Some Anzac Day Items

Today, 25 April, is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand, the national day of remembrance for those who have died in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. The name comes from Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, the combined force which landed at Gallipoli in Turkey on 25 April 1915. Today 25 April is one of the most solemn and revered in the calendar. 

One of the sites I like to browse at every now and then is Cracked, a humour website that attracts over 300 million monthly page views. Don’t let the title turn you off, it is an interesting, entertaining and informative site. It can be viewed by clicking on the following link:

http://www.cracked.com/

So what does that have to do with Anzac Day? Cracked ran an item in March of this year that was headed “The 4 Most Inspiring Tributes to Spectacular Human Failure”. No 2 in that list was “Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand". 

Here is Cracked’s take on that day, a summary that encapsulates both the history and the significance in a few short paragraphs. It can be read at: 

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-4-most-inspiring-tributes-to-spectacular-human-failure_p2/

and reads as follows (caution: some swearing): 

Every year on April 25, New Zealand and Australia have a holiday to honor the joint campaign of their respective countrymen to infiltrate the Ottoman Empire during World War I, and also the crushing failure of that offensive. The campaign was so poorly orchestrated right from the start that they ran aground on the wrong shore in complete darkness at the base of a heavily fortified cliff. Then, for eight months, the Turkish military picked them off from above until the ANZAC soldiers were finally evacuated. It was, in all respects, a disaster. 

So why would anyone create an international holiday celebrating the worst military showing in the history of New Zealand and Australia? Well, partially because it's less a celebration and more of a day of remembrance for all lives lost in war, and partially because it's important to their national identity to remember that it wasn't their goddamn fault. 

When the war started in 1914, Australia and New Zealand were dominions of Great Britain, which meant they were automatically thrown in with the Allied forces. Their introduction to the war was landing on that miserable beach and getting slaughtered for eight months under the command of British generals. In fact, just about everything that went wrong with that offensive was the fault of the British generals. Australian officer William Bridges realized after the first day what a terrible position they were in and urged British commanding general Sir Ian Hamilton to evacuate everyone, but Hamilton wouldn't allow it, opting instead to watch everyone explode around him (including William Bridges). The rest of the campaign was more or less the same thing.  

So for Australia and New Zealand, April 25 is extremely important to their sense of independence, in a "I fucking told you so" kind of way. It's what made Australia and New Zealand realize they'd be better off standing on their own two (four?) feet, while simultaneously being a day of respect for everyone who suffered through war under the looming authority of the British Empire. It's the equivalent of two teenage twins whose mother won't let them drive until she nearly kills them both in a drunk driving accident. Ooh, I don't know if it's possible to make an analogy that's even more depressing than dead soldiers, but I think I may have just done it. 

Australian kids grow up knowing what the acronym Anzac stands for and its significance, but does anyone know how the acronym came to be used or who was responsible for it? 

The following commentary thereon comes from the Australian War memorial website at: 

http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/anzac/acronym/origin/

Origins of the acronym ANZAC

It is difficult to say for sure who thought of the acronym. A number of accounts have been written. 

One of the first occurrences of the word appeared in a book of sketches by Signaller Ellis Silas and in its foreword by Sir Ian Hamilton. Silas Ellis served with the AIF at ANZAC Cove. 

Silas dedicated his book Crusading at ANZAC anno domini 1915, published in 1916 "to the honour and glory of my comrades with whom I spent those first terrible weeks at ANZAC". 

In the foreword General Sir Ian Hamilton attributes to himself the coining of the acronym as a convenient piece of telegraphese devised for security purposes. He writes, 

As the man who first seeking to save himself the trouble, omitted the five full stops and brazenly coined the word "ANZAC", I am glad to write a line or two in preface to sketches which may help to give currency to that token throughout the realms of glory.

The Official history of New Zealand's effort in the Great War, Volume 1: The New Zealanders at Gallipoli, quotes General Sir Ian Hamilton's account above and also gives an account by General Sir W. R. Birdwood. 

...In the "ANZAC Book",General Birdwood stated that when he took over the command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in Egypt, he was asked to select a telegraphic code address for his Army corps, and adopted the word"ANZAC". Later on after the landing, he was asked by General Headquarters to suggest a name for the beach, and in reply he christened it "ANZAC Cove".

The Australian war historian C.E.W. Bean attributed the acronym to a Lt A.T. White RASC of the British Regular Army. 

