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Alan Jones once seemed unassailable. What ended it was a peculiarly Sydney story of media, politics and power

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denis-muller-1865">Denis Muller</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> For decades it seemed Alan Jones was unassailable. A finding against him of professional misconduct by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (2000); a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/tribunal-upholds-that-jones-incited-hatred-20121002-26x8h.html">finding</a> that he incited hatred, serious contempt and severe ridicule of Lebanese Muslims (2009); propositions of violence against two women prime ministers (<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-20/alan-jones-says-gillard-remark-best-left-unsaid/3579658">2011</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-21/alan-jones-breached-rules-in-jacinda-ardern-comment/12271476">2019</a>); verdicts against him and his employer amounting to millions of dollars in defamation actions (most notably <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-12/alan-jones-defamed-wagners-court-decision-brisbane-qld/10230384">one for $3.75 million</a> in 2018): none of these ended his career. Quite the reverse. Only weeks after the Australian Broadcasting Authority found in its “cash for comments” inquiry that Jones and others had misled their listeners by presenting paid endorsements as editorial opinion, he was hosting an event for then prime minister John Howard. Howard was to become a fixture on the Jones program throughout the 11 years of his prime ministership. The day after the Australian Communications and Media Authority found Jones was likely to have encouraged violence and vilification of Australians of Lebanese and Middle Eastern background, Howard <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/jones-wins-friends-in-high-places-20070412-ge4n4f.html">described him</a> as “an outstanding broadcaster”. “I don’t think he’s a person who encourages prejudice in the Australian community, not for one moment, but he is a person who articulates what a lot of people think.” By 2001, Jones had become a kind of on-air policy-maker for the New South Wales government. In November that year, he dined with the then Labor premier, Bob Carr. They discussed a range of government policies, particularly policing. At that time, Jones was a relentless critic of the NSW police. The following week, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-01/newton-alan-jones/4288824">Carr dispatched</a> his police minister-designate, Michael Costa, to Jones’s home to discuss policing policy. In 2011 he said Julia Gillard, then Australia’s prime minister, should be taken out to sea and dumped in a chaff bag. In August 2019 he said Scott Morrison, who was then Australia’s prime minister, should “shove a sock” down the throat of his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern. He was an outspoken climate-change denier, and these grotesqueries were part of his campaign against political recognition of this reality. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Od6I1YbrBoM?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Jones’s power, which made him so apparently untouchable, came from his weaponising of the microphone for conservative political ends in ways that resonated with his vast and rusted-on audience of largely working-class older people across Sydney’s sprawling western suburbs. These suburbs contain many marginal state and federal electorates where the fates of governments can be decided. Their populations provide fertile ground for seeding by right-wing radio shock jocks, of whom Jones and his rival John Laws were pre-eminent examples. In Australia, this is a peculiarly Sydney phenomenon. It is not seen to the same degree in any other capital city, even though they too have large areas of socioeconomic disadvantage like western Sydney. Why that should be so is a complex question, but there are aspects of Sydney life that mark it out as different. It is really two cities. One is the largely prosperous and scenically dazzling east and north. The other, much larger, consists of dreary tracts of increasingly crowded housing stretching for many kilometres to the west and southwest. In Sydney argot, the inhabitants of these respective worlds are called “silvertails” and “fibros”, the latter referring to the cladding of the homes that proliferated in western Sydney between and after the two world wars. This two-cities effect makes the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” highly visible in a way that has no parallel in other Australian capitals. It engenders deep-seated grievance and cynicism, which the likes of Jones, who lives in a multimillion-dollar apartment on Circular Quay, have relentlessly exploited. Jones coined the term “Struggle Street” to encapsulate the hardships of his listeners’ lives. To these powerless people, Jones and Laws gave a voice, and as their audiences grew, prime ministers and premiers courted and feared them. In the end, Jones’s impregnability was breached by not the power elite turning on one of their own, but by the journalism of a redoubtably tenacious Sydney Morning Herald investigative reporter, Kate McClymont. In December 2023, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/he-d-go-the-grope-alan-jones-accused-of-indecently-assaulting-young-men-20231205-p5epai.html">she claimed</a> Jones had used his position of power, first as a teacher and later as the country’s top-rating radio broadcaster, to allegedly prey on a number of young men. In response to McClymont’s work, the NSW police set up Strike Force Bonnefin, run by the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse Squad, to conduct an investigation into Jones. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0ExkpCtfmA8?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> On November 18 2024, Jones was arrested at his Circular Quay home and charged initially with 24 sexual offences against eight males. The following day, two <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-19/alan-jones-charged-with-additional-offences-nsw-police/104617680">additional charges</a> were laid involving a ninth male. Through his lawyers, Jones has denied the charges and was bailed to appear in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on December 18. He <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/alan-jones-arrested-over-allegations-he-indecently-assaulted-young-men-20241118-p5krdu.html">was ordered</a> to surrender his passport and not to contact or harass the alleged victims. The charges relate to offences alleged to have been committed by Jones between 2001 and 2019, the youngest alleged victim being 17 at the time. Those dates coincide almost exactly with Jones’s most influential years, from 2002 to 2020. McClymont <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-stunning-development-kate-mcclymont-on-alan-jones-arrest-and-what-s-next-20241118-p5krln.html">has spoken</a> about the reluctance of some of her interviewees to speak, for fear of what Jones might do: "People were too afraid to take on Alan Jones. Once a couple of people came forward, and some people were happy to be publicly named, that gave confidence for other people to come forward.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/243942/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />" <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denis-muller-1865">Denis Muller</a>, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/alan-jones-once-seemed-unassailable-what-ended-it-was-a-peculiarly-sydney-story-of-media-politics-and-power-243942">original article</a>. </div>

Legal

Filling the silences in family stories − how to think like a historian to uncover your family’s narrative

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrea-kaston-tange-1417052">Andrea Kaston Tange</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macalester-college-2632">Macalester College</a> Great-grandmothers. We all have them. But most of us will never know them except through glimpses of fading bits of paper: sepia photographs, recipe cards, letters in handwriting traced by a fountain pen dispensing cocoa-colored ink. What does it take to build coherent stories out of such tantalizing fragments of lives? I face this question routinely in my career as a <a href="https://www.macalester.edu/english/facultystaff/andreakastontange/">professor of 19th-century literature and culture</a>. Recently, I’ve turned that experience to writing a book about my own family. When I inherited my great-grandmother’s diary, a repurposed teacher’s planner in which she chronicled the family’s 1926 move from Michigan to Miami, I found a wedding portrait tucked inside. The angled profile showcases her youthful skin and a dress too elaborate for a Midwestern schoolteacher’s daily wear. It is easy to imagine that she took pleasure in inscribing her new name on the picture’s reverse: Faith Avery. I stared at her beautiful image for years, as if details of her satin gown could explain why a woman widowed in 1918 would, for the rest of her life, refuse to admit to having had that first husband and yet carefully preserve this portrait. And then, because archives have been at the center of my scholarly work, I turned to research. I located marriage records and draft cards, pored over maps, found family members in censuses and obituaries. Within those documents lay answers both surprising and poignant. What did I look for? How might anyone with a half-told family story begin to uncover more truths? And what does it take to make sense of them? <h2>The digging</h2> Questions that begin with “why” can rarely be answered easily. Researchers thus often prefer to start with “who” and “when” and “how,” locating a person in one spot and then tracing them through time. This adventure down a rabbit hole follows a method. Make a list of unknowns. These may be facts or enticing tidbits of incomplete family lore. My mother, trying to be helpful, told me things like, “Faith always said there was a horse thief in the family, but she was too mortified to reveal his name” and “I think Aunt Harriette (Faith’s sister) was married once briefly.” Do precise, not general, searches. Typing “horse thief Avery” into Google yields nothing useful, but many other sources contain rich information about old-fashioned exploits. The New York Public Library’s <a href="https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/03/25/genealogy-guide-books">guide for family research</a> introduces some options. The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/">Library of Congress print and photograph collection</a> can also help you envision your ancestors’ world. Physical libraries contain historic photographs, maps, local records and digitized newspapers not available online. Historical societies and state universities typically allow free, in-person use of their collections. Know that sometimes you will fail and need to change course. I spent several days looking for the horse thief to no avail, much to my mother’s disappointment. But when I turned to Aunt Harriette’s marriage, I found a character no less fascinating, one I now think of as “Four Wives Frank.” Read old documents knowing they were produced by a patchwork of individuals who took information on trust. The handwritten birth, death, marriage and <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/census/about">census records</a> of past centuries relied on self-reported data that required no verification. They can be plagued by carelessness in the name of efficiency. One hurried census-taker recorded Faith’s mother Cara as “Cora,” another renamed her brother Horace “Harris.” Frank offered up a variety of birth years, countries of origin and maiden names for his mother as he worked his way west. He must have been charming. Who but a charming man could have convinced woman after woman to marry him, each thinking she was, at most, his second wife? Marriage register officers and census-takers, not to mention his trail of brides, were none the wiser. Which leads me to this: Cross-check information. I knew I had the right Frank because he had the same three sons in multiple records. Inconsistencies across those records, in conjunction with the trajectory of his life, made this conclusion inevitable: The man purposefully reinvented himself. <h2>The assembly</h2> My academic work has taught me that most <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/victorianstudies.63.2.02">archival answers lead to more questions</a>. As a result, I expect multiple phases of collecting. I gathered everything I could find about Faith’s early life, in hopes something might explain her reticence about her first marriage. As her story emerged, I periodically hit holes in the narrative that sent me back for more digging. Understanding people is easier if you are familiar with their world. For background, I read histories of Miami in the 1920s and researched details in Faith’s diary that might reveal her personality or motivations. Exploring her reading lists showed me a woman who enjoyed popular entertainment, such as 1926’s blockbuster “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016598/">Aloma of the South Seas</a>.” Primers of <a href="https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1920-1929">1920s wages and prices</a> explained the family’s economic worries. As I got to know Faith, I revisited documents with new questions. To figure out whether Harriette’s husband Frank had anything to do with Faith, I made timelines for both sisters. To ponder the emotional underpinnings of those events, I reread Faith’s diary, paying particular attention to entries about Harriette and about Faith’s second husband. Because every pile of documents contains multiple stories, the key to a coherent narrative is locating a through line that addresses the biggest conundrums while identifying the tangents. I let go of the horse thief. <h2>The results</h2> The detective-style plots of what I call “<a href="https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/lilly-dancyger-memoir-as-detective-novel">investigative memoir</a>” may inspire you to do your own family research. Genealogy sites such as <a href="https://www.ancestry.com/">Ancestry.com</a> and <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/">FamilySearch.org</a> can help. But it’s worth remembering that secondary reading will add richness to any family story. And local librarians are extraordinary at helping patrons navigate the search process. Improbable as it might seem, Four Wives Frank helped me understand the extent of Faith’s secrets and that she harbored them in hopes that her children’s lives would be easier. Such self-sacrifices are common for mothers. And yet, their particulars are as individual as the faintly silvered portrait of the soft young woman who married Harold Avery in 1911, and whose story requires an entire book to tell properly.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/234341/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrea-kaston-tange-1417052">Andrea Kaston Tange</a>, Professor of English, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macalester-college-2632">Macalester College</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/filling-the-silences-in-family-stories-how-to-think-like-a-historian-to-uncover-your-familys-narrative-234341">original article</a>. </div>

