Australia

[Suranis]

2560.jpg (111.35 KiB) Viewed 2399 times

She is very far from a nice person by all accounts, but... ya, kinda on her side here.

[much ado]

I think it is definitely unflattering...

[Sam the Centipede]

Keep the U in

It is only unglamourous ex colonials that drop the U and have their own version of the gallon etc

C'mon Dave, even the limeypoms, let alone glamorous ex-colonials (you mean kiwis?) don't have 3 u-s in unglamorous!

[keith]

Does she have unattractive features or something, Dave?

Wrong question.

Does she have any attractive features even before Namatjira has portrayed her complete lack of redeeming qualities?

[keith]

I'm reading a book by an Australian author (Joel Shepherd), and he writes "armoured" but also "unarmored," without the "U".

Is that really a thing?

Do un-American (non-American) English speakers write "coloured" but "uncolored"? Discolored?

Is ice cream "flavoured" or "unflavored"?

Are women "glamorous" or "unglamoros" (disglamoros)?

Edit: Oh, wait, we spell that the same way.

.




What do them un-American English speakers do with the stupid U?

She is using a poorly trained spellchecker.

[pipistrelle]

It’s an artistic interpretation of her soul.

Is it a thing people can get portraits of themselves removed or only billionaires?

[MN-Skeptic]

I think it is definitely unflattering...

The Streisand effect in action.

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-13/ ... /103967828

Within a minute of arriving at what appeared to be a peaceful bush track with her dogs, Ruby Buchanan realised she had made a mistake.

On the outskirts of Broken Hill, the walking trail had been recommended to her by friends. But they had left out a key detail.

It was home to emus and it was nesting season: a time of year when the territorial birds are at their most aggressive.

"We got out of the car and were just wandering around," recalled Ruby, who was also accompanied by ABC Broken Hill's rural reporter Lily McCure.

"I let the dogs out of the cage. Next minute, turn around. There's an emu."

[RTH10260]

‘Push through the painful bit’: record 3,000 people join nude Dark Mofo swim in Derwent
It’s really hard when the water reaches your waist, says swimmer who braved chilly Hobart river to mark winter solstice

Australian Associated Press
Fri 21 Jun 2024 04.00 CEST

Double up on your socks, leave your shoes on until the last minute, don’t overthink it and bring a friend.

Those were some of the top tips shared among a record crowd of 3,000 people who went for a nude sunrise swim in Hobart’s River Derwent on Friday to mark the winter solstice.

Shrieks filled the air at 7.42am as the brave swimmers celebrated the passing of the longest night of the year.

Tasmanian Bec Wade, who was perhaps a little more prepared than most, said the experience was invigorating.

“There is a group of us who go [swimming] every Sunday morning,” she said. “But this is iconic – to be in a big group of people doing the same thing.”



https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... in-derwent

[bob]

Those were some of the top tips shared among a record crowd of 3,000 people who went for a nude sunrise swim in Hobart’s River Derwent on Friday to mark the winter solstice.

Per the article, the air temperature was 7C (45F).

[northland10]

Those were some of the top tips shared among a record crowd of 3,000 people who went for a nude sunrise swim in Hobart’s River Derwent on Friday to mark the winter solstice.

Per the article, the air temperature was 7C (45F).

Whimps.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Those were some of the top tips shared among a record crowd of 3,000 people who went for a nude sunrise swim in Hobart’s River Derwent on Friday to mark the winter solstice.

Per the article, the air temperature was 7C (45F).

Whimps.

I believe the coldest I've gone swimming was -5*C (23*F), unless you count sauna->stream and back during the smelt run.

[keith]

Yeahbt, you didn't have thousands of other folk around to see the ... uh ... shrinkage.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Yeahbt, you didn't have thousands of other folk around to see the ... uh ... shrinkage.

Yeah, only a couple dozen.

[keith]

Australian opposition leader's 18yo son caught with 'white powder'.

DUTTON BLOW

Peter 'Mr. Potato Head' Dutton is the wanna be next Prime Minister of Australia.

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-31/ ... /104158556

Townsville a haven for refugees from war-torn Central African Republic

[Foggy]

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-12/ ... /104285386

Tuvaluans prepare for life in Australia as rising tides swallow their country
By Coco Veldkamp
Posted 19h ago19 hours ago
Clothes hanging on washing lines strung between palm trees above sand.
Tuvalu ratified a deal allowing its citizens to escape rising sea levels by migrating to Australia.

[AndyinPA]

That was interesting, sad, and a snapshot of what's to come. Thanks for posting.

[Dave from down under]

I believe that NZ has/was going to help some other pacific nations in the same way.
But not sure.

[neonzx]

Teens accused of gay 'hate crimes' after men lured to location and attacked, appear in Perth court

Two teenage boys have been accused of hate crimes as part of an alleged catfishing scheme using a dating app to lure gay men to meet face-to-face before attacking them. The two boys, aged 15 and 16, appeared in a Perth court on Thursday charged over the alleged assault of two men in their 30s yesterday morning. Late on Thursday afternoon, police revealed they had charged a further two teenagers, aged 16 and 17, in relation to the incidents.

