Second-hand bookstores in Australia (East Coast Cairns-Sydney) ?

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:12:24 +0900, wrote in
:

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 21:22:53 +1000, "A Mate"
wrote:

It's a big, big country - and if you are on a longish point to point
journey - a book's a great consolation (beats the hell out of missionary
tourists and others of like ilk!).

Good heavens ! Isn't that the whole idea of travel, to meet other
people and ideas ??

I've met some interesting people on by travels, but have met a
few uninteresting ones as well. Have you ever been on a bus
next to someone who wanted to argue that atheism was the only way
to go, or a UFO believer who wanted to expound his theories? A
good book serves as a good excuse not to listen.

If you lack a book, of course, you can always pretend to not
understand English. You can always try a foreign language and
hope they don't speak it.

When I was traveling in India, one of the annoyances was rickshaw
drivers. There might be 40 rickshaws along a street,
and no matter how many you say no to, all of the rest will try.

I quickly hit upon the idea of speaking absolute gibberish,
accompanied by a look of interest, and profuse gestures.

Some drivers are astonishingly multilingual and the first couple
tried a few on me, naturally with no success. I then increased
the gibbering and gestures, and put my foot on the wheel of his
rickshaw as he looked like he planned to give up and move on.

After a couple of minutes I removed my foot and let him get away.
The word must have quickly spread in this particular town, and of
course a lot of other rickshaw drivers witnessed my antics.

In any case, I was never asked again in this particular town. It
doesn't work in large cities like Calcutta, though.:-)

Another annoyance there was being approached several times
a day by people who wanted to know if I wanted to change money on
the black market, and kids trying to sell the "services" of their
"sister".

When first moved to Kings Cross, got a lot of approaches by the
local prostitutes. The majority were actually female. However, I
do remember one tourist who assumed the pro he chose was female,
but when "she" stripped for him, he found that "she" was a fully
equipped male prostitute.

In any case, though, after a few days they recognized me as a
local resident and didn't bother to offer their wares. They were
friendly and often had interesting stories to tell.

Tourists and immigrants should check out the annual
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras has grown from a local gay
pride event to being arguably the most spectacular gay and
lesbian event in the world. ...
http://www.mardigras.org.au/internal...%20gra s%2007
- 25k

It does attract large crowds, though, so have to get there early.

Sydney is supposed to have the largest gay population in the
southern hemisphere. Sort of the equivalent of San Francisco,
Calif. in the USA.

Possibly a bit more swinging, though, as all Australian
states have decriminalized homosexuality. From memory,
Tasmania was the last state to do so.

Many U.S. states had such laws until the U.S. Supreme Court
declared many of them unconstitutional.

Except for gun laws, Australia seems a more liberal country than
the USA. This should be good news for immigrants.

Not going to find those experiences in the book you're reading.....

These days I'm more interested in facts than experiences, and
the net is usually, but not always, a reliable source if hunt
around enough.

Today is Melbourne Cup day, of course, and American visitors
might be amazed to see even Sydney more or less grind to
a halt during the running of the race.

Someone once said that if Australia was ever invaded, the
first Monday in November would be a good time, especially
during the actual race. In his opinion an invasion wouldn't even
be noticed my many if not most Australians. Probably untrue,
but still an interesting thought.

Just checked today's Australian home page at
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Am not interested in horse races, so what caught my
eye were the following stories in the business section.

---------------------

Citi crisis deepens, shares drop

November 06, 2007

CITIGROUP'S problems deepened overnight as it was unable to
assure investors a potential $US11 billion ($A12 billion)
write-down for sub-prime mortgages won't grow, and its nearly
pristine credit rating was downgraded. [more at]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...83-643,00.html
---------

US mortgage losses may reach $US200bn

November 06, 2007

Total losses stemming from writing down the value of
mortgage-linked securities could be as high as $US200 billion
($A217 billion), with financial institutions sitting on at least
$US60 billion in losses that have not yet been disclosed,
JPMorgan has estimated.
Banks and insurers, including Merrill Lynch, Ambac Financial
Group and MBIA have reported third-quarter losses as they write
down the value of securities, including collateralised debt
obligations, or CDOs, backed by residential mortgages. [more at]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...56-643,00.html

Personally, I suspect we will hear a lot more about this before
the crisis is over.

