willedoo

I'll be talking to a couple of ex RAAF pilots next week. I'll ask them about it.

In the past I've looked at a lot of photos of Soviet, Russian Federation and Ukrainian pilots to see what type of watch they wear. There's a variety and it doesn't appear like there's a standard issue pilot's watch. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in most airforces it's a pilot's personal property rather than an issued item.

My parents bought me a Wallace Bishop watch for my 21'st birthday. I think a watch for males for a 21'st present might have been a bit of a tradition back in the day. I only wore it for a year or so. A bit like Marty, I don't like wearing them and haven't done so since. My dad wore his to bed, the only time he ever took it off was to have a shower. I remember years ago getting the Wallace Bishop watch, a second cheaper watch and a Micky Mouse watch together. I wound the three up and listened to the action of them (hearing was better back then). There was a big difference; you could really hear the finer workings of the Wallace Bishop watch. The $10 Mickey Mouse watch was very clunky but it worked.

Driving a loaded semi-trailer is a lot easier than towing a caravan. A semi usually tracks fairly straight and level and doesn't get the wobbles up like caravans. A semi trailer has the advantage of length and centre of gravity keeping things nice and calm. A badly loaded caravan can turn into a nightmare. The only similar problem you will have with trucks is if you are pulling a triple. If you're not careful, the front and rear trailers can fight with the middle one, causing the middle one to start swaying. Like a bunch of naughty kids that don't play well together. Or so I've been told; I've only pulled doubles. I'd assume a B double pulling a dog trailer would behave a lot better than a traditional triple.

I guess it's an option, but for a debt free person to have to borrow money to fund the government fees and charges component of increasing cost of living doesn't sound like the type of society we should be aspiring to. A better option would be for local and state governments to have a good look at themselves and think about the people's expectations of them. A good example is local government. It beats me how they justify charging $3,000 in rates per annum for a block with zero services. No water, no sewerage, the road verge slashed a couple of times a year and that's it. If you want water, you fund that infrastructure yourself. Ditto for a dunny. Pay for your own pump out system or pay tens of thousands of dollars for a stand-alone treatment system. Hopefully things might change after the recent council elections; it looks like we've got some real people in there this time.

As an offshoot to the housing crisis, it's getting harder for the average battler to stay in their own home that they own if they happen to be in a growth area where land values are increasing sharply. Most authorities care little about people who have always lived in these areas; the attitude is usually that you can sell for a good price and move somewhere cheaper to live. In my opinion, people should have the right to live where they have always lived and not be forced out of an area due to unaffordable council rates and state government charges. Unfortunately, councils in growth areas know that the loss of low income locals will be replaced by cashed up interstate migrants who are good for the economy. The new state government land valuations are out and council is in line for a big cash windfall from rates next financial year when the new valuations take effect. My property increased by more than 60%, but some owners in the district have had up to 80% increases in unimproved property valuation. The corresponding rate increase (which is based on UPV) is a lot easier to manage for high income earners when it's viewed as a percentage of income. In my case, as an age pensioner, council rates will rise from about 6% of income to 9% of income. A high income earner might only be paying one or two percent of their income. The catch is that the valuation increases will also make a lot more people liable for state government land tax. I've lived here on this property for 35 years and have never been liable for land tax until this last valuation. I'm hoping to get an exemption, but if I can't, it will mean another approximate 9% or more of income. Without the exemption, I would have to pay close to 20% of my income to council and state government just to live on my own land. I get it that some people would say what are you complaining about, that you can sell for good dollars and move out the back of Woop Woop and do alright out of it. But that's a speculator's attitude, and why should people be forced to sell up and move because they are priced out of an area. Hopefully council will come to the party and reduce the dollar rate of calculation, or give larger pensioner discounts. State government also funds a pensioner discount on council rates and it's attached levies, but they don't give pensioner discounts on land tax. With the current political climate regarding cost of living pressures, council and the state government would be taking a big political risk if if they just sit back and take the windfall. As far as state government is concerned, screwing the public over in an election year is not a smart tactic.

The Russian word Sturman covers a bit of ground from navigator (steerman) to pilot and helmsman.

In other news, it's looking like the Ukrainians had a good strike on the airbase at Dzhankoi in Crimea. An S-400 air defence system has been taken out with launchers and radars destroyed. Also a couple of S-300 that were under repair. Ukrainian military intelligence have said they will soon be releasing more detail on aircraft damage and personnel casualties.

There seems to be a possibility that U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson is finally coming to his senses on Ukraine aid. He's mentioned intel briefings so maybe he's finally grasped the picture. It's looking like a vote might happen soon. It will be interesting to see if the nutters in his party try to roll him for supporting aid to Ukraine. Reagan would roll over in his grave if he knew putin had bought the GOP.

