#52843
01/19/2002 3:52 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
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old hand
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stales - I'm intrigued. At the equivalent of US$.71 a pack, what would the postage be like to send me some to try, and do you take PayPal?  Particularly with ot's innuendo-riddled advocacy of a long stiff one on a hot day... sounds like it's worth a try. *Plus* it would make for a great book report for http://www.bad-candy.com.
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#52844
01/19/2002 5:27 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
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WO'N asks Is that the correct date?
Well, the year is right. I always thought the date was Jan 26, but I could be wrong. Oh for some patriotism in education.
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#52845
01/20/2002 4:16 AM
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 688
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I'll just remind you that I characterized it as "musk as in muskrat"...Actually, upon further investigation, I have discovered that musk comes from the musk deer. musk, noun: a substance having a penetrating odor, obtained from a sac (musk bag) on the abdomen of the male musk deer 
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#52846
01/20/2002 4:24 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
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Dear All
stales and all his family continue to be amazed at your reaction to musksticks (it's really 2 words, but we say it as one - "musstix")
For those that want the first hand experience, there's a strong chance that belligerentyouth will be attending the Wordapalooza. As he's here in Perth it should be a cinch to give him some packets to take along. And some musk Life Savers! Will keep you informed.
There's another variety of musk sweet I haven't mentioned - and they're great because you buy them by the kilogram/pound at the local shops. They're sometimes marketed as "Life Saver holes" because they are little cylindrical bullets about the diameter of the hole in a Life Saver. I should send a bag of these as well.
As for those of you who won't be attending, I'd be happy to send you a packet each. Please email me to discuss how/when.
Fiberbabe, I thought you needed a new currency calculator - thought your post read A$1.39 = US$1.73. The A$ is currently trading at around 52 cents US, thus a packet costing A$1.39 is worth around US73cents. You had me all excited for a minute - thinking that there was a dollar out there somewhere that was worth less than ours!
As for the taste - well.......it tastes of musk.
The pic URL given by wof... shows that they indeed look like licorice sticks. The pink colour persists all the way through and they are not sugar coated. Their texture when they've gone a bit soggy is drier (and a lot less chewy) than licorice - pretty similar to the thick white sugary icing on our traditional (fruit cake based) wedding cakes. (I believe US wedding cakes are often a white sponge???)
Yours in Incredulity
stales
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#52847
01/20/2002 7:00 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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You had me all excited for a minute - thinking that there was a dollar out there somewhere that was worth less than ours!
Ahem. Capital Kiwi
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52848
01/20/2002 8:15 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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#52849
01/20/2002 10:00 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
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Posts: 866 |
You have real currency? Dollars? I thought youse were still trading paua shells. The things you learn at AWAD.
stales
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#52850
01/20/2002 11:43 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Well, stales old chappie, here's something else: Cricket. Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!  I'm surprised at the vehemence of Lions supporters' dislike of the Wallabies. I was wearing an All Blacks rugby jersey when I was out getting totally bladdered last Thursday, and a number of people - instead of hitting me - commented that they hoped the All Blacks would cream the Wallabies this season. Well, we do live in hopes.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52851
01/20/2002 1:18 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
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WO'N - here's your answer...
"Australia Day (26 January) commemorates the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet at Port Jackson, later renamed Sydney Cove, on 26th January,1788 after leaving England on 13th May 1787. On the day of his arrival, Captain Arthur Phillip proclaimed the area to be a British possesion, naming it New South Wales. This landing started the first permanent European settlement in Australia. The fleet consisted of two warships, the Sirius and the Supply, and nine merchantment. There are said to have been 564 male and 192 female convicts, 450 crew with civil and military personnel appointed to official duties,28 wives and 30 children, of whom 15 belonged to the convicts.
Australia Day is a holiday throughout Australia. Traditionally the celebrations include flag-raising and commemorative events, a 21 gun salute, regattas and parades. More recently the event has been marked by naturalization and citizenship ceremonies and the presentation of Australia Day Citizen and Young Citizen Awards. There are also concerts, theatrical productions, fireworks and a variety of other events including a carnival in Canberra."