One day early in 1915 Major C.M. Wagstaff, then a junior member of the "operations" section of Birdwood's staff, walked into the General Staff office and mentioned to the clerks that a convenient word was wanted as a code name for the Corps. The clerks had noticed the big initials on the cases outside their room - A. & N. Z. A. C. and a rubber stamp for registering correspondence had also been cut with the same initials. When Wagstaff mentioned the need of a code word, one of the clerks, (according to most accounts Lieutenant A.T. White) suggested: "How about ANZAC?" Major Wagstaff proposed the word to the general who approved of it, and "ANZAC" thereupon became the code name of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It was however, some time before the code word came into everyday use, and at the Landing at Gallipoli many men in the divisions had not yet heard of it.

Robert Rhodes tells a similar story to Bean. 

Two Australian sergeants, Little and Millington had cut a rubber stamp, with the initials A. & N. Z. A. C. at Corps headquarters, situated in Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo... When a code name was required for the Corps, a British officer, a Lt. White suggested "ANZAC". Little later claimed that he made the original suggestion to White. It was in general use by January, 1915.

Hi

I'm back!

My computer was able to be repaired so hopefully Bytes will be a daily occurrence once more. 

It was strange being without a computer, a freeing in some ways, although my iPhone enabled me to avoid any severe withdrawal symptoms. I do think, however, that I experienced the Kubler—Ross’ 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But I’m back now so find me an empty lap, fellas . . .

Great Speeches

I had intended to post the following item last Monday but late is better than not at all. 

Last week New Zealand’s Parliament voted 77-44 to legalise same-sex marriage. In so doing it joined Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, nine US states and parts of Brazil and Mexico. (Australia continues to ban same-sex marriage. The Labor Party allows a conscience vote despite the PM Julia Gillard being opposed to same-sex marriages. The Opposition leader is also firmly opposed. A Bill before the House of Representatives to legalise same-sex marriages was defeated on 19 September 2012 42-98.) 

My point in mentioning this is that one of the New Zealand MP’s, 62 year old Maurice Williamson, made a speech in support of the Bill that deserves to be read and heard. I will make no further comment on it. 

See it by clicking on the following link: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRQXQxadyps

Here is the text: 

I want to first of all congratulate Louisa Wall for this bill, the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, and I want to say that the good news about years spent in this Parliament is that you learn to deflect all of the dreadful fire and brimstone accusations that are going to happen. 

I have had a reverend in my local electorate call and say that the gay onslaught will start the day after this bill is passed. We are really struggling to know what the gay onslaught will look like.  

We do not know whether it will come down the Pakuranga Highway as a series of troops, or whether it will be a gas that flows in over the electorate and blocks us all in.  

I also had a Catholic priest tell me that I was supporting an unnatural act. I found that quite interesting coming from someone who has taken an oath of celibacy for his whole life.  

Hon Amy Adams: “Cell-i-bacy”.  

Hon Maurice Williamson: “Cell-i-bacy”. OK, we will go with “Cell-i-bacy”. OK. I have not done it, so I do not know what it is about. 

I also had a letter telling me that I would burn in the fires of hell for eternity. That was a bad mistake, because I have got a degree in physics. I used the thermodynamic laws of physics. I put in my body weight and my humidity and so on. I assumed the furnace to be at 5000 degrees. I will last for just on 2.1 seconds. It is hardly eternity. What do you think?  

I also heard some more disgusting claims about adoption. Well, I have got three fantastic adopted kids. I know how good adoption is, and I have found some of the claims just disgraceful. I found some of the bullying tactics really evil. I gave up being scared of bullies when I was at primary school.  

However, a huge amount of the opposition was from moderates, from people who were concerned, who were seriously worried, about what this bill might do to the fabric of our society. I respect their concern. I respect their worry. They were worried about what it might to do to their families and so on.  

Let me repeat to them now that all we are doing with this bill is allowing two people who love each other to have that love recognised by way of marriage. That is all we are doing.  

We are not declaring nuclear war on a foreign state. We are not bringing a virus in that could wipe out our agricultural sector forever. 

We are allowing two people who love each other to have that recognised, and I cannot see what is wrong with that for neither love nor money. I just cannot. I cannot understand why someone would be opposed.  

I understand why people do not like what it is that others do. That is fine. We are all in that category.  

But I give a promise to those people who are opposed to this bill right now. I give you a watertight guaranteed promise.  

