They are AHEAD of us already...

We went to our local Centrelink office yesterday before going on our weekly shopping tour, to lay the groundwork for an Enduring Power of Attorney in case we get knocked out together by a falling tree.

With the necessary Statement of Income and Assets completed, we went to the local Coles store. While Bianca shopped for what seemed to me hours, I sat on a bench inside the cool store to wait for her.

A little girl of about three or four was already seated on that bench, and without ado she started to address me with words like these: It is my birthday today, and because it is my birthday I wish to ask that I be buried in stacks of carton...

I did not have time to ask her if this was for environmental reasons when her mother called her to join her on the way out, and made an apologising gesture toward me.

When Bianca came out with her trolley, I related the unusual occurrence, and she commented: They are truly ahead of us already...

I've had my fill of IT - time to move on...

What do you make of this? Two years ago I bought a brilliant little Intel 7iBNxx NUC (Next Unit of Computing, in their marketing speak), and used it as my main working PC, married to a big old Dell screen via HDMI, and carrying all my stuff on its internal 500 GB Western Digital SSD and 16 GB of internal memory, plus an assortment of three more Solid State Drives from Seagate, Gigabyte and Corsair...

In its wisdom, Intel decided it needed to 'upgrade the firmware' on my NUC, and of course I let it go ahead. The beautifully executed and visually attractive Visual BIOS appeared upon restarting - BUT I was told there was NO operating system and the system would shut down. Which it did.

Of course I alerted Intel to the strange case, back in November 2020, and never heard back.

I contacted Intel again more recently, explained my case and said would they please fix the problem they had created for me...

Lo and behold, I received a reply, had a support person allocated to my case, who patiently went through all possible options to get me back on-line.

Donald is based in the Phillipines, three hours behind me, and I can't tote up the time he spent on my case, with me duly attached to the effort. It is still not resolved, but on Monday Donald will ring again and expects to arrange for an RMA (Return Materials Authorisation) to be relayed to me.

BUT, here's the rub: Intel had permitted the user to set a master password for the NUC, so I blithely put in admin1, to keep it short and easy to remember. Intel, however, had decreed that passwords needed to consist of at least 8 letters, a figure, and a symbol! So, after three tries with MY little PWD, the system decreed that  the password was invalid and duly locked me out!

Haven't yet been able to get out of that hole that I dug for myself!

Yet it would have been so easy for the Intel BIOS programmers to prevent such an occurrence, and save the firm untold man-hours of support time, IF they had merely prevented a hapless user from entering an invalid password (that did not meet their criteria)!

So please do this pronto, Intel - and as a recompense for my useful suggestion, perhaps you can see fit to waive the requirement for an RMA to be accompanied by the original purchase invoice... I simply can't find it in the bordello that is my office!

Otherwise my only option is to put Cinnamon and Firefox on a bootable USB stick, or Kubuntu or whatever, and mount that on the wretched NUC and hope for the best!

Postscript: Intel eventually relented, had me send the NUC to Malaysia, methinks, and reurned a brand-new Intel 7 with the latest O/S to me!

Installing it was child's play - it even imported all of my original stuff from the SSDs...

Are water gas heaters in OZ now ALL continuous flow?

 

Our old (1992) Bosch instantaneous LPG water heater failed during a recent interruption to our mains water supply, so after our new plumber today fixed all the valve and tap problems he gave up on the old heater..

He was not familiar with the Bosch, he averrred. But he still managed to get the piezo-electric spark to appear, only there was NO gas at all flowing through the unit!

He suggested a specialist firm 60 km away, so I emailed them for advice.

I also perused 26 pages of water heater products offered by a local outlet of the mainstream Reece plumbing group: it's mind-boggling! MOST were electric units of course, although some had solar options, but ALL were CONTINUOUS FLOW units. Some had a solar storage option...

Are my fellow Aussies collectively out of what remains of their Corona-affected minds? WHO needs continuous flow appliances these days? 

Most people on LPG need a simple 16 L instant-on heater that only uses gas when it is being needed somewhere in the house, in the kitchen, or the shower, for instance, and shuts off when the tap is closed!

And of course the local pricing is insane: I looked at a list of German gas water heater suppliers and the best where around say $150 euros - for this you get a stainless-steel clad appliance, at that!

Here in Oz you'd pay around $A1500 for a Bosch system...

I check again when I've recovered a bit from the shock...

On the bright side: a young (29) spud from the succinctly named Hot Water Maintenance Service firm 60 km away appeared around 3 p.m. today (I only called them yesty!) and fixed up the old Bosch in an hour or less! He did a thoroughly competent job, cleaning out old crud that had blocked a crucial diaphragm which blocked water flow enough to tell the heater no to try lighting the flames...

He only charged just under $A200 for the service, and I consider it money well spent. Thanks Luke! 

