Articles from GrahamH

In Training

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 07:02:15 +0000

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In October 2022 my wife, son and I joined the local railway museum and heritage railway in our rural city, Toowoomba Queensland Australia. This was inspired by my desire to spend time with our son once a week doing something in some part of the community.

He has been living away from us for a while under a support package from Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme. This has been a wonderful thing for my wife and I. He has 24 hour support in a house with 3 other clients, and transport to some supported activities. He is also happy not to have his parents around all the time.

The museum, DownsSteam, was started by people who thought that the last survivng locomotive built in Toowoomba should be brought to Toowoomba and be restored to operation. This has taken them much longer than anticipated. I had visited them twice years ago. The site was getting developed, carriages acquired and developed, restorations done for others, but the loco at the centre seemed not to progress.

Then while my eye was off them they gained a volunteer with good steam loco knowledge and some funding from a generous donor. So when we joined they had an operational loco and were getting through the hoops to be able to run on Qld govt track. A very pleasnt surprise.

Now my son gets delivered to the site around lunchtime on Saturdays. We have lunch with the other restorers then we sweep the lunchroom (it's a former tram from Melbourne) then we sweep the shed for a couple of hours and the odd other task. I 'work' there on the Saturday morning and usually on Thursdays also. I'm now on a training path to become a fireman on steam locos.

Retired!

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 10:23:08 +0000

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It's good to be uploading and looking at other's photos.

Employed

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 05:40:17 +0000

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I'm a bit busy now. Employment after a long period of unemployment is a welcome interuption/addition to life. Photography and Ipernity are on the backburner. I'll be back sometime.

Graham

Sputnik

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 10:34:03 +0000

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Nineteen fifty seven was the year I started school and the year space travel commenced. October this year is the 50th anniversary of the three week long flight of Sputnik I.

At that time my Dad was working as a scientist in Australia's CSIRO Radio Research Board (RRB) under Dr David F Martyn based in the Sydney area. (He in started in this work in Janyuary 1946 and left it in 1960). This research group was investigating the structure and behaviour of the upper atmosphere. The experimental side of this work involved transmitting radio signals up and observing to the reflected signals returned. This meant that there was a selection of antennas, receivers and expertise available to receive signals from the first spacecraft.

One Saturday afternoon Dad drove us to a building in the grounds of the University of Sydney. I remember being in a room dimly lit by outside light through high blinded windows. There were large grey equipment racks, some with dark knobs, glowing dials and lamps on front panels. I remember one with a round green CRT display. There was the dull red glow of valve heaters visible where there were no front panels. On a work table there was an incomplete looking metalwork thing and some cylindrical objects with wire pigtails. I had seen a similar sight in a WWII bunker used by RRB near Camden Airport, back before I started school. The room had a wonderful mysterious feel.

Knobs were adjusted then we waited, Dad attempting but failing to explain Sputnik. Then it started, bleeep bleeep bleeep bleeep. The explanations then became simpler. The sound was coming by radio from 90 miles above from the first manmade orbiting satellite. My first thought was this was like many other bleeps I had heard while near equipment racks. But I then realised the usually unemotional Dad was keen to share both the facts and his excitement, about this scientific and technical advance. Soon the bleeps ceased. We left the magical room and went back to normality and home.

My recollection is that Sputnik I was not visible to the unassisted eye due to its small size but that the final rocket stage was. However, Dad said these didn’t pass over Sydney at dusk or dawn and so he couldn’t show it to me. I think the rocket stage was visible further south. In the next month, on November 3rd, Sputnik II was launched. This was visible in the evening sky from my home; we saw its star-like appearance hurrying across the sky with its dog and, I assumed, its bleeper.

Camera Adventures

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 04:35:55 +0000

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I was in Istanbul on my return journey from somewhere. After a small delay with entry to Turkey due to some problem with passport control's computers I found my hotel and dined among the night life in the street.

The following day I wanted to see three things, the Ayasofya, the vintage trams and the Bosporus suspension bridge. A metro ride next morning took me to near the first on the list.

Soon after entering the extraordinary old building, built as a Church in the 6th C, the camera I brought from home, my Canon A1200, received a knock and ceased to operate its lens. I walked all through it, taking in the architecture and the Christian symbols which had survived the five centuries as a Mosque. Later I walked to the water and vintage trams. On the way I bought a new camera from the camera shop, Cazip Photo pictured www.ipernity.com/doc/grahamh/40755498. The shop charged the battery while I lunched at the nearby café and drank the freshly made orange juice in the next photos.

I had an interesting afternoon and evening with the trams and other sights. The next morning I explored near my hotel

Early the following afternoon the new one failed, the screen didn't work, as I walked through the transit area to board my plane. Back home, Canon at first refused to consider the new one a warranty job as I didn't buy it in Australia. Being slightly technical I started to attack the original camera with a screwdriver and in doing that I noticed the lens was off-centre to the camera body so I did some sideways pushing back and fixed it. It hasn't missed a beat since. More harassing of Canon then got them to agree to look at the IXUS 145. I posted it (without battery or any accessories at Canon's say so) and with proofs of purchase and of leaving Turkey when I had said.

About 10 days later an email appeared saying my repair had been despatched. No clue as to what was done or if there any charge for it. Three more days and a brand new, in the box, slightly later model, an IXUS 160, arrived in the mail! A huge 'Thank you' to Canon Australia for varying the rules to do the right thing.

