3 April 2007

The Easter Egg Foil Ball Competition.

| johnboy
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John Hargreaves has announced the Easter Egg Foil Ball Competition to be held in our schools for a $1,000 prize.

“Territory and Municipal Services is giving a school the opportunity to win $1000 by making the ACT’s (and maybe even the world’s) biggest Easter egg foil ball,” said Mr Hargreaves.

“All schools have to do is encourage students to bring in their Easter egg foil following the Easter break (up until Friday 4 May), and produce a single ball on behalf of the school. The winner will be determined by weight and size.

“The competition is aimed at educating students (and the community) that aluminium foil can be recycled. The foil that Easter eggs, Easter Bilbies and Easter Bunnies are wrapped in is recyclable and can be used to make new things, like soft drink cans, ladders, door frames and even car parts!

Words fail me.

(But for schools eager to trouser the cash we recommend starting with a beach ball and wrapping it in lead plate)

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Page 14 – “Today” column.

What page Al?

This thread got a mention in CT today – yes JB – they actually named RA.
Apparently Hargeaves’ response to the suggestion to make the Grassby statue out of the foil was:
“I will treat that comment with the contempt it deserves.”

We did painted eggs at govt primary school in Melbourne too.

caf: Is that so? Interesting.

I was brought up here as Catholic, went to a Catholic school, all my friends were Catholic, and I’d never heard of it when we went to the US to live for a year. I thought they were just being the usual whacky merkins with their crazy traditions. Mind you, I was only 6.

Damnit, my progression to all-seeing overlord has been set back a notch.

Where I work, Christmas space turned into school stationary space in early January, then when school went back it slowly turned into easter (starting early/mid February)

Easter eggs appeared on supermarket shelves on 2nd of January, although surprisingly much more subtly than in 2006. This year has seen them slowly increasing in floorspace as Easter has approached, in 2006 the full Easter floorspace wsa taken up immediately after new years.

I’m talking entire aisles here…

James-T-Kirk1:29 pm 04 Apr 07

Coloured sugar on a stick? Is that fairy floss?

No, it was lolipops – I couldn’t remember what they were called – We had to make sure that they were wrapped so that they wern’t a health risk.

But, damn straight about the sugar… At least we did it early on in the night, so they were off the sugar by the time mum and dad collected them.

They had a ton of fun.

jemmy: you might (or might not) be interested to know that I did the painted-chook-egg thing at (government) primary school, here in Canberra.

neanderthalsis12:30 pm 04 Apr 07

Coloured sugar on a stick? Is that fairy floss? Great plan though, feed the kids full of sugar and food colouring (preferably red) then send them home for the parents to get them to sleep. Pure gold.

Danman, chocolate eggs are a symbol of the christmas season is over, nothing more.

Well if thats your angle – thats fine.
I was more pointing towards the christian symbology of the egg – not that I am relighious about anything more than photography and playing guitar.

Everything is commercialised these days – hell Santa claus got his colors from Coca Cola.

James-T-Kirk12:08 pm 04 Apr 07

“Bit tough on the schools with the sensitivity to not focus on Christian festivities”

Can somebody explain how the chocolate bunny/bilby/ Ferrero Rocher fest is Christian? I’d love to see a bible ref to “Thou shalt deliver bulk quantities of chocolate – Cadbury chall grow large and fat!”

Seems like the schools focusing on the chocolate fest is not religious at all, and is simply yet another mundane holiday.

—————

As an aside, I ran an easter egg hunt last night for a bunch of Cubs (7.5 – 10.5 year olds) – We had Chocolate products, as well as colored sugar on a stick (for those who were unable to ingest dairy products)

Most of the kids simply were not interested in the chocolate… In many cases – they PUT THE EGGS BACK to get at the sugar on a stick..

Hmmm – How much chocolate have these kids consumed?

Lot of confusion about easter eggs.

In some European countries a few centuries ago there was a tradition of decorating and painting chook eggs and giving them to friends. Some old-time Christians (esp in the US, I was given one as a child) still do that. As Danman says, an egg is a symbol of new life and a reference to the resurrection. I’ve never seen that tradition practiced here in Australia, but since I am not all-seeing and omnipotent (yet) I stand to be corrected. So I claim giving eggs is not a religious tradition here.

*Chocolate* easter eggs have nothing to do with religion and are a commercial attempt to cash in, just like greeting card manufacturers create fake holidays like Grandparents’ Day etc.

You have been educated. That is all. Dismissed.

(Checks for head up rectum. Nope, still on shoulders.)

Absent Diane11:36 am 04 Apr 07

anyone who thinks that chocolate eggs have nothing to do with christianity has there head up their rectum. It is one of their ways of assimilating children and brainwashing them. Easter is good is about how zeus died for our sins, here have a chocolate egg and learn about it.

No more to say on the topic, on this forum.

Danman, chocolate eggs are a symbol of the christmas season is over, nothing more.

I’ve considered moving my ‘official’ recognition of easter, christmas etc back a month, prices are much more realistic post event.

When did you last see a chicken, or any other life form, hatch out of a chocolate egg?

Chocolate eggs are symbolic of new life – and the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead 3 days after his crucifixion.

Chocolate bilbys and Chocolate bunnies are just commercial manifestations.

Chocolate easter eggs have nothing to do with Christianity or religion. How on earth some have managed to turn this into an anti-religion rant is beyond me.

Still, nothing like a bit of righteous indignation in the morning. Some people need to double their dose of Bex.

Well, I am a Christian myself, I believe what I choose to and so do you.

Although…one must wonder…Do we worship Jesus anymore…I thought it was law that we had to worship Stanhope.

