pmccarthy

Had a positive day touring around Dubai. The buildings were as big and modern as I expected but the whole joint is much, much bigger. And nearly all built in the last Fifty years.

I had a couple of those gold coins but I left them in a drawer in a cupboard that the removalists took away. They delivered the cupboard but not the coins. In 1989.

Just one word.

I didn’t mean to take a shot at CSIRO in particular, just the myth of Australian inventions. The Age article explains that CSIRO made its money by litigating a patented aspect of WiFi. In my opinion the invention of the AAS, as Onetrack says, was a world leading advancement. It was first tested and used in the assay lab at Zinc Corporation in Broken Hill. Everyone was proud to be part of that. If you look up who invented the rotary lawnmower in Wikipedia, you might think it was an Australian. But the truth it was Leonard Goodall, an American. See https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/farm-life/the-rotary-power-mower-and-its-inventor-leonard-b-goodall/

There is an interesting article in the Age today which debunks the story of CSIRO inventing WiFi. The people who invented it had never heard of CSIRO. Which leads me to the second myth, the Hills Hoist. There is a photo of a rotary clothesline in Melbourne on the 1870s. I have a US Sears catalogue from 1903 which shows one, it was even made by a Mr Hill. Peter Cuffley wrote a book about this. And the rotary mower? I could go on and on.

I have cars and bikes that do very few Km. I change the tyres every 10-15 years just to be safe.

I was once saved from an uncertain fate by a Seagull outboard that was used as a standby engine. It was a slow trip home from the reef.

Sometimes having the appropriate tool can lead to a lifetime of regret.

That man fly is pretty serious. Particularly the zipper variety. Don’t get caught again.

We had 13 mm today and have the heater on.

Forty years ago I lived in Ballarat where they made small motors at Norton Villers, Mars bars, Rivers clothing and shoes, big trailers at Freighter Industries, and a whole lot more I can no longer remember. Despite all that we had one of the highest unemployment rates in Australia.

Forty

So if I say I dried the bed, am I being an optometrist?

Henry the Eighth was a similar character.