Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Oh those sweet high-spirited boys! what a lovely idea. “School ties as G-strings.” Those Ozzies. Just like Americans were, back in the day.
Marianne
‘Crossing the Line’ Ceremony, HMAS Melbourne 1967. DressUps for GrownUps?
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l261/SpazSinbad/CrossingLineForum.gif
RADM Dovers & CAPT Willis CO HMAS Melbourne in silent video shown ‘willingly’ participating in “Crossing the Line” (Equator) ceremony bound for Hawaii (RIMPAC) 1971. Much fun had by all.
http://files.filefront.com/RADMCAPTcrossLine1971wmv/;12121765;/fileinfo.html
Tailhook down unda’
Interesting to see this up here Lex.
Good old Xavier, I spoke to a couple of guys I know that graduated there last year (yay for being a mature age student at uni). Apparently that class is widely acknowledged as the worst rabble to pass through in living memory.
Bit of an over-reaction really, apart from those that damaged property. They got drunk and set off some fireworks…. the APS schools are of course fiercely protective of their public image, just ask my old Headmaster how quickly they killed the story of the guy bringing a rather unusual number of propane cylinders to school, or the map he had with him, or the bit where he later killed himself (few years later) in a mental institution.
Yeah, watch him choke then.
Of course at my school we couldn’t get close to the place for the floodlights, guards and cameras. Fortunately, there being a very large park next door and us being a happy bunch we settled for having a very large party in anticipation of the breakfast put on by the school the next morning before final assembly. In appreciation of which it is considered only polite at least one of your class vomits as the band plays you out.
Well, as you know Sim, I have an inordinate affection for Oz. There are ever so many reasons why.
It’s a second home. Which considering my affection for the first home, is really saying something, mate.
The game they reference was known (back in my day, [groan]) as mugby, basically a large group of people, one football. Everyone tries to get whoever has the ball, disposal may be to someone calling it or may be to someone unsuspecting you just want to deck, as soon as you have the ball you’re a legitimate target you see…..
I was flattened by a mates older brother playing mugby, out cold and went home with a nice concussion, later I tackled a mates younger brother and he fell on his shoulder, one broken clavicle and dislocated shoulder later….
No punishments handed out, accidents happen while playing football!
Mugby sounds exactly like a game we played at our school called ‘Mearns Rules,’ named after a famously absent PE instructor. He would throw you a ball and tell you to go play ‘Mearns Rules’ then disappear for 80 mins. Mearns Rules subsequently became synonymous with ‘No Rules at All.’
How I remember being lined up by the ball carrier, one of the more neanderthalic members of our class, myself being a mere slip of a lad, and being bowled over like an English opener. How I laughed. After I came to, of course.
Yeah, good times.
Chris-
Speaking of neolithic like most Jesuit schools Xavier is known as a football focused school amongst the APS, turning up for footy on Saturday morning knowing we were going to play on guys two foot taller and a foot wider and probably get pummeled was great fun.