So I missed some photos at Istanbul and Singapore but have now two working small cameras with some complementary features and similar operating modes. The IXUS with a spare battery, something I intended to buy, and a spare charger too.

Photo Missed :-(

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 12:11:22 +0000

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This morning I missed getting a photo of three lowish flying chinook helicopters in close formation which flew over my home. GRRRRR.

PinknBlue Floyd

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 04:46:54 +0000

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We don't need no jusfi'cation

We don't need no shift enter

No dark backgrounds around the photos

Flickr leave them pics alone

Hey Flickr leave them pics alone

All in all it's just another pain in the hole

All in all you're just another pain in the hole

A Peacefull 2014 to All!

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 07:58:10 +0000

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Nothing more to be said!

The Tragedy of Ambitious Dictators

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 02:46:21 +0000

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Seven decades ago many Japanese men came to the edges of Australia bringing death and destruction as they served their Ruler. They were required to dominate East Asia.

Last month a man, a clever and skilled Japanese man, a surgeon, brought many additional years of healthy life to me. He and his team repaired my body.

Thank you Dr Ura!

Glorious Yahoo!!!!

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:50:29 +0000

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Yahoo is not content with destroying Flickr.

Yahoo's IMPROVED email interface is now almost unusable. It used to be the best.

Some free advice, DON'T LET THE KIDDYS RUN THE COMPANY!

Hahahaha :-)

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 01:27:43 +0000

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Hi grahamH,

Just a friendly reminder that your Flickr Pro account will expire on: Fri, October 4.

»

Keep your Flickr Pro status by purchasing a recurring Flickr Pro subscription from the order page:

www.flickr.com/account/order

»

If your Pro account expires you will revert to the limits of a free Flickr account, but will continue to have the option to purchase Flickr Pro.

Learn more here: www.flickr.com/help/limits/#150487675

»

Learn more about the limits of a free Flickr account here:

www.flickr.com/help/limits/#150470666

Regards,

Team Flickr

This is a service email related to your use of Flickr.

Your use of Flickr is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the Flickr Community Guidelines

'Views' at that Other Place

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 03:48:55 +0000

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Some recent checks of my photos at that other place have been interesting. The quantity of daily views has generally increased. These are mostly the result of searches of which there has been a large increase.The quantity of views generated by link from a site where some photos are displayed and by viewers stepping through groups remains about the same.

This appears to me to be the result of that place running software which selects words from the keyword database, searches on them and registers views on the items found.

This then leads to the question of that place attempting to defraud those paying for advertising. Perhaps I'm just too cynical?

Response to a global warming circulating email

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 12:19:45 +0000

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I received an email promoting the views of Prof Ian Plimer. Here is my take on him.

The email says the content is a summary then puts " " around it as though it's a quote, unlikely.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Plimer

www.complex.org.au/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=91

www.independentaustralia.net/2011/environment/ian-plimer-suffers-from-crank-magnetism

Plimer is not the only researcher with young science success who went on to la la land later in life.

Isaac Newton of maths and gravity fame went into among other things alchemy trying to make gold from other metals.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

William McBride discovered the birth defects caused by thalidomide. Read the next episode here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McBride_%28doctor%29

And at an anecdotal level I have firewood left from last winter and a pile I split for this winter unburnt. It just hasn't got that cold.

There has been no frost. Frost, or putting in a freezer, turns tomatoes to mush. My wife is picking firm freshly ripened tomatoes from plants growing in an open area. Has been since June.

In the Winters of 2003&4 there were light frosts, had to scrape the windscreen before driving, none the past few years. The neighbours on the downhill side have been there since the late 70s. They saw snow occasionally in the first few years they were here but haven't seen any since 1984.

Certainly appears to be warming and getting extreme weather here as the global warming warnings say.

Tabulam Bridge

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 02:08:22 +0000

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This bridge is the subject of one of my favourites.

www.ipernity.com/doc/grahamh/22648899

From the Northern Daily Leader, a regional newspaper in NSW.

www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/1657798/historic-bridge-to-be-demolished/?cs=159

THE longest single-span timber bridge in the southern hemisphere will be demolished as part of the NSW government’s $145 million Bridges for the Bush program.

The 110-year-old Tabulam bridge over the Clarence River was recently upgraded in a year-long project worth more than $1.4 million but will be replaced with a $24 million bridge.

The Tabulam bridge is between Tenterfield and Casino and separates the Tenterfield and Kyogle shires.

The new Tabulam bridge will improve traffic flow and motorist safety, and will reduce the need for full closures during maintenance.

Engineering firm GHD has been awarded the tender and will investigate possible sites for a new bridge location and the demolition of the existing bridge.

Local member Thomas George said the contract would be delivered with close consultation with the Tenterfield Shire Council, Kyogle Council and the surrounding community through information sessions to decide options.

Plans are expected to be on display later this year with a decision to be made by the end of 2013.

Here!

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 23:15:02 +0000

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Two years membership paid here.

All photos are now copied across from that other place. They are categorised for that environment which is not ideal for this one so I may be reorganising the albums later after some thought. It's good to able to see photos as I like to.

My photos at the other place will be left there as others appear to enjoy them there. I don't intend to add any additional ones there. I will probably visit that other place from time to time.

Fleeing Flickr

nobody@ipernity.com (GrahamH) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 04:01:51 +0000

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20/05/2013 Vale Flickr. Vive le Francais!

Fled Flickr for Ipernity sanity.

Pair of blues trumps pink and blue.