I worked as a contract security guard, though in an office building setting rather than retail, in the U.S. and my job instructions were to "observe and report" because I had no authority other than my client's authority over their employees. When the employees were on strike, it was awkward, but never violent. FWIW, I was a Pinkerton, in Pittsburgh, and glad it wasn't a hundred years earlier.
Australia - The Land Down Under
- Thread starter Condobloke
- Start date
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
Two music genres people 'love to hate' find success in the outback
They are two music genres people love to hate — opera and country. But somewhere under a vast outback sky they find a shared audience.
www.abc.net.au
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
Australia has the biggest population of wild camels in the world. (Invasive Animals CRC: James O'Connor)
Camels with steel stomachs eat thorny invasive weed for lunch
Introduced to prime grazing paddocks in outback Queensland as part of efforts to reduce prickly acacia, camels are making short work of an issue costing farmers millions.
www.abc.net.au
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
Farmers to plant record crop equivalent in size to entire UK
Despite droughts and floods battering Australia, farmers are on track to sow a record area of winter crops, covering a land area equivalent to the United Kingdom.
www.abc.net.au
Farmers set to plant a record crop equivalent to the entire UK
In short:
Farmers are on track to plant the biggest broadacre crop in Australia's history at 24.5 million hectares.Good conditions in Queensland and northern NSW are predicted to offset poor conditions in southern growing regions.
What's next?
The forecasted area could increase if dry regions receive rain in June.
We had a small number of wild camels here in the US. They roamed around the American Southwest. The US Army brought them here and some escaped, while others were sold off or freed. They've been gone for a century, so you're not going to see any wild camels.
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Condobloke
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Footy, Golf, AFL, (australian rules), tennis, swimming....Australia is a nation of sport lovers. You name the sport...we love it.
The prevalence of 'sporting identities' being involved in mishaps/accidents/crime/melt downs/and all sorts of associated mayhem....has been bought in to the limelight, by none other than Eddie McGuire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_McGuire )
Obviously, this does not only affect the AFL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Football_League) the problem affects every sporting organisation in the country.
www.nine.com.au
Is this just a 'down under' problem?
The prevalence of 'sporting identities' being involved in mishaps/accidents/crime/melt downs/and all sorts of associated mayhem....has been bought in to the limelight, by none other than Eddie McGuire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_McGuire )
Obviously, this does not only affect the AFL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Football_League) the problem affects every sporting organisation in the country.
'I'm sick of going to funerals': Eddie McGuire launches into passionate speech over AFL's illicit drug policy
Eddie launches into passionate live TV speech on drug policy
'I'm sick of going to funerals'
Is this just a 'down under' problem?
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Condobloke
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No worries. It was an obvious fix and took less than a minute to fix. I did it 'silently' so that nobody would know but you... Now the whole world knows! (You'd simply followed up a URL with characters - specifically some periods.) That 'broke' the system and turned that into a URL that included "....the", which didn't resolve to anything.
That said, I might have been biased in my motivation to fix it. While I'm not actually from Australia, I have been assigned a team to root for and sometimes watch Aussie Football. So, I root for 'The Blues'. In the US, it'd be 'Blues' but it's 'The Blues' according to my assignment. So, I root for the Carlton Blues. I even have a jersey somewhere around here. It was used and, well, let's just say a bit worn by the gentleman who gave it to me. We, quite literally, exchanged shirts in a bar that was in a hotel. I gave him my shirt and he gave me his jersey.
For the record, I still keep in touch with the lady I used to go visit - though our contact is not as frequent as it once was. As mentioned previously, I've been to your country a couple of times - spending longer than the 3 to 7 day holiday one might expect. While I've traveled extensively, Australia holds a warm space in my jiggery bits. Thus, my continued commentary in said thread.
As an observation, we have an active Australia thread but we don't really have an active country-specific thread for anywhere else. There is no 'United Kingdom - Land of Tea and Crumpets' thread. There isn't even a "United States - We Think We're Exceptional" thread.
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Condobloke
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That is a bad habit of mine ...putting in a row of periods ... <those . The only benefit is I actually plan what i am going to do next while typing dots.. ! I will have to find an alternative. I know I annoy the hell out of my brother....punctuating my missives to him with ... etc etc
I must admit, I am surprised that other members here have not taken to off topic with news/stories etc regarding their little slices of the world.
I guess they must have other priorities.
I must admit, I am surprised that other members here have not taken to off topic with news/stories etc regarding their little slices of the world.
I guess they must have other priorities.
... Is an ellipsis, fyi. I use it frequently .
If you want to get pedantic, than no... (I use the same thing.)
That's three periods in a row, or three different characters.
This is an ellipse:
…
You'll note that it is a single character. It's Unicode (U+2026), if you'd like to poke at it more.
However, that's pretty pedantic. I do know some pendants, precisely two, who have mentioned mapping it to their keyboard. One of them used just three periods to automatically insert the character. I forget how the other person did it.