Incidentally, Luke told me even so-called continuous flow appliances only use gas while they are being used... So I better temper my tirade against the mindless Aussies...

Otherwise in the water-to-the-house department, I started out with NO leaks in the supply side after my brilliant repairs, but the connection to the house was not completed because I didn't want to mess with it - and partly because I had run out of fluxing powder. Only much later did I read modern silver solders, in particular one 15 p.c. silver one I'd imported from England, are SELF-FLUXING, so I could have completed the job myself (illegally, of course).

To cut a long aside short: my new plumber was old-school, he did not believe in suggestions from lay persons, used a rusty spanner to beat delicate plastic fittings into submission, used a BSP fitting to connect a metric 40 mm valve, and so on and so on. He did get a water flow to the house, and put a new fitting on a 19 mm garden water connection, so we were grateful for that. 

But although he was a gas fitter, he gave up on the Bosch after a while, although he managed to get a pilot flame to appear... 

So, for just a shade over $A200, we had a working kitchen (minus hot water) - and Bianca was able to do untold loads of washing with her old LG machine. (And I was able to drink purified water again from my twin-cartridge Aquapure system).

The upshot, though, is that when I had NO leaks after MY repairs, we now have THREE damp spots under the valves my new plumber worked on - so if I find time in the future I'll probably re-do the entire line plumbing job myself again.... Although I must say my Bougainvillea certainly appreciates the slight leak LOL

POSTSCRIPT

A few weeks ago the Bosch carked it altogether, and a specialist drove down from Taree. He brought a modern Bosch water heater that switched on its flames only when water was being withdrawn through it. Very sensible idea.

After the plumber left, having charged a mere $A1700 or so for the heater and his services, I read the label on the heater more closely: Must NOT be installed in a bathroom, it stated blithely!

Since our bathroom has a very high roof, and is flued with a 100mm galvanised pipe to an exhaust fitting more than a metre above the roof, and since a self-declared Bosch expert had installed the new appliance, I thought we could safely ignore the warning LOL

MEIN Ende des 2ten Weltkriegs (Attn. BR2: re 'Kinder des Krieges')

Meine Frau und ich hoerten dieser Tage auf Bayern 2 eine Historikern Augenzeugen des Kriegsendes zu Wort kommen. Auch ich kann mich nach 75 Jahren noch sehr deutlich an manche Bilder aus meiner damaligen Heimatstadt Jena in Thueringen erinnern.

Und seit ich den BR2 Bericht hoerte, kommen mir immer mehr neue Szenen ins Gedaechtnis zurueck, manche erschreckend, viele erheiternd...

Ein paar Tage vor dem Ende des Krieges schon spuerte man: es liegt etwas in der Luft! 

Das Auto eines Parteigenossen etwa stand tagelang ungenutzt in der Prominenten-Allee Beethofenstrasse. Schon damals darauf bedacht, nichts ungenuetzt verkommen zu lassen, holte ich also ein paar Tage vor meinem 9. Geburtstag das Auto (ein Opel Kadett?) ueber eine kleine Kreuzung vor unsere Villa in der Beethovenstrasse 12 'zur weiteren Verwendung'...

Dann kamen die Amerkaner und befreiten uns: sie brachten reihenweise Wehrmachtssoldaten in den grossen Vorgarten 'unserer' Villa, nahmen ihnen Gewehre und Helme ab, banden ihre Haende - und verabreichten ihnen dann ihre eigenen K-Rations!

Meine Mutter, die sehr gut Englisch sprach, half den Amis dann bei deren anfanglicher Vernehmung der geschlagenen Truppenteile.

Ich selber dasgegen 'befreite' einen Karabiner und zwei Revolver aus dem vor dem Haus geparkten Jeep, samt der dazugehoerigen Munition, versteht sich...

Das trug mir daraufhin die erste (und letzte) Pruegel meines Lebens ein: ein bei uns einquartierter U.S. Offizier fand das Gewehr, zerschlug es in grosser Wut an unserem Eingangspfeiler und verpasste mir dann eine gehoerige Tracht!

Gluecklicherweise hatte er nicht meine geklauten Revolver und Munition entdeckt, sonst haette ich die Stunde vielleicht nicht ueberlebt... (Was ich mit dem Zeug gemacht habe, weiss ich heute nicht mehr - wahrscheinlich aber hatte ich es aber erst einmal im immer kalten grossen Kachelofen im Kinderzimmer versteckt und dan vorsorglicherweise in unserem Garten vergraben...)

NB: Wenn ich von 'unserer' Villa rede, muss ich der Ehrlichkeit halber erklaeren, das die 'verdiente Mutter von 5 Kindern' das Haus von den Nazis zugewiesen bekommen hatte.

