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AArdvark808

Listed below are comments made by AArdvark808 between Thursday, 18th September 2008 and Monday, 8th December 2008.

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Australia's indigenous political hopes 7:09pm on 08 Dec 2008 SirJohn,

You're point about celebrating Obama's presidency being racist is almost correct. The only problem is you miss why people are celebrating. Nobody believes that Obama can fix things just because he is black. If they did, then yes, that would be racist.

The reason the election of a black president in America is seen as a great thing is that 50 years ago even Barack Obama could not have been elected in a country that still had legalized segregation (schools were still segregated in 1958 in parts of the country - that isn't very long ago if you ask a 60 year old black American). It just plain could not have happened - but now it can, and that is why people are happy.
At the movies 4:35pm on 07 Nov 2008 PS... I know he's not dead.
At the movies 4:33pm on 07 Nov 2008 Someone mentioned 10 Canoes - great film!

But how have the enriching artistic contributions of the (late?) Yahoo Serious been overlooked?

This is a travesty!

I'm buying the DVD catalogue as soon as I can find it somewhere.
End of the road 6:24pm on 20 Oct 2008 Thanks for the blog Jon. Maybe you can find another country to travel across and continue the trend - I might suggest Australia or France.

Seriously though, enjoy your first sip of IRN BRU when you get home, and think about those of us have been missing it for years.
Turbulence at Qantas 5:55pm on 08 Oct 2008 As of Christmas last year QANTAS is still the best airline I've ever flown on. As an amateur pilot I can say that there isn't much you can do if you're caught in a microburst (sharp downward wind blast) which is what this sounds like to me. The recent incidents could all have been a LOT worse if it wasn't for the crew.
Crunch Creep 4:02pm on 02 Oct 2008 Movie sales are up because there are actually movies worth seeing this year. It's funny, albums sales, movie sales, and all that declining has been blamed on the internet for the last few years, but none of the executive types have considered that they've been marketing inferior products.
Class warfare 8:35pm on 01 Oct 2008 Meh, it wasn't that sad. I can't say there's been any adverse effects in my later life, and it may have actually been the best thing for me to mature a bit. My point was just that, in my personal experience, not intellectualy stimulating a hyper kid, reguardless of intelligence level, can lead to actions similar to what some would describe as ADD. This all took place circa 1986-7ish so it can't really be seen as criticism of the current education system.
Class warfare 6:44pm on 01 Oct 2008 #4 tiptop,

My Mum and I moved from Scotland to America just after my 7th birthday. I was kept back a year and had to repeat 2nd grade which I had just completed in Scotland, not based on my performance, but my age. Even after I was kept back in America, I graduated high school a month before my 18th birthday so I would have been 16 when I graduated if I wasn't kept back.

I became very bored with school because I was repeating a year's worth of basic education that I had already done. It's true I was a bit of a hyper kid anyway, but my behavior changed the day we started fractions. This was something new, and I went from being analyzed by social workers and tested for ADD to the top of the class almost overnight.

It all came down to boredom. I think my story shows that the last thing you want to do is let a bright, but overly enegetic, kid get bored.
Sequestered in Memphis 8:51pm on 29 Sep 2008 rwbennett,

I work next to a 63 year old black man who grew up in Arkansas with segregated schools until he was 13 (It's only been 50 years since schools there were segregated). He lived through REAL legally enforced racism, as did many other Americans that are still alive today. Racism in America isn't as far in the past as you'd like to convince yourself.

Jon,

If you do end up sending me that IRN BRU I requested earlier could you please throw in a crunchie bar too? :P
Run for your life 2:44pm on 18 Sep 2008 Nice Maiden reference(?) and an important part of American History that is sadly overlooked. Some people forget that things that happened in the not so distant past still have a huge impact on the lives of Americans today.

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