willedoo

I guess as time goes on, more might be revealed about whether the perpetrator was influenced by one particular group or another. The article mentioned his online posts had changed in recent times from local environmental activism to those of a more political nature, mainly anti U.S. and anti Israel comments over the Gaza war, accusing the government of being US lap dogs and stuff like that. So far his profile places him more on the left side of politics but there's nothing mentioned post 2024, so there could be more to the story. Reading that article it seems that he had mental health issues, but what turned him against a politician that he had previously supported is unknown at this stage.

That's drawing a very broad sword Jerry. There's divisive rhetoric spouted across all sections of the political spectrum, from the the left to the right. Best to reserve judgement until more facts are known. Here's an article with a bit of background on the bloke. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/suspect-in-helen-haines-attack-named-20261020-p616zq.html

Interesting use of a WW2 Type G-1 low pressure oxygen tank as a fuel tank. The photo looks AI generated but it's not; I enhanced it as the original was fairly low quality.

Inyourfacebook. I use it on a daily basis with just the one account. Mainly for Marketplace and accessing special interest groups; one of which I'm the founder and co-administrator of. The other main use is FB Messenger for keeping in contact with people. I'm in almost daily contact on Messenger with a best mate I've known since we were kids playing in the mud with our toy soldiers. Messenger gets an extra workout during football season. We were both captain and co-captain of the school football team, and usually are both watching the same games on TV every week so there's a lot of running commentary going back and forth on messenger during games. Nothing beats a good old fashioned phone call for keeping in touch, but Messenger is good for more regular low key contact. There's plenty of special interest stuff on Facebook. A couple of Indonesians I follow, one in Java and the other in Borneo, are classic and vintage motorcycle enthusiasts and it's interesting seeing the photos and videos they post on an almost daily basis. They're mainly old British bikes, Ariel, AJS, Matchless, Velocette and BSA with the odd German bike as well. I think most of the old Harleys that were in Indonesia have been hoovered up by the Americans over the years. They were on to them back when I was there in the 1980's.

Yes, I know it's not an old car, it's an old bulldozer. A machinery mob in Oakey have this Vickers Vikon Dozer on marketplace, not selling it, just looking for information. Until now I didn't know Vickers made dozers. According to the owners there were only twenty one Vikons made and only two running examples left in the world, this one and one in New Zealand. It's powered by a supercharged four cylinder Rolls Royce diesel engine and is built on the track system of a Tetrarch light tank, which were built by Vickers Armstrongs Limited in the 1930’s and used in WW2. The Vikon was build in the 1950's. The video is of the New Zealand example at Wanaka. Not the prettiest bulldozer I've seen.

Just waiting for Australia vs New Zealand to kick off the World Cup in Sydney and listening to one of the organisers on the radio talking about the growth of Rugby League, and he was saying League is played in sixty countries worldwide now. The match in Sydney tonight is sold out, biggest crowd in fifty years.

Royal Enfield Musket V-twin: https://www.musketvtwin.com/

Here's a before photo of my old Howard Eight. It's a crusty old motor but I'd like to get it running again. It hasn't run for a lot of years, but there's still oil residue in the crankcase and timing chest and it still turns. Just the usual stuck valves and stuff like that. The Howard Eights are getting rare now but one good thing is that they share the same barrel, piston and rings as the single cylinder Howard Junior engine. Howard Juniors are fairly plentiful and a there's a lot of restorers doing them up, so new rings should be fairly easy to track down. If I can get it running ok, it might be a rat bike contender. People put them in road bikes but they need a bit of serious work and some mods to fill that role. For what I want, it would probably do the job. This contraption I'm trying to build will never be registered on the road and unlikely to ever go beyond second gear. A couple of cooling fans would help it a lot. The Howard carburettor can go to a rotary hoe restorer and be replaced with a 38mm round slide Mikuni. The other issue is it's missing the magneto and you'd probably have to mortgage the house to buy one if you could ever track one down. The other alternative is set up a battery, coil and distributer ignition. VW distributors are cheap and it would be an interesting side project to convert one. Just a matter of remanufacturing the drive and making a custom cam ring with the bumps at 205° and 155° instead of 180° to suit the 50° V angle.

I found this exploded view image that gives another look at the Howard cams. The image was named Howard Twelve, which could be right as I think the water cooled Howard Twelve and the air cooled Howard Eight shared very similar if not the same bottom ends. Second photo is a Howard Twelve.

I reckon they would have gone cross-eyed trying to design them. A simple construction requiring a complicated cam shape. This is the parts manual drawing; it seems to exaggerate the shape a bit.

