Remember to check out the contest below – still time to enter and as always I am agog at the amount of entries – thank you…
Around 100,000 litres of oil from the cyclone-stricken Pacific Adventurer have washed up on the shores of Moreton and Bribie island and parts of the Sunshine Coast.
The areas have been declared disaster zones and state and federal authorities are responding, while the maritime watchdog is investigating the spill.
Charges may be laid over what Premier Anna Bligh says could be "the worst environmental disaster Queensland has ever seen".
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25179213-952,00.html
What an environmental nightmare. It’s a disaster on so many levels – but I had a WTF moment when a news reader reporting this on the TV news asked the question ….“But how will this affect Easter prawn (shrimp) supplies?” Yes - let’s all forget about saving the waterways, the sea life, the beaches and tourism – what will people eat at Easter for god sake???? Hmmm…I often believe people care more about their stomach than the world at large.
Australia needs to stop thinking of New Zealand as the "cousin at the party who's got the short trousers" and treat their neighbour more seriously, a leading historian says.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/5389034
Why do people – academics especially – have to over analyse everything? Yes, yes, they probably have stuff all to do and have to justify their existence or whatever grant they are on – but the fact is – ask any Aussie - we consider New Zealanders mates. This is a bond that was forged over hundreds of years and solidified in WW1 with the ANZACs (Australian New Zealand Army Corp) in places like Gallipoli. It is a bond that can never be broken. If you cannot be Aussie then be a Kiwi. And the thing with Aussies is if we like you then we will take the piss* and tease the hell out of you. If we don’t then we’re just polite. The Aussie-Kiwi bond of friendship is so solid between our two countries that no other country could step in and take its place. And duh, of course large countries with small populations, isolated as we are, will look North for trade and to make alliances….hello…no brainer alert.
John Curtin – a very smart Aussie Prime Minister during WW2 – realized the value of an alliance with the USA. Before, our ties had always been with Blighty. I forever admire John Curtin. Why? Because in WW2 when the Japanese army was in Papua New Guinea and knocking on our door to invade, he basically told the wanker war machine in Britain – who considered Oz expendable - to bugger off - that Australia would not be sending more troops to the middle east but bringing our men back home to defend Australia in PNG. That was a huge call to make back then. Up until then we had never told the likes of Winnie Churchill to bugger off – officially that is - before but after the horrendous debacle in Gallipoli (read Gallipoli by Les Carlyon) we suspected Britain could not organize a piss up in a brewery at that time.
Anyway – back to the topic…Kiwis are our cousins. We love ‘em and we tease each other. Maybe this academic should look at another question like where does the other sock go in the washing.
*Piss off – please leave me alone now
Taking the piss - teasing
Pissed – can mean both drunk and angry
Blighty - Britain
Go Ahead : Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?
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