Night owls and Australians

general topics
41

Speaking of vast empties:

[Album] First desert run
8 Likes
42

I think you have any of the USians beat on vast there.

8 Likes
43

What up everybody? Checked in early: it’s only 7.45pm.

8 Likes
44

In the inimitable words of the late Steve Irwin:

“That’s gorgeous.”

2 Likes
45

In the dry sclerophyll forests where I do most of my work, the “topsoil” is usually only a couple of inches thick. Below that, it’s largely sand and sandstone.

That two-inch top layer contains the seedbank plus an incredibly intricate fungal community that we have very little understanding of beyond the fact that it’s essential to the survival of the forest. Remove the vegetation and the topsoil blows away within weeks; once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Sclerophyll forests don’t come back unless you’re willing to wait a few thousand years for the soil to reform.

Unsurprisingly, overly enthusiastic landclearing by farmers is something of an issue here.

11 Likes
46

We used to call it “The West” back when I lived in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio.

Unless you’re on a bicycle. Grant Wood was an Iowan:

7 Likes
47

MtEvans_MI.jpg780×439 48.9 KB

I’m biased.

8 Likes
48

Yeah, well, nobody ever said that Iowa was the Rocky Mountains. It isn’t even the Ko’olaus, my local mountain range. However, it also isn’t as flat its reputation.

4 Likes
49

No. Not as flat, which is why I said hilly. (ETA: my point was that my assessment of hill size isn’t prone to shifting whether I’m in a bike, in a car, or on foot.)

2 Likes
50

Back in ye early days of the web, there was a website dedicated to Midwestern Mountaineering.

Basically, it was a couple of guys who would dress up in full mountaineering gear (ropes, harness, ice axes, crampons, etc), drive to the highest point in Iowa or somesuch, then photograph themselves “traversing” a barbed wire fence and dealing with the perils of the rabbit-hole crevasse. :slight_smile:

13 Likes
51

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/5581aa2ae4b0001a3caa98da/1436930507710-5KKST9T27NP16TWKCMRW/North+by+Northwest.gif?content-type=image%2Fgif(image larger than 4 MB)

9 Likes
52
5 Likes
53

Hey!
How’s it hangin’ down under?

5 Likes
54

Have we done away with phrasing now? Because that’s gonna make things a lot harder.

6 Likes
55

It hangs up.

8 Likes
56

People are upset.

I hope they are OK but am afraid to ask.

2 Likes
57

Hello Australia! How have you been?

Turns out we’ll have lots of time to catch up seeing as how I am now too terrified to ever sleep again.

13 Likes
58

Good news! I’ve just found that drinking copious quantities of wine makes bad things seem more bearable.

I’m not sure if anyone else knows about this, so keep it between us Australians and you night owls.

8 Likes
59

I am listening to the news from Australia:

http://www.abc.net.au/res/streaming/audio/mp3/news_radio.pls

Of course, they are talking about the U.S. election.

2 Likes
60

Read something about this a while back. Hoping it catches on.

3 Likes