The rights and the wrongs

Three years ago the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked very innocent Israeli musical festival goers. Many died, many were taken hostage, and then dying. It was so awful to comprehend. 

Israel then attacked Palestine itself, with far many more innocent Palestinians killed, and those that weren't survived with great deprivation of food, housing and medical care.

Being so personally directed, the attack on Israelis seems worse to me than instantly dying by an Israeli bomb or bullet. A moot point really. Israel has just gone too far, and as I see it, Israeli settlers moving into Palestinian land and targeting resident Palestinians and being allowed to do so by the the government of Israel is a disgrace.

So, now a rapper in the US, as a support act, seems like he has brought down a tour by British musician Ed Sheeran. Although with a history of being anti Israel, he spoke a few words at a concert concluding with 'Free Palestine'.

He was banned from future performances by the owner of the venue, who owns other venues, and he was banned from them too. So much for the US First amendment, mentioning freedom of speech (I am not a great one for the absolute right to free speech). 

Subsequently other support act musicians have withdrawn for Sheeran's tour. What a bloody god damn disaster.

It is disappointing that the very rich Sheeran is sitting on the fence about the matter. In a more minor way, similar has happened here in Australia. 

I am not anti Jewish, as you long time readers will know. But I am very anti the extremist right wing Netanyahu Israeli government. Rather than my rant, you read about it here at The Guardian. 

Big Africa

The world has a new map, a more realistic map for actually showing the size of various continents, and while I know things in African are big, very big, the continent is much larger than depicted on the old Mercator Map.

Wow!

West Timor

I have my reasons for checking out West Timor as a friend is there doing good works, that is volunteering. 

In the 1980s I was an activist for independence for East Timor. I lobbied, I wrote letters and attended protest meetings. Members of the Indonesian Army who controlled the island killed five Australian journalists in cold blood, as they were reporting on the battle for an independent East Timor. The five journalists became known as the Balibo Five. The Indonesian army was ruthless and lawless.

I kind of of have a personal connection to Shirley, the widow of one of the murdered journalists Greg Shackleton, who was helped in her older years by Ray in his volunteer role. She was a great activist to bring the murdering members of the army to justice, and as a advocate for an independent East Timor. 

I don't know why the island was divided. Under Portuguese rule then later Dutch rule, the island was Catholic in East Timor and Protestant in the West Timor. Indonesian independence in 1949 saw the central Indonesian government take control of the whole island, but those in the east weren't having a bit of this and fought for its independence. Many died in the battle and at one point Australian troops and others were there as a peace keeping force.

In 1991 we were living in our house in Glen Iris and with Ray at the wheel after a night out clubbing with friends, we had nearly reached home and I turned on the car radio for perhaps the 1am news, and I learnt that Indonesian troops had massacred at least 250 mostly young people at the East Timor Santa Cruz cemetery.

The massacre was witnessed by two American journalists and filmed by another from Yorkshire, England. The film was cunningly smuggled out from Indonesia to Australia and free for the world to see, and it was shocking.

It took until 2002 for East Timor to become an independent county, and later claim a share of the oil revenue from the Timor Sea.

Shirley Shackleton, widow of Greg, died in 2023 at the age of 91, and with a tribute from the President of East Timor.

After news of death came at the weekend, Timor Leste's President Jose Ramos Horta posted: "God bye Shirley. Thank you forever. Forever we will remember you. Your soul rests with us in Mt Ramelau". If you are interested, you can read this newspaper OB. 

So now East Timor, Timor Leste is an independent country, and Shirley was awarded The Medal of the Order of Timor-Leste. While she has won plaudits for her writing etc in Australia, oddly she hasn't received a government honour, such as a Medal of the Order of Australia, OAM. The Australian government covered up details of the deaths of the Bilabo Five, and still does so.

Err, this was supposed to be about West Timor, but I became side tracked with memories.

West Timor is marked as Indonesia, which of course it is. There is an odd little bit of isolated East Timor displayed on the map, and I have no idea what that is so. I will investigate when I do write about West Timor. 

Here is the location in relation to northern Australia, quite close.

My fingers run away

Phyllis has an excellent command of written and spoken English, and even without the usual Indian accent.

Kosov has excellent written English but his speaking is quirky. He struggles to explain anything complicated. But then I probably do too. At times I have had to restart explaining something. 

Neither of them have good mental arithmetic. If they want an instant answer to simple arithmetic, they ask me. And my mental arithmetic is far from perfect but faster than theirs, and more accurate.

