The Random thought thread

[old man emu]

One of the dangers of doing HWP duty on the Hume in the old days was having your car door blown out of your hand when a semi went by while you had the door cracked open to get out. I have a sneaking suspicion that trying to blow the door off a HWP car was a game enjoyed by many Knights of the Road.

[spacesailor]

A failed gas strut will need that very strong ' wind ' to help lift those bigger bonnets. 

spacesailor

[red750]

These are the struts I am referring to. They have not completely failed, and help lifting the hatch. but if you take both hands off, to lift out something like a 4-wheel walker, the hatch will lower slowly and settle on your head. The clamp will stop it lowering.

 

[Marty_d]

Work colleague just returned from a holiday in Canada.

 

Telling us about the rubbish bins in this Canadian town.   Massive steel bins to withstand bears and raccoons.  To put in your rubbish, you have to reach into a small opening and release the latch which holds down the lid.  The idea is, the opening is too small for a bear's paws and too high off the ground for a raccoon to reach.

 

Now this is unverified - it may be true, or it may be a tall tale spun by a local to impress the tourists - but the story goes, locals have seen bears and raccoons working together to open the bins - the bear picks up the raccoon and holds him up to the opening, raccoon releases the catch, bear lifts the lid and they share the spoils!

 

 

[spenaroo]

[old man emu]

I was preparing a pot of stew this morning to divide into portions and freeze for later. As I peeled the potatoes, it occured to me that in recent times there seems to be very few "eyes" in the spuds now than when I was younger. I suppose plant breeders have bred that feature out of spuds, or they have cloned a variety with the eyeless characteristic and now produce seed potatoes from plants which themselves were grown from the seeds of the cloned variety.

 

 

[facthunter]

Potato peel is the best part of a spud.  You can get seedless grapes.   Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

On 31/05/2024 at 3:34 AM, Marty_d said:

Work colleague just returned from a holiday in Canada.

 

Telling us about the rubbish bins in this Canadian town.   Massive steel bins to withstand bears and raccoons.  To put in your rubbish, you have to reach into a small opening and release the latch which holds down the lid.  The idea is, the opening is too small for a bear's paws and too high off the ground for a raccoon to reach.

 

Now this is unverified - it may be true, or it may be a tall tale spun by a local to impress the tourists - but the story goes, locals have seen bears and raccoons working together to open the bins - the bear picks up the raccoon and holds him up to the opening, raccoon releases the catch, bear lifts the lid and they share the spoils!

 

 

Would suggest the bear helping the raccoons is a tall tale - no doubt someone would have caught it on video and posted to it YT.. plenty of bear and raccoon vids raiding rubbish bins on there, but not together.

[Marty_d]

3 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Would suggest the bear helping the raccoons is a tall tale - no doubt someone would have caught it on video and posted to it YT.. plenty of bear and raccoon vids raiding rubbish bins on there, but not together.

Quite possibly, hence my caveat. 

[spacesailor]

Australia has ( reportedly ) a bird ( black ) helping Goana's  unzip tents to raid for food.

The bird sticks its beak between the two zips to allow the Goana's to push through into the tent .

Saw it on a video .

spacesailor

Edited June 2 by spacesailor
A I changed ' goana ' to Ghana.

[Litespeed]

I expect it would be a Raven, the world's smartest bird.

 

They are often seen cooperating with fellow Ravens and sometimes other species.

 

Do you have the video?

[Bruce Tuncks]

I heard about a crow which walked around a spiral circuit and wound up the dog so it could no longer protect its food.Wow.

 

[facthunter]

Geez . A clockwork dog. Dog's are NOT that Bright,  actually, as I've found out.  For People who desperately seek love they  seem like a solution  if you can put up with the licking and being stared at when you are eating. Nev

[red750]

[red750]

Well. I bought the gas strut lock from Supercheap Auto.

 

Then.... I had a brainwave. If the struts retain some lift, but not enough to maintain the hatch in the 'up' position, maybe a spring clothes peg on each strut might be enough to hold it up. That works, too.

 

 

[facthunter]

I wouldn't trust it. A tomato stake cannot get shorter. Some car/van bonnets are heavy and not exactly the thing I'd want falling on my neck.  Nev

[Litespeed]

Nev, 

 

I  too, would never trust a clothes peg to save my neck or skull from a bonnet or boot lid.

 

If your brain is worth 20 cents buy clothes pegs.

 

If your brain is worth saving , buy the bloody struts,  far cheaper than a trip to the doctors.

[old man emu]

Remember when you went to the beach or to a picnic ground and nearby there would be a milk bar that had a sign telling you that they sold ice creams and cold drinks? There would also be written below "Hot Water". Obviously that was for those people who bothered to pack a picnic and needed hot water to make a pot of tea. Simpler times.

[facthunter]

There were plenty of "thermoses" around in those days too and little "spirit" stoves that work on Metho.  I hated TEA.   Nev

[old man emu]

This is Joe's Milk Bar at North Cronulla beach in Sydney - my home beach.  Note the "Hot Water" in this picture which was probably taken in the mid-60s. I remember that there were  games of skill that cost a penny to play, like this.

 

The wooden floor always seemed damp and had a distinctive smell of the ocean. When well-known owner Joe Santa Maria bought the business in the 1940s it had been known as Whitby Refreshment Rooms so named by the previous owner Albert Dodson and could still be seen on the facade of the building. The milk bar was demolished in 1997.

[willedoo]

34 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Remember when you went to the beach or to a picnic ground and nearby there would be a milk bar that had a sign telling you that they sold ice creams and cold drinks? There would also be written below "Hot Water". Obviously that was for those people who bothered to pack a picnic and needed hot water to make a pot of tea. Simpler times.

I remember those small ice cream tubs. The small serve ones, either Peter's or Paul's, and you would pull the top off and eat it with a flat stick like a paddle pop stick.

 

I still use a thermos regularly if I'm working about the property or going out and haven't had time to finish the pot of tea. I'm one of those people who have no concept of a cup of tea; it's a pot or nothing. Mt teapot holds about four full mugs of tea. It's enameled metal and needs a beanie over it as a teapot warmer. An old mate of mine cut a spout hole in his beanie. He'd use it as a teapot warmer while having breakfast then wear it to work. He always had a bit of hair sticking out of the hole when he wore it. I don't do that; I have the luxury of a dedicated teapot beanie and exposing the spout loses heat anyway, so no holey beanies at my place. Just a reminder, this is Queensland we're talking about.

[willedoo]

11 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I remember that there were  games of skill that cost a penny to play, like this.

That would be worth good money now as a collector's item.

[red750]

25 minutes ago, willedoo said:

teapot beanie

 

Tea cozy, my olds used to call it. Rarely have tea these days. Switched to coffee (with sugar) in the 70's, then gave up the sugar. Only have one cup at breakfast, water the rest of the day. On extremely cold days, I may have a second coffee (Nescafe).

[red750]

I have a pair of solar powered lights with motion detector on my front porch and steps. Only problem is, we go days without direct sunlight, so it's hard to keep the battery charged. I've tried putting the little solar panel under a fluorescent light for a couple of hours, but that makes no difference. As the house faces south, I have to take down the light and take it to the back porch to recharge. The old electric light socket needs replacing and an electrician costs too much. Maybe I'm just stingy. These cost $30.

 

 

 

[red750]

So, why does everyone start their conversation with "So". Just watch any interview on TV. It's so so annoying. Even worse that "Umm".