Canberra Raiders prop Josh Papalii has reportedly pledged his allegiance to Samoa for the upcoming Rugby League World Cup held in England later this year.
Papalii has dabbled in the Samoan and Kangaroos camps in the past with four games with Samoa and 11 with the Kangaroos.
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The Maroons veteran is the latest Australian eligible player to commit to a Pacific Island nation, joining Panthers duo Jarome Luai and Brian To’o.
“As an older player, I feel like it’s a movement I just don’t want to be missing out on,” Papalii said.
“Just seeing the likes of a few of the Penrith boys coming out and I’ve had few text messages from other players who haven’t come out yet saying they’ve put their hand up for Samoa.
“I have put my hand up to play for Samoa. Mal Meninga knows that and I’ve had a coffee with Mal as well to speak about what I’m planning to do… but that’s a long way from here, anything can happen in the next hopefully eight weeks.”
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This year’s Rugby League World Cup will be Papalii’s second for Samoa. (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Papalii represented Samoa at the 2017 World Cup but has since pulled on the green and gold of Australia.
“I guess probably my last World Cup wasn’t the best, I sort of treated it as a little vacation and probably drank a bit too often, ate more than I should have,” he admitted.
“I’m looking to just play a bit of World Cup for the Motherland and represent my wife and my kids and especially my parents as well and just make Samoa proud.”
This year’s Rugby League World Cup will be hosted in the United Kingdom, making it Papalii’s third appearance in the major tournament, being his second with his native country of Samoa.
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A Queensland boy has died after he was hit by a four-wheel-drive, which was reportedly being driven by his grandmother.
Police say the one-year-old was on a footpath outside a home in Heatley in central Townsville about 5.30pm Tuesday when the tragedy took place.
“He was immediately taken to Townsville University Hospital where, sadly, the boy later died,” a spokesperson said.
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It is understood the boy was hit by the vehicle when he ran out of the home as the grandmother was leaving. She had been unaware the child was near her vehicle, The Townsville Bulletin reports.
The grandmother reportedly rushed the boy inside, before placing him in her car and taking him to hospital.
The one-year-old was on a footpath outside the central Townsville home when the tragedy took place. Credit: 7NEWS
A close neighbor recalled the shocking moment her husband saw the little boy injured on the ground.
She said he heard a commotion and saw a passing car stop in the middle of the road as the driver tried desperately to get the attention of the grandmother in a Toyota Prado, who had just hit the child.
“He saw him lying there … We would never have expected this to happen,” she told The Bulletin.
Forensic Crash Unit police are investigating the incident.
Secret Service Director James Murray sent an agency-wide memo on Tuesday, the details of which are being first reported by CNN, informing employees that it is considering temporarily suspending the use of texts while the agency fixes gaps in how it retains those messages, according to sources who described the memo.
The Secret Service has been under heavy criticism after the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general told Congress last month that the agency had erased text messages from the time period surrounding January 6 that had been requested by Congress.
While the agency has said that it has cooperated with the inspector general — and that messages were lost as a result of a pre-planned phone data migration in January 2021 — the memo is the latest sign that the Secret Service sees a need to change its data practices amid the backlash over the January 6 messages.
One of the sources said the Secret Service leadership made clear it would not stop the use of text messages without first understanding what kind of impact it might have on the performance of Secret Service agents. Agency employees, for instance, text with local police officers, one source said, and the agency wouldn’t want to lose that channel of communication.
There is concern, the source said, that fully disabling the agency’s texting capabilities could harm the Secret Service’s protection capabilities.
Politico first reported the agency was considering suspending the use of texts.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Secret Service declined to comment.
The Secret Service and DHS — as well as the Defense Department — have all faced questions about missing messages around the time of January 6, as Congress, government watchdogs and the National Archives have all demanded answers into how the messages were deleted. The DHS inspector general told the Secret Service last month his office was conducting a criminal investigation into possible erased text messages.
