Happy New Year. What a start to the year, and aren't we, lucky living where we are? The kind fates that directed us here certainly knew what they were doing. And don't you feel proud at how the public has rallied to help the less fortunate. Shows what a real community is. We've had our own death in this area, with a drowning when a foolhardy driver defied the “Road Closed” sign at the junction of the Aramac Road and the Flinders Highway. Police are investigating.Which leads me into winners of this year's Darwin Awards. For those who may not know, these awards are awarded posthumously to people who have removed themselves from the gene pool by the most bizzare manner.2010 DARWIN AWARDSEighth Place: In Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of water after squeezing head first through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to retrieve his car keys. Seventh Place: A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he ran" , accidentally jogged off a 100-foot high cliff on his daily run. Sixth Place: While at the beach , Daniel Jones , 21 , dug an 8 foot hole for protection from the wind and had been sitting in a beach chair at the bottom , when it collapsed , burying him beneath 5 feet of sand. People on the beach used their hands and shovels trying to get him out but could not reach him. It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost an hour to free him. Jones was pronounced dead at a hospital. Fifth Place: Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed as he fell through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burglarizing. Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth to keep his hands free rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor. Fourth Place :Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed as he won a bet with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with four bullets into his mouth and pull the trigger. Third Place: After stepping around a marked police patrol car parked at the front door , a man walked into H&J Leather & Firearms intent on robbing the store. The shop was full of customers and a uniformed officer was standing at the counter. Upon seeing the officer, the would-be robber announced a hold-up and fired a few wild shots from a target pistol. The officer and a clerk promptly returned fire, and several customers also drew their guns and fired. The robber was pronounced dead at the scene by Paramedics. Crime scene investigators located 47 expended cartridge cases in the shop. The subsequent autopsy revealed 23 gunshot wounds. Ballistics identified rounds from 7 different weapons. No one else was hurt. Second Place: Paul Stiller, 47, and his wife Bonnie were bored just driving around at 2 A.M. So they lit a quarter stick of dynamite to toss out the window to see what would happen. Apparently they failed to notice that the window was closed. AND THE WINNER IS....Zookeeper Friedrich Riesfeldt (Paderborn, Germany) fed his constipated elephant 22 doses of animal laxative and more than a bushel of berries, figs and prunes before the plugged-up pachyderm finally got relief. Investigators say ill-fated Friedrich, 46, was attempting to give the ailing elephant an olive oil enema when the relieved beast unloaded. The sheer force of the elephants unexpected defecation knocked Mr. Riesfeldt to the ground where he struck his head on a rock as the elephant continued to evacuate 200 pounds of dung on top of him. It seems to be just one of those freak accidents that proves... ‘Shit happens.'
For those of you not familiar with the Darwin Awards, they are

