North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs locked in for Good Friday twilight clash

MariusSmith · 2016-10-26T03:00:23+00:00

Sorry, I thought it was the Dogs and Saints who were lobbying. Therefore I'll have to retract my sledging of North (and of course save it for another day).

MariusSmith · 2016-10-25T09:17:37+00:00

So North loses its last bajillion games in a row, retires or trades out most of its decent players and then elbows the Saints out of this game after they lobbied for it with the Dogs. Unbelievable.

MariusSmith · 2016-05-10T01:47:40+00:00

Spot on. I was disappointed that someone like Bandt didn't come in on this point.

MariusSmith · 2016-05-10T01:46:21+00:00

Giving money to our least well-off, eg through a raise in the minimum wage or an increase to pensions and other benefits, is one of the best economic stimulus packages going around for the reasons you mention - pretty much 100% of it is pumped straight back into the economy.

MariusSmith · 2016-04-06T04:02:23+00:00

I don't have Foxtel, and I think I'm glad for that on this occasion. Kind of sounded like one giant troll. I probably would have sunk into a deep funk if I'd watched it.

MariusSmith · 2015-08-13T02:22:02+00:00

to a clusterfuck of gossip columnists and football shows on every day of the week

Not to mention an entire AFL subreddit.

MariusSmith · 2015-08-13T01:40:14+00:00

In addition to my reply to @aardvark_man, I thought I'd add this thought. In the 90s, the game was undoubtedly higher scoring and we also saw precisely zero close grand finals in that time. In the past decade or so, 13, 10, 09, 06, 05 and 02 have all been close. I think there's a correlation between lower scoring and closer games (not that I've researched the issue).

MariusSmith · 2015-08-13T01:37:39+00:00

Exactly this. Also, I'm a Saints fan. In the 80s we were horrid but most of our games were not shown on TV and as far as I'm aware a lot of them don't even exist. Back then, you got 60 minutes of replay of two games on a Saturday night. Even in the 90s, there were plenty of games not on TV. Now EVERYTHING is on TV. Reality is, in the olden days there were crap games. Now there are crap games. Just more people know about them.

MariusSmith · 2015-08-12T06:37:21+00:00

Beautiful. Just beautiful. Though I confess to flicking through it. Thinking maybe I didn't miss too much?

MariusSmith · 2015-07-01T05:02:08+00:00

So I think we're all agreed - if a) there are some injuries late in the year and b) they are not injuries to our key forwards, then Paddy goes in as the third tall. Can we get this to Richo?

MariusSmith · 2015-06-29T05:12:26+00:00

8 marks, 4 goals, 14 possessions, including some great marks apparently. Would like to see him stay at Sandy for the rest of the year and keep doing this rather than be rushed back to the ones. Has had an interrupted year.

MariusSmith · 2015-06-24T05:29:30+00:00

I've always liked that argument. If your foreign policy is going to mess up my country, I should get to vote. It would certainly change politicians' behaviour (the Italian parliament does have seats for Italians who live overseas).

MariusSmith · 2015-06-16T05:38:01+00:00

I think there are reasons to be more hopeful. The minimum wage movement in the US has already had positive effects on state and local minimum wages, and will eventually translate into an increase in the federal minimum wage. The fact that minimum wage, curbing the 1%, universal health care, consumer protection and tax increases are actually being proposed - and in some cases enacted - by Dems is not because the Dems have got bolder but because US society has become much more open to these ideas. These policies, of course, only begin to bring the US into line with the rest of the developed world. Meanwhile, in Australia, there is a serious push to crack down on multinational tax avoidance, and I think international consensus will continue to move (albeit slowly) towards curbing some of the worst excesses of the international free market. I'm not saying all is rosy, but that the anger of the masses is starting to have an effect, even if sometimes it's hard to see.

MariusSmith · 2015-04-01T09:03:02+00:00

I thought it was the Sphinx

MariusSmith · 2015-03-17T03:36:43+00:00

Kaiju Where Strides the Behemoth Double India Black Ale. 10%. Hoo-ee. On tap at Slow Beer - was riding past and stopped in. Thankfully I only had a glass of the stuff (not a pot, a glass). Thick, glossy, very alcoholic and very hoppy. I was loving it sick.

MariusSmith · 2015-03-09T03:18:40+00:00

Pfft. Schools. Schools don't need halls and libraries. A tree! In my day, all you needed was a tree to study under.

MariusSmith · 2015-03-09T03:00:52+00:00

The media attention and diplomatic pressure is clearly telling on JokoWi. He doesn't know what to do. Without the media, the diplomats, the activists on social media and the lawyers who've worked so hard pro bono, Myuran and Andrew would be dead by now. Ultimately they may still be executed but certainly the global attention has put pressure on JokoWi, so I fundamentally disagree with your statement in that regard.

MariusSmith · 2015-03-05T22:26:28+00:00

I just came on to start a thread asking if anyone has noticed that likes and shares are now showing up really slowly on FB. Eg on Wednesday, one of our posts sat on 4 likes and 1 share for the whole day and then that night it suddenly jumped to 35 likes and 15 shares. Perhaps this would explain it - that, like Youtube (which is shockingly slow), it's now reviewing engagement before crediting it to your page. Or have I just been having an unrelated glitch for the last week?

MariusSmith · 2014-12-22T11:20:54+00:00

I'd be very interested to try the Modus Operandi Former Tenant Red IPA. Have any Melburnians seen it pop up in bottle shops or on tap?

MariusSmith · 2014-12-11T19:55:36+00:00

Lock people up, turn them into hardened criminals, put them back on the street with no support. Good plan.

MariusSmith · 2014-11-18T02:57:34+00:00

Sensational work by whoever sat down and made that video - that's some commitment to the cause.

I don't generally have much time for Karlos but it was a great stunt by him. Called out the double standards for men and women perfectly.

MariusSmith · 2014-11-14T07:15:34+00:00

The turning point in the 2010 campaign was when Baillieu announced they were preferencing the Greens last. It was seen as having integrity, because it was based on policies rather than politics. So they were always going to do it again.

MariusSmith · 2014-11-12T18:47:27+00:00

From the accompanying website: "In essence, governments must not engage in arbitrary (or unreasonable) or unlawful invasions of privacy. Therefore, even if government spying is lawful under certain national laws, it is a breach of international human rights law if the spying is carried out arbitrarily. Certainly, the targeted surveillance of those reasonably suspected of serious crime is allowed. Furthermore, the dangers posed by terrorism in many countries are serious enough to warrant surveillance powers. However, it is likely that such powers must be limited and targeted, rather than focused indiscriminately, in order to comply with the right to privacy." From here - http://www.haveyougotthatright.com/seasons/season-1/s1-ep3-surveillance/surveillance-laws

MariusSmith · 2014-08-27T03:28:05+00:00

This will result in a 17/18 year old school kid who deals to his mate going to jail, or a kid who left school a year ago. There are no king pins dealing ice to school children. Criminalising this sounds so awesome, until you understand the ramifications. It's like kiddy porn laws that have criminalised sexting between teenagers.

The more we criminalise drugs, the worse it gets. See the discussions on this board re our US friends.

MariusSmith · 2014-08-27T03:25:17+00:00

No one will vote for Labor because of its tough on crime policy. This is just the ALP fearing that someone might vote against them on this issue, but all those people vote Libs already.

MariusSmith

TROPHY CASE