Australia

[LaurieAG]

yep

what do you want me to do?

 

Hi Michaelangelica,

 

This isn't really about taxes (even though you do have a good point, particularly when you consider that you get less mileage from ethanol/ULP mixes) but about how our regulatory system is incapable of even identifying these kinds of fraudulent abuses and how the general public could be used to point our underfunded regulators in the right direction with regards to service stations deceptively providing less than what they advertise.

 

The detection method is simple, fill your tank, set your trip meter and when you get much less mileage for the same amount of driving (say at half a tank) contact the authorities with the service station, date of filling, your calculated mileage deficiency and the extrapolated ethanol content.

 

The authorities should then sample and assay all the different types of petrol sold by the service station and penalise every fraudulent batch sample.

 

For this we need contact numbers for the ACCC petrol price monitoring division, although this should be extended into a new ACCC petrol assaying section. If there are no numbers or sections responsible for identifying what actually is being sold as ULP in Australia, as opposed to the current price monitoring being undertaken, then there needs to be lobbying to get these functions put in place by our government(s). The best way to fund the operation of the assay section would be through the fines on service station franchisees whose ULP doesn't come up to scratch and secondary fines for oil companies whose operators continually rip off the public.

 

The following thread covers ethanol mileage equivalents.

 

http://hypography.com/forums/engineering-applied-science/12709-ethanol-ulp-mixes-mileage-equivalence.html

 

Thanks Michaelangelica.

[Michaelangelica]

Gold

posuibly something to be investing in these days.

Pouring a bar of gold. 15 Jan 2008. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

A long time between drinks.

 

 

Local crop farmer Rod Peterson said, "in general the rain has really been great with the last time we have seen rain like this was 1996 when the last flood came through."

. . .

Mr Grayson says, "according to the older generation, they used to refer to 1892 as the big flood; and the way we are looking this month, we could nearly top it."

 

State governments warned over ethanol

 

Friday, 18/01/2008

 

The nation's peak science agency is warning state governments against introducing ethanol mandates in fuel.

 

In New South Wales petrol now has to contain at least two per cent ethanol, increasing to 10 per cent in 2011.

 

Queensland and Victoria look set to follow.

 

But David Lamb, from the CSIRO, says there is plenty of international evidence to show Australia should not introduce any more mandates.

 

"Those incentives have encouraged American industry to invest very heavily in making ethanol and we've seen not necessarily very pleasant consequences from that," he says.

 

"For example, the food shortage in Mexico, the doubling of the price of tortillas was one of the causes".

State governments warned over ethanol - 18/01/2008

But it is made from sugar cane you twits!

 

Australia leads in economic freedom

 

Friday, 18/01/2008

 

Australia continues to lead the world as one of its freest economies, but has come under fire for its agricultural trade barriers

.

Australia leads in economic freedom - 18/01/2008

Because customs is paranoid about bugs.

 

My favourite wine growing area

Rutherglen wine grape harvest underway

 

Posted 5 hours 9 minutes ago

 

* Map: Rutherglen 3685

 

The wine grape harvest in Rutherglen, in north-east Victoria, has begun and the quality of the fruit is good.

 

Last year's vintage was affected by the drought, warm weather and smoke from the bushfires.

 

Mandy Jones from the Winemakers of Rutherglen Group says the hot weather has brought forward picking by about a fortnight.

Rutherglen Muscats and Ports, it just dosn't get any better.

[freeztar]

Victorians would do well to stop by for this presentation.

 

Wimmera CMA - World Wetlands Day 2008

[Michaelangelica]

Playing Golf in Australia

 

While personally I think golf is the ruination of a nice walk, these two Golf courses are special

Desert golf gives new meaning to hitting out of the sand

Jessica Marszalek | January 15, 2008 - 11:05AM

 

Golf fanatics will soon be able to become members of the world's longest course - on Australia's iconic Nullarbor Plain.