Australia Day, 2011.Last week I posted the “in” words for 2010. It seems to be the season for language discussions. Seems that our Ausie slang is losing its flavour in USA. Some words have been raising eyebrows in the states, are seen as offensive to some sections over there. “Dunny” and “sheila” are seen as particularly undesirable language to use in public. After years of patroling secondary school corridors during breaks I agree that some words should be removed from our vocabulary. It seems I am not alone, the Lake Superior State University is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, along the U.S./Canada international border has published the following list of banished words, and the reasons banishment.. VIRAL:"This linguistic disease of a term must be quarantined." Kuahmel Allah, Los Angeles, Calif."Events, photographs, written pieces and even occasional videos that attracted a great deal of attention once were simply highly publicized, repeated in news broadcasts, and talked about for a few days. Now, however, it is no longer enough to give such offerings their 15 minutes of fame, but they must be declared to 'go viral.' As a result, any mindless stunt or vapid bit of writing is sent by its creators whirling around the Internet and, once whirled, its creators declare it (trumpets here) 'viral!' Enough already! If anything is to be declared worthy enough to 'go viral,' clearly it should be the LSSU Banished Words list for 2011!" Lawrence Mickel, Coventry, Conn. EPIC :"Anything that this word describes in popular over-usage is rarely ever 'epic' in the traditional sense of being heroic, majestic, or just plain awe-inspiring." Mel F., Dallas, Tex. "Standards for using 'epic' are so low, even 'awesome' is embarrassed." Mike of Kettering, Ohio. FAIL:One nominator says, "what originally may have been a term for a stockbroker's default is now abused by today's youth as virtually any kind of 'failure.' Whether it is someone tripping, a car accident, a costumed character scaring the living daylights out a kid, or just a poor choice in fashion, these people drive me crazy thinking that anything that is a mistake is a 'fail.' They fail proper language!" "Fail is not a noun. It is not an adjective. It is a verb. If this word is not banned, then this entire word banishment system is full of FAIL. (Now doesn't that just sound silly?)" Daniel of Carrollton, Georgia. WOW FACTOR :"This buzzword is served up with a heaping of cliché factor and a side order of irritation. But the lemmings from cable-TV cooking, whatever design and fashion shows keep dishing it out. I miss the old days when 'factor' was only on the math-and-science menu." Dan Muldoon, Omaha, Neb. A-HA MOMENT: "All this means is a point at which you understand something or something becomes clearer. Why can't you just say that?" Audrey Mayo, Killeen, Tex. BACK STORY :"This should be on the list of words that don't need to exist because a perfectly good word has been used for years. In this case, the word is 'history,' or, for those who must be weaned, 'story.'" Jeff Williams, Sherwood, Ariz. BFF :"These chicks call each other BFF (Best Friends Forever) and it lasts about 10 minutes. Now there's BFFA (Best Friends For Awhile), which makes more sense." Kate Rabe Forgach, Ft. Collins, Colo. MAN UP :"A stupid phrase when directed at men. Even more stupid when directed at a woman, as in 'Alexis, you need to man up and join that Pilates class!'" Sherry Edwards, Clarkston, Mich. "Another case of 'verbing' a noun and ending with a preposition that goes nowhere. Not only that, the phrase is insulting, especially when voiced by a female, who'd never think to say, 'Woman up!'" Aunt Shecky, East Greenbush, NY. . REFUDIATE:"Adding this word to the English language simply because a part-time politician lacks a spell checker on her cell phone is an action that needs to be repudiated." Dale Humphreys, Muskegon, Mich. MAMA GRIZZLIES:"Unless you are referring to a scientific study of Ursus arctos horribilis , this analogy of right-wing female politicians should rest in peace." Mark Carlson, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE "Aren't all Americans people? Every political speech refers to the 'American' people as if simply saying 'Americans' (or 'people') is not enough." Deb Faust, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. I'M JUST SAYIN' "'A phrase used to diffuse any ill feelings caused by a preceded remark,' according to the Urban Dictionary. Do we really need a qualifier at the end of every sentence? FACEBOOK / GOOGLE as verbs :"Facebook is a great, addicting website. Google is a great search engine. However, their use as verbs causes some deep problems. As bad as they are, the trend can only get worse, i.e. 'I'm going to Twitter a few people, then Yahoo the movie listings and maybe Amazon a book or two." Jordan of Waterloo, Ont.LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST :"It's an absurdity followed by a redundancy. First, things are full or they're not; there is no fullest. Second, 'live life' is redundant. Finally, the expression is nauseatingly overused. What's wrong with enjoying life fully or completely? The phrase makes me gag. I'm surprised it hasn't appeared on the list before." Sylvia Hall, Williamsport, Penn.
I'm sure you all have a few words to add to this list? Technology is certainly moving our language forward.Hope you have a really AUSTRALIAN Holiday on Wednesday.

