Well... honestly, Canadian Languages was an elective in University, I was majoring in Z-Stacking (pronounced zed-stackn). Z-Stacking is not unlike rock cairn balancing, only you use cinder blocks and a '87 Camaro Z28 with no wheels.

Hop out to the Wet Coast, we'll go fer a rip, and grab a 2-4 of Lucky Kings.

*ban2.0


Njoy Travellers Resort
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLtb6cYmPPc

*related= http://videosift.com/video/Cairns-Backpackers

Calypso Backpackers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpHKmuGLAEw

*ban1.0

Calypso Backpackers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpHKmuGLAEw


*related= http://videosift.com/video/Cairns-hostels

Njoy Travellers Resort
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLtb6cYmPPc

*ban


Southern Cross Limousines Cairns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLm1_gTpyXA

Instant upvote when he pronounced Cairns correctly.

I read this the other day, not exactly on point -- science likes reproduciable experiments, and we have many discoveries yet to make:

All of this brings to mind a surprising turn I encountered near the end of Nick Lane's wonderful book Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution. The turn is not a hard turn made by a man with a background in the hard sciences (Lane is a biochemist), but a soft turn to the dreamy speculations of panpsychism. The turn was made to hint at the place one might possibly find an explanation for the nature of emotions and states of mind:

"Feelings are physical, yet the known laws of physics, which can supposedly give us a complete account of the world, have no place for them. For all its marvellous power, natural selection doesn't conjure up something from nothing: there has to be a germ of something for it to act upon, a germ of a feeling, you might say, that evolution can fashion into the majesty of mind. This is what Scottish physical chemist Graham Cairns-Smith calls `the bomb in the basement' of modern physics. Presumably, he says, if feelings don't correspond to any of the known properties of matter, then matter itself must have some additional features, `subjective features', that when organised by selection ultimately give rise to our inner feelings. Matter is conscious in some way, with `inner' properties, as well as the familiar external properties that physicists measure. Pan-psychism is taken seriously again."

When it was last taken seriously, at the end of the 19th century, the psychologist/philosopher William James called conscious matter some kind of "mind-dust."

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/06/19/bees-can-be-pessimistic-about-life

"Cairn" is the term for these rock piles. You see them often when hiking. Sometimes they are trail markers; often they are just something someone did while taking a breather. They rarely display such an extreme balancing act as this.

If anyone considers driving through a flooded street, please be aware the wake you produce can flood the surrounding homes. Hasn't happened in this case, obviously, but it's something to keep in mind.

It happens every rainy season here in Cairns.

We don't swim in the ocean here in Cairns, where this was filmed, until stinger season is officially over. That gives us a gap of about 3-4 months in winter to swim, sadly.

Oh, and don't swim in the creeks or rivers either, unless you want to be a croc's dinner.

As an aside, I know Jamie. I had to buy a tin of Milo for the cafe especially for him!

Also in Cairns, Australia, since we're sharing places.

Some kind of cairn terrier, I think. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn_Terrier)

At first I thought it was about Inuksuit or Cairns but this is very in depth.

Supposedly based on the story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan who disappeared off the Great Barrier Reef in 1998. A sad tale of callous disregard for the lives of others. Cairns-based diving experienced a big slump after the incident.

THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas where he had been filming an underwater documentary when it occurred.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.

His American wife Terri learned for the tragedy from police in Tasmania, where she had been trekking in Cradle Mountain National Park.

His friend and manager John Stainton said Mr Irwin was filming some segment for daughter Bindi's show on the reef between sessions filiming the main documentary.

It is understood Mr Irwin was killed instantly.

A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.

A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.

An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.

Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.

Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.

They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.

The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.

At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''

The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.

Irwin was a devoted father to his two children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 3.

"Bindi is the reason I was put on this earth. All I want to do is be with her and all she wants to do is be with me. We have such a great time together and it's not just a father and daughter relationship, it's also like I'm a big brother and she's my little sister,'' he told New Idea magazine in 2005.

However the previous year Irwin had created a furore when he took 'Baby Bob' into Australia Zoo's crocodile enclosure while feeding a four-metre salt water crocodile.

Irwin burst onto the media scene with his documentary The Crocodile Hunter in 1992, and his over-the-top persona soon made him a star. In 2002 he burst on to the big screen on Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course, soon achieving A-list fame.

His celebrity friends include Russell Crowe.

Despite his worldwide popularity, closer to home Irwin got bad press after he was controversially paid $175,000 for a quarantine ad.

Irwin was named Queenslander of the Year in 2003.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20349534-952,00.html

wow, the older google news I can find is 2 hour ago. Crazy.

"Aussie media and CNN are reporting that he was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest. He was swimming at north Queensland's Batt Reef at the time, where he was filming an underwater documentary."

--

"The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) was called about 11am (AEST) and an emergency services helicopter was flown to the crew's boat on Batt Reef, off the coast near Cairns, with a doctor and emergency services paramedic on board.

Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene."