One For the BIrds

Kookaburra's sittin in an ole' gum tree

Think of a song that you associate with Australia.  Bet I know what it is.  90% likely your thinking of "Land Down Under" by Men At Work. Right? Today a judge has just ruled that the flute solo from that song (you're humming it right now aren't you?) was stolen from a children's song called "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" and the songs owners are entitled to part of the profits from the song.  Holy crap what a load of garbage.  The reports are that the owners will now seek up to 60% of the songs profits so far.  I don't know how much that will be but it has to be millions and millions of dollars.  "Land Down Under" is like the unofficial song of Australia.  You still hear it all the time.  I happen to know the Kookaburra song, I'll bet that anyone who went to Ottawa Elementary Schools in the eighties with me remembers singing it in music class too.  And Men at Work surely stole a riff from it, but the "owners" of the song are a giant record label who only purchased the rights to the song in the '90's, ten years after "Land Down Under" was a hit.  It's a bloody outrage. I mean it's a freakin classic.  I'm on the verge of a stream of curses so I'll drop the subject.  Enjoy the video before it gets taken down.

Kookaburras, by the way, are really loud birds.  The ones in the picture at the top of the page are juveniles and I'd say the adults get about twice as big as these.  We had two of them fighting outside the window one morning and it was like the world was coming to an end.  At dusk and dawn they make a hell of a racket, marking their territory and declaring their existence. Most people think their calls sound like laughter, and you can't deny it once you hear it.  But it's not a pleasant kind of laughter, it's really really loud. Watch the video and tell me if you'd like to have this outside your bedroom window in the morning.  Welcome to our world.

Today was super busy at work, Kev had the day off for some training and I didn't leave my desk all day.  I didn't even get up for a wee until around 4:30.  All work and no lunch make Toddy something something...

Luckily when I got home Leah had gathered up the fixins for one of my favorite dinners.  We have recently discovered an Indonesian spice mixture called Nasi Goreng and when used to make fried rice it's absolutely delicious. I've never seen it for sale at home but I'm really going to be disappointed if I can't find it.

Oh my GOD!! US WEEKLY!!!!

Oh oH OH!  I almost forgot to mention, yesterday when I got home I found a surprise in our mailbox for Leah.  Turns out her parents got her a subscription to US weekly and the first one showed up.  Leah was ecstatic.  I had to take her picture. I'm sure that some of you are also readers of this classy periodical (Katie? Sarah?)  and you'll notice that we are about a month or so behind the times.  But since they don't sell US Weekly at the news stand she wasn't about to complain.  And then today the second issue showed up.  Maybe in a few days she'll be up to date with all the juicy celebrity goss.