Bricks Farm - The Video

If you see the pictures of the same name on an article recently posted (see here), you'll notice there are some differences. It's larger for one and the layout has changed. There are now three farms, the main one in the middle and two smaller ones. There is a full screen feature to the right of the word YouTube you could click on the YouTube words and see the video on YouTube. It was taken by my drone camera circling overhead (just kidding).

A Moving Story

When travel was by ship

When I hear the word migrate, I think of animals or birds moving great distances, then returning later from where they started. Migrating is part of life for some creatures. Humans travel distances too so are they migrating? I personally rarely if ever describe a person as migrating and here's why. 

When people move, they are going to another location with the intent of it being permanent. So they are not migratory unless they have an itinerant lifestyle and that still doesn't sit comfortably with me. When leaving, they are emigrants. When they are arriving, they are immigrants. 

So if someone is spoken of as leaving their country, they are emigrating. When they are spoken of as heading to their destination, they are immigrating to that location. 

Based on those two examples, I don't have reason to describe a person as a migrant although if neither the departure location nor destination is inferred, then they are a migrant. Some use migrant at all times, perhaps the closeness of emigrant and immigrant is confusing to them. Think of emigrants as 'exit' and immigrants as 'inward'. 

P.S. I've just read an article in the Guardian Newspaper online with a headline about migration to Australia (see here). Is this just a deliberate move or substandard journalism? Either, way, I'd call it the latter. They also expect people to pay something toward this!

Maths & Stats

Abbreviations are part of language. Longer words are made quicker and easier to say. I assume that's why people do it. For example, statistics is fairly consistently pronounced stats although I have seen stat, for example when saying "That's an interesting stat" or using it when referring to a stat sheet. 

Mathematics is treated differently. In most English language countries the term maths is used but in North America and increasingly elsewhere -  when English is being taken over by US culture - math. You may wonder if it's important. If you grow up hearing a word pronounced a certain way and someone says it differently, it can sound grating. I find math grating to my ear. 

Regardless of my ear, one may debate why one way is better or another, yet others may say either is OK. For me just as statistics should be abbreviated to stats and statistic should be stat, mathematics should be maths. Mathematic is rare but if abbreviated, would be math. 

                                      It's a small point and I assume many don't care either way. If you want to know more I suggest you do some research. In other words, do the maths. Ah, that sounds nice.

Picture source here.

The Batsman

A living language is always evolving, with some words in the English language being added or discarded. The case below is one of the latter variety.

Batsman. 

In cricket, the term has been used to describe someone who bats as opposed to one who bowls or fields. In 2021, the term batsman was officially replaced by batter. When I hear batter, I immediately think of fish & chips. 

Why the change? Women now play the game so it was decided "to reinforce Cricket's inclusiveness as a game for all". Really? How pathetic! The fact is men who bat are still batsmen, even if women play the game too. If batswoman is not suitable, find a term that does suit women and if batter is that term, so be it. I doubt women cricketers worry about a man being called a batsman anyway.  

There is a third man fielding position and a lower ranked batsman coming in late in the day is called a nightwatchman. I wonder how the PC brigade at the MCC will address these gender excluding terms? Batsman has a long history of usage in the game and to throw it out when it should offend no one sums up the distorted and overbearing reasoning that we are subjected to in today's society. Go for it batsmen.

Bricks Farm

We're not big on collectibles at Supermarkets as you have to buy so much to get anywhere. We decided to collect a few and hand them on to others but it ended up the other way around. Now, we have a full set of items, we added some buildings and vehicles which can be purchased as individual items, unlike the other things.

So here is what we ended up with. A Lego style farm divided into three farmlets: produce, livestock and orchard. It's surprisingly therapeutic. The pictures are below. 

Afterward, you may want to see an updated version in a video. For that simply click here.

Full layout 

Full layout the opposite direction

Orchard 

Livestock

Produce

Orchard Rear

Homestead Rear 

Produce Rear

Livestock & Orchard Rear

Produce Rear

Public Meeting Announcements

The Alzheimers Meeting will not continue if people keep forgetting to come.

Despite rumours to the contrary, the AA meeting is not being held at O'Malley's Bar.

The Yacht Club will not allow disruptive members to scuttle proceedings.  

At the request of those wishing to attend, the Procrastinators Meeting has been postponed to next week.

The Anger Management Meetings will not tolerate any more arguing and fighting among attendees.

The Green Party meeting this week will feature a talk on the benefits of open cast mining and deep sea oil extraction. 

Those going to the Megalomaniac AGM must in future not try to take control of the meeting.

At the request of members, the Weightwatchers Meeting this week will feature a luncheon of deep fried chicken or a burger with fries, followed by cream cakes or scones and clotted cream.

Homonyms

Homonyms: Words that have the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings. Not all fall into that category here but whatever.

Mozart was feeling out of sorts, but then he composed himself.

The minister's wife loved her pasta.

They wanted a jetty because their beautiful seaside town was without peer.

The rock group was so loud they were banned.

The businessman never courted his secretary because she wasn't his type.

The surfer fell off his board when the pretty girl gave him a wave. 

He fixed it in just 60 seconds because it was only a minute problem.

He hated sweeping up the driveway in autumn so decided to leave it.

The hunter felt that unsuccessfully searching for pigs was such a bore. 

The pensioner regularly caught the bus as the ticket price was fair.

The medieval fancy dress party was a great night out.

He Could Sell ...

He could sell sand to Arabs. 

He could sell scuba gear to a shark.

He could sell needles to a porcupine.

He could sell snowshoes to a camel.

He could sell water to a drowning man.

He could sell salt to a slug.

He could sell snow to Canadians.

He could sell hair shampoo to a bald man.

He could sell pork to a Jew.

He could sell an Anfield season ticket to an Everton fan. 

He could sell clothes at a nudist retreat.

He could sell binoculars to an eagle.

He could sell coffee to a Mormon.

He could sell an airline ticket to an aerophobic.

News Headlines

Dietary advice:

"Can Beetroot make you run faster?"

If you need a laxative, no harm in giving it a try.

                                         *******

After a crocodile attack: 

"I was very lucky"

An understatement to say the least.

                                         *******

Covid contact:

"PM sorry for clubbing after Covid contact"

 There is no justification for assault.

                                         *******

At a safety meeting:

"Safety meeting ends in accident"

Pay attention at meetings!

                                         *******

Cricket match headline:

"India beat India by seven wickets"

Beating yourself is no mean feat.

                                         *******

A Mayor told the homeless:

"Go home"

I think they would if they could.

                                         *******

Disgruntled murderer:

"...detective ruined my reputation"

And you didn't ruin it yourself?

                                         *******

Tennis news:

“Are we saying goodbye to the GOATS at Wimbledon?” 

I thought the grass was mown, not nibbled. 

Monarch Butterflies 2022

We have already had a bumper year of  Monarch butterflies this year. From January to mid May we said farewell to 333! That's a hundred up on last year. We are now going into the winter break so we will resume our care when the climate is more favourable. With predators and without help, few would survive

Picture above: This caterpillar walked several metres to latch and hatch on this shopping list in the garage!

Picture left: A lot of hungry ones feeding away on a plant. They soon got a new supply of swan plant.

Picture below: Another batch about to take to the sky. Thirteen was the most we had on a day. 

A Nice Pair

What's For Dinner?