zero_gravitas @ zero_gravitas @aussie.zone

Posts

111

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306

Joined

2 yr. ago

Oh hey, it's Gurridyula!

We don't really do that in Australia.

Great shot!

Link in body needs a https://, just FYI

Had no idea that site existed, though, great post!

Direct link to the referenced poll:

https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/report/2025/global-powers-and-world-leaders/

Or, for convenience, a screenshot:

If you hit the 'Explore' button, you can segment by respondent age.

I was gonna ask in !Meta. I'm guessing a mod/admin asked them to reduce their posting frequency and they didn't reply or comply.

Petition to change the canton as per Sam Neil's patch in Event Horizon

I assume they're referring to the fact that moniker of 'the lucky country' was originally intended as a perjorative:

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country

The title has become a nickname for Australia[1] and is generally used favourably, although the origin of the phrase was negative in the context of the book.

Horne's intent in writing the book was to portray Australia's climb to power and wealth based almost entirely on luck rather than the strength of its political or economic system, which Horne believed was "second rate". In addition to political and economic weaknesses, he also lamented on the lack of innovation and ambition, as well as a philistinism in the absence of art, among the Australian population, viewed by Horne as being complacent and indifferent to intellectual matters. He also commented on matters relating to Australian puritanism, as well as conservatism, particularly in relation to censorship and politics.

But if the drop off part of things is a challenge at least there’s the option to use this.

You can also just donate money (https://donate.asrc.org.au/donate). I don't know the pros and cons compared to a Coles delivery.

But birds are AI!

The 7% difference in insolation between perihelion and ahelion (a figure I've seen mentioned in multiple places) seems like it would be significant for sunburn and skin cancer, at least at the population level.

I found an ABC article that doesn't specifically say the 7% figure, but mentions perihelion as a factor in 10% higher UV in Australia. It downplays the role that extra 10% plays in our melanoma rates, though, and I suppose that's fair, I don't think anyone's getting caught out by burning 10% faster, because they would have gone inside 10% sooner if they had known, haha

Together, Professor Whiteman says, these factors mean Australia's UV is "probably about 10 per cent higher on average" than the equivalent latitude in the Northern Hemisphere.

"That would mean for people living in Brisbane it is higher than for people living in Miami in the US, and for people in Melbourne, it's higher than for people living in Athens, Greece."

While a 10 per cent increase in UV is significant, and might account for that sting in our summer sun, reasons for Australia's high melanoma rates are more lifestyle-related, he says.

source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-02-04/sun-summer-uv-sunburn-skin-cancer-australia-ozone-layer/104870806

Ah, thank you for the clarification! I hadn't realised that the eccentricity of Earth's orbit made an appreciable difference, but apparently yeah, especially at the equator: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pclm.0000436

I don't think your interpretation is correct. I think that comparison was of data for the two cohorts when they were the same age.

The study, yet to be peer-reviewed, found 28,265 cases of early-onset bowel cancer over the 30 years studied. An estimated 4,347 additional cases were attributable to the rising rates of the disease.

Early-onset cases, however, are increasing by up to 8% per year, the study found.

Thanks, I was finding it pretty astounding as well, so it'd make sense if it was the misinterpretation you've described. Maybe send the Guardian a message noting it so they can check?

The sun isn’t always a fixed distance from earth. It’s closest in January

Forgive me if I'm just missing a joke, but it's not about the distance, it's about the angle. In the summer the angle means the days are longer, and sunlight travels through less atmosphere (and is therefore less attenuated) before it reaches you and gives you sunburn.

Don't worry, I have full confidence the U.S. will always stay one generation ahead of us 🫡🍔

Are you talking about Australian war crimes in 1918 or the fucking events of 1947.

Both - they're drawing parallels between the two events.

That quote is actually from the booklet they published last year, which you can find here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FzMIZo-GZLtrakJKkdITx5zhzRSvnPeK/view

Specifically, in this section:

WHAT DOES PALESTINE HAVE TO DO WITH ANZAC DAY?

Few students and teachers sitting through the annual Anzac ceremony, for instance, would associate Anzac day with Palestine — but the first Anzacs invaded Ottoman Palestine in World War I, and they took control of the land and the people for the British Empire.

After the armistice in 1918, Anzac soldiers of the Light Horse brigade remained in Palestine, waiting to be demobilised and sent home to Australia. During this time, some returned to the Gallipoli Peninsula, where they engaged in what was described as the “holy task of locating the graves of Anzacs, and in collecting trophies for the Australian national memorial collection,” solidifying the nationalist myth of the Gallipoli Landings, the anniversary of which was already being observed as Anzac day from 1915 onwards.[1]

Such acts of quasi-religious myth-making about the Anzacs have continued to this day. In 2017, to mark the centenary of the Anzacs’ capture of Palestinian territory, then Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten attended a commemoration service at Beersheba with Benjamin Netanyahu.

In his official address, PM Malcolm Turnbull stated that the Anzacs “like the State of Israel has done ever since … defied history and with their courage fulfilled history. Lest we forget.”[2] His words are striking, not only because of the monumental historical narrative that they invoke (the Anzacs “defied” and ‘fulfilled’ history), but also because of the way in which they situate the Anzacs as “courageous” heroes who birthed two nations.

Turnbull was right to connect the Anzacs’ military successes with the creation of Israel. The Australian victories set in motion a series of devastating events, enabling the fulfilment of the Balfour Declaration, where Britain agreed, despite separate and contradictory promises, to recognize “a National Home of the Jewish people” to be located in Palestine, and the establishment of a “Jewish National Colonising Corporation for the resettlement and economic development of the country [Palestine].”[3] In short, the British mandate was secured in part by the Anzacs, and this laid the ground for the creation of the state of Israel, while preventing the creation of a Palestinian state.

There are some other parallels with Israel that Turnbull did not draw. If both countries form their identities through stories of noble military successes, they both also hide a history of horrific, racially motivated violence against Palestinians. More than this, the brutal massacre committed by the Anzacs at Surafend chillingly portended the Nakba, the catastrophic displacement of Palestinians in 1947-1949.

Turnbull did not share this darker parallel because it did not suit the heroic myth-making project of the Australian and Israeli governments to do so. As teachers, however, it is our obligation to bring this history to light.

"vows to consider"

😆 Don't worry, I nearly posted a similar reply myself

You are correct, but I believe MHLoppy was just making a joke about how 'MSM' is also an abbreviation for 'Mainstream Media'.