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The Versatile Blogger Award

2012-02-17T13:08:00.000+11:00

TheVersatile Blogger Award

Dear Cindy, "Just Me", of Just North of Wiarton and South of the Checkerboard who has recently beenfollowing my ravings, has nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you Cindy (I think) for this "Award," I am so honouredto receive it, as well as honoured to know I have inspired you. Your kindwords have been taken to "heart".

Therules of the prize are:

1.Thank the person who gave you the reward

2.Link back that person

3.Select blogs that you've recently discovered (and think deserve it) andnominate them

4.Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Would you believe that I find it easier to speakgenerally on a range of topics and very difficult to speak about myself (although I have written a short blog about my early days, growing up in Sydney –New South Wales, Australia - Bugger of a kid )

1) As young teenager I used to go with my matesto the northern beaches of Sydney. On one occasion we were at QueenscliffBeach, the northernmost part of the strip of sand that makes up the Manlybeachfront, riding rubber inflatable floats in the surf. We noticed that thesurf was running up an old rusted drain that emptied onto the beach. It wasabout four feet round and lined with marine encrustations above and had a bedof beach sand on its floor. The waves would rush up it, hold, and then surgeback out again but we also noticed it had a continual stream of water runningout of it. We traced its source to a reservoir, the Manly Dam on the Golf linksacross the road 500 yards from the beach where the overflow was running into this drainand travelling (mostly) underground and exiting into the surf. I was dared toride my inflatable float down it, so, I did. It was a harrowing trip –sometimes pitch black, sometimes beams of light shining through rusted holesin its exposed top. I heard the on-rush of the surf coming up the pipe and Iknew it would fill the pipe with enough water to lift my float up until my backwould drag on the marine growths around the top. I used my feet as brakes andslowed the float down until the surge had passed me and then waited for it toturn and flow out. Off we went, rapidly gathering speed and I prayed I hadjudged the interval between waves sufficiently to allow me to get out beforethe next wave rushed in.

I had!

Out I ‘popped’ into the blazing sunlight andblue-green surf and absolutely astounded some surfers nearby. After that itbecame common for us to all do the trip at least once a day when we were atQueenscliff – until someone told the float hire guy what we were doing and herefused to hire us any more floats!

2) Reading the above, you will show no surprise to learn of the fact that I have a personal medical history that is four A4 pages long. Ikeep a copy available to save time whenever I have to go to a new doctor orclinic.

3) When working as a mental health nurse I was listedwith the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as an ‘escort nurse’and I did several trips overseas either taking tourists home or retrieving illor injured Australians from overseas locations and bringing them home. I hadone Greek lad from a very rich Greek family who smashed both his legs in a carcrash, was bed-bound, and had to go home on a cruise ship (couldn't be flown home). His futurefather-in-law refused to let a female nurse attend to him on the trip home so Igot the escort – free cruise ship trip to Greece and my air fare home. I brought a littleold lady, a Serbian-Australian migrant, home from Vienna after she had beenlocked up in the "das Krankenhaus" aftershe attacked two guards in a museum when she tried to take pictures from the museum walls, claiming the Nazis had stolenthem from her family home during WWII. The food in the asylum must have been crook 'cos she devoured double portions of airline food and slept most of the way home! I bought several Australians back fromBali who had ‘bad tripped’ on hallucinogenics whilst tourists on the island.

4) As a nurses union representative and organiser Iwas one of the persons responsible for organising the “Equal Pay for Equal Work”campaign to stop the discrimination between male and female rates of pay. Ialso “led” the case (advising the union’s legal counsel) for mental healthnurses undertaking a general nursing course in Canberra to be paid a registered nurse's wage and not a student nurse's wage – which we won.

5) I am absolutely not the person to be toldthat I cannot/am not allowed to do something I feel I would like to do. My bosstold me I could not take a year’s leave of absence (without pay) to complete agraduate diploma in education – a course I had been accepted for by theCanberra University – so I quit on the spot and walked out! I completed mydegree and taught in various colleges for two years.

6) I grew up in an area of Sydney that (at thattime) was semi rural with market gardens, orchards and dairy farms. I wasdriving a tractor on my ‘uncles’ mixed dairy and produce farm at eight years of age. At 15 years and 10months, being eligible for my road licence I went to our local police stationto do my driving test.

“What do you want?” the Senior Constable barked!

“I’ve come for a licence test, sir” I replied!

“How did you get here” he snapped!

“Drove, sir” I replied!

“I know you,” he said, “You’ve been driving for yearsbut I’ve never caught you!”

“Yes sir!”

“Well, get out there, drive around the block, pull upon the hill outside my window and do a ‘hand-brake start’ on the incline!”

“Yes, sir”!

So off I went and did as he said. When I came back inhe was gone. I asked one of the other officers where he was? “Gone home forlunch,” he said, “left this for you”! It was my licence and the ink was even bone dry on it!

7) My firstjob when I left school was working in a lime quarry, breaking up lumps of limewith a four pound wooden mallet into powder, bagging it in chaff bags, tying them off and putting these onto the back of a lorry. We were paid a shilling a bag and we could filltwenty bags a day – a Pound a day, five pound ten shillings for a five and ahalf day week. Good money in those days but every day I’d arrive home lookinglike a snow man and my mum made me stand outside while she hosed me down, fully clothed, thenstrip off and put on clean clothes before I was allowed in the house. At the endof the week I decided it was not the job for me, however, my two friends whostarted with me decided to stay-on. They reckoned the money was worth it. Onedied twenty years ago from ‘Dust Disease’ and the other ended up on adisability pension and carrying an oxygen cylinder around with him wherever hewent. I think he’s dead now as well!

Sad really!

There, I don't suppose that was too exciting, was it ?

Here are three (3) blogs I have discovered andfollow. I find all three thoroughly fascinating. I therefore pass onthe "VersatileBlogger Award" toeach of the following:

John Gray’s Going Gently blog

The blog of Cathy, a ‘stay at home mum’.

Jo’s very interesting blog Crafty Joe

Moving cattle

2012-02-15T06:11:00.004+11:00

Now, this is what they call a cattle road train in Australia!

That's "The Outback!"

Weigh in

2012-02-14T15:33:00.001+11:00

WeightWatchers Weigh-in today: 112.4kg - 17 stone 11 lbs

Originalweight Jan Second: 116.8kg - 18 stone 6 lbs

WeightLost since 2nd Jan : 4.3kg - 9 lbs

Weight Loss last week: 1kg - 2lbs 3 oz

Now that's better - Back on track!

New GFC to hit world finances

2012-02-14T09:01:00.000+11:00

Australia’s economy is in good shapeand came through the previous Global Financial Crisis (GFC) relativelyunscathed. A little ‘belt tightening’ here and there and decreasedprofitability in investment portfolios – mostly superannuation funds – was themajor impact. Unemployment remained low, in fact many employers had difficultyin recruiting staff, particularly in service industries and agriculturalindustries. So much so that the government changed the rules on ‘working visas’and allowed many employers to recruit seasonal workers and workers in thehospitality industry from overseas on special visas for periods of up to sixmonths. (Many of those workers were recruited by agencies within their own homecountries on wage conditions that were ‘local’ rather than the award conditionsthat applied in Australia – cheap labour which really chuffed the unionmovement but pleased the employers. Many of those employees have returned for subsequent 6 monthly employment engagements following the compulsory 3 months 'cooling off' period in their home country!)

Australia is a country that has acompulsory superannuation contributions by employers. Generally, you're entitled to superguarantee contributions from an employer if you're between 18 and 69 years old(inclusive) an d paid$450(AUS) or more (before tax) in a month. It doesn't matter whether you're fulltime, part time or casual, and it doesn't matter if you're a temporary residentof Australia.

If you're eligible for super guarantee contributions,at least every three months your employer must pay into your super account aminimum of 9% of your ordinary time earnings, up to the 'maximum contributionbase'. These contributions are in addition to your salary or wages. Some employers contribute more than 9% to an employees superannuation as a recruitment incentive.

Superannuationcontributions run into multi-trillions of capital funds. Those funds areinvested in diverse financial portfoliosand the rules for those investments are tightly controlled by the AustralianTaxation Office. In a nutshell, the more profitable an institution that thosefunds are invested in the larger the return to the superannuation fund and,ultimately, the retirement fund for Australian employees.

It was the 'bottom line' earnings that bore the brunt of the last GFC in Australia and some funds even went into 'negative earnings'.

Youcannot take those contributions out of the fund until you reach retirement age.Presently, you are unable to borrow against those accrued funds, although thereis considerable pressure on the federal government to change this rule.Advocates for change are arguing for up to 20% of funds over a set balance –eg, over $250,000(AUS) – should be released to the contributors for use as an interest free home loan deposit and repaid into thefund as one would repay an ordinary mortgage loan. There is also pressure for workingcouples to be able to ‘pool funds’ into a joint superannuation account in an effort to allow low income earners to qualify from such a 'loan' incentive.

Whyis all of this of any importance, you ask? What is its relevance?

Well,more big employers are poised to shed workers across Australia, adding to therecent wave of cuts in banking and in the struggling manufacturing and retailsectors. As the ANZ Bank yesterday flagged plans to slash 1000positions, it emerged that Qantas was expected to announce job cuts on Thursdaywhen it issues its half-year earnings.

Australian Bankers Association chiefexecutive Steve Munchenberg defended interest rate hikes, warning no matter howangry people became, this was nothing compared to what a credit squeeze coulddo to Australia. Many in his industry feared Europe's financial crisis wouldget worse before recovering and if international investors saw Australianbanks' profits coming down they would worry, which could trigger a significantshift in market sentiment. The banks blamed "intensepressure on margins associated with higher funding costs, lower consumer andbusiness demand for financial services and increasing global regulation".

Banks have blamed the same factors -especially economic problems in Europe pushing up their funding costs - forlifting mortgage rates even though the Reserve Bank left the official cash rateunchanged last week.

Yesterdaythe Commonwealth and National Australia Bank followed ANZ and Westpac inraising their variable home loan rates. The Commonwealth raised its variablemortgage rates by 0.1 of a percentage point and NAB's rose by 0.09 of apercentage point.

Angry Australian home buyersare breaking with their banks at unprecedented rates. More than 50,000 homeowners refinanced a record $12.6 billion of mortgages in the December quarter,as they voted with their feet to get a better deal.

Australia is about to be hithard by a second global economic crisis and unlike the last time, recovery willbe far from short and sweet, a global finance expert says. Canadian finance and energy analystNicole Foss said a combination of energy shortages, climate change, populationgrowth, food insecurity and political unrest were brewing a ''perfect storm''that would ruin society as we know it.

TOUGHEN UP: Canadian finance and energy analyst

Nicole Foss told farmers in Bungendore that the way

forward when the nexteconomic crisis hits was to supply

at a local level. Photo: MELISSA ADAMS

Yesterday, shemet a panel of local biofarming representatives to discuss how local communitiescould better distribute their resources. She discussed a need for residents to''decentralise'' by focusing on grassroots initiatives such as communitygardens and local water regeneration.

''All weneed to do is simplify our society from the bottom up,'' she said. ''We need toget our expectations back in line, reduce our demand and attempt to supply whatwe need at a local level.''

NSW Stategovernment Treasurer, Mike Baird warned thatthe lesson to draw from the debt crisis plaguing the euro zone was that “… marketforces would punish reckless fiscal management. …”

Theword on the street around our financial districts is – “Get Ready – prepare forthe next onslaught, A second GFC is about to hit the world and it will make theprevious one look like a picnic. It will be worse than the 1930’s depression!”

Weekly Words No. 11

2012-02-14T06:15:00.000+11:00

"Don't come the raw prawn!"

Following up on a past post - "Don't piss in my pocket ..." I mentioned that this piece of idiom is frequently used in conjunction with another - "Don't come the raw prawn (with me) ...". This is a typical

traditional Australian expression meaning: "Don't try to putone over me!" or "Don't treat me like a fool!".

Particularly used to indicate that the listener isaware of the speaker's ingenuousness, for example where the person to whom it'sdirected feigns innocence or naivety.

Etymology:
Some sources say it is a WWII Australian Armyexpression. As to why it arose: one suggestion is that the reason lies incooked prawn being more palatable than raw prawn. However, anyone from afishing background who has handled raw prawn flesh, will know that it is limp,wet and slippery; like the sort of people at whom this phrase is directed.

(Source:Urban Dictionary )

"come the raw prawn" (Australian informal)

to pretend that you haveno knowledge of what someone is talking about (usually + with )

Oh,don't come the raw prawn with me, Scott, I saw you writing down her telephonenumber as I walked into the room!

(Source: The free dictionary )

But, are thereasons for the expressions origins accurate? The literal definition of prawn (a word which appears in the MiddleEnglish period, but whose origin is unknown) as an edible shellfish isobviously part of standard English.

It is,however, the figurative use of the word to describe 'a fool or someonedeserving of contempt' that seems to be predominantly Australian. As early as1893 it is used to described the hapless worker:

"Well boys, the 'Worker' is a prawn -a fool for all his pains. He has the muscle and the brawn. The 'Fat Man' hasthe brains." - D. Healey Cornstalk (1893).

It is usedin this sense through the twentieth century:

1944 L. Glassop, Wewere Rats: - "What an odious prawn this Anderson is, I thought."

1977 C. McCullough, ThornBirds: - '" .... 'Jussy, this is Cardinal de Bricassart!.. Kiss his ring,quickly.'

The blind-looking eyes flashed scorn. 'You're a real prawn aboutreligion... Kissing a ring is unhygienic. ..."

