ANZAC Day Tanunda

 

ANZAC Day at Tanunda went well.

Given that Monday was a public holiday during school holidays, we had an enormous turn-up at both the Dawn Service and the late morning Service after our march from the Tanunda Post Office to the Soldiers' Memorial Hall.

I attended the Dawn Service and marched, but I didn't attend the late morning Service.

The highlight of the Dawn Service for me was an address delivered by a senior school student from the local Faith Lutheran College. Given the age of the young man, his presentation was flawless, the content emotive and inspiring, and he didn't appear to be nervous at all.

After the Dawn Service we held a Gunfire Breakfast that many people attended including members of the RSL Tanunda, although most of us who are members had "jobs" to do. I worked in our bar serving beer, large amounts of Coopers stout, and pouring small amounts of Beenleigh rum into coffee, a tradition on this special day.

The Gunfire Breakfast was also attended by a contingent of RAAF serving members who had participated as a catafalque party (you can see several in the image above) or supported them. I managed to take a photo of the group.

Here they are outside our Hut. Those with weapons are obviously part of the catafalque party.

We appreciate and thank them for their service and hope that they will never be called upon to sacrifice their lives for their fellow Australians as many others have throughout the short history of our country.

We are so fortunate to live in a relatively free democracy with a decent standard of living and reasonably sound governments.

Every day I recall how very lucky I was to be born in Australia. If you are reading this and you're Australian, you should feel lucky too.

#Robinoz

My (Most often) Every Day Carry

There are numerous YouTube videos where people discuss their Every Day Carry. I hadn't thought of turning it into a topic of discussion until I saw a few of them, so here I am, disclosing mine.

I must state that I don't carry my Adidas bag everywhere I go. If it's a short trip somewhere to pick up a carton of Hahn Super Dry, low carb beer, I just take my wallet and car keys. Longer trips, I take the whole EDC.

The stuff people carry is interesting but essentially, most of us have a need for the same things, eg car keys, wallets etc. Knives, pens and other "stuff" is optional.

Here's a description of what I carry:

When I lift the front cover (image two from top) I have a few glass wipes because I wear prescription and sun glasses that always seem to need cleaning. This part has a zipper section so inside I can include some coinage just in case I need it and some plastic money eg, a $50 note for emergencies.  

When I flip that part back, it has some slots for credit cards in which I have business cards and slots for two pens. I have a Lamy metal pen and a Victorinox pen and usually do a crossword puzzle while reading the local paper and having a cup of coffee. Of course they also come in handy if I need to write something although these days I put record reminders in my iPhone most of the time.

My car keys (at left) have a souvenir from the British House of Commons on which I've engraved my name and phone number just in case I lose the keys, which is unlikely as I wear them hanging from a sturdy belt clip accompanied by another smallish keychain knife in which the blade is inserted. (Anyone would think I had a knife fetish)

In the section at right are a notebook in another sleeve, and a one-blade Leatherman. The Swiss Army knife I usually carry in my pocket. There is also a torch (flashlight) that has a removable clip that makes it small and easy to carry. 

So there it is, that's me in nine paragraphs.

#Robinoz

How App(lication)s can get us into trouble

 

My iPhone has this wonderful health app 💙that tracks my walking, allows me to enter blood pressure, pulse, cycling distance, BMI, height - that hasn't changed in the past 70 years, and much more.

One of the things it also does is allow one to track sexual activity. Why, I'm not sure.

I do recall when I was 18 to around 20 I had a little book into which I wrote the name and contact details of ladies who had helped me develop my intimacy skills. It was probably a skite book, although I can't recall ever telling any of my friends with whom, or how many women I had been intimate. I do recall that there were many pages spare when I decided it was a childish thing to do and decided to use it only to record names and contact details without any additional descriptions. 

Flipping through my Health App recently, I stumbled across the entry at left in my Sexual Activity log. It appears that at around 12 midday on Sunday, 23 August 2020 I had a "sexual activity" for maybe a minute. I've never been that fast!

Nowadays, I can't remember what I did a week ago, or where I've left my sunglasses, let alone what I'm supposed to have done on that Sunday afternoon. However, if I had had sex with someone for even a few minutes, I would have known. And I'd be surprised because while it may have once taken me a few minutes to ejaculate, it now takes longer.