The Secret Service memo says that the agency has a four-point plan to prevent data loss and fulfill obligations to preserve records, according to one source. The memo states that there were regulatory and security reasons why the agency’s text messages weren’t backed up on a server but said that significant efforts are underway to cover the gap between technological capability and record preservation requirements.
The Secret Service’s chief information officer and executive resources board plan to assess the benefits and impacts of suspending the use of text messages temporarily until a technological solution is identified, the memo states.
The effort is also intended to serve as a roadmap for the next Secret Service director, as Murray had planned to retire before saying he would remain in place until a new director is appointed.
Australia’s largest bank has finally responded to the interest rate rise two days after it was initially announced.
On Thursday morning, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia revealed it will pass the full cost of the rate hike onto customers.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) hiked interest rates on Tuesday for the fourth consecutive month.
Australia’s central bank increased the interest rate by 50 basis points, or by 0.5 per cent, bringing the cash rate from 1.35 per cent to 1.85 per cent, largely in line with economist’s predictions.
Up until now Australia’s biggest four banks — The Commonwealth Bank (CBA), ANZ, NAB and Westpac — hadn’t made any changes in response to the latest rate hike.
But just before 10am, the CBA said variable home loans would increase by 0.5 per cent per year from August 12 while term deposits would kick in with the higher return from August 8.
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The CBA’s variable mortgages as well as term deposit accounts and its NetBank Saver accounts will be impacted by the change.
Owner occupiers and investors on variable rate home loans will have to fork out an extra 0.5 per cent in interest every year.
Term deposits and CBA’s savings account will also increase by 0.5 per cent/
The new term deposit rate will be available from 8 August, while the new NetBank Saver rate will take effect on August 12 along with home loans.
Group Executive, Retail Banking, Angus Sullivan, said: “We have been helping customers understand the changing rate environment and consider what it means for them, and we will continue to be there for them.”
Since May, the cash rate has risen by 1.75 percentage points, after four months of back-to-back increases by the central bank.
However, the CBA is so far the only one of the big players to respond, and that was nearly 48 hours later.
In stark contrast, within hours of the announcement, a smaller bank, Macquarie Bank passed on the rate rise almost straight away.
Macquarie Bank was the first bank to say it would increase variable mortgage rates by 0.5 per cent by August 12.
Rates on its savings and everyday transaction accounts also increased by 0.50 per cent.
The move impacts the estimated 2 million people who are customers of Macquarie Bank.
However, CBA, ANZ, NAB and Westpac have between 8.5 million to 17 million customers each, according to Statista.
Last month, Westpac gave customers the most amount of time to prepare for a change in its variable mortgages and also its savings rates, taking two weeks for the change to come into effect – although it announced the change within 24 hours.
The other three banks passed the change onto customers within 10 days after a swift response.
The August hike isn’t expected to be the last, with economists forecasting that interest rates could peak up to two per cent by the end of the year.
Tuesday’s rate rise means those paying off the average home loan of $500,000 will need to cough up an extra $140 a month.
Tuesday’s decision marks the first time the RBA has lifted the rates for four months in a row since the introduction of the two to three per cent inflation target in 1990 in a sign of the inflation and cost of living crisis across the country.
This follows last week’s increase in annual inflation, which hit 6.1 per cent, which was its highest level in 21 years since 2001.
Tuesday’s rate rise means those paying off the average home loan of $500,000 will need to cough up an extra $140 a month.
Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are now on sale at Amazon for 20% off or $300 (opens in new tab)down from their retail price of $380.
We are generally big fans of Bose headphones, and the 700 are no different, with us giving them a solid four-star review. They’re stylish, comfortable, produce a crystal-clear sound, and add excellent noise-canceling into the bargain.
Best Bose 700 deal
The Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are blessed with exceptional noise-canceling, they’re extremely comfortable (and stylish), and they produce a clear, upfront sound. Throw in intuitive touch controls and the $80 you’re saving with this deal, and we don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Sure, there’s better sound quality to be had if you want to spend more on a pricier pair such as the Sony WH-1000XM4, but the Bose Noise Canceling 700s sound more than good enough, especially with this $80 discount. Their excellent comfort levels and noise-cancellation will make these cans a great fit for any traveling you’ve got coming up.
