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Apparently Australians love their comic books so much that they’ve decided to start issuing license plates with images of DC superheroes, like Superman and Batman, printed on them. This means that the Australian motor vehicle department is officially the coolest on the planet! When are we going to get license plates that prominently display our geek love?
This poor little guy wandered into a woman’s yard in Australia due to it being a particularly hot day, so the woman decided to let him drink from the hose. Apparently koalas don’t understand how hoses work, because he gets more water on his arm than he does in his mouth!
-via BuzzFeed
Previously: Sam gets a Drink
Believe it or not, the First Lady of mystery and the Big Kahuna had something in common-they were both innovators in the sport of surfing! Agatha Christie, as it turns out, was one of the first Britons to stand up on a surfboard, and she sharpened her wave riding skills in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii as early as 1922. Oh what a sight she must have been braving the waves of Waikiki!
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In
a continent far far away, a young adventurer named Jacob French is walking
solo across the vast land of Australia.
It's an epic journey with a noble cause, but what made it truly Neatorama-worthy is that Jacob is doing so while wearing a Stormtrooper outfit:
Mr French, 20, started his ''Troopertrek'' on Monday and aims to arrive in Sydney by December. To achieve this, he will need to walk 35 to 40 kilometres a day, five days a week, while pushing his 50 -kilogram trolley of supplies and wearing his 10-kilogram suit, which he bought online.
''It does get very hot,'' he said. ''The helmet is not very well ventilated. It's like wearing a bucket on your head. It's not very flexible either, so I'm moving pretty slowly. I had to have it specially trimmed to make it less restrictive.
Farmers in Adelaide, Australia are having a bit of a rodent problem. The mouse population has grown to epic proportions due to recent heavy rains and booming crop yields–perfect conditions for an infestation. It’s so bad that one farmer, John Gregory, has caught the mice attacking his pigs.
Since he first saw them dining out on his prized stock he has been at his wit’s end about how to get rid of them, the (Adelaide) Sunday Mail reported.
Now, as a desperate last resort, he is covering his pigs at a farm property in Wynarka, 80 miles (130km) east of state capital Adelaide, in engine oil to protect them from the mice — with the rodents apparently turned off by the taste.
“The mouse problem got really bad in April,” the 50-year-old father of four said.
“We went away in the school holidays and when we came back we drove up the driveway and it looked like the ground was moving — there were hundreds of thousands of them.”
Mouse bait isn’t cheap, though, so farmers are utilizing homemade methods of pest control; aside from rubbing his pigs in engine oil, Gregory mixes confectioner’s sugar with cement. “The icing sugar attracts the mice, they eat it and then the cement clogs them up.”
Link |Image: Wikipedia Commons
(C) Antti Kemppainen
Sometimes nature is more amazing than whatever we can dream up. Though the photo above looks like some sort of special-effects shot from a movie about alien invasion on the Fourth of July, it’s really just a beach in Perth, Australia.
That’s where photographer Antti Kemppainen took this photo, back in January 2007. It was Australia Day and people gathered on the beach to see the fireworks show over the harbor. Meanwhile, lightning was exploding far away, over the ocean. And in the middle of it all, so bright that it would be seen despite the flashes of light, there was Comet McNaught.
Antti just took three photographs and composed them together in a single panorama, so you could see the 180-degree scene that the people sitting there were seeing that day.
Clara Tang is going down in the history books. She is currently the oldest woman on record ordered to stand trial for murder in Australia. She is 92.
After almost 70 years of marriage, Mrs Tang – suffering dementia – allegedly killed Ching Yung Tang in their plush sixth-floor unit in the Connaught apartment complex overlooking Sydney’s Hyde Park on March 12, 2010.
It is said that Clara believed her husband was trying to poison her. She allegedly confessed to the murder.
Is 92 too old to stand trial for murder? Is there a point where the cost of proceeding outweighs the need for societal justice?
