Open Thread

We were having a chat about technology in The Punch office yesterday. Ant was shocked (shocked!) when I mentioned using computers at primary school. As he recalled, when he was in high school, it had only had a couple of computers in a lab, that you were very rarely allowed to touch. There was at least one in every classroom when I was at school and labs jam-packed with them. And by Year 8 or 9 most had mobile phones.

I don’t think I can remember my report cards ever not being typed, whereas the rest of the team could all recall the challenge over having to decipher the teacher’s handwriting. Tory M remembered trying to save up several grand to buy her first computer – when today you can walk into JB Hi-Fi and pick up a laptop for around $800. One day soon all school kids will be typing up their end-of-school exams. Some already do. Times have sure changed.

Considering you, our excellent regulars, are of all ages, we were wondering: how have you adapted to the technological changes of the past thirty years? What changes have you seen? What have you had trouble getting used to? Is it exciting? Terrifying? Astonishing? Confusing? What don’t you know how to do? I only found out about Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V a couple of years ago.

Thought this was a bit of a talker for Thursday. What do you think? And hey, what else is on your mind?

Sexy men smoke. It’s a fact. James Dean, Jon Hamm, Humphrey Bogart and Shane Warne (feel free to add to this list).  So it’s a great pity that smoking will also eventually make them stupid. Or so says new research from the UK that has drawn a link between rapid brain decline and men who are long term smokers.

Here’s the skinny from Reuters:

The study used a group of men with an average age of 56 when they had their first cognitive assessment. The study used six assessments of smoking status over 25 years and three cognitive assessments over 10 years, and found that smokers showed a cognitive decline as fast as non-smokers 10 years older than them

The study also found that women smokers are spared the effect on their brain because they generally smoke a lot less. Hmmm, we’re not sure about this one. What do you Punchers make of it? And if you’re a male smoker, does this kind of study put you off? Post your thoughts on this and anything else that’s on your mind below. Oh, and happy Wednesday. The week gets good from here.

It’s the first Tuesday of the month, so if you’ve got a mortgage, you know what that means: you’re going to be hearing about interest rates today.

Economists are saying that it’s likely the RBA will cut rates. But those same economists, and punters, don’t seem to think it’s particularly likely the banks will pass on any cuts.

What’s interesting YOUR rates today? What’s on your mind?

A mandatory evacuation order has been declared for the inland Queensland town of St George as floodwaters deluge parts of the state.

Searchers recovered a woman’s body in floodwaters near Roma, north of St George yesterday.

If you’re in an area threatened by floodwaters, keep your ear tuned to local radio for updates. And remember, if it’s flooded, just forget it.

It’s Monday and it’s somehow already the 6th of February. What’s been happening in your lives, Punchers? And what’s on your mind?

The fallout from the Australia Day incident continued. The PM’s leadership was further destabilised by silly media errors. Penbo said pollies should just sack their staffers. Our Lucy Kippist followed up our coverage with an expose of the volunteering medal that the PM was handing out on Australia Day. On the flipside, the ALP saved the alps.

New contributor James Heathers broke down why alternative medicines aren’t scientific. Sue O’Reilly didn’t get the response she was looking for when she asked Tony Abbott to meet with a child with disabilities and their carers. Tory Maguire wondered why Sydney gets so sooky about the weather compared to elsewhere in Australia, Jason Tin decried the end of the internet and Tory Shepherd warned of the dangers of home births.

Elsewhere in the world, a man planned to wrap a river in fabric. How about that?

It’s Friday. What’s on your mind, Punchers?

The Punch received a press release from the Defence Department yesterday announcing that the Asia Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence has been renamed the Australian Civil-Military Centre.

This led us to ask… does this mean the Civil-Military Centre is no longer excellent? That it’s just your average Australian Civil-Military Centre now? We could all do with a little more excellence in our lives.

Speaking of things that are, or have been excellent: it’s Thursday. What’s on your mind, folks?

As many great Australians and members of The Punch team would do after achieving a great success, on Sunday evening Novak Djokovic picked up a microphone and had a go at karaoke.

Djokovic belted out a few bars of Accadacca’s Highway to Hell post-match. Are you a karaoke’er? If so, what’s your song? My tune is Kanye West’s Gold Digger . Pity everyone who has been subjected to it. Members of The Punch team who will remain anonymous are known to practice their songs months before planned karaoke events*.

It’s Wednesday and we’re well on the highway to Friday. What’s on your mind, Punchers?

*Disclosure: The 2011 Punch Christmas party revolved around a particularly seedy karaoke bar in inner-city Sydney.

Between the Prime Minister’s shoe and Novak Djokovic’s shirt, we can easily wildly generalise that clothing theft is soaring across Australia this new year.

There’s a rather amusing video doing the rounds of Djokovic’s chucking his shirt into the crowd after Sunday’s grand final and a woman snatching it from the sky before its intended recipient had a chance to get a hold of it. Have you ever gone to extreme lengths to see a celebrity or get their autograph? Who was the last celebrity you saw on the street? Who would you go out of your way to see or have a chat to?

And shoes, shirts and celebrities aside, what’s on your mind today?

Morning, Punchers. Ant Sharwood here. Last Friday, journalist Amanada Shalala made a fair point on the TV show The Drum. As the panel previewed the Australian Open women’s tennis final, she asked why they were only talking about the grunting.

Should they have talked more about the actual tennis? Was it somehow sexist or gruntist or some such not to do so? And while we’re talking tennis, did anyone catch the men’s final last night? I’m writing this thing at 6:40 pm Sunday night, and I expect Nadal to beat Djokovic in four sets. How’d I go? And what did you make of the final?

What else has got you talking around the water cooler this morning? And hey, why don’t you see as many water coolers as you used to these days?

Have you chucked a sickie today? We bet you’re one of many hundreds of thousands who do!

While we recover from an Australia Day that saw the PM lose a shoe, we’re also contemplating how 19-year-old tennis whipper snapper Bernard Tomic qualified for a special dispensation to drive a hotted-up sports car.

Are we that dazzled by celebrity sportsmen we basically let them do what they want? Any way, fire away.

Here’s an interesting development in the UK on sentencing for drug dealing and possession. Have a squizz for yourself, but here’s the gist:

People who buy drugs to share with friends could avoid prison under guidance that also recognises medical use of cannabis.
Recreational drug users who naively buy small quantities to share with their friends could avoid jail under sentencing guidelines for drug offences published on Tuesday.

If people are buying small quantities of drugs to share with a friend - should it be a big deal?

Some Australian jurisdictions have, for instance, decriminalised minor cannabis offences. Should it be like that nationwide? Possession remains a criminal offence throughout most of the country, although it’s often up to the police officer whether to charge a non-violent offender or divert them into an education/assessment/treatment program. Is that fair? What do you think?

There’s some more information at the bottom of the post for you to make up your own mind. And hey, it’s Wednesday. What’s happening in your world today?

The Punch was described in a column in The Sun-Herald at the weekend, alongside a reference to one of our regular commenters, as a “right-of-centre” publication.

Frankly, we think when it comes to opinions we’re open to any and all that seem sensible. But hey, we’re interested in what you think.

It’s Tuesday. What’s on your mind, Punchers?

Welcome to Monday, Punchers and a belated Happy Chinese New Year to all. Speaking of the Chinese New Year, did anyone get amongst the celebrations this weekend and order a bowl of shark fin soup? This Chinese delicacy has got plenty of tongues wagging at the moment.