The prosecutor told the Perth Children’s Court a group of boys used the gay dating app Grindr to “lure” victims to a location by posing as a man interested in having a sexual encounter. She told the court when the alleged victims arrived, they were confronted by a group of males armed with crowbars, machetes, pepper spray and other weapons and the alleged assault was filmed on a mobile phone.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-19/ ... /104371906

[RTH10260]

US congress research warns of risk of cost blowouts for Australia in Aukus submarine program
Report also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done before the 2021 announcement

Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspondent
Fri 18 Oct 2024 05.03 CEST

The Australian government’s view that the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine project is “too big to fail” could heighten the risk of cost blowouts, a US congress research report has warned.

The Congressional Research Service also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done prior to the project’s announcement by Australia, the US and the UK in 2021.

The CRS has published an updated version of its previous report examining plans for the US to sell Australia at least three Virginia class submarines in the 2030s, prior to Australian-built nuclear-powered submarines entering service in the 2040s.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

The report specifically cited comments by the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, in an interview with Guardian Australia’s politics podcast last year.

Marles said at that time that Australia, the US and the UK were “deeply committed to each other’s success in this project” and it “puts all three countries in a position where it’s too big for it to fail on the part of any of those countries”.

But the CRS report warned that such an attitude could fuel budget blowouts: “Some observers argue that acquisition projects viewed as too big to fail can be at elevated risk of cost growth that can reduce their achieved cost effectiveness.”

The report cited a 2020 paper as saying managers tend to allocate more funds to complete a big project when there is a perception “that, once started, a megaproject is too big to fail and too costly to stop”.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... t-blowouts

[johnpcapitalist]

US congress research warns of risk of cost blowouts for Australia in Aukus submarine program
Report also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done before the 2021 announcement

The Australian government’s view that the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine project is “too big to fail” could heighten the risk of cost blowouts, a US congress research report has warned.

The Congressional Research Service also cast doubt on whether any rigorous cost-benefit analysis was done prior to the project’s announcement by Australia, the US and the UK in 2021.

I'm surprised that the US, who'll be supplying the subs, is publishing a note like this (even though it's a research report, and not the official position of Congress or the executive branch). I don't think this is going to cause Australia to back out from $50 billion in sub purchases (or whatever it is when you add in purchase, operations and maintenance).

But I have been intrigued by how aggressive Australia has become in arming up against China and other Pacific conflicts. It's not just the subs -- they're also one of the larger non-US F-35 operators, they've been aggressive in developing advanced drone technology (a "loyal wingman" in partnership with Boeing) and they're now talking about (non-nuclear) ballistic missiles that can strike the Chinese mainland directly. I haven't delved into why this big change from historical strategy but I think it's significant. I think this has happened across several governments, so I don't think it's just one party's machinations.

By the way, the Congressional Research Service is one of the greatest organizations in the whole of the federal government. Nowadays, all their reports are on their web site at https://crsreports.congress.gov/. Formerly, they weren't confidential, but they were provided only to members of Congress, who could then decide to release them (though few did). In the last few years, they're available for everyone.

They're usually two-page overviews on various issues, often topical and timely. They do backgrounders on various technologies written so that Congressional staffers who are smart (at least, smart-ish) but who aren't experts in any particular field, can get grounded in an issue like emerging drone technologies. It's not just military -- it's all sorts of interesting stuff. I use these papers all the time like I use the "For Dummies" books -- an accessible intro to something I need to get familiar with quickly.

[RTH10260]

between a rock and a hard place ...

some pics in article.

Woman wedged upside down between boulders for seven hours after trying to retrieve phone in regional NSW
Authorities say 500kg boulder moved with specialist winch as Matilda Campbell rescued from ‘unlikely predicament’ in Laguna through careful manoeuvring

Jordyn Beazley
Tue 22 Oct 2024 06.23 CEST

A woman was wedged between boulders for seven hours after she slipped head-first into a three-metre crevice while trying to retrieve her phone in regional New South Wales.

Matilda Campbell’s friends initially spent an hour attempting to free her while she was hanging upside down before they called triple zero for help, NSW Ambulance said this week.

The operation to free her from the “unlikely predicament” in the Hunter Valley on Saturday 12 October involved a team of “multidisciplinary” emergency workers.

They removed several heavy boulders to create a safe access point. Then, “with both feet now accessible”, the workers navigated Campbell – aged in her early 20s – feet first up through a “tight S bend”, which took an hour.

A specialist winch was used to move one 500kg boulder. A hardwood frame was also constructed to “ensure stability” during the rescue.

“In my 10 years as a rescue paramedic I had never encountered a job quite like this,” Peter Watts, a specialist rescue paramedic, said on Monday. “It was challenging but incredibly rewarding.

“Every agency had a role and we all worked incredibly well together to achieve a good outcome for the patient.”

Campbell was freed with only minor scratches and bruises. Her phone could not be retrieved, NSW Ambulance said.



https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... gional-nsw

[AndyinPA]