In 1940 wehave our first evidence of the combination rawprawn. This combination means 'an act of deception; a"swiftie"; an unfair action or circumstance, a "raw deal";something which is "difficult to swallow".' Typical usages include:

1940 AnyComplaints (Newcastle)4 April: - "Voice.. is invariably heard muttering something about a raw prawn."

1946 R.D. Rivett, BehindBamboo: - "Raw prawn, something far-fetched, difficult to swallow,absurd."

1954 QueenslandGuardian (Brisbane)20 January: - "Snow says he thinks that this is the raw prawn. We do all the work,the mob behind (Prime Minister) Menzies gets all the dough."

1965 E. Lambert, LongWhite Night: - " Looking like a reprimanded schoolboy, he flushed andapologised: 'Sorry, Johnny. That was a bit like the raw prawn. Seriously,what's she like?' ..."

Incontemporary Australian English, however, the combination raw prawn is morelikely to be heard in the idiom to comethe raw prawn (on,over, with, etc.) meaning 'to attempt to deceive (a person); to misrepresent asituation'. The idiom is typically used in negative constructions - don'tcome the raw prawn with me.

According to G.A. Wilkes, thisexpression originated in WW2 Services slang (ADictionary of Australian Colloquialisms 1978) and indeed the AustralianNational Dictionary 'sfirst citation for it is 1942:

"They argue there for hours - Theystart at early morn; Till a loud disgusted voice drawls out, `don't come theold raw prawn'. ..." A.J. McIntyre, Putting over Burst

Thefollowing citations indicate how the idiom is typically used in AustralianEnglish:

1963 J. Wynnum, NoBoats to Burn: - ".... `Don't come the raw prawn stunt with me,' the girlcried. 'That feller wouldn't shout his old woman a glass of water if she wasdying of thirst out in the middle of the Nullabor!' ..."

1973 Woman'sDay (Sydney): - "... `Don'tcome the raw prawn with me, mate,' he said. `I can get it back home at Woolliesfor that price.' ..."

1983 CanberraTimes 17 Nov.: - "Sceptical groans which were, if I translate them correctly, requests for (Prime Minister) MrHawke to stop coming the raw prawn."

Vale to a great voice

2012-02-12T18:23:00.001+11:00

R.I.P> (at long last!)

Earth Hour

2012-02-12T10:32:00.000+11:00

In 2006, WWF-Australia inspired Sydney-siders to show their support for climate change action in the first ever Earth Hour event. It showed that everyone, from children to CEOs and politicians, has the power to change the world they live in.

Then in March 2007 in Sydney, Australia, 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights out for one hour to take a stand against climate change.

In 2008, the plan was to take Earth Hour to the rest of Australia. But then the City of Toronto, Canada, signed up and it wasn’t long before 35 countries and almost 400 cities and towns were part of the event. It said something compelling to the world: that the climate challenges facing our planet are so significant that change needs to be global.

With the invitation to ‘switch off’ extended to everyone, Earth Hour quickly became an annual global event. It’s scheduled on the last Saturday of every March – closely coinciding with the equinox to ensure most cities are in darkness as it rolled out around the Earth.

In 2011, Earth Hour saw hundreds of millions of people across 135 countries switch off for an hour. But it also marked the start of something new – going Beyond the Hour to commit to lasting action on climate change. And with the power of social networks behind the Earth Hour message, we hope to attract even more participation so we can build a truly global community committed to creating a more sustainable planet.

The "Cooked Rack of Lamb"

2012-02-11T06:43:00.001+11:00

Well, the racks were prepared for cooking and the WeberQ preheated to 225C (435F):

Into the WeberQ and cooked for 25 minutes then out to 'stand' for 5 minutes before carving.

We had a nice crusty Vienna loaf to go with it:

It was nice and tender and 'blushing pink' in the centre. There were several chops left over so they will be re-warmed in the WeberQ this evening for tonight's dinner.

Oh, Rhonda did not cook roast veggies as she decided to do fresh greens in the microwave and boiled potato. A glass of red wine rounded off the meal!

Weekly weigh (2nd post)

2012-02-10T11:41:00.000+11:00

Went back and reviewed my diet and set myself a tighter regime after Monday's 115kg 'blow out'.

Weighed myself this morning (Friday) and now down to 113.4kg - ie. a fraction below 250 pounds.

Much better!

Blueberries and other products

2012-02-10T11:36:00.001+11:00

Bought a punnet of blueberries the other day at the supermarket.

New Zealand 'organic' blueberries - 125gm at $3.98AUS, which equates to $14.47AUS per pound weight.

I could've bought the Australian blueberries but they were $4.98AUS for 125gm which works out at $18.10AUS per pound weight.

The New Zealand variety taste exactly the same as the Australian variety.

Why is it that we can buy Californian navel oranges and black cherries, New Zealand blueberries and kiwifruit (Chinese Gooseberries), Chinese grown Garlic (inferior to the Australian variety as it may be), and Thailand bok choi and wombok cabbage - cheaper than we can buy the Australian grown products?

Same goes for seafood - Farm prawns and Basa fish fillets from Asia and smoked cod from South Africa are cheaper than the Australian product.

Our pork prices are exorbitant - but that's because most of our pork is exported overseas. Our cheapest bacon is fatty and lesser quality imported bacon. We can buy Australian bacon but because it's a prized 'export' product we buy it at a premium price!

BBQ lamb

2012-02-10T11:19:00.001+11:00

Some of you may recall that we treated ourselves to a new BBQ - A WeberQ - just before Christmas. Well, for one reason or another it has remained unused, however, it will be getting used tonight.

I am going to BBQ "Roasted Rack of Lamb".

The recipe calls for two racks of 6 to 8 chops each - far too many for the two of us - so I had our butcher cut us two racks of 4 chops each.

The racks marinade in a bowl in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours, or even overnight.

The Marinade ingredients:

1 tablespoon of sweet paprika
4 garlic cloves crushed (I chop mine after crushing them)
2 teaspoons of fresh mint, chopped ( 1 teaspoon dried mint)
2 tablespoons of fresh oregano, chopped (1 teaspoon dried)
3 sprigs of rosemary (I cut mine into smaller pieces, about 2 inches long - much more manageable)
1/2 cup of good olive oil (if you do not like olive oil you could substitute any quality vegetable oil)
Salt and pepper to taste ( I use sea salt flakes and cracked black peppercorns)

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Add your lamb racks one at a time and turn to ensure an even coating of marinade. (I sit my racks up and interweave the bone ends together in the bowl - see below). Spoon additional marinade from the bottom of the bowl to ensure the racks have a great coverage.
Cover with plastic wrap (or a plate over the top of the bowl if you are not a plastic wrap fan) and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

OK - my racks are marinading in the refrigerator. I also crushed some pine nuts into pine nut meal and added this to my marinade - personal choice.

This evening they go into the WeberQ, cooking on 'roast setting' and sitting on a trivet for 20 to 25 minutes (30-40 minutes if you use two of the 6 to 8 chop racks).

Rib and roast holder trivet

When using the trivet this sits on the grate base and not the hot plate base. With the WeberQ the lid stays closed for the length of the cooking time - NO LIFTING THE LID AND PEEKING!

While the lamb is roasting in the WeberQ, we will cook the accompaniment roast vegetables inside in the electric frying pan.

Will let you all know tomorrow how it turns out.

(Recipe adapted from Australia's own cookbook for the WeberQ, page 96)

Her's a Youtube video of the WeberQ in action:

And, the WeberQ cookbook link - WeberQ Cookbook

Weekly Words No. 10

2012-02-08T12:22:00.000+11:00

The Larrikin

LARRIKIN = adjective, chiefly Australian : hoodlum, rowdy

Originof LARRIKIN

First Known Use: 1868

Merriam-Webster dictionary

The term larrikin was used to refer to "amischievous or frolicsome youth", as reported in the Supplement, EnglishDialect Dictionary, editor J. Wright, 1898–1905.

The term was used to describemembers of the Rocks Push - a criminal gang in The Rocks in Sydney during the late 19th and early 20thcenturies - who were noted for their antisocial behaviour and gang-specificdress codes. It would appear theterm 'larrikin' did not appear in our vocabulary until the early 1870s and itsorigin is said to rest with a policeman with a rich, thick Irish brogue whotransformed the word 'larking' into 'laraking'.

Larrikinism is the name given to the Australian folk tradition of irreverence, mockeryof authority and disregard for rigid norms of propriety. Larrikinism can alsobe associated with self-deprecatinghumour.

So, what is a ‘Push”?

A Push was anotorious larrikin gang, many of which dominated the Sydney residential area at the end of the1800’s.

The Rocks Push dominated The Rocks area of Sydney, just near the wharves ofCircular Quay and Darling Harbour (The Rocks being roughly, the area now under the southernapproaches to Sydney Harbour bridge) fromthe 1870s to the end of the 1890s. In its day it was referred to as 'The Push', a title which has since come to be more widely used forcliques in general and the left-wing movement the Sydney Push.

The gang was engaged in a running warfare with other larrikin gangs of the time such as the Straw HatPush, the Glebe Push, the Argyle Cut Push, the Forty Thieves from Surry Hillsand the Gibb Street Mob. They conducted such crimes as theft, assault andbattery against police and pedestrians in the Rocks area. Female members of thePush would entice drunks and seamen into dark areas to be assaulted and robbedby the gang.

They were 'nasty and unsavoury types'.

Australian authors of thetime mentioned the Push in various of their works. A poem called The Bastard from the Bush,often attributed to Henry Lawson, describes in vivid and colourful language ameeting between a "Captain" of the Push and the "Bastard fromthe Bush". Banjo Paterson describes a group of tourists who goto visit the Rocks Push, and paints the following picture of the appearance ofthe gang members:

A member of "The Push"

"Wiry, hard-faced little fellows, for the most part, withscarcely a sizeable man amongst them. They were all clothed in “push” eveningdress—black bell-bottomed pants, no waistcoat, very short black paget coat,white shirt with no collar, and a gaudy neckerchief round the bare throat.Their boots were marvels, very high in the heel and picked out with all sortsof colours down the sides."

Many commentators havenoted the larrikin streak in Australian culture, and have theorised about itsorigins. Some say that larrikinism arose as a reaction to corrupt, arbitraryauthority during Australia's days as a penal colony, or as a reaction to normsof propriety imposed by officials from Britain on the young country.

Larrikinism became asignificant element in Australian culture, and has emerged repeatedly,informing Australian contemporary art, popular and youth culture and politicaldebate. Evidence of the larrikin influence includes traditions of free,rule-defying experimentalism in Australian art and underground music (variousrenowned experimental ensembles that emerged from the post punk movement are examples).

It flourished as expressed in Australia's 'surfing culture' - nomadic young men and women who followed the surfing trail around the country and engaging in minimal work - usually work like fruit picking - just long enough to re-finance their wandering lifestyle.

Surfer boys and girls,Lorne, 1975

PhotoCredit: Rennie Ellis

It can be argued thatthe larrikin tradition of disdain for authority, propriety and the oftenconservative norms of bourgeois Australia (as evident, for example, in thecountry's history of censorship and the nation's receptiveness to paternalistic leaders) are two sides of aself-reinforcing dynamic; the social conservatism of the mainstream fuels theundercurrent of larrikinism and rebellion, which, in turn, is seen asdemonstrating that a firm hand is needed. This is sometimes referred to as the"larrikin-wowser nexus", ("wowser" being an Australian colloquial term for a person ofpuritanical mores.)

Atthe Pub, Brisbane, 1982

PhotoCredit: Rennie Ellis

Today,the term ‘larrikin’ has evolved and is usually a term of semi-endearment, away of describing a fun loving and boisterous male who means no-one any harm. The 'hoodlum' element has disappeared from the larrikin character and is replaced by the mischevious prankster who pokes fun at "authority".

Happy Birthday Mr Dickens

2012-02-07T15:07:00.001+11:00

No one is useless in this worldwho lightens the burdens of another.

Charles Dickens

And,

Reflect on your presentblessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of whichall men have some.

Charles Dickens

The man has a fascinating life history - reads like one of his own novels!

Nuts! A Mesozoic tale of survival

2012-02-07T11:11:00.002+11:00

Araucaria bidwillii, (A.bidwillii ) the Bunya Pine, is NOT a pine at all but isa large evergreen coniferous tree in the genus Araucaria, family Araucariaceae. It is native tosouth-east Queensland with two small disjunct populations innorthern Queensland's World Heritage listed Wet Tropics, and many fine oldspecimens planted in New South Wales (we have several 30 metre+ specimens aroundthe township of Yass, where I live), and around the Perth, Western Australia, metropolitanarea. It can grow up to 30–45 metres.

TheBunya Pine is the last surviving species of the Section Bunya of the genus Araucaria.This section was diverse and widespread during the Mesozoic with some species having conemorphology similar to the A. bidwillii, which appeared during the Jurassic Period, i.e. 199.6 to 145.5 million years ago* — a54-million-year chunk of the Mesozoic Era - and lends authority to the speculative assumption that dinosaurs and other large reptiles such as the pterodactyl helped in widespread scattering of tree seeds accounting for archaeological evidence of their previous extant.

Note the residential home under and behind the tree in this image.

A.bidwillii has alimited distribution within Australia in part because of the drying out ofAustralia with loss of rainforest and poor seed dispersal but mainly due to eradication of forest stands by man as part of land-clearing. The remnant sites atthe Bunya Mountains, Jimna area, and Mount Lewis in Queensland have genetic diversity.

A mature Bunya Pine cone on the ground

The cones are large, soft-shelled and nutritious and fallintact to the ground beneath the tree before dehiscing. The cones may grow 20–35 cm in diameter, and are opened by large birds, such as cockatoos, or disintegrate when mature to release the large (3 - 4 cm) seeds or nuts.

This is probably one of the most common reasons given for request to remove mature Bunya Pines from residential areas as the cones can be verylarge, heavy and fall over 30 metres+.