Actually, many libraries in the USA have the Australian
available, as it is a world class newspaper. The weekend
edition, issued on Saturday here, contains a lot of job ads
in its "Careers" section.

Alternatively, check
http://jobs.careerone.com.au/js.php

Probably worth googling other Australian sites for info, using
string
careerone.com.au
yields about 207,000 links
career one

If want a look at the whole paper, and your local library doesn't
get The Australian a digital edition can be downloaded for a
reasonable price. For info see:
http://theaustralian.newspaperdirect...er/viewer.aspx




The advice you've been given by the non-judgemental posters on this branch
is good!

Actually, I don't think I've ever met a totally non-judgmental
human being. Everyone makes some judgments, especially
in politics, religion and sex. Not to mention those who
make judgments on the possible winner of today's Melbourne Cup:-)

Also worth checking ABC online, our free national broadcaster.
http://www.abc.net.au/default_800.htm

In their "just in" breaking news section is an interesting link
to a breaking story
Chinese oil giant becomes world's most valuable company
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin

In business news:
Report reveals Australia's investment boom
http://www.abc.net.au/news/business/

This site has a nice photo of the tip truck used
in many open cut mine sites here, a KW Dart.
Unfortunately, they don't have a human in the photo
to give an idea of its size. The tires are taller than most
humans.

As another comparison, the tip or dump trucks used
by many street departments in the US usually have
6 to 10 cubic yard capacity. The KW Dart has a capacity
of 110 cubic yards from memory.

In iron ore mines they don't completely fill them, of course.
Iron ore with a content of a minimum 70% iron is quite heavy.

"In June 2001, BHP Billiton Iron Ore ran the world's
longest and heaviest train. It stretched 7.4km, had 682 ore cars,
eight locomotives, a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and
moved 82,262 tonnes of ore.In June 2001, BHP Billiton Iron Ore
ran the world's longest and heaviest train. It stretched 7.4km,
had 682 ore cars, eight locomotives, a gross weight of almost
100,000 tonnes and moved 82,262 tonnes of ore." [more at]

http://ironore.bhpbilliton.com/our_operations/rail.asp

[snip]

Cheers,
Kangaroo16

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:50:09 GMT, kangaroo16
wrote:


I've met some interesting people on by travels, but have met a
few uninteresting ones as well.

Mate, with all due respect, if you talk as much as you write
then I definitely want to have a book handy if I end up next
to you.


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:52:15 +1100, Alan S
wrote in :

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:50:09 GMT, kangaroo16
wrote:


I've met some interesting people on by travels, but have met a
few uninteresting ones as well.

Mate, with all due respect, if you talk as much as you write
then I definitely want to have a book handy if I end up next
to you.

Rest assured that I take your post in the spirit in which it was
probably intended :-)

Although I am pretty immune to criticism and insults, as well
having had a fair amount of experience with both in my long
and fruitful life. :-)

Actually, your post brings up some interesting thoughts.

I reckon you could be a pretty interesting bloke, so would
probably try to engage you in conversation.

When encounter a possibly interesting individual, I often do
manage to engage them in conversation. As am a bit of a
polymath, can usually find a mutually interesting subject to
discuss.

If we ever meet on a bus, am sure you will be gratified to know
that I can talk much more than I write. My touch-typing speed is
probably still around 55 WPM, and I sometimes confirm info
on net lookups, or find new news which I think to be of interest.

No, offhand, I don't know how many words per minute I can manage
in casual conversation, but would probably be considerable higher
than my typing speed.