If you’re in the market for a new pair of premium noise-canceling headphones but want a healthy discount too, check out the Bose Noise Canceling 700 headphones.
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Check out our list of the best noise canceling headphones
When Lismore was hit with its biggest flood in recorded history, the national Indigenous newspaper the Koori Mail responded quickly to the needs of the community.
Key points:
The Lismore-based Koori Mail newspaper says it’s been “doing the government’s job” for months by providing crucial flood support
The NSW state government says its recovery centers were up and running five days after the February 28 disaster
Indigenous leaders have told an independent flood inquiry they would like to see support for First Nations first responders
The newspaper’s general manager Naomi Moran said she was able to salvage laptops and hard drives, but the building and most of its contents were destroyed.
In the wake of the mud and wreckage, Ms Moran said they were forced to face the reality that for the first time in the organisation’s 30-year history, they would not be able to print the next edition, and possibly several after that.
“We lost our building, we lost our first floor, we lost everything that the Koori Mail was for the past 30 years,” she said.
Floodwater reached just below the top storey of the Koori Mail building (the white building pictured).(ABC: Matt Coble)
Far from calling it a day, the organization pivoted and became a flood hub responding to the community’s needs for food, supplies, clothing and support.
“We came up with a strategy and some ideas around how we, as an Aboriginal organization – an independent organization and business in this region – could utilize all of our resources, our contacts in our networks, to support the local community,” she said .
The Koori Mail newspaper has been at the forefront of the flood response in Lismore.(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
Government response an ‘absolute embarrassment’
In the days, weeks and months that followed, the Koori Mail team helped coordinate food, clothes, counseling and essential items for thousands of flood-affected residents relying on financial support from donations.
It was more than three months before the Koori Mail and the adjoining Koori Kitchen received any financial support from the government.
The Koori Kitchen has been providing free hot meals to flood-affected residents since the February flood.(ABC News: Nakari Thorpe)
Ms Moran said while the financial assistance since June was appreciated, the newspaper had effectively been “doing the government’s job” for months.
“I think it’s an absolute embarrassment to the government,” she said.
“I think they have a lot to answer for, coming in the 11th hour, some months later, to support a community after we’ve all done the work.
“It’s actually been the community and the community groups that have carried this region through their time of crisis.”
Naomi Moran says there is a strong case for First Nations first responders.(ABC: Matt Coble)
In a statement, Resilience NSW said:
“The first Recovery Centers were established by the New South Wales Government on 5 March 2022, providing food, access to accommodation and a range of other support services to any flood-affected community member.
“Recovery Centers and Recovery Assistance Points continue to operate across the Northern Rivers.
“Funding is currently available to non-government organizations (NGOs) across the Northern Rivers through a $13.3 million NGO funding package.”
Calls for First Nations first responders
When the NSW government’s independent flood inquiry held an Indigenous roundtable in Lismore in June, First Nations leaders called for government support to train and resource Indigenous communities to respond to natural disasters.
“We’ve been talking about things like a First Nations first responders unit,” Ms Moran said.
Naomi Moran (centre) at an Indigenous roundtable hearing in Lismore with independent flood inquiry co-chairs Professor Mary O’Kane (left) and Michael Fuller (right).(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
“That’s probably the biggest seed that we can plant here today, is to take a look at what it means to support a group of Aboriginal communities, service providers and organizations to map out what it looks like to respond to our people immediately and safely in times of crises.”
The inquiry’s co-chair Michael Fuller told the Indigenous roundtable that training and resourcing communities to respond to natural disasters would be part of the report.
“The reality is communities will always do it better than government – we see that in most disasters,” he said.
“But this point about training and resourcing communities – it’s not lost on us and it will be part of the report.”
