monkeysarefun

The bit that sticks with me most about your post is the mention of Flag Ale,! That seemed to be part of everyday life when I was little ,like Lady Scott tissues and Bernard King - but then unnoticed, they all slipped away. But ... one day, beer archeologists will discover it on youtube. (Warning to those in the UK - this clip includes scenes of extreme Australianess, budgie smugglers, sheilas and Merve Hughes moustaches, so viewing discretion is advised,)

My now partner wandered down my back yard one morning after a sleep over and called out "Hey theres a snake here" I went down to check it out, assuming it would be a bit of rope or a stick or something only to discover that it was actually a Tiger snake, By the time I got down there it had retreated and was hiding along the track of my downstairs rumpus room sliding door, where we left it to find its own way to wherever it wanted to go, because they are a protected species and you can't kill them, and annoying them by poking them with a stick is only allowed if you are a '70's wildlife documentary team. .. Although it is only the worlds 6th most deadly snake and therefore a bit lame , I was still impressed by her coolness about it all so decided then that she's a keeper. (My partner, not the snake..) Also have had 2 eastern brown snakes curled up on my pavers enjoying the sun, You can't disturb them because, they really do have anger management issues, and that combined with their number 2 place on the worlds most deadly list does make their appearance in your back yard quite a buzz.. Luckily we have a great network of volunteer wildlife organizations here that you can call up and they'll be around to relieve you of the problem and relocate it free of charge.

Could have been worse - in 1971 I reckon most brits still came by ship. That would have been one pack of furry sandwiches!

Ha ha As I was reading your list I thought "He hasn't mentioned Alby Mangels!" and then you did. He did meet a lot of blondes in bikinis! It all went down hill for him if I recall, when his dramatic footage of his dog falling out of his speeding four wheel drive was revealed to be him pushing his dog out of his speeding four wheel drive for dramatic effect. Alledgedly. Malcolm Douglas was the thinking persons Leyland Bro I think. There must have been a time in the '70's when you couldn't go anywhere off the beaten track without bumping into one of these blokes with their film crew poking something with a stick so it would attack them for the camera!

True... but you need to know that there is such a thing as a blue ringed octopus so that you could look it up. These parents didn't know about it until they encountered one and then googled it.. http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/3753867/boy-picks-up-deadly-blue-ring-octopus/ Where were this kids parents in the '70's on a Sunday night at 6.30? Probably watching Countdown on the ABC.

I worry about the kids today! Being young enough in the '70's that I was in my pyjamas by 6.30 on a Sunday night I do remember every TV channel always seemed to have documentaries at that hour about all the stuff here that could kill you. They had titles like "Venomous Australians" and "The Deadliest Australians" etc. We have so much that can kill you that they didn't even usually need to mention sharks and crocs, Just the spiders, snakes (just a couple of these otherwise the show would go for ages if they mentioned them all) and stuff in rock pools would easily fill an hour. The cone shell, the stonefish, the blue ringed octopus, the sea wasp, the box jellyfish, some sea snakes, the obvious spiders, even the platypus can do you in . So I'd go to the beach and every rock was a potential stonefish, every shell was likely to kill me, every rock ledge was hiding an octopus that would have me screaming in agony for the 10 seconds before I popped my little clogs. So therefore I was very careful! The thing is though that I haven't seen any of these shows for years now that its all dancing with the 'stars' and screeching harpies in singing contests. How do the young folk these days get to know about this stuff? If they saw a blue ringed octopus they'd probably try to get a selfie with it....

And for all the dangerous things, we do have some super cuties.... Who can resist a quokka: Or a peacock spider!

Ah, the Huntsman. I like it when I see one on the outside of my car Because at least I know he isn't hiding on top of my sun visor, waiting for when I flip it down, so he's about 8 inches from my face as I drive at 100km/hr into the sun. Thats the Huntsmans favourite party trick!

Some of our creatures have taken a fair toll on English tourists over the years!

A couple of years ago here at work there were strange noises coming from inside one of the electrical distribution board cabinets in our server room. I opened the cabinet to find: It is a Defence Dept classified server room so I guess this is the Australian version of a secret squirrel..

Its not just coming into the country with fruit that is banned, there's many parts of the country where you can't even drive down the road with it..

Hi Simon, If you are still having SW issues, it might be worth checking out laserweb. Its opensource, apparently smoothieboard friendly and is in constant development. There is a link to the latest version on the darklylabs site, though not sure if that is the generic version or pimped up for the Emblaser 2 specifically: https://darklylabs.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003971327-Emblaser-2-Laserweb-Software Otherwise it is available elsewhere out there. Here's the doco: http://cncpro.co/index.php/22-documentation/1-laserweb-4-0-documentation I was not a fan of it at first, but that was coming from the Vectric product that the Emblaser 1 uses which is very polished and feature rich in comparison. I am however coming around to it, basically it'll take .svg or .dxf vector files or .png, .jpg or .bmp raster files, convert them to gcode and send them to the cutter. Nothing fancy but it works ok.