Les Kennedy of the Sydney Morning Herald has more: Link
Parts of Australia are seeing the worst flooding in years. In Brisbane, a video crew paddles through a McDonalds outlet in a canoe. The song is “Fish Heads” {wiki} by Barnes and Barnes. -via the Presurfer
(YouTube link)
It’s already 2011 in Australia. They know how to celebrate Down Under! -via The Daily What
The Webb Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. It’s designed to resemble eel traps used by the Koori, a people native to New South Wales and Victoria. The bridge was constructed out of material recycled from a previous rail bridge of the same name.
via DVICE | Photo by Flickr user mugley used under Creative Commons license
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A tavern in Australia got a visit from what turned out to be a celebrity last weekend. Patrons took pictures and called friends to come over to see the koala who came in, presumably to get out of the rain.
Kevin Martin, who works at the Marlin Bar on Queensland’s Magnetic Island, was stunned a wild male koala wandered inside just after 8pm on Saturday.
“He sauntered up to the bar … I asked him for ID and he got all disgruntled … walked around the bar and then climbed up a pole and sulked,” Mr Martin said today.
“We have a big stuffed marlin on the roof and he just sat under the marlin in front of the speaker, listening to the music.
“He fell asleep.”
Rangers were called to take the koala back to his natural habitat. Magnetic Island is known for its large population of koalas. Link -via Fark
(Image credit: Flickr user Matt Hobbs)
Update: See a picture of the koala here.
Photo: Julian Robinson [Flickr]
The term “Boxing kangaroo” brought to my mind a cartoon image of a kangaroo with boxing gloves, but in the wild, these roo fights are less like boxing and more like brutal knife fights. Photographer Julian Robinson (aaardvaark on Flickr) observed:
Bouncing nimbly on powerful hind legs, sizing each other up, the two opponents launch sudden combinations, jabbing and grappling with lightning forelegs to gain the advantage, then lashing out with raking kicks – haymakers far more devastating than any man’s. Each razorsharp hind claw has the potential to disembowel the other animal. [...] Although far from unfamiliar with Australia’s Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Julian Robinson was quite unprepared for the spectacle that was to unravel before his eyes. He stumbled upon the slugfest in 2006 [...]
The dangerous forepaw claws are clearly visible in the first two shots above. “They keep their heads out of range as far as they can, with good reason,” explains Julian, adding: “You don’t see many roos standing up tall. These guys sure got as high as they could get.”
Environmental Graffiti has more: Link
Got a license for that toy gun? That’s right – if this new law is passed, all items that look like a gun will have to be licensed:
ANY ITEM that looks like a gun will have to be licensed under several changes to the Weapons Act being considered by the Queensland State Government.
Even guns made out of materials as unlikely as soap or plastic may have to be kept under lock and key if they could "reasonably be taken to be a weapon".
The draft act says an imitation is a "reasonable copy" of a weapon that is not capable of causing death or injury.
"If it looks like a gun and feels like a gun, it will have to be licensed," said a government source.
"We just want to know where they are."
Link (Photo: Mark Cranitch)
Photo: Rebecca A. Pyles
Scientists studying a species of Australian lizard called the yellow-bellied three-toed skink discovered that they’re seeing evolution in action: the lizard lays eggs on coasts but birth babies in mountains.
Evolutionary records shows that nearly a hundred reptile lineages have independently made the transition from egg-laying to live birth in the past, and today about 20 percent of all living snakes and lizards give birth to live young only.
But modern reptiles that have live young provide only a single snapshot on a long evolutionary time line, said study co-author James Stewart, a biologist at East Tennessee State University. The dual behavior of the yellow-bellied three-toed skink therefore offers scientists a rare opportunity.
"By studying differences among populations that are in different stages of this process, you can begin to put together what looks like the transition from one [birth style] to the other."
Link – Thanks Ethan!
Why do Aussies like to shorten words? That’s the research question that Nenagh Kemp of University of Tasmania (or Uni of Tassie) is asking:
"What we’d like to find out is how people feel when they’re listening to someone using those kinds of shortenings, compared to someone who’s not," doctor Nenagh Kemp told AFP from Hobart.
"It might tell us more about whether people think it makes you sound more friendly or more intelligent or more casual, and also differences."
Kemp said while abbreviations were present in all forms of English, they were more common in Australia, where tradesmen are "tradies", firemen are "firies", ambulance workers are "ambos" and service stations are "servos".