That report was delivered to the state government on July 31 but has not yet been made publicly available.
Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the report would most likely be released “some time in the month of August”.
Doors closing for op shop and food bank
Aunty Rose Walker has been managing the mountains of donations through the free Koori Mail op shop, in the Koori Mail building, for almost five months.
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you how many people have come through here, but it would have been a lot,” she said.
The Bundjalung woman said without access to the free items, many flood affected residents – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – would have been in dire straits.
Aunty Rose Walker has been volunteering in the Koori Mail op shop since early March.(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
“You’ll see a bit of tears because it’s still affecting them inside… losing everything,” she said.
“Just to let them know that whatever they need, whatever we can provide for you, it’s here. Please, we are willing to give.”
Aunty Rose Walker has been a friendly face and a fixture in the op shop since early March, but after months of volunteering she’s preparing to take a step back.
Aunty Rose Walker estimates thousands have been through the Koori Mail op shop since the February flood.(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
Ms Moran said there was additional funding to keep the Koori Kitchen running but they would look to wind up the op shop and adjoining supply bank at the end of August.
“Our volunteers are so exhausted,” she said.
“They’ve been with us side-by-side every single day. The expectation for us to have them continue on for, you know, another few months, we can’t ask that of them.”
Koori Kitchen future uncertain
What started as a box of produce in a tent beside the Koori Mail building quickly grew into a free food kitchen, supplying close to 2,000 meals per day to flood victims.
The Koori Kitchen is still providing hundreds of meals to flood-affected residents on the Northern Rivers.(ABC: Matt Coble)
The Koori Kitchen has been run by Chelsea Claydon and chef Izzy Walton who say that even five months on demand for the service is still high.
“We’re still doing 600 to 800 meals a day,” Ms Claydon said.
Next to the Koori Kitchen is the “Koori Coles”, where flood victims can stock up on free essential items.
Both have been made possible by donations, and more recently state government funding, but it’s unclear how long that will last.
Chelsea Claydon (left) and Izzy Walton (right) have been running the Koori Kitchen in Lismore.(ABC: Matt Coble)
“I think we need to raise more money basically in order to keep feeding these numbers,” Ms Claydon said.
Ms Walton said the free meals were still an essential service in a town where few shops were open and people were struggling financially.
“A lot of them still don’t have cooking facilities at home, heating facilities at home, so I think it would be really difficult if we had to shut up shop,” she said.
Rekindling response above and beyond
Across town, Aboriginal health service Rekindling the Spirit has been on the ground since day one providing essential care to flood victims at a time when many of the region’s medical services were down.
Georgina Cohen (right) is the CEO of Aboriginal health service Rekindling the Spirit.(ABC: Matt Coble)
CEO Georgina Cohen said of the three Lismore-based offices, one went under, the other was high and dry and the third, opposite the squareLismore Square, had water lapping at the street gutters.
“There was what seemed like hundreds of boats coming in… and staff were helping whoever was in need,” she said.
“On the Tuesday our power was restored and we were able to reopen the medical service.
Floodwater reached the gutters around Rekindling the Spirit’s office on the corner of Uralba and Diadem St in Lismore.(Supplied: Georgina Cohen)
“The staff that were not flooded, and not affected with people staying with them after the floods, were able to come in and support any and every client, with appointments, with GPs via telehealth.”
The Koori Mail team and volunteers received the national NAIDOC award for innovation, recognizing their “coordination and leadership” post flood.
Ms Moran said she hopes lessons are learned from the Koori Mail’s flood response.
“What you see here is a community that can absolutely self-determine what it looks like to look after our people,” Ms Moran said.
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and three other people, including two members of her staff,were killed in a car crash Wednesday afternoon, according to the Elkhart County, Ind., Sheriff’s Office.
“It is with a heavy heart that I am sharing this statement from the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in an announcement on Twitter, posting a picture that included the following text:
“Dean Swihart, Jackie’s husband, was just informed by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s office that Jackie was killed in a car accident this afternoon. She has returned home to be with her de ella Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Please keep her family from her in your thoughts and prayers. We will have no further comment at this time.”