18th January
The floods didn’t deter the Fire Brigade’s training session on the weekend. A motivated group of members spent Saturday working to improve skills on handling their new equipment. Nice to see non-members showing some interest too.
A group of motor cyclists made an emergency stop, for repairs to a bike, at the Hotel and enjoyed themselves so much that they stayed the night . They plan to bring a larger group next trip. It is always great when people appreciate the services and hospitality offered, isn’t it?
The weather has been perfect for catching up with a bit of reading and, as usual the library had plenty of new reading in stock. I don’t know if you have noticed the new vocabulary which is filtering into the new novels? The following article will explain how this is happening. It is really interesting to go back to a book published even twenty years ago and see how the language has changed. You will note the same changes in television shows of the same era.
“App” voted 2010 word of the year by the American Dialect Society (UPDATED)
WYNDHAM GRAND HOTEL, PITTSBURGH—JAN. 7—In its 21st annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted “app” (noun, an abbreviated form of application, a software program for a computer or phone operating system) as the word of the year for 2010. (Read the entire press release.) UPDATE: Photos from the event.)Presiding at the Jan. 7 voting session were ADS Executive Secretary Allan Metcalf of MacMurray College, and Ben Zimmer, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society and executive producer of VisualThesaurus.com. Zimmer is also the “On Language” columnist for the New York Times Magazine.“App has been around for ages, but with millions of dollars of marketing muscle behind the slogan ‘There’s an app for that,’ plus the arrival of ‘app stores’ for a wide spectrum of operating systems for phones and computers, app really exploded in the last 12 months,” Zimmer said. “One of the most convincing arguments from the voting floor was from a woman who said that even her grandmother had heard of it.”Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as “vocabulary item”—not just words but phrases. The words or phrases do not have to be brand-new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year, in the manner of Time magazine’s Person of the Year. The vote is the longest-running such vote anywhere, the only one not tied to commercial interests, and the word-of-the-year event up to which all others lead. It is fully informed by the members’ expertise in the study of words, but it is far from a solemn occasion. Members in the 121-year-old organization include linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, grammarians, historians, researchers, writers, authors, editors, professors, university students, and independent scholars. In conducting the vote, they act in fun and do not pretend to be officially inducting words into the English language. Instead they are highlighting that language change is normal, ongoing, and entertaining.
English—or should I say Amlish—is truly a dynamic language.Till next week, be safe..
　
　

11th January

I guess I was a little ahead of myself last week. 20011 (?) Anyway, I do hope you are all safe and well. At the moment I’m listening to the update on the Toowoomba devastation. We drove to Charters Towers yesterday to get supplies and the water along the sides of the highway made me very uneasy, especially as the clouds were threatening on all sides. The road is broken in places and you can see the force of the water as it swept grass and branches before it. I was glad to get home again, until I heard the news. The scenes were horrendous.
I feel for those who are in the path of all this water, how are they managing to cope as they wait to see what is going to hit them? And those who have already been flooded—what will they find when they are finally able to return to their homes? Those who have lost everything in floods, fire or cyclones eventually realise that possessions are only that, but when you first lose everything it is hard to handle. Having lost our possessions in Cyclone Tracy I understand their loss. So I know that we do eventually recover from the loss, though I still miss some little pieces of my past—school photos, etc., which are irreplaceable.
What does soften the blow somewhat, is the unselfish caring shown by people, strangers who step in to help. It is typical of country people, who are used to hardship, to step in and lend a hand. Already donations are pouring in, and offers of assistance from people who want to help. This is a memory these flood victims will carry with them forever. Hopefully our Progress Association will offer some assistance towards helping our fellow Queenslanders.
The loss of livestock must be enormous too. For those that survive the floods, what fodder will they have, once the water recedes? The wet has extended as far as Tasmania but Queensland is suffering its worst floods. Maybe it is time to re think the dam situation in this state?
Undoubtedly, we will all eventually suffer from the loss of produce and grumble about prices, but it is the producers who will feel this disaster for a long time to come. Some will not survive. I feel for you all, it is not the start of 2011 I wished for.
Until next week...
　
　