The sun will still rise tomorrow.  

Your teenage daughter will still argue back to you as if she knows everything.  

Your mortgage will not grow.  

You will not have skin diseases or rashes, or toads in your bed.  

The world will just carry on.  

So do not make this into a big deal.  

This bill is fantastic for the people it affects, but for the rest of us, life will go on.  

Finally, can I say that one of the messages I had was that this bill was the cause of our drought—this bill was the cause of our drought. Well, if any of you follow my Twitter account, you will see that in the Pakuranga electorate this morning it was pouring with rain. We had the most enormous big gay rainbow across my electorate. It has to be a sign. It has to be a sign. If you are a believer, it is certainly a sign.  

Can I finish—for all those who are concerned about this—with a quote from the Bible. It is Deuteronomy. I thought Deuteronomy was a cat out of the musical Cats, but never mind.  

The quote is Deuteronomy 1:29: “Be ye not afraid.” 

By the Way Moment: 

Maurice Williamson was invited to appear on Ellen De Generes’s chat show but Williamson, who has been described as a "gay icon" since his speech - a description he said was news to his wife - originally declined because rules prevented him from receiving a free trip and an appearance fee. NZ Prime Minister Key has however approved the appearance as long as the fee is donated to charity.  Look for him on Ellen at some not too distant date.

Interruptions

As you know, I have experienced some computer problems that have hindered me getting out a daily Bytes. The difficulty is that there has been an intermittent interruption to the power to my laptop. Rather than spend money on a major repair I will be replacing my elderly lap top. If there are any further interruptions, I apologise in advance

.

Django

Watching Quentin Tarantino’s new flick Django Unchained brought to mind another famous Django, one who is probably today remembered only or mostly  by jazz buffs, Jean Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt . His is an amazing and inspirational story. Tarantino’s movie also has a connection with Reinhardt. 

Some Django facts, both film and muso: 

• The title and setting of the Tarantino film was inspired by the 1966 spaghetti western Django, with the original Django actor Franco Nero having a small role in the Tarantino film. 

• The title of the 1966 movie was taken from the name of the jazz muso, Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910-1953) who was mentioned above. 

• Reinhardt’s nickname, Django, meant “I awake” in Romani. 

• Jean Reinhardt was born in Belgium in 1910 of a Romani family. His youth was spent in Romani encampments where he learned to play the violin at an early age and, from the age of 12, the banjo-guitar (a banjo guitar has six strings and is tuned like a guitar). He learned to play by copying the fingerings of musicians that he watched and by age 13 he was able to make a living playing music. 

• By age 18, in 1928, he was already married, his wife Florine “Bella” Mayer making imitation flowers from celluloid and paper to supplement his music earnings. He and his wife shared a caravan. One night, returning from a performance, he knocked over a candle which caused the highly flammable materials to ignite. Although he and his wife survived, neighbours pulling them to safety, he received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. His right leg was paralysed and the third and fourth digits on his left hand were burned so badly they were fused together. Although the doctors succeeded in separating the fingers, they were of diminished use to him in his future guitar playing 

• The gift of a guitar by his brother during his subsequent rehabilitation saw him focus on the guitar and to develop a unique system of fingerings that enabled him to play despite his injured fingers and hand, playing his guitar solos with only two fingers and using the two injured digits for chord work. 

• Around this time he also discovered jazz, frequently jamming with a young violinist, Stephane Grappelli, who shared his passion. 

• According to a Wikipedia summary:

Reinhardt is often regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time and is the first important European jazz musician who made major contributions to the development of the idiom. Using only the index and middle fingers of his left hand on his solos (his third and fourth fingers were paralysed after an injury in a fire), Reinhardt invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique (sometimes called 'hot' jazz guitar) that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture. With violinist Stephane Grappelli, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France (“The Quintet of the Hot Club of France”), described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages". 

• Guitarists and musicians as diverse as Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, B B King, Pete Townshend, Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins have all acknowledged being influenced by Reinhardt. He also had an impact upon the parallel development of Texas's western swing string bands, which eventually fed into country music. 

• Jeff Beck has described Reinhardt as "By far the most astonishing guitar player ever..." and "...quite superhuman.” 

