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How Europe Learned to Swim — Again

How Europe Learned to Swim — Again

It’s been joked that reality TV show Bondi Rescue ought to be realistically titled the Asians Can’t Swim show. But there is real tragedy behind the jokes: many of Australia’s unprecedented spate of drownings over the last few years are recent migrants. So much so that water

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Are These the World’s Oldest Animals?

Are These the World’s Oldest Animals?

When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, the book caused an uproar. Darwin’s was the most serious challenge to Biblical literalism since Galileo. He also made a great many people uncomfortable simply by dethroning the image of humans as specially created in the divine image.

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Michelangelo’s Finger on the Bum

Michelangelo’s Finger on the Bum

Michelangelo was one of the greatest artists to have ever lived. He has also been more recently outed as quite the boy-fancier. So it’s perhaps appropriate that what is probably his fingerprint has been found on the arse-cheek of a sculpture of a slave boy. A 500-year-old wax sculpture

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Pompeii: The Romans Were Here

Pompeii: The Romans Were Here

In his A Short History of Christianity, Geoffrey Blainey considers the question of Jesus’ existence. As Blainey points out, the very fact that roughly contemporary records exist of someone so obscure as a carpenter-turned-preacher in the Roman boonies is a remarkable fact in itself. Historical records, until at least the

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The BFD Food Column: Lemon Tart with Italian Meringue

The BFD Food Column: Lemon Tart with Italian Meringue

It’s been a while since I posted a nice dessert, so I chose the lemon tart with its topping of Italian meringue. The pressing question is which topping should you use to adorn the lemon tart: the Italian, Swiss or French meringue? I know the New Zealanders think they

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Democracy’s Road to Tyranny

Democracy’s Road to Tyranny

Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn mises.org Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (1909-1999) was an Austrian nobleman and socio-political theorist who described himself as an enemy of all forms of totalitarianism and as an “extreme conservative arch-liberal” or “liberal of the extreme right.” Described as “A Walking Book of Knowledge,” Kuehnelt-Leddihn had an encyclopedic

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Most So-Called ‘Socialists’ Know Nothing about Socialism

Simon Black sovereignman.com Simon Black, as James Hickman is more commonly known, is the Founder of Sovereign Man. He is an international investor, entrepreneur, and a free man. His daily e-letter, Notes from the Field, draws on his life, business and travel experiences to help readers gain more freedom,

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cityscape under red sky

Rewriting History: Apologies for the Dawn Raids

Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Political historian Michael Bassett CNZM is the author of 15 books, was a regular columnist for the Fairfax newspapers and a former Minister in the 1984-1990 governments It was Prime Minister Helen Clark who started the practice of making apologies to groups who could be nursing

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11 Weird Wars in History That Will Shock You

Jason Green weirdworldwire.com Jason Green is Weird World Wire’s resident expert on weird wars, weapons, dictators, and various other bizarre aspects of the world. He particularly enjoys covering the weird aspects of the UK and Eastern Europe. As the Edwin Starr song goes: ”War, what is it good

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The BFD Food Column: Parmigiano Melanzane

The BFD Food Column: Parmigiano Melanzane

Parmigiano Melanzane What a great way to say Eggplant Parmesan. Full of gusto, Latin rhythm and a superbly succinct description of the portion at hand. Eggplant parmesan is a mix of continents. The eggplants originate from Asia, the tomato from South America and the cheese from Italy where it was

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Jack the Journo Is a Joke

Jack the Journo Is a Joke

Should we extend some pity towards Jack Tame? I believe so. Jack Tame is 34 years young. He is of a generation that, to be fair, doesn’t always have it easy. Trying to get on the housing ladder is no joke. But Jack has proven that he is just

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