For those that fear coming to Australia!

[John Isherwood]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A university classmate arrived late to one of his performances, date in tow, and headed to their seats near the front. My classmate was excoriated for his tardiness with what can only be described as a vulgar, misogynistic and racist remark about his date's ethnicity - not uncommon then, but well beyond the pale by today's standards.

 

I am pretty sure I encountered the late gentleman on a hike at Noosa Heads National Park some decades ago. (I think it was the same day I spotted a koala in a tree hanging over a cliff with a magnificent ocean view.) I did not interact with him any differently than any stranger on a hiking path.

 

We should not judge the past by today's standards - it was a very different world then, and probably not one to which we would wish to return.

 

All this apologising for the 'misdeeds' of our forefathers is totally out of control - then was then, now is now!

 

We are making quite enough mistakes as it is, without getting worked-up about what our forebears did - we can't change it, after all!

 

CJI.

[Ozexpatriate]

Just now, cctransuk said:

We should not judge the past by today's standards

My mate was not impressed (at the time).

[John Isherwood]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

My mate was not impressed (at the time).

 

Fine - but surely he (and she) knew what to expect? Barry Humphries was not exactly renown for his polite parlour repartee!

 

Did they ever attend a Jethro performance? (Probably not)!

 

CJI.

[PhilJ W]

He wasn't the only one who didn't live up to his on stage persona. My cousin was a professional musician living in Blackpool, and the stories about some well known entertainers he told would make your hair curl. 

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

Fine - but surely he (and she) knew what to expect? Barry Humphries was not exactly renown for his polite parlour repartee!

 

Did they ever attend a Jethro performance? (Probably not)!

Or a Kevin Bl00dy Wilson gig? 

[monkeysarefun]

Drag Race!

 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

 

 Use the watch on you tube start .

 

 

[kevinlms]

Just what you need, when you go to rescue someone, who has rolled their car! And it's a woman.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-13/car-crash-victim-brandishes-axe-as-police-approach/102342298

[SRman]

You all know how we like to tease visitors to Australia with tales of dangerous, man-eating drop bears? Well ...

https://www.9news.com.au/national/these-giant-drop-bears-with-opposable-thumbs-once-scaled-trees-in-australia-but-how-did-they-grow-so-huge/0106b70b-4334-46b4-8a26-41e6ebb8bb3f 

I particularly liked this paragraph:
"These biodiverse, lush forests were home to some equally strange animals: flesh-eating kangaroos, tree-climbing crocodiles, ancestral thylacines, cat- to leopard-sized marsupial lions, huge anaconda-like snakes, giant toothed platypuses and mysterious marsupials so strange they have been called "Thingodonta"."

I have 'met' thingodonta before in my studies - it was named because of its extremely peculiar teeth that survived fossilisation, but not much else was found of the animal's skeleton, so little is known about its appearance. Toothed platypus fossils have also been found in the Andes, but the oldest known are still Australian.

Fortunately for all Australians and visitors to Oz, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that we are safe from the flesh-eating roos and tree-climbing crocs! Come to Australia, it is all very safe now.

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by SRman

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, SRman said:

I particularly liked this paragraph:
"These biodiverse, lush forests were home to some equally strange animals: flesh-eating kangaroos, tree-climbing crocodiles, ancestral thylacines, cat- to leopard-sized marsupial lions, huge anaconda-like snakes, giant toothed platypuses and mysterious marsupials so strange they have been called "Thingodonta"."

Nimbadons? At 70kg they are mere babies.

 

The age of mammalian megafauna produced a lot of weird and scary animals. Central Oregon is home to a huge range of mammal fossils like Entelodonts (also called "hell pigs") which lived 38-19MYA and grew to 750kg with long legs and big sharp teeth.

 

John Day Fossil Beds also contain Mesonychids / hyena-pigs. They have big teeth too.

 

Thingodonta / Yalkaparidon are much less scary.

 

The video in that story is totally unrelated to the text. It is about an aquatic reptile from 100MYA (dinosaur time).

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[kevinlms]

1 hour ago, SRman said:

You all know how we like to tease visitors to Australia with tales of dangerous, man-eating drop bears? Well ...

https://www.9news.com.au/national/these-giant-drop-bears-with-opposable-thumbs-once-scaled-trees-in-australia-but-how-did-they-grow-so-huge/0106b70b-4334-46b4-8a26-41e6ebb8bb3f 

I particularly liked this paragraph:
"These biodiverse, lush forests were home to some equally strange animals: flesh-eating kangaroos, tree-climbing crocodiles, ancestral thylacines, cat- to leopard-sized marsupial lions, huge anaconda-like snakes, giant toothed platypuses and mysterious marsupials so strange they have been called "Thingodonta"."

I have 
Fortunately for all Australians and visitors to Oz, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that we are safe from the flesh-eating roos and tree-climbing crocs! Come to Australia, it is all very safe now.

 

At least you've left off the living dangerous ones, got to leave a few surprises for when the tourists actually arrive!

[SRman]

51 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

... snipped ...

 

The video in that story is totally unrelated to the text. It is about an aquatic reptile from 100MYA (dinosaur time).

 

Yes, that annoys me: they do that all the time.

One of the main reference authors for our studies on marsupial and monotreme evolution was Prof. Michael Archer, who did a fair bit of work on the Riversleigh fossil digs.

