Australia, Good and Bad

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Try finding any academic subject beyond 6th grade.... What's "The Skinner" like?



So both Imperial and Metric? Well I don't know Imperial all that well, but at least I wouldn't be needing to work out math in Cubits and Omers...



Really? Well I don't plan to be a poacher, feeding them in the wild is cool with me. Where do the cockatiels live mainly? Do you have any on the east coast?

Awesome, if you like action-packed space-opera packed with blood-curdling aliens and
uber-violent...er, violence, wrapped around a freshly flayed 'hard' sci-fi skeleton.


I was pointing out the need for having 2 sets of spanners if you wanted to dismantle a car
or lawn-mower really.


Anybody that starts feeding wild animals here,
quickly develops a large following of fearless free-loaders.Right there on the porch!
You don't know that in the wild cockatiels are nomadic?
Flocks of birds fly past my house all the time.I can't identify most of them, but i love all of them.
Especially the (bright green and multi-coloured) ones.
Hmm...i might actually set up a feeding area and see what gets attracted.
I know Magpies are easy.

Ah, so I guess "skinner" is fairly descriptive...



Tools up here are both English and Metric as well. Don't know about the applications, but occasionally you find things which require metric sizes - not a whole lot though. We don't have quite the "Mars rover" situation you have down there.



They must also trust you to some extent to before they take your food. My birds always come to me when it's meal time, even if someone else offers. Do they stay around with you some after the food is gone?

What's the situation on Homeschooling down there? Is there anything similar to the GED?

A couple of years ago, there was an Australian reality show called "Nerds F.C.", where F.C. stands for Football Club (football being what we call soccer in the US). Basically, they got together a group of nerds (most seemed characteristically Aspie, but all were very out-of-shape nerds) and put them through a gruelling athletic program to put together a nerd's football team that played against a professional team at the end of the season. They actually scored a goal in the game, which made them feel victorious.

Only one goal? Poor guys. Well they were against a pro team.

They actually got two goals--one that they scored themselves, and another when the professional team accidentally kicked the ball into their own net.

On the first episode, the Nerds played against Australia's national women's team, and got whipped. It was brutal.

They were.... distracted.

What's education like?

I heard you have a 100% literate population. Is that correct?

yeah, I'm back from the beach now.

Hi, I'm from Melbourne (not Florida, the other one - lol).

I have only read pages 1 & 6-7 so apologies if anything is duplicated.

Homeschooling is very rare (I don't know of anyone that does it). Government schools are generally good but some say lack discipline and they do not teach any religion or values - strictly secular. About 1/3rd of kids go to private schools, where standards are higher and resources better. The best government school in Melbourne is Melbourne High School, also Mount Waverley College. I think they have web sites (they will have domains like ????.vic.edu.au). The best private schools are Scotch College http://www.scotch.vic.edu.au and Melbourne Grammar http://www.mgs.vic.edu.au

I grew up under the "White Australia Policy". We had pressure from the USA to drop it during the Vietnam war because black US soldiers were not allowed in the country for R&R. A lot of Australians have racist tendancies, but these are not made public. We now have had a lot of migration from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, China, Pacific Islands and take in refugees from Africa. Most recent immigrants are in the larger cities (Melbourne and Sydney) which are genuinely "multicultural". Regional cities are very much WASP and there is more underlying (but subtle) racism, however Australians pride themselves on giving everyone a "fair go" and being friendly.

Australians like to romanticise about "the bush" and feel an afinity for it, but the fact is about 90% live on the east coast and spend very little time if any in the "bush" and have never seen the "outback".

The climate and the country can be quite harsh (hot, droughts, fires, floods) But the climate on the east coast is quite comfortable, even though we get a few days >40C. Inland it can be consistently hot in summer without relief for weeks. Early poets like Henry Lawson wrote as if the Bush was something hostile to be battled with. A later generation ("Banjo" Patterson) romanticised the bush. The tropics have more "bitey" things than everywhere else. Snakes are not a problem, just a phobia. More people die from lightning strike than snakebite. Crocodiles, sea wasps and other nasties are only in the far North Tropics. I camp and hunt on the Murray River a fair bit and while you are aware of the possibilities of snakes (especially when duck hunting) they are not a real worry.