Family & Pets

West Side Story returns to Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour

Get ready to snap your fingers, tap your toes and experience the magic of Broadway in Sydney as Opera Australia presents the electrifying musical extravaganza West Side Story – making its triumphant return to the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour stage in 2024. The 2019 production of West Side Story, if you were fortunate enough to grab seats, was an absolute smash hit. With record-breaking ticket sales and rave reviews, it's no wonder this show stole the hearts of over 65,000 theatre and musical buffs. Directed by the incomparable Francesca Zambello, West Side Story promises to once again whisk audiences away to the bustling streets of New York City, complete with iconic songs, heart-pounding dance numbers, and enough drama to fill the harbour twice over. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's musical masterpiece will once again take centre stage, accompanied by Jerome Robbins' legendary choreography – and this year, we were fortunate enough to be able to pose a few pre-performance questions to none other than Guy Simpson, the show’s musical director, and the all-singing, all-dancing Wayne Scott Kermond, who is playing “Doc” onstage. Let’s raise the curtain and see what they have to say! <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2024/03/Guy-Simpson.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Guy Simpson Guy Simpson, a seasoned musical director with nearly 45 years of experience, boasts an illustrious career spanning global productions. Notably, his involvement with iconic shows like Miss Saigon and The Phantom of the Opera has taken him across continents, from Australia to Asia and beyond. Simpson's extensive repertoire includes serving as Musical Supervisor and Director for Opera Australia's acclaimed productions such as Evita, My Fair Lady, and of course West Side Story. Additionally, his contributions as an orchestrator and producer of cast recordings further solidify his stature in the musical theatre realm. With credits ranging from beloved classics like Les Misérables to contemporary hits like Muriel's Wedding, Simpson's versatile talent continues to enrich the world of musical theatre on an international scale. OverSixty: What memories do you have of your first time working on West Side Story – when was it and what was the experience like? Guy: “I was a rehearsal pianist for the 1983 production of West Side Story. The conductor was Dobbs Franks, who came from the US to conduct the first production of the show in 1960. So I was lucky to learn the show from him. I wasn’t in the orchestra and had tickets to watch opening night but during the afternoon of that day I received a call to play in the orchestra that night because the pianist was unwell. I’ll never forget that! Since then I have conducted three seasons of the show and learn more and more about it each time.” OverSixty: What were Bernstein’s influences and what impact did Bernstein’s score have when the musical first premiered? And why do you think it remains so recognised today? Guy: “Bernstein was influenced by many things. There is an <a href="https://www.wrti.org/arts-desk/2018-08-23/the-surprising-backstory-to-west-side-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">excellent article by Debra Lew Harder</a> that outlines these influences. I love the combination of Jewish themes, Puerto Rican rhythm, Mexican dance music and of course American jazz. His classical roots also come in here – especially the music of Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. The genius is Bernstein's ability to blend all this into a score that tells the story so brilliantly." OverSixty: What’s your favourite moment in the music that audiences might not always notice but could listen out for? Guy: I like what is known as ‘THE BALCONY SCENE’. Most people will know it as the iconic love duet ‘TONIGHT’. In the show this scene moves between spoken dialogue (with underscoring), into the song and back into dialogue in a wonderfully cohesive way. It is so well crafted and is quite a challenge for the conductor to fit the music with the dialogue in a seamless way. I also love the scene in the bridal shop that includes the song ‘ONE HAND ONE HEART’. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2024/03/Wayne-Scott-Kermond-as-Doc.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Wayne Scott Kermond Wayne Scott Kermond, hailing from a rich lineage of Australian Vaudeville performers, epitomises the essence of musical theatre, comedy and cabaret. With a repertoire spanning from Anything Goes to Hairspray, including acclaimed performances in several productions of West Side Story, Kermond's versatility shines through. Additionally, he's showcased his creative prowess as the creator and star of captivating cabaret shows such as Candy Man and Jive Junkys. Beyond the stage, Kermond's talents extend to film, where he's contributed to projects like Happy Feet 1 & 2, and as a respected scriptwriter and director for various musicals, cabarets and corporate events. With accolades including a Green Room Award and Mo Award, alongside nominations for Helpmann Awards, Kermond's exceptional abilities and esteemed showbiz heritage solidify his status as an extraordinary Australian talent. OverSixty: You and Guy first worked on this musical 40 years ago, how does it feel to be coming back together on the Handa Opera version? Wayne: “I first performed in West Side Story at the old Her Majesty’s Theatre (Sydney), 40 years ago playing the youngest member of the Jets gang, ‘Baby John’, and then again in another fabulous production touring Australia / New Zealand in the mid-nineties playing Arab. And so it was lovely to be reminded by Guy on the first day of rehearsals for this season how special it is to us both, here we are, doing it again, just a little greyer." “We shared a few laughs about ‘where did that time go?’, and how ‘young’ we still look after all these years. It’s so great to work with Guy again, I think the last show we did together was Chicago, back in the late nineties. So with Guy's huge amount of expertise and experience at the helm as our Musical Director the show is in great hands. Wait till you hear the amazing Orchestra.” OverSixty: What about this musical’s story, lyrics, etc resonate with you and why do you think it keeps being seen on stage? Can it appeal to all ages? Wayne: “West Side Story is as iconic to music theatre as Swan Lake is to ballet. All great musicals such as West Side have to have a great love story; West Side certainly has that. And to add to that, also an incredible score, dynamic original choreography and a beautifully written book makes it a triple threat. That's why it stands the test of time – it's an inter-generational piece, whose story and message still stands today, which is the reason why I’m now getting the opportunity to play an adult character ‘Doc’ in this OA production 40 years later, as it will be for another artist, in another 40 years' time.” OverSixty: What’s your favourite moment in the show and why? Wayne: It is very difficult to say there is a favourite moment as there are so many. The whole journey of the show is something everyone who loves theatre should experience. The Prologue, Dance at the Gym, America, Cool, Tonight, Something's Comin, and not forgetting the Quintet powerhouse... Every part of this show is special, whether you're seeing the show for the first time or for the tenth time, it’s exhilarating, poignant and moving." “It’s especially wonderful for me to have been given the opportunity to revisit the show, after all these years later as a performer. And it’s very exciting to watch another generation of performers being given the opportunity to experience such an exceptional piece of theatre.” So, mark your calendars, Sydney-siders, because Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour is about to serve up a theatrical experience like no other. With world-class performances, breathtaking views of the harbour, and enough fireworks to make New Year's Eve jealous, this is one event you won't want to miss. So grab your tickets, grab your friends, and get ready to experience the magic of West Side Story like never before. See you at the opera! For more information and ticket sales, check out <a href="https://opera.org.au/productions/west-side-story-on-sydney-harbour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opera.org.au/harbour</a> All images: Supplied