At the time of white settlement, A.bidwillii occurred ingreat abundance in southern Queensland, to the extent that a Bunya BunyaReserve was declared in 1840 to protect its habitat. The tree once grew aslarge groves or sprinkled regularly as an emergent species throughout otherforest types on the Upper Stanley and BrisbaneRivers, Sunshine Coast hinterland (especially the Blackall Range near Montville and Maleny), and also towards and on the Bunya Mountains. Today, the species is usually encountered as very smallgroves or single trees in its former range, except on and near the BunyaMountains, where it is still fairly prolific.

A.bidwillii was a sacredtree for the Aboriginal people. The vernacular name is bunya, bonye, bunyi or bunya-bunya, from various tribes or European variations ofthe Australian Aboriginal name for the tree. It is also commonly referred to as the "falsemonkey puzzle", despite its obvious physical differences from the monkeypuzzle tree (Araucaria araucana).

The seeds are edible, and are similar to pine nuts, and have been an important food resource for AustralianAboriginal people. Groves of the trees were often under particular tribal/family ownership. In what was probably Australia's largest indigenous event,diverse tribes - up to thousands of people - once travelled great distances(from as far as Charleville, Dubbo, Bundaberg and Grafton) to the BunyaMountains and Blackall Ranges of Queensland. They stayed for months, tocelebrate and feast on the bunya nut. The bunya gatherings were an armisticeaccompanied by much trade exchange, and discussions/ negotiations over marriageand regional issues.

Thenutritional content of the bunya nut is:

40% water,
40% complex carbohydrates,
9% protein,
2% fat,
0.2% potassium,
0.06% magnesium.

It is also glutenfree, making bunya nut flour a substitute for people with gluten intolerance.

Due to the sacred status of the bunyas, some tribes wouldnot camp amongst these trees. In some regions, the tree was never to becut.

Bunya nuts are slow to germinate. A set of 12 seeds sown in Melbourne took an average of about six months to germinate (with thefirst germinating in 3 months) and only developed roots after 1 year.

A test of germination was carried out, starting in 1999. Seeds were extracted from two mature cones collected fromthe same tree, a cultivated specimen at Petrie, just north of Brisbane. Onehundred apparently full seeds were selected and planted into 30cm by 12cmplastic tubes commercially filled with sterile potting mix in early February1999. These were then placed in a shaded area and watered weekly. Four tubeswere lost due to being knocked over.

A total of the 100 seeds placed 87 germinated.

The tubes were checked monthly for emergence over 3 years.

Of these seeds,

55 cones emerged from each month from April to December,1999;
32 emerged from January- September in 2001;
1 seed emerged in January 2001, and,
the last 1 appearedin February 2001

Once established bunyas are quite hardy and can be grown asfar south as Hobart in Australia (42° S) and Christchurch in NewZealand (43° S) and(at least) as far north as Sacramento in California (38° N) and Lisbon (in the botanical garden). One has even been grown in Dublin in Ireland (53ºN) in a micro climate protected from arctic winds andmoderated by the Gulf Stream.

They will reach a height of 35 to 40 metres

The Bunya Pine will live for about 500 years.

Slow cooker ham and vegetable soup

2012-02-06T19:56:00.003+11:00

I had some leftover smoked Virginia Ham left over and did not want to waste it so I decided to make slowcooker ham and vegetable soup.

Very easy - most of the time is spent in chopping up the ingredients and then waiting for it to cook.

Total Time: Cooking 10 hours, Preparation 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

1-1/2 cups dry split peas, (dried soup mix will do)

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery with leaves

1 cup chopped carrot

2 tbsp. snipped fresh parsley

1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups bottled water

preparation:

In 4-6quart crockpot, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hoursor on high for 4-5 hours. Serves 6-8

Just had a 'sampler bowl' and its real yummy. I'll let it cool overnight and tomorrow I'll freeze it down for future use.

Love this advert

2012-02-06T13:41:00.002+11:00

Lion will launched a new campaign for one of the fastest growing brands in its portfolio - Toohey's 5 Seeds. The campaign, via BMF, has been timed to coincide with the release of a new variant in the range - Cloudy Apple Cider - and will kick start with a TVC that exposes the 'not so sweet' side of the Toohey's 5 Seeds brand.

Flood forces town to be abandoned

2012-02-06T08:31:00.003+11:00

Township of St george in Queensland abandoned

The record flood menacing the Queensland town of St George has claimed its first life, with confirmation that a toddler died in floodwaters outside the town last night.

The largest evacuation in Queensland's history has been completed in the town, with just a few hundred people defying orders to abandon the town as floodwaters quickly rise.

This morning authorities confirmed that an 18-month-old had drowned in floodwaters on a property outside St George at around 10:00pm. Paramedics were unable to to revive the child.

weekly weigh

2012-02-06T08:22:00.001+11:00

Up 1kg - [frowns] at 115kg

Must have been those two Chinese meals while we were away at 'The Camp' (and some delightful wine(s)!

Oh well - back to the schedule!

I'm being 'spammed'

2012-02-05T06:02:00.000+11:00

"Sweet Deva at ronjoewhite" left a post on my blog reading list - I read it and went to their home page and thought I would subscribe to their blog - then ....... I got hit with eight simultaneous blog posts some that were hyperlinked to porn sites .... that's when I tried to get rid of them.

I have (hopefully) managed to remove them from my reading list. They are simply a spamming site using a blog front to go fishing for readers and when you subscribe you get hit with all these hyperlinked posts that re-direct you to other sites (some of them not very nice!)

I notice "socalbloggersince2009.blogspot.com". is also on my list - I think I'll delete them as well!

KPTP also wrote -

The same appeared on my Blog list. I removed him from my blog feed list - where it appeared as something like "socalbloggersince2009.blogspot.com". The original was someone who followed me and I followed him. He then took a rest and has just popped up again, but seems to have been hacked?

driversuz also has commented:

I have him too, but I can't find him on my reading list, so I can't delete him.

Latenightguy added:

I also had that site show up in my reading list. Somehow the person (Ron) who formerly had a blog called 'The Old Geezer" changed his URL to the newronjoewhite.blogspot.com and his new page is diverting to spam type advertising pages. I don't know if he installed a new gadget or template which contain malware or what, but I deleted his blog from my reading list and blogroll. Problem solved

So, look out people for unsolicited visits from "Sweet Deva at ronjoewhite" and "socalbloggersince2009.blogspot.com" in your reading list

What comes down must go up!

2012-02-04T18:25:00.000+11:00

A foggy morning in Yass after nearly 75mm (3 inches) of rain in 36 hours as the humid dampness rose into the atmosphere..

It's also the time of year when tiny tree spiders, minute little arachnids, lay their eggs on strands of web and let the westerly breeze carry them off across the countryside until they eventually settle on something they can grip on and hatch out. Nothing dangerous about them but it does leave a lot of cobwebs to clean up!

But eventually, the fog lifted to reveal a clear morning:

and ideal for a stroll in Banjo Patterson Park and a read of the Saturday paper.

Crazy weather

2012-02-03T13:37:00.000+11:00

We have had a few days up at "The Camp" - lovely and quiet now all the holiday makers have gone - but the rain was continuous. We had a short break on Tuesday that allowed us to get the grass cut but while we were there we had 50mm (2 inches) of rain.

We get back home and its poring rain - 38mm (one and a half inches) overnight.

Queensland, our northernmost state, is being inundated and many areas of Queensland and Northern New South Wales are being evacuated. Moree, a significant city on the inland rout northwards has has 1,600 people evacuated in the past 24 hours.

Sydney, the New South Wales capital city, had a temperature of 30C last Sunday - the first day this summer that the temperature has gone of 30C this summer and the last time that occurred was in 1999. They have also had unseasonal, almost continual rain fall.

Now, if that's not been enough we are now facing the prospect of a huge iceberg 'calving' off a glacier in Antarctica. This thing is huge and will cause a localised tsunami when it 'calves' off as well as contribute to seal level raising.

Local sculptures

2012-01-30T12:13:00.002+11:00

Al Phemister, resident artist (sculptor) in Yass:

A pear, sculpted out of welding discarded horseshoes together.

"Bronze pear"

A Dandelion made from discarded steel

"Dandelion on the breeze"

Phemister's "workshop' - includes partly finished birdhouse made from an old copper boiler.

Birdhouse in-situ

Preparing for the annual "Billycart Derby" - Al Phemister

in multi-coloured aeroplane billycart.

Phemister's Celebration tree

"Teapot"

Types of Football in Australia

2012-01-30T09:51:00.000+11:00

We have four types of football we play in Australia. Mostly all games take place during our Winter but begin in Autumn and can run into Spring.

There is the 'round ball type of football, which to myself is one great melee where twenty two players on the pitch move a small round ball around and you need to be Stephen Hawking to work out the "rules".

Next, there is the rugby games and the oldest form of these is a game called Rugby Union. A rough, fast game, played with little player protective equipment but with many interruptions to play and games frequently decided by penalty goal points for player infringements. The idea appear to be that if you cannot score a 'try' (read 'touch down'), then get into your oppositions half and force them into an error whereby your ace goal kicker can kick a penalty goal worth 3 points.

Then there's the so-called 'professional' form of rugby - Rugby League, again, a rough, fast game, played with little player protective equipment but played at a much faster, even frenetic speed.

The latter game has a habit of seeing the players let of some steam - against each other!

Then there is the game played mainly in the southern states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia - believed to have its origins in Gaelic Football, its played with a modified rugby-type ball on a round oval with four goal posts for differential point scoring at either end. It can be physical but is more known for some of the spectacular leaps ("Marks") players make, often climbing up the back of another player to leap into the air to seize the ball.

Our football season is about to go into "pre-season" games and then the fun really begins. Most games are broadcast with many broadcast live, so that Winter is a Football Feast.

Weight loss No 4

2012-01-30T05:19:00.001+11:00

Originally - 116.8kg

Today - 114kg (weigh No.4)

Loss this week - 0.8kg

Total loss since start - 2.8Kg (6.2lbs)

Weekly Words No. 9

2012-01-29T12:54:00.002+11:00

"... to piss in someone's pocket ...", phr. [1940s+](Aus.) - tocurry favour, to be extremely close to someone, to ingratiate oneself.

If someone tells you to "Don't piss in my pocket" and intones it in jocular,familiar terms they are indicating that they reckon that you are taking a lendof them, trying to put one over them, trying to 'pull the wool over theireyes', or, even 'taking the Mickey out of them'.

Fair enough?

But what if someone says it toyou in an aggro format, with an indication of anger or affront? In thiscase . It means “don’t take me for a fool, don’t try to deceive me, don’tflatter me with your lies”.

In Australia it is common or vulgar language,often the domain of the working class who are in no way backwards in lettingsomeone know where they stand and what they think of the other person and,frequently, they do this by use of colloquial phrases.

As they are not raised and educated in an insular fashion, most Australian schoolboys knowthe phrase, even if they are too genteel to use it incommon use. Inmost practical ways, Australia is an egalitarian society. This does not meanthat everyone is the same or that everybody has equal wealth orproperty. But it does mean that there are no formal or entrenched classdistinctions in Australian society, as there are in some other countries.

Australians tend to be gregarious and outgoing.Most are relatively informal, socially and in their relationships withacquaintances and work colleagues, so much so that the use of such phrases comeseasily to many tongues in everyday interactions..

Fair enough .... but .... whatis the origin of this term?

Michael Quinion, writing in "World Wide Words" , 1996–2012, says:

"It’s a modern Australianism, recorded from the 1960s, but a precursor — pissingdown any one’s back — isrecorded in the same sense in the 1811 enlarged edition of FrancisGrose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue."
The reason why it’s obscure isthat its only half the expression. Don’tpiss in my pocket is a shortened form of don’tpiss in my pocket and tell me it’s raining.It means “don’t take me for a fool, don’t try to deceive me, don’t flatter mewith your lies”.

There is another version which states: "Don’t piss down my leg and tellme it’s raining" and has its origins from the earlier English expression of: Don’t piss down my back and tellme it’s raining!

So, If an Australian says to you "Don’t come the raw prawn with me - Stop pissing in my pocket!" theyare telling you that they don't believe you and you better not try and treatthem like a fool or suffer the consequences.

"Don't come the raw prawn with me?"Oh dear! Another can of worms that will have to wait for another day!

cookie recipes

2012-01-28T12:22:00.002+11:00

1. CHOCCHIP AND MIXED NUT COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup of cooking chocchips, rolled and crushed into small pieces

Mixed unsalted cooked nuts– halved macadamias, slivered almonds, pine nuts

250 g butter, softened

¾ cup of caster sugar

½ teaspoon of vanillaessence

2 ¼ cups of selfraising flour

Milk for glazing

METHOD

Using hands, knead thebutter, flour, sugar, choc chips and vanilla essence in a bowl until combinedand smooth.

Roll into smoothwalnut-sized balls and place on some sprayed baking paper on a tray, leavingplenty of room for the biscuit mixture to expand as it cooks.

Flatten the top ofeach ball with a fork, criss-crossing it until about half a centimetre thick.

Decorate as desiredwith slivered almonds, macadamias and pine nuts, pushing those slightly intothe surface of the biscuit mix.

Brush the surface ofthe cookies with milk and then place the try in a pre-heated oven at 180C (Gasmark 4 – 355F) for 15-20 minutes. When the top of the nuts begin to brown thecookies are cooked. Remove tray and set aside to cool. Repeat process until allthe biscuit mix is used up.

When tray has cooled,remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool some more and then store in anairtight container.