 

Nullarbor Links is an 18-hole golf course spanning 1,365km and crossing two states of the Australian outback.

 

Beginning at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, holes - complete with tee, rugged outback fairway and a green - will be placed at various towns and one working sheep station along the Eyre Highway to Ceduna in South Australia.

Desert golf gives new meaning to hitting out of the sand - Queensland

They have been discoving some wonderful water filled caves under the Nullarbor Plain, full of ancient animal bones.people in the know scuba dive there (usually you have to know someone at a Uni doing research)

 

Coober Pedy this town has always had a strange fascination for me. I think it comes from designing underground hideouts as a kid and Phantom comics.(He had the coolest cave!)

Film makers have long used the place to portray a nuclear strike zone.

.. .

WAY OUT IN AUSTRALIA'S OUTBACK, where the lakes are salty and the beer is warm, men with big arms and funny hats cook kangaroo and crocodile.

River races are run in bottomless boats by louts scurrying Flintstone-style over dry bedrock.

 

One can easily grow jaded on the outback oddities, until arriving with a jolt in Coober Pedy, the underground town.

 

Marlon Hodges, of Alice Springs, recalls passing through a decade ago. "It was right after they filmed the second Mad Max there. We stepped off the bus, and everyone in town had a huge mohawk. It was bizarre, all these ten feet tall, mean-looking guys covered in tattoos."

 

The hair has grown back, but Coober Pedy remains weird as ever. The town of tunnels, where reclusive residents live in caves, has been seen in many movies. Besides "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," Coober Pedy’s credits include Wim Wenders’ "Until the End of the World."

Perhaps most noteworthy is "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," not for winning an Oscar, but because it’s the first film to portray Coober Pedy as anything other than a nuclear strike zone.

CooberPedy - underground in Australia

 

The Golf Course. which has reciprocal playing rights with the famous "Home of Golf" Club In Scotland- what is it called?

With 5" of rain, some years, there is not much grass.

People often play at night with glow-in -the dark balls

Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club (Coober Pedy, South Australia, Australia) - GOLFSelect Australian golf course database

[Michaelangelica]

How do you tell if you are a true Aussie?

How do you tell if you are a true Aussie? - Richard Glover - Opinion

How do you tell if you are a true Aussie? - Richard Glover - Opinion

Very funny, Richard Glover at his best.

a sample

5. You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden.

[DougF]

Well I'm not from Australia, and line 43 applies to me.

although I would like to here what the translation would be. :hihi:

 

 

43. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians' date=' here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.

 

Happy Australia Day. [/quote']

[Michaelangelica]

Mythical crocodile a true family friend

By Sara Hicks

 

Monday, 28/01/2008

 

Interview by Phil Staley

 

 

There's a legend of a Proserpine farmer who regularly walked his estuarine crocodile, Charlene, on a leash down the main street and to the pub. A story you hear told, if you're lucky, by people who've seen the comings and goings of a small country town.

 

Many say they know the man himself; old Alf and his charming crocodile. So Rural Reporter, Phil Staley, went on a mission to find the Casey family and their dangerous friend. On the edge of town, at the Casey's cane farm, Phil found Alf's son, John, along with a long-toothed lady named Charlene.

 

With a chuckle, John tells Phil; "The story's true blue. Well most of it is," he says. "I've never seen her on a leash. Dad never did that. He just sort of walked her down the street by herself."

"She's been in just about every pub from Rocky to Cairns. Dad brought her up, handling her all the time and she became quiet. When we went on holidays we just threw her in the car with us and away we went."

Mythical crocodile a true family friend. 28 Jan 2008. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[freeztar]

Hmmm...and he seems to be missing a hand...coincidence?

[Michaelangelica]

Hmmm...and he seems to be missing a hand...coincidence? :doh:

LOL

Well spotted

 

He ran out of pet food?

The croc. needed a hand?

The croc. IS handy?

