meanwhile back in australia redux
 

Cats fan now knows left from right

It will beat a rerun of Don's Party.

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/electi...#election_nite

duty done

duty done

and dusted.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.

Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.

While the usual image of greenhouse gas pollution is a billowing smokestack pushing out carbon dioxide, livestock passing wind contribute a surprisingly high percentage of total emissions in some countries.

"Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep," said Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland state government.

"And if you look at another country such as New Zealand, which has got a much higher agricultural base, they're actually up around 50 percent," he told AFP.

Researchers say the bacteria also makes the digestive process much more efficient and could potentially save millions of dollars in feed costs for farmers.

"Not only would they not produce the methane, they would actually get something like 10 to 15 percent more energy out of the feed they are eating," said Klieve.

Even farmers who laugh at the idea of environmentally friendly kangaroo farts say that's nothing to joke about, particularly given the devastating drought Australia is suffering.

"In a tight year like a drought situation, 15 percent would be a considerable sum," said farmer Michael Mitton.

But it will take researchers at least three years to isolate the bacteria, before they can even start to develop a way of transferring it to cattle and sheep.

Another group of scientists, meanwhile, has suggested Australians should farm fewer cattle and sheep and just eat more kangaroos.

The idea is controversial, but about 20 percent of health conscious Australians are believed to eat the national symbol already.

"It's low in fat, it's got high protein levels it's very clean in the sense that basically it's the ultimate free range animal," said Peter Ampt of the University of New South Wales's institute of environmental studies.

"It doesn't get drenched, it doesn't get vaccinated, it utilizes food right across the landscape, it moves around to where the food is good, so yes, it's a good food."

It might take a while for kangaroos to become popular barbecue fare, but with concern over global warming growing in the world's driest inhabited continent, Australians could soon be ready to try almost anything to cut emissions.

if there's less shit to go with it I'm all in favour

.

It looks like it all started to go bad for Hyakujo's Fox when the shishkabob he was taking from the grill spilled the sauce, which ignited and then ...

... well, this may explain a lot about where HF has been for the last several weeks.

That's nonsense, I was hit by a returning boomerang.

Meanwhile Ze has finally cracked a mention in the Australian press!

[url]och[url]

aye

Interesting parody of TV crap.

nah that's what we are really like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LivQYAASojg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EvUzDE1g7Y

OMG too cute...*gurgle*

*revives, packs bags furiously*

Adorable baby bats - honestly - snuggled in wool at animal shelter
Last updated at 22:20 22 November 2007
Daily Mail Online

Wrapped up in their tiny blankets, the bundles of woe pictured below are surviving on the milk of human kindness.
The orphaned baby fruit bats are being raised at a rescue centre after a plague of poisonous ticks swept through their colony.
Used to snuggling up to their mothers, they need to be kept warm and are fed through teats with a sugary liquid full of nutrients.
Normally adults carry their baby on their back but as those which have been infected slowly die, the youngsters, with no mother to feed them, also perish.
"We walk around the bat colony in the Bush every day and you can hear the young bats crying for their mothers," said Jenny Maclean, who runs the rescue centre on the Atherton Tablelands in northern Queensland.

It was a traditional Australia Day for me, I completely ignored it.

Yeah, obviously the time for respect and reconciliation through symbolic acknowledgments is over. :rolleyes:

:eek: Yes I was
first thought: that's terrifying I don't want to drive through that
second thought: that's amazing I want to drive through that!

first thought: this is going to be cool
second thought: I wonder if we're all going to die

yeah, once they got inside I was begging the drivers on the computer screen to please please please stop driving and pull over. Don't know why I was so surprised at how dark it was in there.

forget about your squids :eek:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/ni...0310-8tp5.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/cr...1.html?page=-1

Ballina's Big Prawn a raw point with townsfolk

THE Big Prawn is an icon of the NSW North Coast, but Ballina's fibreglass landmark is causing a big stink.

Owner Santo Pennisi wants to tear it down, but locals have vowed to raise it from the dead.

A Facebook petition to save the giant prawn has already attracted more than 500 followers.

One fan suggests: "Just give it a lick of new paint and it will look great again."

A local developer has also weighed into the debate, vowing to build a new prawn if the original can't be saved.

Mr Pennisi has asked Ballina council for permission to topple the 19-year-old prawn.

Mayor Phillip Silver said it's hard to say if the structure was "an icon or an eyesore".