2. PFEFFERNUSSE (PEPPERNUT COOKIES)

(Image Source 2011 Kitchen Riffs -

http://www.kitchenriffs.com/2011/11/pfeffernusse-cookies.html)

INGREDIENTS

220g firmly packed brown sugar
115 g butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract
1/2 teaspoon ground Anise (Five Spice powder makes a good substitute)
2 g ground Cinnamon
3 g baking powder
3 g salt
1g Ground Black Pepper
a good pinch of ground Nutmeg
a good pinch of ground Cloves
220 g sifted plain flour
icing sugar

METHOD

Placebrown sugar and butter in bowl. Cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs andextracts.

Add remaining dry ingredients, except icing sugar, to sifted flourand sift again.

Gradually add to butter mixture, mixing well. Cover andrefrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180C (Gas mark 4 – 355F)

Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into ovals and place 2.5 cm aparton ungreased biscuit trays. Bake 10 minutes.

Remove from trays and place on wire racks. Sprinkle with icing sugar whilebiscuits are still warm. When cool, store in airtight containers.

Winter's best roast lamb

2012-01-27T09:26:00.001+11:00

This is truly one of the best lamb roasts going and it is so easy and quick to prepare, however, you may need some help from your butcher in preparing your rack of boneless lamb loin.

Boneless lamb loin is the same as rack of lamb chops but with the bone removed from the loin, the latter cut and rolled, pinwheel fashion, and secured to make a compact boneless roast. The muscles include top loin (larger muscle) and tenderloin (smaller muscle).

Ask you butcher to cut you a piece of lamb loin - mine was slightly over 1 kg (about 2lb 4 oz) and have the butcher to leave about 5-7cm of flap on the loin for securing the rolled loin at the end of preparation.

APRICOT AND ROSEMARY ROAST LOIN OFLAMB

Apricotmarries beautifully with lamb and of course rosemary is a classic partner forlamb.

INGREDIENTS

1 kg loin of lamb (increase size of loin according to needs)

3 cloves garlic, peeledand sliced

1 small branch or a fewsprigs fresh rosemary

12 dried apricots

METHOD

Place the lamb skin sidedown on the chopping board and season the meat side well with salt and pepper.

I do not peel my garlic cloves, instead I remove the papery 'skin' then I squash the whole cloves with the back of a broad flat knife and then slice the flattened cloves. Scatter the slicedgarlic on top of the lamb muscle and then top with the rosemary.

Arrange the apricotsin a layer down the centre, close the meaty portion of the loin. Roll up andsecure the extra flap with toothpicks or skewer. I prefer to 'sew' a long metal skewer up the length of the rolled lamb loin.

Roast at 190 degreesCelsius (375 F) for 1 hour. At this stage the lamb will be cooked to medium, if youwould like the lamb well done, cook for a further 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven andstand 10 minutes before carving (but remember the roasts continues to 'cook' as it stands). Cut about the width of a normal lamb loin chop to serve. Accompany withgravy, or your favourite relish.

This roast is delicious with homemade Indian chili chutney.

Record year for Macca's

2012-01-26T11:03:00.000+11:00

We don't know how many burgers they made, but the other numbers are big enough.

McDonald's rang up record sales of $US27 billion ($25.6 billion) in 33,510 restaurants worldwide last year, an increase of 12 per cent, turning a profit of $US5.5 billion from the 68 million customers it serves each day.

Although there is no country breakdown, it seems Australia was a weak contributor, with our stronger dollar biting into earnings and its chief executive, Jim Skinner, noting ''lagging consumer confidence as a result of the economic slowdown''.

Just 34 new stores opened in Australia last year, McDonald's US filings reveal, lifting this country's total to 865. That compared with 177 new stores opened in China.

But Australia again lived up to its track record as a hotbed of new ideas for the fast food giant. Chicken McBites have just been launched in the US after being invented in Australia and launched in 2010. ''That's something we're really proud of,'' said a spokeswoman. ''Lots of innovation in McDonald's starts in Australia, like McCafes.''

In the December quarter, McDonald's reported sales of $US6.8 billion, up 10 per cent on the previous year, and net income of $US1.4 billion, up 11 per cent.

McDonald's does not give a country-by-country breakdown but the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa were the strongest of its geographic regions, with sales up by 11 per cent both for the quarter, after stripping out currency impacts, compared with a year earlier, and for the 2011 full year.

Read more: McFlurry of trade brings record year

Note: I'm not a "Macca's" fan and if faced with the requirement to purchase their product I would sooner throw away the contents and eat the packaging as it is probably more healthy and has more fibre in it!

Idealised picture of an outdoor nation

2012-01-26T10:43:00.004+11:00

Brains trump brawn in idealised picture of an outdoor nation

Rocco

The uniformly admirable citizensheld up for acclaim each year say a lot about what the country aspires to,writes David Marr.

WINNERS make awards. The list of Australians of the Yearhas been so good for so long we've forgotten how odd it is that every summer arather shadowy committee plucks out an Australian for the rest of us to admire.And we have for over 50 years.

The first and latest choices have a lot to say about thepossibilities of distinction in this country. The Nobel prize-winningimmunologist Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet was the first Australian of the Yearin 1960. He made heart transplants possible.

The latest is the Academy Award-winning actor GeoffreyRush, who has packed out a Melbourne theatre for the past two months playingOscar Wilde's great ogre Lady Bracknell. Seats weren't to be had for love ormoney. Laughter could be heard blocks away.

Virologist and immunologist, Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet,

was the first recipient of the Australian of the Year award.

Money and power aren't the point here. The rich have noplace on the list. Raw success isn't enough. There has to be something more,some sense of distinction that lifts a candidate out of the ruck of the famous.

Brains have beaten brawn hands down. Yachting, swimming,cricket, boxing, tennis, athletics and formula one have delivered only 15Australians of the Year since 1960. The rest are all brains: lawyers, a coupleof upper level bureaucrats, environmentalists, a painter, half a dozen singers- including all the Seekers (1967) - and 11 scientists and medicos.

The committee loves the lab. Theirs is an indoorsAustralia, not perhaps the country we live in but the Australia of our bestintentions. Businessmen need to be philanthropists to make the grade. Nofootballers.

The only near-guarantee to a place on the list is winningthe Nobel prize. Patrick White (1973) was one of these. Ditto Sir John Eccles(1963), Sir John Cornforth (1975) and Professor Peter Doherty (1997). BrianSchmidt of the infinitely expanding universe who won in Stockholm in 2011 is asure-fire Australian of the Year sometime soon. Perhaps in 2013.

Yachting is the single most favoured sport. The track hasnever had a guernsey. Only two writers have made the grade and that was yearsago: Patrick White and Manning Clark (1980). Joan Sutherland (1961) and the conductorBernard Heinze (1974) are the only classical musicians on the list. JohnnyFarnham made the grade in 1987.

The good news is that the only Australian of the Year toend up in the clink was Alan Bond (1978). He went from winning the America'sCup one year to a spectacular business crash soon after and found himselfbehind bars for four years. The tax collectors have not laid a glove on PaulHogan (1985).

Geoffrey Rush is the latest of a long list of show-offsthat began with Sutherland and dancer Robert Helpmann (1965), Paul Hogan, Johnny Farnhamand Mandawuy Yunupingu of Yothu Yindi (1992). By some strange oversight,neither Barry Humphries nor Edna Everage has had a chance to be the promised''role model for us all''.

The Yunupingus seem to be the only family that's given ustwo Australians of the Year: Mandawuy and the rights advocate Galarrwuy (1978).

It needs to be noted that black leaders have a distinctadvantage over white. The only white politician ever to be Australian of theYear was the former Liberal foreign minister and later governor-general RichardCasey KG, GCMG, CH, DSO, MC, KStJ, PC (1969).

Nothing comes with this office except an inscribed chunk ofgreen glass. There's no title; no stipend; no uniform; no official residence;nothing to pin in the lapel; and only the haziest of duties.

What the winners are given is a voice. Psychiatrist PatrickMcGorry (2010) used the award to address a few problems he saw in his country,including detention centres which he spent the year blasting as ''factories forproducing mental illness and mental disorder''. He was listened to. That's theonly privilege of what's now an old and respected office.

Australia Day - January 26th

2012-01-25T10:53:00.000+11:00

AUSTRALIA DAY

This year it falls on Thursday. To most Australians it is regarded as our country's birthday, it is a Public Holiday and many will add in Friday and possibly next Monday and make it the "Last Hurrah" of the Christmas/New Year festive season before the country gets back to normal (until Easter holidays, that is!)

AustraliaDay (previously known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day, andANA Day) is the official national day of Australia.Celebrated annually on 26 January, the date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet atSydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereigntyover the eastern seaboard of New Holland.

Although itwas not known as Australia Day until over a century later, records ofcelebrations on 26 January date back to 1808, with the first officialcelebration of the formation of New South Wales heldin 1818. It is presently an official publicholiday in every state andterritory of Australiaand is marked by the presentation of the Australian of the Year Awards on Australia Day Eve,announcement of the Honours List for the Order of Australia and addresses from the Governor-General and PrimeMinister. With community festivals, concerts and citizenshipceremonies the day is celebrated in large and small communities and citiesaround the nation. Australia Day has become the biggest annual civic event inAustralia.

The date iscontroversial to some Australians, particularly those of Indigenous heritage, leading tothe use of alternate names, such as Invasion Day and Survival Day. Proposals have beenmade to change the date of Australia Day, but these have failed to gainwidespread public support.

Most Australians - ourselves included - will 'fly the flag' for Thursday. In fact our flag was pinned to our front verandah this morning. Tomorrow there will be a 'Breakfast in the Park' run by the local Lions Club. We will have a visit from a government nominated prominent Australian as our own Australia Day Ambassador, citizenships will be endowed on migrants applying to become naturalised Australians and there will be many other festivities - e.g. a "Dive In" at the local swimming pool tomorrow afternoon and evening where movies will be shown (kids movie in the afternoon and a family movie in the evening) and the local supermarkets will have promotions and give-aways - Woolworths are holding a 'Gold Coin' donation sausage sizzle with all proceeds going to Can-Teen , the charity that supports teenagers with cancer.

Many households will have a barbecue and, of course, there is a cricket Test in progress between Australia and India in Adelaide, South Australia, so 'backyard cricket games' will also be the go as the TV's show the real game live and the steaks are sizzling on the barbecue and a few "frothy chops" (beers) are consumed!

So, Let the fun begin!

It's a conspiracy .....!!

2012-01-24T11:01:00.001+11:00

Ever wonder why the structured/desired entry to a supermarket/Markets, Food Court, etc always has a display counter of flowers for sale?

The idea behind the flowers is that hitting you with a product that is highly perishable yet fresh will "prime" you into thinking of freshness, and that you will carry that "freshness" mindset with you all the way back to the discount meat case. It sounds like bullshit -- humans don't connect completely unrelated ideas like that, right? Yet it's confirmed pretty much every time they test it.

It’s called “priming”. Sometimes "priming" is as simple as finding that people will keep a room cleaner if it smells like disinfectant - that subtle reminder is enough to make people think, "This is a clean room, I should keep it clean." But when you see how far they can take this, it gets weird.

It is entirely possible to manipulate people into certain behaviors without them knowing it. We're not talking about subliminal suggestion, the disproven gimmick that claimed it could make people buy products by inserting hidden messages in movies. No, the real technique is priming, and it's as sinister as a windowless white van at a playground.

The next time you see an ad on TV, take a moment to notice the show or scene preceding the ad. Because advertisers are paying more for placement that will prime the viewer. For instance, one US company ran ads for its emergency vehicle service during a commercial break that came right after a car crash scene in The Bourne Supremacy. The idea was for people to ‘associate’ the “accident” with their product and “prime” people to remember them as the first to call in a breakdown or accident.

Oh! - and btw - why do Drs surgeries seem to never have a clock on display - seems that way the further up the medical totem pole you go - and the fastest task that the receptionist/office staff can do is to take your payment. Ever pondered the architectural layout/floorplan of multi clinics? It's real interesting when you look closely at the dynamics in play.

Weekly Words No. 8

2012-01-23T12:01:00.001+11:00

Containing or gettingto the ‘gist’ of the matter, what a wonderful word that is – GIST.

“Gist” means the central idea; the essence of the subject matter, and is synonymous with ‘substance’ – to get to the essence or substance of amatter under discussion.

The word ‘gist’has a sound heritage. It comes from the from Anglo-French, as in ‘… cest action gist en …’, meaning “This action consists in ….”, and, literally, : lies (with)in from theOld French ‘… gésir …’ to lie (within)

Thereis a direct trace of its origins back to the old language – Latin – in the term‘… jacēre …’ fromits meaning “to throw”!

So, Ifyou were throwing your hat into the ring you had better know the gist of theproblems facing you! LOL!

Weight loss week 3

2012-01-23T08:56:00.001+11:00

This Monday I weigh 114.8kg

I've lost 0.5kg (1.1 lb)

I'm happy with that - with Rhonda home for three days shee's been keeping me supplied with mugs of tea during the day and we always eat well on her days off - being a weekend also means a 'cooked breakfast'!

Crazy weather ... Grrrr!!!

2012-01-22T09:00:00.000+11:00

After tops of 35C (100F) it's gone cool with a southerly breeze and overcast here. Unreal weather - shorts and "T's" one day, woollen shirts and "Trakkie Daks" the next. At lest last night was a good sleeping night - nice and 'snug' (thanks mummy) LOL! We had 18mm (3/4 inch) of rain yesterday, so now the grass has started to shoot again and will need cutting.

Cooking slow cooker Goat meat on the bone in a mushroom, carrot and onion ragout today and will have that with pasta tonight.

