|
Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today. |
3rd August 2009, 07:29 PM | #401 |
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
|
|
4th August 2009, 12:27 AM | #402 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
You're onto it.
Don't forget the Gungans from the United States of Naboo. There's a colony of large-footed Wookies living in the PNW region of Naboo as well, according to some. |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
8th August 2009, 02:54 AM | #403 |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 648
|
War and strife goes with our nation and seems our way of life. It does show the determined people who won't give in. Unfortunely the strong get killed,lucky the woman carry on the genes. One of the somber places is the Adlaide River cementry( we spoke of these things before and it's one place where I grit my teeth) Haunted lonely waste of young lives. Anyway our pharoah "Dave" has done a terrific job of inserting pictures and facts of many things that I hope other readers find interesting. If he hasn't run out of steam we have barely touched on the wonders of this great southern land. All the strange caves across the west and a beauty north of the Three Ways, our soldiers sheltered from the heat plus had a shot or two at those (hang on tights) the name eludes me? those pointy things that grow down from a cave ceiling. The tour guide goes ahead to chase the snakes because they like the mild conditions in the cave.
|
13th August 2009, 01:42 AM | #404 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
Golly, 10 000 views of this stuff. Has TV gone off the air or something?
I believe some input is required from us blokes as well. I'm a bit hazy on the details. You know, I was sure I'd done a post about the Adelaide River Cemetery, but I'm buggered if I can find it so I'll do another one. I have to agree with you about the feel of the place. I'm glad I don't believe in ghosts, because it's full of them. The Adelaide River War Cemetery ©Snockley @ Panoramio The Adelaide River War Cemetery and the adjacent Adelaide River Wartime Civilian Cemetery are situated about 1 km (1 000 yd) from the Stuart Highway and 100 m (110 yd) from the Adelaide River in the town of Adelaide River, approximately 100 km (60 mi) south of Darwin, NT.
Quote:
Quote:
The adjacent Adelaide River Civilian Wartime Cemetery is the resting-place for some of the civilians killed as a result of enemy attacks on Australia, including those killed when the Darwin Post Office was bombed, as mentioned below. ©Craig Hamilton @ Picasa On 19 February 1942, 188 Japanese planes were launched against Darwin, whose harbour was full of Allied ships. This was the first time since European settlement that mainland Australia had been attacked by a foreign enemy. It was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941, and followed a reconnaissance flight on 10 February 1942. On that day there were 27 Allied ships in the harbour and approximately 30 aircraft at the Darwin Civil and RAAF airfields. The first attack lasted approximately forty minutes. The land targets included the Post Office, Telegraph Office, Cable Office and the Postmaster's Residence, where postal workers were killed. The second attack began an hour after the first ended. Heavy bombers attacked the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Parap and lasted about 25 minutes From the first raid on 19 February 1942 until the last on 12 November 1943, Australia and its allies lost about 900 people, 77 aircraft and several ships. Many military and civilian facilities were destroyed. The Japanese lost about 131 aircraft in total during the attacks. Although these first two raids were the largest, the Japanese were to undertake many more raids on Darwin and other northern Australian towns over the next 20 months. Two weeks after the Darwin bombing, on 3 March 1942, the Western Australian town of Broome suffered Australia's second-worst air raid. The attack killed seventy people and injured another forty, as well as eight large aircraft and 16 flying boats, 24 aircraft in total. Lest we forget |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
13th August 2009, 11:28 AM | #405 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
|
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
13th August 2009, 12:26 PM | #406 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
Touché, lovely lady. Learning is why I'm here, and I love it when I can give some back. Would you like some more of this subject? Hawaii and Australia have some things in common with regard to WWII that you may find interesting. Cheers, Dave |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
13th August 2009, 08:21 PM | #407 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,212
|
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
13th August 2009, 11:55 PM | #408 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
|
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
14th August 2009, 12:00 AM | #409 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
On the subject of cemeteries (but a slight derail from Australia), the saddest graves I saw were along the Natchez Trace in Mississippi, where there was what appeared to be a group of children buried. Four or five little headstones, carved from wood, with the names of what appeared to be the children of an entire family. Their dates of birth, and dates of death within four or five days. None of them were more than nine or 10 years old when they died.