Walorski, 58, was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Route 19 south of Route 119, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver of a northbound vehicle traveled left of the centerline and collided head-on with the sport-utility vehicle carrying Walorski and staffers Zachery Potts, 27, and Emma Thomson, 28. All three occupants in the southbound vehicle died of their injuries. Edith Schmucker, 56, was the sole occupant of the other vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ordered the flags at the US Capitol to be flown at half-staff in memory of Walorski.
“A lifelong Hoosier, Congresswoman Walorski lived a life of service: whether caring for impoverished children in Romania, representing her community in the Indiana Statehouse or serving nearly a decade in the House,” Pelosi said in a statement. “She passionately brought the voices of her north Indiana constituents to the Congress, and she was admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her personal kindness de ella.”
Walorski had served in Congress since 2013 representing the 2nd Congressional District. She was the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee and was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The South Bend, Ind., native worked in journalism and academia before being elected to Congress in 2012. A religious conservative, she was educated at Christian colleges and did mission work before coming to Capitol Hill.
McCarthy appointed her in early 2021 to the ranking Republican spot on the sensitive Ethics Committee, an evenly divided panel that handles investigations of lawmakers.
“I’m honored to take on the important responsibility of holding members of the House to the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and ethical conduct,” she said in a statement upon receiving that appointment.
House GOP women are a crucial piece of party’s next move on abortion
President Biden, who ordered the flags at the White House to half-staff in the congresswoman’s honor, released a statement in which he said he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked and deeply saddened” by Walorski’s death.
“We may have represented different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served,” Biden said.
Fellow Republicans expressed grief Wednesday shortly after news of Walorski’s death was made public.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called Walorski a “good friend.”
“She was an incredible public servant for Hoosiers and a leader within the Republican Party,” McDaniel said in a statement. “The entire Republican National Committee is praying for her family de ella, as well as the families of the two staff who were also tragically killed.”
Sen. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) tweeted that he was “truly devastated.”
“Jackie loved Hoosiers and devoted her life to fighting for them,” he wrote. “I’ll never forget her spirit from her, her positive attitude from her, and most importantly her friendship from her.”
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) tweeted that he was praying for the families of Walorski and her staffers.
“Devastated to hear the horrible news of the passing of Jackie Walorski and her two staffers,” Scalise wrote. “She was a dear friend who loved serving the people of Indiana in Congress.”
In the event of a Republican takeover of the House after the November midterm elections, Walorski would have been on track to chair the Ways and Means worker and family support subcommittee. Walorski, an evangelical Christian, was known for her conservative stances on social issues.
Earlier this month, she opposed the Women’s Health Protection Act and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, calling Democrats’ stance on abortion “dangerous” and “extreme.”
“At Speaker Pelosi’s urging, House Democrats once again voted to greenlight abortion at any time in pregnancy, anywhere in the country, and bankrolled by American taxpayers,” Walorski said in a statement. “Abortion on demand is a direct affront to pro-life values and Americans’ conscience rights.”
A Donald Trump supporter, Walorski voted against impeaching the president in 2021 for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which resulted in the deaths of one police officer and four others and injured more than 100 law enforcement officers. She also voted against confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election.
Two Perth businesses are sprucing up their shopfronts with help from the City of Perth.
West Perth’s Gangemi’s Fine Wines & Food and the Comedy Lounge on Murray Street are two of several Perth businesses which have been awarded City of Perth business improvement grants this financial year.
Gangemi’s owners Edward Johnson and Tobias Goyder-Ewan told Perth Now this week the $20,000 grant would go towards a major redevelopment of the well-known corner bottle shop and liquor store on Hay Street.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.
The duo said they believed their business was the first metropolitan standalone liquor store to trade in Perth, having been open since 1911.
