General Discussion Thread

[JacobThomsen]

This has been going around my FB friends and I finally started looking.

It's all kinds of brilliant.  I don't know what category yet, but it's going on my Hugo ballot next year.

What Football Will Look Like in 17776.

I only read the first parts and I can already see that I'm going to enjoy this, I'll probably finish it when I have access to a computer again

[Ana Nymus]

This has been going around my FB friends and I finally started looking.

It's all kinds of brilliant.  I don't know what category yet, but it's going on my Hugo ballot next year.

What Football Will Look Like in 17776.

This is amazing.

[urbicande]

I only read the first parts and I can already see that I'm going to enjoy this, I'll probably finish it when I have access to a computer again

Yeah, you'll need the computer for it.  Nice big screen if possible.

[Kelpie]

Tell them it's an unusual and very cool science fiction story.

Yes. You're aiming for the wrong audience while missing those who would actually like it.

The only reason I did it like that was because I wanted them to get the same sort of surprise I had when the whole big letter page redirecting thing happened. It probably was not the best idea but a few of them did end up reading it. 

[urbicande]

 Bonne Fête Nationale à tous les Minnions français !

[Róisín]

Don't know whether to laugh or swear. At present I'm doing both. Weather in southern Australia is extremely bleak at present, temps hovering around zeroC, bucketing sleety rain or rainy sleet with the occasional bit of hail.  So I decided that it was probably unwise to work outdoors all day, but didn't want to spend the day indoors when there were flying stormclouds and beautiful light and flocks of wild birds going over..... Anyway, I decided to work out on the back verandah, where I could still see the sky but had a bit of protection from the wind. Weeded and tidied the plants there, distangled the piles of string and twine, pruned back some of the grapevine, sorted out empty boxes, straightened the chairs, discovered lost tools, that sort of thing.

Then I found my gumboots, which had been knocked down from the boot tree, probably by cats, possums or the owl that hunts along the verandah at night. These are a new, quality pair of gumboots which I bought this Autumn just past, having realised we were in for a bad Winter, and my old ones having started to leak. Went to pick them up, and gave them a shake, this being Australia where venomous wildlife is quite likely to take up residence in neglected boots. Recognised what started to fall out and hastily tipped the boot flat again so as not to dislodge them further.

My gumboots - both of them - have been colonised by bullants in the couple of weeks since I last wore them. I can't tip them out,because in this weather the bullants and their larvae will die. So I moved them, very cautiously, on a shovel, and have put them under the porch ramp where they will be warm but visiting kids won't find them and get bitten. Looks my gumboots are out of commission for the winter. As I said, don't know whether to laugh or swear.

[Sc0ut]

Róisín, thank you for the update on Australian adventures I think laugh and swear is an appropriate reaction, to this episode and just Australia in general.

[viola]

Don't know whether to laugh or swear. At present I'm doing both. Weather in southern Australia is extremely bleak at present, temps hovering around zeroC, bucketing sleety rain or rainy sleet with the occasional bit of hail.  So I decided that it was probably unwise to work outdoors all day, but didn't want to spend the day indoors when there were flying stormclouds and beautiful light and flocks of wild birds going over..... Anyway, I decided to work out on the back verandah, where I could still see the sky but had a bit of protection from the wind. Weeded and tidied the plants there, distangled the piles of string and twine, pruned back some of the grapevine, sorted out empty boxes, straightened the chairs, discovered lost tools, that sort of thing.

Then I found my gumboots, which had been knocked down from the boot tree, probably by cats, possums or the owl that hunts along the verandah at night. These are a new, quality pair of gumboots which I bought this Autumn just past, having realised we were in for a bad Winter, and my old ones having started to leak. Went to pick them up, and gave them a shake, this being Australia where venomous wildlife is quite likely to take up residence in neglected boots. Recognised what started to fall out and hastily tipped the boot flat again so as not to dislodge them further.