Happy 20011.
New year comes every year, but 2011 is a special year : It will start with 1/1/11 & after 10 days, 11/1/11. After 10 months, 1/11/11 & after 10 months & 10 days, it will be 11/11/11. Guess some maths major had time on his hands?
Sort of along the same lines. Did you know that the dates in 1993 matched the days in 2010? Does that mean that 1994 calendar will match 2011? Duh! I just checked and—yes it does. Knew I’d saved these diaries for something.I hope the new year brings good things to us all. At last the sun is shining and life is starting to get back to normal here, at least. What a devastating time Queensland has had. I hope none of you readers have suffered the hardships those further south have suffered.
I rang to find how our former Police Officer, Lynda Collin (nee Shand) and her husband Wayne were doing and am pleased to report that they are not in the flood zone. I imagine, though, they are both pretty busy with assisting those effected in their area.
During the holidays the grass around town has jumped up. Congratulations to our local Fieries for continuing to maintain the appearance of the town and give the town a positive image.
The locals are starting to trickle back from holidays away as work returns to normal. Unfortunately, along with the rain there has been plenty of problems with communications. The internet (satellite) keeps dropping out and I have to try and work around the problems. There has been no use trying to do anything until the weather settles. So many more are using the internet now that there are periods when overload occurs. Like when we were all sending those photos of the floods off to our friends and clogging the system. I’ve also noticed it happens on special occasions and special days when the reception is extra slow. It will be interesting to see what the solution to this will be. If the airways are already clogged I wonder how the Broadband cable will cope. And did those birds that dropped from the sky in USA fly into a clogged satellite path???
Have a great week. Don’t forget Fari returns on Wednesday 19th.
　
　

Before Christmas Break

And the rain has moved on! Isn’t it wonderful to finally wake up to sunshine? The last storm certainly dumped us a bonus before it moved towards the coast. We got 3 inches Friday night. One of the down sides of progress was that those on the south side of the paved part of Torrens Street had about 4 inches flooding through the yard. Up side is that it washed all the nasties away from the house.
Our friendly fish venders who travel through here regularly were bogged on the Aramac road and stranded all night. Luckily they had their van or it would have been pretty uncomfortable. Bet they were glad when morning, and rescue, arrived, though.
How nice it is to see the Christmas lights around the town. Especially worth mentioning are those on the Police Station. It gives the town a welcome feel to see them flickering for the girls. Hope Santa is good to them. This will probably for the last Christmas as an official building.
The continuing debate about who is smarter—feline or canine?
A Smart Cat Story on today’s news.
A quick-thinking pussycat has saved his owners' house after a fire broke out in the kitchen while they were Christmas shopping.
Five-year-old Pepper has been hailed a hero for his actions - he opened a window, which allowed smoke to escape and alerted neighbours, who contacted firefighters and stopped the fire spreading to the rest of the house.
The cat had learnt to open windows so he could let himself out at night. He would hop on a kitchen bench and turn the latch with his paw.
Owner Sharon White, of Totnes in Devon, said Pepper showed off his window-opening skills at a dinner party.
"Everyone was applauding him, I think it spurred him on," she said.
"He can climb back in through the window by jumping diagonally on to the ledge as well so he really does come and go as he pleases.
"Pepper is still a bit spooked by the ordeal but is still managing to eat plenty of food."
The West Australian December 14, 2010, 7:31 am

8th December.
Tuesday a group of concerned locals attended the meeting with the Police officials to hear how discussions re closure of the Torrens Creek’s Police Station. Although the discussion is still open, and emails regarding local needs and concerns are encouraged, it is anticipated that the station will eventually close. As it was pointed out, the station was established when there was a vastly different transport system. Now, with cars and four wheel drives so much quicker than the horse, it is seen to be more necessary to have personnel out in the field. That , combined with the availability of official sites on the internet where registration, etc. can be handled, release officers for more intensive road patrol, and other duties.
Seems another page of our history turns.
Speaking of history. Here are some interesting dates for this week:
Monday 6th - William Arnott, biscuit manufacturer was born 1827,
Tuesday 7th— Sir Robert Lucas Tooth, brewer was born 1844. Interesting the brewer not the biscuit manufacturer got knighted, I think.
Wednesday 8th— the first Australian harvest was made in 1789.
Thursday 9th— “Breaker” Morant born in England 1864.
former Prime Minister born in Bordertown 1929.
Friday 10th— Queensland declared a separate colony in 1859.
Monday 13th—the first stage appearance of Dame Edna Everage in Melbourne, 1955