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Black Saturday

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Last Friday afternoon, John Brumby made what seemed like a ridiculous statement, that Saturday could be "the worst day ever in the history of the state." A combination of very high temperatures, extreme winds and bushland dried out by years of drought certainly had potential for something very nasty, but did anyone really think it would happen? There's been a lot of speculation that the reason for the staggering number of fatalities (it's currently 130 but is expected to go considerably higher) is due to the fact that people have forgotten Ash Wednesday. Not that it occurred, or that it was bad, but just how ferocious a fire can be. I was at the beach - Airey's Inlet, where folks are rightly spooked by fire (it was almost entirely destroyed in 1983). We knew it would be hot and that fire danger was extreme, but we had the fire plan in order (kinda) and spent most of the day marvelling at the ludicrous heat. With the radio on 774 listening for any mention of f...
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The Irwin memorial tragedy

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After getting home from work yesterday evening, I turned on the telly for my usual bout of post-work laziness and encountered the tail end of the Steve Irwin memorial service at Australia Zoo. To be honest, after watching a parade of quintessentially "aussie" celebrities strut their stuff, I had to turn it off as our Great and Noble Leader took the microphone to wax lyrical about the Australian-ness of the Crocodile Hunter. It was tragic. Not because of the forced sentiment of the performers, but because it seemed to reinforce Irwin's cult of celebrity, and take from the family the intensely personal experience of the death of a loved one. Nowhere was this more evident than the speech of Bindi Irwin, Steve's eight year-old daughter. I speak from experience as someone who has been on the wrong end of a parent's death. Bindi's speech , while remarkable for it's apparent composure, was a performance for an international television audience. It was not t...
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FRIV!

OMG Is it really almost a year since I ded the last Friday Random Interweb Video post? Goodness, I've really let the team down haven't I. Well, here you go (all two of you). First of all, you may remember this post from some time ago about movie trailers recut to mean something entirely different. Well here is the latest one I've come across, courtesy of Defamer Australia . Bat Toy Story 2 This next one is for people who have eleven minutes to spare to watch something that should be utterly tedious. I found myself watching this almost in tears. I don't really know how to explain why I find it so moving. After Tuesday night's presidential debate, most major television channels cut to expert panels or to other programming. But C-SPAN stayed with a live feed and the cameras were kept running as the candidates stayed in the studio to talk casually with the audience. The footage, shot without commentary, is fascinating (if you're into that sort of thing). For...
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