patham

A fairly recent upgrade. Our little business unit was doing quite well last year, and some-one requested to swop out their collection of random assorted monitors. The budget request was approved and it turned into an Oprah-fest of "Here's two monitors for You, two new monitors for You, new monitors for EVERYONE !!!!" We were surrounded by cardboard boxes and styrofoam for a few days.....

No, you are just seeing double Actually, you are very observant, and they are indeed the same source image. I just swept all photos on the ledge to one side, ruining the artistic effect of the earlier arranging. Although having said that, if I look at the same combination of pics now in real life, from the right angle it looks pretty cool- like a stereographic image.

You guys are too quick - I would have blown you away with my guess of a standard 707, over somewhere like Cairo. But at least I know in my heart I was right

Home office in the corner of the lounge just set up a few minutes ago - note the congratulatory mug of tea. Not perfect ergonomics, but better than a kick in the pants.

Well said Wayne, great move. I will echo that for Aussie contingent. Although our federal government has not made any similar big calls they are bound to be coming. It's interesting as I have a sister in law in California, they have been in lockdown for about a week now, and have just had their lockdown conditions made more stringent (i.e. no visitors to your house allowed). Their tips: Try and go for a walk each day for fresh air. Make time for board games and cards. Family cooking. And encourage everyone to do all the activities together, don't leave anyone behind to stew by themselves. Our state premier in Queensland has stated she does not want to see people venturing out of their own suburb, although that is not yet an "official" position. My foresight in living right next to the mtb trails pays off although who would have guessed these conditions.

This was a good set. Looks much nicer in real life than the box art. The Defender was purchased for the youngster this week in case of lockdown.

I was just thinking to myself last night that there are going to be a few people who are really caught out by this. I was thinking that one of the worst outcomes would be (and this is Australia specific): 1. Just come over here on a temporary work visa, but have sold up fully in SA. 2. Get made redundant here in Aus. 3. Can't find a firm to take you on, so under work visa conditions you need to leave. It used to be 28 days, then 6 months, then I think changed back to 28 days. Who knows? 4. Can't even fly out because there may be no more international flights. 5. Get some form of criminal record for overstaying your visa. That would be truly hard to recover from. Maybe the govt will give some form of bridging visa so that point 5 does not occur, but still.....

Looks like all of us in Brissie (who have squatter's rights in this thread) are in the same boat which is a bit of a co-incidence. I had arranged for my mother to fly out from the UK to stay with us for 2 weeks in late April, and then fly on to NZ for 2 weeks to visit my sister. Early last week we phoned her up and told her this trip is not likely and she should postpone. She was a bit upset at that, we backed off and said let's evaluate in a few days time. The respective government announcements were a relief as otherwise we looked like the bad guys ! It certainly would not be fun holiday, a 2 week lockdown in both of the countries, then who knows if the UK is letting anyone in by then......especially as she is not a citizen.

Goes for Aus too. A traffic light goes down and its all pear shaped. Well what generally happens is "might is right". If it's an intersection with say 2 lanes crossing a road with 3 lanes - the drivers on the larger road just will not stop to let the people in from the side street. The issue is in Aus is that 4-way stops are not defined in the various highway codes, so they are not taught how to do them.

Cool story and pics - thanks for sharing. About the concept of scale.... A gazillion years ago as first year engineering students, we went on a site trip to Kendal who were finishing the last of their units at the time. We went to the top of the boiler house unit and walked around on the roof. You can see in the picture of the boiler pressure gauge the sides and roof are just IBR sheeting, like any old carport. So there we were, walking around on top of what is just a ginormous 100 m high shed, with the tin sheeting creaking ominously underfoot. I was glad to be back inside on the structural steel staircases after that. Anyways, a visit to one of the 6 packs is pretty educational in that you can see how complex these things are and how much maintenance is required to keep the hamster wheels going. And short-changing on that maintenance has a serious bite.

I only realised just recently that the 747-8 freighters have a very short upper deck as per the original 100/200/SP series, and do not have the passenger oriented stretched upper deck as shown in the graphic. I would have thought it would have been cheaper to standardise the construction and give everyone the same shape regardless of usage, but obviously not.

