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Post by Trevor on Oct 1, 2019 11:32:08 GMT
Nothing to say, just wanted to let you know I'm still here.
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Post by Dave Miller on Oct 1, 2019 17:23:28 GMT
Delighted to hear it, Trevor!
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 1, 2019 20:40:11 GMT
Likewise, Trevor! Thanks for opening the month's thread. A tradition at my newspaper is to present long-serving drudges (the paper's term for all its workers, including the bosses) with their own "front page" upon departure. When I retired a couple of weeks ago, I was presented with the attached. (I didn't get to proof it; there are one or two items I'd have changed, but these "front pages" are always prepared in secret.) It will appear a tad fuzzy because I had to reduce a too-large PDF (high-resolution A3) to a smaller JPG file, but it should be readable. The redaction in the "Wategoes" insert (which is likely incomprehensible to non-locals) is to avoid a libel suit.
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 2, 2019 8:31:25 GMT
Nothing to say, just wanted to let you know I'm still here. Well done, Trevor. I look forward to your and California Dave's occasional forum-forays. Are you still unicycling and donning the magisterial black-cap?
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 2, 2019 8:36:57 GMT
A fitting tribute, Verbivore, and we get to see a current likeness of your inestimable self. Will you now subscribe to the Echo so that you can send letters of complaint about grammatical errors?
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 2, 2019 9:31:38 GMT
A fitting tribute, Verbivore, and we get to see a current likeness of your inestimable self. Will you now subscribe to the Echo so that you can send letters of complaint about grammatical errors? I'm already a longtime subscriber, Twod, but I shan't be complaining much – that would be contrary to my retirement vow. However, my replacement, a woman I judged competent when she worked a five-week trial with me earlier in the year, seems to be doing a reasonable job – though she has inconsistently missed a few minor points of Echo house style (of which I was the primary author). For a small, regional newspaper, The Echo (fully The Byron Shire Echo) has a good record of hard reporting on local matters, and frequently takes to task local government and businesses – sometimes to the point of losing major advertisers. Few compromises are made, and the paper has survived more than a few libel suits over its 34 years. It has numerous times been awarded Best Regional Newspaper by Those Who Judge Such Things. The Echo is locally and independently owned (five shareholders, all workers there except for the founder, who retired five years ago) and pays no obeisance to the big pedlars of "news", including the near-monopolistic News Limited (Murdoch). The Echo's genesis was a deal the police had with the then-only regional paper (now owned by Murdoch) to not report on certain matters involving high-level police activities (not corruption but unreasonably heavy-handed operations against the community). A meeting of locals decided that if That Paper wasn't going to report on matters of intense local interest the community would start its own news organ. Originally a monochrome A4, it soon grew into a full-colour tabloid publication of 48 pages (small edition) to 96 pages (and only ever one page per issue devoted to sport!). I enjoyed the job so much that I held it for longer than any other I've had.
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Post by Trevor on Oct 2, 2019 13:57:28 GMT
Nothing to say, just wanted to let you know I'm still here. Well done, Trevor. I look forward to your and California Dave's occasional forum-forays. Are you still unicycling and donning the magisterial black-cap? Unicycle only comes out very occasionally, and despite my relative youth (50) I 'retired' from the bench a few years ago. Was struggling to sit as often as they'd like us too, so rather than get dropped off from the list altogether I applied to go on the "supplemental" list which means I could in theory pick it up again some time in the future.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Oct 2, 2019 17:29:39 GMT
Vv: Good to know that the Echo has publicly announced your retirement — I hadn’t entirely relied on your announcement here as I seem to recall that I had heard you discuss it but that it had never happened! Weren’t you going to celebrate your retirement (a couple of years ago) by driving at Brooklands? Perhaps you will still do so after adjudicating on nevertheless and nonetheless? Good luck anyway.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 2, 2019 21:04:56 GMT
Good to know that the Echo has publicly announced your retirement — I hadn’t entirely relied on your announcement here as I seem to recall that I had heard you discuss it but that it had never happened! Weren’t you going to celebrate your retirement (a couple of years ago) by driving at Brooklands? Perhaps you will still do so after adjudicating on nevertheless and nonetheless? Good luck anyway. LJH: I tried retiring at 60: Failed; 65: Failed. Here's hoping I succeed at 70. When I tried at 65, The Echo considerably increased my wages to tempt me to stay on. Brooklands and the Nürburgring are still in my sights, as well as a little cruise from St Petersburg to Vladivostok – my idea of a Sunday Drive – but first I must complete the rebuild of my favourite Benz – a complete body nut-and-bolt job. I started last December and plan to finish by this December. (No, it's not the overseas car – that will be another old Benz that I'll acquire once there.) The drivetrain goes in today if all goes to plan.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 11, 2019 21:04:23 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 11, 2019 21:33:49 GMT
I’ve sometimes wondered what, if any, are the differences among cyclone, tornado, and hurricane: now I know – none. It’s all about those tropical storms’ locations.Hurricanes occur in the North Atlantic Ocean and Northeast Pacific regions. Typhoons occur in the Northwest Pacific Ocean region. Cyclones occur in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Once a tropical cyclone reaches maximum sustained winds of 74mph (119km/h) or higher, it is then classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone, depending upon where the storm originates in the world. And now to the weather report …
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 11, 2019 22:20:41 GMT
If the plural of attorney-general is attorneys-general, why is the plural of body corporate body corporates, not bodies corporate? (Yes, I acknowledge that the body corporates link is from the Guardian / Grauniad [AU edition], but the AU Guardian has generally far cleaner text these days that either of the Aunties ABC and BBC.)
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Oct 11, 2019 23:33:02 GMT
Vv said, “what, if any, are the differences among cyclone, tornado, and hurricane: now I know – none.”
But a tornado is a very different beast from a cyclone or a hurricane — indeed the rest of the item refers correctly to typhoons.
I am amazed that the plural of body corporate can be body corporates. I think I have never seen this and at best it is appallingly ugly. Since when in English has an adjective taken a plural form? A quick scan of the internet seems to indicate that bodies corporate is more usual.
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Post by Verbivore on Oct 18, 2019 8:05:52 GMT
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Oct 19, 2019 9:49:40 GMT
I don’t know the origin of the expression “raw prawn” but those of us who are familiar with Aussie soaps will recognise it. It recalls the British “prune”, a foolish or gormless person. According to Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, “[T]he usage goes back to RAF slang of the Second World War, and evolved out of the character Pilot Officer Prune, the personification of stupidity and incompetence. He was created by Squadron Leader Anthony Armstrong and the artist ‘Raff’ (Leading Aircraftman W. Hooper ) to teach flying personnel how things should not be done”.
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