StumbleUpon | aussiebob's blog posts

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/1118473/

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 07:04:00 -0700

It probably won't mean much to anyone else but the Kiwis and us Aussies, but today is ANZAC day.

For the rest of the world who may be wondering, ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. That was the name given to the antipodean team out there fighting for the free world in WW1. It's a shared title, but seems to mean more to Aussies than our NZ mates.

Over here it's our big national day, a time for ceremony, boozing and remembering. The slogan is "Lest we forget", and while we're supposed to be remembering all of the sacrifices all of our boys and girls in the military have made for us, the formative event for ANZAC day is the Gallipoli landing. It's an odd thing to be the centre of a national ethos. The ANZAC's landing was intended as a diversion for the real British invasion further along the Dardanelles, and the landing was a disaster. The Aussies and Kiwis were dropped in the wrong place, were poorly led, had minimal supplies, were slaughtered in their thousands. But they kept fighting and established the beachhead. They stayed there for eight months, in awful conditions, against the might of the Ottoman empire.

At a place called Nek, my great grandfather and two of his brothers in the Western Australian 10th Light Horse regiment died charging Turk trenches, in a charge that had no reason, no sense, and no goal. After the war they found the bodies of more than 300 Australians in an area smaller than a tennis court.

Since then, we've fought in a lot of other people's wars. We've supported the US and Britain in wars in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, but the only war we've fought to defend ourselves was WW2, and even then our first fight was to get our troops back from the British and Americans, who had better uses for them than allowing them to defend their homeland.

It all of those wars, Australians have fought with ferocity and with valour. Almost without exception, Australian troops have had greater involvement in fighting and suffered proportionately greater casualties than the nations we've been supporting. It's an odd record for a country like Australia. We're not a warlike people. We're not really as laid back as Crocodile Dundee and his recent clones would have you believe, but they're not that far from the truth either.

It's hard to explain why our servicemen and women fight so hard in wars we have no real reason to be involved in. It's not agression. It's not desperation. It's not nationalism, though some people like to ascribe it to national pride. I like to think it's more like professionalism.

We've got a job to do here. Let's do it. Let's do it the best we can, then we can get out of here.

I'd like to think that's it. My own small brush with courage was when I was a member of volunteer rescue group for an underground mine. An explosive truck caught fire on the decline (the ramp down into the mine), and most of the shift were trapped below the burning vehicle. I was alone at another mine about 25km away when I got the call, and drove the fire engine to the site of the fire.

It took about twenty minutes for the drive, and I spent the entire time trying not to think about what I was about to do. It was intense and draining. In the end, by the time I got to the explosives truck, the fire had gone out on its own.

I suppose I can feel a little pride that, in that time I never once considered stopping the fire truck, but I'm absolutely humbled to feel that those men fighting would have felt like that for months and years on end.

Today is ANZAC day. It's a day we remember these things.

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/1111443/

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 06:33:39 -0700

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/1110424/

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 00:30:45 -0700

Maybe it's because of our Convict Streak
We wanna fight everyone we meet
Anzac Day is our day of the year
We march our march, we drink our beer

Dave Warner, Convict Streak, 1975

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/1061386/

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 10:04:17 -0700

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/866079/

Fri, 11 Mar 2005 21:33:55 -0800

Your Seduction Style: The Charmer

You're a master at intimate conversation and verbal enticement.
You seduce with words, by getting people to open up to you.
By establishing this deep connection quickly, people feel under your power.
And then you've got them exactly where you want them!

What Is Your Seduction Style?

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/692465/

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 03:44:55 -0800

Well, the cat's still here and I'm not sure what to do about it. I don't mind the company - I've probably lived alone a little too long anyway, but I know it's not really my cat.

There are a lot of things about this I don't understand. Why did the cat pick me to move in with? It's acting like I'm it's own personal fetish object, but I've done nothing to justify any sort of adoration. This is not sensible behaviour.

I've never really been a cat guy, but this one's a nice animal, affectionate, fairly polite even when there's food around, not exceptionally playful, but it'll chase a firewire lead if I drag one suggestively. It's healthy too, with a shiny coat, looks well fed, looks like it's been cared for, looks like it's somebody else's pet.

And that's the real problem. I'm guessing somebody out there will want it back, and I wouldn't mind doing that if it was an inanimate object like a ball or a toy, or if it hadn't made it so clear it wants to stay here.

Obviously according to the law, the cat has an owner and goes where the owner wants it to, the cat has no rights in this. The law's not workable though. How do you banish an entity which wants to stay with you. I've already told it to go home, and it either doesn't understand or it's ignoring me.

My doors are always open, and it can come and go as it pleases. So what am I supposed to do, hire a bouncer to kick the little bugger out? Move?

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/684941/

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 05:52:01 -0800

I've been adopted, or maybe invaded by a cat. It's a pretty ordinary looking cat, mostly black, but it has white feet and a white chin and chest. It looks healthy and fairly young, but it's not a kitten.

I got home late last Friday night, and when I opened the door, it followed me inside, and in my slightly befuddled state, I let it in and didn't object when it wove itself between my feet as I walked through my house.

I cracked a beer and slumped onto my lounge to wind down before bed, and the cat followed me there and jumped up beside me. It was watching me intently, obviously expecting something, so I stroked under its chin. It almost melted. It was on it's back, purring, in feline heaven after just a couple of tickles.

It's easy to see why they're called pussies.

When I went to bed, the cat followed me, and whenever I woke up, it'd be there, just watching me. Each time it realised I was awake, it'd purr and rub my face with it's muzzle. It's breath wasn't as bad as you'd expect.

It's been following me around ever since. I went to work today, and locked the cat out when I left. I thought it'd be gone when I got back, but it was still there on the step when I got home.

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/659383/

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 05:58:24 -0800

You scored as alternative. You're partially respected for being an individual in a conformist world yet others take you as a radical. You have no place in society because you choose not to belong there - you're the luckiest of them all, even if your parents are completely ashamed of you. Just don't take drugs ok?

alternative79%Upper middle Class42%Middle Class42%Luxurious Upper Class33%Lower Class29%
What Social Status are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/592428/

Sun, 26 Dec 2004 16:42:18 -0800

When she I loved looked every day

Fresh as a rose in June,

I to her cottage bent my way,

Beneath an evening moon.

http://aussiebob.stumbleupon.com/review/514091/

Sun, 28 Nov 2004 03:25:19 -0800

Diagnostic Overview:

You are only slightly disturbed, and are probably okay to be alone with small children (as long as they've been warned). A brain-transplant is probably the only thing that might keep your mental health in check. You should also check into some of the doofier religions that people laugh about. People who answer as you did are frequently found to be pyromaniacs.

http://www.stupidstuff.org/main/rorschach.htm