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Post by angra on Jul 19, 2013 17:37:49 GMT 10
Lucky bugger.
I sealed a multi-million dollar contract with AMP from a nameless computer company, and all I got was a crappy T shirt.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Jul 28, 2013 19:10:09 GMT 10
I work not too far from ANU, and use parking in the area of the hotels for cashed-up tourists student accomodation (honestly - just a tiny tweak in our visa regs and a whole construction and services industry goes under) Saw something this morning. Without being tooooo specific about why - let's just say the combination of a very attractive young girl walking into a student dorm, conspicuous hotpants, a very cold canberra morning, a family stationwagon, an older male driver and the perfect hair ... it made me wonder about something obvious that honestly had never occured to before. So I googled it www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/sex-for-hecs-poor-students-go-for-cash-20130223-2eyql.htmlYep. That'd certainly explain what I saw. I mean, I can think of other POSSIBLE explanations for that particular drop-off ... but they weren't the ones which immediately came to mind.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Jul 29, 2013 8:48:48 GMT 10
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Post by angra on Jul 29, 2013 9:07:42 GMT 10
That darned cat! Gotta watchem. And in other news, the Indian military got all excited about some bright lights appearing over their border. But it turns out they just mistook Jupiter and Venus for flying intruders from China. www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/26/india_china_war_jupiter_mars_drones/Hell haven't they even seen Men in Black? (The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. Now Put up your arms and all your flippers.! )
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Jul 30, 2013 13:05:29 GMT 10
Check this out, for some spectacular hubris pjmedia.com/andrewklavan/2013/07/28/the-sad-fate-of-democrat-women/?singlepage=trueHe's not even trying to make an argument there. He sure as heck isn't going to convince anyone of his point of view. I guess what he's really trying to do is feel superior, let his readers feel superior and hope they click on some of the advertising for crappy diet pills and investment schemes.
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Post by angra on Jul 30, 2013 20:55:04 GMT 10
Occasionally you come across some interesting stuff on the new digital channels. 'One' just had a programme (From Discovery) about forensic engineering. They are the specialists that investigate failures in built structures - buildings, dam, bridges etc.
Do you realise that high-rise buildings rain debris down on us every day? Concrete, glass, cladding and stuff, mostly due to corrosion or poor building practise.
I remember watching the UK 'great storm' in 1987 and seeing rows of roofing slates ripped off the building opposite and crashing to the street. Luckily no-one was walking underneath at the time. My house actually shook like it was in an earthquake just due to the strength of the wind. We lost a few tiles, that's all.
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Post by angra on Aug 4, 2013 9:20:25 GMT 10
Those crazy Dutch monkeys! "Zoologists are baffled by the strange behaviour of a troop of baboons at a Dutch zoo which have become inexplicably withdrawn, apparently fearful of an unseen threat. "They became panicked at the end of the day on Monday, they were hysterical, not jumping around but behaving strangely," zoologist Wijbren Landman of Emmen Dierenpark in the northern Netherlands told AFP on Friday. "On Tuesday and Wednesday they just sat in the trees or on the ground, hardly moving or eating," Landman said. The 112 east African monkeys also turned their backs on visitors." "The craziest suggestion was that it was caused by a UFO," said Landman." au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/18346241/traumatised-baboon-mystery-at-dutch-zoo/Yeah I know, they obviously all work for News Corpse and had heard that Rudd was ahead in the polls.
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Post by angra on Aug 9, 2013 20:20:53 GMT 10
Scary moment.
I was just sitting on my back porch watching the stars when a giant bat-shaped object flew across the sky, noiselessly and mysteriously. Yes it was a dark object flying across a dark sky, but it reflected enough of the street-lights to reveal it's shape. It must have been huge! Was it an alien craft? A secret stealth aircraft?
On further thought I realised distance perception is pretty tricky on a dark night, and it was probably just a real bat flying a few feet in front of me.
Spooky!
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Aug 10, 2013 9:50:49 GMT 10
"Scary moment"
Phew. I'm glad you're ok. I still get freaked out by moths. My cats, however, are not - they're stone-cold killers when it comes to moths.
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Post by chookmustard on Aug 10, 2013 10:22:14 GMT 10
The cats at my house stone cold bird killers, despite being multi- belled and locked up at night.