Slippery, glutinous and made entirely from cartilage, the the soup is believed to boost libido and keep aging at bay. Chinese restaurateurs are proud of the dish. They say people come far and wide just to eat it. But conservation groups want it banned. Like Mike Rutzen, the founder of The Australian Anti Shark Finning Alliance told the weekend papers the practice of finning is “cruel and should be relegated to the history books”.

Here’s what it looks like before it’s cooked. Actually, here’s the link. You might not want to see that first thing.

So where do you stand on Shark Fin soup? Post your thoughts on that, or anything else on your mind below.

Are you a morning person or an evening person? Plenty has been written about the pros and cons of different circadian rhythms, and the latest research has found you are actually at your most creative when you’re at your groggiest - it’s to do with being a bit unfocused and meandering towards a realisation.

So this Puncher is peaking between about 6am and 6pm. Excellent.

How about you? Up at sparrowfart, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed? I’m guessing the first commenter will be a morning person… and what else is on your mind, Punchers?

Wikipedia (i/ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdiə/ or i/ˌwɪkiˈpiːdiə/ wik-i-pee-dee-ə) is a free, collaborative, multilingual Internet encyclopedia supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles (over 3.8 million in English alone) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site, and it has about 100,000 regularly active contributors.

How did we know that? We looked it up on Wikipedia! The Punch must have some kind of superpower, because Wikipedia was “blacked out” for 24 hours to protest against proposed US anti-piracy legislation they say will restrict the freedom of the internet. But it let us in for a bit.

Do you use Wikipedia? Do you trust it? Are you worried about the legislation? Talk about these burning issues, or anything else on your mind, below.

It’s Wednesday. It’s Wednesday. Yay for Wednesday. Arguably the most hopeful day of the week. Two days closer to the weekend. And two days further away from Monday.  What more could we ask for?

And here is one of the cutest animal pics of… well, possibly the year so far.

Now for the caption comp: what’s this little guy saying? Keep it clean people.

Facebook is replete with all things grim and morbid. Attention-seeking status updates, almost as much woe-is-me as look-at-me. Now the social media site is hosting an app that will let you send a message after you die.

‘If I Die” lets you appoint trustees to release your final message in the unfortunate event of your demise.

Would you use it? What would you say? Share your thoughts and anything else on your mind below.

Good morning, welcome to the third week of January. We’re still scratching our heads wondering how on earth, in 2012, a ship worth hundreds of millions of dollars, loaded with modern navigation equipment, ends up like this:

But feel free to dive into any topic you like.

It’s Friday the 13th. But in some good luck for you, here’s this week’s Friday review.

In the news this week: a trio of anti-whaling activists were imprisoned boarding a whaling security vessel. Tory Maguire asked whether their problem was our problem. A Coalition MP caused a bit of a stink (and one too many smell-related puns in the media) with remarks about deodorant. And breast implants exploded.

Father Paul Kelly kickstarted a heated legal debate over “gay panic” legal provisions, which continues here today on The Punch. Emma Jane left some readers of The Punch in tears laughing about the iPhone’s AutoCorrecting software. The feminist/meninist debate continued to rage.

Farmhand Lucy Kippist ploughed into the future of agriculture in Australia. Tracey Spicer wondered why women on the front covers of magazines just can’t keep their clothes on. And wouldn’t it be easier if we just pretended our leaders are Glorious And Defenders Of All That Is Good And Excellent Who Descended From The Heavens At Birth? asked Jason Tin.

What else is on your mind, folks?

Welcome to Thursday, Punchers! Today’s topic for discussion: “singing in public”. Or, in other words, getting your karaoke on. Like, this woman. Her name is Adelle Neary and she’s an Australian diplomat in Indonesia, who sang a traditional Indonesian song (in Indonesian) on the local talent show “Foreign Stars”.

Ms Neary told News.com.au that she “never would have done it if she knew how much attention it would get”.  Ah, yes. We’ve all been there before. If you care to share your worst karaoke experience, or even your favourite song to sing in public, feel free to do so below.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 12/01/2012" »

Some talkers for Wednesday.

Pacific Brands, the clothing manufacturer behind Bonds, is in takeover talks with a US investment group.

A study that The New York Times describes as “rigorous” has found that nicotine gum and patches have “no lasting benefit and may backfire in some cases”. What’s your experience?

Sharing a bed with someone is great and all, except when it’s bloody annoying.

A big story for the Asia-Pacific - Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been cleared of sodomy charges.

Here’s a feature that’s a few months old but is worth some reflection. How our political leanings leave us more biased than we think.

And Queensland has marked a year since the floods that tore towns apart with a sombre ceremony in the town of Gatton.

Have you got any stories or tid-bits to share? And hey, what’s on your mind?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 11/01/2012" »

This is a little bizarre. A 2.1-metre New Zealand man is being deported from Australia after the Government deemed his height an “unacceptable threat to the national interest”.

The man’s visa was terminated after an armed robbery in 2010, but the Administrative Appeals Board overturned his deportation and described him as a “gentle” giant with a love of opera. However, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen intervened and ensured he would be deported after being deemed a threat to the national interest.

As someone who is 6 foot 4 I find the idea of being able to deport someone based partially on their height and girth a little concerning. What do you reckon? And hey, how tall or fun-sized are YOU?

It’s Tuesday. What’s playing on your mind today, Punchers?

White supremacists from around the world are set to descend on Brisbane in April for the Hammered Music Festival. A day of racist fun in the sun, with skinheads sweating into their jackboots and discussing how Hitler was just misunderstood.

It’s entirely legal, although presumably there’ll be a bit of hate speech going on. You’d imagine not too many non-Aryans will turn up and get offended.

We really need a collective noun for white supremacists. A nong of neo-Nazies? A disturbance of skinheads? A brace of racists? What’s your favourite collective noun? Share it, and anything else that’s on your mind here.

Ah, summer. This week we brought in the New Year - and honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot else when it came to the world of news. Kate Winslet painted her toenails. The weather was hot, sometimes dangerously so. And hey, how are those 2012 resolutions treating you? Lainie Anderson reminded us that we CAN keep them.

In other news, Ricky Ponting scored a century, as Christopher Bantick analysed for us, and some other guy scored three, as I wrote today. Tracey Spicer fired up about Y txtn whyl u dryv is stupid. Lucy tackled those selfish people who dump their unusable crap at charity bins. Marriage equality campaigner Alex Greenwich warned Labor not to take a shot-gun approach to gay marriage. And The Punch Team aired (some) of its dirty laundry in the hope that a new scientific discovery that enables events to be cloaked would handily gobble them up. 

We also welcomed Tory Maguire back to The Punch. Let the good times roll.

It’s Friday. What’s on your mind?

Today’s Thursday Word is quite muddled. As a matter of fact, it’s a little bit secretive as well.

And it’s a pretty funny word. Have a crack at guessing it and let us know. 

Here are the results of yesterday’s caption competition:

1. The winner of yesterday’s caption competition is Annette with: “Worm gets to keep dictionary”. Great hijacking of both the “early bird” and “can’t spell” aspects of the picture. Top stuff.

2. Close runner-up is Oliver K Hinss who was early off the mark with a spot-on Myer joke: “Myer uses extra punctuation to compensate for lack of stock.”

