Friday, February 28, 2025

QUOTE FOR THE DAY


“I have stood up on this issue for the best part of four years with local residents. They are just sick to death of the inequality. People that were either old Anglo pioneers or migrated to Australia in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, they helped build this country, worked six, seven days a week. To be constantly told ‘never was, never will be their land’, it’s very insulting. It’s about equality for all. I want everybody to stand shoulder to shoulder, including Indigenous Australians.”

- Cumberland City Councillor Steve Christou,
who moved that the Council ditch Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies. The motion was rejected and he was the subject of hostile responses.


Source:

ON THIS DAY


-----------ooOoo-----------

February 28, 1947:

The February 28 Massacre took place this day in 1947 when an anti-government uprising in Taiwan was violently put down by Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang-led Republic of China government with the loss of 18,000-28,000 lives. The massacre is considered to be one of the most important events in Taiwan's modern history and was a critical impetus for the Taiwan independence movement. It also marked the beginning of the White Terror, the political repression of Taiwanese civilians and political dissenters under the government ruled by the Kuomintang.

228 Memorial Monument in the 228 Peace Memorial Park, Taipei, Taiwan

-----------ooOoo-----------

FUNNY FRIDAY


---- 😊😊😊 -----


Today’s theme: hearing and hearing aids.

Enjoy Byters.

Caution: risquΓ© content ahead.


---- 😊😊😊 -----

SOME HUMOUR:
__________

My dad was bragging about his new hearing aid . . .
“State of the art” he said.
“ It cost me an absolute fortune.”
“That’s brilliant dad, what type is it ?”
“It’s 2:30” he replied.
__________

I found some hearing aids outside my garden gate.
When I saw my neighbour I asked, "Excuse me sir, are these yours?"
The ignorant bastard just ignored me.
__________

Patient: "Doctor, I think I'm going deaf."

Doctor: "Describe the symptoms."

Patient: "Well, Homer is bald, Marge has blue hair..."
__________

A husband notices his wife’s hearing is deteriorating and decides to visit her doctor for advice.

“I can’t speak to my wife directly as she might find it offensive, given our old age” he says to the doc.

“There’s a simple trick you can try to determine her hearing” explains the doctor. “Simply ask her a question at a distance and if she doesn’t hear you, move slightly closer and ask again until she does”.

That night, the husband arrives home and sees his wife in the kitchen cooking. He thinks to himself, “what a perfect opportunity to test her hearing”.

He stands in the doorway of the kitchen and promptly asks;
“What’s for dinner honey?”

No answer. He moves closer.
“What’s for dinner honey?”

Still no answer. He moves even closer.
“What’s for dinner honey?”

Still his wife doesn’t answer. He now sees how serious her hearing problem is. At this point, he is stood right next to his wife.

“What’s for dinner honey?”

“FOR THE FOURTH FUCKING TIME WE’RE HAVING CHICKEN”
__________

An old English lord comes back home late one night. His butler opens the door for him, and says: “Ah, here comes the old fart. So, did you spend all the money on booze and prostitutes again?”

“No, John”, replied the lord. “I was at the doctor getting hearing aids.”
__________

An elderly couple is in church. The wife says to the husband, "I've let out one of those silent farts, what do I do?"

The husband says, "Charge the battery in your hearing aid."
__________

“What do we want!?”

“Hearing aids!”

“When do we want them!?”

“Hearing aids!”
__________

My friend told me had hearing loss in his right ear.

I said, "are you certain?"

And he said, "yes. I'm definite."

(Okay, I will explain: “I’m deaf in it.”)
__________

A gynaecologist was waiting on his last patient who was way behind schedule. After an hour, he made himself a gin and tonic to relax.

Afterward he settled into an armchair to read the newspaper and, a few minutes later, heard the doorbell ring. It was the patient embarrassed and apologising for the delay.

“It doesn't matter,” answered the doctor. “Look, I was having a gin and tonic while waiting. Do you want one to help you relax?”

“I accept, thanks!” she answered.

He made her a drink, sat down in front of her and they started talking.

Suddenly they heard someone opening the front door to the office.

