Club Troppo

Revellers on a Hot Hill End Night That's me in the middle. I don't normally wear Hawaiian shirts but it's a good troppo look. Well, all the presents are bought and only the grog remains (though I made a start on the bubbles on my partner's back deck last night relaxing with a...

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Just popped by to wish everyone a Merry Christmas etc. Jen and I have been doing battle with swimming pool installation and assorted other home establishment tasks, while Telstra finally informed me the other day that we can't get ADSL at our new home because it's on a "rim" a...

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The trouble began when Denis Diderot received a new dressing gown as a gift from a friend. It was far more luxurious than his old gown and he took to it at once. But next to the new dressing gown the furnishings of his study looked shabby. One by one Diderot replaced them. Soo...

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Tim Blair has put together some of the quotes of 2004. The year's nearly over. But the Currency Lad is writing some fine stuff as well. Me? I'm stuffing my face, and drinking lots of beer etc. Writing? Pfft.. I'll be back sometime after Christmas, but before New Year. Merry Ch...

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Or, Keep the Wolfe from the Door lest Western Civilisation fall... Shocking news from a US survey that college students are having casual sex. Chris McGillion writes: Research into the sexual practices of American college students has identified a new phenomenon known as "hook...

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At last, some insight into why John Quiggin is a Professor (I mean apart from all those publications, research projects etc...). New research has shown that academic promotions often go to the hirsute . ELSEWHERE : I missed my daily dose of Prof. Quiggin for a week or so, due...

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Via Saint , we learn that the Government has broken (or at least significantly tweaked) one of its big spending promises for the election. The "unlimited" child care rebate is now limited to $4000, you'll need to keep your receipts, and you won't see anything til 2006. Ross Gi...

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I've been keeping an eye on the nominations for the 2005 Australian Blog Awards . Good thing too. Courtesy of one of the nominations for Troppo (thanks everyone!), I discovered a fellow Brisvegas Blogger, Observant Little... , and one with good music taste and a shared fondnes...

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Tim Dunlop is reviewing Keith Windschuttle's latest potboiler, The White Australia Policy over at Road to Surfdom . So far Tim's got through the first two paragraphs. If he's going to review it paragraph by paragraph, I don't envy him the task!

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Just in case you were wondering if there was a "Single Girl's Guide to Dating Donald Rumsfeld" available on the Internet, Troppo can help you out. Read it here . It's worth the click.

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Continuing a much loved blogosphere tradition , Saintinastraightjacket and Sedge provide the minimalist deconstruction of Hendo this week ... I note that Hendo has a swing at the "Keating haters" and at "conservative inspired alienation". Maybe he's following the Governator in...

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Julia Baird asks : If God was a DJ, as smooth-bellied songstress Pink has claimed, would the disco version of the national anthem be four-to-the-floor? Would crowds swell and sway on the dance floor to a revved-up Advance Australia Fair, as they did some time ago to the disco...

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I've been looking for work. It is one of the things that keep me busy, busier then I like to be. I find the job-hunting task to be an exceptionally frustrating and difficult experience. It brings out the total 'procrastinator' in me. Applying for jobs requires an individual to...

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If my reckoning is correct, I've missed Gaudate Sunday. I was horribly late this year in purchasing Advent candles. I'm normally a very observant cultural Catholic . It should be the third Sunday of Advent, that is to say, a week ago. The great thing about Advent candles (a bi...

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Some of us were wondering in the thread about the SBS Movie Show what Zoe was on about when she compared Fenella Kernebone to Roger Waters. She's now provided a case for Ms Kernebone to answer at her blog Crazybrave . Go see for yourself and decide if Zoe's onto something here...

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I was a law student once. There's a fair bit of tedium in reading case reports, but I always enjoyed reading judgements by Lord Denning MR. Tim Dunlop over at Road to Surfdom thinks a citation from a recent judgement by Lord Hoffman is the quote of the year. Lord Hoffman think...

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"Angelus Novus" - Paul Klee Mein Fl¼gel ist zum Schwung bereit, ich kehrte gern zur¼ck, denn blieb ich auch lebendige Zeit, ich h¤tte wenig Gl¼ck. - Gerherd Scholem, 'Gruss vom Angelus' The Currency Lad has been busy ranking Australia's Prime Ministers . Gary Sauer-Thompson ov...

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Head down in heavy revisions of a forthcoming novel of mine (Malvolio's Revenge, a supernatural/mystery/melodrama of a story, set in 1910's New Orleans, with a cameo appearance by one of my favourite artists and cultural heroes, the great Louis Armstrong) I'm afraid blogging's...

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Australian film might be in strife but Oz Music is in good form. I'm taking a break from the thesifying to clean the ap't up in time for Christmas. That requires music! I'm listening to Beth Gibbons' Out of Season , the wonderful Sia (originally from Adelaide)... and something...

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There's been some lively debate, including a contribution from Rowan Atkinson , over planned British government moves to criminalise religious vilification. You can read about it here at Crooked Timber . It looks like we might soon be having an antipodean version of this debat...

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