It’s (actually Thursday). What’s on your mind, Punchers?

Everyone who writes for a living, or even comments on The Punch, knows that the slightest error in your spelling or grammar can send you’re credability wif ur redaers plumetting. Well you grammar nazis out there, brace yourselves for this hideous assault on the sanctity of the English language.

Shoppers seeking relief from the hot weather this week have been greeted by the above sign at Myer stores across the country. Yes, across the WHOLE CONTINENT. In Myer’s Bourke Street store in Melbourne, the grammatical stuff-up was displayed on a banner seven stories tall.

What a catapostrophe. Feel free to give this piccy your own caption, I’ll name the best in Thursday’s open thread. Really, I will! If you can’t spot Myer’s error in the picture though, consider yourself disqualified.

It’s Wednesday. What’s on your mind, Punchers?

A few talkers for the start of the working week.

1) If you live in Sydney or Brisbane: how great is this weather? If you live in Melbourne or Adelaide: I hope you’ve got the AC on, a bottle of water next to you and a personal servant to handfeed you grapes, because I hear it’s scorching. Suckers.

2) If Seinfeld had been on air in the early eighties, you’d bet the press would’ve been calling Queensland’s state government the Seinfeld administration if this story had came to light a little earlier: The Bjelke-Petersen cabinet spent time discussing whether toilet doors should uniformly swing inwards or outwards, some recently released records show.

Personally, I’m agnostic when it comes to this contentious debate. I just wish somebody would fix the second cubicle door in The Punch’s male bathroom. The lock has been broken for months and the door won’t stay shut! Bah humbug.

3) Please welcome back to The Punch the exceptionally talented Tory Maguire. A longtime newswoman, Tory has rejoined the team after some time off taking care of her young bub.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 03/01/2011" »

If everything went to plan last night, my eyes are feeling a little sensitive to sunlight this morning. If everything went to plan last night, my New Year’s BBQ sangas were successfully digested.

And if everything went to plan last night, what Amy Crutchfield yesterday dubbed the most underrated and overrated night of the year, hopefully you rated the way you brought in the New Year. Whether it involved going to a BBQ like me, or staying home with a glass of pinot, or getting as far away from the crowds as possible or just having a nice night in bed.

Tell us about it. And while you’re at it, tell us what your some of your aspirations are the year ahead. Let’s hope it’s a good one for all of us.

And hey, what’s your best hangover cure? A piece of vegemite toast and a small glass of OJ have always got me back on my feet but as for the rolling waves of nausea… Any suggestions, Punchers? Anyone? *cough*

The week before Christmas was ruled by grief. Associate Professor Felix Patrikeef explained what the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il meant. The Punch team examined the curious and disturbing degree of public grieving in the isolated state. Another asylum seeker tragedy occurred. And TV journalist and anchor Hugh Riminton remembered Christopher Hitchens.

Cairns Post journo Chris Harrison decried the over-technologification of the cricket. Nicole Dungan, mother of three, rallied readers to end the puppy farming industry. Womens’ advocate Melinda Tankard-Reist wrote about Pussy – the energy drink, thanks very much – in a piece that probably sparked the greatest debate of the week.

Radio host Derryn Hinch described what it was like to be under house arrest. Tory called bullshit on the Men’s Rights Extremists. The first weekend of cricket’s Big Bash was a smashing success even if some old school journos were too snooty to admit it, Anthony Sharwood wrote. Regular Jo Thornely had a laugh at the expense of Christmas carols. And Labor MP Richard Marles called on politicians on both sides of the aisle to join together in the spirit of Christmas.

Our Biggest Moments of 2011 series, which has come to its grand Osama-based finale today, wrapped up. The floods throughout Australia, Gaddafi’s death and the Arab Spring, the Fukushima crisis, and Cadel Evans’ victory in Le Tour rounded out the top 5.

The Punch Team wish all our readers and contributors a very happy Christmas. Rest assured we’ll be right here for your summer reading throughout the holiday season. Check out the next of our “coastal holidays of your dreams” series here.

We keep hearing that retail sales are flat in the lead-up to Christmas. We also keep hearing that more and more people are shopping online. We are yet to understand just how much the latter is undermining the former - especially in Australia this Christmas.

You tell us. Are you spending a little less in the stores this Christmas. If so, why? Is it because you’re jittery about the global economy and how the effects may flow on down to Australia? Or are you just spending dollar for dollar online?

This we know. The cool weather in south eastern Australia is partly blamed for slow sales. Retailers are even offloading casual workers early, news.com.au reports. What else is on your mind this Thursday, Punchers?

Watch out for that Christmas ham this Sunday. It might be out to get you.

A report out yesterday revealed that an embarrassing number of Kiwis (ie, several) filed insurance claims for ham-based injuries last Christmas. There were a number of carving mishaps and burns, knee and neck strains and even a crushed finger.

It’s Wednesday. What’s on your mind, folks?

Well. Hasn’t it been a crap year to be a ruthless dictator or all-round Evil Dude? All the big names are gone.

Kim Jong Il: dead. Osama bin Laden: dead. Gaddafi: dead. Mubarak: gone. Syria’s Assad: embroiled in a civil war. Twenty-two of the top 30 Al-Qaeda leaders: dead. Yemen’s Saleh: got bombed. Than Shwe of Burma: out of office.

Even Mugabe is sharing power with a democrat. It’s been a terrible year of tyranny. Watch out Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov.

It’s Tuesday, Punchers. What’s on your mind?

Christopher Hitchens has been described as truculent, clever, brave, a radical, an ex-Trotskyist, left-wing, right-wing, iconoclast, an enemy of religion, a Jew, a militant, contrarian humanist.

And that’s just the tiniest sample of thing he’s been called since he died from complications from oesophageal cancer last week.

He was loved and loathed, but even his detractors concede his brilliance with words, his incredible brain, his passion and his impact.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 19/12/2011" »

It was a big week in science. CERN scientists caught a glimpse of the Higgs Boson. What is the bloody thing? Read a great explanation by news.com.au’s Peter Farquhar here and Caroline Hamilton of the ARC Centre for Particle Physics’s piece on why it’s so exciting here. Ant compared the science behind the Higgs with that of the climate, and Tory Shepherd utterly ripped Ian Plimer to shreds for his kids book about climate scepticism. I revealed that the future is already here (except for the hovercars).

But it was also a week about values a little closer to home. One of the pieces that got you talking this week was by broadcaster Tracey Spicer exposing the school that banned Christmas. And the girl who was banned from attending a Broken Hill Catholic school for having homosexual parents sparked a tumultuous debate about equality in the comments on Walkley Award winning journo Jack Marx’s account for us from on the ground in Broken Hill. Our Lucy tackled civic virtue in her piece defending the existence of juries in courts. And the Angry Cripple spun a yarn about the heroic banker who is crusading to protect the disabled.

The political story of the week was the Gillard government reshuffle, here’s political expert Mal Farr’s take on that. Meanwhile, academic Stephen Harrington joked that we should just get rid of Santa, the fat, obnoxious home intruder. And our biggest moments of the year countdown continued, this week including: the Christchurch quake, Occupy Wall Street and global financial turmoil, Charlie Sheen and oh, the “death of democracy” in Australia. The list wraps up next Friday!

