Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

26 minutes ago, Chris Snowdon said:

I fear that there may be a sickening reality based in the simple fact that most societies, to a certain extent, define themselves by those they exclude. 

Primates are tribal. Belonging is important. Instead of inclusivity it is easier to create belonging by defining the "other" - the "out group", those outside the tribe or "in group". 

 

Humans are very susceptible to manipulation of an "in group" defined not by welcoming all but by ostracizing the "out group". It is how genocide is possible.

 

Sadly it is quite 'normal'.

[Chris Snowdon]

37 minutes ago, BoD said:

I always groan when people reply groan to a post but in this case - huge groan. 

Hmm, I was trying to capture the "Dell tick" part of this.  Because I am using a Dell.  But it did not capture its own compliment.  Silly Dell!

Groan all you like...

I was really going to make a comment about 4mm Deltics, but what's the point?

[Chris Snowdon]

3 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Primates are tribal. Belonging is important. Instead of inclusivity it is easier to create belonging by defining the "other" - the "out group", those outside the tribe or "in group". 

 

Humans are very susceptible to manipulation of an "in group" defined not by welcoming all but by ostracizing the "out group". It is how genocide is possible.

 

Sadly it is quite 'normal'.

Yep, we're definitely lazy as well as psychotic.  Those nice wildlife documentaries show chimps grooming and caressing each other, but seldom show their cannibalism of the young.  Even sharks don't do that (although salmon do).  What was really nice to watch, one night when I was still a student, was half a dozen crocodiles eating a hippo.  Crocodiles can only bite, they cannot chew, so they had to take turns.  Five clamped-on whilst one took its bite, then paddled furiously to corkscrew the meat off, chomped it down, then clamped on again while the next could take its turn.  Crocodiles are terribly polite beasts, even if they don't wear black-tie/LBD and decorate their table with candles.

[Coombe Barton]

... it’s still difficult to get people to read and find out (and experiment) rather than having answers told to them ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/10/12/postcards-from-home-2024-45-reading-attention-spans-and-menus/

And at the risk of the flung awl ...

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The bulk of my jig has been made, using an off cut from when I cut the helix sections. It’s basically a long, thin shallow trough, with an end piece at one end. Tomorrow, I’ll machine 2 brass drill guides, these will be fixed to the centre of the outside of the bottom of the trough, so that when the jig is placed on one end of a section of helix, I can drill 2 holes, one at each end, knowing that all the other sections will have holes in exactly the same place. 

 

My order from Ebay arrived this morning, 20 x 30cm, 3mm dowels. Using my mini chop saw for the first time, these were cut into 50mm lengths. The saw is great by the way and the whole process took less than 5 minutes! 

 

After dinner, we walked to the surgery for our flu and Covid jabs, there were quite a few in the waiting room and they were running about 20 minutes behind schedule, but we were back home for 3:45. We didn’t have the option of one or both arms, the left arm was for the Covid jab, the right arm was for the flu jab. So far, I’ve no ill effects, but Sheila’s arms are a bit sore. We’d only been home about 5 minutes, when it started to rain and it got very windy. Thankfully, things have now returned to normal, although there’s no chance of seeing either the northern lights or the comet!

 

This evening was rounded off with a home made curry, a bottle of Shiraz and catching up with some recorded TV. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight everyone 

[45568]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

Actually ironically ( both because of how I just mentioned the rearview mirror thing and now I'm back in 1917 AND how horses once were Aussie heroes but are now a murderous  scourge) the 4th Australian  Light Horse charge against the Turkish guns at Beersheba is generally considered to be the last great cavalry charge in history.

 

 

Although there were later cavalry charges, they somehow  are considered less great - (I don't know why and I'm not interested in finding out - mainly because those bloody horses are monitoring my internet!)

 

Anyway, the 4th Light Horse charge had many interesting parallels with the Charge Of The Light Brigade - both had the word "Light" in their name, both were charging field guns and ummm, oh - both had a movie made about them!

 

 

 

 Bonus comment! 

The "Light Horse Interchange" on Sydney's M4 Motorway has a "Tribute" to the Lighthorse - an artistic thingy that is meant to represent the Emu feathers worn in the slouch hats of the Lighthorse Divisions, but ended up looking like unfinished electrical work. ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for explaining what this is!  Son and I saw this in May when we spent two enjoyable weeks in NSW train chasing. Both of us assumed it was some light installation that was 'ongoing' and would be completed later!

Would never have guessed in a thousand years what it really is!

Cheers from WA,

Peter C.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, 45568 said:

Would never have guessed in a thousand years what it really is!

You wouldn't guess from the landscape where that was filmed that it was meant to be Palestine. 

 

This location is just south of Beersheba - gives an idea what the area looks like.

 

There's an Australian movie from 1940 called "Forty Thousand Horsemen" that covers the charge.  Other than being in colour, I'm not sure that "The Lighthorsemen" (which I haven't watched) improves the charge scene.

It's a very long time since I watched "Forty Thousand Horsemen".

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Ozexpatriate

[jjb1970]

3 hours ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Yep, we're definitely lazy as well as psychotic.  Those nice wildlife documentaries show chimps grooming and caressing each other, but seldom show their cannibalism of the young.  Even sharks don't do that (although salmon do).  What was really nice to watch, one night when I was still a student, was half a dozen crocodiles eating a hippo.  Crocodiles can only bite, they cannot chew, so they had to take turns.  Five clamped-on whilst one took its bite, then paddled furiously to corkscrew the meat off, chomped it down, then clamped on again while the next could take its turn.  Crocodiles are terribly polite beasts, even if they don't wear black-tie/LBD and decorate their table with candles.

 

Dolphins can be pretty vicious too. Another species we like to see as cute and fun.

[pH]

We went for a stroll this afternoon along the waterfront trail in the town, along with many other people. It’s the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend and the weather was beautiful. Along the way, we saw witches on paddle boards (well, why not?):

 

 

and possible signs of an early winter  😉

 

Edited 1 hour ago by pH

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, pH said:

and possible signs of an early winter  

Ha! I'm calling 'tall tales' on that 'snow' - unless your walk by the inlet took you up the mountains. 😉

 

That looks like the Zamboni dregs from an ice rink. 

 

The weather is rather stunning here. It was 24°C with no clouds this afternoon. We'll see seasonal rain and mountain snow next week.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

The media here is so distracted with electioneering that there isn't the usual Columbus / Indigenous People's Day coverage. I'm sure we'll see something on Monday.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Ozexpatriate

[pH]

5 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

That looks like the Zamboni dregs from an ice rink. 

Ah, you spoiled it!

 

There was a Thanksgiving Weekend hockey tournament in progress in the local rec centre.

Edited 1 hour ago by pH

[Ozexpatriate]

5 minutes ago, pH said:

Ah, you spoiled it!

I knew someone who would regularly take the Zamboni scrapings from a suburban rink (where the Portland Winterhawks WHL team practice) to the zoo so the polar bears can have some snow to play in.

 

There are two right now (I think).

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Ozexpatriate