Who knows, chance and fate could bring us together on a bus, or
better yet a crowded airliner sometime when you couldn't easily
change seats, or get off and catch the next bus.

Would a book defend you? Probably not, as I could probably spot
the title and author, or read it as you read it.

Even if you were a total stranger, I could probably roughly
estimate your reading speed, which would give me a lead on your
I.Q.

If it happened to be a book I had read, then that would give me
a conversational opening, as we could then discuss the book.

Even if I hadn't read it, be it fact or fiction, I might open
with a question relating to your enjoyment of the book. If
factual, then we could discuss the contents, and why you are
interested in same.

I usually carry a book when traveling, though, and I might be
reading a book that I had brought along.

Of course, if you were reading a book on sports, or a cheap
novel, I might not bother to try to start a conversation with you
at all.

Of course, if I had inadvertently forgotten to bring a book, and
couldn't find anyone else to talk with, I would first read all
the information in the seat pockets. This wouldn't take me long,
though.

When reading the card on aircraft evacuation procedures, I might
laugh a few times or snort with disbelief. Back in the days of
propeller aircraft, airliners had a big wingspan, and would
actually float for a while if the pilot had to ditch it over
water.

Modern jets, though, don't have much of a wingspan, and rely on
raw power. If they one or two of the four jet engines, they can
manage on those. If they lose 3 out of 4, the stalling speed of
the aircraft is probably at least 130 MPH, and if they can't
maintain this, they fall out of the sky. It is possible to land
on a dead calm sea, but if it is rough the aircraft will probably
break up on landing, or at least not float long. I always try to
get a seat near an emergency exit, though.

I suppose if I was really desperate and had nothing more to read,
and was reading the book you were holding I might ask why you
didn't turn the pages a bit faster. :-) Followed by a
suggestion that good speed reading courses were available.:-)

As it is illegal to assault a fellow passenger, you might choose
to convince another passenger to change seats with you, which
would give me someone else to converse with. :-)

Sadly, we will probably never meet. Although if you have a
problem coping with my Usenet posts, I don't know if we could
manage a conversation or not.

Come to think of it, there might be a good market for phony
external hearing aids. Then you could pointedly switch it off to
discourage conversation by pretending to be profoundly deaf.

As have never learned sign language, this might stymie me. I
might have to exchange seats with another passenger, or waylay a
flight attendant. :-)

Anyway, if you had a bet on the cup, hope you backed "Efficient".

" Efficient paid out at odds of 24-1 for the win and paying
$7.40 for the place. Purple Moon was at $5.50 while Mahler was at
10-1. The quinella paid $76.10 and the trifecta paid $1431."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...-31037,00.html

Actually, hope you bet A$1 or more on the trifecta. $A1,431
isn't a bad return on a $1 bet. Would be pure luck, of course,
but currently it might give more return than playing the stock
market. :-)

Regards,
Kangaroo16




Cheers, Alan, Australia

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:15:15 +1100, Alan S
wrote in :

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:12:24 +0900,
wrote:

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 21:22:53 +1000, "A Mate"
wrote:

It's a big, big country - and if you are on a longish point to point
journey - a book's a great consolation (beats the hell out of missionary
tourists and others of like ilk!).

Good heavens ! Isn't that the whole idea of travel, to meet other
people and ideas ??

Not going to find those experiences in the book you're reading.....

Beats the heck out of annoying the passenger beside you
non-stop on an 8-hour bus or train ride or flight. There are
times when I found it useful to offer a free book to the
person beside me.

Not a bad idea, actually! However, people today don't read as
widely as they did in the pre-television and pre-Internet days.

You might have to provide a fairly wide selection of "books" to
interest all possible readers. To provide books which would
interest all possible seat mates might take up a goodly share
of your luggage allowance.

Still, a worthy idea, if you can't manage to get him to watch the
in-flight movie.

You could also make a bet with him, like who can spot the first
identify the first species of bird he can spot during the flight.

