Australia does it again!

Off-Topic Off Topic
#61

Hermann, this poor little island is not much smaller than the continental USA, which is why we have such diverse weather. And believe it or not we have experienced snow in the middle of summer in the past:shock:

RS has spoken at length about bushfires in this thread, but the floods here in New South Wales have been triggered by rather freakish conditions (but esperienced before). This all started over 3 weeks ago when a small depression born in the Timor Sea tracked through the top end, over Darwin then southwest, rapidly developing into a category 5 cyclone. Continuing this course Cyclone Laurence hammered the Pilbara before becoming a huge monsoonal rain system which tracked eastward over the continent.

Having reached the eastern states this system combined with moist warm air streaming in from the tropical north dumping as much as 20" of rain in some places. Drought effected areas like Bourke, Coonamble haven’t seen much rain in over ten years so the run off was incredible.

To put Cyclone laurence in context, it was a more powerful tropical storm than Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately it’s full force hit sparsely populated areas.

Digger:)

#62

I can’t believe that the school system in Australia is so blunt! I personally like the last sentence in this answering message. These Australians are Crazy!!!Thank god I didn’t go to that school in Australia!!

http://www.greenockmorton.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=26314
Maroochydore High School Queensland

Some people were offended!

This is the message that the Maroochydore High School, Queensland, staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine .

This is the actual answering machine message for the school.

This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework.

The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children’s failing grades changed to passing grades - even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.

The outgoing message:

Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all the options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1

To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2

To complain about what we do - Press 3

To swear at staff members - Press 4

To ask why you didn’t get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and
several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7

To request another teacher, for the third time this year - Press 8

To complain about bus transportation - Press 9

To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behaviour, class work, homework and that it’s not the teachers’ fault for your child’s lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!

If you want this in another language, move to a country that speaks it.

#63

As usual, another Great story from Australia. God Bless these Australian boys!

Boys, 8, save drowning man
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/01/12/12431746.html
ADELAIDE, Australia — Two 8-year-old boys in a young lifeguards training program rescued a man who was struggling in the ocean off Australia’s east coast.
Jake Satherley told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that he and friend Spencer Jeams saw a middle-aged man having trouble Sunday off Northcliffe beach, in Queensland state.
“We saw him put his hand up and saying, ‘help, help,’ so we went over to him and pulled him on our board,” Satherley said Monday.
The boys are part of the under-14 lifeguard training program at Northcliffe Life Saving Club.
Club president David Shields said he’d never seen a rescue like it.
“They really did perform well above their years,” he told ABC. “We’re just so proud of them and the way they acted instinctively.”
Nearly 50,000 Australian children ages 5 to 13 are enrolled in junior life saving programs, according to Surf Life Saving Australia.

#64

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/760478--

Shame Shame Australia!~~~

Men at Work plagiarized Girl Guides song, court rules

SYDNEY—Australian band Men at Work copied a well-known children’s campfire song for the flute melody in its 1980s hit “Down Under” and owes the owner years of royalties, a court ruled Thursday.
“Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree” was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition, and the song has been a favourite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.
The teacher died in 1988, and publishing company Larrikin Music owns the copyright to her song about the native Australian bird. Larrikin filed the copyright lawsuit last year.
“I have come to the view that the flute riff in ‘Down Under’ … infringes on the copyright of Kookaburra because it replicates in material form a substantial part of Ms. Sinclair’s 1935 work,” Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson said.
He ordered the parties back in court Feb. 25 to discuss the compensation Larrikin should receive from songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert and Men at Work’s record companies, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Songs Australia.
Adam Simpson, Larrikin Music’s lawyer, said outside court the company might seek up to 60 per cent of the royalties “Down Under” earned since its release — an amount that could total millions.
The songwriters and their recording companies did not immediately comment.
“Down Under” and the album Business As Usual topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

#65

Jeepers…brilliant song though!

#66

Based on this decision any songwriter today or in recent years will have their arses sued off.

Crap decision.:evil:

digger

#67

Our inglorious Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended his nephews right to protest over incidents involving Indian students. These actions may further inflame tensions between Australia and India over a series of attacks against Indian students.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1008522/rudd-defends-nephews-right-to-protest

digger

#68

When I read this in the morning, I thought of RS and how he must be doing. I hope he is ok. We are praying for you RS. Pls Heal Pls Heal!! I hope you are ok!!!

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/04/20/13649301.html
PERTH, Australia — A powerful earthquake struck Australia’s major gold-mining region in the west Tuesday, collapsing roofs of several buildings and prompting the evacuation of mines, schools and hospitals.
Two people were treated for minor injuries, including a teenage girl who was hit by falling rubble, news reports and police said.
The magnitude 5 quake hit at 8:17 a.m. local time (0017 GMT, 11:17 p.m. Monday EDT) about six miles (10 kilometres) southwest of the town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, according to Geoscience Australia.
The region is used to much lower-level rumbling from massive explosions at the nearby Kalgoorlie Gold Mine, Australia’s largest open-pit mine where blasting is regularly used to deepen the more than 2-mile long, 1-mile wide (3.5 kilometre-long, 1.5-kilometre wide) hole.
More than 50 mines operate in Kalgoorlie, 370 miles (595 kilometres) east of the Western Australia state capital of Perth. The Super Pit, as it is known, was among several mines closed as a precaution after Tuesday’s quake. It produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold every year.
All mines were evacuated and all miners accounted for, said Paul Howes of the Australian Workers Union.
“We know now that at the open cut mine there has been some significant rockfalls, and we expect similar problems in the underground mines,” Howes said. “This incident is a huge reminder of the inherent dangers in our industry.”
The area was founded on gold fields in 1893.
In Kalgoorlie-Boulder, roofs fell in hospitals and other buildings, and balconies fell off some hotels.
Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett said the quake had caused some structural damage to schools, which sent students home until safety checks could be carried out.
Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen said the quake was fairly shallow and would have been felt several hundred kilometres (miles) away.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit the region in 50 years, Geoscience Australia said.

#69

Didn’t affect me.

I’m on the other side of the island.

I am reliably informed by someone with a direct line to God that the earthquake was caused by sluts.

Iranian cleric: Promiscuous Women Cause Earthquakes

Beirut. A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Iran is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric’s unusual explanation for why the earth shakes follows a prediction by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit Tehran and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate.

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which [consequently] increases earthquakes,’’ Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/iranian-cleric-promiscuous-women-cause-earthquakes/370445

Promiscuity, to put it mildly, has been at the core of Kalgoorlie pretty much since it was founded http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s56844.htm and it continues today http://www.theredhouse.com.au/services.html

They’re lucky they weren’t wiped off the map.

#70

I thought it was all caused by the Australian habit of using absurdly thick motor oils such as 25W-70! (You can’t even get that off the shelf in the states). I’m pretty sure this makes God as angry as the sex industry because it lowers fuel economy and doesn’t flow as well in cold months…

#71

Dunno where you got that idea from.

We lubricate our cars with beer in one of three grades: Light (ladies’ and poofters’ cars, which - the cars, not the ladies or poofters - mostly come from Korea. Or France.). Mid-Strength (much the same, but slightly bigger engine capacity, and additional models from Italy, the UK, and current American production). Heavy (Ford and GM local production here with proper rear wheel drive, manual gearboxes, and torque to twist your colon out of your arsehole at idle. Also proper American cars like mid-60s Mustang, 70’s Pontiac GTO / Firebird, Camaro.)

The beer is able to lubricate these cars because first it subjected to a scientifically rigorous process of refinement into a motor lubricant, which quite conveniently happens to be done by filtering it through our kidneys where it amalgamates with the fat from pizza, fish and chips, hamburgers and so on. Unlike automatic transmissions not so long ago, no whales are killed in this process. Although we do lose a few fat Aussies, but there’s plenty more where they came from.

Anyway, 25W-70 isn’t thick oil.