So, my conclusion is that this is a misrepresented activity cause by something running amuck in the app.

Imagine if my wife was a nosy wife who looked through my iPhone (which she isn't) and came across this. I could be in real trouble.

Stay well and check your apps.

Robin

Can Australia - or any other country afford NetZero?

The almost feverish hatred of coal and closure of hundreds of coal-fired power stations across woke nations of the world before we had something to replace them with will go down in history as one of the most stupid things we've ever done. Especially given our current level of scientific knowledge and advanced ability in technology.

Replacing something that works inexpensively and efficiently with something that is expensive and inefficient shouldn't make sense to anyone.

But governments throughout the Western World have bowed to the woke progressives who have pushed an alarmist global warming agenda that demands we rid the world of excess C02, that gas that is 0.04% in the atmosphere and needed by every living thing on Earth. We need it and vegetation to create the air we breathe.

Some people are beginning to wake up to the fact that not only is NetZero unachievable, but it will also create massive use of limited funds that could be spent more wisely; solving hunger, homelessness, poverty, ill health, and bringing billions of people up to a decent standard of living to name just a few.

Six weeks out from an election, Australians must decide between two bad choices for a party to run our country for the next three years. Both parties subscribe to the UN's IPCC nonsense of killing off reliable energy to be replaced with ugly, inefficient, and highly expensive wind turbines and solar panels with limited benefits.

Most of the products that go into the above two solutions create millions of tonnes of C02 and other gases and pollutants, cause bird deaths, make beautiful hills look horrible, and take up much more space than a High Efficiency Low Emission coal-fired power station. They're also full of components manufactured or mined by slave labour or children in third-world countries.

Now, this video estimates the costs we'll face to kill off our reliable energy and replace it with a dud.

You can watch it here.

What will the high school students in 50 year's time say about us when they study modern history?

Robin

Related article: here.

Keeping busy in retirment is a good thing

Dawn, Robin, Christina, Elliott

Sometimes I wonder how I found time to work.

My last job was at a high security installation 25 km west of Alice Springs. I'd get up at 6 am, shower, iron a shirt, get dressed, have breakfast and be ready to depart at 7:00 if I travelled by the bus provided or 7:20 if I drove myself.

I'd drive out listening to AM, an Australian radio show on the ABC and arrive around before 8 am. By the time I'd gone through security checks and walked to my office, it would be 8 am. I'd crank up my computer and begin my day's work. At 4:15 pm I'd lock my office, head through the security system and be heading home at 4:30 pm.

Since retiring, I wake up at 6:30 - 7:00 am, switch on the kettle and make a cup of coffee. I then crank up my laptop and read my email. While doing so, I check my calendar and write on a notepad several things I need to, or want to do during the day.

I have breakfast about 10 am unless I have somewhere to go beforehand. I'm never hungry before that, so I don't see any sense in eating. This moves lunch out to around 2 pm.

The rest of my day is filled in with housework, cooking, car washing, or other jobs that don't disappear when you leave work. I also volunteer for three different organisations, one of which I am heavily involved with; the Returned & Services League. I created and manage their internet site (blog site), run the membership program, apply for and manage grants from the three levels of government, work behind the bar when our Hut is open, clean occasionally, buy supplies, and otherwise help keep the place running. This includes turning up for sausage sizzles - see the photo above. 

I'm president of an organisation's management committee and with the help of a secretary, hold and run meetings bimonthly.

Thursdays I attend a Men's Shed where I turn lovely pieces of wood into something else.

Friday is the day I attend any medical or other appointments or go for a drive to a vineyard or go out for lunch.

Between times, I've been writing my autobiography for my children and grandson so that, when I take that journey from which nobody returns, it might answer some of the questions they have later in life. I know when my mother and father died, I wished I had asked them much more about their lives before I joined them.

Psychologist Erik Erikson posited "Eight Ages of Man". In the Eighth Age, one of Integrity versus Despair he said:

... that people in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair."

I'm in the integrity part. I've had a great life and have no bitterness, depression or despair about being older and heading towards the crematorium.

I'll keep busy, enjoying the rewards of 51 years of work, helping others through volunteering and continue with a positive outlook until I can't continue.

Robin

Carrying Knives and Prohibited Weapons

When I was a police officer, knives weren't as huge a problem as they are now. These days, many more assaults and murders are committed with knives so police have had to crack down on people who carry them.

