[staringclown]

AndersB, on 23 December 2011 - 12:35 PM, said:

Not in a stiff manly way, I take it?

I am also... ahem... fond of forum participants here. So feelings are mutual.

Perish the thought. Your sausage and meatballs are safe with me mate. Ms Clown ensures I stay on the straight and narrow. 'Night

[Solomon]

AndersB, on 23 December 2011 - 10:56 AM, said:

No those are ridiculous Australian traditions. We don't even do things like that at New Years Eve.

We have much more dignified traditions than that. Here is an example: The "Små grodorna" dance around the Maypole (actually we call it mid summer pole). Note also the highly sophisticated pole design. It could be a reference to a giant nut-adorned sausage that penetrates the ground.

Anders,
That's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.
Is there any purpose to it, or you just have to be stonkered to get it?
And last question.
Do you have to be fit to do the "Sma grodorna" maypole (summer pole) dance?
Some of those people looked to be very fit to me.

[AndersB]

Solomon, on 23 December 2011 - 01:06 PM, said:

Anders,
That's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.
Is there any purpose to it, or you just have to be stonkered to get it?
And last question.
Do you have to be fit to do the "Sma grodorna" maypole (summer pole) dance?
Some of those people looked to be very fit to me.

My childhood memory of this song with movements was that of an embarrassment imposed on children by cruel parents. It was only by having the grown-ups participate that they could trick the young ones to play along. Later in your teens, it was kind of cute to see the girls bunnyhopping around like that. Finally as an adult you think it is a funny tradition that should be upheld for the coming generations.

Actually, not really. I still think it is a national embarrassment.

When pondering about your questions I came across these descriptions:
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Små_grodorna
and an English translation of a Swedish Wiki page:
http://translate.goo...%26prmd%3Dimvns

Although I was only joking about the link to a Swedish citizenship test, apparently one Swedish expat in 2003 was subjected to having to sing along to "små grodorna" with the vice consul at the Swedish embassy in Paris to get her Swedish citizenship reaffirmed and her passport renewed!
http://translate.goo...%26prmd%3Dimvns

[Mr Medved]

staringclown, on 23 December 2011 - 09:13 AM, said:

Perth mint make you tell the government when you buy in lots of > $5000.

5k for ATO reporting, 10k for Austrac (or suspicious transactions of any amount). Anything less is a company policy.

[Mr Medved]

AndersB, on 23 December 2011 - 10:56 AM, said:

We have much more dignified traditions than that. Here is an example:

Traditional Swedish Christmas cake:

[ummester]

staringclown, on 23 December 2011 - 12:42 PM, said:

Perish the thought. Your sausage and meatballs are safe with me mate. Ms Clown ensures I stay on the straight and narrow. 'Night

I read that as Mrs Clown ensures you stay straight in her narrow:) In which case, Anders' sausage and meatballs could still be safe inwith you - you put yourself in the middle of this, after all:)

[Ruffian]

staringclown, on 23 December 2011 - 10:01 AM, said:

Surely a heavy 24 kt gold chain is never out of fashion. I can't imagine one I would find grotesque. Especially if each link was individually hallmarked. It's commodity gold in a convenient wearable form.

For actual pieces of jewellery with added value due to artistic merit you would need some knowledge of the manufacturing techniques of the differing periods, an extensive library covering things like hallmarking and an eye for quality. This takes years of scuttling around estate jewellers which I'm sensing is the sort of thing you do. I myself keep a weather eye.

We have those "gold buyers" stalls here. More like a pawnbroker than estate jewellery and they drive a hard bargain.

SC - Err, no. No scuttling for me.
A certain amount of scooping up undervalued 'junk' jewellery of actual worth, but I'm strictly an opportunist and have no interest in it other than it's commodity value.
And aestheticaly, I dislike yellow gold so I'm out on both counts, I'm afraid.


And - aw, jeez guys, to think I missed last night's culturally enlightening and profoundly erudite conversation...

This post has been edited by Ruffian: 23 December 2011 - 09:32 PM

[Easy Tiger]

Ruffian, on 23 December 2011 - 09:22 PM, said:

And aestheticaly, I dislike yellow gold so I'm out on both counts, I'm afraid.

Heathen - Burn the Heretic




Seriously though. If anything happens to you I’ll be suspecting the Wulfgar

[ummester]

AndersB, on 23 December 2011 - 12:01 PM, said:

Yes, that is a well known Norwegian documentary - well worth a watch.

BTW, here is a clip of the Swedish naturalisation ceremony in 2009 of boat refugees from Australia:

Are you sure it isn't Swedes that want to migrate to Australia? They look like they are trying to emmulate kangaroos en masse

[tor]

Ruffian, on 23 December 2011 - 09:22 PM, said:

And - aw, jeez guys, to think I missed last night's culturally enlightening and profoundly erudite conversation...

I can't believe we managed to keep it in one thread.

[Bernard L. Madoff]

Easy Tiger, on 23 December 2011 - 08:19 AM, said:

No dole until you’ve exhausted your savings. Plan accordingly*

*Alpha Strategy (buy consumables now and stockpile them)
* Physical cash, gold, silver

No dole until you’ve exhausted your savings Yep, have physical cash and Centrelink has no idea.

buy consumables now and stockpile them In a deflationary spiral ala 1930s wouldn't consumables get cheaper?

Physical cash, gold, silver

[minimumtrade]

Bernard L. Madoff, on 24 December 2011 - 04:41 AM, said:

No dole until you’ve exhausted your savings Yep, have physical cash and Centrelink has no idea.

This is another example where the FIrst Home Saver Account works well,

is liquid assets test exempt.

[savagegoose]

well yeah would be pretty rude to be told no welfare because you have enough money in 1st home savers account, yet cant pull that out