I still have a few litres of Castrol STH 140 which is 140 SAE from when I was playing with British Seagull outboards. http://www.britishseagullparts.com/gear-oil.htm

Well, my fuel doesn’t flow as well in the cold months either, but that’s because at my age the cold affects my injector. :smiley:

#72

:lol: Well, in America, we have what is referred too by silly beer snobs like me as “Adjuct American Lagers” which translates roughly as “shit” in just about every other language. Of course I’m drinking one of these flavor-lacking gruel beers now (Pabst Blue Ribbon, which won a blue ribbon in the shittiest beer contest–jk—it actually isn’t that bad and is better than the big four brewers’ offerings of Anheuser Busch, Miller, Michelob, and Coors). However, these thin and flavorless beers can make for some decent thin and tasty motor oils that go into North American engines in the weights of 5W-20 and 5W-30. The thoughts of using such light oils tends to give most Australians cardiac arrest, shingles, and especially brain hemorrhages.

And I only learned that they used to make ATF using whale oils a couple of years back. I think some additives and even some synthetic oils use animal fat based content to derive esters (expensive, Group V class synthetics used originally in military jet applications) though…

Anyway, 25W-70 isn’t thick oil.

I still have a few litres of Castrol STH 140 which is 140 SAE from when I was playing with British Seagull outboards. http://www.britishseagullparts.com/gear-oil.htm

The thickest weight of oil generally available on a store shelf here is 20W-50, and ever that’s getting going the way of the dinos that made the oil in the first place…I don’t think I would put an SAE140 in my engine mate. :smiley:

Well, my fuel doesn’t flow as well in the cold months either, but that’s because at my age the cold affects my injector. :smiley:

Some Chevron Techron will might clear that problem up…

#73

Then America is indeed in trouble, we now have 0w-30 oil. (matches the sliminess of a D.C. politician.) I still use good old grade 60 in my bikes, 70 if its a hot summer. The average modern cashmere&goldcard RUB uses 20-50. (Or rather he calls the motor club to use it for him) :slight_smile:

#74

Careful. Comparing synthetic oils to bribe-takers will make some oil-enthusiasts hurl pitchforks and torches at you for saying that! :smiley:

Actually, believe it or not, some of the synthetic 0W-30s are not only quite good, but actually THICKER at temperature than most 5W-30s or 10W-30s. Mobil1 makes a pretty good one. But some oil-nuts and people who own Euro cars think of “German Castrol” SYNTEC 0W-30 to be the holiest of the holy as it’s actually pretty thick at operating temperature and is made up of some pretty stout synthetic base oils of various types. I’m pretty sure it’s close to Castrol Edge 0W-30 sold in Europe and Asia. AMSOIL’s also looks pretty good. Because, to even make a 0W oil, you have to use some really top notch synthetic base oils…

But yeah, these ain’t for your bike…

#75

RS, I hope this was not anybody you know!!!

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/05/11/13905271.html
SYDNEY (AP) — Dramatic video footage has emerged of a father saving his infant son by clutching steadfastly to him as a car strikes the man.
The traffic accident happened in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith in 2008 and was broadcast for the first time Monday on Australia’s Nine Network.
The security camera footage shows a car plowing into Andrew Leitch as he held his son Hayden on a sidewalk near a shop front. Leitch’s parents, standing nearby, were hit, and the baby’s empty stroller was knocked flying.
Leach held the baby to his chest as he was pushed into the shop window and had his legs pinned by the car, which Nine said was driven by an elderly woman who had lost control of the vehicle.
As the car bore down, Leitch said he thought “if they hit the back of me, break a leg or whatever, that’s fixable. But if they hit my son, he’s not fixable.”
Leitch told the program his son was unhurt.
Leitch himself was shown climbing out from between the car and the shop front and was not badly hurt. Both his parents were hospitalized with injuries, but survived, Nine reported.

#76

It’s starting to become a habit here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1281495/Baby-hit-train-Australia-SURVIVES.html

Dunno if we have adventurous babies; careless carers; or if we’re just embarking on the Spartan approach of survival of the fittest.

#77

Chose this thread as it is Australia oriented.

Intrigued that a gneral election has been called. Not in the know as to the situation.

Is this a case of the new-ish PM seeking legitamacy?

#78

It’s a first term government in trouble hoping that the honeymoon period with a new leader will get them over the line, which appears increasingly in doubt due to some idiotic mistakes by the new PM and makes it more likely that the conservative party led by the mad monk will get in, with the possibility of a minor party (Greens) holding the balance of power in the upper house.