He put his hand in a 'safe place' and now. .?. ?

The croc was mostly 'harmless?

[freeztar]

He ran out of pet food?

The croc. needed a hand?

The croc. IS handy?

He put his hand in a 'safe place' and now. .?. ?

 

:doh:

 

A hand is nothing when it comes to loved ones?

Croc dentistry is tricky business?

The perils of fighting over a fish?

:steering:

 

Not that I mean to laugh at the fact that they guy doesn't have a hand, because that would definitely suck, but in this context the humor doesn't take the piss out of it.

 

Speaking of which, I was watching the excellent Tarantino film "Death Proof" the other day and the Kiwi girl in the movie kept saying that phrase: "Don't take the piss out of it" or "we're not trying to take the piss out of you".

 

Is this an Aussie saying as well? Where did it come from?

Or do I even want to know? :weather_rain:

[LaurieAG]

Speaking of which, I was watching the excellent Tarantino film "Death Proof" the other day and the Kiwi girl in the movie kept saying that phrase: "Don't take the piss out of it" or "we're not trying to take the piss out of you".

 

Is this an Aussie saying as well? Where did it come from?

Or do I even want to know? :)

 

Hi Freeztar,

 

It probably is an old ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) saying that means 'spinning someone a line' or 'winding them up' i.e. telling a trusting person a whole pile of bullshit and then laughing at the (forseeable) consequences (for those in on the joke at least).

 

So it's a bit of a practical joke, like asking an apprentice to go to the store to get a 'left handed screwdriver' etc.

[Jay-qu]

I made a brief trip to Sydney on the weekend - first time I have been (and left the airport). Some parts were really impressive, typically circular quay with its fantastic views. The coat hanger looks a lot larger than I imagined it was - same with the opera house.

 

Quick question - Over in darling harbour there is a ship called the endevour, its not the endevour is it? we were thinking it must have been a replica.

 

I had a great time and its a beautiful place, but I still rather living in Melbourne - its just that little bit nicer and quieter :)

[LaurieAG]

Quick question - Over in darling harbour there is a ship called the endevour, its not the endevour is it? we were thinking it must have been a replica.

 

Hi Jay-qu,

 

It is a replica and it's possible they may have found the original.

 

Wreck may be Endeavour - theage.com.au

[Jay-qu]

Yeah I went and did some reading on this, the wiki article is quite good. It says that the ship was sold and renamed 'Lord Sandwich' (?) which was used for a few years and then eventually ended up a transport ship, sending people to the US. It was then used as a prison ship there and was eventually sunk to form a blockade of Newport, Rhode Island.

 

That article is nealy 6 years old now, I wonder if there is any further developments. Im trying to track down a Reuters article published in '06 that is supposed to have more info

[Michaelangelica]

Apologies

some well-meaning social workers last generation decided it would be a good thing to take Aboriginal kids away from their parents living in the outback/bush and put them in institutions or make them work as house slaves to make proper people out of them.

Well the institutions were abusive disaster and aboriginal parents were left bereft as "family' is a very big thing with aboriginal people. It is much more supportive and extended that Anglo family links.

 

Well everyone agrees (except a few 'Liberal' politicians) now this was not one of the nations best ideas. Aboriginal people have asked for a simple apology. The last Liberal government said "No- it wasn't our fault"

Rudd intends to make an apology on the first day of parliament next week

 

Apparently there might be a few other Australians apologising too ?:steering:

Who's sorry now? Some other apologies | The Australian

 

Who's sorry now? Some other apologies

 

THE WRY SIDE: Louise Evans | February 05, 2008

 

KEVIN Rudd's decision to say sorry to the Stolen Generations has pricked the conscience of the nation, unleashing a flood of apologies from the most unlikely sources.

. . .