She believes that the shortenings are a way of conveying a sense of informality in a country known for its egalitarian ethos.
"I think it does set up a feeling of companionship or casualness and friendliness," she said.
"You might use that to say, ‘hey, I’m on the same level as you. I’m not being too pretentious."
Photo: RaboDirect Australia [Flickr]
Money doesn't grow on trees. Or does it? As a publicity stunt, RaboDirect of Australia sponsored a stunt where a tree in a park in Sydney is festooned with real $5 bills:
An Overview of Responses:
Lost Opportunity
In the early stages, almost 100 people passed the tree without noticing that anything was different. Even when a group of joggers noticed, they were too busy to stop. The first groups who eventually stopped to interact couldn’t believe it. They inspected the notes and took pictures, but left empty handed.Follow the Crowd
Only once one brave participant started taking the money, did momentum gather. Legitimised by the crowd, a wide spectrum of behaviour ensued.Frugality
Some took just one or two notes, satisfied by their modest and unexpected gains.Opportunist
Consumed by the fantasy, a group of braver participants made the most of the opportunity by filling their pockets.Employing Tools and Working Together
When the low hanging $5 notes were depleted, participants employed tools such as swinging coats and umbrellas, to help them reach higher branches. Teamwork also came into play as spectators formed human pyramids to reach the notes seemingly out of reach.Altruism
Perhaps the most comforting observation from the participants was that of altruism. Taller participants shared their earnings with shorter spectators, while one gentleman on identifying the undercover observation team, requested his money be donated to charity.
Link [with video clip] - via Marketing Alternatif
Wave Rock is an unusual landform in southwestern Australia. It looks like a giant wave of water that is about to crash. This feature was caused by the erosion of soft rock below the harder top. It measures 14 meters high and 110 meters long.
Link via The Presurfer | Photo by Flickr user tostao meravigliao used under Creative Commons license
Australia has streets that look oddly like USB cords strewn across the floor of a rain-damaged basement. It turns out the ends of the “cords” are actually buildings, and you can view the Google Map here.
Via Fogonazos
Red-collared lorikeets in Australia exhibit signs of drunkenness at the end of the rainy season, most likely brought on by drinking fermented nectar. They behave much the way humans do when inebriated only with a little less screeching and more flapping of wings. The only thing sadder than a drunken lorikeek is a lorikeet with a massive hangover from swilling plonk. Sweetened porridge and fresh fruit for breakfast the morning after sets them straight.
Link
Does this little guy look unfamiliar? It is a quoll, a rather strange but cute marsupial. There are six species of quoll all told but they are now considered endangered.
The Northern Quoll is the smallest of the six species and rarely grows longer than thirty centimeters in length. A peculiar feature of the Northern is that after mating the males invariably die and the females are left alone to raise the young. They live mostly on fruit and small vertebrates but despite their size and timid appearance they are happy to scavenge in campsites.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.
If you think you’ve got problem, just think of Australia and you’ll surely feel a bit better. See, they’ve got a little locust plague problem. How little? Oh, the size of Spain or so:
Millions of the quick-breeding and fast-moving insects have damaged crops and caused havoc in country towns by infesting parts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia – covering an area of approximately 500,000 square kilometres (190,000 square miles), roughly the size of Spain.
Hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops of early sown wheat and barley as well as pastures and gardens have been eaten by the “widespread infestation” of the native Australian pests, which break out annually and are the bane of the Australian agriculture industry.
However this year’s outbreak could potentially be worse than the devastating plague of 2004 – when locusts swept through eastern Australia damaging an area twice the size of England – because of recent rainfall across drought-affected inland Australia.
Link (Photo: Murty Colin)
The numbat {wiki} lives in western Australia and eats termites. To do this, they have specialized equipment. This video is from the BBC series Life of Mammals. -via Laelaps
David Striegl of Canberra, Australia was jogging on Mount Ainslie during his lunch break when he was assaulted by a kangaroo who punched him in the face! Striegl was found dazed and bleeding and was taken to a hospital by a passing motorist.