Or write down the name and species of the first spottable bird
during the flight, to be compared near the end. If the flight
attendants on the airline are female, consider writing down the
"bird" species based on the flight attendant and identifying the
genus as _Homo sapiens_ and the time as a few minutes after the
time that you propose the bet. When you land at the destination
and compare notes, you can explain the meaning of the word "bird"
in Aussie slang, and hopefully collect on your bet. :-)

With any luck, he might not have seen any bird, of any
description at all during the flight. Wait until the aircraft is
at 30,000 feet or roughly 10,000 meters before proposing the bet.

This should keep him staring out the window for most of the
flight. Should he spot one of the winged kind, which is pretty
unlikely, you can always argue about the genus and species
identification and tell him that he should have called his
sighting to your attention for proper identification. :-)

A shorter than normal post for me, but there is so little traffic
on these two groups that spend most of my time on other groups,
or even actually something more productive.:-)

Cheers,
Kangaroo16




Cheers, Alan, Australia

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:50:09 GMT, kangaroo16
wrote:

Snip SNip SNIP
These days I'm more interested in facts than experiences, and
the net is usually, but not always, a reliable source if hunt
around enough.

Today is Melbourne Cup day, of course, and American visitors
might be amazed to see even Sydney more or less grind to
a halt during the running of the race.

Someone once said that if Australia was ever invaded, the
first Monday in November would be a good time, especially

OOpppss !! it's the first Tuesday of November Kanga ....

during the actual race. In his opinion an invasion wouldn't even
be noticed my many if not most Australians. Probably untrue,
but still an interesting thought.

Just checked today's Australian home page at
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

Am not interested in horse races, so what caught my
eye were the following stories in the business section.

---------------------

Citi crisis deepens, shares drop

November 06, 2007

CITIGROUP'S problems deepened overnight as it was unable to
assure investors a potential $US11 billion ($A12 billion)
write-down for sub-prime mortgages won't grow, and its nearly
pristine credit rating was downgraded. [more at]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...83-643,00.html
---------

US mortgage losses may reach $US200bn

November 06, 2007

Total losses stemming from writing down the value of
mortgage-linked securities could be as high as $US200 billion
($A217 billion), with financial institutions sitting on at least
$US60 billion in losses that have not yet been disclosed,
JPMorgan has estimated.
Banks and insurers, including Merrill Lynch, Ambac Financial
Group and MBIA have reported third-quarter losses as they write
down the value of securities, including collateralised debt
obligations, or CDOs, backed by residential mortgages. [more at]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...56-643,00.html

Personally, I suspect we will hear a lot more about this before
the crisis is over.

Actually, many libraries in the USA have the Australian
available, as it is a world class newspaper. The weekend
edition, issued on Saturday here, contains a lot of job ads
in its "Careers" section.

Alternatively, check
http://jobs.careerone.com.au/js.php

Probably worth googling other Australian sites for info, using
string
careerone.com.au
yields about 207,000 links
career one

If want a look at the whole paper, and your local library doesn't
get The Australian a digital edition can be downloaded for a
reasonable price. For info see:
http://theaustralian.newspaperdirect...er/viewer.aspx




The advice you've been given by the non-judgemental posters on this branch
is good!

Actually, I don't think I've ever met a totally non-judgmental
human being. Everyone makes some judgments, especially
in politics, religion and sex. Not to mention those who
make judgments on the possible winner of today's Melbourne Cup:-)

Also worth checking ABC online, our free national broadcaster.
http://www.abc.net.au/default_800.htm

In their "just in" breaking news section is an interesting link
to a breaking story
Chinese oil giant becomes world's most valuable company
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin

In business news:
Report reveals Australia's investment boom
http://www.abc.net.au/news/business/

This site has a nice photo of the tip truck used
in many open cut mine sites here, a KW Dart.
Unfortunately, they don't have a human in the photo
to give an idea of its size. The tires are taller than most
humans.