Domestic Travel

"Hilarious" number plate somehow slips past the censors

In a world where innovation knows no bounds, one Perth driver has taken the art of personalised license plates to a whole new level, leaving us all wondering: is it plain rude, or just plain hilariously? The car in question, a humble Kia Sportage, seems innocent enough at first glance. But wait, what’s that? A custom plate that reads 37OHSSV? Seems harmless, right? Wrong. It turns out, if you dare to flip the plate upside down, you'll unveil a cheeky message that spells out none other than "a**hole" in bold, red letters. Yes, you read that correctly. Someone actually managed to sneak that past the scrutinizsng eyes of state transport officials. Unsurprisingly, the discovery of this plate sent the internet into a frenzy, with the post garnering over 2000 shares and nearly 1000 comments. And guess what? Almost everyone loved it! “This is so clever and hilarious,” exclaimed one amused user, echoing the sentiments of many. “That’s the best I’ve ever seen,” chimed in another, probably still laughing. “That is brilliant, I love it,” added a third, undoubtedly already planning their own witty plate. But amid the laughter and applause, there’s a serious question lingering: How did this driver manage to bypass the stringent regulations that typically govern custom plates? In the last financial year alone, nearly 1000 applications for personalised plates were rejected in Western Australia due to being deemed too offensive for the road. Among the rejected gems were GEN3CID, SAUC3D, and RAMP4GE. Clearly, the censors were not amused. And let’s not forget the demographics at play here. According to the stats, a whopping 71 percent of custom plate holders are men, with the average age hovering around 41. So, it seems that mid-life crisis isn’t just limited to buying flashy sports cars; it extends to personalised license plates as well. So whether you find this particular plate downright rude or ingeniously innovative, one thing’s for sure: it's got people talking. And in a world where monotony often reigns supreme, a little dose of humour and creativity on the road might just be what we need. So, hats off to you, mysterious Perth driver. You may be a bit of an a$$hole – but you’re our kind of a$$hole. Image: Facebook

Travel Trouble

Aussie love story from WWII immortalised in the war memorial

An Australian couple's love story that defied the odds of time and distance has been immortalised in the war memorial. The Australian War Memorial is calling for volunteers to help transcribe thousands of love letters sent from soldiers in the war, to their loved ones back at home. Launching on Valentine's Day, the project will see the digital release of hundreds of thousands of personal letters, diaries and other handwritten documents kept safe for decades. Among those stories is the tale of Mac and Dot, two lovebirds separated by World War II. Their love story began in 1939, when Mac was 17 and Dorothy was 14. Dorothy - or as Mac referred to her, his Darling Dot - was forbidden to go on a date with Mac after her father refused to give his blessing. "He kept on asking me to go out but my father wouldn't let me," Dorothy laughed as she told Ally Langdon on A Current Affair. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3Rj4g9vjIS/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3Rj4g9vjIS/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by A Current Affair (@acurrentaffair9)</a> </div> </blockquote> Mac was soon off to war, but his plan was always to return home to Dot. "He said to me, 'When I come back home...Will you come out with me then?'" Dorothy reminisced. "I said, 'Of course I will, Mac!' And then he gave me a kiss and went to war." The young couple then continued to write each other letters every week for five long years, until Mac was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war. Despite his capture, Mac held onto every letter Dot had ever written him, as he remained determined to get home to his beloved. "I hated him being away, and when the letters came back oh gee they were wonderful," Dorothy said. "A letter meant he was still alive, you see, so it was so exciting." In April 1945, Dot received the best letter of all: Mac had escaped and was coming home. "Hello my darling. What does one say in a moment such as this?" Dot wrote on April 30th 1945. "I have butterflies in my stomach, love in my heart and few words that make sense in my mind. Well Mac, it's really coming at last. You're almost home". And Mac wrote back to that, "Hello darling. I miss you more now than ever." "Unfortunately I can't find a boat to take me back to you. If they don't hurry I guess I'll just have to pinch a rowing boat and see what I can do!" When Mac returned home, he brought with him half a decade's worth of those love letters from Dot, as well as a portrait of himself painted by another prisoner of war. It hangs proudly at the end of Dorothy's bed and is the first thing she sees when she wakes. Now Robyn Van Dyke and Terrie-Anne Simmonds from the Australian War Memorial are sifting through thousands of donated love letters, including Mac's and Dorothy's. "He not only managed to escape, but he managed to take all her letters with him and that blows me away because it's not a small amount of letters," Robyn said. The team is looking for <a href="https://transcribe.awm.gov.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">volunteers</a> to help ensure those stories, and all that love, live forever. Dorothy, who is now 101 years old, had more than 70 wonderful years with Mac before he died in 2014. "He was nearly 90, you know. And me I just kept on going and going and going!" she said. "He'd be up there watching every minute I bet. We had such fun. Oh dear we did have fun. We laughed a lot and we cried a lot." "But we lived - and that was the main thing." Image credits: A Current Affair <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 24px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.333; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: #333333; color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.25px;">

Relationships

The funny reason Robert Irwin wants to hand over his citizenship

Robert irwin has joined in the global outrage of Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig being <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/entertainment/movies/margot-robbie-snubbed-as-oscar-nominations-announced">snubbed</a> from the Oscar nominations. The wildlife warrior joined the panel of The Project on Wednesday night as a co-host of the show, where the conversation turned to the Aussie actress being snubbed by the Academy Awards. On Wednesday morning, it was revealed that Margot Robbie didn’t receive a Best Actress nomination for her role in Barbie, and nor did Greta Gerwig for Best Director, despite the movie breaking records when it was released in July. Around the world, Barbie fans shared their disgust in the snub, with Robert Irwin echoing their statements. “That's ridiculous. Come on,” he began. “[Director] Greta [Gerwig] and Margot made that movie. That's the reason why we have the Barbie movie, it's ridiculous.” Co-host Waleed Aly then asked if Robert would be renouncing his American citizenship over the injustice and was shocked by his response. “I think it only makes sense,” Robert said. News of the snub went viral on Wednesday, with fans flocking to social media to share their thoughts. One particular tweet went viral, with over 109 thousand likes. "Ken getting nominated and not Barbie is honestly so fitting for a film about a man discovering the power of patriarchy in the Real World," the tweet read. Ryan Gosling, who received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Ken in the film, also shared a statement about the lack of recognition for the women he shared the screen with. In a lengthy statement, he said, “I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m also incredibly honoured and proud that [the award] is for portraying a plastic doll named Ken.” “But there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film. No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius.” “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.” Image credits: The Project

Movies

Vale ‘sister suffragette’: how Glynis Johns became a pop-culture icon in the story of votes for women