I've never done so. I just use the three periods. Everyone knows what they mean.
But, with all that, I figured I'd share it not to be pedantic but because it is interesting - at least to me. The three periods are likely more commonly used than the actual ellipsis character.
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
When I post here, the greyed words showing in this 'reply space' are : Write your reply... followed by three dots/periods
If the forum can use that, to indicate 'there is more/this continues' ......then I shall do likewise...
If the forum can use that, to indicate 'there is more/this continues' ......then I shall do likewise...
You're not alone. I suppose I could memorize the input to use a keyboard shortcut (which is how Unicode works - and Unicode is kind of awesome in its scope and options) to insert the correct character.
I'm not going to do so. If I did do it, I'd go find the person who mentioned doing so and I'd assign the three periods to automatically insert the 'correct' character. I'd go with that route, simply because it's a habit that I've had for a long time.
Still, I just can't be that pedantic... I can be pretty pedantic with certain subjects but I'd like to think I only do so when the pedantry is important, beneficial, and informative. Like, I can be pretty pedantic when it comes to math or the hard sciences.
That said, English is a living language. This is misunderstood, and it does not mean that the three-period thing is correct.
It means that it's commonly understood by regional English speakers. At some point, it may become an accepted expression. For a good living language, see the inclusion of ain't in the dictionary or the redefined definition for the word literally. (I'm still a bit miffed about the latter and, again< I don't think I'm all that pedantic.
So, no... I'm not that pedantic. Instead, i shared the information more or less as a fun factoid. I use the '...' method and will not be changing that in the near future. In fact, I'll likely not be changing that even in the distant future. The odds of anyone important knowing and caring are pretty low and my measure of care is simply not that high.
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
The following is an excerpt from an article in R.M.Williams OUTBACK magazine-- The Heart of Australia.
It deals with just a tiny part of the day on Springvale Station....which is made up of 4 productive pastoral leases,
Springvale, Texas Downs, Mabel Downs and Alice Downs. Located in the eastern Kimberleys, it is around 320 km south of Kununurra, Halls creek is 70km south.
Together the leases stretch out over 604,430 hectares. That's 1,582,536.9945 Acres
It is owned in its entirety by Harvest Road Agribusiness, which is owned by Andrew & Nicola Forrest
I dont often use material from commercial enterprises, but this place is exceptional, as is the magazine it has featured in, and its Editor in Chief, Mark Muller.
Western Australia is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres, and is also the second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth. Western Australia has a diverse range of climates, including tropical conditions in the Kimberley, deserts in the interior and a Mediterranean climate on the south-west and southern coastal areas. As of June 2024, the state has 2.965 million inhabitants—10.9 percent of the national total. Over 90 percent of the state's population live in the south-west corner and around 80 percent live in the state capital Perth, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. Wikipedia
It deals with just a tiny part of the day on Springvale Station....which is made up of 4 productive pastoral leases,
Springvale, Texas Downs, Mabel Downs and Alice Downs. Located in the eastern Kimberleys, it is around 320 km south of Kununurra, Halls creek is 70km south.
Together the leases stretch out over 604,430 hectares. That's 1,582,536.9945 Acres
It is owned in its entirety by Harvest Road Agribusiness, which is owned by Andrew & Nicola Forrest
I dont often use material from commercial enterprises, but this place is exceptional, as is the magazine it has featured in, and its Editor in Chief, Mark Muller.
Western Australia is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres, and is also the second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth. Western Australia has a diverse range of climates, including tropical conditions in the Kimberley, deserts in the interior and a Mediterranean climate on the south-west and southern coastal areas. As of June 2024, the state has 2.965 million inhabitants—10.9 percent of the national total. Over 90 percent of the state's population live in the south-west corner and around 80 percent live in the state capital Perth, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. Wikipedia
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
The Australian Tax Office has returned a man's tax return to him in Townsville Qld.
In response to the question, 'do you have any dependents?' ....he replied...
64,000 illegal immigrants, 4.4 million unemployed scroungers, 80,000 criminal in over 85 prisons plus 450 idiots in Parliament, thousands of 'retired politicians' and an entire group that call themselves 'Senators'
The ATO stated that the response he gave was unacceptable.
The man's response back to ATO was "Who did I leave out ?"
In response to the question, 'do you have any dependents?' ....he replied...
64,000 illegal immigrants, 4.4 million unemployed scroungers, 80,000 criminal in over 85 prisons plus 450 idiots in Parliament, thousands of 'retired politicians' and an entire group that call themselves 'Senators'
The ATO stated that the response he gave was unacceptable.
The man's response back to ATO was "Who did I leave out ?"
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
Unapproved rewilding stirs debate over ethics and animal welfare
Amid an extinction crisis, some amateur conservationists are taking matters into their own hands, releasing threatened animals on their properties. It's skirting rules and worrying scientists. But the guerilla rewilders say it's too late to wait for permission.
www.abc.net.au
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
So, you want to go rock climbing, in the Warrumbungles area of NSW, Australia.
