Wagging School

30/01/2025

29/01/2025

I am so impressed by Jelena Dokic. She has survived and overcome more abuse and adversity than most of us can imagine. She really is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. This goes way beyond tennis.

I am glad that she has been able to “re-invent” herself as a commentator. I listened to her commentary on the recent Australian Open, and she was excellent. No hype, but very knowledgeable explanations of what each player was doing and why, what their strategies were. It made the games so much more interesting having that information.

Well done, and thank you to a great survivor!

29/01/2025

https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/jelena-dokic-documentary-unbreakable-australian-open-boo-exclusive-interview/287f55c9-9abc-404d-8748-d3ac88c6335b

After years of abuse at her father's hands, this was the moment that broke Jelena Dokic: 'I only realise now how bad it was'By Maddison Leach| 2 hours agoA 17-year-old girl steps onto the court at Rod Laver Arena and is hit by the sound of almost 15,000 people booing. The moment drags out, tears are...

05/01/2025

Pi***ng down here.

05/01/2025

VALE Karen Pryor.

I first went to the US in 1993. I learned a lot about positive reinforcement. I was given copies of DSTD and Lads Before The Wind, which I read while flying home across the pond. My memory of that flight was being in floods of tears about the dolphin who was brought out to perform by mistake.

Another dolphin had been trained to perform this routine while the first one had not. I think she had seen the other one being trained. Nevertheless, the first one rose to the occasion and performed the routine anyway.

The following year, Karen Pryor and Gary Wilkes took the show on the road and gave countless presentations about +R, and the clicker was introduced.

05/11/2024

US ELECTIONS

What do my US friends think?

I will be anxiously following the news as the election result is broadcast.

My dilemma is whether ir not to go to the US as planned next year. And what difference will the election outcome make? None? Or rioting in the streets either way.

In Australia we have compulsory voting. It’s hard for us to understand how the outcome can depend on what -% of each demographic casts a vote (rather than depending on the issues and candidates). I think the US system favours higher income people and Republican supporters.

05/11/2024

More about the Melbourne Cup

05/11/2024

MELBOURNE CUP

I just watched the Melbourne Cup. I know there is criticism of the racing industry and the attrition rate for horses who don’t become winners.

I am Melbourne born and bred, and ever since I was about 7 years old, in school, the class stopped and some kid produced a transistor radio to listen to the Cup.

Work and classes stopped, so eventually Cup Day was made a public holiday in my State of Victoria. Other states have a public holiday on Nov 11, Remembrance Day, but not us!

The horses at Cup level are the most magnificent animals and superbly well looked after.

My favourite part is when they are doing their circuit of the mounting yard and you can see their shoulder muscles rippling as they walk.

These horses 🐎 actually know they are racing and anecdotal evidence is that they want to win. That was famously said of Pharlap.

I thought it was interesting that the winning jockey said in an interview after the race that the horse, running in the middle of the pack, saw a gap open up in the field and went through, and was then able to make his way forward to the front, and then put on a burst of speed to win. It was a good ride by the jockey, but it seems that the horse literally led the race.

I would have loved to see one of the female jockeys win, but I was pleased that the trainer was a woman. It was her second Melbourne Cup, having won about 20 years ago.

05/11/2024

MELBOURNE CUP

I just watched the Melbourne Cup. I know there is criticism of the racing industry and the attrition rate for horses who don’t become winners.

I am Melbourne born and bred, and ever since I was about 7 years old, in school, the class stopped and some kid produced a transistor radio to listen to the Cup.

Work and classes stopped, so eventually Cup Day was made a public holiday in my State of Victoria. Other states have a public holiday on Nov 11, Remembrance Day, but not us!

The horses at Cup level are the most magnificent animals and superbly well looked after.

My favourite part is when they are doing their circuit of the mounting yard and you can see their shoulder muscles rippling as they walk.

These horses 🐎 actually know they are racing and anecdotal evidence is that they want to win. That was famously said of Pharlap.

I thought it was interesting that the winning jockey said in an interview after the race that the horse, running in the middle of the pack,saw a gap open up in the field and went through, and was then able to make his way forward to the front, and then put on a burst of speed to win. It was a good ride by the jockey, but it seems that the horse literally led the race.

I would have loved to see one of the female jockeys win, but I was pleased that the trainer was a woman. It was her second Melbourne Cup, having won about 20 years ago.a as

It was an absolutely beautiful day in Melbourne. It is the middle of our Spring. We have a dull, grey winter, and suddenly you go outside, and plants are budding, trees are covered in blossom, and the yellow roses at Flemington look magnificent.

I spent so much of my life being a student, stuck inside pouring over my books in the Melbourne Winter. Then we had Swotvac in November (two weeks with no classes, when we prepared for exams). I would always take the afternoon off during Swotvac to watch the Cup, and I have never forgotten the impact of coming out into the sun and leaving winter depression behind.

26/10/2024

Asteroid impact on the Yucutan peninsula.

We think of dinosaurs as being really dumb, because they got wiped out (by natural forces outside of their control). And that was after surviving for 250 million years or more. Compare that to modern humans, who have been around for only 100,000 years and are already at risk of destroying the environment and our habitat, by our own actions.

Dinosaurs were very smart. They didn’t know what wiped them out, but they knew where they were at the time. Yucatan is in Mexico. But they didn’t call it that. They called it “Mech-ico”. Not only did they know where they were, but they knew how to pronounce it correctly.

The dinosaurs had an extraordinary run of bad luck.

26/10/2024