Went to the markets on Friday and bought a whole bag of seafood - 2kg of uncooked king prawns (shrimps) baby octopus, squid tubes and whole baby squid, New Zealand blue lip mussels, Tasmanian salmon fillet and skinless and boneless Basa fish fillets. Chopped, sliced and diced it all up and parcelled it into four batches, froze three down in 'Vac Paks' for later.

Cooked up the other for dinner. Did it as a seafood Marinara in a tomato and grilled olive sauce. I add chopped chives crushed and diced cloves of garlic, some olive oil and a few spicey leaves of Vietnamese mint (finely chopped) and a couple of shallot onions. I let it brew in a covered bowl in the fridge for a few hours, then lightly fry it up and add the sauce, stir through and heat through. Serve straight to the table. Ate that with slices of crusty Italian bread that was baked in wood fired ovens.

Easy scone recipe

2012-01-21T13:02:00.001+11:00

We call these "scones" - that's 's - kons' and not 's - cones' - however, in the US and other parts of North America I believe they are commonly referred to as "biscuits"

Here's a dead-set easy, "dig a hole and bury me, it just doesn't get better than this", recipe for scones.

LEMONADE SCONES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of lemonade (not flat)

1 cup of cream

3 cups self-raising flour

Handful of sultanas(optional)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to very hot 220°C.

Mix flour, a few sultanas, cream and lemonade. Mixture will be soft

Turn onto a lightly floured board. Pat down, do not roll. Use a roundcookie cutter to cut scones.

Brush tops with milk or a lightly beaten egg.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until tops are golden

Notes:

When you turn the mixture out onto the kitchen bench, dust it again withmore flour so it isn’t too sticky to cut up. This will allow you to get alovely ‘scone’ shape.

I prefer using egg to brush pastries as this makes them more golden aftercooking.

These scones are wicked straight out of the oven with a slathering ofbutter, or, let them cool, slice them in half, lather with strawberry jam and top off with a big spoon of whipped double cream.

btw - these are "biscuits" in Australia":

Yass Dam Upgrade

2012-01-19T12:42:00.003+11:00

Walked up the river yesterday - took Denny-the-Dog and my good Nikon and got a few pics of the work being done to raise our dam wall 1 metre (thus tripling capacity) and, hopefully, drought-proofing us - but I 've heard this before when it didn't work - Pejar Dam at Goulburn was s'posed to drought-proof Goulburn but ran dry and stayed that way through the ten worst years of the recent drought!

Downstream of dam wall - not an easy trek!

Very rocky terrain - basalt and granite outcrops

Construction work in progress

Construction Works Depot - not sure what the green building in

foreground is suspect it is part of the existing Water Treatment plant.

I managed to find a ledge on the high ground to get these photographs and attracted much attention from the construction workers - maybe they thought I was some sort of spy from some regulatory agency (River water IS very dirty from all the construction work and I'm surprised that our Fisheries Inspectorate haven't said something about this - they kicked up a stink when council wanted to widen the low level river crossing to allow two lanes of traffic!)

Quick trip to Sydney

2012-01-18T10:56:00.000+11:00

We had to make a quick trip to Sydney - stayed at our favourite hotel, the Sheraton on the Park in Elizabeth street, opposite Hyde Park. It was a bit 'up-market' I s'pose but considering it was one night only, had secure parking on-site and was right next door to the business we had to attend to, it was worth it.

Sydney's weather cleared for 24 hours - they've had a terrible run of inclement weather - just long enough for our stay.

Some pictures.

View from the window alcove of our 'front-of-house' room overlooking Hyde Park.

You can see the gloomy sky that was present when we arrived in Sydney.

The spire/tower of St Mary's Cathedral across Hyde Park the

following day, framed by a beautiful blue sky.

The walkway from St James station, Elizabeth Street towards

the Archibald Fountain and St Mary's Cathedral in the background

The steps off Elizabeth Street into Hyde Park

We had a very nice dinner in the Sheraton's Brasserie restaurant and I was prepared for the $AUS65/head charge for the 'all-you-can-eat' buffet, however, I shirked at $AUS28/head charge for dining room breakfast of buffet eggs and bacon. So we wandered out the Castlereagh Street entrance to the Sheraton and went across the road to Suncorp-Metway Building and found a nice little cafe where we had a very full hot breakfast for an economical $AUS8.50/head.

Castlereagh Street - Suncorp-Metway Building on the right adjacent the parked trucks.

Coffee lounge/Cafe for breakfast

As we ate our leisurely breakfast we were absolutely amazed to see the queues of workers lining up at the counter to get their morning containers of their favourite 'coffee-fix' and paying up to $AUS8.00 for the same.

Rhonda tells me that at her hospital the morning 'coffee run' to the canteen is a daily ritual, one she avoids as she only drinks weak black coffee and finds it cheaper to take her own little container of coffee granules.

As you may gather, I am not a coffee drinker. LOL!

Volunteers and health and safety law in Australia

2012-01-18T08:25:00.001+11:00

Organisations which rely heavilyon volunteers are warning they will have to have cut back on services becauseof changes to health and safety laws in Australia. Under the law changes,volunteers are now considered as workers.

Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statisticsshow a staggering 6.4 million people do unpaid work.

Some volunteers deliver meals to the sick and the elderly,others provide community support services such as home-based household care,while other volunteers donate their time to driving the elderly and infirm toappointments – mostly medical appointments – where public transport is not ordinarilyavailable.

Even those volunteers who supervise scout camps or work asmarshals at community events are in the firing line under the new laws.

What’s happened, you may ask? What’s changed?

Well the Australian federal government has tried to reachan accord with all the states and reach a standard set of occupational healthand safety (OHS) regulations and a standard OHS Act that stops each state from ‘doingits own thing’ and having OHS law that applies to all workers no matter whatpart of Australia they happen to be in. The jargon term is “Harmonisation”,harmonising the legislations between states. So far some states, like WesternAustralia, have refused to come to the party. Others, South Australia forexample, are being more circumspect and refusing to commit until moreclarification of the ‘volunteer conundrum’ is forthcoming. Others states, suchas New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have already agreed.

As a result everyone is now exposed in a way that they havenot been exposed in the past and the expectations on them now are to have thefull resources around OHS that you would expect of a government department, miningcompanies, retail and department stores, etc.

Put simply, these new OHS laws redefine volunteers asworkers for health and safety purposes, which means they now have a duty to dowhat is reasonably practicable to prevent injury.

Breaches to those laws can attract large fines withvolunteers facing penalties of up to $300,000.

Lets take the scouting organisations by way of example. ScoutsAustralia has already warned its volunteers that if they do not follow theirorganisation's new procedures, they (Scouts Australia) may be fined.

What's always happened with OHS in terms of volunteers,it's the full application of common sense and that's really what drives thecurrent situation. What the situation now is that of bureaucratic requirementsin terms of red tape, form filling and so forth that just are endless.

In the case of the Scout Association they have said thatall scout games are going to have to be reviewed. They're going to have to havesafety procedures around those games, they're going to have to have documentedthem and have all the procedures in place.

The possible ramifications of these new laws are extensiveand the volunteer committee that, for example, manages the local scout hall, aresaying that they're not going to let people use the scout hall for partiesanymore because the volunteers could be held liable if there's an incident atthe party.

The new harmonised laws are creating an environment ofcomplete confusion, not providing better protection mechanisms.

Previously, under OHS law, i.e. normal OHS law, people areheld responsible for what they reasonably and practicably control!

These new laws for some strange reason have said, wellyou'll be held responsible for what is reasonable and practicable and they'vedropped the word "control".

The big debate occurring in the legal profession is whetheror not now people can be held liable for things over which they didn't havecontrol.

OK! I can see theneed for organisations that involve themselves in a higher degree of ‘risktaking activities’, such as scouting organisations, having policies,procedures, safe operating procedures, risk assessments and checklists that areall aimed at bringing the chance of harm occurring from any of their activitiesto an absolute minimum risk.

And yes! – this will mean that the organisations like thescouting groups will have to devout a lot more time, energy and financestowards ensuring that their volunteers are properly trained and inducted tohealth and safety as a routine part of their activities.

But it’s the lower risk groups that will feel the greatestimpact – those operating on a shoestring budget of (mostly) hard fought forfunding from government and public grants that will feel the impact of thesenew OHS laws the most. Those where failure to comply with the new regulatory requirements will mean funding being cut-off. Those where many of its volunteers are well-minded,caring community members who, themselves, are not that far off reaching an ageor state of health and well-being where they will be dependents upon the veryservices they now provide.

According to the head of Meals on Wheels in NSW, LeslieMacDonald, it is the charity organisations, not the volunteers, that will beexposed.

"The real concern that I have is that there have beenno discussions with government at all at this stage, or no suggestion fromgovernment that they're going to cover the substantial additional cost thatthat's going to require," he said. "In terms of worker's compensationpremiums but also in terms of the additional workload that's going to impose onthe paid staff in terms of making sure that the legislative requirements arebeing met."

It is difficult to know yet what the extra costs will be.

There has been little time or chance to analyse in detailthe additional administrative requirements. The best guess is that, talking interms of the workers comp premium, a very substantial increase.

With no extra funding support from the Federal Government, charityorganisations like Home and Community Care, Meals on Wheels, etc will be forced to reduce their services. That’sgoing to mean a substantial reduction in the services that charities canprovide. That seems fairly logical.

The Minister of Employment and Workplace Relations, BillShorten, released a statement saying safe workplaces will not be adverselyaffected by the changes and that his department wants to avoid any unnecessaryadministrative burdens on volunteering organisations. Reading between thelines, Mr Shorten has really said that charity organisations, like any otherorganisation using human services, are going to have to get their house inorder and develop better management systems that satisfy the requirements ofthese new OHS laws.

The only people to be better off from all this will be theOHS Consultancy firms who will hit the market place trying to sell their ‘off-the-shelf’OHS Management Systems, systems devised by the consultancy and not by thepeople actually delivering the volunteer care!

I'm not yet convinced that we've gone down the right path. Does this mean that the ladies who provide tea and sandwiches to emergency workers in times of disasters will need to be inducted into OHS requirements?

Weight loss

2012-01-16T06:21:00.001+11:00

Last week (Monday) I weighed 116.8kg

This Monday I weigh 115.3kg

I've lost 1.5kg (3.3 lb)

Not a great loss, but a start! I'll just stick with my carbohydrate intake reduction diet and exercise and see how I go next Monday!

Afternoon delight. Thinkin' of you's workin' ......... !

2012-01-15T10:03:00.000+11:00

Sunday morning here - school summer holidays - town's as quiet as an empty church - Rhonda's at work - and the Super Bowl XLVI Playoffs are live on Fox Sports News!

First up New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49'ers! - Big Men and a Big Game

A whole day of live broadcasts and no-one around to interrupt play - Even talked Rhonda into going to Jamison Shopping Centre after work to shop for some new shoes! LOL!

We had a visitor .....

2012-01-14T12:51:00.000+11:00

We were out in the front garden, doing some weeding.

Anyhoo, I reached over to pull back some flowers to get at a nasty weed and there he/she was - a friendly visitor.

A juvenile blue tongue lizard, wandering through to find a quiet sunny spot to sunbake in!

I said "Hullo! Nice to see you. You are welcome, don't let us disturb you!" and let the flowers fall back and provide it with cover.

Blue tongues have somewhat unusual body proportions: a big head and long body with very short legs and small feet. Their evenly tapering tail is fat and shorter than the body.

Male lizards have a proportionally larger head than females, but the females are bigger overall.
The most noticeable feature of these lizards is the blue tongue inside the bright pink mouth.
Like all reptiles they do not produce any body heat. Their body temperature depends on the surrounding temperature and they can be found sun basking in the mornings or during cooler days. On cold days they remain inactive in their shelter. (They need a body temperature of 30 to 35°C to be active.)

Their diet consists of plant matter and small animals. That can be beetles, caterpillars, crickets, snails and even other small lizards. Anything they can get hold of will do. But they are not very fast, so they usually eat slower critters. They are very partial to slugs and snails. Oh, and they steal dog food.

Blue-tongue lizards have strong jaw muscles to crush big beetles and snail shells. They may also bite in defence when they feel threatened.

The blue tongue's main defence strategy is bluff:

It faces the threat and opens its mouth. The blue tongue inside the pink mouth is an unexpected and vivid sight, designed to frighten off the attacker. The lizard also hisses loudly and flattens its body which makes it look wider and bigger. If you pick the lizard up now it will bite you. And it will hurt. Blue tongues have a habit of latching onto your finger and not letting go, which leaves you with a nice bruise.

My breaking heart ......

2012-01-13T11:17:00.001+11:00

Sharks!

2012-01-12T10:35:00.002+11:00

Oh dear its summer time and Australian flock to the beach and with all that 'fodder' in the water the sharks are drawn in! Here is an article from "Granny" (The Sydney Morning Herald):

A shark is spotted not far from swimmers at Bennetts beach yesterday. Photo: Westpac Rescue Helicopter

"Beachgoers were rushed out of the water at Hawks Nest near Newcastle yesterday when three great white sharks were spotted not far from board riders and swimmers.

The alarm was raised by crew members aboard the Westpac Rescue Helicopter who saw the three-metre sharks in the calm, clear water off Bennetts beach about 11.20am.

Crew chief Pete Cummings said one was "pretty close" behind a group of surfers, who were the same distance from shore as nearby swimmers.

"There were about 100 or so people having a swim," Mr Cummings said.

"[The sharks] didn't look like they were chasing fish; they were just cruising."

We have friends who have retired to Hawks nest, a very picturesque coastal area on the north coast of new South Wales.

Snorkelling in Nelson Bay

Little Beach Nelson Bay

Apple and lamb curry - for JohnG

2012-01-10T10:13:00.003+11:00

Hey, Johnno, ...... seeing as your local grocers may be a a little bit more on the conservative side in the provision of "Ingredients in Stock" department, I thought I'd give you a nice a nice, quick lamb dish with a little bit of curry to reflect the UK's new multi-cultural social changes - LOL!

