnably clear many populations have their fair share of problems (and yes, there are many that don't as well).