It’s Friday, Punchers, and The Punch is recovering from a karaoke-and-cheap-Nepalese-centred Christmas party. What’s on your mind?

A former Sun editor has had an almighty crack at the Guardian, after the latest twist in the News of the World saga in which police revealed there’s no evidence journalists deleted Milly Dowler’s voicemails.

The Guardian had claimed that NOTW journos, by deleting messages from Milly’s full mailbox, had given her parents false hope that she was still alive. That report helped spark a maelstrom that is still sucking people in and down.

Turns out the phone company automatically deletes messages after 72 hours. The Guardian apologised for the error. Sort of.

Now, former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie has unleashed on the Guardian and reporter Nick Davies, demanding a better apology, and an apology to Rupert Murdoch, and blaming him for the 300 staff who lost their jobs when the paper closed. And he doesn’t stop there.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 15/12/2011" »

When it comes to being cool, Apple have had their highs and their lows. Highs: their “Big Brother” ad in 1984 and their funky early-to-mid 2000s iPod campaign. Lows: Well, look at the photo below.

A US fashion blogger has unearthed an Apple attempt at a fashion line circa 1986. It’s not pretty, and you can see more of those photos here. But whaddya reckon Punchers? Is it Apple’s fault their models look so ridiculous? Or is it just the ‘80s?

It’s Wednesday. What’s on your mind, folks?

Here’s a nice story by Alison Stephenson over at news.com.au.

Meet the 44th Sunset. You might be hearing a lot more of them in the future. The Perth indie-rock quartet beat out 500 talented high school bands to win a $50,000 Sony recording contract and a place on the Big Day Out line-up, alongside big acts like Foster the People. 

They’re all 16, and lead singer Nik Thompson is calling it the highlight of his life.

Top stuff, guys. Let’s hope there are many more highlights to come.

It’s Tuesday. What’s on your mind Punchers?

I went Christmas shopping on Saturday. And I did something unusual: I put some thought into what I was doing BEFORE I walked into the shopping centre. And so my Christmas shopping season for 2011 came to a swift and mostly painless end.

What got me through it intact? For one, I went in with a list of things I had to get for people. I also escaped the 45-minute-long Christmas-time parking queues by (miraculously) finding one in the backstreets. The third ingredient was doing it all two weeks before I usually would.

In light of this, I thought I’d throw it out there: Have you got any hot tips for escaping the Christmas shopping rush? Any tricks of the trade? I’ve heard a bunch of people say online is the way to go. What says you?

And it’s Monday, Punchers, what else is on your mind?

It was a cracker week in Punchland. And not just ‘cos Hillary Clinton has joined our stable of intrepid writers. The Punch is putting in a request for President Obama to write next Monday’s Open Thread too. We’ll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, here’s our weekly review of the top Punch pieces of the past week.

Forget over the counter, give us the pill for free, the talented Lucy Kippist demanded. Why did an Argentinean student on exchange to Australia desperately want to get the hell outta here? Our man in the United States, Paul Toohey, told us the story of Carlos Miceli. Channelling the frustrations of restaurateurs around the nation, Daily Telegraph restaurant critic Simon Thomsen cried: if you book a table at a top restaurant and then give them the slip, at least have the courtesy to cancel your booking. Doddery old drivers shouldn’t be a protected species, wrote David Penberthy. And look wowsers, sexting is no big deal. That’s what I think. A lot of you disagreed.

The Bali boy arrived back home this week. Sending goldfish to people as a PR stunt didn’t work. Using a respected church leader as part of a pokies PR stunt is not on, wrote another respected church leader. Swanny needed to go medieval on the banks when they didn’t lower our interest rates. He didn’t, our Ant wrote. But our resident top consumer advocate Frank Zumbo went medieval on the petrol companies as they shafted regional Australia at the bowser.

Continue reading "Punch on: Friday review 09/12/2011" »

How funny is this Christmas pug? Will it be enough of a distraction to throw you off today’s word of the week? Only time will tell. Here’s your clue: Today’s word is taken from Latin and is used to describe a certain behaviour and attitude. It’s often associated with aggressiveness. Do you know what it is?

Take a wild stab in the dark, or an educated guess below. Then, tell us what’s on your mind…

An audible sigh went up around The Punch office yesterday as interest rates dropped a quarter of a per cent, as the bookies predicted.

The PM said there would be no reason for the banks not to pass on the rate cut in fall, but as The Punch was signing off late yesterday that was yet to have happened. Are interest rates falling a good thing for you? Or do you have something a little more interesting to say that might get a rise out of us?

It’s Wednesday, what’s on your mind folks?

The global elite are on the move.

There’s a much larger globetrotting, “international” class of people than ever before, a BBC News report has found.

This leads me to the question: where would you go if you had all the money in the world, and all its opportunities at you fingertips? Where would your dream life take place? And what would you do there? It’s Tuesday. So hey, what else is on your mind Punchers?

Goodbye weekend, hello new working week. That’s just our way of saying happy Monday, Punchers! Did anyone overindulge this weekend? And by overindulge we mean, did anyone drink too much? Those who did might be interested in a big fat glass of Security Feel Better. What’s that, you ask?

It’s Europe’s latest hangover cure that promises results in just under 45 minutes. The French-made drink contains contained an “enzyme that helped break down alcohol in the liver five times faster than the body on its own.” 

The marketing company behind the product says it should only be used as a “hangover cure”. But we’re not so convinced. With such fast results, wouldn’t you be tempted to drink a little bit more, then take a big gulp of “Security” before driving home? Hmmmm.

This week heralded the beginning of The Punch’s 23 biggest moments of the year countdown. Which is lucky, because not a whole lot happened in the news this week. Yeah, there was the mini-budget, which Mark and Mal told you all about. And the Murray-Darling report dropped... Not a whole lot else, though. Feel that summertime laziness in the air?

However, while the news cycle may have needed a defibrillator, The Punch was firing. Lucy was in top form nailing who the real dopes are when it comes to pot and why good body image is a fat myth. Schoolies was a hot topic. Penbo raised his fist at the youngens and cried: “hell no you flamin’ mongrels” and on the other side, a Gen Y-er put his foot down and saying, look Mr Penberthy, sir… hell yeah to boozin’ and rootin’. The headline of the week was without doubt: “Bugger it, let’s talk about my bottom”.

Kids are digital, but that doesn’t mean they’re savvy, I pointed out as Australians got a bit panicked about internet addiction. The Brisbane Roar, forever underrated, finally got rated by Triple M Director of Sport Dan Ginnane. And TV industry veteran Helen Parker revealed why Kyle & Jackie O’s televised careers haven’t been particularly successful.

It’s Friday, Punchers. What’s on your mind?

This week’s Thursday Word is all about vision. Not about the future, but rather anatomy.

It’s a bit of a toughie, you might be groping around in the dark to figure it out.

Also, I’ll choose some caption comp winners from yesterday’s open thread and put them in here sometime this arvo. It’s Thursday! What’s floating your boat today?

It’s Wednesday! And you know what that (occasionally) means! It’s caption competition time!

This week’s entrant: a rather amusing face pulled by the PM in Parliament this week. One way or another it was going to be used to illustrate a Punch piece.

And hey, what else is on your mind today?

We’re nearly out of mobile phone numbers.

It seems like only yesterday that everyone started getting digits that started with 04. Those days might be coming to an end. By 2017 we won’t have any left. So there’s a strong chance in the next decade you’ll have one more mobile digit to remember. The world’s so complex sometimes.