My SA Knife

This makes it difficult for people like me who are law-abiding, have never been convicted of anything, but who carry a small pocket knife in their pocket and a larger knife in their car. These knives are visible in the photo above.

Why do I carry a Swiss Army pocket knife? For many years as a Traffic Accident Investigator I needed something to cut seat belts, makeshift tourniques, webbing, and bandages or materials that we were using as bandages. There seemed to be always something that needed a knife and when you're out on some highway at midnight, it's not easy to find one unless you carry it.

Later, as a training manager I often had parcels of student materials I needed to open, IT equipment that needed a screwdriver occasionally, a bottle opener before screw-off beer caps that I needed sometimes after work, and very rarely a can opener when staying overnight on Aboriginal communities where I ate tinned foods. My Swiss Army knife has been a lifesaver. Why, I've even sharpened pencils with it!

Sometimes I find when I buy take-away food I need the knife to cut pieces of meat into more edible proportions. The wooden knives now in vogue don't cut it. (Pun?)

Why do I have a survival knife in my car door? 

The knife I have in my car door, shown above, has a belt cutting attachment, a glass breaking knob, and a larger knife blade if I need it. If I have a traffic incident and finish up conscious in a waterway or in the scrub in my car, I want to be able to get out as soon as I can. Cars sink in water. I've recovered several people who drowned in their cars. Cars catch fire. I've recovered the burnt bodies of people burned in cars. I'm not keen to do either if I can avoid it.

So, am I worried about being charged with being in possession of prohibited weapons. No.

I've read the South Australian Summary Offences Act and Regulations and by my reading, neither of my knives is classed as prohibited. Additionally, I never get pulled over by police except on rare occasions for a drink driving test.

Every state and territory has its own laws regarding prohibited weapons. I take pot luck that if I'm pulled up and my knives found, the police officer concerned will have sufficient nous to realise I'm not a likely candidate to attack anyone with either knives.

I could kill someone with a large spanner from my tool box, why would I need a knife?

Also, bear in mind that I don't carry either knife when I visit a hotel of an evening and if I was still going to discos and piss drinking extravaganzas I wouldn't be stilly enough to take either knife with me.

Police officers should assess the place and conditions under which a person is carrying a knife (or multi-tool with a blade), consider the person's criminal history (if any), and the likelihood it is being carried as a weapon for self-defence. That's what I did as a police officer. I never arrested farmers who had knives on their belts who had dropped in to their local for a beer on their way home. I did arrest gang members engaged in brawls late evening who had knives in their possession.

Common sense must prevail.

My advice: check the relevant legislation in the state or territory where you spend most of your time and comply with the legislation.

Robin

Goodbye Net Zero?

 

The more I read about the deteriorating energy situation in the UK and Europe due to an over-reliance on so-called renewable, green energy - wind and solar, I'm beginning to see the end of Net Zero.

Since leaving full-time work in 2012 and retiring (Goodness me, is it really a decade?) I've had time to read extensively about global warming (now climate change), renewable energy, and associated topics.

My opinion, following that reading, is that global warming has been so low, it's negligible. Carbon dioxide is more benefit to the planet and humans than stated and there is no link between temperature and C02.

Additionally, evidence is that we are heading for a cooling period (climate is cyclical, not linear) and more people die from hypothermia than hyperthermia. Remember Texas? Something around 700 people died during 2020-21 due to power failures and lack of warmth although there were debates about actual numbers. Even one unnecessary death is too much.

Claims by alarmists since the 70s of life-ending, world-destroying heating events have not eventuated, not on even one occasion.

Now, as a result of government decisions based on dodgy scientific advice, billions of pounds have been wasted on wind turbines and decommissioning of coal-fired power stations. The UK imports billions of pounds worth of gas from Russia and elsewhere so that it can avoid gas fracturing at home.

Most of the components of wind turbines are manufactured in China which has an open-slather agreement when it comes to C02 emissions. Strange that. We simply move our emissions to somewhere else so we can claim to be "green".

The public is beginning to become aware of the vast cost to their countries to implement an unnecessary, unhelpful Net Zero by 2050 policy and a fight back has begun.

The war in Ukraine has also helped people reconsider their energy needs and futures.

Goodbye Net Zero!

Robin

"Follow your own dogma, not that of others. Live your own life, your own way."