I feel we are over regulated and have less freedoms than the USA (we have very strict gun control for example, and you seem to need a licence for everything). However paradoxically we are (I think) policed much less than you. Our police (Victoria) are by comparison (to what Ticker has said about Arizona) quite laid back and relaxed about most stuff.

Our Commonwealth (Federal) government tries are all opportunities to take power away from the States. However each States (I think) has different characters. Victoria (where I am) is called by other States the "cotton wool State" - because our government wants to stop you doing anything fun, like driving a 4WD on the beach, because it could be more risky than driving on the road, and like making a law that says you MUST wear a life jacket at all times while on a small boat, regardless of circumstances).

NSW (Sydney) is the largest State and has more greenies and homosexuals than any other. Queensland (where Quatermass is) is quite laid back on the coast (tropical) and has very large cattle stations (ranches) inland and is quite conservative. Western Australia is very resource rich (mining) and I think has a stronger "pioneer" and strong development attitude. 30 or so years ago there was a push by some for WA to cecede. South Australia is relatively small population-wise and grows our best wine and is more "liberal". IMHO Adelaide is the best Capital. It is large enough to have everything, but small enough that its easy to get around.

Tasmania is the smallest State and has the coldest climate. Its mostly rural and I would guess (without looking it up) has lowest per capital income and literacy. I know people who have moved there in retirement and younger people move to the other States to get work.

We mostly don't outwardly show much patriotism. Hardly anyone flies the Australian Flag (except McDonalds - lol) and about 30 years ago we changed our National Anthem and most people still don't know the words (which I think is good - lol). However we are proud of Australia and this shows most publicly in ANZAC day (rememberance of the Gallipoli Landing in WW1 in particular and all Aussie sacrifices in general).

We have a love/hate relationship with Pommies (English), which no other former Colony seems to have. We like poking fun (in a friendly way) at the English and there is nothing better than beating them at any and all sports.

Any questions?

PS - some people like to promote the idea that kangaroos are endangered, but the reality is there are more of them now than when white man arrived and they can be in plague proportions and a real pest to farmers.

Hey Bazza, welcome back.

Tassie actually has a high standard of education but there aren't the business or job opportunities because the economy is so small. Nice place to live if you don't want hot weather or need a high income and whatever. Saying that, there are people who earn well, but not so many opportunities as on the mainland.

Launceston Grammar is one of Australia's top schools and is the oldest private school in Australia.

Health system in Tas is not so good because of problems getting enough good doctors and enough funding - Tassie relies heavily on being subsidised by the other states.

Good: box jellyfish
Bad: there are people here

Da best ting about Australia is dey love their cricket so i might joined dem as im a cricket lover aswell.

Thanks for responding.



Do you know if homeschooling is illegal? I don't plan on having a family, but if I did it would be nice to know.



What does multicultural mean anyway? I had heard that around 96% of the population was white, so what does it mean to be multicultural? Random House says:

mul·ti·cul·tur·al (mulÅt" kulÆchÃr Ãl, mulÅt#-), adj.
of, pertaining to, or representing several different cultures or cultural elements: a multicultural society.
[1940–45; MULTI- + CULTURAL]

How would Australia represent multiple cultures and which cultures are represented?




I've only been to a few state parks here in the US as well as the mountains in Colorado. Most of Americans today don't really see much of nature, just concrete, glass, and steel. Toilet paper is about as close to nature as they get.



Snakes up here are quite afraid of people and usually don't bother anyone. Same there then?



Do you have freedom of speech in Australia? Are you allowed to criticize the government without going to jail? Can the press make fun of the leaders without legal action? Does the government interfere with the activity of Churches?



Overwhelming safety laws. ;p



Queensland is conservative in economics or in ethical values? Brisbane is close to NSW, are there any similarities due to geography in the demographics? What percentage of Queensland is Christian?



Like I'll need to move to find work. Minnesota sucks for finding work.



McDonald's is a multicultural, pickle throwing, McLeech. They're proud to take your money....

...Do you ever see bumper stickers saying "we support our troops"? Here in America it means the military is suppose to provide free college education without going to war when there's a war...




Makes sense since Australia was a prison colony, why wouldn't there be some hostility with the people who dumped them?



What is available to learn about Aborigines and their mythology?



That's funny. Did you hear that polar bears are being discussed as to whether they should be considered endangered by 2015 or not because "the ice caps are melting..."? XD

Just don't come to Murray Bridge.