As another comparison, the tip or dump trucks used
by many street departments in the US usually have
6 to 10 cubic yard capacity. The KW Dart has a capacity
of 110 cubic yards from memory.

In iron ore mines they don't completely fill them, of course.
Iron ore with a content of a minimum 70% iron is quite heavy.

"In June 2001, BHP Billiton Iron Ore ran the world's
longest and heaviest train. It stretched 7.4km, had 682 ore cars,
eight locomotives, a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and
moved 82,262 tonnes of ore.In June 2001, BHP Billiton Iron Ore
ran the world's longest and heaviest train. It stretched 7.4km,
had 682 ore cars, eight locomotives, a gross weight of almost
100,000 tonnes and moved 82,262 tonnes of ore." [more at]

http://ironore.bhpbilliton.com/our_operations/rail.asp

[snip]

Cheers,
Kangaroo16

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:30:38 +0900,
wrote:

Someone once said that if Australia was ever invaded, the
first Monday in November would be a good time, especially

OOpppss !! it's the first Tuesday of November Kanga ....

And if you really wanted to invade this country you'd do it
on Boxing Day. The entire Armed forces are on leave, so are
the Police in preparation for New Year's Eve, apart from
those at the MCG, and those members of the population who
aren't either at the MCG or at home watching the test on TV
are still sleeping off the feast from the day before.

On the other hand if you invaded during the Melbourne Cup
you'd have the entire nation instantly up in arms for
disturbing a national religious event.


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest

kangaroo16 wrote:
[...]
Although I am pretty immune to criticism

You misspelled "feedback" and can safely drop the "pretty" bit.

Rest assured that I take your post in the spirit in which it was
probably intended :-)

Likewise.

Alan S wrote:
On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:50:09 GMT, kangaroo16
wrote:


I've met some interesting people on by travels, but have met a
few uninteresting ones as well.

Mate, with all due respect, if you talk as much as you write
then I definitely want to have a book handy if I end up next
to you.

What makes you think that would help? It(s analogy) doesn't help
*here*, does it?

On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:45:48 +1100, Alan S
wrote in :

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:30:38 +0900,
wrote:

Someone once said that if Australia was ever invaded, the
first Monday in November would be a good time, especially

OOpppss !! it's the first Tuesday of November Kanga ....
I stand corrected!:-) Perhaps this indicates my lack of interest
in racing. The only times I've bothered to watch or even listen
to the Melbourne Cup were the times when got into a betting
syndicate at work, where the selections are randomly drawn.

I wouldn't have a clue who the favorite was. However,
a lot of experienced punters got the winner wrong as well!

It is almost as hard as the stock market or currency speculation.
After all, if some of the major banks couldn't see they were
going to get into trouble with sub-prime mortgage loans, the
average investor was unlikely to see the problems coming. Seems
pretty obvious in retrospect, though!

Going back to the Great Depression of 1929 the markets were
at record highs the day before the crash.


And if you really wanted to invade this country you'd do it
on Boxing Day. The entire Armed forces are on leave, so are
the Police in preparation for New Year's Eve, apart from
those at the MCG, and those members of the population who
aren't either at the MCG or at home watching the test on TV
are still sleeping off the feast from the day before.

You are right, of course! Boxing day would be better than
Christmas Day, actually. Although most Darwin residents
weren't very prepared for Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve in 1974.

From memory, reports said that only about 1 in 50 cyclones would
normal present a problem, so it seems likely that most people
ignored the warnings.

One thing that surprised me a bit was that it took so long to get
the word out. After all, Darwin had a couple of military bases
and was the site of a major transmitter for Radio Australia, yet
it took hours for the news to get out. Wife & I were in Sydney
at the time, and from memory wasn't on the news there until
around 8:30 AM. Found out later that the first one to break the
news was a radio amateur who managed to get some emergency
power for his short wave transmitter.