APPLEAND LAMB CURRY

INGREDIENTS

1lb Diced lamb (buy enough lamb shanks or forequarter chops and trim them down)

3 tbs vegetable oil

1 onion, finelychopped

1 tsp of garlic paste (or two or three garlic cloves, peeled, crushed and chopped)

1 tbs Curry powder (any good old curry powder - Keen's or Clive of India is fine! )

1 tsp Paprika (bottled spice version is fine)

½ tsp Ginger paste (or finely grate a lump of ginger)

½ tbs Brown sugar

dash of chili flakes (if you cannot get them, use a dash of Worcestershire sauce as an alternative)

50 g sachet of tripleconcentrated tomato paste

1 cup of water

2 cups of chopped green apple

METHOD

Heat oil in pan andsaute onion and garlic until onion is transparent

Add curry powder,paprika, ginger, sugar and chili flakes and cook until onion is browned

Add lamb and continueto cook until lamb is brown on all sides

Boil water and mixwith tomato paste and add to pan

Cover and cook fortwenty minutes

Add apple and cook afurther ten minutes

Plate and serve on abed of boiled rice.

Chinese Chili Cabbage

2012-01-09T16:50:00.001+11:00

A colleague, presently working in Dalian, People's Republic of China (PRC), sent me this easy recipe for Chinese Chili Cabbage:

CHINESE CHILI CABBAGE

INGREDIENTS:

2 or 3small Chinese Cabbage (Also known as bok choy from Cantonese, literally "white vegetable"; also spelled pak choi, bok choi, and pak choy)

1 largeonion, sliced

½ cup ofbeef stock or ½ cup of hot water with beef OXO cube

4 garliccloves

2 fingerlength dried chilies

3 rashersof smokey bacon

6 Sichuanpepper husks

METHOD:

Thinlyslice onion and layer the bottom of the slow cooker

Add 3rashers of roughly chopped smoky bacon (the smokier the better)

Cut Chinesecabbage in half lengthways and lay in the slow cooker on top of sliced onionand chopped bacon.

Pour overhalf a cup of water containing an Oxo cube.

Toss in 4garlic cloves, sliced and (up to) 2 finger length dried red chilies.

Cook on lowfor about 3 to 4 hours. (LEAVE THE LID ON DURING COOKING)

Perfectwith any meat.

The round type of European cabbages can be used but cut or tear into largish pieces first.

A real tang can be achieved by adding about a dozen Sichuan whole peppercornsat the start.

Note: Sichuan whole peppercorns, despite the name,it is not related to black pepper or to chili peppers. It is widely used in the cuisine of Sichuan, China, from which it takes its name. In America, it is possible to come acrossnames such as "Szechwan pepper," "Chinese pepper,""Japanese pepper," "aniseed pepper," "Spricepepper," "Chinese prickly-ash," "Fagara," "sansho,""Nepal pepper," "Indonesian lemon pepper," and others. Check at your local Asian grocery for this ingredient.

Around this region - contact points

2012-01-09T11:40:00.000+11:00

I’ve often felt I should give people more ‘access’ to the region I live in and the best way of doing this is to post a list of links to local facilities.

Our press. Small country newspapers still survive in Australia. In our case it is The Yass Tribune, a bi-weekly – produced Wednesdays and Fridays – with all local content.

The NSW Planning Guidelines for Wind Farms listed these issues\

as key in the assessment of any new wind farm developments

The Yass Tribune link page

The Wednesday version contains two inserts, The Southern Weekly Magazine. The Southern Weekly gives readers a weekly glimpse of the events and issues affecting our towns and rural areas. It’s the most established publication of its type in the southern region with more than 49,000 copies distributed throughout the Central West, South West Slopes and Riverina area. The Southern Weekly is inserted into 25 local country newspapers and rural mail boxes from Parkes to Albury and Hay to Crookwell.

Southern Tablelands Magazine subscription region

The second insert is Town and Country Magazine. Town and Country Magazine delivers the latest news from Wagga Wagga NSW including sport, weather, entertainment and lifestyle.

Schoolchildren participate in 'safer driving' education classes

Town and Country Magazine link

For those interested in local real estate – both town dwellings and rural holdings, every Friday The Yass Tribune includes a real estate supplement known as Tablelands District Domain

Brigadoon, Goulburn – circa 1800

Tablelands District Domain Real Estate link

Of course, our ‘flagship’ is “Granny”, the national daily broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald.

Lights, camera, action ... the storm hits the CBD last night.

Photo: Tweeted by Dan MacPherson

Sydney Morning Herald link

Of course, there is also the Yass Visitors Information Centre where one can learn all about the arts, culture and heritage of Yass - This historic country town is the home of explorer Hamilton Hume. Discover heritage treasures along the town's Historic Walk and Drive; you can even follow in the footsteps of explorers on the Hume and Hovell Walking Track.

So, for those wanting to explore this region and what its like around here you have plenty of links to help you to be an informed commentator on life in Australia. All publications are part of the Fairfax Media.

Cheers

Weekly Words No. 7

2012-01-08T07:55:00.003+11:00

"Yedsirag" - Yes! It is a word - an old English word which went out of use in the 19th century only to reappear in an altered format in Australian and New Zealand expressions several decades later in the 20th century. But more about that soon.

In reading Lifting the Latch, which is the story of Mont Abbott’s work on the land in Oxfordshire in the first half of the 20th century. The phrase “Brusher were the yedsirag over all the steam ploughs” appears in it. The glossary defines yedsirag as meaning head man, foreman.

The book has another example:

"Chisel were the only true ringer among us so we made him yedsirag, Captain of the Tower."

Lifting the Latch: a Life on the Land, Based on the Life of Mont Abbott of Enstone, Oxfordshire, by Sheila Stewart, 1987.

"Yedsirag" is not recorded well and because most appearances are phonetic transcriptions of local dialect speech. Researchers for the English Dialect Dictionary of the late nineteenth century recorded it in a variety of spellings across a swathe of central England. Here’s another example:

"He was gooin’ orderin’ an’ mesterin’ abait, just for aw the world as if he’d bin top-sawyer an’ yed-sirag o’ the lot."

The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire, by Thomas Darlington, 1887. Mesterin’: acting like a master, an employer.

There’s no mystery about yed, which is a common dialect form of head. The rest is a locally modified version of the phrase Sir-Rag. You may be surprised to learn that there’s an entry for this in the Oxford English Dictionary, but it was at one time a fairly common colloquial term. To be called Sir-Rag was hardly a compliment. The sir here was a mildly mocking familiarity, borrowed from the usual form of address for a titled person. Sir-Rag might suggest that you adopted airs above your station but more probably that you were a supervisor or overseer of a group of workers of low status:

“This strange word Sir-Rag is common in the Midland Counties, and has been for very many years. I knew it, and very often heard it, when a boy. The chief of a band of servants or workers, a foreman or overseer, or any one in authority over others, is the “sir-rag.” Sometimes he or she is the “head sir-rag.”

Thomas Ratcliffe of Worksop, writing in Notes and Queries, 15 Aug. 1891.

And now an explanation as to how "Yedsirag" may have found its way into the Australian and new Zealand lexicon.

There is a local expression in Australia and New Zealand that looks hauntingly similar: head serang, or head sherang, for a boss or a person in charge - usually in an agricultural setting where paid labor was employed and needed supersvision - yet, again, in a gently mocking or ironic way.

It has a very different origin, from the Anglo-Indian serang (the spelling that appears in the Macquarie Dictionary), originally from the Persian sarhang, commander. Yule and Burnell defined it in Hobson-Jobson, their huge compilation of Anglo-Indian expressions of 1886, as “a native boatswain or chief of a lascar crew; the skipper of a small native vessel.”

However, the similarity to the older British expression, which would certainly have been known to nineteenth-century migrants, is so striking that it must surely be linked and presumably accounts for the addition of head to the Anglo-Indian word.

After all that, you now have most of the information that you need to translate “Brusher were the yedsirag over all the steam ploughs”. This is a fuller quote:

"I were on the last lap of the day, longing for me tea and our Mam’s roly-poly, when ‘Brusher’ Becket came into the field waving a telegram. 'Brusher' were the yedsirag over all the steam-ploughs."

So there you are - "Yedsirag" transformed from 19th century English use to "Head Serang/Head Sherang" in the antipodes of the 20th century!

The boys in Goulburn

2012-01-08T07:00:00.000+11:00

A few years back the boys were holidaying with us and we heard that State Rail were offering a free ride on the new Very Fast Train (VFT) that they were putting in as an express service from Goulburn to Sydney. I asked the boys if they'd like to go on a train ride (Aidan, the eldest, was 'train crazy', like most boys his age)

Of course they said "Yay!!!! so we drove over to Goulburn to the Sloane Street Railway Station, got our free tickets (it was restricted number of passengers to seats available) and our showbags and boarded the train. It only did a run of about 10 klms up the track and then the driver changed ends and drove it back down again - but it did get up to a fairly fast clip of pace in those two runs.

Now, I don't know what the boys enjoyed more?

The train ride?

The showbags full of State rail 'goodies'?

The play on the play gym in the park after the train ride?

The extra large ice cream sundae at the local cafe?

Or having their photo taken standing under the balls of the Big Merino?

Either way - they DID have a great day and laughed all the way home!

Goulburn NSW Australia

2012-01-07T11:15:00.001+11:00

Goulburn was Australia's very first 'inland city'. This fascinating region, two hours' drive south-west of Sydney, is proud of its colourful past. With a history that includes explorers, gold-diggers and bushrangers, Goulburn was settled by colonials who forged a city from the bush. Today, Australia's first inland city offers an array of historic buildings, an energetic rural culture and country cuisine. Charming villages in the district include Binda, Laggan, Taralaga and Gundaroo.

Characteristic of Goulburn, set in a low wide plain and world famous for its fine wool production are its wide, tree-lined streets and mixture of architecture.

Looking over Goulburn on a 35C (100F) summer's day last week.

Looking up Clifford Street

Montague Street

Sloane Street

The type of built environment extends from the early 1800's:

Modernised as a medical centre

Boutique housing

To the slightly more colourful boarding house accommodation.

About the time that the original hospital building was built:

and later the more modern hospital was added:

In its early days many fine mansions were built on the proceeds of industry and 'wool cheques'. It is a sad indictment that many of these historic buildings were allowed to be demolished, or, to fall into a state of disrepair rendering them unihabitable. This one is currently undergoing restoration:

The railway station in Sloane Street - many of the railway buildings

and other significant buildings in Sloane Street were preserved

as part of the 'National Trust' estate.

Later, 'new money' into the area from the cities growing enterprise added newer forms of building architecture:

and

Education thrived and several colleges were built - this one the Goulburn Public College:

Of course, around the hospital parking is a premium:

But can come at a cost as cockatoos feed on the pine cones of the large shade trees:

This one fell on the engine bonnet of the car in which I sat waiting for a client to return.

The War Memorial tower is situated on top of a rocky hill - appropriately called "Rocky Hill":

Rocky Hill is so-called for rather obvious reasons and one can see where the stone required for the construction of the War Memorial Tower was obtained:

Goulburn is a provincial city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Goulburn Mulwaree Council Local Government Area. It is located 195 kilometres (121 mi) south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway and 690 metres (2,264 ft) above sea-level. On Census night 2006, Goulburn had a population of 20,127 people. It brands itself as "Australia's first inland city", although this is a claim that the city of Bathurst also makes.

Goulburn was named by surveyor James Meehan after Henry Goulburn, Under-Secretary for War and the Colonies, and the name was ratified by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. The Aboriginal name for Goulburn is Burbong, a Murring/Wiradjuri word indicating a special Indigenous cultural area. Several native burial grounds have been uncovered during construction of housing developments around Goulburn, the native custom of the time being to bury the deceased in shallow unmarked graves, usually on the side of a hill over-looking the plains.

Goulburn is a railhead on the Main Southern line and service centre for the surrounding pastoral industry and a stopover for those travelling on the Hume Highway. It has a central park and many historic buildings, including old houses near the railway station on Sloane Street and two 19th-century cathedrals. It is home to the Big Merino, the world's largest concrete sheep.

Waiting for a sunrise

2012-01-07T09:57:00.003+11:00

First light, a lonely heron and a pair of flying ducks:

A lone kangaroo joins those waiting:

A boat lies grounded, waiting the new day's activities:

A promise of things to come:

The beginning:

The light upon the water:

Time for breakfast:

Weekly Words No. 6

2011-12-30T11:51:00.001+11:00

Today I will be using two words in juxtaposition i.e. the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side, only, in this case those things are “words”. They are interesting words because they are frequently used colloquially in an incorrect context, or, the first being used to make excuses for the behaviour exhibited in the second case.

The first word is:

RAILLERY
\RAIL-uh-ree\

DEFINITION

noun
1 : good-natured ridicule : banter
2 : jest

"Raillery" is the anglicized form of the French word "raillerie," which stems from the Middle French verb "railler," meaning "to mock." "Railler," which probably comes from Old French "reillier" ("to growl" or "to mutter") and ultimately from Late Latin "ragere" ("to neigh"), also gave us our verb "rail." But "rail" and "raillery" are quite different in tone. "Rail" means "to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language," whereas "raillery" usually suggests cutting wit that pokes fun good-naturedly.

EXAMPLES

• New workers at the plant can expect to endure some raillery and joshing from the old-timers.