Captain James Cook "discovered" and mapped the east coast of Australia in 1770 in the bark "Endeavour".
Growing up on the east coast in a strongly British dominated system this was about the depth of it - "the Brits did it all, the Brits are good", colonial sort of stuff. No mention of the Portuguese (and probably the Dutch) who knew the place was here well over a hundred years before Cook but chose to do nothing with their knowledge.
I used quotes on discovered because it also is a Colonial thing. The aboriginal people had been here for 60,000 years and weren't lost at all. Matter of fact, I think they did a damn fine job keeping this place to themselves for all that time. Sharing it with Europeans only stuffed things up for them.
stales
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#52852
01/20/2002 2:23 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
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Posts: 771 |
stales ~ Didn't mean to cause confusion on the currency conversion - I found an online converter, so I felt pretty sure about its accuracy, I just neglected to put in the zero for clarity.  Heretofore, please read " At the equivalent of US$.71 a pack..." as " At the equivalent of US$0.71 a pack..." The decimal was in there to begin with, I promise. I'm glad that your family has garnered some amusement from this! I consider it on par with having grown up in a Norwegian household and not being able to fathom that there are people in the world who don't know about lutefisk and lefse. 
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#52853
01/21/2002 1:43 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
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Stales,
Do musk sticks ever come in a white creamy colour. I vaguely remember something of the sort being sold here when I was young but they were called "de la tire musquée" I think musked taffy is the best translation.
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#52854
01/22/2002 3:08 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
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If anyone thinks musk candy sounds gross, let them try lutefisk.
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#52855
01/22/2002 3:19 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks, stales, for that capsule review of Australian settlement history!...very enlightening. Now, as a history buff, I'm eager to delve into more of the details. (Although, I think I'll pass on the early Aussie settlers' candy-eating habits!  )
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#52856
01/22/2002 3:32 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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gross, let them try lutefisk.
Ok, Bob--I'll bite. What is lutefisk? That word sounds fishy to me...
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#52857
01/22/2002 9:31 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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more of the detailsSend me your address mate, and I'll send you a spare copy of a wonderful book I was enthusing about around a year back, called The Fatal Shore - I couldn't resist getting another copy to give to someone when I saw it for about $1 in a remnants sale recently! BTW, thanks to Jo I recently experienced the delights of the standard USA Lifesavers. er, well, guys, I have three comments on these marvels: 1. Their flavo(u)r reminded me of a cross between old socks and lavatory disinfectant B. Compared to this 'gourmetic' delight I would *always rather taste musk which is a wonderful and naturally aromatic sensation III. In fact, compared to repeating this experience, I think I can honestly say I would rather suck a Fisherman's Friend
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#52858
01/22/2002 2:22 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Re-- I'll send you a spare copy of a wonderful book I was enthusing about around a year back, called
The Fatal Shore -
Was that the history of australia that was published about the time of Australia's centenial?
(ie circa 1988?) there was an exhibit at AMNH, and i remember reading a book about the early years of australia, but i foolishly didn't by it. Still bits and peices stuck in my head--
Mostly i remember being startled that the country was so young.. I am so used to US and NY being called young.. after all even a young city in europe, (Dublin) is over 1000 years old.. and NY hasn't even celebrated 400..
It seemed there was a lot of australian stuff about then.. lots of movies, some books and several TV productions that found there way onto US public telelvision.. I particularly remember A Town Like Alice-- and while i haven't gotten to australia yet-- when i do get there, Alice will be on my itinerary!
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#52859
01/22/2002 7:07 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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Posts: 1,094 |
[blueand NY hasn't even celebrated 400..
Virginia's quarter in the "50 State Quarters" program says "quadricentennial", I believe.