Rumours are circulating that the prawn could be replaced with a huge pelican.

Developer Chris Condon, who built a 6m-high beer can atop a Cobar hotel in 1990, is a fan of giant things.

"I love it," he said. "You can't buy publicity like this for your town."

Mr Condon said it was unfortunate that the prawn has ended up in such disrepair.

"It could have met a better fate," he said.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/...-27977,00.html

Northern Territory man claims his cat can swear


A MAN claims his pet cat is a bit too brainy for his own good and can speak English - a total of seven different words so far, including the F-word.

Robert 'RJ' Duncan, of Palmerston, in the Northern Territory says his budgie Picininny can also speak.

But when the Northern Territory News first visited the ex-boxer, 34, and his wife Sandra, 32, at their home, the house-bound moggie grumpily declined to comment.

Instead he scratched Mr Duncan a few times before bolting to his bedroom and barricading himself in his cupboard.

But during a second visit, Mischief was much friendlier. And more talkative. All gathered heard him speak to Sandra, calling her "mum''.

Mr Duncan said the two-year-old cat - which he and his wife adopted from his feral mother in Katherine - was most vocal at night.

"He starts mouthing off when he wants his food - when we start cooking,'' he said.

"He can say seven words all up: mum, no, now, what, f--k, pr--k and why.

"He can't say 'dad' yet, which is a bit of a pr--k. That's how he got the word 'pr--k' I reckon, because I say it a lot.''

Mr Duncan - sitting at their wooden table rolling a roll-your-own - said Mischief's first word was 'mum', which he started saying about the age of six months.

Human babies are a little slower than the skittish kitty. They can usually manage to produce a slurred 'mama' or 'dada' about 10 months of age.

Mr Duncan said Mischief wasn't apeing the words - he knew what he was saying.

"He calls out to (Sandra) and everything - he'll sit at the back window, while she's in the garden, calling out 'mum'."

"In the evening time, if you don't drop whatever you're doing and pay attention to him, he calls you 'f--king pr--k'.

"If he really cracks the sh-ts, he'll piss in his drinking water just to let you know he's really sh--ty."

The potty mouthed puss doesn't take non-attention kindly.

Mischief spent his time during the Duncan's wedding swearing at the guests in the backyard from his bedroom window.

Mr Duncan said the guests were pre-warned, so "they pretty much ignored him".

The Duncans' budgie is less adventurous with its words.

It just says "s--t".

Mr Duncan will now be trying to film his moggie to prove Mischief can really talk.

"He's a character ... he's one of these cats that's a bit too brainy for his own good."



http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...97-421,00.html

^ best news story ever.

Now y'all are just making stuff up.

Bilby Day.
*sshhhheesh*
Like that thing is real.


It's clearly a shaved chihuahua in bunny ears.
Poor little fella.

^Coupla years ago I did fundraising for Bilby Day :D
Did you know they sell chocolate Easter bilbies here to Australianise the Easter bunny? S'truth!

Father Bob Maguire expected to keep his job

FATHER Bob Maguire is expected to keep his beloved job after overwhelming support from Victorians for the knockabout priest.

The deadlock between Father Maguire and Melbourne's Catholic archdiocese over a request for his retirement is close to being resolved, sources said.

The Herald Sun believes the archdiocese, which invited Father Maguire's resignation on his recent 75th birthday, will allow him to stay parish priest in South Melbourne.

Talks were held yesterday between Father Maguire and his advisers and representatives of Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart.

Father Maguire would not confirm details of the meeting, but said discussions were continuing. He said he was confident of a result that would please both parties.

The Herald Sun believes an agreement could be revealed this week.

Canon law states that a priest must offer to retire on his 75th birthday. The archbishop can accept or defer the retirement.

But in a letter to the archbishop last week, a defiant Father Maguire, a champion of the poor and homeless and long-standing parish priest at Saints Peter and Paul Church, politely declined to retire.

Father Maguire said he was concerned that his parishioners and the disadvantaged he helped around South Melbourne were fretting about his fate.

"We are holding discussions to try to resolve the matter and we are close to agreement," he said.

"I don't want people to worry about me."

He said he hoped for a swift decision on his future to put his supporters "out of their misery". Archbishop Hart has previously revealed his concerns about poor financial management of the parish.

SUHT UP about yers bloody horsies

^ :D

^^ must've got lazy manfred in the sweep. :D

^I was on C'est la Guerre. But hey, c'est la guerre.