When a new calendar arrives each year, Phyllis marks the calendar when the fortnightly rent is to be paid. I picked up that he mucked that up during the change from last year's calendar. He wasn't trying to cheat me, as his mistake was in my favour by one week. They are now paying rent four weeks in advance, but again Phyllis mucked up, and marked the calendar one month after he last paid four weeks rent. No, no. That short changes me by a few days each month. He understood and realised his mistake. I have no doubt it was unintentional. He knows I am smart with minor amounts of money, just not so smart with larger amounts. Yep, I look after pennies, not necessarily the pounds.

Speaking of pennies, for a long time I've wondered why Americans refer to coins as pennies. Aren't they cents? Aren't dollars and cents the standard?

Some good news here today. Food delivery drivers will now receive an hourly wage of around AU$31 an hour while they are working, plus some accident and personal injury insurance paid for by their employing companies. My lads never look to the future about shopping and we had run out of cat litter, which is not in my job description. Kosov didn't want to go out to get some after being told to do so, so he had it delivered from Aldi, for a fee of $4.50. That is simply a ridiculously low delivery fee. It may rise now that proper wages have to be paid to delivery drivers. Good.

What a horrible business in England, where a professor was driven to suicide, mostly by the Murdoch media. I can never remember an academic being attacked by media as he was. 

In Israel, Netanyahu is trying to build bridges with far right parliamentary members who want to bomb Arab countries to bits before a forthcoming election, while #47 continues his nonsense, now having being humiliated by Iran. Yeah, all about oil, but #47, you have huge problems in your own country. Yet the fuckwit is against his own citizens and businesses who use and promote renewable energy, thus reducing the reliance on Middle Eastern oil. Follow the money for him and his corrupt cronies and you will find out why.

Now Kosov has his Master's degree and no longer a student, he had to apply for a two year post study visa. My god, how Australia rips off overseas students. Now it is an AU$500 for a medical check and chest x-ray. He has spent many hours online applying for his visa. Stepping out of my personal interest in having them stay, they are hard working, decent and honest young men, in a committed relationship. As much as they are taking from Australia, they are giving more back to the country. 

Oh yes, the three of us had a very nice couple of hours out with HH last Friday night. I was going to insist on paying for my two glasses of wine but I knew what her reaction would be, so it was pointless. She can certainly talk, but I noticed her conversational skills, by the way she engaged Phyllis and Kosov in conversations. You'd be surprised how well an 80 year old straight white Australian woman could talk with two Indian born gay overseas former students who have lived in Australia for a couple of years.

Friday Fandango

Gosh can this guy dance. He must have put so much time into this short clip, but must also must have a natural dancing gift. It would have been nice to see him do some Irish tap dancing or perhaps the world famous Melbourne Shuffle.

Not quite buddies in the Middle East

Israel was a once safe place for Jewish people from all over the world. If only Israeli Jews did not illegally extend their territory into Palestine. If only rabid Palestinians a couple of years ago did not go on a killing and abduction rampage in Israel.

I know about what has happened in the Middle East because many on the ground journalists have informed me. 129 journalists and their assistants who have informed the public have been killed as they went about their daily jobs. These are generally not western country journalists, but locals, as western journalists have been banned.  

Although with troublesome neighbours, isn't Israel a civilised democratic country? Yeah, nah. No. In 2025 two thirds of the 129 reporters covering the conflict were killed by Israeli forces. My abacus tells me that is 86 people doing an honest day's job. This would not happen if not for the huge funds being transferred from #47's government (yeah, you US taxpayers)  to Israel. The US is equally complicit in the killing of journalists as it blindly supports Israel.

To me it is simple, and call me an ignorant simpleton if you like, but Israel recognise Palestine as an independent country and not take over Palestine land. US, get the fuck out of there. For Palestinians respect that they have their own county and there is no reason why they cannot peaceably live next to Israel. The two countries may never be bosom buddies, but they could exist beside each other.     

The electricical

The spelling of the subject line is as Eva Gabor used to pronounce the word in the tv show Greenacres. I thought this post might be of interest to those overseas who haven't experienced our power plugs and outlets.

Our sockets and plugs are known as Type 1, and used in Australia, New Zealand, PNG and some Pacific Islands. Oddly, they are also used in China and Argentina. These are to carry 240 volts, unlike the North American standard 110 volts,  and Japan's 100 volts. The history of the use of 110v versus 240v is very interesting, and 110v seems problematic as at times things need a higher voltage. 240v is much more dangerous than 110v. You'll be very quickly fritzed.  