My heart broke for that family. A hundred or so years on, but it still was very sad... Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming. |
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
14th August 2009, 12:02 AM | #410 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
|
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
14th August 2009, 03:51 AM | #411 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
That is indeed sad. Thank you very much for that. See! I told you that you'd have something interesting for us. Fear not! I'll just flog a couple of scribes into action and get something posted here about it. As it happens, not long ago they found one of the submarines, just up the coast a bit from Sydney. Stay tuned! |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
15th August 2009, 01:09 PM | #412 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
Thanks, but it's not about Australia...
On the other hand, cemeteries are among my favorite places in the world, especially old ones. The new ones are too modern, and too orderly, almost sterile; the old ones feel more real somehow. (With the exception of the war cemeteries. They're altogether too real.) I always imagine the stories of the lives told by the headstones. Sometimes they're sad, sometimes they're indicative of lives lived well loved and long. |
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
15th August 2009, 02:00 PM | #413 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
I know exactly what you mean.
Myself and a lot of other people have picked up a lot of history fom visiting old cemeteries throughout Australia. Here's a note about the oldest European grave that I've visited in Australia. It is the very first one that ever there was. Kurnell
Quote:
Sutherland is where I grew up. Do you have anything similar in Hawaii? Comparing the histories of our two countries is quite a valid subject for this thread, you know. |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
15th August 2009, 06:34 PM | #414 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
I'd have to give it some thought. We probably do, but I don't really know of anything off the top of my head...
On the other hand, I can tell a little story. (Like Old Bob's stories, it's anecdotal, so I don't know how true it is.) Note the bars over the graves in the picture. I asked a local guy who was about my age what they were for. He said that during a specific season, people would place offerings of food on the bars for the ancestors. The local kids (himself included) would take the food right after it was placed, and everybody was happy: he'd get a snack, whoever placed the food felt that the offerings were accepted, the ancestors were honored. I just like the fact that this particular cemetery has a gorgeous view... |
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
16th August 2009, 03:41 PM | #415 |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 648
|
It's great to see BigSis enjoying the thread and Daves outstanding pictures. Has anyone noticed how blue southern photo's are? Australia has a haze of eucalyptus oil that puts a blue tinge on background. Also we have a dip in the atomsphere that lets in more UV, not so on northern photo's. Kodak made a differant film for Australia and had (or still have?) a small secret nuke reactor in Australia. We may get our own Hawaii in the future as we have a hot spot forming in Bass Strait(Tasmania) Now a bit of mystic stuff, has any one seen the odd lights that appear to run up the face of Mt Buffalo? (N.E.Victoria)
|
17th August 2009, 06:39 AM | #416 |
Featherless biped
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Aporia
Posts: 26,431
|
Further to the link with Hawaii is fact that the carrier group that launched the attacks on Darwin was made up of the Akagi, Kaga Soryu and Hiryu – all of which participated in the Pearl Harbour raid. This is true of at least the first attacks on Darwin Harbour. There were a total of 64 raids on Darwin and its environs, including Adelaide River and various airfield fields. This is according to “Darwin’s Air War” which is an NT Aviation Historical Society publication I picked up from their great museum in Darwin. The centre piece of the museum is USAF B-52 – once at least a frequent visitor to Darwin.
I spent a lot of fun times as a kid camping around those northern airfields on Society expeditions to locate and recover various aircraft and parts. Unfortunately some of the old planes, including Spitfires, were bulldozed into pits and buried after the war – something to do with war loans and Australia not really owning them as I remember. We shouldn’t forget our Dutch friends in all this and the contributions of the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, who had a squadron of B-25 Mitchells based at the Batchelor strip (Gould) near Adelaide River. http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/nei-af.htm Old Bob, you are right about Aussie skies – one of the first things I noticed over here was the lack of blue skies down to the horizon. |
17th August 2009, 06:59 AM | #417 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,212
|
This is actually true. The ozone layer is apparently thinner in the southern hemisphere. And it's worse the further south you get, and affected by climate.
