Kangaroo, Skippy-roo....

We Aussies, I believe, are the only nation in the world that consumes it's National Animal. Many Americans are often horrified when I point this out, but it's true...we eat kangaroos.

As does (or at least DID) Russia.

But due to a recent Russian ban on meat from over 30 countries (read about it here), the kangaroo industry in Australia is estimated to be losing tens of thousand of dollars a week in the future, and a bunch of aussies are going to lose their jobs.

Before any of you get all miffed and up in arms on behalf of kangaroos, chill out. You eat venison, right? It's basically the same thing. Google a picture of a kangaroo -they have the same shaped head as deer, and they present the same problems -they breed quickly and you have to be careful driving at night not to run into them and wreck your car.

I think a good solution would be for Outback Steakhouses to redeem themselves a tiny bit...if they want to continue to parade around under the ridiculous, laughably caricaturistic charade of "Australian", they should start importing kangaroo steaks. Selling Fosters and putting "aussie" on the menu does not make a steakhouse "outback".

Interestingly enough, I think the Russian pronounciation of "Ganguru" is probably a hell of a lot closer to the aboriginal pronunciation anyway...








<---- Just one of the charming examples of how we use a kangaroo to it's full potential, besides eating the meat. It's a bottle opener, and it is made of exactly what you think it's made of.

the ONE THING you shouldn't do...

as a diplomatic representative, is to say something TRUE...

“The reality is the Russians are where they are,” Mr. Biden told The Wall Street Journal, according to excerpts posted on the newspaper’s Web site. “They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they’re in a situation where the world is changing before them and they’re clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable.”

Joe, Joe, Joe...

Мультик на эту неделю...

The theme song (which, according to the credits, is performed by Машина времени, one of the early Russian rock/folk bands--can this be right? It doesn't sound much like 'em, but they were a talented group...) is the same as last week's, with an additional verse:

В каждом маленьком ребенке
И мальчишке и девчонке
Есть по двести грамм взрывчатки
Или даже полкило!
Должен он бежать и прыгать
Все хватать, ногами дрыгать
А иначе он взорвется, трах-бабах !
И нет его!

Каждый новенький ребенок
Вылезает из пеленок
И теряется повсюду
И находится везде!
Он всегда куда-то мчится
Он ужасно огорчиться,
Если что нибудь на свете
Вдруг случится без него!

I translated the first stanza last week. The second stanza: "Every new kid/crawls out of his nappies/an gets lost everywhere/and is found everywhere!/He's always rushing off somewhere/He gets really upset/If anything in this world/Suddenly happens without him!"

Great example with the pronoun/particles -то and -нибудь. They are always headed SOMEWHERE but they get mad if ANYTHING happens.

Here's the rundown:

В этом мультфильме обезьянки озорничают в зоопарке. Обезьянки залезают на голову жирафа чтобы осматривать с него весь зоопарк. Они замотали слона в бинты вместе с ветеринаром из зоопарка. Еще в этой серии мультфильма про обезьянок они поломали качели детские, устроили небольшой пожар, запустили в бассейн хищную рыбу, и сыграли в футбол с командой футболистов.

After you've watched the cartoon, try to translate the above. The fish look like barracudas, which, as I learned in the Keys last month, are imminently edible... Mmmm. Barracuda.