The doctor got up, peered out the window and said, “It’s my wife! Quick, take off your clothes and spread your legs, otherwise she might think there’s some nonsense going on!”

---- 😊😊😊 -----


Having lost most of his hearing a number of years ago, an elderly man went to the doctor to be fitted with hearing aids which promise to allow him to hear 100%.

A month later, he returned to the doctor for a check up on his progress. The doctor told him that his hearing is perfect and asks if his family is pleased.

The man replied, "Oh, I haven't told them about the hearing aids yet. I just sit around and listen to them talk. I've changed my Will three times!"
__________

A 75-year-old man walked into a crowded doctor's waiting room and approached the desk.

The receptionist said, 'Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today?' 

'There's something wrong with my dick', he replied.

The receptionist became irritated and said, 'You shouldn't come into a crowded waiting room and say things like that.'

'Why not, you asked me what was wrong and I told you,' he said. The receptionist replied; 'Now you have caused some needless embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private.'

The man replied, 'You should not ask people questions in a roomful of strangers if the answer could embarrass anyone.' The man then decided to walk out, waited several minutes and then re-entered.

The receptionist smiled smugly and asked, 'Yes??'

'There's something wrong with my ear,' he stated loudly.

The receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice. 'What is wrong with your ear, Sir?'

'I can't piss out of it,' he replied.
__________

Lord Henry lived alone in his manor with his faithful manservant, James.

His lordship had a regular daily routine which included James assisting his lordship with his bath. Once his lordship was in his bath, it was James’ duty to fetch Lord Henry a brandy.

One day his lordship was feeling drowsy in his bath and began drifting off to sleep, just as James was about to leave to get Lord Henry his daily brandy. As James was turning the handle on the door, his lordship broke wind. James paused, looked at his lordship and left.

Some time later James came back, carrying a silver tray with a glass of brandy, a jar of Bovril, a cheap fob watch and a hot water bottle.

“What’s all this?” asked his lordship.

“The things you asked for, m’lord,” said James.

“You must be daft, my good man,” said his lordship, “I asked for nothing of the sort.”

“I’m sorry, your lordship,” replied James, “I could have sworn that as I was leaving I heard you ask for a four bob fob watch, hot water bottle and bottle of Bovril.”
__________

A man walks into a bar with a burlap sack. He pulls out a small piano, bench, and a tiny piano player, who begins to play songs on the miniature piano.

The Bartender, intrigued, asks the man where he got it. The man proceeds to show the bartender an old genie bottle. Out pops an old, dusty genie. The man tells the bartender to make a wish.

The Bartender wishes for a million bucks. All of a sudden, Ducks begin shooting out of the top of the bottle. Frustrated the bartender yells to the man "I wished for a million BUCKS not a Million DUCKS!"

To this the man replied, "Yeah, and I didn't wish for a 12-inch pianist Either."
__________

An old man was sitting on the examining table in the doctor’s office having his hearing checked. The doctor poked his light scope in the old man’s ear and said, “Hey, you have a suppository in your ear!”

“Crap!,” said the old man. “Now I know where my hearing aid went.”

---- 😊😊😊 -----


LIMERICK OF THE WEEK:

There once was an old man from Esser,
Who's knowledge grew lesser and lesser.
It at last grew so small,
He knew nothing at all,
And now he's a College Professor.

---- 😊😊😊 -----

GALLERY:

From Leo M. thanks Leo.





---- 😊😊😊 -----


CORN CORNER:
__________

How do hearing aid batteries compare to other batteries?

They produce a lower number of whats.
__________

I sent my hearing aids for repair 2 weeks ago.

Haven't heard anything since.
__________

Did you hear about the drummer who gave all his daughters the same name?

Anna 1 Anna 2 Anna 3 Anna 4
__________

I told her: "It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you, there's nothin' that a hundred men or more could ever do"

She said, "That's an eighties song lyric!"

I apologised, "Sorry, I have Toto recall."

