Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Readers Write
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From Bruce R:
G’day Otto
One day Brett missed is 19/11 – International Men’s Day.
I know this because I am organising a special Rotary breakfast on the 22nd to celebrate the day (ok, it is not the actual day but it is the right sentiment!).
Link to website is
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-
d&q=international+mens+day
Bruce
Thanks, Bruce.
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From Robyn T:
Hi Otto
Loved the Byte on the Oz flag and also reckon your design is a standout winner, given the flag of the Eureka stockade, my former favourite design, has been co opted a number of (sometimes conflicting) interests. My favourite description of the Oz flag which says it all to me is "the British flag at night" attributed to Seinfeild I believe.
The attached image was taken near Taloumbi where I went to capture in paint some of the aftermath of the recent bushfires which ravaged the area. Must be hell trying to outrun a bushfire if you are a tortose.
Regards
Robyn T
Thanks Robyn.
Not sure if the design Robyn is referring to from the earlier post is this one . . .
. . . or this one . . .
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From Sue P:
HI Otto
I thought the word googly came from the same derivative as googly-eyed which Wiki tells me comes from German
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googly_eyes
But either way it seems to be around the 1900s.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/133933/what-are-the-origins-of-gully-and-googly-in-cricket
How curious!
Kind regards, Sue
Thanks, Sue
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From Rob T:
Dear Otto,
The “ O “ as “egg” is also supposed to be the origin (in French - l’oeuf) of “ love “ in tennis.
Best, RobThanks, Rob
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From David C B:
Following on from a couple of cricket trivia items in Friday's Bytes Daily:
A batsman who gets a duck in both innings is said to have achieved a pair which is short for a pair of spectacles, the origin being obvious.
And a googly is sometimes called a wrong 'un or a bosie, the latter from the originator's name.
Thanks David,
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To finish, some great moments in cricket commentary:
_______
It’s been very slow and dull day, but it hasn’t been boring. It’s been a good, entertaining day’s cricket.
- Tony Benneworth from ABC Radio
_______
“A very small crowd here today. I can count the people on one hand – Can’t be more than 30″
– Michael Abrahamson during the India Vs Combined Bowl XI.
_______
In the back of Hughes’ mind must be the thought that he will dance down the piss and mitch one.
- Tony Greig, Channel 9 Sydney
_______
“The team that doesnt win will find itself on the losing side”
- Neil Johnson.
_______
“The Port Elizabeth ground is more of a circle than an oval. It is long and square.”
– Trevor Bailey
_______
“Yorkshire all out 232, Hutton ill! I’m sorry. Hutton 111.”
BBC news announcer John Snagge
_______
“His feet were a long way away from his body!”
- Ravi Shastri
_______
Brian Lara has just been hit in the box by a Steve Waugh delivery. David Gower picks up the commentary before the next ball:
“Brian Lara faces Steve Waugh…one ball left”
_______
Brian Johnston was a famous cricket commentator and presenter for the BBC. Here are some of his famous gaffes:
There’s Neil Harvey standing at leg slip with his legs wide apart, waiting for a tickle
The bowler’s Holding, the batsman’s Willey
On the first day, Logie decided to chance his arm and it came off.
Ray Illingworth has just relieved himself at the pavilion end.”
Welcome to Worcester where you’ve just missed seeing Barry Richards hitting one of Basil D’Oliveira’s balls clean out of the ground.
_______
Richie Benaud:
There are a lot of hookers around the world
That slow motion replay doesn’t show how fast the ball was travelling.”
Monday, November 11, 2019
Replies, Responses and Comebacks: 32,33, 34
Announcement #1:
Readers will note from the above title that this continuing series has been renamed from “Great Replies” to “Replies, Responses and Comebacks”. My reason in doing so is that the term “great” connotes approval whereas some of the replies are cruel (Churchill’s “ugly” response), some are inappropriate and some are historical but not approved. Moreover, responses are not always replies.
Announcement #2:
I have been reposting the past replies (which reached Number 31) with the intention of completing the series, up to Number 100.
Today, November 11, is significant for a number of events and I therefore propose to note those events through replies. That, however, presents a problem: how to number those items, out of sequence. I have decided to nonetheless number them 32, 33 and 34.
32:
ARMISTICE DAY:
ARMISTICE DAY:
At 5:00am on the morning of November 11 an armistice was signed in a railroad car parked in a French forest near the front lines. The occasion was not a surrender, the armistice being an agreement in which both sides agreed to stop fighting, rather than a surrender. For both sides, an armistice was the fastest way to end the war's misery and carnage, Germany being drained and facing certain defeat, the Allies not wanting the cost in lives and resources of invasion. The terms of the agreement called for the cessation of fighting along the entire Western Front to begin at precisely 11:00am that morning. After over four years of bloody conflict, the Great War was at an end.
