willedoo

Albo might be able to have a break from stepping on rakes regarding his golf course problems as it's all going to higher levels of scrutiny. He's been referred to the parliamentry privileges committee to investigate whether he's mislead parliament and a Senate inquiry starts in a couple of weeks time. The Australian National Audit Office, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Marrickville Golf Club officials will be attending the inquiry.

Two months, that's bizarre for something that size. Like a third world country. What's going on down there, is the council bankrupt or something?

It's interesting how different people view things. A bloke on marketplace not too far from me has two Howard Juniors for sale. They are almost runners, just need a clean out as they've sat for a while, but otherwise complete, near running machines. One is a MK1 and the other is a MK2 which has the reverse gearbox. Also he has a non-running Howard Terrier he's throwing in for free. The Terrier has the 300cc side valve engine the same as the old Kelpie engine I have. I was just a little bit too late messaging the seller. He said he has a prospective buyer coming tomorrow afternoon to look at them and will let me know if he doesn't commit to buying them. So here's the thing. The seller wants $150 for the three hoes, roughly equivalent to half a trolly of groceries if you're just buying cheap food. Forgetting about the rotary hoe part of it and breaking it down into parts, for $150 you get two 670cc single cylinder side valve engines with the motorcycle style round crankcase, one 300cc single side valve engine, heaps of solid steel shafts, bearings, pulleys, gearboxes, clutches, fuel and oil tanks and other various handy components. You could sell the carburettor off one of the Juniors and get your $150 back. So why someone would be a tyre kicker and not seal the deal stright away is beyond me. The only thing I can think of is that the bloke is solely looking for a viable rotary hoe to dig a veggie garden and doesn't see the other value in it. I'll see what eventuates tomorrow regarding whether they get sold or not. The message I got back from the seller gives me the impression I'm second cab off the rank if the other bloke doesn't buy them. Attached is a photo of a Junior engine. It shares the exact same top end as the front cylinder on the 80 cu.inch Howard Eight V-twin in previous posts.

Fairly close, those numbers. If you take a net figure of promises kept (kept minus broken) it's 26 to 21 in Morrison's favour, so not much in it. I can remember John Howard copping flak on a lot of broken promises in his first budget after defeating the Keating government. The term core or non core promises was invented around then if my memory is correct.

Got a better pic of the old Richardson drill today. It's a heavy old thing, a lot of cast iron and heavy steel plate where the mount has been modified. This is the way I'll mount it as a horizontal drive if the gearbox lube works out.

I love old industrial machinery. Today I picked up this old J.S. Richardson drill on marketplace and couldn't resist it for $50. There's way more value than that in the steel, electric motor and other components. Good old drills, made in Sydney in the days when we manufactured stuff and employed Australians. At some stage in it's career it's been converted from a pedestal drill to a wall mount. I already have a big industrial grade pedestal drill, so my first thought with this is to mount it like the second photo I've edited with a flip-around and a cutout. In other words, use the wall mounting plate as a base stand and do a bit of sideways stuff with it. I'll have a good look in the morning and check how that will fit with the gearbox oil level/ fill and drain plugs etc. in that orientation.

That's a tricky one. Often the leader of a party gets the job because he or she is the best performer on the floor of Parliament. That ability can sometimes also make them the best to sell their stuff to the media. Some ministers are ok at their jobs but are prone to embarrassing gaffs in front of the media so they get sidelined/insulated/firewalled, pick whichever term suits. Often the PM is left with the job of dealing with the media. At least they have their mandatory flanking noddies to keep them company. It puts a big workload on a PM, particularly if those under him/her are bigger idiots than he/she is. It's probably a fine line between overworking the PM and delegating too much freedom to ministers. You see the worst effect of the latter in some developing countries with the amount of corruption that free hand can result in.

Times are changing. I was listening to a researcher on the ABC radio and he was talking about the younger generations getting their political information via social media. My brain sieve can't quote the figure he gave regarding those getting info solely from social media, but I was surprised how high it was. That's why Albo and other pollies are doing these social media gigs, to chase the younger vote. We boomers and those a bit younger are used to getting ours from traditional media.

Always pays to dig deep into Google AI references. I've seen a lot over time that just quote what some bloke said on Facebook or some other public forum.

From Google AI using Wikipedia as a source: 'Yes, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was registered and born with the surname Ellery (as Anthony Norman Ellery) on 2 March 1963, taking his mother Maryanne Ellery's maiden name.' Just as an edit - the plot thickens. The Google AI references Wikipedia + 1. Hovering the mouse over the reference link show the +1 as a link to a Facebook article where the above was stated. The Wikipedia article doesn't say who he was registered as at birth. So there you go Jerry.

Albo's still copping flak over his golf club grant. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-27/pm-claim-marrickville-golf-grant-sewage-fix-rejected/107313346

I have a first cousin who was adopted out at birth. It was kept fairly secret and his siblings were never told of it. By the time he was able to trace his birth parents unfortunately his father and sister had passed. On the bright side, he got to meet his mother before she passed and he and his brother now have a strong brother relationship. His brother was in his 50's when he first knew about it and met up. I met the formerley unknown cousin a few years ago and he's a really nice bloke. The genetic resemblance to his brother I've known for life is very strong; you'd never miss picking them as brothers despite the age gap. Same parents. It was an unplanned pregnacy and adoption, later marrying and going on to have two more children.

It's hard to figure team loyalties sometimes. A mate of mine I grew up with here in Queensland is a Manly supporter. I've never asked him why, but his father was originally from Sydney so maybe his dad played for Manly or was connected to the club.

Certainly not the first time a probably well meaning parent has lied to their child in the belief they are protecting them. Unfortunately it can sometimes cause a lot of harm to the person when they eventually find out. It brings up a difficult question for adopted parents in that at what stage do you tell the child they are adopted. Leaving it too late can cause a lot of trouble. I know one bloke who was about 16 when who he called dad gave him the guess what, I'm not your dad after all talk. He's in his early 40's and still hasn't got over it. It totally spun him out at the time. He wasn't adopted, but was about three years old when his single mum married.

An unfortunate childhood he had. Not only no father present but he grew up being told by his mother that she had married his father and that he had been killed in a car accident. He was in his mid teens before she told him the truth. At least in 2009 he did get to actually meet his father in Italy before he died, so that would have given him some measure of closure on a sad affair.