Mayor4Unley

I've blogged before about a Big Moon and Super Moon; search for moon on this blog. On 29 August there will be a Big Moon and in September 2015 there will be a bigger (Super) Moon. A super moon is a new or full Moon that very closely coincides with  perigee, the closest the Moon gets to Earth in its orbit.  At this time and in the week before and after, there are enormous effects to Earth and  its people (us). Tides are bigger than usual - the gravitational change (from the pull of the Moon) affects all on Earth; animals, people, plants, tides ... It's a time when people are affected. They may act strangely; very strangely. They may go a bit gar-gar and act a bit irrationally. They may not quite be their normal self. Watch out for your friends, family and colleagues. If they aren't behaving normally then it might be due to the Moon. It'll pass and happen again; and again; like the change of the tide. You may need to just cut a bit of slack. May

On Tuesday this week a team of Concordia College students came to Forestville Reserve to remove all the graffiti the tags from the tram overpass wall. It was an absolute mess. This activity was a part of the students' community service; a part of their course work. It was good to see them at work. Look at the photos to see the before, during and after status.

FYI a friend sent me an article on the pervasiveness of acronyms today; the push for more and more acronyms is probably driven by the desire to fit more words into a 140 characters text message. BTW I am simply reprinting what was sent to me; without my usual edit of spelling and grammar. This article is from the August 15 issue of The Australian Digital Edition.   The acronyms are coming. Marching across the language in their thousands, blunt, unlovely, artificial abbreviations, easy to coin and virtually ineradicable, forcing out perfectly good words and replacing them with ugly initials. Acronyms are the grey squirrels of language. Two acronymic films will be competing at the box office: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which stands for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, and the Bond movie, Spectre (Special Executive for Counterintelligence , Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). The men from U.N.C.L.E. fight an evil organisation called Thrush (Technological H

The other day I was asked what does ‘J’ mean in email and text messages. Some people have strange understandings eg. joke, smile with a big mouth, big cheesey grin, etc. Wrong! It all came about through an accident with one computer converting a smiley face to a a J. Now people associate J with a J and use both interchangeably; without wondering why. The technical explanation is as follows ... Answer: If you've ever received an e mail with a mysterious J in the body of the message, you may have been perplexed by its meaning. Some messages have a single J, while others have several. Most Js appear at the end of sentences, but they can appear anywhere in the message. So what does this character mean and why does it show up in e-mail messages (and now also text messages)? The J is actually supposed to be a smiley face. If you have Wingdings font installed on your computer, the character J will appear as a smiley face. Otherwise, it will be the letter J. This is beca

You will know one; hey, you might even be one. It’s the water gurgler. What is a water gurgler? A person who is obsessed with hydrating frequently and often with a lot of noise; it is difficult to drink quietly and elegantly from a plastic bottle with a restricted outlet; usually it’s a long and noisy slurp. Women outscore men as offenders. I have no problem with people keeping up their fluids; but I do have a problem with people who carry their bottle everywhere including to meetings. No matter how long or short the meeting, they arrive and with great fanfare have a noisy slurp from the bottle. Then, every 10 minutes they slurp noisily; it is as though they are totally dehydrated. I’ve watched a bloke at work. Over lunch in the communal eating area, he guzzles noisily every 5 minutes during his meal. I’ve even seem him do this whilst having soup. It gets to the point of being disgusting. Just like people wearing headphones (or ear buds) on public transport and they

Sometimes the simple pleasures in life are more satisfying. One of my favourites is grilled cheese on toast; but not just ordinary cheese on plain old toast. A favourite recipe is grilled parmesan on toasted bread brushed with good quality olive oil . Recipe: Left over (or fresh) bread eg. a baguette; ensure that it is bread that will toast well; some don’t. A baguette is ideal for size; cut the bread with a medium thickness. Brush both sides of the bread with a good quality olive oil; ‘extra virgin’ if you have it. Sprinkle freshly shaved parmesan on one side of the bread; be generous. (If you must, then use grated parmesan bought from the supermarket.) Optionally add any spices eg. pepper, cayenne; I prefer just coarsely ground black pepper. Place on tray on a sheet of bake proof paper; saves on washing up. Place tray in a pre-heated oven @ 170 degrees C. Bake until it is crisp and golden brown; in about 11-15 minutes. Eat warm; ideally with a

Be wary, very wary, of winning or receiving anything free. Without due care, you could become the loser. An acquaintance got sucked in and paid dearly. I am posting a copy of a warning from a consumer protection group called Scamwatch. Beware of fake lottery and competition ‘wins’ on social networking platforms Scamwatch is warning consumers to beware of fake lotteries or competitions on social networking platforms, with scammers using popular platforms to pedal these empty wins. Scammers have been sending messages through social media platforms advising recipients that they have won a lottery, draw or competition. They will often pretend that they are affiliated with the social networking platform or another reputable company to make it seem legitimate. The scammer will then request personal information to confirm your identity as the winner and then claim that, in order to receive the ‘win’, you first need to transfer them money for taxes, fees or other reasons. Rec

