Australian goodness

What does it mean to be Australian?

I found a few articles that exemplify Australia perfectly........

The first of these articles was about the annual Wife-Carrying Competition, this year held at the Singleton Countryfest in NSW.

This consists of a 240m track with a compulsory 2 log jumps, two limbo bars, one water hazard (aptly named as well) and one 'mystery' hazard. Sounds like some family fun!

Any technique that keeps the wife's bum off the ground is accepted, with one drop incurring a 5 second penalty. The husband also must wear only one belt, with ropes, sticky tape and other such equipment banned.

The winners (whose names I temporarily forget) will compete in the World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland... exotic!

Of course, here are some photos for us to marvel at this x-treme sport (notice the hardcore abbreviation):

Yep this is the water hazard...

I think the husbands have developed this carrying technique as the most appropriate.

The second article I read was quite long, but equally as funny: some questions asked by foreigners about tourism in Australia. Now for those of us who haven't seen the Chaser's spoof in the USA (youtube it), this is just as good:

(NB: I did not write the answers to the questions - presumably some other self-depricating, dry humoured Australian did.)

An Australian tourism site posted some of the most beguiling questions received by potential travellers to our fair shores, as well as potential answers. It's been an email favourite for years, but we thought it was worth another look. Any of these sound familiar?

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I've never seen it rain on TV. How do your plants grow? (UK)
A: We import all of our plants fully grown and then sit around watching them die.

Q: My wife and I enjoy walking tours. How long will it take us to get from Perth to Sydney on foot? (Canada)
A: How long did it take you to do your last 4,000 kilometre walk? Bring a bottle of water.

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? If so, can you send me a list of all of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Hervey Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: What is the weather like in Vienna in May? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney, and is milk available year-round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful nation of vegan hunters and gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Are the rattlesnakes in Melbourne deadly? Do you sell anti-venom at the grocery store? (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-mer-i-ca, which is where you come from. Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make great pets.

Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? If so, when? (France)
A: Occasionally, and if so than during our Christmas annual leave.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go in Australia? (USA)
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

- Hurley Who?

PS. What is everyone getting on their jerseys?

Right brain or left brain... is it right?

As I was studying hard *cough cough* I came across this right brain vs. left brain test.



Which way do you see the woman turning?

I see it clockwise- and it's so frustrating that I can barely see it the other way (I did a few times *phew*, but not for long)
Apparently if you see it clockwise the right side of your brain is more dominant and vice versa. But how can that be?! I mean, I'm sure I have one of the most left dominated brains possible. My right side could even be somewhat defected =P

See the link for more info:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22535838-5012895,00.html

Have fun trying to see it both ways =P It took me a long time.

Her cules

'The Morning Line' - Matthew Ritchie

Well...I was reading www.wallpaper.com under the 'Architecture' tab & I came across this amazing aluminium sculpture named 'The Morning Line', designed by New York-based artist Matthew Ritchie. It's located at Seville and actually based upon another sculpture (designed by the same artist) called 'The Evening Line' located at the Venice Biennnale. Check it out:



~Louis Tiffon.

Chindogu follow-up

This is a follow-up from my older post about Chindogu, or wacky Japanese inventions.

Browsing the internet, I came across more photos of these inventions - my favourites are for the sleepy commuters so I've added a double whammy tribute.

This invention encourages people to dress up like vending machines to protect themselves from getting mugged. (Of course! THAT's the answer to street violence!)

Perfect for the coming summer, this is the air-conditioned shirt.

This is a back scratching t-shirt. Point to the grid where you're feeling itchy and a helpful friend will scratch away.

Ahhh... variations of attractive head gear for sleepy commuters. If only CityRail were so innovative...

This is by far the wierdest. This is a 'washing machine' you can strap to your ankle. I guess you could only wash undies, it's so small.

And this one, the 'Swiss Army Shovel'. How do you even get those parts out? It's hard enough on a conventional-sized swiss army knife.

- Hurley Who?

GAY

HELLO!

I guess the title says I'm experiencing cerebral ecstasy, but I have just discovered a video that says something important. I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVicCD8FmMs

(Sorry I tried to get the video onto this blog but I'm a tech n00b and YouTube won't let me. Anyone care to help with this?)

What do I think about the video? Well, could have been better executed - we all know acting might not be Hilary's forte (because her songs are such a big hit...) but I think the overarching message and target audience (ie. YOU) is spot on.

Hope your holidays are good, and you are doing NOTHING! (or whatever makes you happy)

- Hurley Who?

PS. I watched Tropic Thunder a few days ago... all I can say is, TOM CRUISE! (sorry, if you haven't seen it, you will have no idea what I'm taking about)

Global Crisis

The days that will forever be written down in history are upon us.

It's interesting isn't it. 16/17 years most of us have been around (sorry hurley who =P) and all of our years we have only been through growth.

But what is happening now? who remembers the good ol' days when a stock market index moving 1% would stir up everything. And today? The RBA was supposed to be leading the world in its decision to drop rates. But no. Our dollar dropped to 64c today and our index 5%. And lets not even start on the rest of the world. It seems we are still doing surprisingly well in the global economy. Can any of you tell what's coming? Becuase I sure can't.

Except for one probable thing. Another depression.

Anyone else feeling the stress?


Her cules

cerebral ecstasy (this girl is not high)

Before I am denounced as a nutter or otherwise, let me explain. This doesn't sound as weird as it might - we glorious humans already have several isolated 'areas' for ecstasy (not of tablet form) such as these examples:
aural ecstasy [bluegrass to a hillbilly's ears, death-metal/senseless jamming to a metal head's ears, retro swedish pop to mine (refer to post on alphabeat) and so on]
nasal ecstasy [this one is a bit trickier but then again we taste most of our food through smells, should that make sense, so I suppose apple pie qualifies, whereas any sort of flatulence would not]
kinaesthetic ecstasy [something involving motion - wind rushing past your face when you're going flat out on a bike downhill, or if you're perverted perhaps scraping your nails down a board (but hey whatever floats your boat, we ain't discriminate)]

and so on and so forth etc. etc. etc.

Thus it should not be of a surprise to us all that there should ever be such thing as cerebral ecstasy, the state where your brain is doing happy flips and raving madly as if one has injected a shot of actual pill-ecstasy into your skull. All we have to do is find it, I suppose.

quote of the day: "Life is a sexually transmitted disease with a 100% mortality rate." Thankyou verrrry much and have a nice day!

[disco.read]