old man emu

I wonder if the belief in a flat earth was the product of the observations of people who lived in hilly, or mountainous areas where there is not a view of an unobstructed horizon. Stand on a beach and the curvature becomes obvious. The same on a plain.

Religion is a fabric woven from the threads of practical governance and curiosity.

The Ten Commandments, which are the embryonic stage of our complex Criminal and Civil Law, were produced for to enable family clans to live together with others in settlements and to try to prevent the actions that lead to arguments and violence. Mankind's curiosity applied its current knowledge of the punitive power of a clan's head person to the question of "Who has punitive power over all the people in the villages and towns we can see in our wider expanse?" The answer was that there must be superior, unseen beings who were able to do good or bad for Mnkind. These unseen beings evolved from the Nature spirits to become the gods of civilisations. As in human societies, it is better to kiss the arse of the boss than to slap his face, so religions became the distillation of practices aimed at more efficient arse kissing.

11 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

belief or intuition has been trumped by the facts

Sorry, but I couldn't resist ....

Isn't that a logical non-sequitur?

The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer  because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by 0.4–0.7 °C (0.72–1.3 °F). Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest on record between the years of 1766–2000. This resulted in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere.

Evidence suggests that the anomaly was predominantly a volcanic winter event caused by the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in April in the Dutch East Indies (known today as Indonesia). This eruption was the largest in at least 1,300 years (after the hypothesized eruption causing the extreme weather events of 535–536), and perhaps exacerbated by the 1814 eruption of Mayon in the Philippines.

This period also occurred during the Dalton Minimum (a period of relatively low solar activity), specifically Solar Cycle 6, which ran from December 1810 to May 1823. May 1816 in particular had the lowest sunspot number (0.1) to date since record keeping on solar activity began. The lack of solar irradiance during this period was exacerbated by atmospheric opacity from volcanic dust.

Solar activity also affects our climate. The solar cycle or solar magnetic activity cycle is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the solar surface. Solar activity, driven both by the sunspot cycle and transient aperiodic processes govern the environment of the Solar System planets by creating space weather and impact space- and ground-based technologies as well as the Earth's atmosphere and also possibly climate fluctuations on scales of centuries and longer.

With all these things going on, it makes one wonder how significant is Mankind's contribution. As for methane production, how much methane would a large population of herbivorous dinosaurs have produced during the life span of one of the herd?

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

          Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

          For promis’d joy!

I haven't caught the bug, but all this hand washing has given me a case of "dishpan hands".

The recorded climate has seen a warm periods followed by a cold period in the 2000 years from 250 BCE.

The Roman Warm Period, or Roman Climatic Optimum, was a period of unusually warm weather in Europe and the North Atlantic that ran from approximately 250 BC to AD 400. Theophrastus (371 – c. 287 BC) wrote that date trees could grow in Greece if they were planted, but that they could not set fruit there. That is the case today, implying that South Aegean mean summer temperatures in the 4th and 5th centuries BC were within a degree of modern ones. That and other literary fragments from the time confirm that the Greek climate then was basically the same as it was around AD 2000. Tree rings from the Italian Peninsula in the late 3rd century BC indicate a time of mild conditions there at the time of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with imported elephants (218 BC). Dendrochronological evidence from wood found at the Parthenon shows variability of climate in the 5th century BC, which resembles the modern pattern of variation.

The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) also known as the Medieval Climate Optimum, or Medieval Climatic Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region lasting from c. 950 to c. 1250. It is thought that between c.  950 and c. 1100 was the Northern Hemisphere's warmest period since the Roman Warm Period. It was likely related to warming elsewhere while some other regions were colder, such as the tropical Pacific. Average global mean temperatures have been calculated to be similar to early-mid-20th-century warming. Possible causes  include increased solar activity, decreased volcanic activity, and changes to ocean circulation.

The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period. Although it was not a true ice age, the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries, but some experts prefer an alternative time span from about 1300 to about 1850. Several causes have been proposed: cyclical lows in solar radiation, heightened volcanic activity, changes in the ocean circulation, variations in Earth's orbit and axial tilt (orbital forcing), inherent variability in global climate, and decreases in the human population (for example from the Black Death and the colonization of the Americas).

Based on the number of years between these climate extremes, one could speculate that between 450 CE and 900 CE there was a cool period, which could be shown by tree-ring analysis and pollen counts from buried material. Likewise one hundred and fifty years from the end of the Little Ice Age to the beginning of the 21st Century seems a reasonable period before the start of another warm period.

Not too many years ago, Sydney used to experience very strong westerly winds in August, with the winds continuing to blow for several days in a row. This August the winds were not noticeably strong. However, here we are at the end of September and we have been getting strong winds (gust up to 62 kts) from the NNW.

It makes me wonder if that is a sign of change to the usual weather patterns.

Not as fully understood, but I'd say that if the Antarctic melts, the water circulating in the Pacific Ocean will become colder as well. Maybe that will increase rainfall over the west of the South America and turn deserts there into habitable areas. The opposite seems to have happened in the past.

Keep up the good work and one day you might be allowed to build a wing. 

The Newbeats were an American band that  had one or two chart entries in the mid-sixties https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-newbeats-mn0000393106/biography

The other group to record this song was  Devo 

I love(d) Roy. It amazed me how he could sing so clearly, but not move his lips.

I sing that line " He likes bread and butter, she likes toast and jam" to my wife at breakfast, every morning. 

