Recent Posts - page 599

  • What a week: Irwin, Thiele and now Brock.

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    I just heard on the radio that Peter Brock has been killed in a racing crash.

    All the boys I went to a country town high school with drove V8s, and all of them looked up to Brockie. He stood above the perennial Ford-Holden wars in terms of his racing hero status, partly because of his cool, calm demeanour – Brock was the Bjorn Borg of Australian motor racing

  • Sexualised sports uniforms turning girls off sport

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    That is a key finding of a bipartisan Senate inquiry into female participation in sport and recreation.

    TIGHT lycra bike pants and full body-suits could be a cause of teenage girls dropping out of sports.

    A Federal Government report has recommended clubs give teenage girls the option of wearing looser-fitting comfortable clothes, to avoid them becoming body-conscious and abandoning organised sport.

  • Why oh why do people want to pry?

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    That is the moan of TomKat in Vanity Fair about the prurient curiosity regarding their baby. As the NYT points out, when you announce your romance on TV by jumping on Oprah’s couch, announce your engagement at a press conference, and pose tits-and-teeth-out endlessly on red carpets before the pregnancy became inelegant, the public becomes conditioned to a photo-opportunity parade through your lives and

  • The principle is not the practise

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    wbb, in comments over at LP, summarised most neatly what is also pretty much my stance on evaluating faith traditions:

    Of course there’s stuff to like in Buddhism as there obviously is, too, in Christianity or other Pre-enlightenment philosophies. But the lived experience, rather than contents of the official user’s manual, and the uses these instutionalised belief systems are put to, in controlling

  • Suddenly, no-one’s named after Saddam anymore

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    From the International Herald Tribune:

    The country’s Sunni-Shiite bloodletting is driving many Iraqis to bury the very essence of their identity: their names.

    To have to hide one’s name is considered deeply shameful. But with sectarian violence surging, Iraqis fear that the name on an identification card, passport or other document could become an instant death sentence if seen by the wrong people.

  • How to not irritate feminists

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    A great post over at Unfogged, which lists “guidelines for avoiding actively irritating women who are discussing feminist concerns” including every feminist’s unfavourite:

    6) Don’t say, “Men have problems too! Women are always doing mean things to men! [stamps foot] And we don’t complain about it as much!”

    Feminists love to talk about the ways men are ill-served by the current arrangement. But if you’re one of the guys who

  • tigtogmob at the Opera House

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    ‘cos the tigling was having her debut performance there – as a member of the Sydney Region Combined Schools Chorus.

    It was a fabulous showcase of public music education and the talented youngsters in our schools. Of special note were a 10 year old classical pianist and a 15 year old jazz trumpeter, both of whom probably have glittering careers awaiting them.

    She was so excited and

  • Interesting autism research

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    Autism risk linked to older fathers – study:

    Children fathered by men at age 40 and older have a higher risk of developing autism, possibly because of mutations or other genetic changes, according to new research.

    The study “provides the first convincing evidence that advanced paternal age is a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder,” said the authors

  • Don’t get too paranoid, but …

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    This is well worth reading for people who haven’t yet inculcated habits that mean they can’t easily be identified online: Death by Google Calendar: how I identified you to rob you.

    I am not picking on this woman but I needed to show a real example. There are tons of public calendars far more revealing than this one. In literally 20 minutes, I now know the name, address, phone number and schedule of this woman. If I can do it, you can be damn sure the real bad guys can. Please be smarter about what you share online. If given a choice, choose the private setting. If you are not given a choice, either choose a new calendar or talk in some code that only you understand. I guess I just don’t understand why people set themselves up to become victims.

  • Death of a drongo

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    Steve Irwin was the finest kind of drongo – a genuine ocker mug lair, with a tremendous enthusiasm and generosity. I’d only just started to admire Steve Irwin (after finding his ockerism embarrassing) recently since I learned how much of his TV wealth he has plowed back into conservation and animal welfare projects generally.

    I’m appalled at his sudden death while wondering whether this time he took just a few