News from the Other Side of the World volume 3

Its been awhile since I've done this feature, and I know you guys have been demanding two things:

1) Its return

2) The oft promised but noft-delivered post about Vegemite. Its coming, trust me. And no, noft is not a word.

We'll start with some weather news. There is a cyclone about 100 km off the coast from Sydney. Its lowered the sea 70 cm and is going to be there awhile. Not a major story, but an interesting read, which you can do here.

Its election season, which means we get attack ads and the like. Here's something fun that my readers in Seattle can relate to: a candidate not wanting to talk about transportation! One of the candidates in New South Wales (just up, down, and around the road. ACT is in the middle of NSW) says its important, but not the most important issue. Full story can be found here.

By the way, the attack ads that we all know and love in America? Its the same down here. Its like I'm getting a preview of fall 2008. Let me tell you, I can't wait. Really, I can't.

A candidate from the Christian Democratic Party seems to be shooting himself in the foot, and his "No Muslim Immigration" plan is, lets just say, not very popular. Not in the least.

Onto sports...the weather in the West Indies is expected to help the Aussie cricket team. And if you don't know jack about cricket, then check out this story from ESPN.com It won't actually teach you anything about cricket, but its a good read. I'm sure a post about cricket is coming soon.

It wouldn't be an NRL season without salary cap issues! Brisbane has them this year. New Zealand had them last year. And oh, you don't think this affects betting? Well, it doesn't really, but here's a story about it anyway. Isn't that great? Big story about a possible salary cap purge and the follow up story is about how people are betting? Doesn't this mean I have to do a bit of gambling to tell you about that? (No Mom, you didn't read that. Honest!)

In other news...

That Skyfire thing I went to, apperently there was underage drinking at it. And the government is not happy.

Water continues to be kind of a big deal.

John Howard isn't going to fire one of his ministers that is labeld by an opponent as "corrupt as humanly possible" Sounds familiar in a way.

And, just to avoiud East Coast bias...a new species of frog has been discovered in Western Australia Rock on.

Happy reading!

Alan