Co-owners Tobias Goyder-Ewan and Edward Johnson, Gangemi’s Fine Wines. Credit: Andrew Richie/Perth Now
The historic establishment will receive an interior facelift to turn it into an 80-person small bar with indoor dining, an alfresco area and European style charcuterie food on offer. Drinks will be served until 10pm.
The business will also build a coffee window which will be open from 7am.
“We have been liquor retail and wine retail and we’re going to be wine retail and liquor retail-focused with the addition of being able to sit down and have a glass of wine on top, and it extends that ‘try before you buy ‘ethos,” Mr Johnson said.
“We are changing it from just retail to being an on and off premise consumption and a place for the community.”
Artist impression of the new bar at Gangemi’s Fine Wines & Food during the evening. Credit: Gangemi’s Fine Wines and Food
Mr Johnson said the grant would go towards paying for the “base build”, including the construction of toilets, amenities and access for people with a disability.
Re-development of the site is set to start as soon as next week, with the duo aiming to not close the store during construction and have the additions ready by October.
“You can have a chat to us, you can have a sit down, we can talk about the wine if people are interested in that,” Mr Johnson said.
“Or they can just have a place to hang out, eat some bread and cheese and have a glass of wine.”
In the CBD, the Comedy Lounge exterior and laneway is set for a facelift.
“Overall we expect the exterior improvements to increase Comedy Lounge’s public awareness and organic traffic,” business development and marketing director Jack McAllister said.
“It’s amazing how many people are unaware Perth has its very own purpose-built comedy club, so hopefully this will help get the word out there.”
Jack McAllister (event organiser) Sunday Singles at the Comedy Lounge will be launching as a weekly Sunday event for Perth singles. Andrew Richie Credit: Andrew Richie/Community News
The team behind the establishment are researching the possibility of installing 3D projectors which would display the venue’s line-ups and a promotional video.
Mr McAllister said designs were being drafted for the new laneway street art, which would include a portrait of the greatest comedians of all time.
“We’re in a great location where we get a lot of daily traffic passing the venue,” he said.
“It’s one aspect of advertising that we haven’t utilized yet — we want to be noticed as people pass our venue.
“First impressions count and at the moment the look of the building and laneway does not match the quality of entertainment we’re providing.
“The upgrades will help convey to customers that it’s a high-quality establishment with world-class live entertainment.”
Mr McAllister said the $12,950 grant would go towards the works but the upgrade would cost “significantly more”.
“The last few years for businesses have been a rollercoaster, so it’s good to know the government is showing its support,” he said.
“We haven’t made any significant or noticeable upgrades for about three years now, so we are well overdue for a makeover.
“All our recent major upgrades have been interior, which has been money well spent, but it’s time we improve the outside.”
Visitors to the Comedy Lounge should start seeing the laneway improvements finalized over the next few weeks.
The two establishments were part of 21 businesses to receive grants.
City staff had recommended only nine out of 25 applications for grants be approved, taking the total grants allocation to $157,050.
But councilors approved grants to all applications that scored over 60 per cent in the city’s assessment. This move, suggested by Cr Brent Fleeton, saw 12 of the 16 businesses that had been recommended for rejection to receive a grant after all.
Amberjacks in Elizabeth Quay was one of the 16 businesses whose application was recommended to be knocked back but will now receive $16,421 to create a raised alfresco decking area with umbrellas and added weather cover.
The Heritage Wine Bar will also now receive a $20,000 grant to install a suspended alfresco area between the bar and the Brookfield Place podium to close a void and increase capacity.
The council also agreed to allocate an extra $194,911.57 to its grant program to accommodate the move, which city community development general manager Kylie Johnson said was “not supported”.
“Council approved the annual budget on July 12 which included the $150,000 allocation for the business improvement grant program,” she said.
“Any amendments that are made will be impacting on potential future programs.”
Cr Fleeton said councilors set the $150,000 budget for the grants program this financial year before finding out the city had a $3 million better starting position.
“We have the funds; now is the right time to make this investment on behalf of ratepayers because the city needs it,” he said.