I spend a day sunbathing in Fiji a few years ago (2006) without sunscreen. I got a slight sunburn. If I'd done that in Batemans Bay in the summer (when there's comparable temperature) I would have been severely burned. This is an anecdote and should be treated as such. |
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
18th August 2009, 08:04 AM | #418 |
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
|
Oh I concur entirely - Here in Kansas, people will sunbathe in 100F heat all day, crisp up a little, but otherwise be fine. 20 minutes on a beach in Sydney gets the same result
It is curious with the thinning of the ozone layer, QLD gets more affected than the other states, were as you would think going south would be worse Victoria Tassie etc |
18th August 2009, 08:08 AM | #419 |
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
|
|
18th August 2009, 08:34 AM | #420 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
|
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
18th August 2009, 09:03 AM | #421 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
This reminds me very much of cemeteries I've seen around Australia's former (and current) goldfields, particularly around Ballarat and Bendigo. Many, many Chinese workers were employed on the goldfields and the cemeteries they constructed contain monuments similar to the one in your picture. The food offerings to ancestors were also similar to your description, although I can't attest to the "foraging" As far as I know, this practice continues today, even in some of the very oldest Chinese cemeteries. I guess ancestors don't age very much. Here's a picture of a Chinese cemetery at Beechworth in Victoria. The tower thingies are where the food (and money) offerings go, before they they set fire to them. Beechworth Secondary College I've been here a few times, chasing bunnies, and I imagine Old Bob has been here as well. I find things like this to look quite bizarre when they turn up in the middle of the Aussie bush. ETA: There are also a number of Japanese cemeteries in Australia, but they aren't generally as old as the Chinese ones I'm describing here. Next post |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
18th August 2009, 09:34 AM | #422 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
And HBS thought she was OT. Ha ha! Thank you for this snippet. Yay! I get to tell another warry story. I've seen a few B-52s doing their thing, but I was on an exercise near Kununurra once and the USAF sent one to help out with an "air strike" against some sheds that were pretending to be enemy tanks or something. We knew the bomber was coming, so luckily knew where to look for it. In she came about 50 feet above the trees (NOE) and almost whispered straight over the top of us. It was absolutely awesome, and I couldn't help thinking how deaded you'd be if they launched one of those things at you. You'd be in a billion pieces before you even saw the '52. I've done the same thing in the course of playing soldiers. I, and a lot of other people, dream about finding some of those lost aircraft. My own home airfield at Oakey in Queensland was a second-line repair base during the War, and its rumoured cache contains 'Stangs and Liberators. A bloke dug up the local drive-in theatre once, looking for them. A Dutch B-25 Mitchell Bomber Peter Dunn's AUSTRALIA @ WAR I ho(i)sted this pic from your link. Thanks. Cheers, Dave |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
18th August 2009, 10:31 PM | #423 |
Up The Irons
Tagger
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 34,458
|
Check out todays featured article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page It's Lt Colonel "Mad" Harry Murray, who I'm sure Akhenaten at least has heard of. |
__________________
i loves the little birdies they goes tweet tweet tweet hee hee i loves them they sings to each other tweet twet tweet hee hee i loves them they is so cute i love yje little birdies little birdies in the room when birfies sings ther is no gloom i lobes the little birdies they goess tweet tweet tweet hee hee hee i loves them they sings me to sleep sing me to slrrp now little birdies - The wisdom of Shemp. |
|
18th August 2009, 11:10 PM | #424 |
In the Peanut Gallery
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 54,890
|
Yesterday was the anniversary of the battle of Long Tan, one of the greatest feats of military valour in Australia's history. Just over 100 Australians and a few New Zealanders took on around 2,500 Viet Cong - and won. 18 Australians died, which was a tragedy for a small nation, but 245 of the enemy were killed.
