Mrs Cui Yu Hu turned 104, and received a letter of congratulations from the Prime Minister, John Howard, which reads:
"Janette and I are very happy to learn of your 104th birthday. We would like to join with your family and friends in extending our congratulations and best personal wishes to you on this wonderful occasion."
But the mailman also delivered a letter from the Immigration Department, refusing her an aged parent visa.
"The players broke the club's disciplinary code and have also been found guilty of unauthorised use of a fire extinguisher and a bicycle."
- Newcastle Knights chairman Mick Hill, 21.2.05
(Please refer to the source and background to this deathless prose.)
It's quite unsettling to hear the news of Hunter S Thompson's death, apparently by shooting himself. It's only last Friday that I wrote a short appreciation of him on these pages.
It's alive. It's Flash-infested. Its stats are out of date. Michael Clarke's management company has created a slick-looking website for him called - you guessed it - www.michaelclarke.com.au. I wonder how long before they remember to take down the Number 49 wallpaper.
For all the press clippings on his website, they missed these accounts of his first-class debut (New South Wales v India, 1999-2000):
The cancellation of the 2004-05 National Hockey League following an industrial dispute could well mean the death knell of the sport as a viable major league concern in North America. Will we miss it? Give me curling anyday.
To celebrate the enactment of the Kyoto Protocol this week I am releasing a sidebar version of the aggregated environmental newsfeed that appears on the environment page on this website.
The Greenbar contains news about the environment and related sciences aggregated from XML feeds from: AllAfrica.com, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, E-Law, Forests.org, Greenpeace, Grist, Inter Press Service, MSNBC, National Geographic, Oceana.org, Reuters, the Washington Post, Waterconserve.info, and the World Wildlife Fund.
Hunter S Thompson is probably best known in Australia for using the adjective "pharquing" live to air on the Don Lane Show in 1976. To the rest of us, he's just a sportswriter for the ESPN website... among one or two other things.
His first column for the Disney-owned behemoth in 2005 was posted a few hours ago: Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray (link updated 25-2-05).
Our pathetic excuse for a Prime Minister - Mister Can't Do himself, John Winston Howard - can't apologise on behalf of an inept immigration department, can't sign the Kyoto Protocol even though it becomes international law today, can't cancel the foreign debt of tsunami-stricken countries, can't let the buck stop with him. He can't sack incompetent ministers either... though that may be because he'd have nobody left.
Pakistan has beaten New Zealand by five runs in the first 20-overs-a-side international at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.
It happened on November 23, 1984. Bad weather delayed the start of the game, which was set at twenty overs for each team when it finally got under way. Pakistan made 157 for 5, New Zealand were held to 152 for 7.
Despite Mudassar Nazar's four-over haul of 4/27, it was Saleem Malik (41 from 40 balls) who was named Man of the Match. See the scorecard for further details.
It's probably the only time that indoor cricket is officially embraced by the outdoor game. The European Cricket Council's annual indoor championship was decided on Sunday in the Danish city of Herning. Congratulations to Greece, who beat the host nation by three runs in the final.
The ECC website has a video clip of Denmark losing their final wicket, and the jubilation of the Greek camp as they win their first European Indoor title since 2002. Was Euro 2004 ever this exciting? (Well, yes.)
