http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/daniel-piotrowski/ After being asked throughout his young life whether he was related to Tom Piotrowski, the Channel 10 CommSec guy (for the record: he’s not), Daniel Piotrowski chose to follow his namesake into the media. The Punch’s newest journalist, Dan studied journalism and communications at the University of Technology, Sydney. There, he edited the student magazine, Vertigo. His crowning achievement in this role was the magazine being censored by student politicians over a poor taste headline he gave a story about fake breasts. A headline he still thinks is very funny.  Before joining The Punch, Dan spent a year-and-a-half working on The Australian’s online desk. He has interned at a stack of Sydney news outlets, including The Sunday Telegraph and Channel 9 News. Dan is the proud owner of a tie that resembles a piano and a Barack Obama desktop garden gnome. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-crude-stereotype-is-the-hallmark-of-a-lame-card/ Went to buy a card the other day for a friend’s birthday. Approached the vast card stand along the side of the wall (why are card rows ALWAYS against a wall?) and found the selection on offer was (c)ardly very good. Cards typically go one of two ways. Both were pretty evident in this newsagency. There’s the “this is your age in fluoro writing! Congratulations!” genre. They’re fine. Nobody has a problem with them. They’re simple and to the point, a little bland for a good friend though. And then there’s the “dirty joke combined with crude stereotype” card. They are everything that is wrong with the card business. Many makers of these pieces of cardboard at the heart of our present-giving tradition figure that everyone, male or female, fits neatly into a gender stereotype. For instance, if you’re a bloke, Hallmark and co. assume that your mate Jimmy Jones would love a card with a a beer, a sports-car, an electric guitar or a hot cardboard sheila on the front. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-crude-stereotype-is-the-hallmark-of-a-lame-card/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-crude-stereotype-is-the-hallmark-of-a-lame-card/#item8586 Thu, 24 May 2012 19:50:20 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-24-05-2012/ Football happened last night. One colour reigned supreme. Or there was a draw. This open thread was written well before the game. Anyway, last night was effectively another epic clash in the eternal war between the primary colours blue and red. (Maroon, pah, it’s a variation of red). A war that has played out on several fronts: between Republicans and Democrats, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue, Manchester United and Manchester City. And more. What’s your favourite blue versus red rivalry? And what other colourful things are happening in your lives?  piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-24-05-2012/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-24-05-2012/#item8575 Wed, 23 May 2012 19:00:07 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schapelles-done-the-time/ Schapelle Corby has served more than seven years in Kerobokan prison for attempting to import 4.2 kilos of cannabis into Bali in 2004. That’s enough. If she did the crime, then she has done the time. By Australian standards at least. Last night News Limited reported that the Indonesian President had granted her clemency, cutting her sentence by five years. This has led to speculation that she will be out by August. Corby was charged with 20 years behind bars in March 2005. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schapelles-done-the-time/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/schapelles-done-the-time/#item8571 Wed, 23 May 2012 00:45:04 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sorry-ex-premier-im-not-paying-for-your-lunch/ Australia is very generous to its prime ministers. They get a car and driver, domestic air travel, and an office with administration costs covered. They have a huge responsibility for the country’s economy and its security. The country’s biggest headaches find themselves on their desks eventually. And their considerable perks after they’ve served the country cost our more-than-a-trillion dollar economy around a million dollars in 2010-11. But do premiers who have served their states for more than a few years deserve their perks? Each state is different. Queensland’s new Premier refused Anna Bligh a couple of months of having funding for her office Blackberry and iPad after she being kicked out of office. The South Australian cabinet voted to give former premier Mike Rann a car, driver, office and security detail for six months last year and stirred outrage. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sorry-ex-premier-im-not-paying-for-your-lunch/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sorry-ex-premier-im-not-paying-for-your-lunch/#item8555 Mon, 21 May 2012 19:45:08 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/disco-the-music-that-stubbornly-refuses-to-die/ Bee Gees star Robin Gibb has died at 62 after a long battle with cancer. There will be some funky beats at the pearly gates today. The Gibb brothers who co-founded the band (Maurice, Barry and Robin) sold more than 200 million records over four decades. The disco genre was dominated by the music of African-Americans. It’s incredible that a bunch of boys who lived in Brisbane (ex- of Manchester, UK) could make such a lasting impression on that scene. Indeed, they pretty much owned it. Whether you consider yourself a Bee Gees fan or not, your love for them probably runs deeper than you think. Here are three examples of songs they wrote for others: Diana Ross’s “Chain Reaction”“, Dionne Warwick’s “Heartbreaker” and (Punch editor Tory Maguire’s personal fave) Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “Islands in the Stream”. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/disco-the-music-that-stubbornly-refuses-to-die/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/disco-the-music-that-stubbornly-refuses-to-die/#item8548 Mon, 21 May 2012 02:25:35 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-wiggles-toot-toot-chugga-chuggad-to-success/ After 21 years, Jeff can finally swap his skivvy for his PJs and get some rest on his enormous pile of money without people pestering him. Jeff’s now asleep. Shh! Shh! Shh! The original Purple, Red and Yellow Wiggles announced yesterday they’ll be clearing the stage for three newcomers. One is a woman - not that big a deal, since Dorothy the Dinosaur broke that glass ceiling long ago. It’s difficult to believe that the band’s new stuff could be better than their old stuff, that it’ll be all hot potatoes and not cold spaghetti. But in good tidings and in the hope that The Wiggles 2.0 won’t bomb like that other Australian icon iSnack 2.0, here’s 7 things other than musical talent The Punch reckon makes the Wiggles great and will hopefully continue to make them great into the future. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-wiggles-toot-toot-chugga-chuggad-to-success/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-the-wiggles-toot-toot-chugga-chuggad-to-success/#item8532 Thu, 17 May 2012 19:39:36 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/im-sorry-nanna-you-havent-won-a-million-dollars-on-the-net/ My grandma will never own a computer. She has a mobile phone, one with a flip screen that her kids and grandkids have programmed contacts into. Lately she has become a big texter, messaging grandkids to see how they went at footy or whether they want her to pick them up from school. But the family probably won’t get her a computer. Logic is she doesn’t need or, really, want one. Besides, she’s got plenty of people who are happy to look things up for her. It’d be a challenge to teach her computers - the learning process would be long, the jargon difficult. And there’d be big questions about her security online. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/im-sorry-nanna-you-havent-won-a-million-dollars-on-the-net/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/im-sorry-nanna-you-havent-won-a-million-dollars-on-the-net/#item8519 Wed, 16 May 2012 19:45:11 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-16-05-2012/ The packet calls them the most “irresistible chocolate biscuit”. But when The Punch’s neighbours at news.com.au found themselves in possession of an obscene amount of a certain Arnotts’ biscuit yesterday, the team was unable to resist using them exclusively for the purposes of clear-eyed political analysis. VIDEO: Tim Tam political dominoes If only the carbon tax really was a rectangular chocolate biscuit lightly coated with chocolate, encased in chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm-mmmm. Yeah, this took several attempts to pull off. Vid courtesy of Helen Parker. It’s Wednesday. What’s happening in your world?   piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-16-05-2012/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-16-05-2012/#item8510 Tue, 15 May 2012 19:00:55 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/employers-should-check-your-cv-to-the-nth-degree/ I graduated last Friday afternoon. Big ceremony in a great big new hall. Donned robes sporting my faculty’s blood-orange sash. And I got a little excited putting on one of those square hats. Too excited. I chucked my hat up in the air a tad over-enthusiastically and smacked the guy behind me in the head trying to catch it. Whoops. I’m sure Yahoo! shareholders are feeling the same way as that guy. The company’s new CEO, Scott Thompson, has resigned after it was exposed that he hadn’t attained a computer science degree at Stone Hill College as he had claimed. UPDATE 5:20pm: The Wall Street Journal is also reporting Mr Thompson was diagnosed with thyroid cancer before he resigned. piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/employers-should-check-your-cv-to-the-nth-degree/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/employers-should-check-your-cv-to-the-nth-degree/#item8493 Mon, 14 May 2012 04:00:32 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-14-05-2012/ Why do you spill your coffee? Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer that. Science has the answer with a landmark study that “reveals the sophisticated interplay between human body dynamics and the fluid mechanics of spilling coffee.” More on that study here. Had any catastrophic spillages recently? Most Punch office coffees are spilt turning the dangerous L-shaped bend between the kitchen and the computers. Happy Monday! What’s on your mind? piotrowskid@newsltd.com.au (Daniel Piotrowski) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-14-05-2012/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/punch-on-open-thread-14-05-2012/#item8465 Sun, 13 May 2012 19:00:18 +0000 Daniel Piotrowski | Author bios | The Punch