Yesterday was also Vietnam Veterans Day. A salute to aussie Vietnam vets, and all others for that matter. http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov....icles/longtan/
Quote:
|
__________________
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Sir Winston Churchill |
|
19th August 2009, 07:43 AM | #425 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
I do indeed Damien. LT Col Murray was an outstanding soldier. Personally, I admire the fact that he was able to work his way up from being a private soldier to commanding a battalion. His heroism and his single-minded devotion to duty are an inspiration to all, quite apart from the pride his nation has for his actions. I'll do an article for the thread on him. Thanks Mate Thanks for that lionking. As it happens, I met up with a few mates for a Long Tan drinky at Pucka today and I'm only just coming good again. Long Tan is a large chapter in our military history. I've been putting off articles about the Vietnam era until we'd drifted through our WWI and WWII history, and it seems the appropriate time has arrived. I'll get something together to introduce Australia's Vietnam war in a bit more detail. Is there anything from the two world wars that anyone would like covered, before I sort of move on? I know I promised an article on Sir John Monash, but I'm saving that for next Anzac Day. Also, there's been a fair bit of news regarding Fromelles lately, and I wouldn't mind doing a write-up on that. I think that's an area of interest for you, lk? Thanks again fellas, Dave PS This thread's doing rather well isn't it? There's some weird **** going on in those other threads and I have to wonder why I don't just stay in here all the time. How come everyone but Australians are as mad as cut snakes? |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
19th August 2009, 08:19 AM | #426 |
Up The Irons
Tagger
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 34,458
|
Almost anything you could want to know about Australia on the Western Front can be found in Les Carlyons excellent history The Great War.
Of course, this is also a good spot: http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/first_world_war/ But no-one could ever remember all of that. |
__________________
i loves the little birdies they goes tweet tweet tweet hee hee i loves them they sings to each other tweet twet tweet hee hee i loves them they is so cute i love yje little birdies little birdies in the room when birfies sings ther is no gloom i lobes the little birdies they goess tweet tweet tweet hee hee hee i loves them they sings me to sleep sing me to slrrp now little birdies - The wisdom of Shemp. |
|
19th August 2009, 09:28 AM | #427 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
You do a pretty good job
|
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
19th August 2009, 08:46 PM | #428 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
|
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
19th August 2009, 09:09 PM | #429 |
In the Peanut Gallery
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 54,890
|
|
__________________
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Sir Winston Churchill |
|
20th August 2009, 02:17 AM | #430 |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 648
|
|
20th August 2009, 02:36 AM | #431 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
By the power vested in me as Pharaoh of the Upper and Lower Lands and Pi-Broadford I declare you, HawaiiBigSis, to be an honorary Australian, with all the rights, priveleges and stereotypes obtaining thereto. Raise your tinny and repeat after me: "Do you come from a land down under? I dub thee "A Good Sort". Me too! It's a good thing that snakes of the same species are immune to each other's venom. Cheers Mate. |
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
20th August 2009, 02:37 AM | #432 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
|
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
20th August 2009, 06:11 AM | #433 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,212
|
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
20th August 2009, 02:20 PM | #434 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
|
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
20th August 2009, 09:32 PM | #435 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,212
|
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
21st August 2009, 12:18 AM | #436 |
List Management
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Under the rainbow
Posts: 5,387
|
No worries. It would have to be the only thing between me and certain death from dehydration for me to drink a beer.
However, the Yellow Tail wines I've had, I've enjoyed. Now that I'm an official honorary Australian, I looked into how much it would cost for me to get from here to there. Yikes! I'll start saving my pennies now. Maybe I'll live long enough. |
__________________
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also. - Mark Twain |
|
21st August 2009, 02:01 AM | #437 |
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 648
|
Yellow tail is from Aussi along with dozens more (all great) We do make beautiful wine no doubt helped by the Italian born Australians who brought there wine making skill here. North east Victoria near Myrtleford has wine processing plant that looks like a oil refinery. My wife bought good quailty red for the special price of a $1.99 ( a happy night in every bottle) Bush fire smoke in the fall can taint the grapes and does spoil a lot.
|
22nd August 2009, 11:07 PM | #438 |
Guest
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 17,252
|
|
23rd August 2009, 11:35 PM | #439 |
Featherless biped
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Aporia
Posts: 26,431
|
German immigrants also made a big contribution in South Australia's Barossa Valley. |
24th August 2009, 06:41 AM | #440 |
Heretic Pharaoh
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Pi-Broadford, Australia
Posts: 29,692
|
|
__________________
Life is mostly Froth and Bubble - Adam Lindsay Gordon |
|
Thread Tools | |
|
|