Freitag



Courtesy of the Jelly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Saturday

Image
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...
Read more

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...
Read more

Crime and Punishment in the Victorian Era Naughties

Image
During the 18th and 19th centuries, England had a few issues with overcrowding in their prison system and set about ways to rectify the problem. Among a number of inventive practices, of which deportation to the colonies was a favourite, the idea of coverting old ships to floating jails became fashionable. This was a period in which the concept of crime and punishment was being explored. A popular topic of conversation among the highly educated, dramatic changes were starting to occur as it became evident that imprisonment was as much a punishment in itself as flogging, banishment, torture or any of the ways criminals were dealt with in the past. Jeremy Bentham, a prominent British philosopher developed the concept of the Panopticon , a new type of prison in which inmates would be housed in separate booths, unable to see each other, but under constant supervision by prison staff. Hulks were a response to this new form punishment as prisons became overcrowded. Their masts lopped o...
Read more