Old Koreelah

From rocks tossed up and bouncing forward off the can?

No doubt I could, but I’d prefer to improve my skills rather than rely on another bit of technology. Practice needed.

Might print those for our club toilets!

So many people claim they are “getting away from it all” but end up taking it all with them. Some friends of ours once came on a weekend camping trip with us and overloaded their car and trailer, so dad brought the Ute along too. I’m spending Lockdown building a camper body that fits over my trailer. It has a queen-sized bed, lots of convenient storage bays, lots of lights and power points, a kitchenette, etc. Total trailer weight about 650kg. I’ve discovered the downside of having made it so streamlined: it’s plurry hard to reverse into the shipping container because the curved sides give little reference to where its pointing! I know so many locals who are planning the big around-Oz caravan trip as soon as they are allowed to travel. The roads and caravan parks won’t be able to cope.

Apparently Goering ordered their aircraft industry to produce its own version of “the wooden wonder”. After lots of problems they gave up; one version is that the Allies had bombed the factory producing the special glue. My Jodel was put together with Resorcinol, which some sources say was developed for the Mossie.

This morning I did a dozen circuits to practice my short-field skills. A couple of full-flap landings were less than 130m, the shortest I’ve stopped the little Baby since I added 60kg of modifications. The cold air and lack of turbulence were ideal conditions, so I won’t be able to do that in summer… Learned a couple of things: Throttle needs more friction so I don’t have to keep one hand on the lever. Stopped to talk to a person who lives on a nearby farm and she hadn’t heard my plane go over a dozen times, despite it being a quiet Sunday morning. Jabiru engines are quiet. My GoPro is an amazing camera, always finding new ways to bugger up my day. For the first time, nothing went wrong. (We need a whole thread on action cameras.) This time the iPad let me down: I’d left it in the plane overnight without shutting it down. It was bat flattery, so the OzRunways wasn’t there to record my tracks and warn me of other traffic. Must remember to not set Auto Lock to Never. They tell us Lithium batteries don’t like to be run flat. I’ve now done that to a couple of mine and it’s come back to bite me. A few months ago I accidentally left the plane battery on and it was 8.9v when I next tried to start the plane. Battery Management Systems are supposed to stop that happening, but this one didn’t. I’ll install an Anderson plug to make connecting a booster pack a bit easier, but will also price a new battery.

Lots of people on the Jodel forum used to make jokes about flying a wooden aeroplane held together by stale milk.

A few years ago I had a tour of the amazing aviation workshop in Mandeville, South Island. Several historic aeroplanes were being restored by a dedicated team including several young people. One part-repaired wooden aircraft had the lines of modern jet; it was a comet. https://www.experiencemandeville.nz

You’ve just confirmed my fears about our leaders’ lack of vision.

Obvious trends are sometimes interrupted by something from left field. We assume that in a decades or two humans will still be driving road vehicles.

Obvious trends are sometimes interrupted by something from left field. We assume that in a decades or two humans will still be driving road vehicles.

Obvious trends are sometimes interrupted by something from left field. We assume that in a decades or two humans will still be driving road vehicles.

Obvious trends are sometimes interrupted by something from left field. We assume that in a decades or two humans will still be driving road vehicles.

Obvious trends are sometimes interrupted by something from left field. We assume that in a decades or two humans will still be driving road vehicles.

Obvious trends are sometimes interrupted by something from left field. We assume that in a decades or two humans will still be driving road vehicles.

Maybe. Japan, the world’s biggest car builder (are they still?) drive from the rhs like us.

Anyone heard from Air Services lately?

Thanks for the post, Kevin. Being a Geography tragic I always look up the spot on Google Earth. Looks like a nice place.

Agree with gusto, Skip. Will reply on the Off Topic forum. https://www.socialaustralia.com.au/topic/1544-school-and-education/?tab=comments#comment-54872

Ceramic pistons?

I agree, Flightie. Let’s take this discussion to https://www.socialaustralia.com.au/topic/1544-school-and-education/

This amazing engine type is being discussed on another forum. If they can reliably deliver this sort of power to weight ratio, aircraft design will enter a new era. https://www.ampereinc.ca/single-stroke-engine

Post-war, lots of veterans went into teaching; some brought considerable baggage. Coping with huge classes too often depended on the stick. During my first few decades teaching I saw the cane used too much and was happy to see it banned. I’m glad I never needed it. Good preparation and working with kids is better. One thing I certainly noticed in the years after flogging kids stopped: playground fights went from being almost daily events to very rare indeed.

Very interesting discussion. My two bob’s worth: Current school systems are still too much like the training facilities set up to serve the Industrial Revolution and military recruitment. Like Nev, I remember huge classes where too many kids fell by the wayside and the cane was used freely. Modern schools try to cater for individual differences, but are denied the funding to do that properly. We are well into the 21st Century and my granddaughter struggles in a class of thirty-odd, while society spends lavishly on new stadiums, casinos and pleasure palaces for the wealthy. Everyone is busy, but too many parents out-source their kids’ education; I know some who out-source their upbringing as well. No wonder they go off the rails. The other end of the scale is home schooling, which has its own issues. If we are really fair dinkum about nurturing our future talent, then we must stop slavishly copying failed ideas from America and Britain. We might learn from Finland. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/ https://leverageedu.com/blog/finland-education-system/ This thread belongs on the other site.

It’s human nature to prefer those who reinforce our prejudices.