Marshall Ferdinand Foch (1851 – 1929), the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War, primarily wrote the harsh terms imposed on Germany and oversaw the armistice of 11 November.1918.
Painting depicting the signing of the armistice, Marshall Ferdinand Foch standing behind the table.
The allied representatives at the signing of the armistice. Ferdinand Foch is second from the right, pictured outside the railway carriage in which it was signed in the forest at Compiegne.
Response:
On 22 June 1940 France surrendered to Germany after German blitzkrieg and occupation, which began on 10 May 1940.
Hitler demanded that the signing of the surrender take place in the same railway carriage as had been used for the signing of the 1918 armistice, a carriage that had for 22 years been a monument to the defeat of Germany. The signing was attended, for Germany, by Hitler, Hermann Goring, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop and others.
Hitler sat in the same chair that had been occupied by Marshall Foch in 1918, listened to the preamble of the armistice read out and then disdainfully walked out of the carriage, leaving it to subordinates to accept the surrender. The last sentence of the preamble read “Germany does not have the intention to use the armistice conditions and armistice negotiations as a form of humiliation against such a valiant opponent."
Joachim von Ribbentrop, Walther von Brauchitsch, Hermann Goring, Rudolf Hess and Adolf Hitler in front of the Armistice carriage.
BTW, in another example of a military surrender response, witness the following photograph:
23 It shows a proffered handshake from Japanese Lt. General Torashiro Kawabe being refused by American Col. Sidney Mashbir (who knew Kawabe from before the war) during a Japanese visit to Manila to prepare the details for Japan's surrender ceremony. Col Mashbir is shown motioning by his thumb that Lt General Kawabe needed to move along. In his autobiography, Mashbir explained that he was not permitted to shake hands, and that it would have been rude to point, which ultimately lead to the awkward thumbing motion that was photographed.
33.
THE DISMISSAL:
Gough Whitlam, the 21st Prime Minister of Australia, was dismissed by the Queen’s representative, Sir John Kerr, the Governor General, after the Opposition blocked Supply (money to run the country). The Governor General’s secretary, David Smith, read the proclamation dissolving Parliament on the steps of Parliament House on 11 November 1975:
NOWTHEREFORE, I Sir John Robert Kerr, the Governor-General of Australia, do by this my Proclamation dissolve the Senate and the House of Representatives. Given under my Hand and the Great Seal of Australia on 11 November 1975.
By His Excellency's Command, Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister, John R. Kerr Governor General.
God Save The Queen!
Response:
Whitlam stood fuming next to David Smith as the proclamation was read:
As soon as the words “God Save the Queen” were uttered, Whitlam took the microphone and spoke:
Ladies and gentleman (applause and cheering), well may we say God Save the Queen (pause) because nothing will save the Governor-General (applause and cheering).
The proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General’s official secretary was countersigned ‘Malcolm Fraser’ (boos and jeering) who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr’s cur.
They won’t silence the outskirts of Parliament House, even if the inside has been silenced for the next few weeks (cheering).
The Governor-General’s proclamation was signed after he already made an appointment to meet the Speaker at a quarter to five.
The House of Representatives had requested the Speaker to give the Governor-General its decision that Mr Fraser did not have the confidence of the House (pause) and that the Governor-General should call me to form the Government. . . (cheers and applause).
Maintain your rage and enthusiasm through the campaign for the election now to be held and until polling day.
34.
NED KELLY’S HANGING:
Ned Kelly (1854 - 1880), Australian bushranger (outlaw), was convicted of the murder of a police officer and sentenced to death by the harsh and unlikable Judge Redmond Barry. He had remained at large for 2 years, supported by an extensive network of sympathisers, and is renowned for his last stand with fellow gang members brother Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne wearing armour made from metal from ploughs. The others were killed in that shootout.
Ned Kelly, the day before his execution
When Kelly appeared out of the mist-shrouded bush at Glenrowan, clad in armour, bewildered policemen took him to be a ghost, a bunyip, and "Old Nick himself".
Response:
On the morning of 11 November 1880, just before 10.00am, Kelly was led onto the scaffold. A newspaper illustration of the time showed that scene:
His last words were “Ah, well, I suppose it has to come to this. Such is life.”
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Trivia
“One small step . . .”
