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Special Propulsion Emergency Edition - “We Point So You Don’t Have To”
Filed from beneath the warped floorboards of the Wombat Burrow laboratory (an outpost of the Hangar) by Roderick “Whiskers” McNibble, Senior Correspondent, Rodent Division & Chief Whisker Engineer
Yes dear residents of Dusty Gulch, pointing is forbidden these days but fortunately in the Wombat Burrow, I can point all I like.
G’day, magnificent follicle-folk of the outback and beyond! While the nation waddles in panic at the pumps - diesel past $3 a litre, reserves scraping along at around 30 days, and Canberra twiddling its thumbs - your faithful rodent correspondent has been busy in the Wombat Burrow laboratory.
Hundreds of servos are dry across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, and beyond thanks to the Middle East mess choking the Strait of Hormuz. Energy Minister Chris Lowone lowers standards and releases reserves, but the feather-brained mob still can’t see the obvious: Australia needs home-grown thrust, not imported drama and net-zero duckification.
If we are not allowed to " Drill Baby Drill " there is only one alternative......
Read more: Diesel Who? Dusty Gulch Goes Full Whisker Power!
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- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
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From medieval merchants to ancient guilds to real-life masons, the lesson is the same: systems that reward real skill outlast those that reward credentials.
Pull up a chair, pour yourself something decent, and let’s talk about a quiet little con we’ve all been sold.
For years, the story went like this: get the degree, frame the paper, and the good life will follow.
Only now the kids are serving coffees with qualifications that cost more than a house deposit, while the bloke fixing your wiring is booked out for three weeks and driving a better ute than your boss.
Read more: We Trained a Generation for Degrees - Not for Work
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- Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane
It started with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce.
Someone mentioned they’d just finished theirs.. and for reasons I can’t fully explain, it yanked me straight down a rabbit hole. Suddenly, I was back in a Korean kindergarten, the air heavy with the sharp, tangy smell of kimchi.
Funny, really. Worcestershire sauce and kimchi aren’t so different. Both start off confronting, even revolting. Both need time. Back in the 1830s, two chemists in Worcester, England, John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins, tried to recreate an Indian sauce. Their first batch was an abomination. Overpowering. Fishy. Completely inedible. So they shoved it in the cellar and forgot it. Eighteen months later, it came back transformed: rich, complex, addictive. A forgotten mess became a global sensation.
That memory, pungent and strange, carried me straight to the kindergarten classroom. Not the bright lights of Seoul, but the small chaos of four and five year-olds: sticky hands, beaming smiles, and the infamous kimchi kisses. For a chilli-allergic Aussie, it was an assault on the senses... but somehow, it was worth it.
Read more: Kimchi Kisses and Gentle Dabs - a Tale from a Korean Classroom
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A Whiskers McNibble Special Report
Dusty Gulch Gazette – Extra Edition – Ink Still Wet - by Roderick ( Whiskers ) McNibble
Your correspondent has been sniffing around ballot boxes longer than most people in Dusty Gulch have been sniffing corked bottles at the Dusty Dingo Pub. And after three rounds of council elections that would make a dingo blush, one fact stands taller than the town water tower:
Prentis Penjani always wins.
Not because the good people of Dusty Gulch love him. Not because his speeches could charm the legs off a kangaroo. He wins because the system - any system - has more give in it than a politician's handshake, and someone keeps greasing the hinges.
So it seems fair to look at different voting systems. I am about to scamper down a few rabbit holes and what I found is astounding...
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Yesterday we remembered a simpler time.
No tracking apps. No panic buttons. No government campaigns.
Just one quiet rule whispered before you left the house:
“Don’t go with anyone unless they know the password.” In our house, it was Tripitaka.
A strange word for a child, but a powerful one. It wasn’t about fear - it was about judgment. About knowing that trust is not freely given… it is tested.
And that lesson doesn’t stop at the school gate.
Because in the corridors of power, the stakes are the same - only the consequences are far greater.
Leaders don’t fall because of strangers.
They fall because they gave the password to the wrong people.
Read more: The Password to Power: Why Leaders Fall for Who They Trust
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- Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane
In the early 1980s - long before smartphones, tracking apps, and social media bans - my young daughters would wander down to the local shop with a handful of coins to buy my cigarettes.
They’d come home proud, a little excited … they had been on an adventure and all was right with the world.
We didn’t believe in wrapping children in bubble wrap. We believed in scraped knees, small responsibilities, and lessons learned the hard way.
Because banning things doesn’t remove danger - it makes it more tempting… and harder to see.
But then came a moment that stopped me in my tracks.
One day, a family friend saw the girls at the shop and offered them a lift home. They happily accepted. And so I began the journey with Tripitaka...
Read more: We Didn’t Ban the World — We Taught Our Kids How to Survive It
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The Forbidden Zone Yarn
A Special Dispatch from Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Senior Correspondent, Dusty Gulch Gazette
Filed from beneath the third loose plank, Boat Shed No. 2
Your correspondent reports that an island nation without a navy must, by necessity, improvise. In Dusty Gulch, that improvisation has taken a distinctly avian turn. At 0437 hours this morning, I observed the full extent of our local maritime readiness: fifteen ducks, one rubber dinghy, and not a single puncture repair kit in sight.
Mr Prentis Penjani - local enthusiast and self-appointed Commodore of Amphibious Readiness - was conducting what can only be described as a full-spectrum aquatic mobilisation exercise.
Fifteen ducks. One rubber dinghy.
Read more: The Forbidden Zone Yarn - Shame About the Ducks and the Dinghies.....
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- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
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The brainchild of John Bradfield, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is tribute to the man who brought us the concept of the much touted " Bradfield Scheme " and also the Storey Bridge in Brisbane and Sydney's rail system.
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- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
The 17th of March marks the date of the death of St Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland. St Patrick was actually born in Britain but, when he was 16, he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. It was about the year 415 and there was no kids helpline or social media available to send out a cry for help.
So he planned and plotted and eventually managed to escape. Alas, Paddy was no Houdini and he was sent off to France where he was introduced to Christianity.
He escaped again and managed to return to Ireland, which he now accepted as home. Converted to the Christian religion, he set about spreading the Word throughout Ireland. Perhaps the most well-known legend of St. Patrick is that he explained the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) using the three leaves of a native Irish clover, the shamrock.
Read more: St Patricks Day... Irish Eyes of Blue, Snakes and Spuds
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