All Activity

Which day in January in Southern Tassie, is Summer, nomadpete? 😄 My Scottish mother (from Dunfermline) told us her brother always quipped, that "Summer was on Wednesday last year, wasn't it?" 😄

Yes to all three when I was young. And I carried a Globite port to school every day.

Yes it does make sense... You ancestors decided at some stage to stay on their own free will, did they not? Even if they were went to the colony for the term of theiur natural life, when released from custody, at some stage they were relased from custody and stayed - on their own volition.. .does that not make them immuigrants at that point? Or, say thaey had kids while in custody - those kids would be, at the time British citizens.. and when they stayed, does that not make them immigrants? Or are you telling me your whole line of family are still incarcerated? We

Scarey monsters! What will the fossil industry have to say about that?

Identity? WTF? National identity? WTF? Sort out your personal identity first. I will trust you relative to how you present yourself to me. We are all passengers on Planet Earth. Fussing about continental, political, or other levels of idrntity is trivial in the bigger scheme of things.

I have had my new solar system & battery now for 1 week. So far I have not imported any energy & have exported about 75kWh. I have charged my EV twice, charged my ride on mower twice, run the air conditioning for several hours on 5 out of 7 days, run a freezer & large fridge/freezer & used electricity on other household things as normal like cooking, washing, dishwasher, TV, lights, computers etc. The battery has never got down to below 40% before it starts recharging in the morning. I have 5.8 kW of solar panels with 3.0 kW yet to come on line. The battery is 18.64 kWh & is expandable up to 41.76 kWh. We have had mostly sunny or partly cloudy days with one mostly overcast. Cost $11,650.00 which will take about 6 years to pay back. The feed in tariff is poor at 2.8c/kWh so my only cost will be the exorbitant supply charge of nearly $2.00 a day offset a bit by the feed in tariff.. My long term goal is to go off grid but I will probably need to add a couple of extra 4.66 kWh modules to the battery. Time will tell. There are plenty of people like me doing the same especially those living on acreage or in country areas prone to power cuts and a lot more adding batteries but not intending to leave the grid. This just one part of our clean energy future.

But you are the descendant of an immigrant, same as most of us.

Red, that's been my weather for the last 3 months. Sun 4 times a day, rainbows and rain 4 times a day . Today, same. Roll on summer!

Had the most ridiculous weather I have ever seen. Forget 4 seasons in one day. Driving a distance of less than 5 km, I was in sunlight, then rain so heavy I needed the wipers on continuous, not intermittent, then back into sunshine, THREE times. At the shed today, we were sitting at the lunch table, in hot sun through the skylight, the next minute unable to talk due to the rain on the metal roof. So loud I had to take my hearing aid out of my ear. Here is what the roof looks like.

Does that even make sense? Emigrating to where ever requires a conscious decision on the part of the potential immigrant, and for permission to be given by the receiving nation. To say convicts were immigrants, surmises that the Aboriginals gave them permission to settle here. Nothing could be further from the truth. The convicts were made to settle here by the Poms, with redcoats to ensure a semblance of law and order.

It's raining! It's raining! But it will stop within a couple of hours. Better a little than none at all.

We moved to a country town in 1990 and lived there until 2011. It was an interesting place to live with a healthy mix of traditional farmers, etc., and people like us (tree change folks). When we moved there, we were worried that it it be a redneck town; however, this was not the case. There were a few redneckish types on one end of the scale and a few dropout hippies on the other side. The town was quite cohesive, not that everyone shared the politics or life philosophies, but there was quite a mutual respect for "differences" The town remained vibrant, and it still is. Rather than being in decline like so many country towns, this place thrived, attracting artists, musicians, craftspeople, etc. An interesting point regarding immigration, there was a large Chinese family called the Nomchong family. They owned several businesses around town. This family came to the town (Braidwood) in 1860. Throughout the years, they had all married other Chinese people, so they looked very Chinese, but all had the broadest Australian accents. The owner of the local electrical appliance shop was Bob Nomchong, and within the family, there was a Betty and an Eileen. Amongst the younger generations, there was a Kylie, etc. The strange thing is if I were standing next to one of the Nomchong family, I would be judged as the Aussie, and they would be assumed to be the immigrant rather than the 5th Australians https://www.cmag.com.au/exhibitions/nomchong-family

There's always been a disparity and dislike between rural/outback Australians, and city Australians. Even A.B. Paterson and Henry Lawson wrote about the disparities between the Australian "bush" and "city" cultures, in the late 1800's. Rural/outback dwellers constantly harp on about "city slickers", and how they wouldn't know the first thing about where their food and minerals come from. The gulf has only widened with so many recent inventions that make life easy, and which further detach city people from life "on the farm" or "in the mines". Add in immigration, where new cultures have no understanding, no historical links, and no education about what earlier Australians did to make life easy for them (including wartime sacrifices), and the gulf becomes bigger. However, I am heartened at Anzac Day marches to see many Asians, and other cultures that fought alongside us in many wars, also showing respect and admiration for our sacrifices.

