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Words/things I learned watching BBAU from the US

Here is another video I found last night.

[video=youtube;vQDVmpoKmJA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQDVmpoKmJA[/video]
 
watermellie said:
And you're better off for it.

Didn't they recently discover a huge stockpile of oil beneath Australia? Careful, we may be coming for ya!! Kidding (I hope) :p
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There's about 1 trillion diamonds in the Kimberly area, 300 diamonds for every woman in the world from just one mine. Weipa has enough aluminium (aluminum) to supply the whole world for 2,000 years. If it wasn't for all the mining, Australia would be nothing.

http://www.austrade.gov.au/Invest/Opportunities-by-Sector/Resources
... investment pipeline of $430 billion...

the world’s largest reserves of brown coal, mineral sands (rutile and zircon), nickel, lead, silver, uranium, iron ore and zinc
the world’s second largest reserves of bauxite and tantalum
the world’s third largest reserves of copper, and
the world’s fourth largest reserves of silver
 
Plus we have one of the richest mining heiresses in the world, Gina Rhinehart worth $22 billion, who has manged to get everybody to hate her, especially her children who take their mother to court. Why bother with fake soap operas when we have real ones!

ipad1210hancock_729-620x349.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Rinehart
 
watermellie said:
Don't kid yourself honey, it's both of them. One may be significantly worse, but they're both bought and paid for by the same corporations.
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Actually, here's the vote for the expanded background checks:
Democrats 50 yes, 5 no
Republicans 4 yes, 41 no

So I stand by my statement.
 
Badlands said:
Actually, here's the vote for the expanded background checks:
Democrats 50 yes, 5 no
Republicans 4 yes, 41 no

So I stand by my statement.
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Exactly, why do you think those 5 voted no? I said one was significantly worse than the other. My statement was more blanket about the politicians being bought by the NRA, Bankers, Oil, defense contractors... both sides are corporate. I do love me some Elizabeth Warren tho...
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Here is another video I found last night.

[video=youtube;vQDVmpoKmJA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQDVmpoKmJA[/video]
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Wow; that was amazingly annoying! I know it's supposed to be over the top, but the stereotypes are ridiculous.

BTW, this year's HMs have eaten more fast food in the house than I've eaten in the last five years, I don't own a gun and I'm not a misogynist douchebag. :D
 
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watermellie said:
Exactly, why do you think those 5 voted no? I said one was significantly worse than the other. My statement was more blanket about the politicians being bought by the NRA, Bankers, Oil, defense contractors... both sides are corporate. I do love me some Elizabeth Warren tho...
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Well, one was for procedural reasons (Reid, so the bill could be brought back up) and the other four are from red states where guns are very popular.
 
Badlands said:
Wow; that was amazingly annoying! I know it's supposed to be over the top, but the stereotypes are ridiculous.

BTW, this year's HMs have eaten more fast food in the house than I've eaten in the last five years, I don't own a gun and I'm not a misogynist douchebag. :D
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I'd have to agree. Video sucks. I especially found it funny that they had KFC in it. Oh and I saw the other day a list of the countries with the worst obesity problems and while we (US) were number one, guess who was #3? Yup, you guessed it. Only behind England.
 
Poxy said:
What terrorism problem? What's the LAX shooting got to do with terrorism?
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Might want to check the meaning of terrorism. I did mention domestic as in within our own borders by our own people. Just because it's not some asshole from the Middle East jumping on a plane to come cause havoc doesn't mean it's not terrorism.
 
Love the dog's head - yes, it is obviously a Scotty, and I can absolutely see the cat's head...but since I'm not that familiar with kangaroos, it's hard to think of the east side of the country as that shape.

Is it true that kangaroos are nuisances, have no value, and are hunted in Australia?
 
San Antonio said:
Love the dog's head - yes, it is obviously a Scotty, and I can absolutely see the cat's head...but since I'm not that familiar with kangaroos, it's hard to think of the east side of the country as that shape.

Is it true that kangaroos are nuisances, have no value, and are hunted in Australia?
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Yes x 3, Kangaroos certainly are in no danger of extinction. The numbers get too great in some areas, so we have regulars culls.

They can be a nuisance to farmers & they are a nuisance on the roads, a young girl died last week due to a Roo hitting their car - that is not that common.
But they wreck your car, so we have roo bars (like bull bars).

They have no predators except for us. Cars kind of fascinate them & they jump into the front of you (weird and hard to explain)

We eat Roo - tastes like lean steak, is good for you low fat, and use the fur for tourist toys
 
Professor said:
Based on conversations I've had with Americans on other forums, I think (amateur sociology coming!) a lot of it comes down to the US coming from a civil war background, which is something Australia doesn't have. I've had friends on other forums talk about why they don't want their government taking guns from them, about powerlessness and how they're uncomfortable with having an armed government and an unarmed populace. I don't pretend to know much about the American Civil War but...is that division still a thing, on some level? And this is all technically true admittedly, I mean maybe one day that will be a problem for us, but we've also never in Australia experienced a government we needed to defend ourselves from, or a division that wide.