State governments around Australia want to collectively apologise for failing to invest in infrastructure, for turning hospitals into Third World waiting rooms, for turning road systems into car parks, for producing students who need spell check and a calculator to write a shopping list and for selling off public assets to fund their re-elections. They've promised to sell any remaining public assets to Macquarie Bank to manage, abolish irrelevant state governments and live in superannuated bliss.

 

The Chaser team wants to apologise to Osama bin Laden for masquerading as the world's No1 most wanted to severely embarrass the former Howard government by breaking through multiple layers of APEC security. Given their time over again they wouldn't have stopped outside George W. Bush's hotel. They would have stormed Bush's suite, taken the butcher of world freedom hostage and paraded him on the Opera House stairs wearing orange overalls and a hood.

Who's sorry now? Some other apologies | The Australian

[Jay-qu]

So the first partial eclipse of my lifetime (I think) viewable from my house and its cloudy :steering:

[Michaelangelica]

So the first partial eclipse of my lifetime (I think) viewable from my house and its cloudy :hihi:

No rain for ten years and today, it rains

Perverse bloody climate!

 

A terra preta sort of article

Carbon cocky at Braidwood. 05 Feb 2008. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Carbon cocky at Braidwood

 

By Sarina Locke

 

Tuesday, 05/02/2008

 

It Braidwood farmer Martin Royds has embraced progressive farming techniques and been rewarded for them. Not only does he have long native grasses, fat cattle and water in the soil, he's also received the "Carbon Cocky award for East of the Divide".

 

He and Trish Solomon are using holistic management, biological farming, biodynamics, natural sequence farming and Landcare.

 

Holistic management means caring for the soil, by managing the grazing and moving the stock into and off the pasture in short bursts of a few days at a time.

 

Natural Sequence farming is a technique developed by Hunter Valley horse breeder Peter Andrews, as outlined in his book "Back from the Brink". One of the goals is to slow the movement of water in the landscape through a system of leaky weirs, to rehydrate the soils.

 

Martin Royds says the various methods have worked for their farm "Jillamatong" out of Braidwood in southern NSW.

 

Boggy meadows that had been drained and severely eroded have been repaired, by managing the cattle grazing, to not allow them in the whole time. Also by creating leaky weirs to temporarily hold water in chains of ponds, and that sends water back into the soil profile up the slopes on his farm.

 

The Catchment Management Authorities have given the awards to recognise farmers who are sequestering carbon into the soil.

 

Mr Royds quotes figures that with "1 per cent of carbon per square metres of soil, you can hold 8 litres more water, and the soil here used to be 3 per cent carbon and we've got it down to 1.2 per cent. So if we can get it back up 2 more per cent I can hold 16 litres per square metre of water, which then allows the grasses to grow longer into the season and it's a positive cycle," he says.

 

Nurturing native grass pastures

 

 

Walking through the long grass on the paddocks, to the bellowing of cattle you get a great impression of how well the management is working. Martin Royds and Trish Solomon nurture the useful native grasses, like microlena with 20 per cent protein level, danthonia and kangaroo grass. But when it comes to unwanted grass like a rats tail fescue, they put the cattle in just before it seeds to knock it down, so it doesn't set seed for next year.

 

Harvesting native seeds is a challenge. It's very prickly work, especially once you've got the seeds from kangaroo grass and microlena in the sheds.

 

Amazingly, the kangaroo grass produces 3 seeds in the one seed florette that don't all germinate in the one year, but in successive years.

 

Trish Solomon says once you've done the prickly work of taking the tail off the seed, you could get $600 a kilogram from kangaroo grass seed.

 

During the drought, they destocked the farm. This radical step helped them protect the grass over all of the soil. When the rains fell in winter 2007, they bought back cattle for fattening.

Carbon cocky at Braidwood. 05 Feb 2008. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

These native blue devils are an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, on Jillamatong near Braidwood. (Sarina Locke)

 

Native flower on Jillamatong near Braidwood | Photographer: | Sarina Locke

It looks more like an Ipomenia than a native- but who am I to argue.