Boston Dynamics have a new electric robot.

I like the colour of the face.

I guess at under 2,000 USD, the 0247 Baikonur is more affordable than the Breitling Cosmonaut counterpart at 13,000 USD. I think around $100 would be my budget.

Watches are the one part of Soviet flight gear that I don't have. I always intended to collect a couple for if I ever get around to setting up some pilot mannequins. A friend of mine in the U.S. recently bought a Raketa Baikonur, 60th anniversary of the 1st manned space flight in 1961 edition of their 24-hour cosmonaut watch. It looks like a nice watch, but a bit out of my price range at a guess. Some photos of the type:

I'm on the way to sorting out the lack of VoLTE issue in regard to the 3G network closing soon. I shopped around and found a dealer on evilbay selling phones, so I bought a Samsung Galaxy S10e. It's second hand but has a two year warranty which may or may not be worth the paper it's written on. The good thing about the 'e' model it is the small size; it's basically the same size as my old S5, so it won't spend it's life trying to escape from pockets. I'll miss the old S5 physical button in the middle bottom section to wake the screen up, but this one can wake up by setting it to wake up with a double tap to the screen or when you pick it up. The other method is tapping the power button but that's like a game of hide and seek so not a viable method on this phone. To turn on VoLTE, you have to go to settings/connections/mobile networks and set it on. The only problem is that there's no mobile networks option in connection settings. I haven't put a sim card in it yet, so I assume it has to have an active sim for that setting to appear.

I can't figure out the new hairstyle Trump has been sporting lately. The top of it is flat like he's been standing underneath too many helicopters. His clown comb-over is a complicated array of angles and directions at the best of times, but I think this one takes the cake.

The stainless square section have a classy look. Phillips head screws on a verandah deck make it look like a packing crate.

This low res screen shot reminds me of the photos of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan with long columns of BTRs carrying troops. It's the Russians withdrawing from the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. More meat for putler's Ukraine meat grinder. This might be a make or break year for putler. The Russians are slowly advancing in Ukraine, funding for the Ukrainian side is slowing, the world is distracted by Gaza, and in an election year, the Americans are fighting each other. The icing on the cake for him will be if Trump wins. A likely scenario is a Trump win= a putin win. On top of all that, the IMF is tipping the Russian economy to grow more that any other advanced economy. It's all there for putler to take if he plays his cards right. It would explain his renewed confidence lately; he knows he might finally have a chance of getting away with it.

I'm on NBN fixed wireless. The internet works good as the tower is only about 1.5 klm away. As far as the landline is concerned, I never use it. I don't even know what my own number is as it changed when it went to the NBN fixed wireless.

That looks like the kero heater we had when I was a kid. The hot water system ran off the slow combustion stove. The fridge was originally kero, then we got a gas fridge and a small gas two burner stove to supplement the wood stove. Power was a 32 volt generator run by a single cylinder Southern Cross diesel. I've still got the generator and 240 volt inverter but not the Southern Cross. It was a luxurious life once they ran the electricity down our road. No more hand cranking that old diesel. And we had a heap of empty wooden power cable spools to play with. They made good outdoor tables as well.

If he did that he would run the risk of the Israelis renaming Trump Heights, the subdivision in the Golan heights named in his honour. They might even take down the Golan Eagle memorial they erected to suck up to Trump. Donald would probably be happy with a few statues of himself.

I still say it's kleptocracy combined with authoritarianism. The state taking over private enterprises for the select few in government and their cronies doesn't have much to do with communism. For sure, under communism government officials did alright for themselves compared to the peasants, but it's a totally different type of theft for the elite these days. The people hardly get a razoo from it. A small pension when they are 65 if they are lucky. It's surprising how many Americans still think it's the Soviet Union. Mind you, Americans are not the most well informed people when it comes to anything outside their own country.

spacey, once you are over the recovery period, those core strength exercises help a lot. I don't know what the 'take it easy' period is for a re-bore, but with the prostate biopsies I've had, I was banned from strenuous activities for six weeks post op. Mainly for the risk of recurrent bleeding I think.

Jerry, I'm just curious as to the context you meant there in regards to putin's regime being communist. Russia officially abandoned communism more than thirty years ago, as we all know. It's often described these days as a kleptocracy which is probably fairly accurate. The only things about the Russian Federation where I can see some hangover from the communist days are the authoritarian control of the population and the high percentage of state ownership in various enterprises.

Cordless power tools have been a big advantage for thieves these days.

Nev, that's a very accurate take on it. They're square now and very little damage done. If Israel attacks Iran in response it would be nothing short of stupidity and arrogance. It would be intentional escalation.