From TCHUR@doh.health.nsw.gov.au Sun Aug 15 20:26:38 1999 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.01) with ESMTP id UAA08692 for ; Sun, 15 Aug 1999 20:26:37 -0700 Received: from burnia.dmz.health.nsw.gov.au (burnia.dmz.health.nsw.gov.au [203.5.110.252]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW99.02/8.9.3+UW99.06) with SMTP id UAA01428 for ; Sun, 15 Aug 1999 20:26:35 -0700 Received: by burnia.dmz.health.nsw.gov.au; (5.65v4.0/1.3/10May95) id AA15440; Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:26:24 +1000 Received: from doh_email (doh-email.ccf.health.nsw.gov.au [203.5.108.57]) by health.nsw.gov.au (PMDF V5.2-29 #30386) with SMTP id <01JEU4U42YA8000317@health.nsw.gov.au> for waphgis@u.washington.edu; Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:26:20 AUSTRALIA/NSW Received: from DOH_HUB-Message_Server by doh_email with Novell_GroupWise; Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:26:11 +1000 Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:25:52 +1000 From: Tim CHURCHES Subject: Re: WAPHGIS: only in the USA -Reply To: rhoskins@home.com, waphgis@u.washington.edu Cc: MCorn1045@aol.com Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.5 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Sorry, I was just in a bad mood. Completely off topic, Australian coins = have local fauna on the tails and the profile of a Mrs Windsor (or is it = Mrs Mountbatten) who claims to be royal (or somesuch archaic notion) on = the heads. The notes, which are made of some sort of high-tech plastic = which will survive the washing machine, have portraits of noteworthy = Australian historical figures, except for the $5 note which has that Mrs = Windsor (I didn't vote for her!) on the reverse. Is it true that on a = Canadian $2 bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is a US = flag? In Australia the Census is undertaken every 5 years by the Australian = Bureau of Statistics, which is part of the Federal Department of Finance I = think but which does not restrict itself to financial and economic = measures but also covers demographic, social and health and even environmen= tal concerns as well. The Census is a census of population and housing = based on complete enumeration via an 8 or 10 page form per household or = building. Everyone, including overseas visitors, are enumerated. There = might only be 18 million Australians but we are spread out over a very = large area, so quite a lot of expense is involved. A suggestion that we = might move to a 10 year Census was quickly shelved a few years ago. As far = as I know, the various Federal and State electoral commissions use voter = enrolment data to determine electoral boundaries - since voting is = compulsory in Australia, enrolment to vote is also compulsory. The = electoral commissions do spot checks and fine people who are eligible but = not enrolled, so enrolment data is fairly complete. Since the introduction = of electronic electoral rolls, failure to vote almost always results in a = fine. In areas with a large migrant population, there can be quite a = difference between the adult residential population and the enrolled = voters, since you can remain a permanenet resident without becoming an = Australian citizen for as long as you like. Tim C >>> "Richard E. Hoskins" 16/August/1999 12:24pm >>> Golly ... I was hoping to give some people a laugh! For whatever its = worth, I suspect that more Americans than you might imagine do not regard themselves as all that much on top of the world or advanced, sophisticated= or righteous . And speaking of squids , I always loved it that Australian money had mostly animals and plants all over their money whereas we only = get one bird (Bald Eagle) and a lot of dead presidents. Got a squid on any of your money? But come on Tim, I know you don't sell hot dogs (frankfurters) in packages of 10 and buns in packages of eight. On another topic, I am ignorant of how most countries carry out their census, why, and where the information is located. In the US the taking of the census is in the Constitution for the purpose of establishing = political representation. I imagine the same elsewhere for the most part. (it certainly has nothing to do with public health or welfare) We do it every = 10 years and there are fights over how it is to be done, how much information should be collected, etc. because right and left wing (as much as there really is a left and right in the US) are worried about how political boundaries might be drawn given that different income and ethnic groups in different locations tend to vote (somewhat) consistently one way of the other. How about Australia? and other places. Cheers, Richard E. Hoskins rhoskins@home.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Tim Churches To: Cc: Marvin Cornell Sent: Sunday, August 15, 1999 1:14 PM Subject: Re: WAPHGIS: only in the USA > "Richard E. Hoskins" wrote: > > > > OK, folks (see below) ... here are some summer laughs. Time to lighten up. > > Likely you are sick of the kids and can't wait for school to start, these > > will ease the passage until September. (apologies to those in the S > > hemisphere - you can send them back to us in February) non-Americans = may > > like these more than Americans. Could we have some "Only in Australia" > > jokes? etc... non-Americans may find it hard to believe that every one of > > these is true. > > > Richard, > > Americans don't have a monopoly on stupidity, affluence, greed, > wastefulness or > other ills caused by unrestrained capitalism, but they probably lead the > world > on parochialism! I suspect that the "ironic" nature of these > observations is predicated on the illusion that many Americans seem to > have that America is the best, > most advanced, most sophisticated and most righteous country on earth. > To non-Americans, these examples of stupidity just serve to illustrate > how ignorant > many (but not all, by any means) Americans are of the rest of the world, > since most of the conditions described can be found elsewhere in the > developed world - they either originated there and came to North America > as part of its Anglo-European heritage, or in some cases were exported > there from North America as part of the burgeoning US cultural hegemony. > > Ah, the joys of running an international listserver! There is always > some damp squid lurking in some other time zone ready to start a flame > war! > > Tim Churches > Sydney, Australia > Still slightly chilly but getting warmer already and the first signs of > spring are already visible. > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance > > > > Only in America are there handicap parking places in front of a = skating > > rink. > > > > Only in America do we award someone $3,000,000 for spilling hot coffee > > in their own lap. > > > > Only in America do we have labels on baby strollers to remind people = to > > remove the baby before folding up the stroller. > > > > Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the = back > > of the store to get their prescriptions. > > > > Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and = a > > diet coke > > > > Only in America do banks leave all the doors open and then chain the > > pens to the counters. > > > > Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the > > driveway and leave useless junk in the garage. > > > > Only in America do we use answering machines to screen calls and then > > have call waiting so we don't miss a call from someone we didn't want = to > > talk to in the first place. > > > > Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packages of 10 and buns in > > packages of eight. > > > > Only in America do we use the word "politics" to describe the process = so > > well: "Poli" in Latin meaning "many" and "tics" meaning "bloodsucking > > creatures." > > > > Only in America do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille > > lettering. > .