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ana-stevenson-196768">Ana Stevenson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lindsay-helwig-1500979">Lindsay Helwig</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> Glynis Johns, most famous for her role as the suffragette mother Mrs Winifred Banks in Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964), passed away last week at the age of 100. A fourth-generation performer who made her <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-17-ca-126-story.html">stage debut</a> in London when she was only three weeks old, Johns inherited her Welsh father’s love of acting. She appeared with him in The Halfway House (1944) and The Sundowners (1960) and argued for the establishment of a Welsh National Theatre <a href="https://twitter.com/huwthomas/status/791367871242862592">as early as 1971</a>. Johns’s career spanned eight decades in Hollywood, Broadway and the British stage and screen. As Palm Springs’s Desert Sun <a href="https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19630426.2.50">reported</a> in 1962, her “husky voice and big blue eyes” were her hallmarks. But it was her portrayal of Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins which would make her a pop culture icon. <h2>A childhood inspiration</h2> Feminist activists and scholars often describe the Mrs Banks character as a childhood inspiration. As feminist communications scholar Amanda Firestone <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Resist_and_Persist/s5HiDwAAQBAJ">reflects</a> on the film: "I especially loved […] Mrs Banks (Glynis Johns), who marches around the family home, putting Votes for Women sashes onto the housekeeper, cook, and the (departing) nanny. Of course, as a kid, I had no idea that the people and events embedded in the song’s lyrics were actual parts of history, but I did find a kind of joy in a vague notion of women’s empowerment." Set in 1910, the symbolism associated with Mrs Banks references the history of the British suffragettes. Johns’ musical showstopper, Sister Suffragette, directly refers to <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-pankhursts-politics-protest-and-passion/">Emmeline Pankhurst</a>, who founded the militant Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. In 1906 British newspapers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859007003239">coined</a> the moniker “suffragette” to mock the union. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K0SDECwO54E?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> This ambivalence continued into the 1960s. Historian Laura E. Nym Mayhall <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4316653">argues</a> that American concern over the impact of women’s public roles on their domestic responsibilities influenced the film’s depiction of Mrs Banks, especially her movement from a public suffragette back into an involved mother at the film’s end. For Mayhall, the figure of the suffragette emerges in popular culture as “a symbol of modernity”: a harbinger of democracy and political progress whose characterisation would elide ongoing struggles such as the civil rights movement. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=949&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568335/original/file-20240108-23-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1193&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption>This 1909 Dunston Weiler Lithograph Co. anti-suffrage postcard offers resonances of Mrs Banks and her household staff in Mary Poppins. <a class="source" href="https://thesuffragepostcardproject.omeka.net/items/show/44">Catherine H. Palczewski Postcard Archive/The Suffrage Postcard Project</a></figcaption></figure> While some see the character of the suffragette mother as <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Mary_Poppins/BLujEAAAQBAJ">supporting</a> women’s votes during the 1910s and women’s liberation during the 1960s, other readings of the film suggest a more satirical representation of the suffrage movement. Some historians even find <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-6923118">resonances</a> of anti-suffrage propaganda in Mrs Banks, including in her usage of her Votes for Women sash as the tail of a kite in the film’s final scene. Looking back at film reviews offers insight into how audiences received this character – and, by extension, Johns as an actor. American studies scholar Lori Kenschaft <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Girls_Boys_Books_Toys.html?id=Or13vhnA_W4C">suggests</a> that film critics who saw Mrs Banks as a “nutty suffragette mother” reiterated popular stereotypes about suffragettes and feminists being “mentally unbalanced”. Such stereotypes may have been reinforced by the film’s depiction of motherhood and the nuclear family. Involved parenting emerged as the bedrock of the 1960s nuclear family, an idea both supported and actively promoted by Walt Disney in both his films and his theme parks, as <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Children_Childhood_and_Musical_Theater/XHrRDwAAQBAJ">argued</a> by American musicologist William A. Everett. As Mrs Banks, Johns embodied the transition from the distant, uninvolved parenting of the British middle-class in the earlier 20th century to the involved mother who facilitated the stable nuclear family. As women’s studies scholar Anne McLeer <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4316893">argues</a>, Mary Poppins, through Johns’ portrayal of Mrs Banks, demonstrated the liberated woman of the 1960s could be contained within the nuclear family: the bedrock for a Western capitalist economy. <h2>A long career</h2> Beyond Mary Poppins, her most prominent role was in Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical A Little Night Music (1973). Johns originated the character of ageing actress Desiree Armfeldt, becoming the first to sing Send in the Clowns. As she <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-17-ca-126-story.html">reflected</a> of the classic in 1991: "It’s still part of me. And when you’ve got a song like Send in the Clowns, it’s timeless." Sondheim composed this song with Johns’s famously husky voice in mind. Yet some were less enamoured with her performance. One 1973 theatre critic <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3850619">described</a> Johns as “a now somewhat overage tomboy, kittenish and raspy-voiced, precise and amusing in her delivery of lines but utterly, utterly unseductive.” <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OAl-EawVobY?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> A veteran of stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. In 1998, she was honoured with a Disney Legends Award for her role as Mrs Banks. Johns also received critical acclaim throughout her career, including a Laurel Award for Mary Poppins and a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for A Little Night Music. Regardless of how incongruous her status as a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-05/glynis-johns-mary-poppins-send-in-the-clowns/103287036">Disney feminist icon</a>” may be, Johns’s extraordinary influence upon the 20th century’s cultural memory is a remarkable legacy. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220766/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ana-stevenson-196768">Ana Stevenson</a>, Senior Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lindsay-helwig-1500979">Lindsay Helwig</a>, Lecturer in Pathways, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> Image credits: Disney This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/vale-sister-suffragette-how-glynis-johns-became-a-pop-culture-icon-in-the-story-of-votes-for-women-220766">original article</a>.

Caring

Eagle-eyed motorists spot funny typo on "confusing" new interchange

The new interchange at Rozelle, in Sydney's inner west, has already copped backlash just days after its opening, because of the confusing signage and changed traffic conditions causing chaos among commuters. Now, motorists have spotted another awkward blunder at the bustling "spaghetti junction", intended to improve traffic. Just metres away from the main intersection along Victoria Road and Darling Street, some poor road worker made the same typo twice, in a left-hand turn lane. Instead of saying "buses excepted", they painted "buses expected", and now their mistake has gone viral on social media. "If I was a road, I'd expect buses too," one joked. "I get my bus near there and I'm constantly expecting buses that don't show, so seems accurate," another quipped. The interchange itself has been years in the making and opened up on Sunday. It was intended to connect drivers to the M4 and M8 tunnels, the City West Link, the Western Distributor and give access to the Anzac Bridge with a toll-free bypass of Victoria Road. While the aim of it was to improve traffic flow, just four days after its opening locals are still complaining about the chaotic strip, specifically it's poorly designed signage that has reportedly baffled drivers. One of the new signs suggested there was a toll from Iron Cove Bridge to Anzac Bridge, and while it is actually free, commuters are avoiding the tunnel and trying to switch across multiple roads to avoid presumed fee. Earlier this week, NSW Premier Chris Minns said: "Clearly it's confusing, that spaghetti junction is difficult to navigate and a lot of cars' GPS haven't caught up. "We'll change that sign and I understand the Minister for Roads is putting up those portable electronic signs to show people that you can use that road in particular and not pay the toll." Images: Twitter/ 9News

Travel Trouble

Explore. Dream. Discover: An Over60 Reader's epic journey

Many people travel to all corners of the earth, seeking new and exciting experiences, especially when we retire and are able to do so. Sometimes we can be pushed beyond the boundaries of our comfort zone but usually the experience is positive and often transformational. One popular destination for travellers who enjoy adventure is Sedona in Arizona, a town that nestles in a desert on the edge of red rock canyons. Nearby is Hopiland, home to the Hopi Indians. One of my most treasured memories occurred in this part of the world in 1990, on top of a desert mountain known as a mesa. The mesa rose thousands of feet above ground level and I climbed up there with a group of friends from Australia. As we reached the top, we began to hear the sound of drums and chanting coming from an underground cave. Our travel guide informed us that inside the cave, Hopi women and children huddled together on the dirt floor to watch their menfolk perform legendary rituals honouring their ancient ancestors. Since the ceremony was forbidden to tourists, we were given an hour to explore the top of the mesa. Moving a short distance away from the rest of the group, I sat down on a rock to fully absorb the nearby pulse of drums and chanting. A few minutes later, three young Hopi boys appeared and attempted to converse with me. Initially, I found it difficult to understand what they were saying until I realised they were actually inviting me to accompany them underground to join their tribal family. Throwing caution to the wind, I followed them down a rickety wooden ladder poking out of a hole in the ground. The atmosphere inside the cave was thick with burning sage combined with swirling dust from the pounding feet of men dancing, their heads hidden inside huge masks. Barefooted women and children squatted on the dirt floor and I felt very much an intruder as I squeezed myself amongst them. But, reassured by friendly smiles and head-nodding, I began to relax, absorbing the magical rituals of times past. Eventually the ancient ceremony ended, and I climbed the ladder back into the twentieth century, overcome by a newfound sense of humility and realisation of just how unimportant the wealth and material greed of Western society is. One can often rely on the unexpected to occur when travelling. During a visit to Egypt one year, our group emerged from the Temple of Isis to settle down and meditate on the bank of a nearby river when a military policeman appeared out of the bushes, clutching a large submachine gun. His other hand appeared to conceal something behind his back and as he drew closer, we noticed he had a second gun tucked into his belt. Terrified, we leapt to our feet. Then, his face breaking into a smile, he held out the hand from behind his back. Lying in its brown sinewy palm were eleven pink oleander blossoms, one for each of us. A moment of sheer terror switched instantly to one of absolute delight. Another example of ‘the unexpected’ occurred a few days later for a member of our group who had just turned eighty. All her life she had suffered with claustrophobia and its related anxiety and panic attacks. Consequently, when we visited the Great Pyramid to ascend the steep tunnel inside which would take us up to the King’s Chamber, we arranged for her to remain outside with our tour guide. But at the last minute she changed her mind, not wanting to miss out on such a special experience. By slowly crawling through the tunnel all the way up inside the Great Pyramid, she managed to achieve something she had never in her life believed possible. We celebrated her victory that night with champagne, lots of laughs and some hilarious attempts at belly dancing. A travel memory that always makes my grandchildren laugh is when I was visiting my friend Palden Jenkins, an historian who lives in Glastonbury. One day we set off for Snowdonia, North Wales, for a holiday. As we pulled up outside the 500-year-old stone cottage a farmer approached, urging us to be sure to leave a pot of tea outside every night for the Booka, the name given to Welsh brownies or elves. If we did this, he said, we would be assured of a hassle-free holiday. The Booka would not trouble us if we kept the cottage clean, left out the tea and didn’t have long noses. Words cannot describe the fun we two ‘grown-ups’ had in brewing tea every evening over an open fire to cater to the whims of Snowdonia’s faerie folk. Travelling the world can create change in our lives that we will never regret, opening our hearts, broadening our minds, and sometimes transforming our lives forever. To quote Mark Twain, ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the ones you did. So, sail away from the safe harbour. Explore. Dream. Discover.’ This wonderful story, including the images, was sent in by Over60 Reader Jo Buchanan. Thank you, Jo, for sharing your adventure with us! If you have a Reader Story you would like to contribute to Over60, please send it to the editor via <a href="mailto:greg@oversixty.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">greg@oversixty.com.au</a>.