Well 2 of them are bad anyway. Birds are probably my favorite animal so I get a bit angry at the felines for killing them.
It's amazing that even with bells on 2 f the cats can still sneak up on small grund birds!
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Post by angra on Aug 10, 2013 10:30:13 GMT 10
Sorry, but I won't have cats in my house because of the devastation they wreak on the local small wildlife.
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Post by chookmustard on Aug 10, 2013 10:52:11 GMT 10
I feel the same, 5 cats at my place, but none are mine (although I do buy some food and empty the trays at times).
The powers that be have discussed building a cat run. Might bring that topic up again very soon.
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Post by angra on Aug 10, 2013 11:00:27 GMT 10
I had a neighbour with a cat (a rather lazy old Tom) who was regularly targeted by the Kookaburras and Maggies in the nesting season. He was definitely intimidated by them and usually beat a hasty retreat.
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Post by angra on Aug 10, 2013 17:21:10 GMT 10
I like this thread. We all have odd things happen to us. Can't explain 'em, but they should be recorded for posterity and the NSA.
Charles Fort would have liked it.
Like the day a giant tree fell over in a storm and crushed the place where I was standing moments before.
Like when I was late and missed the tube to King Cross on 18 November 1987.
Like when I decided it was too windy to venture outside and witnessed the fall of a hundred slate roof tiles onto the footpath where I should have been walking.
Like when I tried to rescue two drowning kids and was about to go under when I felt the corner of a rubber lilo under my leg. (They were subsequently OK).
Like when I was about to turn right up the mountain road from Tallangatta and caught a shadow in the corner of my eye and slammed the brakes on - a maniac went past me on the right doing at least 80 mph. It would have been certain death had I turned. I had parents in law, wife and two kids in the car at the time.
And the time I was carjacked at gunpoint in Port Moresby and a raskol held a gun to my head and said 'give me the keys'. I wasn't quick enough - due to the ignition lock - so he pulled the trigger. It just went click. A faulty gun. Luckily he just punched me in the face, threw me out and drove off.
Strange things, strange days.
But I still have nightmares.
(I take hay to bed with me to feed 'em).
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Post by angra on Aug 10, 2013 18:14:30 GMT 10
The most traumatising thing was the kids who nearly drowned.
I was on holiday with my family on the Atlantic coast of France, near Charente-de-mer. A beautiful place where the Gironde estuary enters the Atlantic. Well, north of there are some fantastic beaches - similar to Australia. We were camping, and on a hot day had wandered down to the beach. I was a snorkeller and had my gear with me.
We were relaxing, after I had spent an hour or so snorkelling up and down the beach, but seen nothing except a few scallops and some flounder.
In the afternoon the wind kicked up and there developed a rather vicious on-shore swell. I noticed there was a sandbar about 50 metres off shore, then the open sea.
Suddenly a woman ran up the beach screaming "Help, help, my children are out there!" (In English. They were and English family on holiday). I looked out and saw a man with a rubber lilo and what looked like two kids in difficulty hanging on. I grabbed my flippers and swam out. It took a good ten minutes, because they had floated out beyond the sandbar and were quickly being moved towards America.
I eventually reached them, exhausted, as the lilo slipped over and one of the kids drifted off. I screamed 'grab my hand!' and pulled the drifting kid up and over the lilo. She was the weakest, so I managed to get her onto it, and told the dad (who was near unconscious) and the older one to hang on to the handles, then we paddled like hell towards shore. Being an Aussie I knew a little bit about catching waves, so we managed to ride a few and get over the sandbar. Then it was a matter of holding on and kicking madly to get back to the beach.
We got there.
The kids mum came running up and starting hitting the man. "You nearly killed my kids! I'll never forgive you!"
I was too exhausted to get involved and went back to my family, who seemed to be oblivious of the drama. My wife said "where have you been, you lazy bastard!"
I rolled over on my towel and weeped into the sand.
But I do remember one thing. The little one who I pulled up onto the lilo looked at me and said "I don't want to die! Don't let me die!"
All I could do was say "Hang on tight, you will be OK, I promise you. You are safe now!"
I never saw or heard from them again.
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