Now that the US has been trounced in the soccer, can we go back to being proper Americans and not giving two flying ***** about that sport?

(Soccer and Taylor Swift.  The things they work overtime on trying to convince us we should get excited about.  Far out.)

Hawthorn got absolutely smashed. Oh, well. Not gonna be the year with let downs like that.

How about another beer commercial?

The Hawks have a big game against Melbourne tomorrow.  Particularly big as eight of our starting 22 are out due to injury, illness or suspension.  And five of them are from the starting seven in the backline.  So it's a big test.  The midfield (missing two starters) will really need to bring the pressure so the very green backs are not overwhelmed.

Win this game, and the Hawks are virtually assured a top-four finish (almost mandatory for a good run at the premiership) with a solid shot at a top-two finish, which will earn home-field advantage clear to the Grand Final.

It's getting to the money end of the season.  Him's nervous.  S***ing bricks.  Sorry, I shouldn't have said that word.  S***ing rocks.

Quote from: art76 on July 02, 2026, 11:03:22 PMJust saw this in my FB feed - kind of surprised to see Bethel ranked third - just wow!

https://gojohnnies.com/news/2026/7/2/first-preseason-ranking-slots-sju-football-at-no-9.aspx

Lindy's.  Rankings seem to be made after a heavy session at the pub, unfortunately.  Normally, it has a crazy bias for SJU.

Nice work, Art. Another great result. How long until the rockets are connected in real time to starlink and you need to do a landing and relaunch?

Quote from: BDB on June 27, 2026, 10:00:22 PMBob Dylan's boyhood home?
(Just a shot in the dark)

Heh.  I knew you were a good chance to get it. I did wonder, though, if we would need to wait for Bobby himself to log in with the answer.

We haven't played "Where Am I?" in a while.  Who's got this one?



(click to embiggen)

I'm back in GR for two weeks as my dad had surgery to remove a benign tumour from the top of his intestine last Wednesday. Five days later he's driving me around 18 holes at Eagle Ridge in Coleraine (quite a nice course, by the way). More importantly, I absolutely played the coating off my golf ball. I haven't played that well and consistently with both woods and irons in the same match in a long time.

Bragging is over.  Had to tell someone, though.

I have had a bit of a read of the ruling and it looks like the ncaa is laying on a bed of platitudes of its own making.

They did the whole mental illness excuses any behaviour rule making a few years ago and even added on a responsibility for them to treat and never punish mental illness.  So this guy gets a doctor to declare him a gambling addict, a mental illness the ncaa recognises, and Shazam!, they not only can't punish him but are obligated to help him, which they didn't according to their own policies.

Gambling is only a rules violation, it appears, if you're solely doing it because you want to make the bucks. If you're doing it compulsively because you're an addict, the ncaa is obligated to treat you and hand out no punishment whatsoever.  That's what this guy's lawyers argued and the temporary injunction affirms.

The NCAA are appealing, however, but quite a few observers think their appeal has little hope of succeeding. We'll see.

(Obviously, I think this is stupid. But even more stupid was the ncaa's vapid rule making regarding the ultimate modern get out of jail free card, mental illness however defined)

Heh. The first one in that list is imprinted on my brain as the Hamm's commercial.

We haven't had a good beer commercial in a while.  Here's another classic from Carlton.

I'm a lover, not a hunter.

That being said, one of my favourite return-home activities is shooting cans off fenceposts in the back field with my dad's small arsenal.  There's always a new addition in the collection to try out.

(Our family home is rural, but it ain't in the middle of nowhere.  I always wonder if the neighbours will call the cops, especially when we start shooting the Dirty Harry special.  But it hasn't happened yet.)

Quote from: DuffMan on May 25, 2026, 06:51:48 PMDemo Derbies--in high school, a few friends and I built and entered a car in the derby at the Benton County Fair.  It was a ton of fun.  Our driver, Josh Fiedler, has since passed on but was a Johnnie.  RIP Josh.

Ah, to be in the derby.  Now that would have been fun.

As an aside, Australians pronounce derby like the English.  Darby.  It still grates on my ear.  Makes me feel like I should drink tea with my pinky finger in the air every time I say it that way.

Quote from: art76 on May 24, 2026, 09:44:56 PM

Quote from: OzJohnnie on May 24, 2026, 07:37:48 PMAny motorheads here?  Anyone who cares about Formula 1?  It's very popular in Australia.  I've tried to pretend I care, but I've never been into motorsports any deeper than the demolition derby at the Itasca fairgrounds.

18436572

Grok to the rescue. I am still stunned at how good of a search engine it is:

It's the firing order for a classic Chevy (GM) small-block or big-block V8 engine (and many other American V8s like certain Mopars).

The sequence 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 tells you the order in which the cylinders fire in the engine. It's a very well-known "secret handshake" among car enthusiasts, mechanics, and gearheads—especially those who've worked on Chevy 350s and similar engines. You'll see it printed on intake manifolds, T-shirts, mugs, etc., as an inside joke: "If you know, you know."

Any motorheads here?  Anyone who cares about Formula 1?  It's very popular in Australia.  I've tried to pretend I care, but I've never been into motorsports any deeper than the demolition derby at the Itasca fairgrounds.