For those who are unfamiliar with the damage it caused, about
70% of Darwin was destroyed. The highest wind speed recorded was
217 KPH [ almost 135 MPH] before the anemometer blew away. I had
spent several weeks in Darwin decades before, so could why it did
so much damage to houses. Most were built on posts about 10 feet
off the ground, partly for termite protection, partly to escape
the heat. Bathroom, toilet, and laundry were usually at ground
level, and it was a handy place to park the car out of the sun.
Some of the pictures reminded me of pictures of Hiroshima after
the A-bomb.

One statistic I'm not certain of is the low death toll.

http://www.ntlib.nt.gov.au/tracy/adv...Met/Stats.html
gives it as 65. When I was there, though, it was a popular
stop for travelers going to Southeast Asia. Many choose
to sleep on the beach, and I doubt that anyone would really
know how many were on the beach that night.

The above site says that the storm surge was "1.6 metres
measured in harbour, 4 metres estimated at Casuarina Beach"

In U.S. terms, 1.6 m =62.4 inches= 5.2 feet. 4 metres
= 13 feet.

In addition, there would have a unknown number of Aborigines from
surrounding towns, most of whom who would probably also sleep
on the beaches. For people sleeping above the high tide mark,
a 1.6 m surge might be survivable, if sober, but most wouldn't
have been. It was Christmas Eve, after all!

The evacuation of the injured to major city hospitals all over
Australia was handled well, as was the evacuation of women &
children.

From memory, one of the airliners in this evacuation set a world
record for the largest number of these ever crammed aboard an
airliner.

Most evacuation was by air, as Darwin is a long way from any
other major centre. The nearest major hospital at the time was
probably Brisbane, Qld, ~ 2840 km [~1750 miles] by air.

I found it very impressive that people opened their homes to
these evacuees. I can't help but wonder how many
Americans provided food and shelter in their homes to refugees
from the New Orleans cyclone Katrina in 2005.

On the other hand if you invaded during the Melbourne Cup
you'd have the entire nation instantly up in arms for
disturbing a national religious event.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

ROTFL, yeah, you are probably right about that!


RBA raises rates to 6.75%

Scott Murdoch | November 07, 2007

THE Reserve Bank delivered today an interest rate rise to fight
inflation, as widely expected by financial markets and less than
three weeks before the federal election.

The official rate has been lifted by 0.25 of a percentage point
to 6.75 per cent. [More]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...17-601,00.html

That rise probably won't help the Liberal/CP at the election 17
days from now.

Live rates at 2007.11.06 22:57:17 UTC
1.00 USD = 1.07455 AUD
United States Dollars Australia Dollars
1 USD = 1.07455 AUD 1 AUD = 0.930623 USD

Gold:
Live rates at 2007.11.06 23:00:17 UTC
1.00 XAU = 823.321 USD = 884.071 AUD
Gold Ounces United States Dollars
1 XAU = 823.321 USD 1 USD = 0.00121459 XAU
http://www.xe.com/

Good news on the A$. On the other hand, last I heard
crude oil price is up to US$ 96.70.

Cheers,
Kangaroo16

On 06 Nov 2007 22:15:31 GMT, Frank Slootweg
wrote:

Alan S wrote:
On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:50:09 GMT, kangaroo16
wrote:


I've met some interesting people on by travels, but have met a
few uninteresting ones as well.

Mate, with all due respect, if you talk as much as you write
then I definitely want to have a book handy if I end up next
to you.

What makes you think that would help? It(s analogy) doesn't help
*here*, does it?

Hi Frank

I could always tear up pages and stuff them in my ears.

Or, better still, offer to test his BG's after a starchy
airline meal and then give him the benefit's of Jennifer's
testing advice for diabetics and the need for dietary
modifications, in excruciating detail, as we passed through
the next six time zones.

I can probably recite each page by heart:
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/d-day.html

Almost did that to a poor lady in LAX when AA delayed our
flight for three hours:-))

Nothing more boring than listening to a person expanding
interminably on a passion you do not share.

And here I miss anything after the second para for certain
posters.


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest