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1
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by Professer E -
My kids play a lot of games vs. sides stacked with kids with Indian and Sri Lankan backgrounds and the term "pushy parent" is very apt. I'd hate to be the coach of one of those kids, the parental interference would drive you dingbats.
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The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by bratblue -
Khawaja spoke very well about growing up a brown kid amongst mostly white older generation racist players. It wasn't until Gillys generation that he began to feel apart. He said that it was the parents of the kids he played that were the worst. He's done very well to get through that to become the player he is.
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The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by crashlander -
So, Khawaja had announced his retirement. Good luck to him: to be still going at 39 here is a pretty good effort.

The interesting questions:
[1] What will our batting line-up look like?
[2] This test is often affected by rain. Are we going to get much play?
[3] Can the groundsmen in Sydney produce a pitch that is not too extreme?
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Dan’s statue, neo-nazis, local government, potholes and Victoria generally
Last post by crashlander -
Quote from: Thryleon – on
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on

A lot of Germans speak accented good English but there is an expectation that if you work for one of their companies even in Oz you have to learn German to a standard. I was lucky the Engineers I worked with spoke English and I had more problems with the Electrical/Electronic schematic diagrams that were all in German and many of the symbols differ to the USA and English versions yet can look the same.
ich bin auslander und spreche nicht gut deutsch!

Auch mit mir. Ich vergesse zu viel!
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Dan’s statue, neo-nazis, local government, potholes and Victoria generally
Last post by Thryleon -
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Quote from: crashlander – on
It is more that Russian children were trained from the time of the Tsars not to smile in public. Back in those days, they thought smiling would attract the Okrana, the Tsar's secret police. It was more so during the days of the Sovietskiy Soyuz, where first Lavrenti Beria's NKVD was thought to be attracted to anyone who smiled. Considering that one third of the entire Soviet payroll was working for the NKVD, they always knew of such things.
I was there in 1997 and people still didn't smile in public: it had become part of the Russian psyche.

I didn't find the same thing in Deutschland, but I could speak some German. They didn't even pick on me for my nice Australian accent (not in German - they knew I was a foreigner because I didn't speak dialect, rather than from my accent. They wanted to practice their English; that's when they noted my accent. I'm sure I affected a significant number of Germans with my English).
A lot of Germans speak accented good English but there is an expectation that if you work for one of their companies even in Oz you have to learn German to a standard. I was lucky the Engineers I worked with spoke English and I had more problems with the Electrical/Electronic schematic diagrams that were all in German and many of the symbols differ to the USA and English versions yet can look the same.
ich bin auslander und spreche nicht gut deutsch!
6
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Dan’s statue, neo-nazis, local government, potholes and Victoria generally
Last post by DJC -
The nazi wannabes of the NSN have adopted black Helly Hansen rain jackets and hats as their “uniform”.

Presumably this is because they feel that appearing in a black brand name “uniform” makes them look both cool and intimidating.  Then there’s the “Aryan” connection with the Norwegian company and the correlation between the company’s HH logo and the NSN’s “Heil H_____” rallying cry.

Imagine the dismay among the NSN faithful when they learned that Helly Hansen is the platinum sponsor for the 2026 Sydney Pride Regatta.

I have no idea whether HH took on the sponsorship as a deliberate response to the appropriation of their brand by the NSN goons or whether it was a purely commercial decision.  Either way, the NSN won’t be comfortable sharing their preferred brand with the Pride Regatta.

Way to go Helly Hansen! 👏
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Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by shawny -
Machette slashing on NYE in Lygon st had 2 young men in a critical condition with chest stabbings.

Just saw the footage and of you didnt know you would think this is in a 3rd world country. These thuds have no regard for the law laugh at our soft BS policies bail and sentencing and didnt obey labours brain fart idea to hand them into the machette bins. now who would have thought that wouldnt work 🤔

Again like the roads hospitals emergency services housing issues cost of living the crime situation just continues to get worse without any real changes to arrest it

But not all is lost Jacinta has confirmed the city is safe and the machette bins have done their job.