KingAl on 14/1/2006 at 13:04
You're trying to intimidate the guy and haven't even mentioned drop-bears or hoop-snakes. And you call yourselves Aussies! (Having already been here for a while, he's probably worked out we don't ride kangaroos)
As far as I know, you're pretty unlikely to die from Red-back bites, it just messes with your nervous system. I'm led to believe that through the wonders of modern transport we've managed to accidently import a few dangerous species like the white-tailed spider (I don't think its a native...), it doesn't kill, just gives you rashes and ulcers and can cause the skin around the bite to break down (rarely) but there's no prevention as far as I know so it can be nasty. Although everyone's moved on from this already.
Oh, and one requirement to be Australian is to become a 'happy little Vegemite'.
EDIT: That SMH story is a classic. Huntsmans are pretty harmless, but they look like the stereotyped tarantula, all fat and hairy.
GWD on 16/1/2006 at 06:54
I think Drop-bears and Yowies and Bunyips have been proffered many times before, and people now know they're just different psychedelic descriptions of those fucking wilderness guys in really badly made koala suits with donation buckets...:bored:
That redback pic contains a legless lizard, not a snake, by the way - and the L.L. is about the size of the legged kind, known as skinks.:thumb:
Don't get me started about white tails - My backyard is apparently full of them, and I hadn't realised this until I went out to hang some laundry in thongs (a.k.a. flip-flops, and yes, I can see the expressions on those northern american of you that may have envisioned initially a threadbare pair of womens underwear...) to look down and see one of the bastards a few inches away from my nearly naked foot:wot: I've seen a few more since...I don't go out there in anything less than industrial steel-capped boots now...
Australia needs a new folk-killer-mythic-animal to scare visitors to this deadly nation of ours... Man-eating Cane Toads, perhaps??? :laff:
GWD, a.k.a. the Schlock-o-bile Hunter...
Shug on 16/1/2006 at 14:49
HAHA SACKED
I guess you won't be too keen on a coast trip after shenanigans itt scots :D
Scots Taffer on 17/1/2006 at 06:29
No bother... to quote most Australians: "You'll be alright."
I'm going to the Gold Coast next month actually for a wedding, so that'll be fun. It's on the beach too. So hopefully we might gets snakes, sharks and spiders all in one day. :cool:
Convict on 17/1/2006 at 08:12
It's she'll be right! Get with the sexist program! :mad:
Scots Taffer on 24/1/2006 at 06:48
Okay, so I'm on a bit of a high because of a triple win in the last week:
- I met Shug and that was awesome (sans puking)
- I built my new NASA supercomputer (AMD 64 3200+, 2G RAM, 7800GT) and it worked first time. My (
http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/hardware/peripherals/0,39023417,39215733-4,00.htm) BenQ 19" flatscreen is also performing well. It wasn't the best in the 19" selection, but the panels with the 16.7m colours were a bit out of my price range. It's the best I could get in a bit of fix timewise, and I'm happy with it - no real tearing evident on CoD2 @ 1280x1024 / 70Hz / Max everything detail.
- Today went swimmingly!
For those not in the know (i.e. anyone other than my family, Shug and my wife), I had my first interview in Australia for a full-time permanent job related to my chosen field of business (specifically, OR - Operational Research - & Management Consultancy). I have another tomorrow for a job that looks even better than this one, but I couldn't believe the speed and efficiency of the application process. I applied for the first position just before the deadline on a Friday and had an interview by the next Monday, and I applied for another one on Thursday and got a phonecall first thing on Friday morning*.
* Yes, this is the friday AFTER the TTLG Brisbane Meet, which meant that when the phone rang and I snapped awake, some sort of supernatural unknown back-up power kicked in that kept me cogent and focused enough to arrange the interview before I promptly fell back into the black abyss of too much rum in too short a fucking time period.
I had the interview this morning. I thought it went extremely well and the position actually ended off coming out a lot better than it read on the online job ad, hence I was feeling quite chuffed. Then they called me in the afternoon to tell me that they were contacting my references, they were very impressed and once I completed a (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2781) personality indicator test that (basically) I would be offered the job.
Why is this so great? Well, let's offer a contrast...
If I had an interview back home, my day would have been a little bit different. I would've had to have gotten up at five am, roughly five hours before my interview because if I was in a similar situation with no access to a car then I'd be forced to rely on the unbearable public transport. Given that it is January back home, that's even doubly so ... "sorry, no trains there's some leaves on the track", or the buses being cancelled because one of the drivers has a cold. Not to mention if I was lucky enough to hitch a ride, I'd have to be ready with exact fare and hell mend me if I didn't know EXACTLY which stop I wanted because those grumpy fuckers let you know where you are by kicking your arse out of the moving vehicle.
This is without commenting on the notion of a job application that involved a CV and covering letter moving swiftly into the interview stage. In Britain, it is customary to treat the qualified graduates of the country like monkeys in a circus, making us do the proverbial three-rings of burning fire: aptitude tests, team-building exercises, and blood/urine testing (no SHIT this actually happen to a friend of mine at a BP interview).
When I actually arrive at the place of interview, I'd usually have the pleasure of facing either jumped-up nazi fuckwit HR managers who actually think that they would be my boss and act as if they have half a clue as to what you're capable of, or the ubiquitous middle-aged depressed mid-life-crises general managers whose sole dream in life is to pay off their mortgage and hate anyone who actually did a gap year or went travelling before starting a job. I'd have to convince them through a series of long and boring questions that I was actually suitable for the job and then wait about two weeks for a reply - if I ever got one (note: this is not an unsubstantiated comment, out of about 20 job applications I made last year I heard back from roughly 5 as to the final outcome, the rest were rudely silent).
Yes,
quite different! So yayness abounds basically. :cool:
Shug on 24/1/2006 at 06:55
Quote Posted by Scots_Taffer
For those not in the know (i.e. anyone other than my family, Shug and my wife),
Bit of tautology there am i rite
Shadowcat on 24/1/2006 at 11:26
Quote Posted by tungsten
Are these here also Australian? I've heard they're poisonous and can kill you if you're unlucky...
...and if you survive that, you have the millipede to contend with.
