Surfing Santa Stamp (1977)

Turns out, this was the most controversial stamp issued in Australia.  Go figure.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/australias-most-controversial-stamp-the-surfing-santa-of-1977-20151118-gkyi6r.html

The Doctors Real Name

You would if you thought you'd get away with it..

My Big Book of Pretty Pussies

..and you were expecting, what?

Holy Hand Grenade

Dr Who Meets Abbey Road

Clara would never walk barefooted!  Just sayin'...

David Bowie & Klaus Nomi - The Man Who Sold The World (SNL - 1979)

Broadcast live on the 15th December 1979 in New York, David Bowie performed "The Man Who Sold the World" on Saturday Night Live, with extraordinary guest appearances from Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias.  Bowie was lifted and positioned in front of the microphone by Klaus and Joey in a costume that rendered him immobile, while his man-handlers provided extraordinary backing vocals.

This was an important broadcast and it seems to have had a similarly persuasive effect on a lot of young Americans that "Starman" on Top Of The Pops in 1972 and the BBC’s 1975 "Cracked Actor" documentary had on UK teenagers.

Excellent Article About Kangaroo Culling

A couple of points to consider:

• Australia’s kangaroo industry is one of the best-managed wildlife harvests in the world. It is based on a sound understanding of the ecology of kangaroos, in particular the way their populations fluctuate in Australia’s variable climate.
• The harvest strategy is appropriate for variable environments and robust to uncertainty.  It is not fixed (as many other quota's are) and fluctuates according to environmental factors and population density.
• Endangered species are NOT harvested.

Read more here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/10/05/comment-bans-kangaroo-products-are-case-emotion-trumping-science

Vinyl & Record Player Accessories

More shit to waste your money on items to enhance your record collection with: Vinyl & Record Player Accessories.

Everything You've Been Told About Drug Addiction Is Wrong

Everything you thought you knew about addiction is wrong – and your government is lying to you.
These are the secrets Johann Hari believes underpin the "catastrophic failure" of the global war on drugs.

There are places that have tried what your government is doing and all those places saw addiction get worse.
Johann Hari.

The author and drug reformer says there is no greater example of this failure than Australia's battle with ice.
"What Australians have been told about ice is really misleading and wrong and the solutions you are being offered will make the problem worse," he told Fairfax Media.
"Methamphetamine addiction is a real tragedy but we have to step back and look at the facts. Only 15 per cent of people who use ice will become addicted. That's about the same rate as alcohol."

Read More: http://m.theage.com.au/national/chasing-the-scream-author-johann-hari-explains-why-we-cant-win-the-war-on-ice-20150911-gjkqjt.html

Howard Goodal Confirms Everything You Thought About The Beatles

Ever wondered if The Beatles really WERE as important as your obsession asserts?  Wonder no more.  Howard Goodall, renowned musicologist, writer and composer devotes part one of four BBC programs to the impact of The Beatles on the musical landscape of the Twentieth Century.   Spoiler alert: they were massively influential not just to popular music but also precipitated a renaissance of classical music.

 If you're interested in Howard Goodall's other output you'll be interested to know you've already heard several of his compositions: the themes to Blackadder, Vicar of Dibley and Red Dwarf.  He's also been featured in several influential documentary's: Howard Goodall's Big Bangs and Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century Greats. You really should watch his doco on the late great Bernard Herrmann.

Pope On Abboott

#HeartlessPrick

Look Into My Eyes...

Todays Random Medical News

Monkey At The Typewriter

This Is A Robbery.. Or Something.

Gough Witlam on Travel Expenses

Autonomous Robot Arms Are Going To 3D-Print A Bridge In Amsterdam

Boffins are planning to create a steel bridge in Amsterdam in the Netherlands using independent robot arms. These arms will start on one side of the river and cross over to the other bank, building the structure as they go.

Read more here: http://www.sciencealert.com/autonomous-robot-arms-are-going-to-3d-print-a-bridge-in-amsterdam

Brony's Legacy..

How To Hypnotise A Chicken

See more here.

Bronnies Diaries

Selected extract:

Wednesday 15^th July
1:00pm Floyd, one of my personal assistants, comes running into my chambers rather frantically, and asks me if I remember taking a helicopter flight from Melbourne to Geelong last year. “Well of course I remember it!” I say. “The seat didn’t recline and they had run out of Dom Perignon. It was something of a nightmare. Certainly not something one forgets quickly”.
Floyd says there may be a problem. Something about an expenses scandal, wall-to-wall coverage all over the press. “The Speaker chartering a helicopter is not a good look ma’am,” he says.
“Was my hair out of place? The gust from those blades can be rather strong,” I say, making a mental note to use stronger hair spray for future chopper flights.
“Not a good look publicly, ma’am. It was only a 75km trip,” he says, looking slightly confused.
“Well yes, that’s the distance between Melbourne and Geelong. I can’t help that. Do people expect me to circle around a few times just to increase the distance?” I say. Actually, that would have allowed me time to finish the personal massage. Not a bad idea for next time.

