Too Good To Miss Out On

Lots of life stuff is going on and even though I have a lot of “free” time, there’s not enough to allow for writing up a blog entry.

Got a gorgeous sunrise today, though, and it couldn’t be missed.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • 豪砂漠の恐怖な「火の竜巻」

    　オーストラリア、ノーザンテリトリー州のアリス・スプリングズ近くに同町テレビ局が17日に起きた「火の竜巻」の劇的な映像を撮られた。 　「火の竜巻」という現象は滅多に起きなく、起きるときでも長くて数分間と言われているが、撮影したクリス・タンギー氏が約40分続けたという。 　同氏がテレビ用のイメージ映像のロケハンティング中だったが、いきなり「火の竜巻」が上がったきた。 　「人生一度のチャンスではなく、人生10回生きても１回あるかどうかようなことだった」という。 Caught on camera: The 30 metre high tornado of FIRE that whirled around Australian outback for terrifying 40 minutes

  • Using Any Excuse Just To Post This Pic

    A somewhat discomforting start to the year has continued today, but that doesn’t really matter because I’m just making up excuses to write so I can post this picture. I captured this shot near Tachikawa‘s Kotobukiya Stadium as the local residents prepare for their d dondoyaki festival to build huge bonfires made from New Year decorations and pray for good fortune for the rest of the year. These festivals are held by thousands of neighborhoods across the country, but I have also viewed them as something akin to the chilling denouement of the 1973 British horror flick, The Wicker Man. My perspective is totally incorrect, of course, but I’ve never…

  • Crack A Jaca For A Cracker Jaca

    After months of being covered up to ward off the cold, I spent the morning removing the insulating materials draped over our jacaranda tree, unleashing the tree beneath the bright spring sunshine in the hope that we will get a full blooming tree by the early summer. It was good to crack open the tree again after months of a huge bag dominating the garden and being an eysore for the neighborhood. In theory, covering the tree in insulation material over the winter will make it more likely to bloom in the summer. Our jacaranda bloomed in the first year the tree was in our garden, which was now three…

  • How Did Australia And Japan Go From Allies To Enemies And Now Back To Defence Partners?

    なぜ日豪は同じ陣営から敵国になり、そして再び防衛パートナーになったのでしょうか？ An extraordinary reversal Today, Aussie and Japanese forces train together, visit each other’s bases and increasingly operate alongside each other. In 2025, Aussie soldiers participated in Exercise Orient Shield in Japan for the first time. The two countries’ defence relationship is now remarkably close. 現在、オーストラリア軍と自衛隊は共同訓練を行い、お互いの基地を訪問し、さらに緊密に活動しています。2025年には、豪州陸軍が初めて日本で行われたオリエント・シールドに参加しました。現在の日豪防衛関係は、驚くほど緊密です。 But this is not a relationship that followed a straight line. Australia and Japan were once associated through Britain’s alliance with Japan, became bitter enemies during the Second World War, and are now close strategic partners. しかし、ここに至る道のりは一直線ではありませんでした。かつて日英同盟を通じて同じ陣営にあり、第二次世界大戦では激しい敵対関係となり、現在では緊密な戦略的パートナーになっています。 When Japan was on Australia’s side In 1902, Britain and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Australia was not an independent party to the agreement, but the new…

  • Knackered!

    Kangaeroo is delighted another working week is drawing to a close as he is absolutely exhausted. Kangaeroo’s boss is a serial power harasser. The boss’s gnawing attacks on co-workers have driven away every single colleague bar Kangaeroo since their employment started. And the boss has gone out of their way to make life difficult for your author, including a threat to slash his pay in violation of his contract (and would have been a second huge pay cut in consecutive years). Despite working from home, Kangaeroo is constantly in flight-or-fight mode. It’s draining. And the constant fear has an alarming effect on performance, resulting in a nearly perpetual run of…