This Sunday --> BBQ

During lunch Jose suggested to organize a bbq this Sunday next to the Lake. Who's keen on that?

...to be continued by Jose...

The Battle

Shopping with the communists - (Shaun bargaining in Beijing)

The effects of frontal lobotomy

This is a clip from Miss Teen USA 2007. Miss South Carolina answers the question "Why do you think one fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map?"

It's worth transcribing her answer word by word here:

"I personally believe that the US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our Nation don’t have maps and I believe that our education like such as South Africa and as Iraq everywhere like such as I believe they should our education over here in the US should help people in the US and help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we’ll be able to build up our future for."

Errr...

He's back

It opens tomorrow (Thursday) at Dendy. The 7 pm session is already sold out. Anyone interested?

Poll results: Aussie pride

Once again, the people have spoken. In our highly significant sample of 13 individuals who have voted about the Australian flag question, 5 (i.e. 0.00000025 % of the country's population) have determined that it should not change. I have already adviced Mr. Howard on the matter.

Salsa performance

There will be a salsa performance this Friday night at Karen's end of term party. What's so special about that?? Well the performance will contain Nano and Andrew. The boys have been busy fine tuning their routines and my very reliable source tells me it will be hot and it will be steamy.....
Check it out: this Friday from 7pm, Shakespeare Hall cnr Fawkner and Farrer Sts Braddon

Cook? Venga ya.

In the second half of the sixteenth century, Spanish expeditions coming from America were the protagonists in the Pacific of some voyages still unknown to the general public. These voyages can be numbered among the most remarkable in the whole history of maritime discovery. In 2006 was commemorated the fourth centenary of two of those voyages, the ones of Quirós and Torres in 1605-1606, and specifically, of three events that took place then: the naming of Australia; the first sighting of Australia by Spanish sailors, and the first European navigation through the Straits that bear the name of Torres. Olé.
An exhibition about this is now on in the National Museum.

No words

Who is from Tasmania?

Have a look to the picture and try to guess who is from Tasmania... some clues: The picture was taken in Canberra, in winter!!!

Bloody tough guys!

Would you change the flag of your country?

Looking at the votes so far, I see that many of you are keen on changing the Australian flag. My question is if you would do the same with yours. Personally, I wouldn't, even if the colors are not my favorites, or if the flag was generated in a non desirable political or govermental situation.

This weekly poll triggers some questions to me: what's based a nation identity? or in other words, what PATRIA (interesting translation in English: mother country) means? To answer the last one, I recommend you to listen a Ruben Blades' song called Patria.

It'll be in an English version soon...

Spanish version (the original):

Patria
by Ruben Blades

Hace algun tiempo
me preguntaba un chiquillo
por el significado
de la palabra patria
me soprendio con su pregunta
y con el alma en la garganta
le dije asi...
Flor de barrio, hermanito
Patria, son tantas cosas bellas
como aquel viejo arbol
que nos habla y renueva
como el relicario que guardas
despues de muerta la abuela
Patria son tantas cosas bellas
son las paredes de un barrio
de su esperanza morena
es lo que lleva en el alma
como aquel cuando se aleja
son los martires que gritan
bandera, bandera bandera bandera
No memorices lecciones
dictaduras o encierros
la patria no la defines
los que suprimen a un pueblo
la patria es un sentimiento
en la mirada de un viejo
son la entera primavera brisa de hermanita nueva
te contesto, hermanito, Patria son tantas cosas bellas.

This is the Argentinian flag (that was the flag that Juan had in his boat) and I took that picture in the summer 2005 (en el Rio de la Plata). Behind our flag, you can appreciate the city of Buenos Aires. Sorry, but I can think of change it mates!

Total Lunar Eclipse tomorrow

Hi there!!

Don't miss the total lunar eclipse scheduled for tomorrow evening. The best time for watching will be at 8.30 pm, when the moon will turn red.



Wondering what a lunar eclipse is or why the moon turns red rather than black?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse


Have a good week!!

