Australia Day: First Australian penal colony established on January 26, 1788

Australia Day: On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare.

Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts. With little idea of what he could expect from the mysterious and distant land, Phillip had great difficulty assembling the fleet that was to make the journey. His requests for more experienced farmers to assist the penal colony were repeatedly denied, and he was both poorly funded and outfitted. Nonetheless, accompanied by a small contingent of Marines and other officers, Phillip led his 1,000-strong party, of whom more than 700 were convicts, around Africa to the eastern side of Australia. In all, the voyage lasted eight months, claiming the deaths of some 30 men.

The first years of settlement were nearly disastrous. Cursed with poor soil, an unfamiliar climate and workers who were ignorant of farming, Phillip had great difficulty keeping the men alive. The colony was on the verge of outright starvation for several years, and the marines sent to keep order were not up to the task. Phillip, who proved to be a tough but fair-minded leader, persevered by appointing convicts to positions of responsibility and oversight. Floggings and hangings were commonplace, but so was egalitarianism. As Phillip said before leaving England: “In a new country there will be no slavery and hence no slaves.”

Though Phillip returned to England in 1792, the colony became prosperous by the turn of the 19th century. Feeling a new sense of patriotism, the men began to rally around January 26 as their founding day. Historian Manning Clarke noted that in 1808 the men observed the “anniversary of the foundation of the colony” with “drinking and merriment”.

Finally, in 1818, January 26 became an official holiday, marking the 30th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. And, as Australia became a sovereign nation, it became the national holiday known as Australia Day. Today, Australia Day serves both as a day of celebration for the founding of the white British settlement, and as a day of mourning for the Aborigines who were slowly dispossessed of their land as white colonization spread across the continent. History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Australia Day.org / Australia Day.vic.gov.au / Convict Creations

Understanding Military Terminology - Marshalling area

(DOD) A location in the vicinity of a reception terminal or pre-positioned equipment storage site where arriving unit personnel, equipment, materiel, and accompanying supplies are reassembled, returned to the control of the unit commander, and prepared for onward movement. Joint Publications JP 3-35 (Deployment and Redeployment Operations - Department of Defense)

Marshalling

1. The process by which units participating in an amphibious or airborne operation group together or assemble when feasible or move to temporary camps in the vicinity of embarkation points, complete preparations for combat, or prepare for loading.

2. The process of assembling, holding, and organizing supplies and/or equipment, especially vehicles of transportation, for onward movement. See also staging area. Joint Publications JP 3-17 (Air Mobility Operations - Defense Technical Information Center)

The Old Salt’s Corner

“The Seafarer”

May I for my own self song’s truth reckon,

Journey’s jargon, how I in harsh days

Hardship endured oft.

Bitter breast-cares have I abided,

Known on my keel many a care’s hold,

And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spent

Narrow nightwatch nigh the ship’s head

While she tossed close to cliffs. Coldly afflicted,

My feet were by frost benumbed.

Chill its chains are; chafing sighs

Hew my heart round and hunger bego

Mere-weary mood. Lest man know not

That he on dry land loveliest liveth,

List how I, care-wretched, on ice-cold sea,

Weathered the winter, wretched outcast

Deprived of my kinsmen;

Hung with hard ice-flakes, where hail-scur flew,

There I heard naught save the harsh sea

And ice-cold wave, at whiles the swan cries,

Did for my games the gannet’s clamour,

Sea-fowls, loudness was for me laughter

The mews’ singing all my mead-drink.

Storms, on the stone-cliffs beaten, fell on the stern

In icy feathers; full oft the eagle screamed

With spray on his pinion.

continued ...

~ Ezra Pound

(from Ripostes, 1912)

Full Poem

“I’m Just Sayin”

Miller's law:

• In communication: “To understand what another person is saying, you must assume that it is true and try to imagine what it could be true of.” Named after George Armitage Miller.

• In psychology: the number of objects an average person can hold in working memory is about seven. Also named after George Miller.

• In software development: “All discussions of incremental updates to Bugzilla will eventually trend towards proposals for large scale redesigns or feature additions or replacements for Bugzilla.” Named after Dave Miller.

“Thought for the Day”

“To make mistakes is human;

to stumble is commonplace;

to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.”

~ William Arthur Ward

“What I Have Learned”

“Remember, for everything you have lost,

you have gained something else.

Without the dark,

you would never see the stars.”

~ Anonymous

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

What your home will look like when you live on Mars

Put those retirement plans on hold. There’s a chance that, sooner or later, you might have to move further than you were thinking. As far as Mars.

To mark the launch of its new six-part docudrama Mars, National Geographic will unveil the first ever Mars showhome, giving earthlings an idea of what their life could look like on the Red Planet.

Set in the not-so-distant year of 2037, in Valles Marineris, a vast system of canyons on the Mars equator, the igloo-shaped structure could be the home of your future.