These are the original overhead lights in my apartment. I have two incandescent 100 watt bulbs in each, which totals 400 watts of electricity when they are on. That is an extreme amount, and worse, they don't actually light up the room that well. They are probably only used if one drops an earing and needs to find it. As they are so rarely used, it makes no sense to change to LED.

I am thinking of replacing them with fan lights. At times all you need is a bit of breeze, rather than air conditioning. 

The lights are on a dimmer though, which we had installed. 

I was going to use my own photos but there has to be as mix. This is the typical Australia socket. Generally people do use the on/off switch. I always turn power points off. I don't want the the electricical leaking out. The angled plug outlets are for the positive and neutral and the vertical for the earth plug. Tourists who aren't accustomed to turning switches on and off can find their phone has no juice when it should be fully charged. 

You can get very fancy power sockets but I think they look rather gauche. 

The prongs are partly plastic coated and once the full plastic is shown as you remove a plug, the prongs are no longer in contact with the socket. That is really the only safety aspect to our plugs, unlike English plugs that are incredibly safe but very bulky. 

As you can see the normal plugs is not very bulky.

And this one an earthed plug. My washing machine has an earthed plug, and I think the dishwasher, but not much else now. 

Medical treatment around the world

Free and universal health care is not exactly what it sounds like. In Australia you may well pay for certain prescribed drugs, but at minimal cost. I pay over $5 for each of my seven medications per month. But around October I reached the pensioner ceiling, and henceforth, my medications were free to me until January this year. Non pensioners pay about $25 per prescription. There is also a higher ceiling level for people who pay the $25 maximum. 

In England when I needed one drug because my chemist screwed up, it cost me £10, but only because I insisted on the brand name drug I knew. The medical appointment cost me nothing. 

My tenant Kosov after been bitten by a dog when crossing a road, paid nothing for a tetanus vaccination. While it wasn't a claim, overseas students are compelled to have private health insurance, as they are not Australian permanent residents.. 

New Zealand also has public health care, even though it does not seem to appear on this map. 

It took me a while to understand the US health care system, and correct me if I am wrong, but it seems your life will be saved after an emergency situation. If you don't have health insurance, and say for a car crash, you will get care until you are able to go home. But after that, you are on your own so far as recovery goes. So, you will receive free care, until you are kind of ok. Buy your own medications near the exit door at extortionate prices compared to the rest of the world.

Most of you in the US who are reading this will have good private health insurance, so not so much of an issue, but it certainly is for many citizens in the US. 

PS I don't actually understand the US medical system, just kind of what happens in an emergency.

A wee rant

There are a number of YouTube clips showing Trump voting Americans in great distress as his policies come into force. Once clip I saw showed a Trump voting woman in tears and praying, and asking for prayers, because the father of children and his mother were being deported to Venezuela by ICE. 

Another farmer of a large agricultural property said her farming staff had all disappeared and were not coming to work in fear of ICE, and deportation. She thinks her farm will go into bankruptcy, yet she voted for Trump.

There are clips of an almost empty Las Vegas. Canadians are not visiting Florida, and are selling their properties there, getting rid of US timeshares, as one blogmate has done.

There are clips about Canada withholding super phosphate from the US, that is its farmers. While I disapprove of Canada PM's backing down over payments for digital technology, apparently Canada has been working hard to diversify its economy, reaching out and into the rest of the world. What ever the **** rare earth magnets are, they are essential in this modern world and China, being the major supplier,  has stopped exporting them to the US.

Some of these clips show a sense of glee about how the US is seemingly collapsing. 

Very reputable news sites, including conservative organisations, are calling out #47's ridiculous claims of how well the US economy is travelling. 

Whatever the truth, I too feel glee about Trump supporters suffering, and those who may have voted Democrat, if they got off their arses and actually voted.

But for all of you who voted Democrat, and as is said after school gun shootings, you are in my thoughts and prayers. 

Seriously, you decent US citizens have my empathy and sympathy, and I'm not judging you by what #47 and his henchfolk are doing.   

Sunday Extra

Australians are protesting: 

More than 100,000 pro-Palestine protesters marched on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Local protest organisers estimate 25,000 people gathered in Melbourne, marching through the CBD before their demonstration concluded at the King Street Bridge, which was blocked by a heavy police presence.