• The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, both of whom lost fingers in accidents, were inspired by Reinhardt’s example. According to Garcia: 

"His technique is awesome! Even today, nobody has really come to the state that he was playing at. As good as players are, they haven’t gotten to where he is. There’s a lot of guys that play fast and a lot of guys that play clean, and the guitar has come a long way as far as speed and clarity go, but nobody plays with the whole fullness of expression that Django has. I mean, the combination of incredible speed – all the speed you could possibly want – but also the thing of every note have a specific personality. You don’t hear it. I really haven’t heard it anywhere but with Django". 

Click on the links below to hear some of Django Reinhardt’s music: 

A 6 minute video of what jazz is about and film of Django, Stephane Grappelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fc3hffDNr8

Take the time to watch the whole of the video. I will be surprised if you are not moved and inspired.

According to a commentary by a poster on that clip: 

This short film was made about 1938-1939 as an advertisement for Django’s brand of music before a tour of Great Britain to educate music-hall audiences on what jazz was all about. This film was “lost” even forgotten for decades until a French fan of cartoons with jazz soundtracks found it in a junkshop in a film can simply marked “Jazz Hot”; the price was right, so he bought it, and voila, here’s the film.. 

Minor Swing with Stephane Grappelli: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpmOTGungnA

Top 5 Django Reinhardt solos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyOQObPw0ss

The comments section contains two interesting observations by separate people: 

This is a handicapped gypsy playing black music with a gay violinist in the middle of Nazi occupied France. What kind of nerve (balls) do you have to have to pull off that? There is just not a finer musician on the planet. 

As a gypsy he was born into music as a big part of a passionate life. Eating, sleeping, breathing, making love, making music - all the rest comes later. There are guitarists that can play faster, more notes, more sophisticated charts but they don't have that passion, that life behind it and without that, you might as well listen to a washing machine. 

After You’ve Gone, with Stephane Grappelli:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTH_Nn_TtDI

Quintet of the Hot Club of France

Django died in 1953 from a brain hemorrhage suffered whilst walking home from the train station.  He was on his way home after playing in a Paris club.  He was aged 43.

 

Due to computer problems there may be a delay in posting Bytes for a day or two. Sorry.

Otto

Anecdote: Gough Whitlam

Edward Gough Whitlam (1916 - ), commonly known as Gough Whitlam, was Prime Minister of Australia between 1972 and 1975 when his government was dismissed by Sir John Kerr, the Governor General and the Queen's representative. Whitlam was known for his intellect, width of learning and knowledge, and for a giant sense of self and self confidence.

__________

An item from Barry Cohen’s Life With Gough:

The Great Communicator 

In 1977 Michael Duffy, later to become Minister for Communications, Minister for Trade Negotiations and Attorney General in successive Hawke Governments, was by his own admission a relatively minor figure Victorian Labor politics. As a member of the ‘Independents’ with John Button and barry Jones, he was not particularly influential. He was not yet a member of parliament and had only juist won pre-selection for the Liberal-held seat of Holt. 

He was therefore quite surprised when, in the middle of the Whitlam/Hayden battle for Party leadership in mid-1977, he suddenly received a call from the Great Man himself. 

‘It has been suggested to me, Comrade, that you might speak to a few people in Victoria on my behalf,’ said Gough. 

‘Well, thank you for the compliment Gough, but quite frankly I’m not sure I have any influence with some of the people you want me to talk to,’ replied Duffy. 

There was a long pause at the other end of the line. ‘Yes,’ said Gough pensively, ‘I was wondering why they suggested I should talk to a useless bastard like you.’ 

SOURCE: Michael Duffy

Reader Comment

An email from Byter Dianne, a friend who used to live in Australia but now resides in Holland, the country of her birth (and mine too): 

Dear Otto 

It looks a bit wonky to me too but they are all so beautiful. 

Is Wonky an Australian word?? [Didn’t check it on Google but sounds Aussie.] 

Take care 

Dianne

Dianne was referring to my enquiry yesterday as to whether a pic of a wedding cake looked wonky to anyone else.

It's funny how a word that is in common usage in your own neck of the words turns out to be unknown elsewhere. I had the same experience when I looked up the origin of the word “Ta” for “thank you”, only to find that its use in that context is confined mainly to Australia and, to a lesser degree, in England.  I was also surprised that it is commonly thought of as a child's word. It was much more commonplace when I was a nipper than it is now. 

As regards “wonky”: 

According to Wiktionary, it has the following meanings: 

1. (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand) lopsided, misaligned or off centre (the context in which I used it) 

2. (chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand) feeble, shaky or rickety 

3. (computing) suffering from intermittent bugs; broken 

4. (generally) incorrect 

From Grammarphobia: 

A wonky question 

AUGUST 31ST, 2007  

Q: I’m reading an Angela Thirkell novel, High Rising, and one of the characters (young Tony Morland) repeatedly uses the term “wonky” to mean nutty or neurotic. Can you tell me more about the origin of this word? 

A: Both The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.) and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.) say “wonky” is chiefly British and means shaky, unsteady, or awry. But I think many Americans use the word these days to mean overly studious or obsessed with details – that is, wonkish or nerdy. 

The first reference for “wonky” in the Oxford English Dictionary is a 1919 citation in which Lord Northcliffe, a newspaper magnate, writes of being “weak, and wonky, as the telephone girls say, after a bad morning with the subscribers.” 

When Angela Thirkell wrote High Rising in the early 1930s, “wonky” was well established as an adjective to describe an unstable or unsound person or thing. Kipling, in his last collection of stories, Limits and Renewals (1932), refers to a wonky headlight. And Edgar Wallace, in his novel The Strange Countess (1925), refers to financial accounts “that went a little wonky.” 

But where does “wonky” come from? American Heritage suggests that it may be derived from the Old English wordwancol, meaning unsteady or insecure. 

As for the noun “wonk,” it first appeared in print in 1929, according to the OED, and has had various meanings over the years, including a useless naval hand, a white person, and an effeminate man. 

Fred Shapiro, editor of The Yale Book of Quotations, has traced the use of “wonk” for a studious or hard-working person to a 1954 article in Time magazine. He says the usage may have originated at Harvard, where students were called wonks, preppies, or jocks, according to a 1962 article in Sports Illustrated. 

The use of “wonk” or “wonkish” to refer to someone obsessed with minute points of policy is relatively recent. The first published reference in the OED is from a 1992 Washington Post article that refers to “a lot of wonkish material” (targeted tax cuts, community policing, education reform). 

One apparently dubious suggestion is that “wonk” is “know” spelled backwards. Another is that “wonk” is related to the slang term “wanker,” meaning masturbator. A third is that it’s derived from Willy Wonka, Roald Dahl’s eccentric chocolate maker. 

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/08/a-wonky-question.html

“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” 

- Roald Dahl

Tuesday Pics: Amazing Wedding Cakes, Part 1

Following on from amazing divorce cakes, here are some prequels, the wedding cakes . . .

(Is it just me or does this last cake seem a bit wonky?)

Monday Quote

Pulitzer and World Press Photo Awards: 1958

Continuing the list of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, from inception in 1942; and the World Press Photograph of the Year, from inception in 1955:

Year: 1958 

Award: Pulitzer Prize for Photography 

Photographer: William C Beall of the Washington Daily News 

Photograph: Faith and Confidence 

Comments: 

William C Beall was a combat photographer during World War 2 and served in the same photography outfit as Joe Rosenthal, who had won a Pulitzer for his photograph of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. Beall had been at the island at the same time but was on the other side of the island that day. 

While working for the Washington Daily News, William Beall was assigned to cover the Chinese Merchants Association parade on September 10, 1957. Although keeping his eye on the parade, Beall saw a small boy step into the street, attracted by a dancing Chinese lion. A tall young policeman stepped in front of the boy, cautioning him to step back from the busy street. According to Beall, “I suddenly saw the picture, turned and clicked.” 

The photograph is an image of childhood innocence and wonder. 

The young policeman went on to become the Chief of Police of Washington DC, Maurice Cullinane. The photograph was further commemorated by being made into a statue in front of a courthouse, in Jonesboro, Georgia, honouring police. 

Bill Beall with prize winning photograph

Year: 1958 

Award: World Press Photo of the Year 

Photographer: Stanislav Tereba 

Photograph: Untitled

Comments: 

During a football game between the teams Sparta Praha and Červená Hvězda Bratislava, Sparta’s goalkeeper Miroslav Čtvrtníček stands on the football field and lines up for a kick in pouring rain. 

This is the only time in the award’s history that a sports photograph has won, somewhat ironic given that Czech photojournalist Stanislav Tereba shot sports only as somewhat of a hobby. Tereba covered the political changes in his beloved Czechoslovakia over the years and recorded ther Pargue Spring in 1968 when the Czechs rebelled against Soviet domination. 

Stanislav Tereba