From Australia
Nov. 14th, 2016 05:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heliopausaI'll get back to Shakespeare, and vaguely Shakespeare-related notes, sometime this coming week, but in the meantime:
It's been strange and unseasonable weather here - mid-November, and cold! Even stranger, a few days back, we had a hailstorm, with largeish hailstones - some rounded, but others just irregular chunks of ice - falling from a clear, dry sky. The rain came before too long, but at the beginning it was strange.
This one's left me with mixed feelings - how grim to live in a society where domestic violence is so common that unions are working on a special leave provision for those affected - on the other hand, how heartening to see the employer group concerned, the National Retail Association, backing the claim. Their Chief Executive said "As the largest employer of young people in this country, and one of the most gendered industries, we simply cannot ignore the fact that the highest proportion of victims - women aged between 18 and 24 - are also the most likely to be working in retail." This support doesn't make it a settled matter - but the support is good to hear about.
Old news, but here it is anyway: As if the year hasn't been long enough and hard enough - there'll be an extra second added in, a leap-second.
Do you recall the noble dogs protecting fairy penguins from predators? Well, hot news! The same dogs - well, the same breed, Maremmas - are now putting their watchfulness and valour to work protecting bandicoots! Go, Maremmas! \o/
This last isn't Australia, but New Zealand. Friends in New Zealand, I hope you're all all right - psychologically as well as physically. I don't think anyone likely to read this is at Kaikoura, but I know that survivors of earthquakes can be really stirred up by even slight or quite distant shocks later, so this is for all New Zealanders affected.
(Relatedly: earthquake lights captured on video.)
It's been strange and unseasonable weather here - mid-November, and cold! Even stranger, a few days back, we had a hailstorm, with largeish hailstones - some rounded, but others just irregular chunks of ice - falling from a clear, dry sky. The rain came before too long, but at the beginning it was strange.
This one's left me with mixed feelings - how grim to live in a society where domestic violence is so common that unions are working on a special leave provision for those affected - on the other hand, how heartening to see the employer group concerned, the National Retail Association, backing the claim. Their Chief Executive said "As the largest employer of young people in this country, and one of the most gendered industries, we simply cannot ignore the fact that the highest proportion of victims - women aged between 18 and 24 - are also the most likely to be working in retail." This support doesn't make it a settled matter - but the support is good to hear about.
Old news, but here it is anyway: As if the year hasn't been long enough and hard enough - there'll be an extra second added in, a leap-second.
Do you recall the noble dogs protecting fairy penguins from predators? Well, hot news! The same dogs - well, the same breed, Maremmas - are now putting their watchfulness and valour to work protecting bandicoots! Go, Maremmas! \o/
This last isn't Australia, but New Zealand. Friends in New Zealand, I hope you're all all right - psychologically as well as physically. I don't think anyone likely to read this is at Kaikoura, but I know that survivors of earthquakes can be really stirred up by even slight or quite distant shocks later, so this is for all New Zealanders affected.
(Relatedly: earthquake lights captured on video.)