JP

Featured music: Aterciopelados

Aterciopelados ("The Velvety ones") are the couple Andrea Echeverri and Héctor Buitrago, from Bogotá, Colombia. They play a smooth sort of indie-rock with Caribbean and electronic influences... whatever. Check their official website for some other songs online or watch a nice clip here. Have a good week.

Yves ans Jose's happy hour is ON this evening

There will be a happy hour this evening. The hosts are Jose and Yves.

Jose and Yves are preparing a gourmet feast that, according to Judith, will include:

• Pan con tomate (Bread with tomato sauce)
• Gougeres au Fromage (French cheesy balls)
• Fromage de chèvres sur le pain grille (Baked Goats cheese on toast)

There will be the usual quality selection of beers and wines.

All welcome, Building 79 tearoom, 4:45 onwards.

The 'real' aussie flag

The Southern Cross flag is considered (by some) to be the real aussie flag because it was made/designed/conceived in Australia. Whether believed by an individual to be the real flag or not, if you ask Australian's "what is the real aussie" flag the majority will answer "Eureka!".

See <http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/eurekastockade/> for an important history lesson (as far as Australia's short history goes).

"The Eureka rebellion is considered by some historians to be the birthplace of Australian democracy. It is the only Australian example of armed rebellion leading to reform of unfair laws. The Southern Cross flag has been used as a symbol of protest by organisations and individuals at both ends of the political spectrum."

(Now i'm getting carried away..)
The Eureka Flag Style Guide: <http://www.ausflag.com.au/flags/images/eureka.pdf> .. in case you want to make your own.

Poll results: Holy Shaun

This is what our completely independent (?) and objective survey concluded:

63% a religious fanatic stuck in the closet
27% a metaphysical naturalist
9% a postmodernist

The people have spoken.

If I were fish...

I'd see your beauty faces like this:

Enjoy it and viva Nemo!!!

Another side-tickler

Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch.
Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble. In order to keep the bank from re-possessing the ranch, they need to purchase a bull from the stockyard in a far town so that they can breed their own stock. They only have $600 left.

Upon leaving, the brunette tells her sister, "When I get there, if I decide to buy the bull, I'll contact you to drive out after me and haul it home."

The brunette arrives at the stockyard, inspects the bull, and decides she wants to buy it. The man tells her that he will sell it for $599, no less.
After paying him, she drives to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram to tell her the news.

She walks into the telegraph office and says, "I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her that I've bought a bull for our ranch. I need her to hitch the trailer to our pickup truck and drive out here so we can haul it home."

The telegraph operator explains that he'll be glad to help her, then adds, "It's just 99 cents a word."

Well, after paying for the bull, the brunette only has $1.00 left. She realizes that she'll only be able to send her sister one word.
After a few minutes of thinking, she nods and says, "I want you to send her the word 'comfortable'."

The operator shakes his head. "How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul that bull back to your ranch if you send her just the word 'comfortable'?"

The brunette explains. "My sister's blonde. The word's big. She'll read it very slowly ...com-for-da-bull."

A classic

TV Links - better than a remote control

This is the website we all dreamt of to make our procrastination reach stratospheric levels.
You can browse through hundreds of series, movies, documentaries (like the one featured here "The British UFO Files"), cartoons and music videos with complete impunity from your desk, and still pretend that you are being useful to society.
Enjoy. Thanks Matt for the link!

The thorium discrepancy

Source: Geoscience Australia and OECD

Apparently Australia does rank second in thorium reserves after all - second after the US, not second (?) after the US and India, as it was claimed by someone recently.

Happy birthday to you!

Last Friday was Andrew's birthday

and he celebrated it...

