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Joined 2 年前
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Cake day: 2023年6月11日

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  • I assume they’re referring to the fact that moniker of ‘the lucky country’ was originally intended as a perjorative:

    from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country

    The title has become a nickname for Australia[1] and is generally used favourably, although the origin of the phrase was negative in the context of the book.

    Horne’s intent in writing the book was to portray Australia’s climb to power and wealth based almost entirely on luck rather than the strength of its political or economic system, which Horne believed was “second rate”. In addition to political and economic weaknesses, he also lamented on the lack of innovation and ambition, as well as a philistinism in the absence of art, among the Australian population, viewed by Horne as being complacent and indifferent to intellectual matters. He also commented on matters relating to Australian puritanism, as well as conservatism, particularly in relation to censorship and politics.



  • Both have been used as alternative names for Brisbane, I couldn’t tell you if one is better than the other, seems like it’s disputed:

    Part of the Brisbane conurbation is located on traditional indigenous land known also as Meanjin, Meaanjin, Maganjin or Magandjin amongst other spellings.[32] There is a difference of opinion between local traditional owners over the spelling, provenance and pronunciation of indigenous names for Brisbane.[33] Tom Petrie in 1901 stated that the name Meeannjin referred to the area that Brisbane CBD now straddles. Some sources state that the name means ‘place shaped as a spike’ or ‘the spearhead’ referencing the shape of the Brisbane River along the area of the Brisbane CBD.[34][35][36][37] A contemporary Turrbal organisation has also suggested it means ‘the place of the blue water lilies’.[38] Local Elder Gaja Kerry Charlton posits that Meanjin is based on a European understanding of ‘spike’, and that the phonetically similar Yagara name Magandjin — after the native tulipwood trees (magan) at Gardens Point — is a more accurate and appropriate Aboriginal name for Brisbane.[39]

    From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane#Toponymy







  • The 7% difference in insolation between perihelion and ahelion (a figure I’ve seen mentioned in multiple places) seems like it would be significant for sunburn and skin cancer, at least at the population level.

    I found an ABC article that doesn’t specifically say the 7% figure, but mentions perihelion as a factor in 10% higher UV in Australia. It downplays the role that extra 10% plays in our melanoma rates, though, and I suppose that’s fair, I don’t think anyone’s getting caught out by burning 10% faster, because they would have gone inside 10% sooner if they had known, haha

    Together, Professor Whiteman says, these factors mean Australia’s UV is “probably about 10 per cent higher on average” than the equivalent latitude in the Northern Hemisphere.

    “That would mean for people living in Brisbane it is higher than for people living in Miami in the US, and for people in Melbourne, it’s higher than for people living in Athens, Greece.”

    While a 10 per cent increase in UV is significant, and might account for that sting in our summer sun, reasons for Australia’s high melanoma rates are more lifestyle-related, he says.

    source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-02-04/sun-summer-uv-sunburn-skin-cancer-australia-ozone-layer/104870806





  • The sun isn’t always a fixed distance from earth. It’s closest in January

    Forgive me if I’m just missing a joke, but it’s not about the distance, it’s about the angle. In the summer the angle means the days are longer, and sunlight travels through less atmosphere (and is therefore less attenuated) before it reaches you and gives you sunburn.