Although Neil Armstrong insisted that his words on stepping foot on the
moon in 1969 were "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for
mankind", in a transcript of the Apollo 11 moon landing sound recordings
he apparently fails to say "a" before "man" and says:
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
This was generally considered by many to simply be an error of omission
on his part. Armstrong long insisted he did say "a man" but that it
was inaudible.
Prior to new evidence supporting his claim, he stated a preference for
the "a" to appear in parentheses when the quote is written. The
debate continues on the matter, as more recent analysis by linguist John Olsson
and author Chris Riley with higher quality recordings indicates that he did not
say "a".
Origin:
The cricketing term 'out for a duck' is used when a batman is out
without scoring any runs.
It refers to the zero on the scoreboard being similar to a duck's egg
and was first used in 1867, in G. H. Selkirk's Guide to Cricket Grounds:
"If he makes one run he has 'broken his duck's egg'."
H H Stephenson.
The Maginot Line:
To defend against any future assault by a resurgent Germany, in the 1930s
France erected a network of forts, obstacles and weapon installations along the
German frontier. Named the Maginot Line after French Minister of War André
Maginot, it was thought that the line would stall Germany which would then be
involved in a 2 front war with France and its then ally Russia.
The ammunitions entrance to Ouvrage Schoenenbourg along the Maginot
Line in Alsace.
Constructed on the French side of its borders with Italy, Switzerland,
Germany, and Luxembourg, the line did not extend to the English Channel due to
the then alliance with Belgium. When the Second World War began in the West on
May 10, 1940, Belgium had become a neutral nation in an effort along with the
Netherlands, to appease Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. The French believed
that the Ardennes region in the north, weak point in the line, did not need to
be reinforced because the region, with its rough terrain, would be an unlikely
invasion route of German forces; if it were traversed, it would be done at a
slow rate that would allow the French time to bring up reserves and
counterattack.
The German Army exploited this weak point in the French defensive front
with a rapid advance through the forest, encircling much of the Allied forces
and resulting in a sizable force being evacuated at Dunkirk (26 May-June 4,19540).
leaving the forces to the south unable to mount an effective resistance to the
German invasion of France.
The line has since become a metaphor for expensive efforts that offer a
false sense of security.
A hat trick is the fact of achieving a positive feat three times in a
game.
English cricketer HH Stephenson was the first cricketer to be awarded a
hat for taking three wickets in consecutive balls, the origin of the hat-trick.
He performed the feat in 1858. A collection was held for Stephenson (as was
customary for outstanding feats by professionals) and he was presented with a
cap or hat bought with the proceeds.
The term was eventually adopted by many other sports including hockey,
soccer, water polo, and team handball.
World’s largest gun:
In the late 1930s Hitler gave orders for a gun to be developed to destroy
the main forts on the Maginot Line, "a gun able to pierce a metre of
steel, seven metres of concrete, or thirty meters of dense earth."
German armaments manufacturer Krupp complied, creating the Gustav Gun,
named in honour of family patriarch Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The
biggest gun ever built, it was mounted on a railway carriage, stood 4 stories
tall and required a 500-man crew.
Adolf Hitler (second from right) and Albert Speer (right) in front of
the 800mm gustav railway gun in the year 1943
Gustav was not ready for action when the Battle of France began, In any case, as noted above, the Wehrmacht's
Blitzkrieg offensive through Belgium rapidly outflanked and isolated the
Maginot Line's static defences, eventually forcing the French to surrender.
Gustav was later deployed in the Soviet Union during the Battle of
Sevastopol, part of Operation Barbarossa, where, among other things, it
destroyed a munitions depot located roughly 30 m (98 ft) below ground level.
In all, the Gustav fired 300 shells on Sevastopol, and another 30
during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. It was never used again. It was captured by
U.S. troops and cut up for scrap. A duplicate gun, named for the chief
engineer's wife, Dora, saw action only briefly and was destroyed to prevent its
capture by the Russian army.
Origin:
A googly is a deceptive spinning delivery by a wrist spin bowler which
spins the opposite direction to the stock delivery. For a right-hander bowler
and a right-handed batsman, a googly will turn from the off side to the leg
side. It was developed by Bosanquet around 1900.
The origin of the word is
unknown.
Not every Model T was black:
It is a myth that all of the Model T Fords
were black.
In his 1922 book My Life and Work, Ford
described his policy as “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he
wants, so long as it is black.”
The Ford Motor Company used 30
different types of black paint for different parts of the car’s exterior but
when the Model T first came on the market, customers could get almost any
common colour except for black. Blue, grey, green, and red were all available,
but not black.
