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Levelling-up the animals
Growing up in Australia has given me a healthy respect for dangerous wildlife. Sometimes it feels like every animal is trying to eat or poison you which is unsurprising given the country has more animals with deadly venom than anywhere else. I find it funny how the same animal in Scotland is relatively harmless. It’s […]
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The end is near!
Oh dear. The world really is conspiring against me. I woke this morning to the news that Boris Johnson has hired Tony Abbott as a Brexit trade advisor. This is grim news indeed. The only good thing to come out of the last Australian election was the news that Tony Abbott lost his seat in […]
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Climate change is like getting into debt
Climate change is like borrowing money and getting into debt. Consider this: you borrow a large sum of money and the interest rate goes up every year. You do not make any repayments on the loan and instead borrow more each year. Pretty soon the amount owing is huge and growing because a) the interest […]
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2019 Australia’s hottest and driest year
These graphs from the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology show how hot and dry Australia has become. Ironically, they were reported by an American newspaper – The New York Times. The only Australian news source to report the record-breaking heat and drought was The ABC. I cannot find another Australian report of it. Please […]
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When leadership fails
Australia is the hottest place on Earth right now. Bushfires are raging across the country destroying homes and habitats, smothering cities in smoke, and taking lives – two volunteer firefighters tragically died this week. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has been holidaying in Hawaii. Please remember this with @ScottMorrisonMP's name. Spread it far & wide whenever […]
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Hottest day ever for Australia
Australia recorded its hottest day EVER on Wednesday with a national average temperature of 40.9C. Paradoxically, the front page of The Australian newspaper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, ran a story on coal exports and another story attacking the people who are trying to tackle the problem of climate change. Instead, a British news […]
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Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it
I saw this great Tweet from Pedal Me a few days ago: Those who say it cannotbe done should not interrupt those who are doing it. 300kg of whisky being delivered 4.5 miles for @DistillinginE3 The future is coming. Get on board.https://t.co/ulp84Qi8mR pic.twitter.com/aQxnQuYJXi — Pedal Me (@pedalmeapp) October 26, 2019 I’m not sure where this […]
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Why isn’t Israel Folau selling his possessions to give to the poor?
An Australian football player lost his job with Rugby Australia recently because of comments he made on Instagram. Before I disclose what these comments were, it’s worth pointing out that an employer is free to dismiss employees who break their employment contract provided the contract is legal and I would be surprised if Rugby Australia’s […]
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Fibre to my door and another doggy
Gigabit fibre is currently being rolled out onto our street. I’ve been impressed with the speed and efficiency with which it has been installed. They did the pavement outside our house in less than a day – lifting paving slabs, digging, installing cable, then putting everything back again. They were all standing around when I […]
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Australia worst country for electric car charging points
I just watched an interesting program on Australia’s tardiness in addressing the climate emergency. It was published in April this year along with an article outlining Australia’s efforts. There’s positive stuff in it that I didn’t know, like the boom in renewable energy generation over the last year. But there’s also much that’s concerning and […]
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Faith-based leadership and a climate emergency
I was going to write a post about faith-based leadership when I came across this article – Faith without works: Why the Prime Minister’s call to pray for rain is offensive It was written by a Pastor and is very good. The author, Byron Smith, writes about a speech the Australian Prime Minister gave last […]
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Australia needs a new gig
January 2019 was Australia’s hottest January on record. March was its hottest March on record. February was its 5th hottest February. 2018 was its third hottest year on record. The temperature records are tumbling with no signs of abating and yet Australians yesterday voted for a party who want to build one of the largest […]
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Australianisms
A couple of months ago Elizabeth started watching Zumbo’s Just Desserts which is an Australian reality TV cooking show. She loved it. I was amused by all the questions I got after she’d watched an episode, “What’s a bickie?”, “What’s an iced vo-vo?”, “Is Arnotts a real company “, and even (gasp), “What does Aussie […]
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How to pick a lock
One of my talents, it seems, is picking locks. I must have inherited this from my convict great, great, great, great grandfather, Michael Burns, who was sent to Australia on the 14th April 1827 on the Marquis of Hastings. He was convicted of stealing jewellery and tried and sentenced in Manchester in 1826 at the […]
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Congratulations to Australia on same-sex marriage vote!
It’s not often that I read news coming out of Australia and feel proud to be Australian. Mostly, I cringe. But not this week. The results of the same-sex marriage vote were released a couple of days ago and it’s a 61.6% majority vote for YES. Yay, Australia! What does this mean now? Unfortunately it […]
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Pumpkin and the Dog’s Bollocks
Suppose there’s a planet called Dog’s Bollocks and the aliens on Dog’s Bollocks have been using something called pumpkin for all their energy needs. But pumpkin has several problems. One: it’s running out. There’s a limited supply of it and eventually there’ll be none left. Two: it produces pollution which when inhaled can cause asthma in young aliens and reduces […]
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The Man from Snowy River: a film, a poem, and piano music
We watched another 1980s classic film today, The Man From Snowy River. This is an Australian film made in 1982 and based on a poem by Banjo Paterson. It’s an Australian classic which I can remember watching as a child. All Australians are familiar with Paterson’s poem and anyone who has had piano lessons in […]
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Rugby
Newsflash: I watched the rugby! Well, some of it anyway. I don’t usually take any notice of these high-profile sporting events but my mum and step-father (Doug) arrived yesterday and I discovered that New Zealand were playing Australia in the final of the world cup. Ben decided not to tell me about this (he says he […]
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An Australian family history
Inspired by AndThen’s recent post about his family history, I thought I’d write a bit about my own. My family history is quite colourful. My great-great-great-great-grandfather was some kind of representative for Germany in a trade dispute in Cape Town, South Africa. His name was Maximilian Thalwitzer and he was born in Germany but later emigrated to Cape Town. The […]
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