3236 is the postcode for Mount Sabine in Victoria, where the temperature is currently 15.2C
A handy saying for us Fahrenheit people to remember Celsius guidelines is:
“30 is hot,
20 is nice,
10 is chilly,
0 is ice.”
Or, double it and add 30 (approximately):
30°C = 90°F (approx)
20°C = 70°F (approx)
10°C = 50°F (approx)
0°C = 30°F (approx)
The exact conversion formula is: °F = (9/5)°C + 32.
The maximum temperature ever recorded in Australia is 50.7C, on 2 January 1960 at Oodnadatta Airport in SA. The minimum temperature is -23.0C, on 29 June 1994 at Charlotte Pass, NSW.
The Oodnadatta Track is one of the shorter and easier Outback Tracks. It is just over 600km long and does not require 4WD.
An over in cricket is a series of six balls bowled by the bowler from one end of the pitch to the batsman at the other end.
The history of cricket includes the first reference of the sport being played abroad in 1676, in Aleppo, Syria, by British residents.
In Carlo Collodi’s original Pinnochio, the title character kills the talking cricket for insulting him and is afterwards haunted by his ghost. The cricket did not get the name Jiminy or become a major character until the Disney cartoon.
The famous and iconic painting of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger was completed in 1537 and subsequently destroyed in the Whitehall Palace fire of 1698. A cartoon, or preparatory drawing, for the portrait is extant in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Paul Lawrence “Tank” Younger, born in 1928, was the first athlete from a historically black college (Grambling State) to play in the NFL. He played for ten years.
Off-game: is that phrase PC, ‘black college’?
AIUI the accepted term is HBCU, Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The word “tank” for an armored military vehicle comes from a British code word used during their development in World War I, intended to deter German suspicions by calling the large welded steel structures by an innocuous name.
Thanks, and, cool trivia about tanks.
The current Brad Pitt movie, Fury, uses the only operational German Tiger I tank in the world.
I believe the phrase “historically-black” is acceptable, similar to “Negro Leagues”.
The Tiger Balm Gardens in Hong Kong were a landscaped area of 3.2 ha that contained a pagoda and various other sculptures and scenes from Chinese history. The Gardens closed in 2004 and were redeveloped.
The historical scenes were fairly gruesome, with lots of beheadings and dismemberments. They horrified me when I saw them as a 12 year old.
Yuyuan Garden (or, Yu Garden) in Shanghai is a classical garden constructed in 1577. Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built as a place to enjoy tranquility.
It is personally both pleasing and satisfying that last year’s Grey Cup champions, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, have made it into the playoffs even though they lost their starting quarterback, Darian Durant, in mid-September to an injury and have gone through three possible replacements.
The current starter, Kerry Joseph, is 41 years old and came back out of retirement this past month. He led the Riders to a Grey Cup in 2007.
Australia and New Zealand compete annually in rugby for the Bledisloe Cup, named for Viscount Bledisloe, a former Governor-General of New Zealand, who donated it.
New Zealand is by far the more successful team. Australia last won the Cup in 2002.
And it’s still the United Negro College Fund and the Natl. Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, I believe (although these days the initials are used almost exclusively).
In play:
There have been three warships named Australia, two of which served in the Royal Australian Navy, and one of which served in the (British) Royal Navy.
Prior to federation and the formation of the Royal Australian Navy, each of the Australian colonies had its own naval forces. In 1901 New South Wales maintained two ships: HMCS Acheron and HMCS Avernus.
The name Avernus comes from the Greek word άορνος, meaning “without birds”, because according to tradition, all birds flying over the volcanic crater lake Avernus were destined to fall dead.
Book 6 of Virgil’s Aeneid contains the famous line facilius decensus Averno… “Easy is the descent to Avernus”.