It’s Tuesday, folks. What’s on your mind?

What most Australians want out of a house: a big backyard, enough bedrooms for everyone, not too far from work. If you’re a miner though, you want your house to be as close to a hole in the ground as possible.

Our sister-site news.com.au reported late last week that renting a shack in a mining town costs just as much as renting a mansion in Vaucluse, near Sydney Harbour.

Here’s a Monday question for you: do you rent or buy? How are you dealing with the housing market at the moment? Are you stressed or cruising along?

And hey, what’s on your mind today?

This week’s Punchy goodness revolved around Kyle Sandilands and sneaky political shenanigans.

Penbo pulverised Kyle on Wednesday for his vile attack on news.com.au reporter Alison Stephenson. As company after company pulled their sponsorship, Tory said Austereo should just lance the boil and sack him. The Federal government barrelled the mining tax through the House with the helping hand of the Greens and in an astonishing political manoeuvre, Labor picked up another vote in that same chamber later in the week.

This week we brought you a snapshot of the life of a miner and we painted a picture of the Pilbara, Ant argued that the climate debate has undercut the broader environmental movement, Melinda Tankard-Reist raised her fist at violence against women and Lucy commented on the power of the Twitter mob. Tory declared: “Stop the planes!”,  Kyle Pollard told the sombre story of a motor accident and Australia couldn’t catch its breath from playing host to a batch of globetrotting superstars.

Jason Tin wrote about not writing Twilight, Daniela Elser was not impressed by Matthew Newton’s ACA appearance and there were rainbows, happiness and lamprophony in the open thread. Oh, and we all like Michael Clarke now. Except those of you who don’t. Which is quite a lot of you actually.

Happy Friday folks, have an excellent weekend. But first, tell us what’s on your mind!

Today’s word is a little ridiculous. It starts with the letter L and means the word “loud”.

The picture is a bit of a hint, for once.

Nice to hear from you all on yesterday’s open thread, some great stories were shared. Hopefully we’ll see some more of that in the coming weeks. It’s Thursday (already!). What’s on your mind, Punchers?

One thing that’s (sometimes) beautiful on the Open Thread is when some of you share with us your little snippets of everyday life. Whether it be fairsfair’s bootcamps or even sadly in a few cases lately, your trips to hospital. 

So today’s Open Thread is devoted only to one thing: tell us something about yourself. Whether it be your first name, what your local area’s like, what’s been making you happy lately. Have a spray.

It’s Wednesday. How are you doing today? And what else is on your mind?

Regulars, I apologise for interrupting your regularly scheduled, generally pleasant Open Thread experience with a small rant about Kyle Sandilands. But I just had to vent.

You can’t get away from the guy and his incessant complaining. On top of his somehow-blockbuster radio show, in recent times, the man’s acquired a TV show (just the one special, we can hope) and a column in Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph (just for the next few weeks, we hope). He’s groping this, whining about that, all in the public eye.

Could he give it a break? Maybe he’d have a little less to whine about if he didn’t bitch about his extremely first world problems to every microphone, camera and notepad in a metre radius. 

Ah, to be a media whore. It’s Tuesday Punchers. I’m sure there’s a lot of other things on your mind. Share them with us!

So the truth is out. If you have forty bazillion Facebook friends, chances are you have a lot fewer buddies in the real world.

News.com.au reports that according to a recent survey, the number of friends Australians have is their number of Facebook friends divided by 11.

I guess you must be a little lonely if you’ve only got 10 Facebook friends. Punchers, it’s (hopefully) a bright, beautiful and promising Monday. What’s on your minds?

I probably don’t have to tell you what the big story was this week. Obamarama reigned. I explained the Obama magic, Mal examined US forces getting the nod to hang with the crocs, David Lundberg analysed how we’re entering the Asian Century and Tory harvested the opinions of the voiceless on Obama: all six people occupying that beating hub of capitalism, Adelaide.

Also in the news: gay marriage and selling uranium to India. We had an important piece about gay health and marriage from Paul Martin, and we got the facts for you on India and uranium from Professor Stephen Lincoln from the University of Adelaide.

Through the week, Lucy calmly laid out how the best way to address binge drinking isn’t to stop drinking but encourage sensible consumption, Penbo crossed his fingers that these terrorists wouldn’t be released into the public, Amy Crutchfield explained why the best chefs cook naked, Tory raised her fist at way-too-beautiful youngsters and Greg Hunt and I duked it out over the meaning of the polls.

Also, Jason Tin, the sonofa, had an excellent holiday. And I hope you have an excellent Friday. What’s on your mind, folks?

Today’s word has an S in it. And a Y. And a Z.

That’s three letters for a word that is generally used (IF it’s really generally used) to describe objects that come in threes.

It’s Thursday. What’s on your mind, Punchers?

While Wednesday is usually the day for the weekly caption competition, this week we thought we’d throw something different at you. Just how bad do you think British PM David Cameron’s attempt at impersonating an Australian accent is?

News.com.au labelled it “worse than James Coburn’s half-Cockney, half-American attempt in The Great Escape”. It was certainly cringe-worthy. But up there with Meryl Streep’s “a ding-gow ay-t my baibee”? I don’t think so.

What’s the worst attempt at an Aussie accent you’ve heard? And a little closer to home, what else is on your mind today?

The Punch loves a good travel trend. Especially when it involves camping. News.com.au reported yesterday that camping in other people’s back yards is the hottest thing to do when you’re not at work. Ah, holidays.

According to their sources 350 homeowners from the UK and Europe are renting out their backyards to people who’d like to camp there. Don’t believe us? Then check out the website campinmygarden.com. Organisers say the holiday would suit people who are keen to “experience the local community and go back to traditional and modest forms of accommodation”. But travel agents will say anything to get your money, won’t they?

And so it’s Tuesday, what’s happening in your backyard?

If you’re decades older than the retirement age but you really love your job, should you still retire?

One of Britain’s oldest workers didn’t think so. Syd Prior, a worker at a DIY superstore, retired at age 96 last week. He said the job kept him young.

All you working people out there, would you ever work past your retirement age? And what about you retirees? Is retirement all that it’s sometimes cracked up to be? What are the best and worst parts of it? It’s Monday, folks. What’s on your mind?

This week’s word is a little bit fancy. It’s a little bit over-the-top. A little bit extravagant. A little bit excessive. It’s The Punch’s favourite word since heteronormativity.

Here’s one hint. It’s not a word that really pops up in conversation all that often. Until now, that is.

It’s Thursday folks. Mis on teie arvates?

It’s the real 9/11 today. At least it’s the Australian one, not the American one, because we’re sensible enough to do our dates in the format day/month/year, which makes all kinds of crazy sense given you’re moving from smallest to biggest.

What else do Americans do that drive you mad? Sticking to the Fahrenheit scale is pretty silly, as is their reluctance to convert to metric distances. And what about the fact that all their banknotes are the same colour?

It’s Wednesday here on The Punch, but only Tuesday at the Huff Post and other US blog sites. Geez, those guys are behind the times. Apart from the carbon tax, what’s on your mind, Australia?

It’s official. We have become a nation of sippers and samplers, not a nation of sluggers dedicated to a single brand.