---- 😊😊😊 -----

Thursday, February 27, 2025

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

 




ON THIS DAY


-----------ooOoo-----------

February 27, 1933:

Germany’s Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin was set on fire on this day, destroying much of the historic edifice, precisely 4 weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

The responsibility for the Reichstag fire remains a topic of debate, as while Van der Lubbe was found guilty, it is unclear whether he acted alone. While most historians accept that the Reichstag was set ablaze by Van der Lubbe, some view that the fire was a part of a Nazi plot to take power. Lubbe was guillotined in a Leipzig prison yard on 10 January 1934, three days before his 25th birthday. In 2008, Germany posthumously pardoned Van der Lubbe under a law introduced in 1998 to lift unjust verdicts dating from the Nazi era.

The Nazis attributed the fire to a group of Communist agitators, used it as a pretext to claim that Communists were plotting against the German government, and induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, and pursue a "ruthless confrontation" with the Communists. This made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.

Marinus Van der Lubbe, 1933

Reichstag fire

Adolf Hitler, 1933

-----------ooOoo-----------

BARRISTERSPEAK


From the Vault: 

Sent to me back in 2018 by son Thomas, who is a member of the wig and gown fraternity . . .











Wednesday, February 26, 2025

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

 


ON THIS DAY


-----------ooOoo-----------

February 26, 1616:

On this day in 1616 the Roman Inquisition delivered its injunction to Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) demanding he abandon his belief in heliocentrism, which states the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun. The Inquisition declared heliocentrism to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture".

Galilleo recanted and was forced to acknowledge the Aristotelian geocentric view that the Earth is the centre of the Universe and the orbit of all heavenly bodies. Religious opposition to heliocentrism arose from biblical passages implying the fixed nature of the earth. Galileo argued that the Bible was an authority on faith and morals, not science. Following his recantation he is supposed to have said “And yet it moves".

Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition

-----------ooOoo-----------

WORKER FAILS


-----OOO-----

My first inclination on seeing some of these photographs was to sudder and cringe.

My second inclination was to shake my head in disbellief.

Albert Einstein is supposed to have said: "Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Snopes.com rates as unproven whether he originated the observation - https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/einstein-universe-stupidity-infinite/ - but the comment holds true, as you will see from these photographs. . . 

------OOO-----










































































Tuesday, February 25, 2025

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

 


ON THIS DAY


-----------ooOoo-----------

February 25, 1986:

Corazon Aquino (1922-2009) became President of the Philippines; dictator Ferdinand Marcos fled the country.

Aquino served as the 11th president of the Philippines, was the first woman president of the country, from 1986 to 1992, and was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power Revolution, which ended the two-decade rule of President Ferdinand Marcos.

Aquino takes the oath of office on February 25, 1986

-----------ooOoo-----------

OZ VERNACULAR


-----------ooOoo-----------

A look at some local lingo . . .

-----------ooOoo-----------

Yakka:

Meaning:
Work, especially strenuous labour as in ‘hard yakka’.

Example:
"Carried out a lot of hard yakka last weekend."


Origin:
Yakka first occurs in the 1840s as a verb meaning ‘to work’, and it derives from 'yaga' meaning ‘work’ in the indigenous Yagara language of the Brisbane region. Yakka found its way into nineteenth-century Australian pidgin, and then passed into Australian English. Spelling variants such as yakker and yacker are also found.

-----OOO-----

Apples:

Meaning:
Everything is fine, all is well.

Example:
"Don’t worry, mate, she’s apples."

Origin:
Australian English often uses the feminine pronoun ‘she’ where standard English would use ‘it’. For example, instead of 'it’ll be right' Australians say ‘she’ll be right’. She's apples was originally rhyming slang - apple and spice or apple and rice for 'nice'. The phrase has now lost all connection with its rhyming slang origin. First recorded in the 1920s the term can still be heard today.

-----OOO-----

Arvo:

Meaning:
Afternoon.

Example:
“See you Saturday arvo.”

Origin:
It is often used in the phrase this arvo, which is sometimes shortened to sarvo: meet you after the game, sarvo. Arvo is an example of a special feature of Australian English, the habit of adding -o to an abbreviated word. Other such words are bizzo ‘business’ and journo ‘journalist’.