In particular, you wish to tackle a 250-metre climb up Belougery Spire in the Warrumbungle National Park.
If I was to say you've got rocks in your head (pun very much intended) that would not be so far from the truth
Belougery Spire (left) towers over the Warrumbungles, with Crater Bluff in the background. (Supplied: Grant Brodie Photography)
The Climbers:
Geoff Gledhill, I take my hat off to you, Sir. At the ripe old age of eighty you are an inspiration to us all.
Huon said after the drama was over, that her depression had lifted after the harrowing ordeal., and that she was now in better spirits.
Read about it...blow by blow. Hang onto your chair as you read.
www.abc.net.au
In particular, you wish to tackle a 250-metre climb up Belougery Spire in the Warrumbungle National Park.
If I was to say you've got rocks in your head (pun very much intended) that would not be so far from the truth
Belougery Spire (left) towers over the Warrumbungles, with Crater Bluff in the background. (Supplied: Grant Brodie Photography)
The Climbers:
Geoff Gledhill, I take my hat off to you, Sir. At the ripe old age of eighty you are an inspiration to us all.
Huon said after the drama was over, that her depression had lifted after the harrowing ordeal., and that she was now in better spirits.
Read about it...blow by blow. Hang onto your chair as you read.
Remarkable 20-hour rescue of climber dangling unconscious 200m up a cliff
When Hyun Park slipped while climbing in the Warrumbungles, her life depended on her 80-year-old mentor and the tactical gymnastics of a 20-hour overnight rescue mission.
www.abc.net.au
Cliff rescue of Melbourne woman was NSW PolAir team's most complex yet
Huon park is 47. Mr Gledhill is 80 (not a typo)
Once I found my 'forever home', I joined the S&R (search and rescue) squad. It was a meaningful way to give back in an area that has a number of fatalities each year due to weather or personal choices. (It's a personal choice to head into the wilderness without a map or compass.)
One of the things I did multiple times was show people that their GPS functions on their phone were adequate ways to find safety, even if there was no cell phone signal.
I was in an automobile wreck back in 2018 and that's when I mostly left the S&R squad. I felt that I was no longer fit for purpose. I still go in a couple of times each year to demonstrate rope rescue techniques. It's a way to continue helping even though I'm no longer okay with hiking 50 miles through a 48 hour rescue situation.
But, it's my forever home. (I've lived all over the place, but this is my home) and I'd probably still go out on a longer search if I absolutely had to. I'm going to be pretty hobbled by the end of it, but I'd still do it. The one thing I don't want to do is add to the number of people who want to be recovered.
One of the things I did multiple times was show people that their GPS functions on their phone were adequate ways to find safety, even if there was no cell phone signal.
I was in an automobile wreck back in 2018 and that's when I mostly left the S&R squad. I felt that I was no longer fit for purpose. I still go in a couple of times each year to demonstrate rope rescue techniques. It's a way to continue helping even though I'm no longer okay with hiking 50 miles through a 48 hour rescue situation.
But, it's my forever home. (I've lived all over the place, but this is my home) and I'd probably still go out on a longer search if I absolutely had to. I'm going to be pretty hobbled by the end of it, but I'd still do it. The one thing I don't want to do is add to the number of people who want to be recovered.
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
And now we go to Pottery....Broken Hill NSW.....where pots etc etc are encased in cow pats before firing.....among other odds and sods used for producing various colours and effects...
Cow pats?....cow dung ......dry cow poo
www.abc.net.au
"I did a sip and clay night probably in 2021 and put my name down for classes and then I got the call-up late last year and they said there's a spot for you Tuesday mornings and I rang my boss and got Tuesday mornings off," he says.
Broken Hill's Jack Simmonds has done his first pottery pit firing. (ABC Broken Hill: Katherine Spackman)
Mrs Langford, who first joined the potters in 1991, says the Broken Hill Potters Society was founded in the mid-1970s by three or four women.
Cow pats?....cow dung ......dry cow poo
Friendships forged in the outback at 'child-like' weekends of pottery
For about 30 years, the owner of a remote station in New South Wales has opened her gates to welcome potters from near and far.
www.abc.net.au
Primitive pottery firing tradition forges friendships in the outback
23h agoWaitlist for Broken Hill pottery classes
Joining this weekend was new potter and firefighter Jack Simmonds, who managed to get into day classes at the Broken Hill Potters Society after a three-year wait."I did a sip and clay night probably in 2021 and put my name down for classes and then I got the call-up late last year and they said there's a spot for you Tuesday mornings and I rang my boss and got Tuesday mornings off," he says.
Broken Hill's Jack Simmonds has done his first pottery pit firing. (ABC Broken Hill: Katherine Spackman)
Mrs Langford, who first joined the potters in 1991, says the Broken Hill Potters Society was founded in the mid-1970s by three or four women.
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Condobloke
Well-Known Member
Paul Hogan. (need I say more?)