His only injury seemed to be some cuts and bruises, a black eye and a wounded ego with his colleagues making fun of his misfortune and giving him a new nickname – “Skippy”.
“The main thing they’ve been asking is whether I got one (punch) back on the roo,” he told the Australian Associated Press.
“I can’t even say that, because one punch and it put me to the floor.
“All my years of playing football and never a fight, and then I have a fight with a kangaroo.”
(image credit: EPA)
The Huntsman spider, common in Australia, aren’t as deadly as they look, but will bite if provoked. In this video, “Daddy” does his best to safely remove the arachnid from his home. His daughter has some choice words for him afterwards.
-via Bits & Pieces
Remember how envious you were of the lucky person who got the best job in the world? Ben Southall, who beat 35,000 job applicants to live in a luxury island home in Australia and blog about the Great Barrier Reef was stung this week by an Irukandji jellyfish.
Australia is well-known for its myriad deadly creatures, but the peanut-sized Irukandji remains rather mysterious. It is virtually impossible to see and is tiny enough to pass through nets meant to keep jellyfish away from popular swimming spots.
Its sting can lead to symptoms including shooting pains in the muscles and chest, vomiting, restlessness and anxiety. Some symptoms can last for more than a week, and the syndrome can occasionally lead to a rapid rise in blood pressure and heart failure.
In 2002, two tourists were killed in separate incidents after being stung by the tiny creatures off northeast Australia — the first recorded Irukandji fatalities.
Southall was taken to a hospital where he spent the night, but has recovered enough to enjoy the final week of his six month assignment. Link -via Buzzfeed
Sixteen percent of Australia’s greenhouse emissions come from agriculture, so scientists there are busy trying to solve the problem of … burping sheep?
"Ninety per cent of the methane that sheep and cattle and goats produce comes from the rumen, and that’s burped out," John Goopy from the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment told ABC.
"Not much goes behind – that’s horses."
The scientists in New South Wales have been conducting experiments in specially designed pens where they measure how much gas sheep emit by burping. They have found, from tests on 200 sheep so far, that the more they eat, the more they belch.
The scientists’ goal is to breed sheep that burp less: Link
A tree snail found in the tropical forest near Cairns, Australia has been named after the late Steve Irwin. Dr. John Stanisic of the Queensland Museum named it Crikey steveirwini.
The scientist described Crikey steveirwini as “a colourful snail, with swirling bands of creamy yellow, orange-brown and chocolate giving the shell an overall khaki appearance”.
“It was the khaki colour that immediately drew the connection to the late Crocodile Hunter,” Dr Stanisic said.
It looks like a lioins has jumped up on the hood of an open vehicle! Look closely, though -it’s an illusion, as the front of the car and the passenger area are separated by a sheet of glass. Invisible lion cages are the mane attraction Werribee Open Range Zoo, in Melbourne, Australia. VERY strong glass is used in place of other enclosure types more familiar in zoos – the result is stunning shots of the lions and a unique visitor experience.
This incredible Lions on the Edge exhibit, which puts you just inches from a lion’s jaws, is one of the biggest attractions at the zoo.
Kings of the jungle Tombo and Tonyi are joined by two lionesses in the exhibit. Though it has been open since 2006, the male lions were added just last month – leading to some startling photo opportunities.
Link – via cakeheadlovesevil
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by cakehead loves evil.
A 10-foot Great White Shark had been hooked already by a baited drum line off the coast of Queensland, Australia when it was attacked and bitten by a much bigger fish. Based on the bite marks, the attacker is presumed to be a 20-foot long Great White shark. Swimmers were warned away from the area of Stradbroke Island.
“That cannibal thing is what great whites do; they’ll eat anything, including their own kind,” Hugh Edwards, a local shark expert, told Australia’s 7 News. “It would be sensible not to swim in that area for a little while.”
Link -via Dave Barry’s Blog
The Kurilpa Bridge crossing the river into Brisbane, Australia is expected to carry around 36,000 pedestrians every week. The world’s longest solar foot bridge is 1,500 feet long and sports 84 solar panels. The panels produce all the energy the bridge needs for its LED lighting and sends 25% of the power generated back to the city’s electrical grid. Link -via Digg