My mum had one of those back in the late '70's, early '80's. I failed my driving test in it because I didn't keep up with traffic, and because I changed into second gear halfway through the first leg of my three point turn.

There's also a 3 or 4 part series he did about ghosts back in the '90's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9AlQs5oJs

I'm not sure what this bird is or why it has decided to come and stand around on my leg. (Being Australian it's probably venomous.)

Especially bad when this happenned: Usually at maximum distance from home, meaning a long ride with bare skin directly on pointy bits. Especially painful on uphills..

(With helpful footnotes for the non fluent Australian speakers...) Not yet being a grey nomad* but having older rellies** who are in the know, and also getting disturbingly close to retirement time and so therefore needing to start planning 'The Trip***, I'm pretty sure that there's some allowance needed for the prevailing wind, ie you need to allow for the westerly wind hampering your trip from east to west and therefore costing you extra in petrol money at certain times of the year or something? I don't know because I just fly everywhere**** Footnotes: ^A retired person, or couple who sell their house and goods to buy a huuuuge motorhome in order to explore this magnificent - but scary because of outback serial killers - land. Their kids hate it because it uses up their inheritance so they can't afford Sydney real estate. ** A shortened version of the word 'Relative" which most of us don't realise so we just say rellies. *** Everyone talks about doing' the trip' (ie: see above about the grey nomad thing). . Its part of lifes natural progression, you look forward to your 18th, then your engagement, getting married, the kids, the kids engagement, the kids leaving home, ,retirement then its 'The trip" . If you are asked about when you are going on the trip but have no valid plan in response then you are weak and un-Australian. **** I really do fly everywhere..ok I did once back in 2013 when I went to Tassie*****. . Have not been anywhere much since then. ***** Cairns.****** ****** Just kidding! Tasmania.

It really is an amazing model. I try to build ship models and seeing those 17th and 18th century admiralty models in museums with all the carving and fine detail, always has me amazed at how they did that. Your cathedral has the same effect on me, especially since its all done without plans, AND there are bits inside it too! And to top it all, you had a cardboard cathedral long before the lauded Christchurch one: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2392573/New-Zealand-Christchurchs-cardboard-cathedral-opens-demolished-2011-earthquake.html

http://news.sky.com/story/dull-celebration-of-bland-and-boring-international-links-10965342

Ah -ha, I do actually remember that article from back in the day and I really do know what is wrong with that cow! Thanks for the quick answers Allan, its amazing detail at 2mm/ft, I can't pick any of the photos that give it away as being a model. The uniformity of the windows and stone details is dazzling, my laser cutter wouldn't be that consistent! It must be a hefty beast, even at that scale. Just for comparison there is a Spanish gent who sells scrollsaw patterns online, and one of them is for the Milan cathedral. Although meant to be decorative rather than true detailed so can't compete with yours , some of the completed ones appear to be around 4mm/ft or perhaps still a little less so gives some idea of the space you'd need on your baseboard. . Attached link shows various finished examples along with pics of the makers with a "What do I do with it now?" expression. http://www.finescrollsaw.com/milan-cathedral.htm

G'day Allan, Not ignoring your latest post (i DO love that wall finish!) but at the risk of making you feel like the Rolling Stones where you release a new album but everyone wants to hear 'Satsifaction' can I ask a couple of questions about your cathedral? 1) The scale - I'm thinking 2mm/ft? 2) The statues - they look so realistic, is it OK if I ask the origins of them? 3) the gargoyles/ waterspouts. They look like dragon heads (or a croc I came too close to in 2009 when I was in the Northern Territory!) how did you make them? 4) What IS wrong with that cow? Love your work! Chris J

Maybe not QUITE the brief, being an actual model based on fantasy, in this case H.P. Lovecrafts works, The Miskatonic Railroad has some wonderful touches, including the Thursday squid auction:

Another powerful but very bleak Russian war movie is 'Come And See'. There's a badly zoomed in dubbed version and a better quality subtitled one on youtube. ("White Tiger" , "The Star" and "Road to Berlin" are also on youtube in pretty decent quality and with English subtitles. Also I enjoyed the 2015 4 part TV mini series "The dawns here are quiet" about a remote Russian air defence battery manned by women soldiers (should that be 'womaned by women soldiers...) who are the focus of an attack by elite german paratroopers. Also on youtube with subtitles, also worth a look. I think its a remake of an earlier version. Russian war movies can be pretty raw and brutal, understandable I guess given their experiences - I can't imagine there's a Russian version of "dads Army' or Hogans Heroes. (But I could be wrong!)

Mate, I do agree with you completely, but just wanted to add that if 'Railway Modellling' was a school subject and if you were his teacher, then you have just written the most brilliant school report ever for Allan! (Unless Allan has a better one...)

My new lens is in an envelope somewhere waiting for me to sort out the EB1's problem.. I'm looking forward to giving it a go against the Emblaser 2.I it probably doesn't have the depth of cut of the Embaser 2 ( the Emblaser 2 lens is about 3 times as big for a start)) but based on Giles results it should cut lighter material much quicker. Hopefully you get it working for you Nick!