Once upon a time, there would be tumbleweeds if you failed to order the mass brand plastered all over the exterior walls of your local pub. As news.com.au revealed yesterday, we’ve now gone all boutiquey in our quest for the perfect pub bevvy.

Pfft to that. Take your cider and shove it. Give me a good honest mass-produced frothy one any day. It may not be fancy but it’s cheap and it’s made from beer. Or is it just the advertising making me say that? What else apart from beer is going down today, Punchers?

It’s the seventh day of the eleventh month, hence the picture below of a 7 Eleven convenience store which was ram raided. We’re presuming the ram raiders were targeting the ATM as we don’t really think hot chicken rolls are worth going to jail for.

Do you use convenience stores much? Do you find them convenient? Do you pretty much just buy lollies and gum, or are there other products you’re always happy to pay twice the normal price for? Does anyone remember a world before convenience stores? Apparently such a world existed as recently as the early 80s…

What else is on your mind today, Punchers?

The week started with a variety of events that stopped the nation. A regular one, the Melbourne Cup. And an unexpected one: the Qantas debacle. Mal and Geoff Lemon were all over the latter. Our best piece about the Cup, however, didn’t have much to do with the Cup at all - instead, it was a heart-warming tale about the world’s most hopeless horse finally having a moment in the sunshine.

Also this week, Lucy pointed out that young women haven’t gone to the dogs, Tory unleashed upon an absurd corner of feminism and made good use of the office’s word of the week, “heteronormative”. Dan Ilic wrote a cracker two-part report on his comedy tour of Afghanistan (the second piece is up today), Jason Tin demanded we wear more costumes and Ruby Hamad wondered about Kim Kardashian and gay marriage. And so much more.

Also, yesterday’s Thursday Word teaser was too vague for anyone to actually guess. Victory!

It’s Friday. What’s on your mind, folks?

It’s a good day today. And the Thursday Word reflects that. That’s all I’m giving you because last week the word was figured out by 5:30am.

Here’s yesterday’s caption competition winners:

1. MarkG - “For the first time in history big nostrils and too much nose hair paid off.” AND “Fastest Melbourne Cup ever as horses hit light speed”. Both brilliant.

2. ausspud - “Melbourne Cup to be run again due to the appearance of a mysterious black line.”

Honourable Mention: Various poor taste Sarah Jessica Parker gags. Ouch, guys.

Well damn. At First Sight didn’t win. Neither did Americain.

However, we can all be winners if you share with us some of your wit and pith in our Wednesday caption competition. This week featuring the photo finish of photo finishes. Winners will be displayed and showered with accolades in tomorrow’s Open Thread.

It’s Hump Day, folks. What’s on your mind?

A pinch and a Punch for the first day of the month. Not only that, it’s Melbourne Cup Day, the first Tuesday in November.

Bookies across the country are salivating, horse-mad punters are opening their metaphorical chequebooks. Plenty, if not most, Victorians have got the day off; The Reserve Bank is holding its annual Cup Day interest rate shindig and in workplaces (and plenty of airport lounges) across the nation people will stop to watch the Cup.

Are you going to watch it? Whereabouts? There was a story in one of the Sunday papers at the weekend that Optus is giving its staff a mere 3 minutes and 20 seconds off the job to watch the race. What’s the approved etiquette in your office? Is anyone out there taking a sickie? 

And hey, what’s on your mind today?

Welcome to Monday y’all. While most of Australia spent the weekend in a bad mood after missed flights, delayed holidays and spending two days in crappy interstate hotel rooms, there was a good news story. But you have to be a romantic at heart to appreciate it.

Victorian barrister David Moen asked the solicitor sitting next to him at the bar table during a criminal trial to marry him. Yep, during the trial. Here’s how he described it: “The environment was right, the feeling was right and I just spoke from the heart. It wasn’t a prepared speech, I was just speaking to someone I love. Luckily, the prosecutor didn’t object.”

Luckier still was the woman in question, solicitor Melanie Hrvatin replied immediately with: “Absolutely, Your Honour”. Doesn’t that bring a tear to your eye?  If that’s not among the most unusual marriage proposals you’ve ever heard, we want to know what is. So share it here. Or bang on about how much Qantas stuffed up your weekend.

Oh, and happy Halloween, although that seems a strange greeting.

The final week of our Festival of Obvious Ideas has come to an end. This week’s entries included: We binge on everything, we should listen to the experts about stuff, the catapostrophe of the apostrophe should be put out of its misery and mobile phone numbers should be listed in directory form.

Also in this week’s news, the Queen was hitting several towns, Penbo painted a picture of an Australia that has no interest in republicanism and CHOGM, the sound of a spluttering Commonwealth, was held in Perth. The Australian Occupiers ran into trouble in Sydney and Melbourne. Tory sliced-and-diced Bob Katter over his party being funded by gun-toting giraffe-killers, and still on the animal front, Captain John Silberberg wrote how the myth of the man-eating shark is just a great white lie. As for us mere humans, Peter Strong asked what life would be like if we could live to 150 and the team of boganomists behind Things Bogans Like provided us with insight into why bogans like Harvey Norman.

It’s Friday, ladies and gents. What’s on your mind?

It’s Thursday, but today’s Word is one you’re probably more likely to use to describe a relaxing Sunday.

I’m a peace with this week’s word. Are you? Plus, what’s on your mind today?

UPDATE: 11:40am: The word means tranquil. Some of you are close, but you haven’t got it yet.

Also, yesterday’s caption competition winners:

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 27/10/2011" »

It’s Wednesday. Time for this week’s caption competition.

This is a pic that’s been pinging around the past couple of days. It’s a banner put up by the Marrickville local police (in New South Wales) at the Marrickville Festival on Sunday. And well, NSW Police’s caption didn’t quite mean what they wanted it to.

What’s your caption? Got one that makes even more (non)sense? Let us know! The winners will be posted on tomorrow’s open thread.

Today’s Open Thread is devoted to a guy who could be an Australian legend. Others might call him a great big dimwit.

news.com.au reported yesterday that a 14-year-old New South Wales boy went on a playboy bender after making some $200,000 grand off selling fictitious products on eBay. The kid rented penthouses overlooking Sydney Harbour that cost $4300 a night, hired limousines to take him to the beach, went on Versace and Prada shopping sprees and flew groups of his mates interstate for parties.

So here’s a question: what would you with $200k if it inexplicably appeared in your bank account? What would you spend it on? And what else is on your mind this Tuesday?

So a series of scrums, hakas and a particularly lengthy bout of Quade-hating later, the Rugby World Cup is finally over. The All Blacks triumphed over the French last night at Eden Park.

Whaddidya you think of the match? Were you happy with the result? And what did you think of the Cup itself?

I interviewed a bunch of Kiwi sports fanatics a few weeks ago and among other things, asked them what it would mean for the All Blacks to win the Cup. “It’d boost morale hugely, boost confidence in every aspect of our lives,” one Nu Zulunda told me. Ant’s been all over the World Cup these past few weeks too and you can find his articles about the Cup at the bottom of this post.

And hey, it’s Monday. What else is on your mind, folks?

The first week of our Festival of Obvious Ideas has come to an end!

