driptray's New Writeups

Junkyard (thing)

2003-10-28T06:08:07Z

The name of a 1982 album by Australian rock band The Birthday Party. Junkyard was the last full-length album recorded by The Birthday Party, and their last recording with drummer Phil Calvert before the band reconfigured itself by shifting guitarist Mick Harvey to drums, leaving Rowland S. Howard as the sole guitarist.

By 1982 The Birthday Party had managed to rid themselves of the effete new wave flavour that permeated their earlier recordings, and were now presenting themselves as total rock pigs, albeit with an avant garde twist.

The tracklist is:

She's Hit
Dead Joe
Dim Locator
Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)
Several Sins
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
Kiss Me Black
6" Gold Blade
Kewpie Doll
Junkyard

A subsequent re-release of Junkyard included two extra tracks, Release the Bats and Blast Off (the A and B sides of a single released at about the same time).

December 8, 2002 (idea)

2002-12-26T00:02:13Z

The disturbing conversation I had at the bonenkai

My han consists of only 8 households, and it was the inhabitants of these 8 households that got together at the local Chinese restaurant to celebrate the end of the year.

Japan is an aging society, and this is reflected in the makeup of my han. Five of the eight households consist solely of elderly people. The three exceptions are all families with children ranging from 5 to 14.

I live in a small country town, in an area noted for its conservatism and rural ways. It's probably as good an example of small-town country thinking as you can get in Japan.

And so there I was at my han bonenkai - a 6' tall gaijin with funny hair and ear rings - a classic fish out of water. Things were quiet at first. My neighbours were shy, and I was no better, as making conversation in Japanese is practically impossible for me.

But after a few drinks we all loosened up. Assisted by one of the younger women who…

Aboriginalia (thing)

2002-12-03T09:48:18Z

Step inside a gift shop in Australia. Feast your eyes on the following objects:

T-shirts bearing Aboriginal designs
Ashtrays bearing Aboriginal designs
Cigarette lighters bearing Aboriginal designs
Stubby holders bearing Aboriginal designs
Drink coasters bearing Aboriginal designs
Posters bearing Aboriginal designs
Hats bearing Aboriginal designs
Scarves bearing Aboriginal designs
Keyrings bearing Aboriginal designs
Tea towels bearing Aboriginal designs
Photo books bearing Aboriginal designs
...and an endless stream of other objects bearing Aboriginal designs.

If you step outside the gift shop, and look to the skies, you may be lucky enough to see a Qantas jet flying past, with almost every inch covered in a…

Osama bin Laden's "Letter to the American People" (thing)

2002-11-25T12:45:12Z

The following is the full text of Osama bin Laden's "Letter to the American People". It first appeared on the internet in Arabic and has since been translated and circulated by some muslims in Britain. At this stage it is unclear when it was written, although it appears to be at least two weeks old. Yesterday it appeared in The Guardian and The Observer. As for its authenticity, The Observer reports:

Although there is no way to confirm the authenticity of the letter beyond all doubt, senior Arab journalists in the Middle Eastern media believe the letter is from bin Laden.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory" (Quran 22:39)

"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and…

The Bell Curve (idea)

2002-11-24T03:09:03Z

Is IQ genetic, or is it socially determined? If it is genetic, then the fact that some "races" have statistically lower IQ scores leads to the sort of conclusions inherent in The Bell Curve.

What this analysis fails to ask is whether "race" is genetically or socially determined. The common assumption is that "race" is genetic.

But this is not so. Biologists have been unable, despite vast efforts, to find any genetic marker of race. The accepted wisdom in the world of biology is that what lay people call "race" is simply a "folk category", with no scientific underpinning. In other words, there is no way to determine, through genetics or biology, what "race" a person is. Categorisation of people into races is 100% socially determined, and has nothing to do with science.

However it's not just a question of deciding who is "black", "white", "Asian"…

tailender (person)

2002-11-13T07:06:10Z

In the game of cricket, a tailender refers to somebody who is near the end of the batting order.

All 11 players in a cricket team are required to bat, although approximately 4 of the players are chosen for their bowling ability rather than their batting ability. These 4 are the tailenders.

Tailenders are a sometimes comical sight on the cricket field. Their ineptitude with the bat is often made up for by a crash or crash through approach which is always entertaining, but sometimes frustrating for the bowling team. The worst of the tailenders are called bunnies, and the very worst are sometimes referred to as ferrets, as ferrets always go in after bunnies.