Es gehoerte tatsaechlich der schwedischen Grossmutter Helfrid Eigenbrodt,
die mit ihrem deutschen Schwiegersohn Herrn Meinecke und dessen Tochter Helfrid genannt 'Luettie' im vierstoeckigen Haus gegenueber wohnte - das ihr uebrigens auch gehoerte. Der schien den ganzen Krieg ueber zuhause verbracht zu haben, er war Ingenieur und vielleicht mit 'kriegswichtigen' Aufgaben beschaeftig? Reine Spekulation von mir im Nachhinein... sorry 'bout that. Wahrscheinlich war er selber Schwede, und damit neutral...

Uebrigens war 'Luettie' seit drei Jahren meine 'Verlobte' - wir hattten uns bei einem Ausflug auf eine nahe Huegelkuppe beim Pfluecken von wilden Erdbeeren geschworen, einander zu heiraten, sobald wir alt genug waren... but that's another story LOL

NEUE SEITE

Schon vor Kriegsende hatte ich erlebt, wie ein einzelner (amerikanischer?) Jagdflieger entlang der Landstrasse ueber die Napoleonischen Felder Jagd auf eine einsame Mutter mit vier kleinen Kindern machte: die Kugeln trafen aber nicht, weil unsere Mutter uns sofort in den Graben kippte und am Wiederauf(er)stehen hinderte... Dann macht sie sich mit uns auf den Weg ins nahe Dorf, wo sie Schmuckstuecke gegen Speck und andere Lebensmittel eintauschte.

Dieser Mordversuch an Zivilisten gehoert zu den ungesuehnt gebliebenen Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit, wie auch der erste grosse britische (?) Bombenangriff auch die Koelner Innenstadt, dem ich als fast 5-jaehriger Lausbub vom Panoramafenster im zweiten Stock der Wohnung meiner mutterlichen Grossmutter Maria Mohr zuschaute: ich sah es als ein eigens fuer mich angezuendetes Feuerwerk an! Ich sehe heute noch einen Klumpen Glut aus dem Fegefeuer des Wohnhauses gegenueber in ein anderes nahes Wohnhaus fliegen, das auch sofort in Flammen aufging...

Dann holte mich meine Grossmutter in den Keller zurueck, aus dem ich unbemerkt entwischt war, und rief meine Mutter an, mich bittte sofort nachhause zu bringen. Ihre Tochter kam am naechsten Tag, glaube ich, Koeln war damals ein 'Kopfbahnhof'' und wir mussten ueber eine erhalten gebliebene Bruecke ueber den Rhein nach Deutz fahren, um einen Zug nach Jena zu bekommen. Ich kann heute noch die vielen Gleisstraenge in Deutz sehen, und reihenweise ausgebrannte Reichsbahnwaggons. Mir scheint, sie trugen Parolen wie "Raeder muessen rollen fuer den Sieg"...

Neighbours

Gary is one of our oldest neighbours (only 69, mind you!), he's lived on the bush block next door for yonkers with his wife Judy. They live a secluded life, much the same as Bianca and me, and I can't remember having seen either in years...

Yesterday Bianca got call from him, Gary asking if she would accept some of his surplus honey. They got chatting, and when I went to the gate to bring in the empties garbage drum, there was a plastic bag behind our gate with a 1.5 kg jar of honey and a number of Panama Red passionfruit.

I brought the bounty home - and promptly forgot the garbage drum at the roadside.

This morning I was woken by the phone around 8 a.m. (I normally go back to bed for an hour or two of sleep after our brekkie at around 6.30) and heard Bianca talking to Gary, saying thank you very much but I'd better consult Luis when he gets up... I gathered Gary had offered her the bees that had made the honey, perhaps - at any rate there was a swarm if we'd care to get it...

"Let's do it", I shouted down to Bianca from the loft, and she told Gary we'd ring as soon as we were on the way.

Now for some strange reason - we had not dabbled in bee-keeping since our last bees were wiped out by the Small Hive Beetle some 20-odd years ago - Bianca had just bought some fancy new beekeeper's suits with helmets and gloves for me; so these I donned quick smart and we drove to the neighbour's place up on the adjacent hill.

The swarm was still stationary on the branch of a small Banksia (?) so Gary fetched his ladder and a battery-driven saw to lop off the branch. As soon as he started his racket, the bees all rushed to drive him away, he duly got stung and decided to wait and see if the swarm would regroup.

Good girls! they did in due course, and it was my turn to climb onto the ladder, hold a big plastic box under the swarm, give the branch another shake and bingo, heaps of bees fell into the container and sought to swarm out again presto. I slammed the lid onto the box and brought it down to fasten it properly,  got stung of course through Bianca's old bee suit but managed to fasten the lid properly and ran to the van with it with bees all seemingly still in it. (Remind me to put on my own new triple-layer bee suit with zip-fastened helmet next time!)

