What I Learnt Today

Do you find it hard to keep up with what’s happening in your favourite trouble spot? 

Our copy of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to World Conflicts is now a few years out of date. (I do remember author Stephen Strauss golden rule of African politics – The only thing worse than the African dictator you’ve got now is the one who will replace him). Unfortunately, the book is no longer published.

So today I was glad to learn about ‘MotherJones Explainers’.

MotherJones is an independent, nonprofit, US based magazine, which, according to Wikipedia, is ‘rooted in liberal and progressive political values’.

The magazine was named after Mary Harris Jones, called Mother Jones, an Irish-American trade union activist, opponent of child labor, and self-described “hellraiser.” MotherJones was founded in 1976, and is nicknamed MoJo.

Harvard University has recently reported that MoJo’s web traffic in February has increased by 400%, with 3 million unique visitors in that month. And they attribute much of this increase to the new MoJo explainers.

Explainers is a new type of reporting designed to ‘accommodate disparate levels of reader background knowledge’. Explainers are a collaborative effort to detail and unpack the complexities of the situations in Africa and the Middle East. The ‘explainer’ pages are updated daily as events change, and the magazine responds to issues and questions raised in social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

The Egypt explainer was written by Nick Bauman, and has now set the format. It is structured like this

• The Basics
• What’s Happening?
• Why are Egyptians unhappy?
• How did this all start?
• Why is this more complicated for the US than Tunisia was?
• How do I follow what’s happening in real-time?
• What’s the latest?

So, if you want to keep up with the Jones’ s on the latest in Libya, or Bahrain, or Egypt, you may like to check out the relevant MoJo explainer.

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Budding Fellinis and Lurhmans out there will know that actors can be just soooo difficult to work with. Not to mention Best Boys and Key Grips.

Xtranormal is a website that provides the actors, cameramen, and crew. 

You select the scenery, choose your actors, provide the script and bingo! Your animated movie is done.

Here is a short movie that Millie wrote and produced today which promotes a popular website.

Thanks to Hamish for the tip about xtranormal. It must be bookmarked in every hospital, as many of the xtranormal movies on YouTube are a sarcastic portrayal of medical craft groups (or patients). This is a well known clip – an overkeen orthopaedic registrar presenting a case to the anaesthetic registrar. (warning : medical humour)

PS If ‘normal’ and ‘ordinary’ have the same meaning, why are extra-normal and extra-ordinary opposites?

 

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I think this stretch Volkswagen Kombi is the world’s coolest car.

It was a ‘guest’ at Jessica and Jamie’s wedding last weekend – and a more suitable limo for Byron Bay couldn’t be imagined.

The owner, Koshi, spent two years working on this 1950 Samba VW. He split the original in half, inserting the middle of another Kombi to make the stretch. All the parts are original, including the split windscreen. The massive sound system is new.

Koshi also owns a sunglasses and ugg boot shop in Byron, (as you do). Look him up when your in town, before he takes his young family around Australia next year.

You can hire the ‘luvmachine‘ (ouch) for your next big night out through Koshi’s online booking service.

 

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Remind yourself of the key events of the wonderful 1980s with these ‘forgotten’ video games.

From collegehumor.com

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Did you start today with a pint of green guinness?

If you did, you may be surprised to know that you are participating in an Australian tradition dating back 200 years! (if you didn’t – why not?)

In 1810, Governor Lachlan Macquarie declared St Patrick’s Day, March 17th, as an official day of celebration. Australia has been celebrating that day ever since.

The Irish have had a very significant impact on Australian history. There were, of course, Irish convicts in the First Fleet, and Irish people remained enormously over-represented throughout the history of transportation.

Many of the Irish convicts and free settlers were political activists, and people of Irish heritage have played a key role in Australian politics.They were keen proponents of a distinct Australian identity, rather than British.  For 26 of the fist 50 years of federation, Australia’s Prime Minister had an Irish background. At the time of the Second World War, about one third of Australians identified as being of Irish heritage.

The St Patrick’s Day parade in Sydney is the second largest in the world, after New York. This year it will this year take place next Sunday. Sixty floats participate, one of which will be made up of residents of St Johns College, Sydney University. This is a tradition going back to before I was a resident there (which is a long time)

Luckily, on St Patrick’s Day one gets official dispensation from one’s Lenten fast. (ie you can have whatever you gave up for Lent)

Of course, we would start the day with a green guinness or two – at the White Horse Hotel, Parramatta Rd – before marching in our academic gowns to the parade. Freshers would have had weeks of choir practice during which Irish rebel songs and homesick laments were drummed into us by the senior choir master. So, having drunk a socially inappropriate number of beers, and armed with an arsenal of politically inappropriate songs, we would serenade the Irish community of Sydney.

“Fight Mickey Fight, and don’t you be afraid, tomorrow you’ll be marching in the Sinn Fein parade…..”

“If you ever go across the sea to Ireland, then maybe at the closing of your day, you will sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh, or see the sun go down on Galway Bay”

“It seems like only yesterday I sailed from out of Cork, I wanderer from Erin’s Isle I landed in New York”

“Its a long way to Tipperary, its a long way to go”

“What do we want – England out of Ireland, When do we want it – Now”

“Oh my name is MacNamara, I’m the leader of the band”

“In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone”

And every pretty policewoman or Irish colleen we came across would be serenaded by 100 kneeling young men with

“You come on like a dream, Peaches and Cream, Lips like Strawberry Wine – You’re Sixteen, You’re Beautiful and you’re mine”.

It shows what good sports the Irish are that they let St Johns continue to participate in the parade. 

 

Johns goes all Hogwarts for the St Patrick’s Day Ball

An exhibition about the Irish in Australia called ‘Not Just Ned’ opens today at the National Museum of Australia.

 

Happy St Patricks Day (especailly to my Father-In-Law, Paddy Houlahan, who had a guinness or two today – to be sure, to be sure)

 

 

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