If I ever get the chance, I want to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Canada for the Burgess shale fossils. Invertebrate fossils are much rarer than vertebrate ones for obvious reasons. There's also the more widespread Ediacaran biota found in several places, including more locally. But much as I find all this fascinating, that's taking us away from the weird vertebrates found not just here in Australia, but in many other parts of the world (not forgetting that many of the continents were joined at various stages of the geological time scale, hence that platypus find in South America).

Edited May 14, 2023 by SRman

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, kevinlms said:

At least you've left off the living dangerous ones, got to leave a few surprises for when the tourists actually arrive!

The Lesser Beer-Swilling Collingwood Fan  (Gymnorhina* avacoldie)

The Rorting Pollie (many species known)

The Mate (Mulletus mulletus)

The Sheila (Beerwench fetchitia)

The Mexican (H0m0 victorianensis)

The Trammie (Goanna T-light)

and possibly the most lethal of all

The Great Foaming Gunzel (defies all description)
 

* Gymnorhina - the Australian Magpie

Edited May 14, 2023 by Gwiwer
Pro fanity filter

[Ozexpatriate]

It's strange why this sort of thing is a 'global' news story.

 

CNN: Teacher feared dead after shark attack off South Australia

 

I'm not sure this is congruent with 'rare':

Quote

Shark attacks are relatively rare off South Australia – according to the Australian Shark Incident Database, there were 20 shark encounters in 2022, resulting in 14 injuries and one death.

Perhaps 'deaths are infrequent' is more accurate?

[PhilJ W]

Sharks have been sighted off of the south coast of England in recent years. A possible cause is global warming.

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Sharks have been sighted off of the south coast of England in recent years. A possible cause is global warming.

Sharks have been sighted off the south coast for as long as I can remember. You used to be able to go shark fishing in Cornwall and Devon - possibly you still can.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Sharks have been sighted off the south coast for as long as I can remember. You used to be able to go shark fishing in Cornwall and Devon - possibly you still can.

I perhaps should have said certain species of shark not normally seen this far north are being found more frequently in British waters.

[SHMD]

I like my desk job* - 12k miles away!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-65618680

 

 

Kev.

* Not really.

 

[kevinlms]

4 hours ago, SHMD said:

I like my desk job* - 12k miles away!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-65618680

 

 

Kev.

* Not really.

 

Yet, doesn't appear to make the news in Victoria!

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Yet, doesn't appear to make the news in Victoria!

 

Newsweek USA fills up half its overseas content with nightmare stories about Australia eg:

 

https://www.newsweek.com/horror-movie-man-finds-dozens-spider-crawling-socket-1800302

https://www.newsweek.com/python-rescued-car-snake-catcher-australia-1799363

https://www.newsweek.com/panicked-woman-sucks-venomous-snake-vacuum-1798514

https://www.newsweek.com/deadly-snake-caught-hiding-woman-bed-sneaky-1793937

https://www.newsweek.com/highly-venomous-snake-found-wriggling-mad-biting-inside-closet-1797280

https://www.newsweek.com/horror-woman-finds-enormous-hairy-spider-cereal-drinking-milk-1798415

https://www.newsweek.com/shocking-photo-huntsman-spider-alive-missing-legs-1797884

https://www.newsweek.com/man-finds-deadly-spider-swimming-pool-funnel-web-1791468

https://www.newsweek.com/new-fear-unlocked-woman-finds-venomous-tarantula-tent-1790469

https://www.newsweek.com/deadly-venomous-spider-bags-grapes-grocery-store-redback-1784786

 

 

And thats just a random sample of  the last 2 months worth.

 

Still, I'd much rather take my chances going barefoot on a bushwalk through long grass here than drive  onto  a strangers driveway or knock on their door over there.

Edited May 17, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Still, I'd much rather take my chances going barefoot on a bushwalk through long grass here than drive  onto  a strangers driveway or knock on their door over there.

Based on 2021 data, annually there are 6.8 (non-suicide)* gun deaths per 100,000 people in the US.

 

* Includes homicides, death by law enforcement, accident and undetermined cause. (Most gun death statistics include suicide which represents 54% of the total.) Homicides overwhelmingly involve people who know each other. While the number is growing, in 2021, fatalities in "active shooter" situations represented 0.2 people per 100,000. (FBI data is much lower - 0.03.)

 

Annually, there are between 3-18 snakebites per 100,000 people in Australia, with 1-2 fatalities. These are *mostly* easy to avoid.

 

Depending on the "active shooter" metric, about the same number of Australians (0.03 per 100,000**) die from snakebite as Americans in FBI-designated "active shooter" incidents.

 

** Wikipedia (higher than 1-2 fatalities per year from the same article)

 

(The FBI designation low-balls the numbers as far as I am concerned.)

 

There are Australian driveways I'd avoid too.

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

Of course in Australia you are almost 4x as likely to be killed by lightning than in the US.

 

(5-10 Australians per year ≈ 0.03 per 100,000, versus 44 Americans per year ≈ 0.008 per 100,000).

 

I'll take my chances either way.

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[DavidB-AU]

Despite the hype, you're about 6 times more likely to be killed by a cow than by a shark in Australia.

 

Don't mess with cows.

[Hroth]

Keep safe - stay at home!

 

[SRman]

7 hours ago, DavidB-AU said:

Despite the hype, you're about 6 times more likely to be killed by a cow than by a shark in Australia.

 

Don't mess with cows.

 

Horses! Go to just after the 4 minute mark in this Qi clip (or enjoy the whole thing anyway!). 🤣