willedoo

A fairly daring movie considering it was made in the same era of the Andy Griffith Show and Mister Ed the talking horse.

One thing I noticed in Killdozer - early in the movie when the two operators start up the D9 and the smaller dozer, both dozers have the engines running and are standing still but they include the sound effects of squeaking track pins that you would only hear when they're moving.

Clint Walker at his best. I wonder how many times he had to rehearse his often delivered line of "Let's get out of here".

Today is the big day. We might know by tonight whether it's business as usual or we set our clocks back thirty years.

They don't get any better than this - Killdozer, 1974, starring Clint Walker. A bulldozer goes on the rampage after coming into contact with a rock from outer space. Riveting stuff.

In his first term he had some relatively sane people around him. Not all of them, but some. The worry this time around is that he'll construct the executive government entirely out of nutters. That Kennedy nut as health secretary for example. And Elon.

One possibility - they saw a human move in and thought it might be a good food source, in the hope of picking up some food scraps. If the chicks are there then the nest is probably not too far away. They build a new nest every year so if they see a threat in your area they might move away a little bit further for the next breeding season. The problem with trying to chase them off is getting them to take you seriously. I think they get as amused by our antics as we do by theirs.

Noddy has blown the LNP's commanding lead in the polls. A robo-poll survey last night put the LNP at 51% to Labor 49% on a 2PP basis. That could mean a narrow one or two seat margin for the LNP or on the day it might go either way. The problem for Labor could be the high number of pre-poll votes, currently around 30%. A lot of voters would have decided and voted before the LNP campaign started to unravel. I guess that would depend on the number of swinging voters voting pre-poll. A lot of pre-poll votes often favour the conservatives due to the high number of older people who vote early.

Today the butcher bird was sitting on a tree branch outside the kitchen window and singing away in full song mode. The resident raven was sitting about four feet away from him, quite content watching the butcher bird sing. The mickey birds even got in the act. The raven doesn't seem to mind a mickey bird sitting only two feet away from him. They all get on well together. The only exception would be when there's food involved, the raven and butcher bird compete. Being honeyeaters, there's no food competition from the mickey birds. Their only interest in my place is the bird bath, a place to drink and bathe. Noisy miners normally don't tolerate other birds well, but that's probably when they are defending territory. I think they all see my house and yard area as neutral ground, a bit like a public common. My place is the centrepiece of the raven's territory, but the butcher birds and mickey birds live a bit further down the hill and visit here on a daily basis, often a few times per day. It's interesting seeing how the different regular birds get to know and trust the human. I'm sure the butcher birds and mickey birds can differentiate me from another visiting human on the place. Recently I was down at my shed which is about 100 metres down the hill from the house and fairly central to the noisy miner's territory. I was standing outside the shed beside a tree when I heard a mickey bird commotion. A few of them flew over and landed on a branch right beside me and started calling out loudly. It wasn't usual behaviour and I couldn't figure out why they were so close to me until I looked around and saw the neighbour's cat walking up the driveway. Obviously the miners knew and trusted me enough to see me as a source of protection.

The latest Newspoll has aligned with the previous couple of polls and shows a 5.7 percent swing to the LNP which would translate to a two seat LNP majority. It looks like the formerly predicted LNP landslide might have evaporated.

These days the new god is science. A scientifically proven, peer reviewed god that gets us to the moon, helps fix us when we are crook and gives us great toys. It has our unwavering devotion.

When I was down for the count it was just black, no white light at the end of a tunnel. But then again the heart was still beating I think, so not dead, just not breathing. For a lot of people their reasoning is stuck around themselves. I haven't seen a flying saucer, therefore they don't exist. I haven't seen a ghost, therefore they don't exist, etc, etc, etc. It's all about me.

Korean Air Lines 007 + 0

It's a funny use of language. You stand for election then once elected you sit.

You can't blame any party for having the desire to grow and gain more support and seats. This is what's happening in Queensland with the Greens eating into Labor support. But there's the rub. The Greens take votes from Labor but generally not the LNP. Unless Labor and the Greens are prepared to enter into a coalition, growing Green support is a gift to the LNP, the Greens' traditional arch enemy.

Nice looking floor Jerry, it reminds me of hoop pine.

Three more sleeps to election day. It should be an interesting night on Saturday watching the election coverage. The last couple of polls have shown Labor narrowing the gap on the LNP. If those results translated to election day the LNP might be in with a two seat majority instead of the massive landslide that was predicted earlier. It might be a miracle if Labor gets back in but stranger things have happened. When Can-Do Campbell Newman got the boot after the LNP's one and only term, Labor under Annastacia Palaszczuk's leadership went from seven seats in opposition to winning minority government. Labor won an extra 37 seats in that election. To put it into context, Labor lost 44 seats in the election three years earlier. There's no doubt the abortion issue has hurt the LNP. Talk of the LNP scrapping Queensland's voluntary euthanasia laws can't be helping either. The LNP are trying the small target tactic and didn't expect Robbie Katter to throw a hand grenade in the form of an abortion issue front and centre. The LNP have said they will scrap the ban on property developer's political donations. They argue that if Labor is allowed donations from unions, the LNP should be able to accept donations from developers. The LNP have also said they will commit to permanent, ongoing coal fired power generation. Queensland has no upper house so a majority government is free to introduce whatever legislation takes their fancy.

That reminds me of a mate who said when God was giving out ears, he thought he said beers and asked for two big ones.

At least you got the message across.

Bad stutter there.

I remember once listening to a lady on the ABC radio promoting a book she'd written. She was city born and bred and did the tree change and moved to the country thinking it would be great. The first morning she was woken up at 5.00 am by an absolute crow racket happening outside. She immediately thought "my god, what have I done moving here". She gradually realised that the only way to live there was, in her words, to 'learn to love the crows'. I can't remember whether that was the title of her book or of just one chapter. After hearing her speak on the radio, I started to take more interest in the crows around my place. I went from trying to scare them off to appreciating having a breeding pair share their lives and territory with me. I've had endless entertainment over the ensuing years observing their habits and capers and getting to know more about them. And yes, they still wake me up early in the morning but it doesn't bug me any more.

Don't worry ome, the noise will only last until they are weaned, which unfortunately takes a while. The chicks can be real bludgers. For a while after they are fully capable of feeding themselves, they will still try it on with the begging noise expecting the parents to place the food in their mouth for them. The only real alternatives are - a) kill the crows b) drive them away by making loud noises and throwing things at them. This option takes a lot of time and effort on your part with no guarantee of success. c) put up with being woken early and accept it as part and parcel of living in the country. This is a little bit easier if you can find things to appreciate about having a crow family live near you so that the pros and cons are more in balance. If they've nested near you they've made that area their territory and there will be a rerun of the breeding cycle every year.

I once bought some heirloom seeds on eBay just for the novelty of trying them out. Some varieties weren't worth growing again. The Black Russian tomatoes looked interesting but they had a habit of splitting before they were ripe, and the taste was nothing special.

Happy Birthday Peter, all the best.

This is the part I hadn't thought of. By the time exoskeletons have evolved into something more practical, medical advancements might be able to repair spinal cord injuries. https://www.9news.com.au/national/spinal-cord-research-trials-using-nerve-cells-from-nose-to-treat-paralysis-queensland-griffith-university/a90c494b-1042-4ab3-b631-67e9d565ceb2