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#52860
01/22/2002 7:34 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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I don't know when Henry Hudson, sailed into the harbor, and started up the river that bears his name, but NYC charter traces the city to 1625-- (ycliu)--the year of the New Amsterdam Trading company charter, establishing a trading post colony on the tip of Manhattan.
the state might be older.. but NYC is still short of being 400 years old.
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#52861
01/22/2002 10:39 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Sir Walter Raleigh's colonists, successful or not, landed at Roanoke in 1587. I know this because I was reading a plaque in Plymouth at Christmas that said so, and plaques on harbour walls never lie, do they? That being the case, Virginia's quadricentennial is more or less right on the money, isn't it? NYC is definitely a johnny-come-lately. JKC Centre or no ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52862
01/23/2002 9:11 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 4,757 |
Was that the history of australia that was published about the time of Australia's centenial?
I would guess so, Helen. And if anyone else wants a a dip into some of these waters without wading through a complete (populist) history tome, may I reccomend a novel called The English Passengers - it's a superb and accurately based story about Van Diemen's Land settlement, and is a rich study too for anyone even remotely interested in language... it is multiply-voiced and includes a lot of Manx dialect. A great read.
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#52863
01/24/2002 2:01 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Ok, CK, I finally buckled down and did my homework. It bothers the heck out of me to read that Raleigh landed on Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke Island is part of North Carolina. But I have to concede that when he was there, it was VA.
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#52864
01/24/2002 3:06 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
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Posts: 1,289 |
Jackie, if you ever visit the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, you will see a map of the U.S. drawn before the American Revolution. It shows that everything south of Maryland and west of the Atlantic ocean, and north of Maryland and west of Pennsylvania, with the exceptions of Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, were claimed as part of Viginia -- all the way to the Mississippi river. In other words, Virginia claimed everyything which was not already another colony.
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#52865
01/24/2002 3:46 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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The first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States was Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and capital of Virginia from 1607-1699. It was founded May 13, 1607, by the Virginia Company of London, on what was then a marshy peninsula (now Jamestown Island) of the James River, about 32 miles from its mouth. Roanoke, Virginia, is very much inland in the southwestern part of the state. Roanoke Island, the site of the 1587 settlement, is indeed located on the barrier island chain (the Outer banks) of North Carolina just behind Nags Head and about 50 miles south of Virginia. Prior to 1663, this territory was all considered Virginia. The Roanoke Colony name applied to a famous land grant of the Crown. In 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh, having obtained a large grant of land from Queen Elizabeth, sent out, April 9, seven vessels and 108 settlers under the command of Sir Richard Grenville. After skirting the West Indies and Hispaniola (dressing all the natives there in skirts ), they landed at Roanoke, in North Carolina, June 20. Ralph Lane was left in charge of the settlement and Grenville returned to England. During the following winter Lane made numerous exploring expeditions and suffered greatly from Indian attacks. In the spring he received some aid in men and supplies from Sir Francis Drake, but finally persuaded Drake to take them home. Soon after Grenville arrived with new settlers. These had been destroyed by the Indians when, in 1587, a new colony of Raleigh's, under an officer named John White, came out. White himself returned to England. When he came back in 1591 he found the colony vanished (the fabled Lost Roanoke Colony)--but the strange word "Croatan" was carved on a doorpost. The Lost Colony of Roanoke remains one of the foremost archaeological mysteries in North America (along with the disappearance of the Anasazi). In 1663 Charles II granted a charter to 8 English gentlemen who had helped him to regain the crown. The territory was called Carolina in honor of Charles the First ("Carolus" is the Latin form of "Charles"). There you go, Dr. Bill, Carolina has Latin roots! Dates on the Roanoke settlement vary by a year or two in some accounts, as early as 1585, and some trimming the final disappearance back to 1590.
