Spindizzy

 

Solar photovoltaic power is installed. My old meter is soon to be replaced but for now is spins backwards when the sun shines.

400 turns = 1 kilowatt-hour.

Fresh Cake

 

A glass bowl on a plate keeps the cake fresh without plastic wrap.

Grey Butcher Bird

 

This Grey Butcher Bird may be the very one that was swooping me yesterday. Today he is visiting the bird bath I provided.

Swooping Season.

Around here it is spring. The local black and white birds - magpies, butcher birds and magpie larks - are intent on protecting their eggs and nestlings. They swoop individuals whom they dislike. They can rip ears and they have blinded people. I have seen a magpie chase a motorcyclist but it could not keep up at 50 km/hr. 

They have a particular dislike of cyclists. Wizzing around on my electric bicycle I have found 3 spots near my home where butcher birds attack. Like many cyclists I have modified my helmet with cable ties to protect my ears; I wear safety glasses to protect my eyes.

Double Feature

 

In order to entice the crowds back to the cinemas, one theatre is offering double features of "James Bond 007" at the usual price. 

Seeing these movies from the 70s at the cinema was a real treat. I really enjoyed it despite the air conditioning failing. I was offered my money back but since their business is struggling with pandemic restrictions I declined.

In the 70s I would ride my bicycle to the other side of town to see cheap double features of war movies and westerns.

Now if they would only do -
Back to the Future I & II
A Fistfull of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More
Funny Girl / What's Up, Doc?
The Graduate / Midnight Cowboy
The Time Machine (1960) / The Planet of the Apes (1968)
Doctor Zhivago (A double feature by itself)
Lawrence of Arabia (A double feature by itself)
Breakfast at Tiffany's / Sabrina
Ben Hur / Quo Vadis
Logan's Run / Silent Running
...

My main complaint about the internet streaming services is I cannot find the old movies I want to see.

Change of Guard

I divided a native bee hive into two hives on the weekend.

The stingless bees flying around my face can be distracting. So I wore a headnet. I had bought the net for outback travelling. But there was a problem - the net is impregnated with an insecticide which made the bees fly erratically and, I presume, die. I need a different net.

When I opened the hive I found that the hive of Tetragonula carbonaria bees had been replaced by Tetragonula hockingsi. The different species look identical to the naked eye. But carbonaria arrange their nests as a spiral and hockingsi nests are more higgledy piggledy. 

Another example of environmental change - hockingsi prefer higher temperatures and used to live to the North of Brisbane.

A photo from a few years ago showing a spiral Tetragonula carbonaria nest.

Work with meaning

I know a young woman working in marketing for a credit card company - she hates the job. She knows it is a rip off to the merchants and it is doing nothing meaningful.

In the Brisbane apartment boom it was soul destroying to work for developers. They wanted the cheapest build possible for a sale - they did not care what would give the least maintenance, say, or an effective fire alarm system. 

In dealing with solar panel installation companies, I am meeting people whose aim is to save the planet. They are enthusiastic for their work - it is refreshing.