A work colleague (and also a relatively recent migrant) asked me if the word News was actually an acronym derived from North East West South. I explained that it was nonsense; I had never heard of such a meaning. Then again, at times I have been wrong. So I Googled the word. Here’s the result. Myth: the word “news” derives from the four cardinal directions. While this potential origin of the word news seems plausible enough, it isn’t true.  The truth is, the word news can be traced back to late Middle English around the 14 th century as a plural for the adjective “new” or “new thing”.  This is a somewhat rare instance of an English adjective becoming a noun when made plural.   Making this leap from “new” to “news” in English is thought to have been influenced by the Old French “nouveau”, meaning “new”.  “Nouveau” in its plural feminine form becomes the noun “nouvelles”, meaning “news”. Before the 14 th century, instead of using the word “news”, English speakers typically u

SALA is big in Unley. It’s huge. Of all the Councils across the State, Unley gets the top gong for participation. This year it promises to be bigger and better. This season SALA runs from 1-31 August. @ Unley the involvement includes: The coordination of Where Business Meets Art , a project developed in conjunction with Unley’s five Main Street Traders Associations for businesses and artists to participate in our ongoing initiative to put art in our shops, cafes and businesses. This year over 40 businesses will display work in a variety of mediums from around 120 artists. This continues to be the single largest response to SALA in any metropolitan area. The premier event SALA on Show has now been reformatted into a different event SALA Gala in the Garden . We are again supporting this event on Sunday 16 August 10.30-4.30pm . Last year it attracted over 4,000 people and there was excellent feedback on the economic return from the local traders. This year the whole event wi

A category 3 public notification development application has been lodged with Unley Council for a Vodafone phone tower at Goodwood Oval; on top of one of the light towers. Sounds ok, however it may mean a new wider pole with a cage on the ground at the base. To quote Cr Don Palmer on his blog ... The application is to extend one of the light towers at the ground to accommodate the installation of a new telecommunications facility in this location. The tower in question is the south east tower adjacent the Hockey club rooms. The application proposes extending the height of the Tower by 5 metres, from 25 m to 30 m high. Category 3 applications are for non-complying development. Category 3 means anyone, not just immediate neighbours can lodge a representation to council’s DAP, whether for or against the proposed development. I encourage you to examine the documents lodged, links for which are below. If you have a feeling about the development either way I then encourage y

The other day I joined a table of other people for a meeting. I sat next to a woman I knew. We have often passed idle chatter and shared experiences. But, something was wrong and I wished that I had sat elsewhere. The perfume she was wearing was strong and just didn’t suit her; it wasn’t her. In fact, the scent was too old for her. Thinking about it, I would not have found it pleasant on an older woman. I remember some years back at work, in separate incidents, I passed some honest comments to a couple of women about the colour of their tops. I’m into giving honest feedback; and sometimes it is unsolicited. Years later, and only recently, I was surprised to learn through a friend that those two women to whom I had provided feedback had never worn those tops again. One gave hers to the Salvos, the other handed it down to her sister. I sorta felt bad about it, but it quickly became a passing thought. Friends should be able to pass on honest feedback. So, back to the woman si

At times, a tree must be cut down eg. when it was planted in the wrong place or a house was built too close to the tree. Care must be taken when felling a tree near a house. Watch the video to see the care that needs to be taken and the precision that can be achieved. The video features two Canadian rednecks who have a lot of experience in felling a tree; exactly where they want it to fall. Enjoy Click here to see the video

This is one kind of big belly that definitely looks good. And it’s solar powered. Big Belly is a public litter (waste) bin that provides on-site (in the belly) sorting of solid waste from recyclables and then compacts it. The compaction is such that the unit can hold 5 times as much. This unit is appearing on the Australian landscape and has recently been installed in the Flinders Ranges in SA.  Benefits include:  solar-powered, automatic compaction, reduces collections by 4 times or more, eliminates overflowing bins, keeps litter in, pests out, demonstrates commitment to community & environment, educate the public, can provide marketing platform – Advertising mounts.  Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1Ac1DE4BY Unley Council is considering the merit and cost of Big Belly. It certainly has merit and if the cost is right, it should have a big bellied future across Australia. www.solarbins.com.au

Down in the South East, @ Coonawarra, there are SA Government plans to build a bypass road around Penola. A good idea. This will divert high speed traffic and heavy trucks away from the slower paced road used to visit wineries on the famed terra rossa soil. Locals are angry because a proposed diversion cuts directly across vineyards on terra rossa soil that produce premium wines that sell for $100 a bottle. The local anger is led by Jonathon Hesketh of Parker Coonawarra Estate Wines. His proposal is that the bypass be shifted and lengthened so that it skirts to the east around the 15km x 1km region of coveted terra rossa soil. This is a sensible alternative proposal. I hope that the SA Government reviews the alternative and settles on a solution that has zero impact on the famed terra rossa soil. It’s just common sense. If you care (and you should) then contact your local MP and object to this unnecessary destruction. It’s bad for business, bad for the economy, bad for touri