Telegraph (11/07/2016)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Why Do We Get a Lump in Our Throats Before We Cry?

That “lump” is actually not a lump at all but a counter-reaction to the body’s automatic nervous system. When humans are exposed to stressful situations – ie, situations that would cause them to cry or get angry – the body, due to the genetic evolutionary “fight or flight” nature of humans, automatically increases blood flow to vital organs and muscles.

Unfortunately, one of the ways the body achieves this is by opening the glottis (the vocal folds in the throat that humans use to generate vibrational noise) in order to allow your lungs to receive more inhaled oxygen than normal.

By doing this, while increasing available oxygen which can be beneficial in stressful moments, it causes any human who wishes to swallow to fight against their body’s automatic nervous system for control of the glottis’ positioning, causing that distinctive sore pain in the throat.

How It Works Daily • IFL Science • Quora • Wikipedia

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“Above board:”  Meaning: Openly; without any trickery.

Origin: It is sometimes suggested that the board in question is the deck of a ship and that this term comes from the seafaring practice of concealing pirates below decks (below board) in order to lull the crews of victim ships into a false sense of security. The opposite, 'above board' was considered to symbolize openness and fairness.

There's no evidence to support this derivation and it seems clear that this term originated in the gaming community. If card players keep their hands above the table (board) they can be seen to be playing fairly.

Beaumont & Fletcher's The Custom of the Country, 1616, includes this line:

“Yet if you play not fair play and above board too, I have a foolish gin here, I say no more.” (Laying his hand upon his sword)

Given the phrase 'above board', we might expect there to be a 'below board' or 'beneath the board'. Neither of these is recorded, although 'under board' was used briefly. Sir Christopher Heydon used it in In Defence of Judiciall Astrology, 1603:

“After the fashion of iugglers, to occupie the minde of the spectatour, while in the meane time he plaies vnder board.”

The phrase that won out as the converse of 'above board' was clearly 'under hand', now usually written as a single word. This dates back to the 17th century too, for example, in this line from Cyril Tourneur's The Atheist's Tragedie, 1611:

“He does it under hand.”

English Stack Exchange - Phrases.org UK

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

NAMI Whammy: Slang for the incredibly in-depth two-day flight physical given to all prospective aviators at the Naval Aeromedical Institute at NAS Pensacola. Called the Whammy b/c many aspiring naval flight careers are ended before they even begin due to some unknown ailment.

NAMTRADET: Naval Aviation Maintenance Training Detachment. Specialized training for Avaition maintainers.

Nasty City: Slang for National City, California, just outside the gate of Naval Station San Diego. Its cheap dive bars were a noted hangout of “West-Pac Widows”. Also answers to the name “National Shitty”.

Just for you MARINE

Ocean Slime: Slang for Oceanside, California which is a beach town located outside Camp Pendleton.

OCONUS: Outside CONtinental United States, as opposed to CONUS.

O-Course: Obstacle course.

OCS: Officer Candidate School, recruit training for officers.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VT-7 - Fixed Wing Training Squadrons: “Eagles”
Formerly BTG-7 Established June 1st 1958, redesig to VT-7 on July 1st 1960 / Intermediate Tailhook, Advanced Jet TRAWING 1, Naval Air Station Whiting Field, NAS Meridian - Lauderdale / Kemper counties, near Meridian, Mississippi

Science & Technology

Captain Cook's detailed 1778 records confirm global warming today in the Arctic • Robot program does not do well enough on school entry exam • Theory that challenges Einstein's physics could soon be put to the test • New 3-D structure shows optimal way to divide space • Photonic crystals reveal their internal characteristics with new method • NA64 hunts the mysterious dark photon • New atlas depicts first two months of human development in 3-D Phys.org

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Politician Who Criticized Squirrels Gets Hospitalized By Squirrel

In October, the alderman for Chicago’s 21st ward went on a public tirade about “aggressive squirrels”, griping that the furry critters kept eating through the city-supplied garbage cans.

But Brookins had no idea just how “aggressive” squirrels could be. On Nov. 13, the alderman found himself in the hospital with a skull fracture after a squirrel leapt into the path of Brookins’ bike, wrapping itself in the spokes and causing him to flip over the handlebars, The Star Tribune reports.

“I can think of no other reason for this squirrel’s actions than that it was like a suicide bomber, getting revenge”, he told the Tribune.

Some outlets, like the Chicago Sun Times, covered the incident but simply referred to it as a “freak accident”, apparently afraid to call radical squirrel terrorism by name.

Warning: This story includes a photo of a dead squirrel.

Brookins posted about the accident on Sunday to announce that he would be unable to attend events in the near future as he was still recovering from his serious injuries.

Sadly, it appears that the squirrel did not survive the incident, based on the photo that Brookins posted. Chicago Star Tribune (11/22/2016)