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 More on clean feed opposition 24 Nov 2008 At last the MSM seem to be picking it up. A Perth newsmagazine has reported it unfavourably (although are Xenophon and Fielding really waiting for the results, given they are major motivators of the idea?), and an online opinion site suggests that the ultimate source of this stupidity is Clive… Read More
Australian stuff On recent developments, and a prospective 25 Jun 2010 So, we have a woman PM. I’m not particularly impressed by that – we should have had equal representation in the Parliament thirty years ago and it’s no great achievement to get a female executive now. We beat the US. Hoobloodyray. But that she is unashamedly unmarried, and took the… Read More
Censorship The road to hell 29 Dec 200818 Sep 2017 In the final chapter of Terry Pratchett’s Eric, the wizard Rincewind and the boy Eric are climbing out of hell on steep steps. He looked down at the broad steps they were climbing. They were something of a novelty; each one was built out of large stone letters. The one… 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 . . .