International Travel

“How is this funny?”: Tourist slammed over “disrespectful” act at Graceland

An arrogant traveller has been slammed online after blatantly disregarding signage at Graceland, and taking a dip in the pool. A woman posted a video from the late Elvis Presley’s iconic property in Memphis, Tennessee, as she travelled to the area with her husband. Capturing the moment and sharing it online as a joke, a video posted to the woman’s TikTok account shows her husband, dressed in shorts, shoes and socks climbing over a pool fence, marked 'RESTRICTED AREA'. The man is then seen walking towards the diving board as a security guard rushes towards him. After wobbling a bit on the diving board, he jumps into the water before the guard can stop him. The woman captured the video, "My husband jumped into Elvis pool", adding a laughing emoji. Despite the couple’s jovial nature over the stunt, many people were quick to condemn the tourists and their video, which has been viewed over 14 million times. "How is this funny? People are so disrespectful and I hope he got arrested," one person commented. "As someone who has solid respect for Elvis Presley this is very disrespectful to him and his family," another agreed. "Travellers doing whatever they want as usual. Shame," another person commented. Despite the overwhelming condemnation, there were some who defended the man’s actions, with one person writing, "I think Elvis would have done the same thing lol." The woman also responded to the accusations that her husband's actions were disrespectful in another video, saying, "Elvis caught someone jumping into his pool once and he never stopped them. He never got them arrested. Told them to stay in the pool. That's what a pool is meant for is to jump into." One person quickly responded, "Whether people think 'Elvis would be laughing' or not it's all down to respect. There's a reason as to why certain areas are roped off." Image credits: TikTok

Travel Trouble

Even in a housing crisis, Australians can’t get enough of renovation stories on TV. Why?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ella-jeffery-1459839">Ella Jeffery</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a> The Block has begun its 19th season this month, <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/the-block/2023-season-block-confirmed-location-details-scott-cam-season-19-explainer/b4d5fa4e-690f-4755-90da-caba77925836">billed as</a> “a Block that’s entirely relatable to people right around Australia”. This year, contestants renovate five “authentic ’50s dream homes” in “the perfectly named Charming Street, in Melbourne’s Hampton East”. But if the median price for a four-bedroom house in Hampton East is <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/suburb-profile/hampton-east-vic-3188">around A$1.6 million</a> and the nation’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/03/more-than-1600-australians-pushed-into-homelessness-each-month-as-housing-crisis-deepens-report-finds">housing crisis</a> shows no signs of easing, who is The Block relatable to? And why do audiences keep coming back to renovation stories? Home ownership is becoming <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook46p/HomeOwnership">less accessible</a> and more people than ever are renting, but stories about renovation on TV, in film and in literature continue to have a powerful effect on us. Why? One reason they can be so captivating is that they invoke the idea of the dream home. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KadU7z8GHoE?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>Season 19 of The Block promises to ‘transform these little time capsules into two-storey mansions’.</figcaption></figure> <h2>Home makeovers are ultimately about us too</h2> Ask anyone you know about their dream home – something I did regularly when I was <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/122955/">writing my PhD</a> on renovation stories – and you’ll get an incredible array of different styles, sizes, locations. Maybe it overlooks the ocean, maybe it has the newest appliances, maybe it has a pool, maybe it’s just a house without a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/29/this-isnt-safe-nsw-renters-fight-twin-battles-against-mould-and-landlords">mould problem</a>. The idea of the dream home is deeply rooted in our shared imagination. The philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13269.The_Poetics_of_Space">The Poetics of Space</a> (1958) that our houses – both the ones we live in and the ones we dream of – “move in both directions: they are in us as much as we are in them”. Bachelard suggests that in even “the humblest dwelling” our memories, desires and dreams are gathered, and this is why houses are so central to who we are. If houses can be expressions of self, our dream houses say a lot about our desires. While it might no longer look like a <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/is-the-aussie-dream-of-a-quarter-acre-block-dead-1221913/">house on a quarter-acre block</a>, the dream still exists. Renovation stories are so compelling because in them, as <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/ordinary-television/book205099#contents">researchers</a> have noted, home improvement often represents self-improvement – a dream life, not just a dream house. This is especially important in programs like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388595/">Extreme Makeover: Home Edition</a> (2003–20) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243688/">Backyard Blitz</a> (2000–), which often focus on people presented as hard-done-by whose lives are changed by renovations that solve their day-to-day problems. <h2>Better house, better life</h2> Reality TV isn’t the only place we find this type of story about transformation and self-improvement. In Frances Mayes’ bestselling memoir Under the Tuscan Sun (1996), Mayes travels to Italy and buys an abandoned villa, Bramasole, which she renovates. In the process, she gains a new outlook on life. There’s a similar story in Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence (1989). Mayle, a UK advertising executive, buys a 200-year-old farmhouse in France and renovates it. Both books were exceptionally successful, inspiring an entire genre of renovation memoirs about wealthy middle-class people able to travel abroad, buy charmingly rundown properties in beautiful locations, and renovate them while enjoying the local lifestyle. In them, renovation is a clear symbol of self-transformation, if only for people rich enough to afford it: renovating houses leads to a greater appreciation of life’s pleasures and a new way of seeing the world. This idea of the renovated life can be especially compelling in a world that increasingly feels <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-doomsday-clock-is-now-at-90-seconds-to-midnight-the-closest-we-have-ever-been-to-global-catastrophe-198457">frightening and overwhelming</a>. Researchers like <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/4273551">Fiona Allon</a> argue that renovation stories allow us to turn away from the alarming outside world – with its violence, looming recessions, pandemics, climate crises – and focus on the smaller, more controllable world of the home. Maggie Smith’s viral poem <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones">Good Bones</a> (2016) plays with this idea. The poem is about a mother trying to convince her children (and herself) that despite being a scary place, the world can be improved. To do this, she uses the analogy of a real estate agent selling a fixer-upper. The poem ends with lines that present renovation as an opportunity for change: "This place could be beautiful, Right? You could make this place beautiful." This optimism is what makes renovation excellent fodder for love stories. In the Nancy Meyers rom-com It’s Complicated (2009), Meryl Streep plays a divorcee looking for a fresh start, who renovates her home and falls in love with her architect, Adam. In The Notebook (2004), Ryan Gosling’s Noah transforms an old plantation estate into his lover Allie’s dream home, a gesture that reveals his enduring love. Renovation stories are always about change (although in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5109784/">some</a> the change doesn’t last). Even if, as may be the case for the increasing number of people who are renting, having a house of our own is itself a fantasy. <h2>Renovate? In this economy?</h2> Many renovation stories can be seen as escapist media that trade on the image of the dream home to sell ideas about wealth, taste and style to audiences unable to afford such things. The Block may involve contestants from a range of backgrounds, but few people can afford the multimillion-dollar houses they build. The Block’s viewership has had ups and downs in its two-decade history, but the show (and many others) continues because, despite being about <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/2023/03/29/the-block-controversy-grand-designs/">profiting from the housing market</a>, it sells the idea of transformation and change, not just in our houses but in our lives. Renovation stories invite audiences to indulge in a fantasy where we become our best selves living in dream homes that protect us from a volatile and threatening world. The dream home might remain a dream, but in renovation stories we escape reality and envision life in a Tuscan villa, or having a butler’s pantry or plunge pool, or simply owning a house of our own.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211334/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ella-jeffery-1459839">Ella Jeffery</a>, Lecturer in Creative Writing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a> Image credits: Instagram - The Block This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-in-a-housing-crisis-australians-cant-get-enough-of-renovation-stories-on-tv-why-211334">original article</a>.