I drove the van into some shady spot and waited for Bianca, the bees had fallen totally silent!

When she was in the van we drove off downhill carefully and up our own hill slowly, I took the box with the bees to Bianca's prepared spot, on concrete blocks at a convenient height, a single-frame hive with some foundation sheets, and a large white cloth leading up to the entrance from the ground at an angle.

Onto this cloth I emptied the bee box, and we were gratified to see how many of them got the idea at once and clambered up the sheet to the narrow hive entrance!

It seemed to us that they started foraging almost at once, shooting up straight into the air before veering off into tall eucalypts all around us.

The bees were so peaceful that Bianca dared to remove the blue container and lid as well as the cotton sheet leading up to the hive entrance even before it was dark - and without veil or helmet at that!

Today (Thursday) I spent an inordinate amount of time fixing my PC, router and IP telephony - partly with help from my provider - and then relaxed in front of the bee hive to watch the new inhabitants go about their business. Bianca had earlier put all several new frames into the hive to make up the regular number of eight.

Tonight I believe I smelt fresh honey from the hive - after all the newcomers must have been chockful of the stuff when they arrived, and appear to have placed it into the new sheets of foundation wax during the day...

I also observed their movements, which included chasing another, smaller bee from the entrance, or maybe some as yet unidentified insect?

Cheers, Gary, and thanks for the new pastime! I'll keep you posted.

MORE THAN A MONTH LATER

We looked for the queen three weeks ago during a nice sunny spell - couldn't see her. BUT: there were lots of new cells installed, some capped, some with visible brood in them. So even if the queen did not manage to come with the swarm, it seems the bees - as a species with millions of years of experience - have managed to start rearing a new queen...

Bianca talked to Gary the other day and learned that two days after we took the initial swarm from him, there was a second swarm! Could that have been the queen from the first one, with a heap of her attendants?

We can't know, of course - and Gary could not reach us because of the communications remake of the Lyle household... I must ask him how Optus is managing his new system.

My inclination is to wait until spring before we check on the new hive but for now the bees are numerous, new workers appear to sally forth uneasily on their first orientation outings and the bees seem to be lacking nothing!

A very disturbing photo... is fascism on the rise again?

I saw a very disturing photo on the Sydney Morning Herald site this Sunday - and I am not referring to Mr Borisson's Pentecostal appearance with yelling mouth and raised right arm...

The photo that worrried me was one of three sturdy policemen in what appeared to be battle gear, each with a hand on the pistol in his holster, patrolling some deserted northern Sydney street.

See more than two people together? That's an impending insurrection against state order, so we're only doing our duty LOL.

(The photo appears to have been withdrawn since, and I couldn't locate it again today.)

But it is no laughing matter! I was born in 1936 when Hitler's SA (Sturm Abteilung = assault unit) patrolled the streets of Germany to dispose of any sign of opposition to the Nazi rise to power. Anyone rounded up - if s/he was not clubbed to death immediately - was taken to a concentration camp 'for their own protection'...

I was nine when the war ended, and the Americans liberated my home town of Jena. That province was yielded to Stalin and became part of the horrible German Democratic Republic.

I was but 11 when I left home one night across a shooting border, with a student who lost his way and forced us to cross that very border TWICE due to some geographical quirk...

I went to live with my grandmother in the Eifel mountains near her bombed out Cologne, and a practical saint was she, still remembered with great affection.

From there I went to live in Brazil, in France, in Sweden, Portugal and Spain, among other places before I came to Australia in 1971. Since then I've lived more than half my life in Australia. Would I go back to Germany? Never!

But is fascism coming to haunt me here at home? The times they are a'changing...

Go, Premier, go!

We seem to have a rather unusually perceptive Premier in this State, for a change, and I for one would love Gladys Berejiklian to forge ahead with some necessary changes.

These to me would include slapping a general speed limit of 80 km/h on all State roads, not only in the interests of climate change amelioration but also to prevent any number of dangerous practices on our roads.

These include the high-speed maneouvres by yahoos, often with a P-plate - sometimes tradies with a RED P-plate - who race past our bush block on The Lakes Way without regard for the dozens of adjoining properties from which residents exit on to, or return from, the highway, causing any number of potentially fatal situations.

The amusing thing is that they often end up at the first red light in town, just one car ahead of me...

Another thing I'd like her to decree is a complete development stop on any land that has been affected, sometimes conveniently, by bush fire. No more, we would like to say to Adjani et al., time's up!

And while on the topic of bush fire: is it wise for the authorities to sort of 'prime' the public by constant warning of how bad a 'lethal' or 'catastrophic' fire danger is going to be when the day passes without any threat materialising?

Aren't they almost encouraging irresponsible people, in particular jaded youths, to make it happen?

Over to you, Gladys!