Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • We Are Not Emus-ed

    Emus are huge, flightless birds endemic to Australia. They’re also featured on the country’s coat of arms, together with the kangaroo, with both creatures selected because they are physically incapable of taking a step backward, meaning they can only advance. Emus are one of Australia’s myriad glorious birds and trail only the ostrich as the world’s largest birds. They’re also capable of running up to 50 km/h! The link with dinosaurs also becomes pretty obvious just by looking at these creatures. Emus are also known to have controlled the late British comedian Rod Hull.

  • Anti-Asian ‘Rage Ranga’ Pauline Hanson’s Soft Spot For Japan

    Populist politicians are on the ascendency across the globe. Japan is heading to the polls with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who can probably be called a populist, tapping into strong anti-foreigner sentiment to give her Liberal Democratic Party its traditional grip on power. Joining demagogues like Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Wilders and Milei is Australia’s own “rage ranga” Pauline Hanson, whose political fortunes have taken an astonishing turn. Before going forward, a bit of disclosure: I despise the right-wing form of demagoguery spreading around the world, but lean toward populism on the opposite side of the political spectrum. I’m an angry, fearful old man. That makes me a prime populist…

  • Lucky Country, the

    lucky country, the Australian English Australia. The term was coined by historian Donald Horne in irony. He argued that Australia was lucky as it became a rich land only because of its natural resources instead of the cleverness or effort shown by other nations. Instead of being shocked by the term, Australians adopted “the Lucky Country” to use as a favorable synonym to describe their land. 日本語 オーストラリアのこと、ラッキーな国。もともと歴史学者ドナルド・ホーン氏が１９６４年に「ラッキーな国」を皮肉たっぷりに使った表現だ。同氏は、オーストラリアがほかの先進国と違って、知恵や努力で発展したではなく、資源豊富さだけで豊かとなって、とても「ラッキーな国だ」と言った。しかし、多くのオーストラリア人がホーンの本来の意味を無視、今一般に自国名をいい風に表現できる同義語として使うようになった。 Plain English Australia. Strine Dictionary

  • じゃぶじゃぶコアラが世界中に大ヒット中！

    Kanu Koalaは、オーストラリアで泳ぐコアラに付けられた名前だ。コアラは１日22時間寝るので、ユーカリの木の葉っぱを取るか木と木の間に移すことぐらいしか動く姿を見せない。が、Kanu Koalaはかなり違うようだ！映像が世界中に大ヒット中。 Kanu Koala is the name being given to a swimming (!) koala. Footage of the mighty marsupial’s exploits are currently going viral. Considering koalas spend 22 hours a day sleeping, it’s rare to see them move much further than reaching out to grab sum gum leaves or change trees. Kanu, however, shows the marsupial is koala-ified to do a whole lot more.