ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia’s most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The name ANZAC, stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The Ode

The Ode, which is taken from Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen was probably recited at every ANZAC Day dawn ceremony across Australia today.

The Last Post

The bugle call The Last Post is used by many countries as an accompaniment to a soldier’s farewell. You can download a wav file of The Last Post and read more about ANZAC Day here | Link.

I also found an outline of a simple Anzac Day Ceremony along with various ANZAC related mp3′s which you can also download here | Link.

I need a break from computers and cyberspace so I’m putting my blog on hold until mid May. My camera’s SD cards are empty and my soul needs a fill up too. I’ll be in and out so I may decide to make the odd post but I won’t be blogging full-time.

You kind of know when someone nicks the remains of your mother-in-law that things might be getting a bit too hairy to continue.

It seems that four British animal rights protesters have admitted plotting to blackmail the owners of a farm that bred guinea pigs for medical research. They have also admitted to using the theft of the remains of 82 year old Gladys Hammond as part of their campaign.

I’m sure at the time their strategy seemed very logical and correct — I know, let’s save the poor little guinea pigs by acting like complete twits for the next six years and if that doesn’t work, we’ll just dig-up one of the owner’s dead relatives.

Oh yes, that’s a plan! I can really see how it all hangs together… Link

I always enjoy finding a good use of technology. Yesterday I discovered a a site called iJourneys that offers downloadable audio tours for Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice and Pompeii.

Basically, you download one of their audio guides load it on your MP3 player and then it’s just you and your headset as you stroll around the city, in your own time and at your own pace.

Get me a ticket to Venice.

A study, published by the Australian Childhood Foundation yesterday found that Australians rank child abuse 13th on a list of community issues. The study called for a $50 million national public awareness campaign.

I do not condone child abuse for one moment — but fellas, 50 million dollars!!!!

If you were really concerned for the welfare of children on this planet then maybe you’d be calling on our government to spend an additional fifty mill on food, or drinking water, or medicine or education, or a vaccination program or anything other than giving it to the advertising industry.