Thanks to Lana for sharing your pics

The snowy weekend

Last weekend Nano, Cherrie, Jose, Maria, Juan and I went to the snow. We start our trip on Friday evening, after three long weeks of meeting, papers, workshops and seminars, I decided to join our mates in their snowy trip. They had booked two huts near Mt. Beauty in Victoria, that is close to the Fall Creek ski resort.
Saturday early in the morning we hired the skies, pants and chains, and went for the big slopes. Actually only Juan can really ski, so, while we were taking ski lesson for dummies, he was in the black paths, enjoying the day. After two hours lesson, all of us were very exited to implement the new techniques, except of me; I went for a hot chocolate and a brownie, and I also took some pictures!
While I was having the chocobrownie, Juan almost killed Nano taking him to the black flag path. Nano said: "At some stage I had to get rid of the skies and walk down the hill". It is noticeable that last year I went with Juan to Perisher, and he did the same to me, I ended up crying in the snow, because I was afraid to kill myself going down. Anyway, I still love this guy.
At the end of the day, after the hot chocolate, the brownies and the pictures, we had to come back (which means, go down as well), and there were two ways to reach the bottom, skiing or taking the lift. I decided to make some more effort and go down skiing. Everybody did the same, the path was really crowded, there were skiers and snowboarders everywhere. At the same time I was going down, I was repeating in my mind "keep the momentum going", but suddenly, a snowboarder crashed me, and the momentum gone for good. I almost caused an avalanche, like a turtle facing the sky, I couldn't get up, my muscles were shaking, people were jumping over me and someone said "we're all under control"... douhh!
The moral: if you are not 18 years old, after a couple of hours of ski, forget about it, and put your energies in the cup of chocolate and the brownie that are in front of you, think about the cold beer you'll have in the pub with the bugger, look after yourself, love yourself!

"little" girls on "big" motorbikes (or the other way around!)

Because I was not able to upload my motor-bike adventure on the Cambalache Austral blog I hereby send you guys the link to my personal blog were you can watch my motor-adventure-movie. Provides you with something to laugh about on this sad-looking-first-day-of-the-week! Just scroll down on the website and on the left side you will find movies..

And if you want to practice your Ducth you just try to read all additional information on this blog about this adventure.

link: annebethloois.waarbenjij.nu

The paradox of organic lifestyles

More evil movies coming up

The latest epic fantasy inspired in books for children full of religious references and with talking animals is The Golden Compass. This is what a critic at Entertainment Weekly has to say about it:

Clergymen who kidnap children. Witches who aren't wicked. Even a pair of sexually ambiguous angels. If you thought Harry Potter was blasphemous, wait till you get a look at the His Dark Materials trilogy. New Line's $150 million adaptation of the first in Philip Pullman's series of theologically trippy novels, The Golden Compass follows 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) as she sets off on an epic odyssey through a fantastical parallel universe inhabited by armor-wearing polar bears and shape-shifting daemons.

Of course, how could we even bear the thought of clergymen kidnapping children?
Let alone believing that witches can other than be wicked.
And finally, angels DO have a gender, don't be confused.

Errr, Harry Potter blasphemous? (yawn)

Featured music: Astrud Gilberto

During the next few days the media player on the sidebar will be displaying some songs with the wonderful voice of Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto. Including, of course, the classic version of The Girl from Ipanema, with husband João Gilberto (vocals, guitar), Tom Jobim (piano) and Stan Getz (saxophone).

I think you can download them by clicking on the song title, but I haven't tried this myself, so let me know. Enjoy.

This picture is addressed to all the voters of the recent poll

Rock chick of the week

Can anyone name the lead singer of this band? Hint: Her first name is Spanish and her surname is Croation.

Trivia

Guess what he is doing!

Priscilla Queen of the Desert party is ON

Saturday night at Ainslie's house in Braddon. Suggested costumes are
Drag Queen
Opal Miner from Coober Pedy
Thai stripper with ping pong ball
Open minded mechanic
Homophobic country folk

We look forward to see Andrew as a Drag Queen, of course, and maybe hooking up with a handsome guy? Who knows...

Poll results: churros were good

40% As good as in Argentina
40% A classic
20% Don't know what a churro is.

So, a churro is a fried-dough pastry-based snack which originated in Spain, but was perfected in Argentina. We fill them with dulce de leche (caramel), making its nutritional value drop to negative values, but its flavor (or flavour, as you wish) reaches para-nirvanical heights. Hot chocolate is a must if you want to make this gourmet experience turn into a clinical case.