Speaker: “Hey Davo, I'm goin' to the servo for arvo smoko.”
Translation: David, I'm going to the service station to purchase some food for the afternoon break.

Arvo was first recorded in the 1920s and is still going strong today.

-----OOO-----

Mad as a cut snake:

Meaning:
Very angry; crazy; eccentric. The phrase also takes the form mad as a snake. The different senses of the phrase derive from the fact that ‘mad’ has two main senses - ‘crazy’ and ‘angry’. The ‘crazy’ sense is illustrated by ‘that bloke wearing a teapot on his head is as mad as a cut snake’, and the angry sense is illustrated by ‘be careful of the boss this afternoon, he’s as mad as a cut snake’. There are similar phrases in Australian English including mad as a meat axe and mad as a gumtree full of galahs.

Origin:
Mad as a (cut) snake is first recorded in 1900 and may derive from the image of the throes of a snake cut in two.

-----OOO-----

Cobber:

Meaning:
Friend, companion. Also used as a form of address.

Example:
“Give me a hand will ya, cobber.”
“G’day cobber.”

Origin:
The word probably derives from the Yiddish word chaber 'comrade'. A Yiddish source may seem unlikely, but there are several terms in Australian English that are likely to be derived from Yiddish, including doover (‘thingummyjig’), shicer (‘unproductive or worthless mining claim or mine’), and shickered ('drunk’). It is likely that these terms, as well as cobber, found their way into London slang (especially from the Jewish population living in the East End), and from there, via British migrants, into Australian English.

It is sometimes suggested that cobber derives from British dialect. The English Dialect Dictionary lists the word cob 'to take a liking to anyone; to "cotton" to', but the evidence is from only one Suffolk source, and the dictionary adds: 'Not known to our other correspondents'. This Suffolk word is sometimes proposed as the origin of cobber, but its dialect evidence is very limited.

Cobber, now somewhat dated, is rarely used by young Australians.

-----OOO-----

Monday, February 24, 2025

A NEW FORMAT


Today marks the bginning of a new format for Bytes:
  • There will be a daily feature 'On This Day' (OTD) outlining an event from history which took place on each day's date.
  • Some of those items will be brief and some longer.
  • Where the OTD item is lengthier, the regular Bytes post will not appear.
  • Items such as the Thought For the Day ad the Quote for the Day will still appear daily.
  • Funny Friday will still appear each Friday.
  • Longer regular posts will most often appear on weekends when people hve more reading time.
  • This change in format will make it easier for reading on working days.
It is hoped readers will find the OTD snippets both intetresting and informative, which has always been the aim of this blog.

Let me know wwhat you think, people.

The new format begins today.

----------oOo----------




THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 


ON THIS DAY: FEBRUARY 24


-----------ooOoo-----------

February 24, 1888:


Louisville, Kentucky, becomes the first government in the US to adopt the Australian ballot ie secret ballot on standard voting forms.

Before the adoption of the secret ballot, voters either voted by voice (viva voce) or using a non-secret ballot or “ticket.” A ticket was printed by the political parties listing the names of their party’s candidates. Whether voting by voice or by ticket, votes were not secret. Voting took place in public, and each voter’s political choices were knowable by their friends, neighbours, and political parties.

Under the secret ballot, governments list all the legal nominated candidates for office on an official ballot that they, and only they, print out. Voters vote by marking the state-provided official ballot paper in secret. The whole event takes place in silence inside a public building.

The Australia secret ballot was developed in the 1850s in the Australian colonies. The key element of the Australian secret ballot is that the state determines which candidates appear on the ballot (subject to a set of nomination or ballot access rules) and prints and provides the official ballot to voters at polling places on Election Day.

In 1856 South Australia became the first state in Australia where all men were given the vote (universal male suffrage), making it one of the most democratic places in the world at that time. In the same year the secret ballot — the casting of votes in secret — was introduced in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Other Australian states quickly followed.

-----------ooOoo-----------

Sunday, February 23, 2025

QUOTE FOR THE DAY


The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

J R Tolkien, Bilbo in Lord of the Rings