We kicked off the week with profoundly obvious ideas like: don’t go to Bali, organ donation should be automatic and loyalty cards don’t make you feel special. Others from the obvious file included: Jason Tin’s bold idea that we should stop trying to be famous, news.com.au’s Lincoln Archer on how if employers want their employees to behave then hey, they shouldn’t treat their workers like crap; Luce on why Facehaters should dump Facebook and Tory on why parliamentary terms should be slashed, at least in the Upper House. There’s a lot more to come where all those ideas came from next week!

Also on The Punch: Jo Thornely explained in her ever-humorous way why Gillard did the right thing in not curtsying to the Queen; Emma Jane on helicopter parents and Penbo on the federal government being stuffed. Ant marked Quade Cooper’s burial under a scrum of hate and I asked: what the hell happened to political parties? Ged Kearney declared hate the new debate, and the profoundly deaf Sherrie Beaver delivered a rousing call for deaf pride.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 21/10/2011" »

Today’s Word of the Week is something that a number of people are.

Quade Cooper is one in New Zealand. You could say George Bush was one, both in the States and around the world. Kevin Rudd was one in the Labor Party, although perhaps not anymore.

It’s Thursday, what’s on your mind Punchers? Also, here’s some of the best captions from yesterday’s caption competition.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 20/10/2011" »

It’s a Wednesday, and you know what that means: Caption comp!

The Occupy Everywhere movement is reaching the point where it’s occupying everywhere. We’ve seen protests in Sydney and other Strayan cities, Rome, London….

What else is on your mind today, folks?

The Punch has been deluged by spam these past few days. However, this kind of spam hasn’t been its usual incarnation of waffle about viagra, cheap web hosting and cankersores (?!). Here’s some examples of what we got yesterday: 

• “This article really greases the shafts of my knowledge.”
• “You put the lime in the coconut and drink this article up”
• “Walking in the presence of giants here! Cool thinking all round”
• “If my problem was a Death Star, this article is a photon torpedo”
• “I was seriously at Defcon 5 until I saw this post”
• “Superb information here, ole’ chap, keep burning the midnight oil”

And so on and so forth. It’s not like The Punch Team doesn’t occasionally get nice comments, but it’s all the sweeter when even our American spambots recognise that we really do get up of a morning to grease the shafts of your knowledge.

Yeeeeeesh. Also, whaddya thinking about today? It’s Tuesday, and it’s Day 2 of our Festival of Obvious Ideas. Check ‘em out.

It’s a special week here at The Punch. In the past month we’ve seen Sydney host the Festival of Dangerous Ideas and Adelaide host its own Festival of Ideas. But what about the really bloody obvious ideas? There doesn’t seem to be much of a market for them lately.

So this week The Punch presents a bunch of what we think are common-sense solutions to the ills of the world with our Festival of Obvious Ideas. There are loads of ideas out there, and we’ll be presenting a range of them, from Punch contributors and The Punch team.

It’s Monday and it’s sure to be an interesting week. So what’s on your mind? Got any really obvious ideas the world needs to hear?

“Sealed with a kiss”, “a pledge made in blood”. The headlines about the carbon tax passing Parliament this week sounded like extracts from a Twilight flick. In spite of that, at The Punch this week we were all over the carbon tax. Mark Kenny put the historic political moment in perspective, Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann railed against the tax and the CFMEU President, Tony Maher, pointed the finger not at the carbon tax but at mining fat cats for endangering the economy.

We kicked off the week with a series of so-bad-they’re-good Kiwi jokes, a Photoshopped Kevin Rudd and an astonishingly apt comparison between our politicians and Muppets. On Tuesday, Sophie Mirabella blew a fuse at the Australian copycats of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The piece inspired a lot of rage, including a firey pushback piece by our Stephen Harrington.

One of our best pieces of the week was an account by train driver Hunter Perske of what it’s like to be a train driver afraid of hitting someone. Luce explored the world of arranged marriages in Australia, Tory called bullshit on the existence of Yetis, and Frances Simmons explained that slavery in Australia is not all about the sex trade.

It’s Friday! What’s on your mind?

I’m a bit jumpy about this Thursday’s Word. It might be a little too easy to figure out. But they haven’t been popular for a while, so I guess it might have a lot of bounce.

It’s Thursday. It’s another big day in federal politics with a big immigration vote set to hit the house - maybe. What’s on your mind, ladies and gents?

The PM is getting kicked out of the Lodge - but not for the reasons a segment of Punch readers might have hoped. The place is in serious need of repairs. The Special Minister of State, Gary Gray, said: “If the Lodge was a patient it’d be in hospital”. The Prime Minister and Tim Mathieson will have to find new digs for a while.

Given that it’s Wednesday, it’s time for a caption competition. Whaddya reckon? Top captions will appear in tomorrow’s open thread.

And hey, what else is on your mind today?

This should be quite successful.

Take a look at this line of Steve Jobs action figures by WHOA TOYS. They’ve been pinging around the interwebs. Before you say “too soon”, the line came out just after The Man resigned.

We often hear people ask why we don’t idolise scientists and inventors over sportsmen. But I think it’s nice Jobs has received so much acclaim for his accomplishments. What do you think? And it’s Tuesday. What’s on your mind, folks?

This is an interesting yarn. If you could take a bit of time off each week but get paid a little less, would you do it?

News.com.au’s New Work Project found that’s what about half of those that answered its survey would do. Would you?

And hey, it’s Monday. What else is on your mind? What does the rest of the week look like? 

A weekend full of sport brought us a dull-ish start to the week in news.The Andrew Bolt case left Tory pondering the politics of race.

Meanwhile Penbo dove headlong into the top notch gabfest that was the Canberra’s tax summit. Lucy asked whether it should be a crime to slap your children, while Dan took the now late Mr Jobs to task on his seemingly addictive iMaterial.  Emma Jane ranted about how hard it is to get a proper bra fitted, and we all mourned the loss of Steve Jobs. Especially Dan, who felt bad about his earlier piece! So that was us. How about you? What were the high and low lights of your week? Share it all here. It’s Friday after all.

The night sky last night could be described by this week’s Thursday Word.

So could the depths of the ocean. Depths in general, really. The word’s also a bit more particular than the one you might be thinking of. It’s got something to do with things that explode.

It’s Thursday! Where’s the week gone? What’s on your mind?

It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for a caption competition. Here’s this week’s effort:

The Australian‘s got a bunch more photos of crazy World Cup fans. And is it just me or is that Keira Knightley on the right?

What’s on your mind today gals and guys?

What did you miss over the long weekend (that is: if you live in one of the two states and one territory that take Labour Day off)?

Well, while a buncha’ games of footy were happening news broke that another hole has opened up in the Ozone layer. This time above the Arctic. Not exactly cheery news to start the week.

On the upside: Collingwood lost! It’s Tuesday. What’s on your mind, folks?

If sport were food, this weekend would be the equivalent of a 17-course degustation. The menu? Two grand finals - back to back. Tonight: Collingwood vs. Geelong, at the MCG. Tomorrow night: Sea Eagles vs. New Zealand. The only question it seems is what to do between the games.

Die hard fans will be polishing their television screens, scraping down the BBQ and stocking the fridge. WAGS are deciding what dress to wear. Our lucky PM, one person guaranteed to get great seats at both games, will be traveling between then. Although she’s unlikely to be one of the poor suckers caught up in the Sydney/Melbourne airport chaos. 

But let’s focus on the fun stuff. What are you up to, where are you watching the game and most importantly, who’s going to win? Share it all here.