More complex though I think is there's a bit of a Pandora's Box effect with guns for two reasons.
Firstly, I think the gun laws in Australia were only controversial for about a minute because it's easier to tell someone you can't have something, that to take something off someone, if that makes sense. Silly metaphor: if I don't have any donuts and someone bans me from having donuts, I've only lost a possibility, but if I have donuts then I'm actually losing something, it hurts more. So yeah it's easier to institute bans of some measure before the fact, but after the fact gets tricky.
Secondly, I believe our gun crime is quite low - when it does happen it's often within criminal ranks, a la the Melbourne gangland shootings - so a self-defence argument over here doesn't go down so well, it doesn't seem as relevant. Certainly I've never in my lifetime had a friend who owned a gun. All that sort of stuff has a murky chicken and egg relationship though.

So yeah I've never gotten on a high horse about this sort of thing because a) I think we were very lucky to have caught it early; and b) even with our western similarities, I think our situations and histories are quite different.

By the way: most interesting thread ever!
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Yes, also the relationship between gun ownership and violent crime is not as clear as you would think. Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world, yet they are not exactly notorious for their violent crime. There is also evidence that some of the US states with fewer gun restrictions are the safest. If you were a violent criminal, it would certainly be in your interest to target areas where people were least likely to carry guns. The problem in the US with violent crime may be cultural- a lower trust culture, the influence of psycotropic and illegal drugs, family breakdown, violence on TV and in movies etc etc. If I owned a gun I would hope to never have to use it! America's history is fascinating. On paper it has the most robust protections of people's liberties of anywhere in the world yet it is now a place which is becomming one of the least free in the Anglosphere- almost police statish. If "Freedom" was a stock, you'd short-sell it in New York and long-sell it in Shanghai
 
watermellie said:
I've started thinking of them as hopping deer!
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Both are yummy:), both good with juniper berries in a red wine jus. They are dumb and pretty, and those powerful legs & claws can be lethal.
They won't generally attack people, though there have been a couple of instances where menstruating women have been chased around golf courses.

They suit our environment, for we are a rather fragile land in many ways - they have soft feet that don't hurt the land the way introduced animals do.
 
kxk said:
Both are yummy:), both good with juniper berries in a red wine jus. They are dumb and pretty, and those powerful legs & claws can be lethal.
They won't generally attack people, though there have been a couple of instances where menstruating women have been chased around golf courses.

They suit our environment, for we are a rather fragile land in many ways - they have soft feet that don't hurt the land the way introduced animals do.
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Their feet may not, but their mouths certainly do! Unlike sheep, cows etc who simply crop feed at ground level, roos pull grass etc up roots and all.
 
torifrog said:
Their feet may not, but their mouths certainly do! Unlike sheep, cows etc who simply crop feed at ground level, roos pull grass etc up roots and all.
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Yeah I forgot about that, that's why farmers hate them isn't it?

Oh and our other coat of arms animal, emus, don't taste as good.

Odd animals we eat - roos, some places they eat possum - never myself and have never seen it; crocs/crocodile is appearing a bit more in restaurants; water buffalo is on menus and so is emu both unusual though.

Everything else is protected I believe, ie Koalas, Wallabies, Echidnas, platypus, wombats; all the native birds - I think you would get a prison sentence if you tried to eat protected stuff.

Wombats are a car hazard too in some places, apparently it's like hitting a boulder.
 
Tillyestelle said:
I was around in the Melbourne "Dogs In Space" scene - pretty accurate depiction of a mad time!

You failed to mention -

"Bliss" - an exceptional film made in the late 80's from a Peter Carey nove

"Bad Boy Bubby" an wholly original work of Art

"Idiot Box" hilarious Heist movie with a very Australian flavour and brilliant soundtrack (Aussie Pub/Alternative bands) made late 90's

"UnDead" - Hilarious Zombie flick - a spoof of the genre made around the time of Sean of the Dead - very original concept, impressive effects...made by Brisbane Spierig Brothers, who went on to make "Daybreakers"

"Priscilla-Queen of the Desert"
"Breaker Morant"
"The Castle"
"Mad Max"
"Gettin' Square"
"Wolf Creek"
"He Died with a Felafel in his Hand"
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Everyone forgets about Young Einstein starring Yahoo Serious (yes, that's his real name!...!)
 
WeeBaby said:
Just wondering.....does Australia have the terrorism problem that we do in the US? I mean this as domestic and foreign terrorism. We had a shooting at LAX (LA airport) today and I'm sure as shit sick of this garbage. You guys aren't big on guns their are you?
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The only people who have guns are the armed forces, farmers - to put down sick animals and shoot kangaroos and foxes, sporting shooters, the police force, bikies and drug lords. (You should watch the first series of Underbelly on the latter). The criminals usually only shoot each other rather than us law-abiding citizens with a few notable exceptions - The Hoddle Street massacre and Port Arthur. No one actually wants to own a gun here for self-defence. The fear of crime isn't as high. By here, I mean - Perth. And basically, we think anyone who demands the right to own a gun is a weirdo and will probably be the first to "go postal" and the last person who should own one.
 
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