While I do think Palestinians should have their own country, Hamas and its supporters are no friend to people like me. They were no friend of innocent people in Israel. Hamas took hostages and actively or by neglect, killed many. But the disgraceful and horrible actions of Hamas has paled into insignificance, compared to the response of Israel. 

Yep, if the media shows starving and dying children, you have lost the public opinion war. 

I am not pro Palestine or pro Israel. I just don't want to see people starving to death, or dying because of a lack of medical treatment. I don't want to see doctors, nurses and patients bombed and killed. 

I really don't think Israel can take a high moral stance as the situation presents itself 

Two Sundays ago I was sipping coffee in Swanston Street, Melbourne. It was the usual Sunday pro Palestine march passing by, that disrupts our trams. I hate it. The disruptions make visiting the city difficult. 

But what I did notice among the procession of protesters was quite a number of older grey haired white women. When they start marching, and the Doctors Wives start saying things about starving children to their husbands, Houston and Jerusalem, you have a problem.

It's all about the words

The longer I am a blogger with US blog mates, the more I learn but what I never expected was such difference in our common language of English. I knew the basics like tyre/tire, bonnet/hood, boot/trunk. Why are these so car focused? I can't remember the US equivalent of glove box. 

From blogging, I learnt mould/mold and various other different spellings. I even learnt about Sterno stoves yesterday, and what Sterno actually is. Most interesting and I don't know why we never had the ultra safe Sterno here. 

However, our grammar almost always matches, yet I've been jarred by one difference. Take a bow Steve. 

I am a poor old age pensioner, so the government gives me $450 a week to support myself. This is not enough. I need to inform our Prime Minister that this is not enough. I need to write the Prime Minister, and I will have wrote the Prime Minister. Do I have that right for how it would be written in the US?

No matter, whatever is written like that just smacks me in the head like no spelling difference ever has. I will write to the Prime Minister, I will have written to the Prime Minister and I wrote to the Prime Minister.

Given how US, UK and Oceanic English grammar matches, this is one mighty big difference. Steve is an American and was a professional writer, so I am quite sure he uses correct grammar for his US readers, but isn't it remarkable that this is the only grammar difference I've noticed. Aside from my own grammatical errors. Maybe you know more?

I think the New Jersey Boud is UK or Irish born? I hope I am correct about that. But she has difficulty understanding the speech in Downton Abbey. Their accents aren't mine, but I can understand them perfectly well. The world is a strange place in so far as the English language goes.

Last night I took Phyllis and Kosov out for dinner. They shared a pizza and ate some of my chips, and souvlaki bread. The bulk of the bill was my two glasses of wine and an affogato with Scotch whisky. If you don't know, affogato is strong Australian style coffee poured over ice cream and with whisky poured over the top of that. 

Kosov's English is quite good, but you may remember me mentioning the way he pronounced margarine, as marg, as in Margaret, arine. Given he has to drop his résumé into to many places to find work, I insisted on him learning how to pronounce resume. This night I've learnt the difference between resume and a CV, Australia, US and Canada are in agreement. But is does strike me as odd that we have a choice between French and Latin for a job application, and not English. 

My hearing aid batteries will be changed today, as I do every Sunday, but this Saturday night, one is already warning me, baddery and not battery.

I'm not done yet. With one day of 40/104 degrees, media warned us of a heat wave. One day of extreme heat is not a heat wave. Media shot itself in the foot, as what superlative can it come up with for a real heat wave, such as today, tomorrow and the next day, 38/100,  39/102 and 36/97?  

Water and War

I listened to the podcast linked below and if our ABC is similar to the BBC, you should be able to listen to it anywhere. The podcast is is made by the RN radio programme Rear Vision and discusses the disastrous privatisation of the water and sewerage system in I think, England and Wales. I am not sure about the other countries in Great Britain. 

The privatisation was initiated by late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (she without empathy) and has been an utter disgrace, so if you want your blood to boil in fury about sewerage flowing into fresh water and governmental permission to rip off the people of the aforesaid countries, take half an hour to listen to the podcast. It is very enlightening. 

Sadly ABC no longer allows direct downloading as it wants everyone to use the ABC app, which I believe you can use overseas. You can listen online though. 

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/rearvision/water-privatisation-in-england-and-why-it-s-failed/104238770

In other matters, for months the Australian government has been warning its citizens against visiting the Middle East and over the past several weeks, it has been urging Australians to return to Australia before things really kick off in area. Well, it seems kicking off is pretty close to being underway. 