"What were their parents thinking?!" Teacher releases list of hilarious student names

In a world where coming up with a standard name seems about as trendy as using a landline phone, parents are unleashing their inner creativity by bestowing upon their offspring names that sound like they were created during a fever dream. We are clearly smack bang in the middle of the era of "Name your child after a random object you find in the pantry" – and teachers are the unsung heroes bravely navigating the choppy waters of these monikers. Specifically, how to spell (and pronounce) them properly. Now, let's not pretend this phenomenon is fresh off the naming press. Celebrities have been gifting their kids with names that could pass as WiFi passwords for donks. It was just a matter of time before the masses caught onto the fad like a catchy tune you can't unhear. But spare a thought for those noble educators who are more baffled than a cat watching a magic trick when confronted with these labels during roll call. Enter one valiant and anonymous teacher, armed with a class register that reads like a cryptic crossword puzzle. She unveiled her list of quirky names on the modern-day town square, aka Facebook, explaining that she merely gave the enrolment list a "blink and you'll miss it" glance. Because let's face it, no one has time to decode this kindergarten code on a Tuesday morning. So, brace yourself, because the highlights of this peculiar parade include names like Jaxen (apparently the 'x' gives it that extra pizzazz) and Aliyah, which sounds like a harmonious collision of Aladdin and Elijah. But the true gems are still to come. Hold onto your hats, for there's a Syakyra in the house! It's pronounced like "Shakira", because why make life easy when you can transform spelling into an extreme sport? Also on the roster of eccentricities are Rhydah, Presillar, Christisarah (which sounds like someone sneezed while naming their child), Anjewel'Lea (because apostrophes are the new vowels), and Biar Biar – quite possibly the sound of someone giving up mid-naming. The list goes on, unveiling Deklyn, Alarna (Is this a name or an exotic spice?), Aaryah (a name that looks like a typo in progress), Maz (likely short for Mazel Tov), Angel-Lee (a tribute to both celestial beings and two first names), and Karleb (a rebel in the world of traditional spelling). Social media users eagerly devoured this buffet of bewildering baby names, chiming in with their own comedic relief. One humorist quipped that some parents should enrol themselves in school, presumably for a crash course in 'Name Your Kid Without Making Them the Butt of Jokes.' Another jester added, "This really is tragic, at least none of them will get bullied because they're all so bad lol." A self-proclaimed comedian jibed, "These parents really aren't thinking it through." Yet amid the chuckles and facepalms, some thought the names were about as wild as a cup of herbal tea. One wise soul pointed out that among the chaos were rather mundane names like Diamond, Aliyah, Jaylene, Porsha, and Aalijah. Apparently, normality is now measured against the Syakyras of the world. Meanwhile, teachers everywhere collectively sighed in sympathy as they remembered their own quirky classroom encounters. One recounted an encounter with a "J'ley" (pronounced like Jaylee), a name that's the linguistic equivalent of a Rubik's Cube. A pupil named Pistol also made an appearance – because what kid doesn't want a name that guarantees zero playground conflicts? And lest we forget, a friend's teacher had the honour of teaching A'Blessyn. It's like the alphabet gipped, and the resulting letters spelled "Bless this child with an unforgettable name." However, the chaos isn't limited to the classroom. It's infiltrated even the most intimate corners of existence. Enter Reddit, where an expectant British dad took to the digital confessional to seek advice on his partner's fantastical name choices for their impending bundle of joy. The British bloke confessed that he'd prefer his offspring not be mistaken for an experimental rocket launch or a motor oil brand. He's opting for classic dignity, imagining a world where his kid doesn't have to explain why their name sounds like a weather forecast for Mercury. Meanwhile, the partner, a visionary in the field of avant-garde nomenclature, has pitched names like Fennix (for the spelling-challenged phoenix), Park (because nature reserves are inspiring, apparently), and Diesel (coming soon to a gas station near you). And so, as teachers practice their tongue-twister warm-ups and parents wage a war of wits over naming rights, we bid adieu to a world where names like John and Sarah were once considered bold. The age of the bewildering baby name is upon us, and the only certainty is that there's a whole generation of kids out there ready to conquer the world with names that defy both pronunciation and reason. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Australia’s life expectancy is up, but healthy years are a different story

Australians have added six years to their life expectancy since 1990 – a world-leading increase – but some measurements paint a less rosy picture of the nation’s health. The data is the subject of a major feature in the respected British Medical journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468266723001238" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Lancet.</a> Overall, the data shows <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/aussies-are-living-longer-but-just-how-much/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">life expectancy in Australia improved</a> from 77 years in 1990 to 83 in 2019. Although heart disease and stroke remain the nation’s biggest killers, both have seen major reductions in deaths since 1990 – down 68% and 58% respectively. In its analysis of data published in the <a href="https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2019 Global Burden of Disease Study</a>, the research also found: <ul> <li>90% of people die from non-communicable diseases.</li> <li>Lung cancers remain the third biggest killers, though substantial reductions have been recorded since 1990.</li> <li>Alzheimer’s and other dementias are now the fourth most frequent causes of death.</li> <li>Chronic kidney disease, pancreatic cancer, falls, leukaemia and liver cancer now kill more people than they did 30 years ago.</li> </ul> The biggest improvement has been the big drop in the number of road fatalities, which in 1990 was the seventh leading cause of death in Australia. There had been a 63% reduction in the number of deaths per 100,000 people (15.5 to 5.7) by 2019; now ranking it as the 17th most frequent cause of death. The data also explored the non-fatal disease burden in the population. These, says the study’s lead author Dr Shariful Islam from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, add to the burden on Australia’s economy both in financial and productivity terms. “These might not cause a lot of death, but they’re definitely causing a lot of disability-adjusted life years,” Islam says. The nation ranks better than similar countries for the non-fatal disease burden from diabetes and non-fatal stroke. Conversely, its relative ranking has worsened for drug use, anxiety and depressive disorders. Risk factors that diminish the years of healthy life a person might experience like these have seen big jumps over the last 30 years. “It also causes a lot of economic issues, because when a person has musculoskeletal or low back pain, or especially anxiety or depression, they will often be absent from work, they will be less productive – this costs money.” <h2>Two-speed health improvements</h2> The data also shows the burden of disease is inequitably spread across the nation. People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were found to have a higher risk of death-causing disease, and account for larger proportions of smokers and those with obesity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are disproportionately represented in these groups. High blood pressure remains the leading risk factor for mortality, though it accounts for nearly half as many deaths in 2019 (as a proportion of the total) than it did 30 years prior. And while body mass index (BMI) has been shelved in recent years as an individual health indicator in favour of metrics like waist measurements, at a population level, it remains a top-three mortality risk factor. That, says Islam, is because those with high BMI likely carry other major risk factors. “With High BMI you’ll often [also] see high blood pressure, high blood glucose, often sedentary lifestyles,” he says. Islam and his colleagues highlight universal healthcare programs like Medicare, regulatory and broader healthcare systems as the strengths driving the overall positive outcomes in life expectancy. But they argue the nation’s performance in delivering preventative and supportive treatment for non-fatal conditions, and promoting healthy lifestyles to its ageing population will be important to continue a sustained trajectory. This view is supported by a comment by University of Sydney-affiliated public health experts Michelle Dickson, Cheryl Jones, Terry Slevin, and Jaime Miranda. While they say the study highlights Australia as a “public health exemplar”, they highlight the deficiencies bridging the health gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds as an important public responsibility. “Australia has a world-class health care and public health system that has been conducive to major population gains, at least in life expectancy,” they write. “Yet, work remains to be done to marry such gains with strategies and policies to prevent or reduce disease burden during the entire lifecourse, and to reduce inequalities. This will be essential to sustain this world-class health system and to promote healthier societies.” Image credits: Getty Images <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/australias-life-expectancy-is-up-but-healthy-years-are-a-different-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by Matthew Ward Agius.