We'll send you Summer with a Vengeance, shortly. 39° here on the Left Coast today, a record for the first official day of Summer. It's a bit of a shock after a long, cool Spring.

Convicts deported to a land that was not the sooverign land of the country they were deported to, are in fact immigrants. And, anyway, what is wrong with being an immigrant. Yeah, there have been some bad-uns, but many, if not most, have contributed positively econimically, socially, and dare I say, culturally. Look at the wheels of industry in Australia before it was choked by government policy - much of it by immigrants; Remeber what we called Greeks and Italians - Wogs - and their culture and cuisine were scoffed at. But now, we can't get enough of it. Asians? Turks? Much the same. There have always been issues with immigration.. And don't go saying, "yeah, but they integrated".. Not any more than the current waves.. How many of us don't remember the kid in class that had to interpret for their parents; or the concentration of new waves iof immigrants in particular areas resulting in culture, religion, shops, etc, sometimes not even showing signs in English, let alone speaking English? And people are going to say oh, yeah, but the Somalians or Afghans or whoever, are different.. they are far more violent? I can tell you living in an area resplendant of landed Italians that there was enough violence there.. Gangs, Mafia, etc.. it was all rife.. The culture politics wasn't quite as strong and you just didn't hear about it. Asians and the import of their gangs, particularly the Triad? There was scant news, but it was there. Dare I say "White australia" has its fair share of criminals? Also the news was more moderate in its ideology pushing than it is today. Remember the Sky News debacle about whippig up a storm over Samalians as they are Muslim? Turns out, they are predominantly Christian. While each wave of immigrants suffered localised racism, they weren't pilloried like they are today in the press and use as cutlure politics pawns, mainly hyporcritically by the ideological right who abhoor.... culture politics.. when it is used against them. The realitty is for any wave if immigrants comng from a materially culturally different background, where their culture and identitiy is ingrained since birth and they are middle-thrities and beyond, it takes a generation to properly integrate into societty.. Always has. Even for me, as in immigrant to the UK from a materially similar culture, I identify more closely to being an Aussie than a Brit despite spending the vast majority of my adult life here. My best mates are Australian, I support Australia in the cricket (rugby and soccer I couldn't give a toss about). I go out of my way to buy Aussie wnes (well did - off the plonk at the moment). Jeez, I still have an Aussie accent I am told (in the UK, I believe they say I have an English twang in Aus, now). My favourtie sport? Aussie rules. My favourtue content providers - Australian.. But, my kids? Both as pommie as they come.. even with the whingeing! And I find that with immigrants of all walks - even those from more ancient cultures.. many of the kids consider themselves British.. Yeah, they may not have converted to Chritianity, but in many other ways, they are British.. And the "Aussie" Culture, is essentionally a pigeon version of English culture, anyway.

That's right, personally I'm not. And my line weren't either, they were convicts, not immigrants.

There's plenty of Aussie identity out here in the bush. We think "Aussie", we talk "Aussie", and we act "Aussie". Drive out to a rural location and strike up a conversation with a local. If you are Aussie yourself, you'll feel the instant connection of "Australianness", and feel your inherent Aussie identity. Unfortunately it's only in the bush now, the cities have adopted a different identity, what it is, I'm not sure, something strange even they're not sure about.

Sadly, she is literally one (of a handful) in a million

Personally you might not be, but your line is.

Yada yada yada.

Trump has also previously shared the course with several high-profile celebrities and professional players, including the likes of Tiger Woods, Wayne Rooney and Samuel L. Jackson. Now, it has been claimed that Trump's golf trips have cost US taxpayers an eye-watering amount of money. As per The Independent, Trump has already spent $71 million in taxpayer-funded golf trips in his second term, and if this pace continues, the final figure is expected to reach $300 million by the end of his term. During his first stint as President, Trump reportedly spent $151 million on taxpayer-funded golf trips. According to HuffPost, Trump made his 16th trip to Mar-a-Lago this week, with each trip costing around $3.4 million in travel and security. The report added: "Trump made nine trips to his Bedminster, NJ, golf resort about $1.1m each, and one trip to his new Aberdeen, Scotland course, costing nearly $10m in taxpayer funds." From Sportbible.com

I'm still not an immigrant.

I think the fine ends up as a form of charity that goes to battered wives and the homeless, which the government caused in the first place. It's a vicious circle, but the fine does more good than my vote ever would, because I could never stomach voting for the dictatorial two party duopoly, they always win no matter what, and they always intend to. And of course, I can't forget the inhuman treatment afforded to me as a conscript, not thanked, not compensated, just treated like trash during and after. I can't vote for any mob who treats young blokes with borderline autism like that, I'm not that forgiving. They can rot in Hell.

EV Sales up 24 Per Cent in First Half of 2025 EV and hybrid sales soar in Australia as internal combustion cars fall below 70% market share for first time