Hello From Tasmania Australia

[ray]

Welcome Ron.

That was nice list.

Where were you in 1935?

[RonPrice]

My parents met and married sometime, ray, in the years 1935 to 1942. And so, it could be argued, I was there in potential, in that relationship, in 1935. My mother told me over forty years ago that my father used a condom and was quite "tidy" about his use of it. I always interpreted her words as "my father was very careful in any of the sex activity" in which they engaged. I leave you to draw your own conclusions, ray about where I was "in potential" in 1935. I do not myself believe in reincarnation, that is, in previous lives, although you may do so, of course.-Ron

[Arising_uk]

Happy Birthday! Ron.

[RonPrice]

A very belated thanks for that "happy birthday" wish 3 years ago. I am now going through my 70s, 2014 to 2024, and my 80s, 2024 to 2034, if I last that long.-Ron

[Sappho de Miranda]

If one judged a religion or, for that matter, a philosophy by the behaviour of its members one would not be anything, join anything, practice anything....for the words and deeds of mortal men are not a sign of a philosophy's truth and that goes for atheism, agnosticism, cynicism, skepticism and all the isms and wasms.--Ron in Australia

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Gandhi from India.

Welcome RonPrice in Tasmania... have you been there long enough yet to have grown a second head?

Sappho in Australia

[RonPrice]

You might enjoy this piece, Sappho, as I thank you for your post found at this link: http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companio ... tation.htm
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Tasmania's reputation varied according to outsiders' perceptions of three attributes: the island's isolation, scenery and inhabitants. Before 1642 outsiders knew nothing of Tasmania, but Tasman's report of his voyage described this part of the great unknown southern continent unpromisingly, as a mountainous land with no valuable products such as minerals, but possibly peopled by giants. Swift probably knew of this, as in his Gulliver's Travels (1726) he located the imaginary land of Lilliput, inhabited by pigmies and giants, 'to the north-west of Van Diemen's Land'. Such mythical connotations were swamped when the island became a penal colony, and gained a reputation as a hell, inhabited by criminals, its original population slaughtered. Tasmania, the blood-soaked island where man's misery is echoed by towering gloomy crags, has been a recurring theme since, encouraged particularly by Marcus Clarke's His Natural Life (1874).

At the same time, the island was becoming known for its similarity to England and its natural beauty (depicted in novels by Jessie Couvreur and Marie Bjelke Petersen) and, in the voluminously wool-clad nineteenth century, it gained fame as a temperate and healthy haven, the 'Sanatorium of the South'. But holidays apart, Tasmania, small, remote and not particularly prosperous, was becoming seen as a backwater, 'Sleepy Hollow', while other areas of Australia developed rapidly, and this image dominated the twentieth century � especially as warmer climates became popular for holidays. Tasmania was so remote that the film star Merle Oberon, seeking to hide non-Aryan blood, claimed she was born here, presumably thinking that Tasmania was so faraway and isolated that no one would challenge her statement. More recently, outsiders confused Tasmania with Tanzania or, if they thought about it at all, saw it as a separate country from Australia.

[Sappho de Miranda]

Oh Dear Mr Price... you gave no link to the author Alison Alexander. I doubt very much that she would have appreciated that.

Anyhooo... To give readership an understanding of the two heads joke... the author Alison Alexander went on to say...

Muckraking articles in the Melbourne newspaper Truth describing incest in Tasmania � an activity sometimes found in isolated communities � encouraged an even worse reputation, with many jokes by mainlanders about Tasmanians' two heads. Other offshore islands, like Newfoundland and Ireland, have also suffered in this way. This view was challenged from the 1970s by the growth of tourism based on appreciation of Tasmania's scenic beauty, and from the late 1990s by Tasmania's booming economy and burgeoning production of fine food and wine; the kindly pity mainlanders once showed to Tasmanians began to disappear. Some novelists and poets still describe Tasmania as tainted by cruelty to convicts and Aborigines, crushed under resulting gothic gloom, but this is not apparent generally. Tasmania's dominant image overseas arises from the popular Warner Brothers cartoon character, Taz their imaginary Tassie devil: strong, ravenous, and mainly interested in eating.

Ah the Truth newspaper... what a load of crap that was eh? Doubt there were many too sorry to see the end of that paper... except those who liked the page (three?) half naked pic which led peeps to believe women are stupid.

[RonPrice]

Good point, Sappho, about the link....I've added it and appreciate your note regarding the courtesy of that addition to my post.-Ron

[Sappho de Miranda]

It happens Ron... don't sweat it. Gave me an opportunity to give our dear readers an understanding of the kind of nonsense we Aussies get up to when found to be from different states of Oz. As readers can see... Our Tassie Folks getting a ribbing not unlike that which the French folks suffer from the Poms.

Welcome again. Beautiful part of the world by the way. I'll be heading soon to Cradle Mountain for a bit of a week long trek... looking forward to it.

[RonPrice]

Thanks, Sappho. I'll post here a little prose-poem I wrote recently about humour at home in North America and Downunder.-Ron
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HUMOUR

Another of the six part, six one hour, epic showcasing of the funniest men, women and moments in American entertainment Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America-was on TV last night.1 Make ‘Em Laugh is a must-see if you have any sense of historical knowledge of American comedy or are looking to educate yourself in this field. If you know all these acts, or even some of them, or even none of them, you’ll have an education, a blast, reliving some classic skits and film footage. This is a fantastic primer on some of the all-time greatest comedic moments in the world of film, television, Vaudeville, radio and everything else.

I have come to appreciate humour more and more since moving to Australia in 1971. Humour is just about compulsory here. It often masks a cynical beneath surface mentality, and it is part of what I have found to be an essentially pleasure-loving people. -Ron Price with thanks to ABC2, 11:35 pm to 12:30 p.m. 22 & 23/9/11 to 29/8/'14.

As spring was making its entry
in the Antipodes & I was making
my entry into television-land at
midnight after a busy day of work
at reading and research, editing &
publishing, writing and scholarship:
a bit of history came my way giving
me a summary of comedy in the US
since I left Canada long ago in 1971.

I missed much of it: Archie Bunker
because I had no TV, Bill Cosby and
Roseanne since I was working 60 to
70 hours a week and Reality TV since
I found it distasteful. I liked Seinfeld:
89-98 thanks to my son Daniel but not
until I retired from the world of jobs &
had time to sit back and laugh which is
one of the main purposes of TV or, as
that critic of American society Gore Vidal
once put it: we all have the laughing gas
pumped into our lounge-rooms every night.

And we go to sleep in front of the TV as the
world experiences a tempest which is slowly
deranging its equilibrium, uprooting its many
institutions and harrowing-up the souls of its
inhabitants with catastrophic, unpredictable,
and hopefully ultimately glorious results.(1)

1 Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day Is Come, Baha’i Pub. Trust, New Delhi, 1976, p.1.

Ron Price
24 September 2011

[Sappho de Miranda]

Ha ha! Cynical Hedonists... Oh the irony.

[RonPrice]

Yes, Sappho, indeed. Although the concept is dated for this age of 24/7 stresses, in 1978 Ronald Conway wrote a book that for a time went into the Australian lexicon of self-examination alongside Donald Horne's The Lucky Country. It was called The Land of the Long Weekend. For a book of social criticism, it sold surprisingly well. But in sales it was eclipsed by his 1971 book The Great Australian Stupor. For a review of Conway go to: http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-m ... -9cdq.html "Cynical hedonists", indeed. There is more to Conway as is evident at: http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/136

[Sappho de Miranda]

Good Sir,

I have been on extended holidays having traveled Europe then our fair country Australia. I fly out home today and will then, having settled from such a long time away... give serious consideration to your comments. I know the books to which you refer... and having spent many months traveling all though Australia feel my thoughts are worth a hearing on this.

I'm sorry that my brief quips were not as well received as I'd hoped... ah well... 'til the morrow good sir and with my academic hat firmly upon me, I shall speak my thoughts on this Australian Culture of ours.

[RonPrice]

One of the wonderful things about humour, having imbibed many Australian versions now for over 40 years, is that it often--if not always--contains grains of truth far beyond the quips that are intended. I receive your quips with pleasure, but prefer to react to those grains of truth, at least as I see them, behind the quips---rather than return yet another quip which is often part of the great Aussie way.-Ron

[Sappho de Miranda]

One of the wonderful things about humour, having imbibed many Australian versions now for over 40 years, is that it often--if not always--contains grains of truth far beyond the quips that are intended.

Which is why I selected a point of humor to which no malice or truth could be gleaned ensuring that only humor prevailed. You are not originally from Tasmania, that was clearly expressed so that I referenced the 'Tassie' two heads joke, could not have, should not have been taken as a slight against yourself. Indeed the only way you could have taken offense is if it was the case that you have engaged incest as that could only be the 'truth' granules to which you refer and so begs the question.... ?

Equally, you would know of the competitive spirit to which many Australians suffer, endure or joke upon... Tall poppies are not allowed in the Land of Oz. Such attitudes are expressed in the way in which we tease one another, again, without malice where it is that state rivalry is happened upon such as your being Tasmanian and my being Victorian.

It is true that among my friends from Sydney and Melbourne a great rivalry exists which city is better... of course it is Melbourne as we are the Artz Capital of Australia. We wear the uniform of Artz (black) exceptionally well.... and so it goes. In truth however, both cities are equal in Artist expression. Melbourne would claim of itself that it is the literary capital of Australia, but having been to Adelaide's, Sydney's and Melbourne's Writer Festivals... I struggle to find differences having discovered many similarities. Perhaps Sydney wins out in the end though as they have the Festival of Dangerous Ideas... something the other states do not have.

Sydney-siders will claim that they have better weather than Melbourne and we will argue the opposite. In truth however, Melbourne has more rain and sunshine and Sydney has more deluging rain and cloud coverage... (I think... don't hold me to that as it has been a while since reading the science.)

And then there is the matter of football... I roll my eyes at football as i have zero interest, but note the great rivalries between all states in this epic Aussie TV viewing pass time.

All this serves to show that a blanket statement evoking a universal concept that 'All humour contains 'grains of truth'... is wrong as it does not give due credence for motive.

It can happen, that sometimes humor is intended only for that and such was my intent which you have taken in very bad grace... and so have soured our brief meeting.

Enjoy the forum sir. Excuse me if i dont indulge you further.