The Random thought thread

[pmccarthy]

I can get up at any time but I can't get it up at any time.

[facthunter]

They say Viagra works but I'm not game to try it.  Nev

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

They say Viagra works but I'm not game to try it.  Nev

Try it!  It'll stop you rolling out of bed.

[onetrack]

I just had a random thought on Monday evening as I was returning from the Wheatbelt to the City, and driving South down the Tonkin Highway past Ellenbrook, looking at a huge golden sun setting.

As I watched the sun sink, I counted up and realised 27,588 sunsets have gone down, since the day I first drew breath. That's a lot of sunsets.

I've missed a fair few of them, for various reasons, but I've also seen some pearlers.

 

This is one I took a photo of, in July 2019 - on the coast at Gnaraloo Station in W.A.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 01:26 PM by onetrack

[pmccarthy]

Two things that the Yanks are annoying me with at present:

 

They think the plural of aircraft is aircrafts.

They think speed is only a noun and so report about a "high rate of speed".

[old man emu]

I hate the insidious "not on my watch". 

 

Fair enough that it is a term used in the navy, and so it would be acceptable for it to be used by John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Lyndon B. Johnson, who all served in the navy. However, its use by politicians who did not serve irks me, especially when I hear Albo use it.

[facthunter]

Being elected to SERVE could validate it's use. Why single out Albanese for  "Special" Mention on this?  He's responsible for what HE  DOES WHEN in a Position to do something, (has the Helm) and NOT when he doesn't.. Fair enough?  Same IF you're a CAPTAIN of anything. The BUCK stops with you.    Nev

[old man emu]

Just now, facthunter said:

Why single out Albanese

Not attacking Albo, but simply his use of the phrase. It's a terrible Americanism and could be replaced by something more in keeping with Australian language. For example, he could say, "Not while I'm running the show". That means the same, but is not a slavish following of a foreign style of speech. It shows a degree, however small, of independence. 

[facthunter]

"Running the Show?" He'd be howled down for saying HE's RUNNING the SHOW. Dictator they would claim. On my watch has been around since Pontius was a pilot. Nev

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

He'd be howled down for saying HE's RUNNING the SHOW.

Well, he is the Prime Minister and that makes him the leader of the government. Say what you like about the truth or otherwise of his being the leader, but all I was trying to say that I hate the use of that particular phrase by Australians. If Valdemar used that American phrase, I would react in exactly the same way. Australians used to have a really good selection of appropriate phrases, but we seem to have lost the ability to free ourselves from the yoke of American culture, and are slaves to their terms.

[facthunter]

I can't see why these things bug you so much. Pollies have to watch every word they utter Particularly IF Rupey doesn't like you.. You quoted ME but didn't respond to it.. . It was a very specific comment.  Nev

[old man emu]

FFS!

Do you even comprehend what I write? Do I have to draw diagrams? 

 

I said that I wasn't attacking Albo. I was attacking the use of an Americanism in place of an Australianism. 

 

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

I can't see why these things bug you so much.

Because I have this obviously stupid love of a unique Australian culture, which I don't want bastardised by a foreign country which forces itself into places it is not wanted. I'm happy to see the culture evolve through the influences of those people from various cultures who choose to live here and contribute. I don't want to see that evolution thwarted by a culture which is a laughing stock and whose people don't have the sense to see how different reality is from actuality in their own land.

[facthunter]

You went off on a tangent about that,  as you often do. Can't some things be simpler?. It's not worth the effort to clash over this $#!t. .  Nev

[onetrack]

American culture is all-pervasive and has infiltrated every country in the world where they've rolled up. They even built a town here in Australia, using all American building standards, power standards (110V power station), and even imported a sizeable number of LHD cars, so they wouldn't be forced to drive those dreadful RHD cars!

 

That town is called Exmouth and if you were silly enough to buy an ex-U.S. Navy-built house in Exmouth, you'll find nothing made to Australian Standards fits! The doors are all 3 feet wide (to accommodate lots of portly Americans, I suppose), the windows are also oddball dimensions, all household fittings, wiring and plumbing is U.S.-made materials, and even the cladding for walls and roof is unknown in Australia! Some of the Americans sold their LHD cars locally when they returned to the U.S., and made a financial killing.

 

Edited yesterday at 07:58 AM by onetrack

[nomadpete]

Take succour from the fact that Exmouth has largely been outsourced to Australian  defence contractors.

 

I have heard similar reports about Alice Springs (Pine Gap).