What I really miss?

Metal cases, cotton wrapped cords and ancient insulators: no thank you very much.

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Rubber insulation that perished. Ahhh … memories! I miss that warm glow. :expressionless:

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Part of it can be fear. Last time I was working retail and I told someone what they were doing was a bad idea they threatened to smash my face in.

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I’m sorry if I’ ve hurt anybody’s feelings by my comments, I worked as a shop assistant for a while when younger and know that is a difficult job dealing with all kinds of customers. I respect any individual worker, it is the system that sometimes makes me wonder how values have changed with the times.

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The mining can and does take place and it does not need to be a powerful rig to do so, it requires a powerful rig in the sense of someone undertaking all the process on a machine but the java scripts are not about making your machine a full blown miner but rather they get your machine to process some part the process in it’s cycles. Every PC/Mac/Tablet/Smartphone has “spare cycles” that we as users are not fast enough to take advantage of. So in it’s normal housekeeping a computer uses some of these cycles/ticks/spare moments to do that unseen background work. The javascript that the cryptominers place on your machine use some of this unseen computational power to run a bit of the overall complete program. SETI also uses a similar process to search for ET contact (https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/), some Cancer Research and other benevolent work is also done this way but they do it only with informed consent and nor does it require 24/7 online connection (the Cyrptominers also do not require 24/7 connection).

Most AV and Malware detectors can now locate errant cryptominer software and will remove it but some sites cleverly/sneakily state that by using their site you agree to the loading of these scripts and get you to ok the processes. Some come via specially constructed ads that contain the scripts, others are more “blatant” in their approaches.

A single machine can no longer reasonably mine a Bitcoin for profit but if a sneaky cryptominer can get their software on 1,000, 10,000 or more machines and not use their own electricity, or hardware they can certainly make money off those who do not use adequate and up to date protection.

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After.posting the above this morning, I recalled the Large Dim Sim which used to be cooked and sold in fish shops.

I started eating them when I was about 10 years old and only stopped after the factory burnt down some years ago.

Those awful little dim sims that the fish shops sell cooked and the supermarkets sell frozen ar not even in the same ball park.

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Something I miss is solid wood furniture. So much today is chipboard, and a decent bookcase is getting ever more difficult to find.

Yes, solid wood tends to be heavier and is now a lot more expensive; it also tends to be sturdier.

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There’s quite enough Pollywaffle when Morrison opens his mouth! (Sorry… I had to)

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Beautiful handcrafted wooden furniture is offered by artisans and well worth the price. I commissioned a buffet of a specific size in Jarrah and am delighted with the result. Price was equivalent to shop bought hardwood. So happy I then ordered a bed. Just google bespoke furniture or have a look at the Handcrafted.com site for inspiration.

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Some photos of our coffee table created by “The Mobile Prickle Farm” in Somerset in Tasmania in 1998 from a salvaged Bing Billy Pine stump and a plank from a salvaged Huon Pine burl.

The raw timber.

The finished product at our previous residence.

When we listed the house for sale in 2014, everyone who inspected it wanted to know if the coffee table was for sale.

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Gorgeous! I do love timber in all its complexity and imperfection. How do you vacuum the rug, do you have a forklift in the shed? One of the little jobs with fat rubber tyres perhaps that will not mark the floor.

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Easy. The two of us could lift and carry the heavy Huon Pine top and place it down on the table on the deck and the King Billy Pine base was extremely light so one person could lift and carry it.

It now has pride of place in the lounge room at our current residence where it sits directly on the tiled floor.

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The link leads to this message.

Website Expired

“This account has expired. If you are the site owner, click below to login.”

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Bespoke renovation, ecologically inspired, environmentally friendly and low carbon due to the inspired recycling.

Stump of a 25 year old slash pine (aka big weed), 4 years after it had it’s crowning glory permanently removed.

I’m waiting on an updated quote from the builder to finish off the renovations on the other 600 similar sized stumps. So far it’s been cheaper than a tracked stump grinder.

What do I really miss. Not the 1400 pine trees we used to have.

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My bad the site is spelled differently https://www.handkrafted.com/

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An interesting article regarding the soft drink industry in Australia.

When I was younger, there were 4 factories in Cairns and another one in nearby Gordonvale.

The main player was Hanush’s who have a wide range of delicious drinks until Coca Cola bought them out, got rid of the Hanush range, built a new factory, and then shut it down with drinks then supplied by their Townsville factory,

The other 3 Cairns businesses, who all had a relationship to each other, slowly disappeared along with the Gordonvale business.

That’s progress for you.

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A background article on the industry from the 1960’s and beyond! That’s going further back in time not forward?

https://www.surplusvalue.org.au/McQueen/p_war_aus/Eco/pwar_aus_ec_softdrinks.htm

All I can add is that in the mid 60’s a cold bottle of Coke cost 6 pence or 5 cents after 14th Feb of that year. A small packet of hot chips from the local F&C was also 5c, although I seem to remember one that had a smaller packet for 3d or 2.5 cents in the new money. A hot meat pie, corner store pie warmer in all flavours, there was only one, would leave change from 20 cents. Milk was still in one pint (560ml approx) glass bottles 1/-6d or there abouts (15c give or take faded memory). The quart bottle was yet to be invented and the milk was pasteurised only. No skim or homogenised. You left the empties and some change in a can under the front stairs at night. Fresh milk replaced them in the wee small hours.

There was a refundable deposit on the recyclable bottle your coke came on.

So way back a bottle of soft drink cold and eco friendly was so much cheaper than a 500ml milk carton today, a hot meat pie, or a loaf of bread.

With some big Shopping centre food outlets charging up to $8.00 for a large take away cold coke. Should we all ask how a commodity that is mostly water, a few good spoonfuls of sugar and dash of flavour has gone from costing less than half that per litre of plain milk to many times more? I’m comparing the price of over the shop counter cold coke to home delivered milk if we’ve forgotten that point.

Taste the profits, they are yummier than the marketing, and worth much more than the benefits of actual consumption. :wink:

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“POST WAR AUSTRALIA - POP GOES THE BOTTLER!”?

More like Mom & Pop goes down the gurgler.

At least one independent Qld soft drink company is still going strong.

http://www.noosabeverages.com.au/wimmers-soft-drinks

https://www.couriermail.com.au/business/new-owners-keep-wimmers-bubbling/news-story/503cd491cc7084125ea4354e1e7df5ef?sv=87a88aa7dd30df9b78affea97e3511e9

And for persons with good taste, their Double Sarsaparilla is the best.

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There is a few, Bundaberg drinks is one. Tru Blu Beverages is another…and there are another dozen or so scattered around the state.

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For a touch of nostalgia rewatch ‘The Coca Cola Kid’… (Note the trailer is posted by umbrella entertainment that sells DVDs.)

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