My gumboots - both of them - have been colonised by bullants in the couple of weeks since I last wore them. I can't tip them out,because in this weather the bullants and their larvae will die. So I moved them, very cautiously, on a shovel, and have put them under the porch ramp where they will be warm but visiting kids won't find them and get bitten. Looks my gumboots are out of commission for the winter. As I said, don't know whether to laugh or swear.

I'm curious, why do you keep your boots in a tree?

[Róisín]

Heh. Hadn't realised what that would sound like. No, a 'boot tree' is a thing that looks a bit like a coat rack, only shorter and with the spikes pointing upward. It is usually placed outside but under cover near the back door, and when you come inside you hang your boots on it, each on its spike, open side down. This allows the boots to dry and the mud to flake off, while discouraging the small but venomous wildlife from taking up residence in your boots. Except that the larger wildlife had knocked my boots down and I hadn't noticed, which is why the bullants had chosen said boots as an overwintering site, which has put the boots out of commission until warmer weather. I'll reclaim them in the Spring, when the bullants will move out and dig an earth nest and build up their numbers again. They overwinter in small numbers - a queen, a few dozen workers and some eggs and larvae - in a warm sheltered spot so they don't freeze or drown.

[thorny]

I've got to say that I like knowing other people who think it's entirely reasonable to go without their boots all winter rather than ruin an ants' nest.

Róisín, I hope you can manage to get another pair of nonleaky boots! you deserve them.

[viola]

Heh. Hadn't realised what that would sound like. No, a 'boot tree' is a thing that looks a bit like a coat rack, only shorter and with the spikes pointing upward. It is usually placed outside but under cover near the back door, and when you come inside you hang your boots on it, each on its spike, open side down. This allows the boots to dry and the mud to flake off, while discouraging the small but venomous wildlife from taking up residence in your boots. Except that the larger wildlife had knocked my boots down and I hadn't noticed, which is why the bullants had chosen said boots as an overwintering site, which has put the boots out of commission until warmer weather. I'll reclaim them in the Spring, when the bullants will move out and dig an earth nest and build up their numbers again. They overwinter in small numbers - a queen, a few dozen workers and some eggs and larvae - in a warm sheltered spot so they don't freeze or drown.

Ahh ok, we have things like that for our winter boots, they are heated and you use them to dry and warm your boots after the snow, but ours are usually inside. The combination of boot tree and outside had me picturing some kind of old knarled tree with boots hung all over it... XD

[Róisín]

Nah, just dowel rods, though I have seen the other kind.

And thorny, I'm glad you don't think I'm crazy! I figure I can get more boots more easily than the ants can relocate and move their babies in this level of cold and damp. I will kill things if they are an active danger, or an animal I am going to eat, but I see no reason to kill anything wantonly, or just for convenience.

[midwestmutt]

Nah, just dowel rods, though I have seen the other kind.

And thorny, I'm glad you don't think I'm crazy! I figure I can get more boots more easily than the ants can relocate and move their babies in this level of cold and damp. I will kill things if they are an active danger, or an animal I am going to eat, but I see no reason to kill anything wantonly, or just for convenience.

Of course the trees have thorns. It's Australia! I looked up bull ants too. Are these the jumping variety? All your daily life is missing is Richard Attenborough to narrate.

[Róisín]

Jackjumpers, which is the local name for the ones that leap and sting, are a kind of bullant, but they tend to build a gravel mound nest which they can inhabit over the winter. These are a different sort, larger and shiny black. We have maybe six or seven kinds of bullants in our area, and who knows how many kinds of smaller ants. Lots of ants in Australia, because the climate and conditions suit them. They can be a nuisance, but they are useful creatures. They kill a lot of worse pests, clean up carrion, keep the soil aerated in areas too dry for worms to survive, and help to germinate tree seeds.

But yeah, sometimes living here it does seem as if all it needs is an Attenborough in the background....

[Kelpie]

I know I'm barely here anymore, but I finally brainstormed with friends and came up with a name to replace the one I never really liked. That only took a year and a half. So hi now I'm a shape-shifting horse that will drown you.