Les Triplettes de Belleville - it's ON tonight

Director: Sylvain Chomet

Writer: Sylvain Chomet (written by)

Release Date:

13 May 2004 (Australia)

Genre:

Animation / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Music

Synopsis:

what to say, everything is in the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Triplettes_de_Belleville

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 18 nominations

Comments:
Thanks to Yves and David for organizing the movie night!

Big Mig coming down under

5 time winner of Le Grande Boucle Miguel Indurain will be the official guest of the 2008 Tour Down Under. TDU is a quality event and attracts international pro teams, it comprises of 5 or 6 stages in and around Adelaide - my brother and I went last year and it was bloody awesome. We stayed at Hahndorf (funcky little town in the hills) and have great memories of smashing out big kms then sitting in the roastery smacking down coffee's watching Sturt O'Grady drive the break.

This is a photo of Big Mig attempting the world hour record at Bordeaux where he beat Grahem Obree's record only to have it bettered by Tony Rominger 6 weeks later. The Spaniard was a master against the clock and used his skills to great effect at le Tour de France: he'd put minutes into the skinny climbers then limit his losses when the roads went up.

Head cricket player of the week

Yusuf Pathan is a cricket player from India. With all due respect to him, can you imagine how puzzled anthropologists will be if they unearth his skull in 100,000 years time? (Thanks Rakesh for the pic)

Bass Masters

Meet Pedro Aznar, an extraordinary musician from Argentina. He was a member of Seru Giran, the most important Argentine band in the early 80s, and then joined the Pat Metheny Group. Last year I saw him perform live in a pub with his band - I payed 8 bucks (!) for the admission. It was a great show but I was particularly impressed by this one song.

Quiz: what is he using here to hit the bass chords?

New feature: online music

Hi everyone. With some help from my brother Andrés, I've just added a media player on the sidebar. You are welcome suggest songs to upload, I'm just having a little trouble finding a good host for the files. Sinces Yves arrived this week, I decided to dedicate the first batch of songs to him, hence, French music it is. Enjoy.

Bono's Mullet says it all!

Music Integrity vs Music Wankery: I think both bands regurgitate the same

old crap over and over again.

But is there any doubt that Bono is a complete tool!

Who am I?

Can anyone guess who this rocker chick is?

Evolution is crap...

This kid convinced me that Darwin was wrong.




- this is pathetic... (sigh)-

La joie de vivre est de retour

He is back in town. The man who saw the man who saw the bear is back. And we've missed him so much. Let us get together, drink and be merry.

Argentinos. Mitos, manias y milongas.

Painting: Antonio Berni - Manifestación (1934)

Just finished reading the book "Argentinos. Mitos, manias y milongas" by the the Brazilian journalists Marcia Carmo and Monica Yanakiew.

Some interesting excerpts:

Our national sport is philosophy. If the roof falls down, Argentines will open the debate: “was it Fate? Was it the politicians? Or was ir our fault, cos we didn’t build a proper roof?” We analyze all causes and effects. But don’t talk about fixing the roof – forget it. And when we do, we do it wrong again. Jorge Telerman (former Mayor of Buenos Aires).

We are a country of adolescents. We like to talk about our problems and have a need for exposure – when we are doing fine and when we are suffering. It’s a combination of deep melancholy and strong neurosis. Gabriel Juri (psychiatrist)

It impresses how articulate they are. You give a microphone to anyone on the street and they will speak better than a radio presenter. Marcos Azambuja (former Brazilian Ambassador to Argentina)

The former Brazilian Chancellor Antonio Azeredo da Silveira used to teach his diplomatic team’s rookies that in a negotiation table “one Argentine is fearsome”, but, if there were two, the best strategy is to sit back and relax. “They are so brilliant that they will destroy one another”.

Most of the jokes about Argentines were probably invented by ourselves. If you pay attention there’s always an undercover praise. Most of them are about the Argentinian pseudo-superiority, but not about being greedy, dirty ou clumsy as for other nationalities. Roberto Fontanarrosa (cartoonist and writer).

Don’t try to know them, because their soul lives in the impentrable world of duality. Argentines drink happiness and sadness from the same glass. They take jokes seriously and make jokes about serious matters. They don’t give up their illusions, they don’t learn from their disillusions. Don’t argue with them! They are born with an innate wisdom. Anonymous Spanish philosopher.