Caring

“Slay while I decay”: 93-year-old grandmother’s hysterical funeral plans

A 93-year-old grandmother has taken the internet by storm after sharing a video she wants to be played at her funeral. Lillian Droniak from Connecticut — already a social media icon — with more than 10.1 million followers on her TikTok is known for posting very candid clips. She’s now revealed a series of events she’d like her family to put into action after she passes away. The clip, which has raked in more than 24 million views, shows Lillian talking to the camera as she lounges about in an armchair while wearing a pink t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “You’re not invited to my funeral”. The cheeky 93-year-old began, “Thank you for coming everyone. There's probably a lot of people here so have fun. “If you're crying, stop being a baby. Find a tissue and move on. Don't be sad, I lived a long time. “I slayed every day and now, I'm going to lay every day. I hope you slay while I decay.” The grandmother continued, “And Bertha better not be here. If she's here, kick her out right now. I'm going to haunt you Bertha. “And my ex George better leave. I know he's here, I'm going to haunt him too.” She concluded, “I hope everybody gets drunk after this. You better take a shot for me. Love you all.” <iframe title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7243826555644808491&display_name=tiktok&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40grandma_droniak%2Fvideo%2F7243826555644808491%3Flang%3Den&image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign.tiktokcdn-us.com%2Fobj%2Ftos-useast5-p-0068-tx%2Fe292006686a3487bb3da94441b230627_1686584808%3Fx-expires%3D1687507200%26x-signature%3DbI%252BPoMCv2yA5KqPQ10NN1r%252FaolM%253D&key=59e3ae3acaa649a5a98672932445e203&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> She uploaded the clip paired with the caption, “Play this video at my funeral or I will haunt whoever is in charge thank you.” Social media users flocked to the comment section to have their say on her playful piece. One commented, “I hope Bertha and George show up just so they can be told to leave in front of everyone.” 'We can't slay while you decay,” another said. “Why am I crying?” a third added. Image credit: TikTok

Caring

Wacky pet laws that will make you laugh

There are laws to protect people from harm, animals from cruelty and to keep the animal-human relationship harmonious. But then there are those wacky laws that will make you scratch your head and wonder how they became laws in the first place. 1. In some areas of Oklahoma dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups of three or more on private property. 2. In Chicago, you cannot bring your French poodle to the opera. 3. In Berea, Ohio, any pet that goes out after dark must wear a tail light. 4. In Creskill, New York, all outside cats must wear three bells to warn birds of their approach. 5. In Madison, Wisconsin dogs are forbidden from harassing squirrels in the public park next to the capital. 6. In Denver Colorado an animal control officer must notify dogs of any impending impounds three days before it’s due to happen. They do this by posting notices on trees in the public parks and along the road running next to the park. 7. In Memphis, Tennessee, if a frog's croaking keeps you awake at night, you can have that frog arrested. 8. In Turin, Italy owners can be fined up to $650 for not walking their dog at least three times a day. 9. In Reed City, Michigan, you cannot own a pet cat and bird simultaneously. 10. In French Lick Springs, Indiana, all black cats must wear bells on Friday the 13th. 11. In certain areas of Oklahoma it is against the law to make “ugly” or “mean” faces at a dog. 12. In Honolulu, Hawaii, it’s unlawful to annoy birds at any public park. Image credit: Shutterstock

Legal

“That flying baby” shares her story almost 30 years on

While most babies have their little hands full with the all-important business of teething and crawling at six months, some have other things to be getting on with - and for one, that meant reaching for the stars. In 1991, six-month-old Jordan Leads was on a rock climbing trip with her parents in California’s Joshua Tree National Park when a picture of the young family was taken by photographer Greg Epperson, and then published by adventurewear brand Patagonia in its 1995 spring catalogue. The photo, titled “Come to Papa”, saw young Jordan - and the adventure-loving Sherry and Jeff Leads - bundled in a jumpsuit, soaring through the air between two large rocks with a substantial gap between them. She appeared to have been launched from her mum’s arms, and was heading straight for her father’s waiting ones. It fast tracked the family to worldwide fame, and even once the attention had settled, Sherry and Jeff made sure the moment wouldn’t be forgotten, choosing to hang a copy in the hallway of their family home. And now, almost 30 years on from the height of her stardom, Jordan has come to embrace that chapter of her life, going so far as to use the handle ‘That Flying Baby’ online. Though like her parents, Jordan’s life goal isn’t to head for the skies, with the young Leads following in their footsteps as an avid climber. And Jordan, who has a baby of her own, hopes to pass that passion onto her children when they’re old enough, as well as the story of her unusual rise to fame. "I can't wait to show [the pictures] to my kids one day,” she told NPR, “and to show them how I was growing up, how my parents raised me and to really just bring that whole family value of going outside back to them. "I would put [it] up on the wall, and then I could put my child's right next to it in our hallway ... I think that would be really cool." Jordan may have her work cut out for her getting the story to them first, however, with the picture making a resurgence online in recent years as entertained internet users transformed it into a popular meme. Thankfully, Jordan could see the fun in it all, even getting in on it herself when it came to her pregnancy announcement, when she photoshopped the faces of herself and her partner onto her parents’ bodies, and their ultrasound over the image of her younger self. But her favourite of all the edits takes things a little further from reality, as Jordan told Weekend Edition Saturday’s Scott Simon, it showed her parents “feeding me to a Jurassic Park dinosaur. I think that’s the best.” Images: Instagram

Travel Trouble

Why you should encourage your grandchildren to write stories

In an article published in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41405103" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Language Arts</a>, educators who were interested in encouraging children to write were asked why it was important for children to be encouraged to write. Their reasons were varied and interesting, and worth considering for anyone who has a young child in their life – let’s take a look at some: 1. To entertain As humans, we tell stories for many reasons, but perhaps the foremost reason is that we want to entertain one another. By encouraging children to write their own stories, they can discover what entertains them, as well as what entertains others – well-told, engaging stories. 2. To stimulate the imagination By creating from nothing a story full of characters and original plots, a child’s imagination grows and develops. 3. To search for identity When children write their own stories, they can use the conflict and characters to take their first steps on their search for identity. The power simple stories can have on a child’s self-development is remarkable. 4. To improve reading and writing skills Children need to read and write, so we may as well find a way to make it more interesting for them. Not only will writing help kids learn how to read, it can also help them understand literary devices (suspense, twist, dramatic irony, etc.), and grammatical structures. Now that we’ve explored some of the reasons creativity in writing in our kids, let’s find some ways to help get them started: 5. Inspiration exploration When you’re spending time with your grandchildren, make a game out of looking for fun story inspirations. Interesting newspaper headlines, a unique-looking house, a colouring-in book. You could even keep a box full of story inspirations to explore together with your grandchildren. 6. Unblank the page Anyone who has ever sat down to write knows there’s nothing more intimidating than a blank page. To help kids out, try giving them the opening line to a story. You can create these yourself, find a list of opening lines on the internet, or even borrow the opening line of a book on your own shelf. 7. Work all of the mind If you find that your grandchildren have difficulty focusing on just words, encourage them to explore other aspects of their own creativity by using visuals. Storyboards, illustrations, or even writing the story as a comic book can help stimulate storytelling. Image credit: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Adorable reason behind Chris Hemsworth’s red carpet cheat notes

Chris Hemsworth has been married to Spanish actress Elsa Pataky for almost 13 years, and while she speaks fluent English, Hemsworth is yet to master her native tongue. On June 8, he was at the premiere of his Netflix film Extraction 2 and was caught with some Spanish words scrawled on the palm of his hand. The 39-year-old was then photographed with what appeared to be a cheat sheet, which he personally found hilarious. “After years of coming to Spain and being asked ‘has my Spanish improved’ I can safely say it’s in the palm of my hand,” he wrote on Instagram alongside the photo. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtOqVmTJ1sx/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtOqVmTJ1sx/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth)</a> </div> </blockquote> The actor revealed what was written on his hand during a guest appearance on local TV program El Hormiguero (Spanish for The Anthill). In the interview, Hemsworth also shared that his three children with Pataky - daughter India, 10, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, 9 - find it funny that he doesn’t speak nor understand the language. “I try, but I can’t. My children laugh at me when I try to have a conversation with them in Spanish,” he admitted. “Sh*t, f**k, what happened? … I know that, that’s what my wife yells at me. The more she gets angry, the more she speaks Spanish.” Speaking to Today in 2017, Pataky said she had pretty much given up on teaching Hemsworth her native language, focusing on teaching their children instead. “He promised me, he said, ‘I’ll be speaking Spanish in two months.’ There we go, we have been together for six years,” Pataky – who speaks five languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian - told Today. “That’s important, that’s what my mum did to me, talked in Romanian. I start to speak in English, I’m like, ‘I don’t express myself great.’ I got used to making an effort to speak to [the kids] in Spanish.” Image credit: Instagram

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How to avoid mobile phone bill horror stories when travelling

"I'm sorry, calls to this number are not allowed, please try again later". This. Again. At 1am standing outside what I thought was our Galway Airbnb, but instead was a popular alley for Irish revellers to relieve themselves. Brilliant. After begging a convenience store manager, borrowing a phone and stealing some local wi-fi, we made it to bed before 3am (one-star rating for the Airbnb host, naturally). Such was the power of the phone company when you're on holiday, I still got pinged far-too-high amounts for calls and data used to attempt a check-in at the Irish abode. A reader recently contacted me wanting to avoid such a conundrum by asking for the best SIM cards available in Europe. Thankfully, EU law has recently shielded travellers from harsh cross-border roaming charges by ruling that providers cannot charge excessively for access to rival networks in fellow EU nations. You'll see the kiosks hawking pre-paid SIM packages at many major airports. If you want the dependability a SIM provides, assess your needs and shop around. Better yet, get to know your smartphone better and use the whole range of mobile apps that will soon make international call and text roaming redundant. Organising hotels, taxis, tours, dinner reservations as well as calling home and making your friends and colleagues jealous with holiday snaps can all be done with a wi-fi connections, which are readily available and far cheaper (if not free). Avoid phone bill shock when you're away <ul> <li>Contact your mobile phone company rep about your destination and length of stay to see what add-ons and spending caps may be best.</li> <li>Only purchase local SIMs if you're in the country more than a week, have an unplanned itinerary or will have no free wi-fi at your accommodation.</li> <li>If you're on a per-day bundle, choose a few days to be on-the-grid and turn off your mobile data on other days.</li> <li>Go wi-fi only, in North American, Asian and European cities it's readily available.</li> <li>Embrace apps like Uber, Gett, WhatsApp, OpenTable and TripAdvisor to book taxis, call home and book restaurants and tours using hotel wi-fi and thus limiting calls.</li> </ul> Image credit: Shutterstock Written by Josh Martin. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stuff.co.nz</a>.