Now the government is talking about emergency evacuation flights and ferries. If my government was urging me to return home, I damn well would have at the first serious warning, promptly. I suppose there are some citizens of Australia in the Middle East who would be reluctant to uproot their established lives there, but at least they know the situation and can make educated judgements. Wouldn't it to be better to be safe than sorry? I do not like the idea of Australians or anyone being put at risk to evacuate those who were too stubborn and could now be screaming help. Of course down the track our government will receive bad press, by leaving all those, 'innocent and desperate people overseas who are innocently caught up in a war'. 

Yes, I am in a bit of a grump tonight. 

Miss Harris goes to not Paris but Washington

An attempt at humour involving the film Mrs Harris goes to Paris. 

This Harris person seems like she might be a good fit as President of the United States. I wondered why as Vice President, she kept a lowish profile. Ha, she was saving and accumulating her ammunition. She remained a respectful junior to President Biden until he retired. Look at her big....forehead. There is a lot of brain in there. 

Her or the party's choice as her Vice President running mate seems to be a good one, a decent fellow with a lot of experience and perhaps better at connecting to Hillary's accurate but unwise phrase, the basket of deplorables. 

OK, I'll put my brave hand down with my left foot and call it. Harris will win. Surely Americans are over the god awful orange and hysterical #45 who brought such terrible division to the country, as the world watched wide eyed and gobsmacked. Sadly many in the world lost respect for the US. It just seemed too crazy to comprehend. 

You know one really good thing about the US is that behind the scenes, administrative government goes on. At times fraudsters will be caught out. Corruption will be rooted out. Dodgy companies will be called to account. Large and powerful companies will be questioned about their practices in a public forum. #45 will go down in history as a shocker. 

Seems kind of like my own country really, reactive rather than proactive. 

A date anyone?

That's so ambiguous isn't it. I am talking about about time dates and the US using a different general date system to the rest of the world. 

Published on the 11/24/23 is clear but not what I am used to. If it was 09/10/23, Houston and Blogger, we have problems. 

Blogger gets it right for Australia at this final point.

So as I type this on my sister's birthday, 6th August, this below was not of concern to me today as I had no need for my motor car, but I think it would be month old history to Americans. I do really wonder why America doesn't adapt to the world with world standards rather than stand alone as the great world power. 

Creating world peace #23

This is a very clear map of the area of great concern in the Middle East from a company called Mapporn. Tens of thousands Palestinians have been killed by Israel, in response to an attack by Palestine against Israel that killed some hundreds and hostages were taken and many have not been returned. The unnamed  yellow coloured bit on the coast to the left of Palestine is the Gaza Strip, so consider it is part of Palestine.

1. Some in Palestine don't think Israel has a right to exist. It does, and that has to be recognised by Arab countries and the world. 

2. Palestine needs to stop all of its nonsense about Israel's right to exist. Israel existence is backed by world opinion. The state of Palestine is also is also backed by world opinion. 

3. Israel needs to stop the settlers invading disputed land, and get the settlers out of Syria.

4. Israel has created a new generation of Arabs who will hate Israel. That is really an own goal, perhaps the worst outcome there could ever be. 

5. Jews and Arabs have so much in common. Why can't they just get along. 

6. Victories over other nations can be very hollow, with the subjugated rebellious. 

7. What is needed is negotiations in good faith. It might take months or even years. Just keep on climbing up the rockface. 

The correct side of the road

Don't we all think we drive on the correct side of the road? Be it left or right? 

This is an interesting map yet it does not tell the full story. I expect the figure is skewed by highly populated African countries and India, but 35 percent of the world's population drive on the left hand side of the road from the right hand side of their cars.

Worldly experts I am sure can tell me the name of the two South American countries that drive on the left. Why? Former British colonies? 

Most of the left hand drive countries are former colonies of Britain, but there are some odd exceptions, to me being Japan and Thailand. Neither were colonies, not even any real British connection. Google tells me Japan drives on the left because of the side a samurai would pull out his sword, which is much the same as why Britain drives on the left hand side. Roman chariots and all that. 

Your trivia for the day is that the rear left hand door of a Japanese taxi is motorised and when a taxi stops for you to climb in, the door opens for you and then closes once you are inside. In left hand drive countries, that would be right hand side rear door. While I was mentally prepared for it, my normal inclination to open the door was so strong. 