Caption of the week

I don't have a stance on abortion myself, but this pic is great. What is she looking at?

Guitar Masters

The art and genius of Andrés Segovia. A beautiful clip (thanks La Chounie).

How PURE are you?

Take the test here and then let us know the results. Thus, you'll know if you should hang around with Keith or with Ben.

Cambalache

Cambalache

Tango Enrique Santos Discépolo
This tango was presented by the singer Sofía Bozán in Buenos Aires, in one of the classic shows @ Maipo Theatre (teatro de revista). It is important to highlight the sharp vision about the world that Discépolo had by the time (1935), specially his critics about the lack of moral and dignity.
The version of this tango that I like the most is this one, by Julio Sosa.

"Que el mundo fue y será
una porquería, ya lo sé.
En el quinientos seis
y en el dos mil, también"

The meaning of 'cambalache': The Royal Spanish Dictionary says: "to change". In the Argentinean slang, lunfardo, it's also used as 'a mess'.

cambalache.

(De cambiar).

1. m. Trueque, considerado con desprecio, jactancia, satisfacción, pesar u otro movimiento del ánimo que se expresa por el tono y el contexto.

2. m. Trueque hecho con afán de ganancia.

3. m. Trueque de diversos objetos, valiosos o no. U. t. en sent. despect.

4. m. coloq. Trueque, con frecuencia malicioso, de objetos de poco valor.

5. m. Arg., Par. y Ur. prendería.

Freak of the week

This poor little sheep was born in NZ naturally. It had 8 legs and is a herm

Red to play. What is the best play?

Red to play. What is the best play?

Cambalache

Time to shed some light into the name of the blogg... And nothing better than a tango...

Tango Cambalache (translation)

That the world was and it will be filth,
I already know...
In the year five hundred and six
and in the year two thousand too!
There always have been thieves,
traitors and victims of fraud,
happy and bitter people,
valuables and imitations
But, that the twentieth century
is a display
of insolent malice,
nobody can deny it anymore.
We lived sunk in a fuzz
and in the same mud
all well-worn...
Today it happens it is the same
to be decent or a traitor!
To be an ignorant, a genius, a pickpocket,
a generous person or a swindler!
All is the same! Nothing is better!
They are the same, an idiot ass
and a great professor!
There are no failing grades or merit valuations,
the immoral have caught up with us.
If one lives in a pose
and another, in his ambition, steals,
it's the same if it's a priest,
a mattress maker, a king of clubs,
a cad or a tramp.

What a lack of respect,
what a way to run over reason!
Anybody is a gentleman!
Anybody is a thief!
Mixed with Stavinsky, you have Don Bosco
and La Mignon
don Chicho and Napoleon,
Carnera and San Martin.
Like in the disrespectful window
of the bazaars,
life is mixed up,
and wounded by a sword without rivets
you can see a Bible crying
next to a water heater.

Twentieth century, bazaar
problematic and feverish!
If you don't cry you don't get fed
and if you don't steal you're a stupid.
Go ahead! Keep it up!
That there, in hell
we're gonna reunite.
Don't think anymore,
move out of the way.
Nobody seems to care
if you were born honest.
It's the same the one who works,
day and night like an ox,
than the one who lives from the others,
than the one that kills or heals
or than the one who lives outside the law.

(if you feel like listening to it: http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/Empeethree/CAMBALACHE_D%27Arienzo_Echague.mp3)

Creationists go bananas

La conspiración del opérculo

Opérculo, sujeto y objeto
Todo comenzó uan noche de invierno, en Woodstock; en la pizzería woodstock de civic, Canberra. Nano, María, José y yo habíamos decido ir a comer pizza después de un agotadora sesión en el gimnasio*. Ellos, después de cenar, tenían planeado ir al cine a ver Lucky miles, y yo tenía a las 9 pm una cita telefónica con mi prima Cecilia.
Como es usual entre nosotros, estuvimos hablando de viajes y proyectos, de ir al desierto por 3 días, de ir a la nieve este domingo, de ir al mar, de la vida en el mar, de los moluscos, los caracoles y ...ohhh... del opérculo. Aquí transcribo cómo empezó exactamente la discusión:
Lu: Qué esa cosa espiralada, chata, naranja de un lado y blanca del otro que solemos encontrar en la playa?
Rápida y segura María respondió: Un opérculo.
José: No... yo soy biólogo marino, y eso no es un opérculo, eso es una concha pulida, tío.
Nano: para mi es la tapa de esos volcancitos que hay en las piedras del mar.