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10 greatest dogs of the internet

<h2>Dog stars of the internet</h2> You know what they say – dogs are a man’s best friend. In fact, with the boom of social media, dogs are celebrities, business moguls, and models too! Are you up to date with the four-legged good boys and girls of the internet? Buckle up because you’re in for an adorable ride. <h2>Jiffpom</h2> Can you believe that this famed Pomeranian has made a guest appearance in a Katy Perry music video? Well, he has. Known as the dog with the most Instagram followers, Jiff is so much more than just a teddy-like dog with neatly-trimmed hair. Jiff has Guinness World Records under his collar for being the fastest dog on two paws: one for the ten-metre run on his hind legs and five-metre run on his front paws. When he isn’t breaking records and filming music videos with celebrities, Jiff dresses up in comfy outfits showcased on his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jiffpom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>, adored by all of the internet. <h2>Noodle the Pug</h2> Better known as the “bones or no bones” dog, Noodle gained traction on TikTok. Nearly every morning, his owner, Jonathan Graziano, would wake Noodle by lifting him gently out of his sleeping position. If Noodle wakes up and stands on his paws, it is a “bones” day; if Noodle collapses right back into his bed, it is a “no bones” day. Don’t be shocked, as Noodle’s bones don’t just disappear overnight! Graziano and Noodle’s fanbase have agreed that a “no bones” day is one to lay low, avoid big risks, and treat yourself, whereas a “bones” day is one filled with ambition and determination to tackle your to-do list. Graziano has clarified that we must not mistake a “no bones” day for a bad day. TikTok users would seek out the wise sage of a pug every day to set the daily tone, with some sharing the courageous things they would do on “bones” days, such as proposing to their partners or buying a winning lotto ticket. Unfortunately, Noodle passed in late 2022, but he will be remembered for the joy he spread to millions online. <h2>Doug the Pug</h2> It seems pugs are having a field day with becoming media magnets! If you’re wondering why this gentleman looks so familiar, that’s because he has graced the pages of Cosmopolitan, TIME and Buzzfeed. Doug is no stranger to dressing up, venturing the world, and meeting the likes of Ed Sheeran or John Legend, all while maintaining a down-to-earth, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/itsdougthepug/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">relatable feed</a> for his fans. This pug even had his literary debut titled The King of Pop Culture (though it certainly would’ve been a great opportunity to call the book The King of Pup Culture), a board book serving photos of Doug with hilarious captions. Doug’s owners have also used his platform for good, kickstarting a non-profit foundation supporting children fighting life-threatening diseases. <h2>Kabosu aka Doge</h2> This is the very same doge whose expressive photos went viral as timeless memes and who became the face of a cryptocurrency. The name of this famous Shiba Inu is Kabosu, and she was adopted by a kindergarten teacher from a Japanese animal shelter fifteen years ago. The meme featuring Kabosu gained popularity after it <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/doge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surfaced on Reddit</a> in 2010, and people began creating their versions of the meme, further making Kabosu a widely-recognisable face. When two software engineers wanted to satirise the chaotic speculation around cryptocurrencies in 2013, they created Dogecoin featuring Kabosu’s face. Ironically, some began investing in Dogecoin seriously, and with a little help from Reddit, Dogecoin eventually amassed a market capitalisation of over $85 million in 2021. Kabosu, of course, has more to offer than her meme face on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/animals-pets/10-greatest-dogs-of-the-internet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her Instagram</a>. <h2>Maya the “Polar Bear”</h2> Maya is a dog that resembles a polar bear and is what would make you say the word “floof”. Indeed, the Samoyed’s white fur will test your urge to hug her across the screen. While Maya doesn’t participate in dress-up like other internet dogs, her owner shares her daily life with fans on the internet. There are various videos of Maya going about her day like we do: celebrating Christmas, going to the vet, being clingy to her owner, and more! If <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mayapolarbear/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her Instagram</a> doesn’t quench your thirst for wholesome dog content, Maya also has an outstanding <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Mayapolarbear" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube channel</a> with 2.68 million subscribers. <h2>Marnie the Shih Tzu</h2> As much as our hearts melt for the big, fluffy dogs, smaller breeds that look like they can fit in a Starbucks cup have a special place in everyone’s hearts. The story of Marnie the rescue dog is a heart-warming one, beginning with the day she was adopted, which Marnie’s owner refers to as her “Gotcha Day”. Marnie’s owner, Shirley, had limited experience with dogs but knew she was fated to have one, and Marnie’s eyes called out to her via a photo on petfinder.com. In an Instagram post, Shirley recalled the distressing state of the shelter when she picked up Marnie in 2012, determined to give the pup a better life. What led to the internet’s fascination with Marnie was her innocent head tilts and a tongue so long that it would habitually hang out of her mouth, as is evident from almost every photograph on Marnie’s social media. Marnie, just like the other famous pets, had opportunities to meet celebrities who mimicked her adorable tongue placement (such as Demi Lovato in the pic above), giving fans wholesome selfies. Marnie led a happy and fulfilling life up to the age of 18, but when you miss her, you can always catch her head tilts and tongue pokes on<a href="https://www.instagram.com/marniethedog/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> her Instagram.</a> <h2>Manny the Frenchie</h2> It seems dog owners have an affinity for dog names that begin with M; next up on our list of internet sensations is Manny, the world’s most-followed bulldog on Instagram. A quick swipe of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/manny_the_frenchie/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Manny’s Instagram</a> would have everyone saying, “that’s relatable”, as there is a photograph of Manny taking a nap at least once every three rows. When he’s not getting some shut-eye, Manny also has a merchandise line and is quite the philanthro-pup being the face of <a href="https://www.mannyandfriends.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Manny & Friends Foundation</a>, whose mission is to help humans and pets alike. The foundation lends a helping hand to children battling serious illnesses and homeless pets who need saving. <h2>Norbert</h2> Just when you thought things couldn’t get cuter, let me introduce you to Norbert, the therapy dog that weighs under 2kg. If you visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorbertDog" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Norbert on Facebook</a>, you’ll see that this little guy is also a business mastermind, selling a line of enamel pins, playing cards, and wall calendars – you name it, he has it! Like Marnie, Norbert also sticks his tongue out in certain photos, making his one million followers fall head over heels for this pup you can hold in one hand. The best part? Norbert can style a bowtie like no other. <h2>Tuna</h2> No, not the fish. Tuna is a Chiweenie rescued by his current owner from a farmers’ market in California, and now he is an internet sensation with 2 million followers on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tunameltsmyheart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>. What sets Tuna apart is his overbite and recessed jawline, which does not stop him from spreading love and joy to netizens. Tuna now encourages his following to adopt animals in need as an ambassador for animal rescue. When he isn’t caught up with his ambassador duties, you can find him travelling around the world via his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thetravelingtuna/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second Instagram account</a>. <h2>Shiba-san</h2> We saved the best for last. Did you know there used to be a tobacco shop in Tokyo run by a furry little clerk? Shiba-san ran the store alongside his owner and visitors would drop by to get a glimpse at the extraordinary dog. He would slide open the shop window when customers approached, greeting them with utmost professionalism. Sadly, the keyword here is “used to”. The store was closed in 2015 and Shiba-san has since retired, getting some well-deserved rest with his owner. Luckily, you can still catch the retired clerk on his<a href="https://www.instagram.com/doggy134/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> owner’s Instagram</a> now and then. Image credit: Shutterstock This article originally appeared on<a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/pets/10-greatest-dogs-of-the-internet" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Reader's Digest</a>.

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