Thailand? I really don't know. Former colony Burma drove on the left, but it has changed to the right hand side.

In 1967 Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right. Tram lines had to be changed and a huge effort was required for the change. In 2009 Samoa changed to left hand driving to match Australia. But American Samoa continues to drive on the right.  

I really can't see any reason why driving on the left or right would be better than the opposite. They are just different and the human brain cleverly and quickly adapts from one to the other, mostly. I qualify this with young human brain. I would not attempt it now. 

Non-SI

This sentence stopped me in my tracks.

The reservoir at the dam adds 377,000 acre-feet of water to controlled storage on the Tennessee River system.

What on earth are acre-feet? Clearly it is a measurement of water. The standard Australia water measurement is Sydney Harbours, such as 'with a volume of water large enough to fill Sydney Harbour twice'. Everyone knows precisely how much water that is, give or take a high or low tide, even if they don't know any other water volume measurement. 

Non-SI sent me to Auntie Google. I had an idea it stood for International Standards and Fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the the blood of a French madame and the initials are for a French term, Système International.

So SI indicates international standards. Non-SI means the measurement is not international standard but is recognised as being used.

Now, I think we do have a another measurement for large amounts of liquid aside from Sydney Harbours. I think it is cubic something. My memory is correct, it was once cubic feet and is now SI compliant cubic metres or litres, but that doesn't seem to be what is used here. We just use megalitres, and one cubic megalitre is 1,000 litres. Thank goodness. I understand litres. 

Victoria's Thomson Dam holds a multiple of Sydney Harbours at over one million megalitres. My photo taken in 2013.

Well, don't trouble yourself too much about this post, as I did some learnin'.

Those who I've known

I'm just having a bit of fun tonight. If you know more, you are probably older than I am. You can confess to your old age in comments if you've known more. 

Two monarchs, haha, R has known three. My first Queen Elizabeth II. R's, King George VI.

Sixteen Australian Prime Ministers. The first Sir Robert Menzies. R, one more, Ben Chifley.

Thirteen US Presidents. The first Dwight D. Eisenhower. R, one more, Harry S. Truman. 

Eleven Canadian Prime Ministers. My first John Diefenbaker. Never heard of him. R, one more, Louis St. Laurent. Never heard of him either. 

Fifteen UK Prime Ministers. My first Harold Macmillan. R's, Clement Attlee.  

Nine French Presidents. My first Rene Coty. Who? R, one more. I've not heard of Vincent Auriol either. 

Nine German Chancellors. My first Konrad Adenauer. Who again? As for R, this is complicated. Adenauer came to office months after R was born. So who ruled Germany when R was born? It didn't have a Chancellor. An edjicated type will no doubt supply an answer. 

C'mon Andrew. These are all very white countries, well were. I have a couple of Indian readers, and I bet I will well recognise the name of the Indian Prime Minister in the year of my birth. Of course it was Jawaharlal Nehru. He is the only major world leader who R and I have in common. 

A good blogger would add photos but I am tired from not being out being out clubbing but being at a poshish  club as a guest. 

What floor are you on?

In Australia multi level buildings have a ground floor then a first floor and then a second floor and so forth.

As I understand in North America it works that what we call the ground floor is the first floor and so our first floor will be their second floor.

I have readers all over the world. Is your ground level floor called ground level or first floor?

Over to you for an answer from England, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, France, Japan, India and anywhere I have missed out. I will already guess that ground floor then first floor is used in Britain.

I actually think the North American system makes more sense, though it is not what I am used to.

Flagging Friday

I don't why I was thinking about flags yesterday but I was. Then this appeared in The Age newspaper today. 

Everyone knows the Stars and Stripes. 

The second most recognisable, I am in trouble here, the flag of England, or is it Britain, or Great Britain. No doubt someone will 'sternly educate' me.

I suggest the third most recognisable flag would be a toss up between these two flags. Both are distinctive, Canada with its maple leaf and Japan with its simple and striking red dot design.

For me the flag of Lebanon is instantly recognisable with its cedar tree.

But I doubt there is another world flag I would recognise. Can I even tell the Australian and New Zealand flag apart? This is the Aussie flag. All pics are from Wikipedia.

   

Ah, the Kiwi flag has red stars representing the Southern Cross star constellation and doesn't have the large star with each point representing a state and a territory as the Australian flag does. It is bit weird that Australia has an extra star in the Southern Cross. I could investigate I suppose, but my interest in flags is flagging.