Australian business 24 Jun 2010 So Kevin Rudd has been ousted as PM and Julia Gillard replaces him to become Australia’s first female prime minister. What this means only time will tell, and usually I don’t like factional politics; they are fundamentally undemocratic. But this time it may have headed off a crisis. It remains for us to find out if the execrable and authoritarian internet censorship will be dropped with Stephen Conroy, whose position as minister for communications depended on his long time friendship with Rudd. In more important matters, some Australians who are famed for kicking inflated bladders made from leather beat some Serbians who are famed for kicking bladders made from leather, in a game that consists of kicking bladders made from leather, in different directions. This, apparently, vindicates national identity. Australian stuff Censorship
Censorship The lies of the internet censors: Your. Filter. Won’t. Work. 16 Dec 2008 The title is the title of a nice essay at Crikey. I especially like this: Bernadette McMenamin of ChildWise, you’ve crossed the line, defaming everyone who’s protested the government’s plans. “Most of these people are not fully aware of the facts and secondly, those who are aware are, in effect,… Read More
Censorship The Policy policy, and a Bill of Rights 3 Dec 2008 When my kids were in school, I noticed an interesting phenomenon that went something like this: Headmaster: No, your kids can’t be being bullied. We have a policy against bullying. I came to call this the “Policy policy”: so long as there’s a Policy in place for some longstanding problem,… Read More
Australian stuff On tribalism 25 Sep 201424 Nov 2022 Humans evolved in tribes, our species’ equivalent of the general primate troop structure. This meant that members of the tribe benefited from shared resources, the protection of the group and the inherited knowledge of the tribe. It also meant that we will natively and naively defend our group against others,… Read More
Said in AFL context: ‘My football team is better than yours because you’re a dickhead’. Or to put it another way: de football teams non disputandum.
We were thinking the same way … because I wrote my own Gillard post before I saw this, but after you wrote it. For me, the marathon, record-breaking Wimbledon match is more compelling than a soccer match that failed to get Australia through to the real action in the World Cup. I don’t know if you’re interested in tennis, but the stats are mind-boggling.
This sounds interesting. Tell me more about inflated bladder kicking. Where did this event take place? Was it in Australia or Serbia?
Actually John these days the bladders are made of some super high tech substance with an unpronounceable chemical name. Next time you visit I’ll take you to the place where they’re created, it’s just down the road from here. Naturally, they’re manufactured in China.
Oh come on! It’s not just about the bladder. There’s also the requirement to perform the dying swan pas de deux from Swan Lake in order the provide the opposition with visual stimulation via brightly coloured bits of card – with the ultimate aim of providing the opposition playes with a some well earned time off. The bladder is irrelevent. And ignore Moran. If it doesn’t include small pieces of metal being propelled at lethal speeds by large lumps of wood, he’s not interested.
Okay, I get this reference. But there is a version called ‘Jam Pail Curling’ that actually uses concrete filled jam pails.
“small pieces of metal being propelled at lethal speeds by large lumps of wood”?? What the hell are you referring to?
What the hell are you referring to? I’m sorry, I admit my description was inadequate. Here’s a fuller version: “small pieces of metal being propelled at lethal speeds by large lumps of wood carrying large lumps of wood” Usually umdertaken on the most common crystaline phase of water.
That’s what I figured but why plural and why metal? They are, and I think always have been, vulcanized rubber. (and only one used at a time)
An underwater hockey puck (originally but now rarely referred to as a “squid” in the United Kingdom), while similar in appearance to an ice hockey puck, differs in that it has a lead core weighing approximately 3 pounds (1.4 kg) within a teflon, plastic or rubber coating.
My suggestion of an underwater hockey/ice hockey hybrid have yet to be taken up then. Ice hockeyers are wusses. Afraid of a little piece of metal . . .