Re: 7 Words That Dogs Can Understand (And 4 That No Dog Can)

On Sun, 16 Mar 2025 9:15:11 +0000, J. J. Lodder wrote:

Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote:
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On 16/03/2025 2:19 a.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:

Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote:
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On 14/03/2025 11:05 p.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:

Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
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On 14/03/25 15:28, Ross Clark wrote:

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A little crossroads called Tirau (NZ) has a Big Dog (the tourist
information office) and a couple of Big Sheep (a souvenir shop), all
in corrugated iron. There's also a Shepherd, but he's not to scale,
and not in typical NZ costume. (He's in front of a church.)
>
https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/tirau-town.html

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Nicely done.
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When I visited Fiji I noticed that corrugated iron is a highly valued
construction material. I guess the native wood is unsuitable for
building, and maybe the clay is not the right sort for bricks.

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Guess they don't have any.
You need glaciers for grinding rock to sand and clay.

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This can't be right. There is clay suitable for pottery in Fiji and many
other Pacific islands where there have never been glaciers.

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Mud is probably a more appropriate description.

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No, it's clay.
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I doubt the suitability for good bricks and ceramics.

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Fine. It wasn't a question about what you'd consider "good", but
whether your grand generalization about clay was correct.
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 > (probably more appropriately called earthenware)
"Ceramics", "pottery" and "earthenware" would all be appropriate.
>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1766/lapita-pottery
https://collections.qm.qld.gov.au/objects/CH37961/pot
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Importing timber and bricks would be hellishly expensive, I guess.

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They've got timber. Wood and leaves were traditional house-building
materials, after all.

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Of a kind. Anything better than palm trees?

Yes. Your comments suggest you don't know much about this part of the
world.

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Isn't knowing that it is all volcanic in origin enough?
And (sub)tropical.
As for clay, this is what is commonly understood as 'clay' minerals.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_mineral>
Volcanic rock otoh is something different.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_rock>

..
Some of the rock on Fiji isn't volcanic or coral,
and there's clay, though maybe not much.
<https://earthjay.com/earthquakes/20180819_fiji/colley_hindle_19XX_volcano_tectonic_evolution_fiji_plateau.pdf>
--
Jerry Friedman
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