• "Scioli, a floorsweep, another barber and a man on the sofa called Buddy Lite are carrying on a conversation that bounces around like a Wham-O Super Ball, touching on conspiracy theories, 20th-century pop culture, UFOs, lewd raillery and an eerie tale concerning a caribou walking backward via supernatural forces." -- From an article by Luke Jerrod Kummer in The Washington Post, January 7, 2011

The second word is:

HOMOPHOBIA
\ˌhō-mə-ˈfō-bē-ə\

DEFINITION

noun
1 : irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals

ho•mo•phobe\ˈhō-mə-ˌfōb\ noun

ho•mo•pho•bic\ˌhō-mə-ˈfō-bik\ adjective

This is a relatively new word. George Weinberg, a psychologist, is credited as the first person to have used the term in speech. The word homophobia first appeared in print in an article written for the May 23, 1969, edition of the American tabloid Screw, in which the word was used to refer to heterosexual men's fear that others might think they are gay.

In 1971, Kenneth Smith was the first person to use homophobia as a personality profile to describe the psychological aversion to homosexuality, in the context of conceptualising anti-LGBT prejudice as a social problem.

Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality and people who are identified as or perceived as being homosexual. Definitions refer variably to antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, and irrational fear. Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of a perceived non-heterosexual orientation.

In a 1998 address, author, activist, and civil rights leader Coretta Scott King stated that

"Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood.”

In 1993, behavioral scientists William O'Donohue and Christine Caselles concluded that the usage of the term "as it is usually used, makes an illegitimately pejorative evaluation of certain open and debatable value positions, much like the former disease construct of homosexuality" itself, arguing that the term may be used as an ad hominem argument against those who advocate values or positions of which the speaker does not approve.

And this is the pont where we return to "raillery" where the term “homophobia” (or its derivatives) is often excused as being used in good-natured ridicule, banter, or, jest and allows the used to apply the term seemingly with impunity but to attach its feelings of “antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, and irrational fear”

[Thanks and acknowledgements to the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary on-line http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/homophobia?show=0&t=1325205113 and Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophobia ]

Christmas with family

2011-12-29T11:35:00.000+11:00

Well, the day started with an ominous sunrise:

But the red sunrise was a false warning and soon the family arrived, Daughter Kathleen,

Partner Anthony,

and grandsons Aidan (9) and James(6) (with our Denny-the-dog):

and while the boys kept Denny-the-dog preoccupied with a typical boy-dog game of "fetch while we hide":

the adults just sat around and chatted:

Soon the dog was plumb tuckered out":

And so were the boys:

Aidan - minus one shoe - enjoys "Pa's" recluse area where Pa pots and potters and sits and read.

Soon it was time for lunch and we all sat down to a sumptuous roast lamb lunch that Rhonda had prepared:

After lunch, the boys resume play:

Some views of my yard:

English Elderberry tree, left, (4 year old) and potted tomatoes, two of the three rainwater storage tanks. the garden tool shed and a decrepit orange that I've given up on and about to be replaced by either a Flowering Plum (tall tree to right top) or an oriental silk tree or 'Mimosa'.

An example of the Oriental Silk Tree/Mimosa in bloom - they come in a white, yellow, orange or bright pink flower

Mature black olive which is now fruiting

Newest black olive that has just had its first pruning.

Denny, Liquid Amber Tree behind him (4 years old), machinery shed (right) and shade house to the left and Mt Carmel School Science and Library building in background.

Christmas Day Lunch

2011-12-26T08:14:00.001+11:00

In ourhousehold Rhonda worked Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day at her hospital (being an "EmptyNester" Nurse, she thought if she worked some co-workers with youngerfamilies could have some time at home). Rhonda has the Tuesday off and our daughter and her partner and our two grandsons aged 9 and 6 are coming down to have a "ChristmasLunch" with us - Menu is a local leg of lamb, roasted and served with baked potatoes, baked sweetpotato, baked pumpkin and carrot and parsnip with snow peas and green beans and topped with home made gravy. Dessert will be a rich fruit cake and brandy custard (p'rollyIce cream with chocolate flavouring for the youngsters!)

They will leave home around 8am and hope to arrive about midday. We will have a chance to chat and catch up and then have lunch and then they'll leave for home about 3pm.

There is no'right' or 'wrong' way to celebrate Christmas but I was made aware of a lot ofpeople who would be alone at home this Christmas Day, many of them elderly. Afew friends and I are planned to invite/sponsor twenty lonely people to a lunchorganised by a local charity where two community workers looked after twenty tothirty lonely residents in our community, making contact with each and everyone of them every day of the week – either by personal visit or by a telephonecall.

All ofthose people receive one cooked lunch meal, five days/week from the local “Meals-on-Wheels”organisation.

My friendsand I, aided by local charity staff fedtwenty two lonely people Christmas dinner yesterday afternoon – Prawn (shrimp)cocktail entrees, main of Roast chicken, baked potato, sweet potato and pumpkin,snow peas and gravy, with dessert sweets of trifle and custard. There was also a pre-lunch glass of sherry and a glass of wine served with the meal for those who wanted it. Those who did not want alcohol - only a few and those for 'medical reasons' - had fruit juice.

We had fivetables of four and one of two with the two community workers who looked afterthem as guests as well. During lunch they were entertained by a couple of local musicians who volunteered their time and, of course, Christmas Carols were also sung (or, in some cases, 'hummed' along!)

It wentover like a bomb. Strangely they were not all 'poor or underprivileged, manywere well off, octogenarians+, who lived alone and depended on regular homesupport visits.

There were a couple I was a 'bit sus of' as to their qualifying - anyone whocan still get to the pub/club regularly on a pension cannot be too 'lonely' inmy books, however the community workers I chatted with said they wereprepared to bend the rules and give them the 'benefit of the doubt'.

We discussed doing something bigger and better next year - probably similarmenu but invite more people! We are aiming to serve lunch to forty invitedguests.

Rolex Boxing Day Sydney Hobart Yact Race

2011-12-26T06:34:00.002+11:00

Images courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Commission on-line News and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race gallery of images

Line honours isexpected to come down to the second half of the race. (Andrea Francolini: GettyImages)

The 680 nautical miles of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race, which commences on Boxing Day every year, is recognised as one of the most gruelling ocean races in the world.

Testing southerlies on the first night and light breezes later in the race are set to present the Sydney to Hobart fleet with different challenges. The fleet, which currently stands at 88, is expected to start under 10 to 15 knot northerly winds on Boxing Day. A southerly change is forecast to kick in six to 12 hours into the race, with winds possibly gusting up to 30 knots on the first night.

The Rolex Race Orgniser said ex-tropical Cyclone Fina would generate swell and contribute to erratic conditions.

Wild Oats XI tactician Iain Murray, one of eight crew members to have featured in all five of that boat's line honours wins, split the race into two distinct halves.

"It is looking like the second half of the race looks pretty tricky, the first half is pretty laid out for us," Murray told reporters. He predicted Wild Oats XI would complete the 628 nautical mile course a little quicker than the two days seven hour 37 minutes 20 seconds it took her to achieve line honours last year. "We're thinking our time is going to be around two days (and) four or five hours," Murray said.

There is a yacht tracker that allows you to follow the fleet on its journey down the South and Far South Coast of Australia into Bass Strait and to Hobart, Tasmania.

The event is far from 'clear sailing' and is not for the faint hearted and with gale force winds forecast for the Bass Strait crossing this year is going to be little different.

One of the most watched live TV event in Australia is the start of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race:

Start of the 66th Rolex Sydney Hobart

Boats jostling for position on the start line of the Rolex Sydney Hobart 2010

Christmas birth

2011-12-26T05:39:00.001+11:00

A Tasmanian woman received an early present on Christmas morning when she gave birth to a baby girl underneath her Christmas tree. The woman was wrapping presents at her home in Gagebrook, north of Hobart, when she went into labour.
She gave birth to the girl shortly after 12:00am (AEDT).

Bruce Connor from the Tasmanian Ambulance Service says crews arrived to find the woman in the first stages of labour.

"I would assume the patient was in labour to a point where delivery was imminent and rather than being able to move to the ambulance to proceed to hospital, they had to deliver the baby at the house," he said. Mr Connor says the birth went well and it is a great way to bring in the festive period.

"To deliver one at 12:06am on Christmas Day is a special event for us, especially under the Christmas tree at home and I believe that the intensive care paramedic was wearing a pair of antlers at the time," he said.

LOL!

Cyclone Grant update

2011-12-26T05:30:00.002+11:00

Police at remote Croker Island in the Northern Territory say the local community has escaped serious damage from a category two cyclone. Tropical Cyclone Grant intensified into a category two system late on Christmas Day and came within kilometres of Croker Island.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the storm brought winds of 130 kilometres per hour and torrential rain.

Tropical Cyclone Grant is moving south across the Cobourg Peninsula.

The weather bureau predicts it will cross Van Diemen's Gulf overnight and reach land north of Jabiru in Kakadu National Park by the morning.

Residents living from west of Maningrida to Snake Bay, including Cape Don, Croker Island and Goulburn Island, have been advised to take shelter immediately. The bureau has told residents from Darwin to Milingimbi, including inland to Jabiru and Oenpelli, to make final preparations to their home shelters or decide which public shelter to use.

Meanwhile, at the absolute opposite end of the country, Melbourne has been lashed by a severe storm.

Wild storms packing hailstones the size of lemons and strong winds have battered Melbourne during a severe thunderstorm. Roads have been flooded and some flights have been grounded at Melbourne airport.

The tornado hit Fiskville, 15 kilometres west of Bacchus Marsh, with reports its force picked cars up off the ground. It is believed another tornado also struck Melton, which was one of the worst hit areas.

The weather bureau's Richard Russell says there was a tornado threat for about 20 minutes.

"The report we had was from a very credible storm spotter," he told ABC News 24. "He reported that a car was blown off or across the road as it went through."

Victoria's emergency services have already received hundreds of calls for help with reports of hailstones the size of lemons and roofs caving in from heavy rain.

At home, here on the Southern Tablelands, we had a hot muggy day with temps up around 37C (100F) with thunder storms threatening. As I write this rain is falling in town as a thunder storm front bears down on us from Wagga Wagga in the west.

Queen celebrates family

2011-12-26T05:14:00.002+11:00

Good old 'Lizzie - Geez she's keeping on keeping well.

Family is of central importance to the 85-year-old mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and commentators will not be surprised she chose the topic after the events of 2011.

Prince William's wedding in April was watched by hundreds of millions across the world and was generally considered to have breathed new life into the monarchy.

In the Christmas message, the Queen also spoke about the "family" of the Commonwealth.

"Of course family does not necessarily mean blood relatives, but often a description of a community, organisation or nation," she said. "The Commonwealth is a family of 53 nations, all with a common bond, shared beliefs, mutual values and goals."

She also spoke of her visit to Australia in October, paying tribute to those who experienced devastating floods in Queensland earlier this year.

"Indeed, sadly it seems that it is tragedy that often draws out the most and the best from the human spirit," she said. "When Prince Phillip and I visited Australia this year, we saw for ourselves the effects of natural disaster in some of the areas devastated by floods."

The British royals are now preparing for a year of extensive travel to Commonwealth member states as part of the Queen's diamond jubilee, marking 60 years on the throne.

Meanwhile, old 'Phil the greek' got chest pains and was taken to hospital where doctors inserted a 'stent' in his heart. Get well soon, Phil!

Its Christmas Day in Australia

2011-12-25T10:12:00.001+11:00

A nativity scene made from, among other things, hay bales, sits outside a house in Tarrington, south-west Victoria

Broken Hill - Far Western NSW. Over 4,000 people set up their blankets and deck chairs on the lush green grass at Sturt Park as they sang the night away with renowned entertainer Marina Prior.

Shades of Cyclone Tracey, Christmas 1974, tropical cyclone Grant forms off the Northern Territory coast is expected hit the mainland later today.

The famous Toompine Hotel (Pop. 2 - Yes! That's TWO!) says it will serve Christmas lunch for residents from the surrounding district, including a few opal miners from nearby Duck Creek.

Forget the bull, as the town of Barmera, South Australia, hosted its first Running of the Sheep.

Tasmanian church leaders have used their annual Christmas message to highlight the need to address issues regarding refugees.

A new calf, named Static, has joined the dolphins which regularly visit Monkey Mia beach, Western Australia.

The new Ker 40 AFR Midnight Rambler owned by Ed Psaltis, Bob Thomas and Michael Bencsik tunes up for the Boxing Day Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Australia has decided to take just four genuine bowlers into the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against India with Shaun Marsh called up to the side ahead of all-rounder Dan Christian.

Santa comes in on the Karratha Volunteer Fire and Rescue Bedford truck for their annual lolly run in North-West Australia. (Cristy-Lee Macqueen - ABC local)

Karratha

Population: 11,728 (2006)Established: 1960s Postcode: 6714

Coordinates: 20°44′11″S 116°50′47″E / 20.73649°S116.84638°E / -20.73649; 116.84638

Time zone: AWST (UTC+8)Location: 1575km (979 mi) from Perth

LGA: Shire ofRoebourne State District: North West

FederalDivision: Durack

Mean max temp 32.3 °C (90°F) Mean min temp 20.7 °C (69 °F)

Annual rainfall 271.7 mm(10.7 inches)

Sydney Town Hall dressed up in Christmas lights and a light projection display, Christmas 2011

Celebrating it’s 55th year and revisiting the 1957 theme of The Nutcracker, Myer’s Melbourne window display is predicted to receive over one million local and overseas visitors.

Myer's - "The Nutcracker" display 2011

Last, but by no means least, an Australian Christmas at the beach! (Beach images with thanks to A beach cottage - life by the sea blog )

And - A Bush Christmas Nativity Scene -

WHEN Betty Jenje arrived in Mount Isa well over 40 years from her native Holland, she had to get used to a different kind of Christmas. The weather was hot; the food was hardly festive.