The first black Model T didn’t roll off
the assembly line until five years later. Towards the end of the Model T’s
life, six new colors were introduced, from Royal Maroon to Phoenix Brown to
Highland Green. In between there was over a decade of black Model T’s.
1925 Model T
1911 Ford Model T Torpedo Runabout
1920 Touring
1915 Model T Runabout
1911 Model T Ruanbout
1919 Runabout
Although it has been said that Henry
Ford elected to stay with only black paint because it dried faster, it is more
likely that black paint was cheap and durable, and that making only one color
of car was cheaper.
BTW, why a Model T?
Ford started with
the Model A in 1903. There was then the B, C, F, K, N, R & S. The missing
letters were experimental or never got off the drawing board. When Ford ceased
building The Model T they felt the company was entering a new era and started
again with the Model A.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Sydney Suburbs: Catherine Field, Cattai, Cawdor
CATHERINE FIELD:
Location:
Catherine Field is a suburb of Sydney and part of the Macarthur
Region, located 43 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business
district, in the local government area of Camden Council.
Name origin:
Named after an early farming property, shown on parish maps as
“Catherine Field”, owned by George Molle (1773-1823).
He had named it after his wife, Catherine Molle.
About:
According to the 2016 census, there were 1,657 residents in
Catherine Field.
Catherine Field was home to a theme park called El Caballo Blanco which
operated between 1972 and 2007. The
theme park featured the famed white Andalusian dancing stallions.
Catherine Fields has fallen under the New Southwest Development Plan
that will see the rural aspects of the area change to suburbia.
Some Catherine Field history:
The historic Cowpasture's Road runs through Catherine Filed on its
journey to Camden. The road is now known as the Camden Valley Way.
Garnham Blaxcell:
Garnham Blaxcell was granted 3000 acres in the area in 1815,
Blaxcell arrived in Sydney in 1802 on H.M.S. Buffalo where he was
the ship acting Purser. Governor King ppointed
him Deputy Commissary on 6th May 1803 and he was further appointed Acting Provost
Marshall and Secretary to the Colony.
Blaxcell took an active part in the rebellion that ousted Bligh and
was on the committee that examined the Governor’s Papers after his arrest.
He became one of Sydney’s wealthiest merchants, had property at
Petersham, a Windmill at Pyrmont, a warehouse in George Street and also owned
several small-trading vessels. He with
Alexander Riley, D’Arcy Wentworth were given the contract to build a general
Hospital in Sydney in return they could import 45,000 gallons of spirits over
three years.
Involved with debts to John MacArthur and other leading Colonist and
unable to meet import duties, Blaxcell left the colony in 1817, dying in
Batavia on the 3rd October 1817.
Alexander Riley:
George Molle:
While serving in India as a soldier, Molle
had met and become friendly with Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who gave a dinner
in his honour the month after he arrived; but the governor did not allow Molle
the authority he considered was his due, and in his public activities he became
an opponent of Macquarie.
In 1814 he took the Oath of Office of Lieutenant Governor of the
Colony. George and his wife played an
active part in the Public life of the colony, being patron of the Female Orphan
School and a member of the committee for the Civilization, Care and Education
of Aborigines. He served as the local
Magistrate and ran the court from his home, Catherine Field, until 1825 when it
was closed and moved to Cawdor. He assisted in the foundation of the Bank of
New South Wales (which later became Westpac) in 1817. That same year Molle left with his regiment for India, where
he died in September 1823. George’s son
William Macquarie took over the operations of the property after his Father
left.
CATTAI:
Location:
Cattai is an historic suburb of Sydney located 44 kilometres
north-west of the Sydney central business district and 30 kilometres north-west
of Parramatta. It is in the local government areas of The Hills Shire and City
of Hawkesbury.
Name origin:
The name Cattai was originally thought to have derived from an
Aboriginal word with an unknown meaning. However, it was more likely named by
the First Fleet Assistant Surgeon and Magistrate Thomas Arndell who built a
homestead called 'Caddie'. The homestead is now called Cattai Estate and
resides in Cattai National Park. The
suburb of Cattai is now been considered a misnomer of 'Caddie'.
About:
Europeans settlers moved into the area in 1794 to sustain the food
shortages of Sydney. Following protests by the Dharug people over the loss of
their traditional hunting and fishing lands, soldiers were sent to the area in
1795.
At the 2016 Census, there were 790 people in Cattai
The land that is now the Cattai National Park was granted to a Dr
Thomas Arndell in 1804 and remained in the family until it was acquired by the
New South Wales government in 1981. This means that today the Cattai National
Park is a beautiful stretch of land beside the Hawkesbury River with a very
historic house and broad parklands which are ideal for family picnics and
gatherings.