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#52866
01/24/2002 12:52 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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In 1863 Charles II granted a charter to 8 English gentlemen .... Did they dig 'im up to do it, special, loike? The Charlie II I know of might have been in the charter-granting business in, oh, say, 1663, though. Oh well, WO'N, at least it was an even numbered century ... I can't remember if the plaque mentioned Virginia explicitly. But, as has been said above, Virginia was most of that area at the time anyway, so Virginia it was. And, yus, I do know that Roanoke, Virginia, is well inland. We stayed there in late July last year after braving the Shenandoah Valley.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52867
01/24/2002 2:21 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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1663Okay, CK...I fixed it! I guess Charles II wouldn't've been giving out land grants in the middle of the American Civil War, huh? Oh, well...it was getting late...and what's 200 years, more or less?
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#52868
01/24/2002 2:38 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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at least it was an even numbered century
As our bold expat Kiwi waits, with baited breath, for the resident pedantic nitpicker to say, "Odd!"
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#52869
01/24/2002 2:46 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ewww... you mean to say CapK has a worm on his tongue?
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#52870
01/24/2002 3:13 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Or either a piece of cheese, one.
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#52871
01/24/2002 4:10 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A double-whammy - the bad-cop, bad-cop routine. Unoriginal, but ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52872
01/24/2002 4:18 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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the bad-cop, bad-cop routine
Hey, one bad cop deserves another.
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#52873
01/25/2002 9:56 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yeah, and two bad cops don't have no mother ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52874
02/04/2002 1:54 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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Posts: 866 |
I have to share this with you all.....
A mate of mine is PASSIONATE about being an Australian. Drives a 1964 Holden (same as me!), would die for the Melbourne football team, drinks VB etc.
He was recently working in Malaysia and took the opportunity to get a tattoo (his first and only). It's about 3" wide and sits prominently high on his back, on his spine about 4" below his collar....
And the "picture"??????
A bar code with "Australia" printed above it and the codified version of his date and place of birth, plus those of his two children!!
I'm tempted - but, as you'll note in my bio, faced with an identity crisis!!
stales
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#52875
02/04/2002 7:25 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
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Oh stales - help me understand this acronym. The only thing I know VB to stand for is Visual Basic, and I don't think it comes in liquid form. 
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#52876
02/04/2002 9:07 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 3,146 |
"Victoria Bitter" beer. Has the same characteristics as Microsoft's products, actually. Nicely packaged. Full of bugs. Purchase leaves a nasty aftertaste and can easily make you sick; and they're always on at you to buy more.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#52877
02/04/2002 9:12 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,803 |
the same characteristics as Microsoft's products
More's the pity. A good bitter is a wond'rous thang.
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#52878
02/04/2002 11:00 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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As bespoke by Thunder Stealer, Captain of Words, from the Land of The Cricket Match Throwers, 'tis a lager.
[gently chiding -e] Now Fiberbabe - if you'd carefully followed the "Aussie Beers" pages at the site mentioned by Bean at the start of this thread you would have known this! There's a pic there n' all.
Rather than trying to remember all our beers, we have a simple system for the poor heat-struck folk in our northern and outback climes....
Rather than asking for a Victoria Bitter or VB, just ask the barkeep for "a green can". For a spot of variation you could go for a "yellow can" (XXXX), a "white can" (Carlton Draft) or a "blue can" (Foster's). Doesn't matter if you can't remember which is which, they're all good. And, after one of each in the first hour, you won't care!! ("Super" grade Aussie beers such as these have considerably more alcohol than those in the US as I recall - around 6%).
This should be of benefit to anybody travelling through this land - and you'll impress the locals straight away!
stales
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#52879
02/04/2002 11:37 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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#52880
02/05/2002 2:31 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477
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And as our dear friends Stales & Max Q are demonstrating ... one of the most ingrained traditions of our two cultures is to needle the other . NZ - 1 Aus - 1 Now here's a fun read about our fine land: http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/australia.shtml Hev"friend you haven't met yet..."
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#52881
02/05/2002 2:48 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
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make sure they put Costa Rica back.
Aw, hev, and I'd just finished cleaning the grapes off my monitor from the Bobbit thread video escapade! ROTFLMAO and still wiping the tears off my face.
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#52882
02/05/2002 4:00 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477
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