The week started with a kerfuffle about pokie machines and footy – something that’s likely to flare up again as the Ultimate Footy Weekend cranks up. Women got the go-ahead to fight on the frontlines and Andrew Bolt lost his court case. Here on The Punch, Geoff Lemon poked fun at Australia’s standing in the world, Lucy produced some really detailed reportage from the Upper Hunter about coal seam gas, the Angry Cripple filled us in about a system that denies people basic justice and Emma Jane sparked a fire with her column on absent dads.

Kevin Rudd made an embarrassing Freudian slip, another group of nerds stirred some controversy in Adelaide, the benefits of bitching were made clear and Ben McKelvey labelled a Jimmy Barnes endorsement a working class sham. I reported on an Australian “oath of loyalty”, the PM turned 50 and got a dog that Tory explained just isn’t a dog.

We’ll have an open thread devoted to the footy this weekend as well. I’t's Friday! Happy long weekend (if you’ve got one)!

This week’s Thursday word has been well, discharged over to you guys.

That’s all you’re gonna get from me.

It’s Thursday! What’s on your mind Punchers? Also: yesterday’s caption competition winners to be announced at 11am.

UPDATE 12:45pm: Okay, maybe not 11am. The day got the better of me! So here’s some of our favourites from yesterday.

The winner’s got to be RyaN with apt comparison between our photo and this scene from Pinky and the Brain. Top stuff.

Other top captions include Arnold Layne‘s “I told you I don’t like Mondays Kev” and iansand‘s “I found him in a strip club and he followed me home. Can I keep him Julia? Can I?”

More next Wednesday!

Welcome to the Wednesday caption competition. Here’s a couple of happy chaps. Do they know it’s KRuddy time?

Go for it!

It’s Wednesday. What’s on your mind today?

Jane Austen is the new Star Wars. The expanded universe of Austen-based material has been expanding rapidly lately.

First we saw “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (who thinks of this stuff?). Now news.com.au reports on the arrival of a Pride and Prejudice whodunnit crime fiction sequel.

What do you think about this sort of stuff? I was an avid Star Wars fan once upon a time, but now I’m of the opinion that sometimes authors should just leave the originals alone. Anyone a fan-fiction type?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 27/09/2011" »

So, uh, seen any space junk around? NASA says the biggest piece of post-orbital litter has landed somewhere on Earth, but despite the fact Government authorities can track anyone, anything, anytime, they’re not quite sure where it hit.

Canada’s their best bet, but in Italy they weren’t taking any chances, and one government authority warned citizens to stay indoors.

So, got any Unidentified Crap in the backyard? Or more general crap you want to talk about? It’s Monday, Punchers, what’s on your minds?

Another Friday, another week in review.

The debate over respect for politicians stood out this week. Wayne Swan was shown a lot of respect by Euromoney magazine when he was declared Finance Minister of the Year, but many said Julia Gillard and her office weren’t shown much in a controversial episode of At Home With Julia. Meanwhile, the Malaysian solution remained unsolved (no thanks to either side of politics) and gay marriage jumped a hurdle in Tasmania.

Also on The Punch, another other crappy TV show was a topic of contention, as was the morality of sex. Tory talked media inquiries, Lucy explained how eminently sensible it is to go part-time vegetarian or “flexitarian”, anti-ranga sentiment was a red hot topic and news.com.au’s Helen Parker explained why journos should stop asking families of victims of homicide whether they’ve experienced “closure”. We thrashed out whether we’re working more or working less. In spite of all that, Kevin Andrews said “green jobs” were a waste of time and dosh and Jason Tin wondered why anyone would devote their working life to creating Twitterspam viruses.

On top of all that, Jo Thornely gave us a handy guide for complaining about stuff. But there’s nothing to complain about really. It’s Friday! What’s on your mind?

The Gillard government comes under a lot of this Thursday Word in the comments section of The Punch. It’s not the word disapproval. It could have something to do with it. Or maybe it’s not.

Guess we’ll have to see.

UPDATE 11:30am: And see we did! Davida is the winner for “animadversion”. The word means “criticism or censure”; “a comment or remark, especially a critical one”. Congrats Davida! And I’m glad someone got the word this week.

It’s Thursday. What’s on your mind, Punchers?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 22/09/2011" »

It’s Wednesday, and what does that mean? Well, nothing usually. But from now on it means: Caption competition!

So here’s a ripper for you today. Context: a giant toilet was set up outside Parliament House yesterday to draw attention to the link between decent sanitation and preventable poverty-related deaths. Please don’t dump too much crap in the comments.

What else is on your mind, Punchers?

Depressing news for redheads everywhere. The world’s largest sperm bank has decided to no longer accept sperm from them. Why? Because nobody wants redhead children, news.com.au reports.

Ouch. Gingers have copped a lot of crap lately. Thanks to Chris Lilley, we’ve witnessed the rise and rise of the term “ranga” over the past few years. People have called for Ronald McDonald to retire. Our Prime Minister is one and she’s not particularly popular lately.

So my question to you, Punchers: Is anti-ranga sentiment in Australia at an all time high? Is that redhead kid in the playground copping more crap than he used to? Or as the above picture indicates, is this a natural response to their steady accumulation of political power?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 20/09/2011" »

As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. In this case, science fiction.

Scientists have found something much like Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine. The Australian reports Kepler-16b, a planet 200 light years away, orbits two stars. It’s the size of Saturn and unlike Tatooine, temperatures are freezing.

Although I reckon some of you hardcore Star Wars fans out there might be too busy delving into your enormous piles of sci-fi paraphernalia or making wearable stormtrooper helmets out of your joggers to comment. Ah well.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 19/09/2011" »

This week started with reflection on a tragedy. It’s been ten years since the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Here on The Punch, Penbo wrote a ripper about the struggle to retain perspective about the catastrophe, an architect told us why the World Trade Centre were such spectacular rectangular prisms, a 9/11 truther argued his case, Tory examined the conspirator mindset and I reflected upon growing up in the age of terror.

But that’s certainly not all we had this week. Sam Stosur dominated Serena Williams, and Serena wasn’t on her best behaviour. Lucy spun us a yarn about a really worthwhile cause, a sex worker railed against old-school feminists not respecting the choices of women, Ant wondered why we’re so, so obsessed with cutesy animal stories and Joe asked the question: does anyone else miss John Howard?

The tax (or not-tax) we’re all sick of talking about was introduced into Parliament this week. In the same building, Nick Xenophon was naming names. Yesterday was R U OK Day, and I found that some far-flung parts of Australia are definitely not okay and Gordon Parker explained why the day is important.

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 16/09/2011" »

You’ve got to be fast to get this week’s word.

In fact, you better move pretty quickly. And that’s your clue.

It’s Thursday. What’s on your mind, ladies and gents?

Continue reading "Punch on: Open thread 15/09/2011" »

Cider, the drink of choice for ‘70s uni students, is enjoying a resurgence, reports The Courier Mail.

Women and Gen Y men (some of you might call them the same thing, hardy har-har) as well as an increasing number of baby-boomers are jumping on the it’s-not-beer bandwagon. Booze mega-store Dan Murphys is said to be doubling its cider sales every year.

It’s Wednesday. It’s a bit too early in the week to be getting stuck into cider. It’s a bit too sweet for my taste anyway. But do you ever drink the stuff? And what else is on your mind?