But the final straw was no proper nativity scene at the front of the Good Shepherd Catholic Church.

"All the statues were damaged and the stable was this metal structure painted white and covered with Christmas wrapping," she snorted, disapproval still ringing through her strong Dutch accent. "And it was standing on the floor where no one could see it. I couldn't believe it; no Christmas at all!"

Or that is what it felt like to the young bride, fresh from an old European country where Christmas is celebrated for the whole month of December.

Betty and her husband Dick took over the Christmas decorations at the church. The statues have been lovingly restored and Australian animals and birds added to the group gathered around the manger.

"I knew how it was done in Holland, and I wanted to do something nice here for the church and for the congregation."

The final touches have been added with greenery brought in from the bush to adorn the stable.

Mystery Object

2011-12-25T07:07:00.003+11:00

A Christmas Day mystery object - somewhere many of us will be today!

Not a happy camper

2011-12-23T19:14:00.000+11:00

Love this Christmas holidays camping advert!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoV6VbIjuZ8

Swamp People of South Louisana

2011-12-23T11:28:00.000+11:00

Watched a documentary last night called "Swamp People" - all about the folk who live in the swamplands of South Louisiana, USA and hunt alligators for a living - most alone in little tin boats.

They set rotten chicken baits dangling over the water the day before and come back the next day to see whats on the end of a taut line stretched into the water - usually a live 'Gator which they pull up to the gunnel's of the boat and shoot it in a coin-sized 'sweet spot' at the back of the 'Gators head.

In the video link below (I seem to be having trouble posting a YouTube clip for some reason) you will see 'Gator carcasses being loaded onto a truck. One is a very large one - 12 foot 4 inches, nicknamed 'Godzilla' because it had been raiding baited lines and eating young 'Gators for the past four years. It actually got its head snared in a noose of its own making while fighting with a trapped 'Gator - you can see the line around its "neck" in the footage.

Godzilla's head can be seen in the opening footage as it cruised the swamp waters.

The tall chap in the light coloured T-shirt and the 'Gator-skin baseball cap is Troy, the hunter who caught it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-vR94sEn9o

Enthralling doco - really showed what life in the swamps was like and the dangers these men are exposed to.

btw - their is a "season" for alligator hunting and each licenced hunter (numbers restricted) are issued a 'bag limit' off licence tags that they must attach to every alligator they catch - to not do so and get caught means that they'll lose their hunting franchise, be fined and or fined and gaoled.

Only the males are hunted - the females tend to stay close to their 'egg nest' mounds up on the shore, so the baits are set well away from nest areas to avoid catching females - and that's a species conservation move that assists in ensuring the future of the 'Gator catching industry.

'Gators are caught primarily for their skins and the hunters are paid by the condition of the skins and the length of the 'Gator, so a chewed up 'Gator is usually worthless but the hunter has to use one of his 'bag limit' tags on even a chewed up specimen.

The documentary showed the wife of one hunter cooking 'Gator meat and they declared it was tasty, nutritious and very healthy (lo-fat, lo-cholesterol content). Don't know about that but I did see some frozen crocodile meat on sale at the 'Game Meat' butchery at the markets this morning.

I luv Alan Moir's humour

2011-12-19T07:53:00.003+11:00

Rebutting a comment - re 'Davis Family History'

2011-12-18T09:53:00.000+11:00

Hada note from one, Garry Poole, who commented on my articles on the Davis Family- Gounyan Creek, Murrumbateman - an updated post – and Gounyan Creek Murrumbateman . NowMr Poole claims to be third generation Davis family and says that all my informationis so wrong that it is just pure sh*t and that if I want the correctinformation I should ask the members of the Davis Family.

Well,Mr Poole, firstly I do not post abusive comments under a topic banner. I deal with them in an open forum

Secondly,I did say in my article, Gounyan Creek, Murrumbateman - an updated post::

“One must also appreciate that the records of the early days ofsettlement were poorly kept and often misrecorded, so one must draw their ownconclusions from such records on the evidence before them:”

Thirdly, MrPoole, much of my material comes from the Davis Family’s own history andresearch, or, from official documents of the day.

As far as my “……asking the Davis family for the truthabout their history ……”, that would be a bit like asking a politician if hewas honest – the answer is sure to be a self-fulfilling statement of assertionrather than fact.

I did speak to members of the Ngunnawalindigenous group in this area – notably members of the Bell, Brown, Bulgar,Merritt, Monaghan and Phillips families, all descendants of the sevenclans who lived in fairly specific localities. The Maloongoola lived in theMolongolo area, the Biyaligee, in the area of Pialligo, the Namitch or amwitchlived in the area we know as Namadgi, the Cumbeyan lived in the Queanbeyanarea, the Kanberri lived in the Belconnen area, the Toogoranoongh lived in Tuggeranongand the Woolobaloah lived in the Yass area.

Youcan read more about their extended pre-European history in the records of theNative Title Conferences, and for the ngunnawahl, Meet some Elders - profiles of members of the United Ngunnawahl Elders from a recent Native Title Conference.

MrPoole, I invite ‘fair comment’ but I will not post abuse. I am happy for you tohave your say and if it is reasonable I am willing to post your version of theDavis family history. Alternatively you may start your own blog and write whatyou like to see in print.

MrPoole, you may also find enlightenment through the educational program "Understanding the Land through the Eyes of the Ngunnawal People - A natural Resource Management Program for ACT Schools"

Tree farming

2011-12-15T11:12:00.001+11:00

Andrew and Suzi Sprigg of Wialki are planting their agriculturally unproductive soils to tree crops. They are passionate about the role tree crops can have in making their farm and their community more sustainable.

In Western Australia lies an area twice the size of Tasmania, called the Avon Wheatbelt. Of the 12 million hectares of land, approximately 8 million have been cleared. This extensive clearing has lead to environmental problems including wind and water erosion, salinity, and loss of habitat.

Agriculture is the predominant industry for this region but with narrowing margins and a changing climate, many who live in the region are looking for other options to be able to keep farming while still looking after the environment.

Industry scale planting of tree crops not only addresses these environmental issues but will provide sufficient resources for new industries. This will result in income diversification for farmers and increase local job opportunities.

This video is of 5 Avon farming families telling their stories -- about how they are trying to heal the land while developing new and sustainable production systems for their future -- their children's future and the future of their communities.

Thank you to Wheatbelt NRM for their vision for the health and sustainability of the Avon Region and for their sponsorship of this production.

**************************************

The Oil Mallee Association (OMA) website; the mallee portal - the place for information, news and analysis on the oil mallee industry. The founders of the OMA can be justifiably proud with the creation of a new direction for agriculture and for its export to the rest of Australia. OMA believe that this WA innovation is as important as the no till farming phenomenon, which started in WA and has now spread across the nation.

The OMA is dedicated to the extension of mallees as a landscape scale NRM tool for delivery of environmental services to help manage excessive water in the landscape and the potential spread of salinity, reducing the impact of wind erosion and providing an additional source of income for farmers through active management of carbon sequestration and bioenergy programs.

The branding of this movement as "oil mallee" comes from the intensive domestication of the different species of mallee eucalypts and their categorisation as being suitable for different uses in different regions. The research and development over many years has resulted in significant gains in vigour (growth) and in cineole (the core ingredient in eucalyptus oil). The level of cineole is important for eucalyptus oil production but also as a deterrent to grazing while in the early stages of growth.

Mallee is the common name given to a multi-stemmed tree.

They characteristically have many stems shooting out from an underground root mass just below the soil surface, known as the lignotuber or "mallee root" (a prized source of firewood). The lignotuber is an underground stem and believed to be an adaptation to fire. During fire or harvest, the above ground mallee stems are lost, but the starch rich lignotuber remains intact underground. The Mallee is able to sprout back from buds on the surface of the lignotuber, enabling the tree to survive. This process is known as coppicing.

Oil Mallees have the potential to generate tree crop revenue every 4-5 years once established. Moisture supplies mainly determine Mallee biomass yield and frequency of harvest. Eastern States experience indicates mallees may be harvested regularly for 100 years or more with no negative effects. In fact, as the lignotuber gets bigger, the coppice could be more robust and frequency of harvest could increase.

OMA and CALM (Dept. of Conservation and Land Management, WA) recognised in the early 90's that it was going to be difficult to ensure the profitability of oil mallees if eucalyptus oil was the only source of revenue. At present China can supply all the eucalyptus oil the world needs, so farming for eucalyptptus oil, alone, is not a viable enterprise. Consequently over several years, various other products derived from oil mallees were assessed. This led to the concept of integrated production and use of oil mallee products.

The Oil Mallee Association, Western Power Corporation, Enecon and CALM investigated an Integrated Wood Processing (IWP) system where oil, charcoal, activated carbon, and electricity are all produced in a combined process. The IWP plant at Narrogin has produced electricity, charcoal, activated carbon, and eucalyptus oil, from mallee feedstock grown on farms in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia.

Potential IWP sites

EcoGeneration — July/August 2008

When farmers in Western Australia’s wheatbelt started using oil mallee trees to control salinity, they weren’t aware of the massive potential crops’ to provide an almost unlimited supply of clean electricity to the state.
At anticipated rates of establishment, there is potentially more energy to be derived from oil mallee biomass than the energy in the amount of coal currently used to supply a large proportion of the Western Australia’s energy needs.

Adrian Chegwidden, sustainable energy business development manager of Verve Energy, which adapted technology to generate electricity from the trees, says the mallee represented an almost unlimited supply of energy biomass. This is a situation almost unique to Western Australia, which may have a major impact on the state’s future energy mix.

Pilot plant study demonstrates substantial potential
In 2000, a feasibility study into the bioenergy potential of oil mallees was commissioned by the Oil Mallee Company (OMC) in conjunction with Western Power and Enecon. The study identified that all of the mallee biomass (wood and leaf) could successfully be utilised in a processing plant to deliver energy, activated charcoal and oil and also found that the process was likely to be financially viable.

Following the study, a 1 kilowatt (kW) Integrated Wood Processing (IWP) demonstration plant was completed in Narrogin in 2006. The pilot plant successfully demonstrated the capacity for renewable electricity generation, charcoaling and carbon activation technology. The technology, developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and adapted by Verve Energy, demonstrated that multiple-product processing systems appear viable.

Bright prospects for mallee bioenergy

Clean up Australia - doing our bit!

2011-12-15T08:42:00.003+11:00

It's not hard to find a poignant image illustrating the state of the environment or the threat of climate change. Even less so now as Photoshop plays an increasing role in how we view the world. But this image, created by WWF, struck a chord 20% of the world's global emissions are caused by deforestation. And you can't Photoshop real life.

Some might say that after decades of clearing land for agriculture that this whole scheme is a bit hypocritical but at least nowdays, our generation has realised the untold damage that over-clearing has caused to the environment and that there are now organisations and groups doing something about it!

Every year hundreds of thousands of Australians get stuck in and clean up their local environment by collecting and removing rubbish on one of the Clean Up Days. Learn about the variety of events we run under this banner. The next Clean Up Australia Day will be held on Sunday 4 March 2012.

As well as participating in the flagship Clean Up Australia Day event held on the first Sunday in March, Australians are being encouraged through our communities, schools and businesses to organise their own Clean Up Day events at any time of the year.

Mystery subject resolved

2011-12-15T07:56:00.000+11:00

Firstly, my apologies as I made it far too obscure. Must make the next one more simpler, however, congratulations to Cathyathome, a "Stay at home Mum" ina kibbutz in Israel who correctly guessed what the object was.
The subject is a wooden bridge - we have heaps of these in our rural area that cross creeks that are mostly dry creek beds until it rains - and they require a lot of maintenance. This is one in our region that created problems when a school bus's wheel literally dropped through a rotten plank in the middle section and on investigation the under-bridge was found to be seriously effected by dry rot.

It's a busy bridge and any detour is quite lengthy so it had to be fixed quickly as its use is high demand. Unfortunately the creek was a steep and narrow ravine.

Even in retirement my advice is still sometimes sought. I was consulted on how to do the job 'quickly' (normally a bridge crew of two or three men will takes week to repair this degree of damage, approaching the job in a 'piecemeal' fashion.) I was told I had a 'window' of three days over a weekend in which to plan for the job to be completed. Residents were advised beforehand and for the school buses it was a 'pupil-free day' for the local schools with high school students being granted a 'study day'. (LOL - a 'study day' for rural teenagers - like 'Yeahhhh'!)

The problem:

Bearer eroded with dry rot exposed.

My advice was to install scaffolding under the bridge to give the bridge carpenters a safe platform to work from, remove the bolt ties and then lift out the good road section complete using a mobile crane, expose the damaged area, repair it and then swing the undamaged section back into pace and lay a new deck to replace the damaged middle section.

Day 1, Friday- safety scaffolding is erected under the bridge and the damaged decking section removed.

The damaged bearers exposed after the decking was removed.

The section to be lifted out is that which the man in the yellow

top is standing on - the bearers ran under him to the 'header' piece

on the approach buttress.

Day 2, Saturday - the undamaged end deck is lifted out of the way to allow all dry rot timbers to be removed, new 'bobbles to be put in place (those funny little short pieces on top of the trestle the man in the orange shirt is standing on) and new bearers to be laid.

Day 3, Sunday - the good piece of decking is swung back into pace over the new bearers and new middle decking planking installed, scaffolding removed from underneath.

Monday morning - job completed and the bridge is ready for normal traffic.

Mystery subject

2011-12-11T12:34:00.001+11:00

A little game - the following two images are from a mystery object.

Rules:
One guess per post.

Clues

Its a structure
Its rural
Its in Australia
Its part of infrastructure
It involves a construction activity

Correct guess and I'll show you full images of the object and activity.