GRIPE: ALDI puts a surcharge on card transactions.

Early in this COVID epidemic many retailers began requesting customers to pay using cashless methods, so that the possibility of the virus spreading to workers handling cash could be reduced. Fair call.

This lead to an increase in the use of debit cards (by the wise) and credit cards (by the foolish). The card issuers kept quiet about people incurring charges for exceeding  monthly transaction limits, but that could be expected as it is a hidden income stream for them. However, a lot of the big retailers did what they could to waive card fees. Except ALDI, which still imposes a 2% surcharge for cashless transactions. 

I suppose that by maintaining the surcharge, they make up for the money they didn't make through rounding up of purchase totals. 

On 21/09/2020 at 3:10 PM, Bruce Tuncks said:

OME, I was surprised by your apparent skepticism about puritans and pain-killing drugs

I wasn't being sceptical. I was simply asking for what supports your statement. You may well be correct.

''Grit your teeth and bear it like a man."

"Pain can be useful as a warning; stop whining and be grateful."

"Appreciate the gift of pain; it builds character.''

These are value judgements; they are based not on science but on a particular perspective on life. Many religions believe that suffering can lead to growth, there's no value in attributing  that belief to Puritans alone. That suffering can lead to growth is a long way from deliberately inflicting suffering to make the patient grow.

If farm produce such as hay has to undergo 14 days' quarantine, does this apply to the milk that is supplied to NSW from the Goulburn Valley, Victoria? 

If he finally gets to his farm and find that his sheep have died of starvation, will he be prosecuted by the RSPCA for neglecting his animals?

I bet when he contacted the NSW Government department he was talking to Sanjev or Sundeep. People with these names have absolutely no ability to go beyond the little box formed by the script they have been given, yet somehow they are the ones who get the Customer Service jobs in Government departments.

If you get the meaning, is it in sense?

1 hour ago, red750 said:

The sport where male commentators regularly get almost hysterical is F1 racing.It used to be Murray Walker

Some commentators remain in control of their emotions no matter how tense the game becomes. Just think of Ted Lowe describing a game on Pot Black. 

Pot Black .

Legendary commentator Ted Lowe is credited with producing one of the most memorable British sports quotes. Aware that not all viewers had colour televisions,  he told them: “and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green.”

In these days of heightened political correctness, it only takes one person to bring down the wrath of Government on another. How many of you get raise a smile at the imaginative arrangement of letters and numbers on personalised number plates? Trying to determine a meaning for these apparently random collections releases some tension during the daily peak hour traffic battles. But for some with a Puritanical streak, the slightest hint of carnal depravity sends them into a frenzy of offence-driven hysteria.

What can you make of this group of letters: L G O P N R? If you can't come up with anything, you are in the majority. If you can figure it our, you are definitely in a small minority. If it offends you, you are nearly on your own. Only Transport NSW will be beside you.

A top Sydney barrister has got into a legal battle of his own over the “offensive” number plate on his bright yellow Lamborghini, which reads: “LGOPNR”. Peter Lavac said most people would never connect the dots and realise his number plate was cheekily saying “leg opener”. But at least one person did, in fact, connect those dots, and soon Transport NSW was calling for his plates to be removed. Transport NSW gave him 18 days to change his number plate, writing in a letter: “Transport for NSW determined that these number plates could be considered offensive and must be returned.”

Transport NSW safety, environment and regulation deputy secretary Tara McCarthy said that the department relies a lot on members of the public to report offensive plates, as many controversial number plates slip through the vetting process. “If a member of the public finds a plate offensive they can report it to Transport for NSW which will investigate and the plate may then be recalled,” she said. 

The RMS no longer controls the vetting of personalised number plates. Since October, applications go through the contractor Plate Marketing Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Licensys Pty Ltd.

Documents published by the RMS reveal the contract is worth $15 million over 15 years.

One of the banned combinations is RAC3M3 (Race Me). But I wonder if a florist who dealt in hyacinths could use the same group of letter because a "raceme" is a flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem. 

Female hysteria??? Oh so 19th Century.

If the broadcasters don't broadcast those sports which women are playing, then women commentators have to find work somewhere. At least they bring a refreshing, cliche-free style to their descriptions. 

8 hours ago, onetrack said:

They have a ripper of a clearing sale, and equipment that was bought 20 or 30 yrs ago, brings good money, because it's well-maintained, and in good condition.

That can be a problem when antique hunters go to clearing sales and find all sorts of U-beaut stuff, like old cars, motorbikes and planes.

Don't forget Dr McKenzie's Menthoids

Men - th - oi - ds

7 hours ago, Cosmick said:

OME link kaput.

Worked for me from the above post. 

The railways are not buying wooden sleepers so much now. The concrete ones would be made to a set specification that included strength as well as dimensions. Concrete sleepers have the advantage s of being resistant to fire and the assaults of all those minute beasties that like to dine on wood. There is still a big market for sleeper-sized slabs of wood in the landscaping trade.

After flexing its military muscles on the International stage during the final 12 months of World War l, the USA developed a paranoia that Britain would attack the USA through Canada. The thought was not that Britain wanted to usurp USA territory, but wanted to diminish Britain's war debt to the USA. 

The USA and Mexico had been fighting each other along that border since 1910, but that ended in late 1918. After that, and the end of WWl, the US military had no hot spots in which it could let its commanders gain actual fighting experience. So the paranoia of a British invasion from Canada provided at least the playing field for practice.