The Cattai Estate is a heritage-listed former farm and cultural
landscape and now national park at Wisemans Ferry Road, Cattai. It was built
from 1804 to 1821, the property now being owned by Office of Environment and
Heritage, an agency of the Government of New South Wales.
Gallery:
Caddie Park dating from 1821 but modernised a number of times.
The Hawkesbury River in Cattai National Park.
Boardwalk trail, Cattai National Park
Lost Sydney, Paradise Gardens, Cattai. Paradise Gardens, alongside the Hawkesbury
River at Cattai, was a prehistoric theme park on 388 acres of parkland, which
operated from the early 1970s. A memorable feature of the park was its big
concrete dinosaurs with the speakers in the grass, emitting primordial sounds.
A jungle boat cruise allowed visitors to see the many dinosaurs dotted around a
lake.
CAWDOR:
Location:
Cawdor is a village of Wollondilly Shire, in the state of New South
Wales, Australia. Part of the locality of Cawdor lies within Camden Council.
Name origin:
The name was given to the area by Governor Lachlan Macquarie to
honour his wife's family's connection to Scotland (the Campbells of Cawdor).
About:
According to the 2016 census, there were 434 residents in Cawdor.
79.0% of people were born in Australia and 88.8% of people spoke only English
at home. The most common responses for religion in Cawdor were Catholic 35.2%
and Anglican 31.0%.
In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the Scottish title Thane of
Cawdor was given to Macbeth after the previous Thane of Cawdor was captured and
executed for treason against King Duncan. The historical King Macbeth fought a Thane of
Cawdor who died in battle, but he did not thereby acquire the title himself.
Cawdor is a village and castle in Scotland, near Inverness. The
local castle, according to a now discredited tradition perpetuated by
Shakespeare, was the scene of the murder of King Duncan I by Macbeth, the thane
of Cawdor, in 1040.
Historically speaking, the term "thane" relates to the
Peerage of Scotland. A thane was a man who held land directly from the king, in
return for loyalty and military service.
Cawdor NSW was originally part of Camden Park, John Macarthur's
extensive land holdings (10,000 hectares by 1825).
Cawdor was also part of the Cowpastures area, named after the herd
of runaway cattle discovered there in 1795. The discovery of these excellent
pastures encouraged interest in the south west from settlers frustrated by the
depleted soils closer to Parramatta, and the heavy flooding of the Hawkesbury.
Their interest, especially in the Nepean River, increased further after the
severe drought of 1839.
Cawdor was the first village to develop in the Cowpastures district,
predating Camden by more than 20 years.
Macquarie established a cattle station in 1812 at Cawdor, which
subsequently grew to be a large government settlement.
The first building was a slab hut built in 1803–04, followed by
several other huts for use by shepherds and cattle overseers. In 1824 a court
building was erected and became known as Fletcher's Gaol. It was a court of
petty sessions and had a small body of police attached to it. It stood on what
is now the site of the Uniting Church. The original church was probably built
around 1851 and replaced in 1902 by the present building. The church is still
in use and the cemetery is the resting place for many early settlers and their
descendants.
Because it lay on the main convict-built road to southern NSW and
Victoria, the settlement grew in the early 1830s, with a church and school, a
store and a blacksmith shop. During this period there was a stopping place for
mail and passenger coaches at the post office, opened in 1836.
In later years, the village of Cawdor faded away, due in part to the
lack of a reliable water supply and the development of Camden by the Macarthurs.
However, the district continued to thrive, with its milk being sent to Sydney
and with a creamery built at Cawdor.
In 1902, the Goulburn-to-Sydney bicycle race (which predates the
Tour de France) began, and the riders travelled via Old Razorback Road.
In 1956–57, the film Smiley was filmed in part around St Jerome's
church at Cawdor.
In the 1960s and 1970s, both the eastern and western sides of Cawdor
Road were subdivided and sold, but in the early 1990s local residents were
successful in opposing a proposed development of 7,000 houses and in 1994
locals and politicians successfully opposed a 4,900-lot development for the
Cawdor area. While housing development continues apace all around the
Wollondilly and Camden council areas, Cawdor remains undeveloped, mainly due to
floodplain restrictions.
Cawdor today is home to industries such as hydroponic vegetable
growing, poultry farming and horse breeding.
In May 2008 a development application for a proposed Muslim school
near the High School was rejected by the council amid much controversy.
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