Read the rest of our beloved Speaker's diary entries: http://www.theshovel.com.au/2015/07/19/a-week-of-scandal-the-bronwyn-bishop-diaries/

Cassini Probe Photos of Saturn and Her Moons

This photo of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon as it passes in front of the largest moon Titan was taken by NASA's Cassini Probe.  You can see more of these photo's here.

Azolla Fern: Absorbs So Much Carbon It Once Created An Ice Age

FIFTY million years ago the Earth was overheated by runaway greenhouse gases and the future of life seemed bleak.  But a little green fern saved the day.  Behind the shift which created the balmy climate of the past few million years was a geological coincidence: The isolation of the Arctic Ocean.

Read more about this remarkable little fern here.

The Money Or The Gun: Stairways To Heaven

Another Great Solution for Displaying Your LP's

 

See how to build it here: http://m.imgur.com/a/pJVe2

This is what privilege looks like

http://www.rationalcomics.com/036-nathan-pyle-recycle-bins-and-a-lesson-in-privilege/

How Child Bearing Hips Work

How Dinosaurs Shrank and Became Birds

Modern birds appeared to emerge in a snap of evolutionary time. But new research illuminates the long series of evolutionary changes that made the transformation possible.  Modern birds descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, whose members include the towering Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors.

Read more here: How Dinosaurs Shrank and Became Birds

The Bower Bird Returns

You may remember from a previous post that I had a very welcome visitor last year.  Well, the Spotted Bowerbird has returned with a new bower (albeit, not in the same location).  It turns out that Spotted Bowerbirds are territorial but only use their bowers during the mating season.
There's some great information on the Spotted Bowerbird here.

If you don't know what your looking for the bower is easy to miss.  This one is directly beside the driveway of a neighbouring house.

This years new feature: a dog collar (how very heavy metal).

The Emu War

Vinyl Wallpaper (Part Three)

Vinyl Wallpaper (Part Two)

Earth Day

Vinyl Wallpaper (Part One)

Saudi Royal Family

How many lives have to be lost before Western leaders finally connect the dots between the Wahabi/Salafi ideology being pumped out by the desert kingdom and the killing fields of Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan?

It was no coincidence that many of the 9/11 suicide bombers and planners, as well as Osama bin Laden, happened to be Saudi citizens. Over the years, a large body of evidence has been built up by diplomats, journalists and intelligence agencies pointing to the nexus between jihadi terror and extremist elements in Saudi Arabia.

Read the full article here: http://www.dawn.com/news/1160530/bad-saudi-vibes

Rubber Conan

Tintin - Get Back

Tintin Chez Le Geeks

Tintin Goes To Abbey Road

If The Libs Ran A Household Budget

This Is Why We Have To Get Rid Of Negative Gearing (But Never Will)

In case you missed it, Waleed Aly took Australia’s politicians apart for refusing to reform negative gearing on last night’s show (video above).

Aly basically summed it up that politicians are more worried about their own jobs than the community’s benefit. At the end he put up Hockey’s official email and phone number and encouraged people to let him know if they were angry about this.
These addresses are:

Email: Joe.Hockey.MP@aph.gov.au
Telephone: (02) 6277 7340
Go on, send ‘Bubble-o-Joe’ a message.

Beatbox

I used to love kicking back and watching this show.   Took me ages to work out that it was Rob Hirst (from "Midnight Oil") on drums.

Why Cats Are Better Than Dogs...

Tintin Parody????

Facebook

Satirical Cartoons

More here: http://imgur.com/a/hYEEq

Crickey On Crony Capitalism

Crikey has an extremely good article about what's really wrong with the Coalition.  Hint: its not just Tone Def.

More here: http://www.crikey.com.au/2015/01/19/coalitions-crony-capitalism-makes-communication-harder/?nopaywall

Four Weddings and a Funeral with Tony Abbott

DJ Tone Def

Da Lone Groover's advice: sit back, enjoy the popcorn and, please, don't overdose on the Schadenfreude.

Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe

January 30, 1969

How To Vote In Australia

Cricket Fielding Poitions