Honestly, I plan to focus on the cricket after this…

Now that there is a season to sit back and enjoy. It has already delivered some interest, even if I just began watching today.

However, about NSW and those horrible events involving the Department of Community Services. I was at The Mine for a while today (delivering copies of my feature article in the South Sydney Herald) and chatted with someone who has experience with autistic children and the accompanying nutrition issues, which if neglected could produce the outcome we have been reading about. Beyond that I propose to say nothing about that issue.

However, consider some background issues. I have this memory in the late 80s of talking to a DOCS worker who said that there would sooner or later be a catastrophe. What he was referring to were the cuts in funding and staffing that were then happening, a result both of state (Liberal Party then under Greiner) and Federal (Hawke Labor) policies. Jim Belshaw will know much more about this, but I offer Working in Community Services: Management and Practice by Michael Wearing [Allen & Unwin 1998] in support.

If Maths had been like this I may have been interested…

Dear me, there is a nasty left-wing plot brewing in the world of Mathematics of all places, according to Devine pater in today’s Australian.

The square route to hell is paved with good intentions

WATCH out for radical maths, which may be coming to a school near you. Also known as “social justice maths”, it is a teaching theory, gaining momentum in the US, which seeks to use mathematics as a form of instruction in social justice issues.

For example, in studying fractions, a student might be asked to “compare how money spent on military operations could be used to support other important causes (for example, if a bomb costs $10 million and it costs $10,000 to provide health care for an entire family for a year, how many families could get health care for the cost of this bomb?).”

Friday Australian poem # 14: "The Australaise" by C J Dennis

Expanded since draft posting… And as for the wrong number: oops!

After watching The Sounds of Aus on ABC last night my choice this week was clear.

Hosted by John Clarke, this entertaining story about the way we sound is told through an array of illuminating interviews with linguists, historians, social and political commentators, comedians, actors, and plenty of opinionated people with genuinely hilarious anecdotes. Those featured include Rachel Griffiths, Bruce Beresford, Bert Newton, Max Gillies, Denise Scott, Mary-Anne Fahey, Santo Cilauro, Simon Palomares and Akmal Saleh.

Is our accent really the legendary broad “Strine” of Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin? Why is it so hard for others to do? Are there regional variations? Is it a bastardised version of the Queen’s English? Is it under threat from global forces? And if it is, is it worth saving?

By examining the Australian accent and discovering its story, The Sounds of Aus reveals much about the Australian psyche and our national identity. Indeed, over the last two centuries, many of the conflicts about our identity have been played out through the accent, with our vision of, and our relationship with, the world reflected in the way we speak.