Anyone who has ever visited the beautiful town of Queenstown in New Zealand, will know the sight of the steamship Earnslaw.
The TSS Earnslaw is an integral part of Queenstown’s pioneering history and to this day a Queenstown icon. She was commissioned by New Zealand Railways to service the communities around Lake Wakatipu. Launched in the same year as the Titanic, the TSS Earnslaw’s maiden voyage was on 18 October 1912.
And this grand old lady runs on something that is demonised today - hard back-breaking work and coal.
On 7 May 2023, Charles Windsor was crowned King Charles III of England and its dominions with the crown of St Edward the Confessor, made for the coronation of Charles Stuart, King Charles II in 1661, following the Restoration.
The history of Charles II makes the St Edward Crown hardly fit to be at the centre of all the religious pomp and ceremony displayed.
The Battle of the Coral Sea is regarded by some as the action that saved Australia in WW2. That is an over-simplistic view in my opinion. It was certainly a major factor in turning the tide against Japan but it was one of a conglomerate of successful campaigns which, together, stopped their advance in the Pacific.
The battle was fought between the 4th and 8th May, 1942. It was the first sea battle between forces built around aircraft carriers and fought by aircraft rather than ships.
Read more: This Week in History - The Battle of the Coral Sea
I was 15 years old and I wanted to learn to drive. My brothers scarpered. My parents were extraordinarily busy and the queue of volunteers was surprisingly small; much like supporters at a Biden Rally, no one seemed that keen on the task. One of my brother's friends was conscripted He was the kind of lad ( 18 years old ) who would have been ordered to dance with the wall flowers at the school dance and would obligingly dance a waltz or foxtrot with the plain girl or the fat girl or the girl with crooked teeth.
I could never understand why no one wanted to teach me how to drive: I was pretty, blonde, slim, and had very nice teeth. I didn't smell awful and was, in all respects, fairly easy on the eye. But for some reason the prospect of sitting in the passenger seat while I navigated my way around a gearbox, a clutch and three little pedals didn't seem to be as popular as I had hoped.
Some time ago I watched "The Man who shot Liberty Valance " - it should be compulsory viewing for everyone in America right now, if not the entire world. What a spectacular tale about the value of a vote and the value of free and fair elections.
I have watched it before, but never before has that message come through so loud and clear as it did in my recent rewatch. .
What was it about? A bad guy and his bully mates trying to terrorise a community into submission. A weak Marshall, afraid to confront the baddies; a newspaper man frightened of the bad guys torching his newspaper office and or killing him; and townspeople too afraid to confront the menace that is ruining their lives.
Read more: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - The Power of the Man in The Shadows
During the Covid-19 hysteria and global shutdown, the drawbacks of living in a big city became more apparent.
Sure, cities can offer more career opportunities. Still, they are also more expensive, dirtier, have higher levels of crime, crowded, have fragile supply lines, and infrastructure that can get easily overwhelmed.
How do you view the value proposition of living in a big city today, given what is transpiring?
Read more: The Scary Truth About Living in Big Cities During the Turbulent Times Ahead
In the midst of the most terrible time in our history, even worse than Whitlam or WW2, our country is crying out for a Moses to emerge and lead us out of the wilderness. I rate our present plight as worse than WW2 because at least in that era we were all pulling together for the sake of Australia. This cannot be said today. Leading up to Federation we had such a man.
Some of you might have heard of a man named Jack Howe. He was a shearer whose legacy surrounds us today in all manner of strenuous physical undertakings. It is the navy blue singlet invented by and known as The Jackie Howe singlet which is seen on building sites, farms and at any manly outdoor undertaking or on the bodies of lesser men who want to look like real men.
Read more: When Nations were built by Hard Working Men with Backbones
Billed as the most in-depth interview yet, the New York Times published a very long piece that contains some rather startling admissions, claims, and defenses from Anthony Fauci, the face of lockdowns and shot mandates.
The author and interviewer is David Wallace-Wells, who before (and now after) Covid specialized in writing about climate change, invokes every predictable trope. So there was a sense in which this interview was a lovefest between the two. Still it netted some interesting results.
Here are my top-ten picks of Fauci quotes.
As there is an obvious love of cats among our community and in penance to my comments some weeks ago regarding my concerns in relation to protecting our native wildlife I thought I would just clear the air by doing an article about a breed of cats that I do love because they are no danger to wild life.. Or are they?
I have always worried about cats who pursue birds. But then there are ships cars and cats who can fly that bring down ships.
Some cats slumber while others hunt.
It is over two years since the passing of Prince Philip. It was something that in many ways symbolised the passing of the old guard. The handing over of our future to a group of people who have never learned that, without respect for the past, we will be given a future that none of us could ever have imagined or ever wanted.
It is a future that fills me with dread. It is also a future that we still have a chance to retrieve, if only we have the courage to fight for.
But these days, so many people don't really care.
Read more: The Passing of the Old Guard and the Birth of the Apathy Party
Teacups might seem like ordinary household items, but they are far from it. They are not just used to serve tea or coffee but hold a deeper meaning. Teacups have been an essential part of culture for centuries all around the world. The beauty of a teacup lies in its intricate design and delicate form, which has been perfected over time.
One of the most beautiful things about teacups is the attention to detail that goes into their design. They come in an array of shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns, each with its unique style. Many teacups are hand-crafted, with skilled artisans creating beautiful shapes and designs on the clay or porcelain. The artistry involved in creating a stunning teacup is mesmerizing, with designers paying attention to every detail, from the handle to the lip of the cup.
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