Crazy cams

It would be a tricky one. They've been talking about a split since the 1890's but nothing has ever come of it. If Queensland had a referendum to split and the yes vote won, it would still have to be approved at a federal level. Because north Queensland is not a legal entity, any referendum would involve all Queenslanders, the majority of whom live south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Also, not all those north of it would vote yes, so a referendum would not have much chance of carrying. The best thing that ever happened to us was independence from NSW in 1859. If that didn't happen, we'd have no State of Origin series.

ome, it is permissable. Section 121: 'The Parliament may admit to the Commonwealth or establish new States, and may upon such admission or establishment make or impose such terms and conditions, including the extent of representation in either House of the Parliament, as it thinks fit.' Section 124: 'A new state may be formed by separating a piece of land from an existing state, only with the consent of that state's parliament.'

If the above posts seem like I might be an advocate for NQ independence, I'm not. I'd much rather see our state remain as one, but I do understand the desire for some in the north to run their own show. It's a big state, 3,000 k's from bottom to top, and people up there often feel a lack of understanding from the pollies down in George Street, Brisbane. At the moment things are lot better in that department wiith a premier who is a North Queenslander.

I've never done much research into the economics of it that's been put forward over the years. Regarding health, education and law - the schools, hospitals, police, police stations and courthouses are already there, but the government bureaucracy side of it is not and would have to be built and funded. As far as paying their way, they'd have their share of the GST carve up, plus state taxes and fees like any other states. They also have a big slab of our state's resources in the form of mining, agriculture and fishing, and tourism. 60% of Queensland's export industries are located above the Tropic of Capricorn. There's always been two sides to the argument. The north has always felt like they're the cash cow being neglected in return, and the south doesn't want to lose that cash. As a comparison of populations below the millions level, NQ north of the Tropic is 800,000, Tasmania 580,000, Northern Territory 267,000. The GSP, Gross State Product of a North Queensland state is more than double that of Tasmania and equates to a GSP per capita of around $70,000 for Tasmania compared to $112,000 for NQ.

Marty, putting aside Katter ridicule for a minute, the debate on the formation of a NQ state has been going on for decades, involving public groups, local government and business. It's not all about Katter, he's just one of many mesengers on the subject.

In WA it's legal to buy pepper spray if over 18 but it's classed as a controlled weapon and can't be carried in public without reasonable grounds. General or routine self-defence is not accepted as a lawful excuse to carry it.

I don't know what the world's coming to. Just waiting for a movie to come on and caught the tail end of a show where they show film footage of little kids having accidents and hurting themselves and everybody is kacking themselves laughing at it.

Beautiful old F-5 Ford with the original V8 flathead just listed on marketplace in Brisbane.

I can remember it was fairly common for old blokes to live permanently at a pub in one of the rooms. Often WW1 vets. When I was growing up we had one old fella living permanently in our local pub. He had the nickname Woody as he used to chop the pub's firewood and do odd jobs for his board and lodging. He didn't drink, just lived at the pub. Woody was a lovely old bloke, a real gentleman. I got to know him quite well as he used to come out to the farm and stay and look after us if my dad had to go away for a couple of days. In those days the adults would go to the pub and take all the kids with them. Us kids would play around in the pub's backyard and climb the big tree there and at some stage we'd always end up going to see Woody in his room and have a yarn with him. After I'd moved away as a late teenager/early adult, whenever I was back visiting my dad I'd often drop in and see old Woody at the pub. Eventually he got so old and frail he ended up in a home.

A bit off topic but I found this pic of what was left of my old 750 fastback that I bought new in 1972. It went end over end a few times at 100mph+ so that's why it looks like a bashed crab. The gearbox was ok and most of the motor except the crankcases were cracked. The fibreglass tank had stress cracks as well. Bought it back from the insurance company for $80.

Thanks Pete, but I don't remember mentioning cost or value. It's something that's never entered my mind and won't. It's the journey not the destination.

Could be the future. Some pollsters are now doing two alternative 2PP estimates, one Labor against ON and one Labor against Coalition dependant on who gets the top vote between ON and the Coalition. The poll analyst's job is getting harder.

In 1983 in Cairns I stayed at the Barrier Reef Hotel in the old Barbary Coast waterfront area. Accommodation was $12 per day, bed and breakfast. By that stage the Barrier Reef Hotel was mainly accommodation and a public bar where old blokes would drink. Most of the action and business was down the street at the Oceanic Hotel, or the Big O as it was known. It was a funny place back then, the local bikies were like unofficial bouncers and probably saved the publican a lot of money on security. It was also where most of the fishermen hung out.

How times have changed. I found this old photo taken of the welcome to Cairns sign on a road trip in 1976. Population 33,000, it's around 180,000 now. Cairns was a nice place in 1976 with a lot of character. I was also there in 1983 and it was much the same. The next time was 1998 and it was unrecognisable.