One of the most frustrating hobbies I ever took up was archery, but not because it’s hard to hit a target on the wall (it is, but I got pretty good at that). My problem was that one of the popular ways to go out and have fun with archery was to do “3D shoots,” where you would have to shoot at a series of statues of animals, each positioned at an unknown distance.
Estimating distance turned out to be my downfall. If you don’t have a good sense of how far away the fake deer is, you’ll end up shooting way over its back or burying your arrow under the ground beneath its feet. At the time, I assumed that estimating distance was less a learnable skill and more a gut feeling. Hence my surprise when I recently came across a quick eyeball-and-mental-maths trick that allows anyone to estimate distance pretty accurately.
The technique involves some gut-level estimation, but a much easier type. Then you just multiply by 10. Here’s how it works:
Hold your thumb in front of you (with your arm fully outstretched), and close one eye. Line up your thumb with an object whose size you have some sense of (for example, a car).
Without moving your thumb, close your open eye, and open the other one. Your thumb will appear to be in a different place.
Estimate how far your thumb “moved” relative to the object you’re looking at. For example, a car is about 4.57 m long, so if your thumb moved half a car length, that’s about 2.29 m.
Multiply by 10. In this example, you’d calculate that the car is about 22.86 m away from you.
Too good to be true? I walked around and tried it out. I also carried a laser distance-finder and a tape measure with me to verify. One thing I noticed right away is that I was tempted to measure the space in between my two thumb images; instead, you need to measure from, say, the left side of the first thumb image to the left side of the second thumb image.
Standing in the kitchen, eyeballing the TV in the other room, I figured the TV was somewhere between 3 and 1.22 m wide, and that my thumb moved a little more than half its distance, so about 0.61 m. Calculation: TV must be 6.10 m away. Laser level says: 7.62 m. OK, not bad.
From my desk to a nearby bookshelf, my thumb moved 6 inches, maybe a little more. Calculation: 60ish inches. Actual measurement: 59 inches.
From a spot in my driveway to a garden shed: I turned my head and sideways to measure against the height of the door. Thumb distance should be about 6 feet (most of the height of the door), thus the shed must be 18.29 m away. Actual measurement: around 21.34 m. Not perfect, but once again, not too far off.
The reason this trick is supposed to work is that the distance from your eye to your thumb is about 10 times the distance from one eye to the other. I measured this, too. Looking into the mirror with a measuring tape in front of my face, my pupils are 2 and 5/16″ apart, or 2.3 inches. The distance from the spot between my eyebrows to my outstretched thumb is 23.5 inches. That’s a factor of 10.2, impressively close to the 10 I was promised.
Bottom line: This trick isn’t going to give you a precise distance, but as a tool for estimating, it actually kind of works! And by the way, if you ever need to estimate how far away a deer-shaped statue is: a deer’s body length is roughly 1.52 m.
Australia leads the medal tally with 46 gold medals as the Commonwealth Games swimming program concludes at the end of day six of the competition.
Tomorrow, attention turns to track and field and team sports.
Gold: 46
Silver: 38
Bronze: 39
Total: 123
You can check out how the latest batch of medals were won in our Commonwealth Games blog, or have a look at the medal winners and the top 10 medal standings by country below:
Day 6 medal winners:
Gold:
Evan O’Hanlon, athletics, T37/38 100m
Kaylee McKeown, Chelsea Hodges, Emma McKeon and Mollie O’Callaghan, swimming, 4×100 medley relay
Ariarne Titmus, swimming, 400m freestyle
Sam Short, swimming, 1,500m freestyle
Silver:
Brandon Starc, athletics, high jump
Bradley Woodward, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Matt Temple and Kyle Chalmers, swimming, 4X100 medley relay
Mollie O’Callaghan, swimming, 50m backstroke
Benjamin Hance, swimming, S14 200m freestyle
Cheryl Lindfield and Serena Bonnell, lawn bowls, B6-B8 women’s pair
