Memnison Journal

BBC report about Australian aborigines being upset about a how-to-play-the-digerridoo book for girls; apparently some folks consider the instrument a male-only device.

BTW, Mere is fascinated by a new Aussie tween series called Double Trouble; it’s the old sepatated twins story as per Parent Trap. but in this case, the twins are part Aborigine, with one living way out in the outback with an aboriginal family, and the other in a European-Australian home in Sydney.  The whole thing is motivated (so far as has been explained) by some sort of Aboriginal thing over twins being MAJOR bad news, bad omen, kill the mum, the whole thing.  Sounds farfetched to me, but…

At various times, I get into research projects; some simmer on for decades in various forms, and some break off and pick up speed because I happen to run into something that really fuels the fire, so to speak.

My library here is largely one that I use for reference. I have a huge amount of material that isn’t in book form, and I’m going through that all the time and hacking away at it to be able to organize and marshal the stuff. At present, the idea is to digitize everything, and use various management utilities to be able to find and figure out what’s what.

Here’s a *short* list of the topics I’m still digging for:

We’re trying to ignore the writer’s strike here at the Marmotage; yes, a bunch of our fave shows are off, and probably out until next fall, but there’s plenty of other stuff.  Some of it’s canned from eons ago:  we’re watching DVD versions of THE WEST WING (about 1/3d of the way through season 2 and enjoying it, except that the video store’s DVDs are screwed up) and FAMILY (a great fave of mine and Susan’s from the 1970s, and Mere seems to dig it too).

As to kid stuff, we’ve gotten copies of older stuff, especially some that are harder to find; Mere and Sissy went nuts over THE SLEEPOVER CLUB from Australia, and I’m dangling some other Aussie stuff in front of her to see if she bites.  THE PALACE just started on ITV - think THE WEST WING converted to Buckingham Palace, and you kinda get the idea.   And there’s HEARTLAND - sort of a Canadian MCLEODS DAUGHTERS - and some other British stuff, like season 2 of ROBIN HOOD.

No, we don’t watch the ‘reality shows’.  Everyone here but me watches SUPERNANNY and the WIFE SWAP sort of shows, but I’ve not much taste for watching train wreck after train wreck, thanks.

The story of how the UK unloaded 10000 ‘orphans’ after the Second World War to new ‘homes’ in Australia - partly to beef up the number of whites in Australia, partly to serve as grist for forced labor, and partly to unload the demands on the UK.

Strewth!

Interesting set of articles on various plans to reorganize Australia and Canada’s provincial/state systems. My readers are more than welcome to discus the merits.