A mi me gustó la palabra opérculo, y entonces me puse del lado de María, que además confesó que un profesor de biología, en España, le había mostrado el opérculo durante la clase, y que además (oh my god) lo había sacado previamente de la concha! En ese momento Nano casi de desmaya, perdió un poco el conocimiento pero por suerte teníamos a mano una hoja de rúcula para pasarle por la nariz, para que vuelva en sí, digo en él.

La discusión siguió hasta el momento en que cada uno tuvo que irse, para seguir con sus planes, ellos ir al cine, por mi parte ir a charlar con Ceci y, lo más importante: buscar en internet qué es un opérculo. Una de las condiciones que había puesto José era que en la búsqueda por internet debían aparecer fotos del tan misterioso objeto marino.

Para los que quieran saber cómo termina esta historia, sigan este operculoso link.

Tengan un buen viernes!


* últimamente las sesiones de gimnasia vienen acompañadas por una ida al pub, como para equilibrar el balance de calorías y NO quedar en déficit.

Calling out all poets

Hi guys. This is just to let you know about the Uni Pub Short Story competition. We all are full of cr... I mean, full of short stories, but can we put them on paper? No? Not even if the prize is $6,000 dollars? Come on, just do it. Check out the terms here and let's see who is the next Gabo!!!

PS: don't forget to check David's excellent summary of Le Tour below, right under Shaun's riddle. By the way, we need a new post explaining what Joan Crawford was doing with a gun and in which movie...

Hola chicos

To answer Lu's question

La Chounie is behind one of these doors!

Who's "La Chounie"?

Tato's picture is here only because he's a nice dog.
Don't forget this: "El Bubu no se mancha!"

Guess this person's name!

le tour in a nutshell

Highlights:

Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss powerhouse smashed everyone in the prologue in downtown London and held the yellow jersey for 7 days. The time trial world champ put a minute on his nearest rival: on the tight 7km course 8 and a bit seconds per km is massive! He then demonstrated his awesome form in stage 3, foiling the sprinters teams by breaking away on the cobbles 750 m from the line in Compiègne and holding on for a magnificant stage win. Bravo Fabian!

Cadell. Highest finish in the classification (2nd) by an Australian ever. Need i say more?

Lowlights:

The day Canberra's own Mick Rogers crashed on the decent and dislocated his shoulder and Paris Roubaix winner Stuart O'grady crashed and suffered injuries too painful to mention.

Vino. What were you thinking? the crazy Kazak shocked everyone when he failed a blood transfusion test (yep that's right someone else's blood). The winner of Vuelta Espania 2006 crashed then managed to ride through the Alps with over 60 stitches in his knees, torched everyone in the 1st time trial, won another stage then tested positive for someone else's blood!

Most pissed rider:

surely it must be Andreas Kloden - the super consistent German missed out on a probable top 5 finish (approx 60K euros) when his Astana team was forced to leave the tour when team leader Vino had took on the blood doping controls and lost. He had even managed to continue with a fractured coxix, thanks to a crash.

Perrenial dissapointment:

Christoph Moreau. The Frenchman was carrying the hopes of his country after blitzing the Dauphine Libere but got caught with his pants down when Astana put the hammer down on the way to Montpellier. If that wasn't bad enough his pedestrian time trial performance ended any hope of a French victory.

Best coverage:

For details galore about le tour and nearly every bike race on every continent http://www.cyclingnews.com/

For just the pros minus the detail but lots more humor http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/ plus an interesting foto section......

Some facts:

3,650 km in 21 days

Food consumption- these guys smack down 4-8K calories per day!