Agro
Agro is the Strine word for aggressive, or aggression. It is an abbreviation of those commonly used English words. Agro can also be used in noun form to describe a fight.
Agroというストラインは「怒っている」や「攻撃的な」という意味で。名詞としても使えるので、その場合「殴り合い」や「喧嘩」という意味になる。
Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...
No Beg Pardon In Our Garden
Our garden, Kangaeroo Corner (even though it’s not a corner), is unabashedly at its best in the spring, though it also thrives in places during the other seasons. Flowers are blooming now, bringing immense delight. Flowers I grew from seeds–hardenbergia and kangaroo paw now, a dwarf wattle that briefly flourished last year before I killed it through neglect, and hopefully some banksia–bring a special kind of joy. Having said that, the garden hasn’t provided the comprehensive delight it had brought at times in previous years. Part of the reason is that it hasn’t needed to. For the few years up until the summer of 2024 work wasn’t going exactly to…
Snot Block Odyssey
Something was amiss with the start of the weekend when I was barely able to sleep, spending a restless night ahead of plans to head into central Tokyo to pick up some parts, but little did I know that a vanilla slice “snot block” was on the way to rescuing me. Using the restlessness to advantage, I got stuck into the garden, weeding and then being able to cut the lawn courtesy of a quiet push mower and getting down on my hands and knees to manually trim the edges. A quick clean of the Brommie, which has been squeaking and groaning a lot on the rare times I have…
Keeping Things In Focus When Everything Is Blurred
Things have rattled me a little over the past week or so, with seeming stability I thought I had built up shaken and stirred but (to continue the analogy) I’m thankful for the strong bonds I have to keep my mind in place. Dino, our little rosy faced lovebird, is continuing her battle to get better, with each day a bonus now after we thought she was gone last week. Her fight is consuming a lot of my time (and resources), but she is deserving of that. Friends and family have rallied behind us to try and bring her back to health. And I am grateful to be able to…
Three-Day Monk
One of my favorite phrases in Japanese is mikka bozu, literally a three-day monk, and it’s a term used to describe the length that most people can maintain their resolve. I’ve got to admit to being an archetypical example of the concept. Having accumulated a huge spare tire and found an exciting new job following a tumultuous few years, I was full of determination to achieve lofty goals when the new year rolled around just two days ago. I’ve set exercise goals to lose weight and live healthier, in addition to setting professional targets to make the most of the opportunity I’ve been presented. All my objectives are centered around…
Bouncing in All the Wrong Places
Despite the presence of kangaroos and their proclivity for jumping, there’s a bit too much shaking and bouncing going on in and around Tokyo, with dozens of earthquakes shaking their nearby Izu peninsula over the past week or so. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake that crushed large parts of Tokyo and Yokohama, killing over 100,000. And that quake was preceded by quakes in the same area that they’re happening now. Tokyo is overdue a natural disaster with earthquakes and volcanoes frequently smashing the metropolis every few decades in its roughly 4 1/4-century existence. (There have been a few man-made disasters that ravaged the city,…
豪産肉輸出成長は、、、らくだ！
オーストラリアの野生動物と言えば、まずらくだ、、、と言い難いだろうが、実際に世界最大野生ラクダの数が最も多くの国が豪州であるだ。 元々らくだはオーストラリアにいなかったが19世紀イギリス植民地時代からインドから持ってこれて野生化し、数十年たったら環境問題を起こした。今、オーストラリアで野生ラクダが約100万頭がいると予想されている。豪の野生ラクダ頭数が約９年毎で倍増することも予想されている。 一方、ラクダの自然発祥地である中近東では、1960年代からラクダの数が急速に減り、ラクダ肉やミルクの重要が依然として高い。 オーストラリア産ラクダが昔から競駱駝（？？？、、、要するにレース用）のラクダの輸出があったが、2009年から肉食用のラクダ輸出が産業化し、急成長している。今年、およそ6000頭のラクダをサウジ・アラビアとアラブ首長国連邦を中心に中近東諸国へ輸出する予定だ。 オーストラリアでの野生ラクダの環境破壊が依然として継続が続くが、輸出により数が大幅に減る上に立派なビジネスチャンスを与えているので不幸中の幸いかもしれない。 参考： Australian Feral Camels Turning a Pest into Profit