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but there is always a risk of over-capitalisation, where the money invested is not perceived by the market to be of good value, and as such will not be recognised by potential buyers. For example, friends were looking into extending their house, new bedroom and en-suite, the building costs (expensive Australian labour) were priced far in excess (i.e. multiples) of the improvement in market value. As they do not see it as their "forever" house, they shelved the idea, obviously if you plan to live in it (or use it as a business) for 20 years a different set of drivers and economics comes into play. I'm not saying it will be the case in your endeavour, but I suppose I just wanted to put in my Z$2 worth that developing property is not always a guaranteed thing. Moral of the story, those solid gold toilet bowl sets you were thinking of getting probably isn't a good idea for resale value. PS.I still wish all the best for your plans though !

You need 200 PR people to be able to come up with enough positive spin for the masses as to why a council needs 200 PR people in the first place. A perpetual motion machine as it were......

And HE payloads are now all they can carry (ALCMs excepted). https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/31825/the-air-forces-b-52h-bomber-force-has-said-goodbye-to-its-nuclear-bombs

Another sucker loses their shirt in BrisVegas !

Nice one. Historically I have always thought the RAV4 was overpriced for what is was - a Camry/Corolla on high heels. But the new hybrid drivetrain is a pretty cheap upgrade that does give you something unique. The motoring journo's here have had nothing but praise for the new hybrid - in fact it is hard to find them reviewing a normal drivetrain one.

Guidance and fusing is most often at the tip, ordnance (explosive bit) immediately behind, then rocket motors at the back.

Waiting for winter will also give me time to arrange heart, lung and leg transplants so I can keep up with you ! What part of town do you start from btw?

Cool. One day in winter I need to go on an exploration ride up north - Nudgee, Boondal Wetlands etc.

You should have gotten a red one to be a Where's Wally. Nice background - where was that ?

Thanks - much appreciated. Luckily nothing too close to us in Brisbane, although yesterday was pretty hazy from smoke from a smaller fire on one of the islands offshore (about 60 km away as the crow flies). On topic, Qantas cancelled flights on Sunday afternoon into Canberra due to smoke and pyro-cumulus clouds. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/canberra-star/qantas-cancels-flights-in-and-out-of-canberra-due-to-smoke-haze/news-story/427fc15142ca9dd6ba1fb67eb5eda28f

Just like most banks - if you can prove that you don't need their money they are more than happy to lend it to you as they feel that why should other people be making money off you if they can.

My first model kit in 24 years after being prompted to rediscover the hobby by my son. Academy 1/48 F 111C in Australian colours- a great and dramatic subject. I learnt that airbrushing is going to be required going forward - masking and brush painting didn't seem to work well for me. Although this particular kit is well known for bad seams, handling poor joints is another improvement area for me. However, I enjoyed myself and thats what counts. As hobbies goes, it may not be cheap, but the cost per hour spent is pretty reasonable -it has kept me busy from Christmas Day. Learning how to take good photos of the final product is an art form in itself that I still need to master. Please note the pigeon toeing of the pylons is due to an internal swiveling mechanism that rotates the pylons together with the wings. A great party trick, but in hindsight maybe I should have just decided on a fixed wing sweep angle and ditched the mechanism. Although research did indicate that the pylons did exhibit a degree of similar behaviour in the real world.... Thats another thing - I have really enjoyed having the internet to do the research on colours, units, load-outs, histories and anecdotes on the subject. Back in my youth you had the box art and that was about it !

Before and after pics - groupset, brakes, tyre and pedal revamp on my Trance 1 after 5 good years of service. Add in a full frame and suspension strip and service it feels as crisp like new. Looking forward to the first trail.

The picture is from somewhere in Aus. I have flown in the Alliance Fokkers and the Rex Saab 340's - but alas not the 225. One of the REX Saabs lost a prop in flight a year or two back due to metal fatigue on the shaft- that must have been exciting.