Advice from Comalco is that they can’t detect lead in stacks of aluminium and it completely ruins the batch it’s melted with. They are silent on the impact of beachballs.
Gold.

While we are mostly all aware that Easter, particularly the rabbit and egg components, comes from far older and fertility based festivities, I think there is still a difference between accepting religious activities and the government funding $1,000 competitions about them.

When I worked in the ACT Government I had the extreme misfotune to have to sit through endless meetings around the vexed issue of Xmas Cards. Sending an Xmas Card to, say, the B’hai or Buhddist or Muslim community organisations was decided to be not on – so most Govt agencies do the ‘seasons greetings’ sort of card. It all seems to be even more of a waste of time in the face of government funded nonsense like this.

Advice from Comalco is that they can’t detect lead in stacks of aluminium and it completely ruins the batch it’s melted with. They are silent on the impact of beachballs.

and thats what I get for posting before reading…

why don’t they recycle all that foil to make an Al Grassby statue.

Maybe the ACT government is so broke it needs the money from recycled foil, and Hargreaves is just doing his bit.

Did you get a wheelchair? Hargreaves has really lost the plot as far as I am concerned. Time the Tuggeranong community dumped him (together with the Tuggeranong Community Council cheer squad) in the gutter along with the cigarette butts, dog turds and wasted life.

barking toad2:39 pm 03 Apr 07

What a great big tree-hugging hippie piece of crap this idea is.

Be interesting to see how much Sims offer for the little scraps the kiddies contribute after they’ve scoffed the chocolate.

Presumably some poor teachers have to waste time with this instead of teaching.

When I was in primary school we had a contest to collect the silver foil papers out of ciggie packs, to raise money for a wheel chair. I collected massive amounts from my grannies.

I’d imagine you would have had enough stray tobacco to make a few rollies too eh seepi ?

in 2000 years how much evidence do you think there’ll be that any of us existed? – hahahahaha tagline, tagline…

At least silly ideas are moving with the times.

When I was in primary school we had a contest to collect the silver foil papers out of ciggie packs, to raise money for a wheel chair. I collected massive amounts from my grannies.

True story.

there is documentary evidence that a person called jesus existed.

pretty much everything else has been created to suit agendas du jour.

my theory is that the ‘bible’ is deliberately abstruse to discourage study by most people.

so if you feel you are a christian, that is a disciple of jesus of nazareth, i’d recommend reading the four main gospels, and especially mark.

ignore the old testament altogether.

of course i also find dreamtime mythology fascinating. one of those thunderclap moments in my life occurred in the aboriginal musuem that used to be above a supermarket in alice springs. it had a display of what symbols meant what in aboriginal paintings.

never looked at them the same way since. essentially they are designed to create 3d maps in the readers mind, OR to flog to tourists.

I like the beach ball idea.

Beware of attacking easter and Christmas, as being “offensive” to non christians. Here in the US, those two have been shredded for exactly those reasons. So there’s no time off work and school, no one says “merry christmas”, they say “happy holidays” even though there ARE no bloody holidays. Easter is all about chocolate (and there’s no holidays).

there is nothing wrong with keeping these traditional celebrations, and people objecting to them have no business to be doing so.

Let’s all move to Saudi Arabia and object to Ramadan. Yeah.

My own theory is that, following the grassby snub from Stanhope (“I wouldn’t have made that decision”), Hargreaves is on a “I’m really a good guy” campaign, starting with the appearance of valuing old school sites (sorry to mention the ‘s’ word), and now easter egg wrappers. What will be his next move?

Outside of the patrician families in Rome AD? Get real, no-one realised christ was a big deal until years after his death, byt then they went to a huge effort to try and document his life, what more do you want?

Anyway, you can buy me that beer you promised and bend my ear at length on this, but here isn’t the place.

Absent Diane12:53 pm 03 Apr 07

there is a lot of real evidence for people living well before jesus’ alleged time – octavian anybody?.. the truth is even if he existed he was nobody of signifcance and certainly not the son of a non-existant god.

Anyway it is a stupid competition, the government should not be promoting easter or any religious happening. Obviously it also promotes over eating and over eating bad food at that. So back on topic it is garbage.

Add to that a complete waste of bureaucratic resources.

OK JB, specifics of the competition:

Ban chocolate because it’s fattening. Oppose mining because of the environment. Encourage kids to eat chocolate and recycle the foil to make Hargreaves look green and pro-education.

Still can’t see the opportunity for a protest action anywhere?

Indeed. Apologies for Ralph’s baiting 😉

I don’t think he would have been telling people to frack off

No….he would be using the proper word as I believe Battlestar hadn’t yet screened where he came from so would be unaware of the word ‘Frack’ and how lame it is (although he ‘could’ have asked his dad….dads know everything).

The line is…if you don’t like it, you don’t have to…just be happy you get to have a holiday (holiday…holy-day…gettit?)…. calm down with the anti-religion BS …. here, have a chocolate egg.

in 2000 years how much evidence do you think there’ll be that any of us existed?

With a global religion still going strong I think Jesus is doing better than most.

Now, can we return to the specifics of this competition rather than the same boring zealotries being re-hashed once again?

Oh well off you go to a Muslim country then. See how you like it there.

Absent Diane12:27 pm 03 Apr 07

This is Australia and people need to realise Christian activities are a major part of our society.

And it is also one of the reasons australia has amongst the lowest average IQ’s in the developed world.

Christianity and most religions are immoral and for the morally and religions teach people how to be intellectually dishonest.

Do not celebrate easter as a christian festival.. as mael and Bonfire say it stems from way before christianity ever reared its ugly face.

And there is also next to no proof that jesus existed in any historical sense what-so-ever.

happy holiday.

If some people (non-Christian) are not happy with Easter festivities in schools they can do one of two things:

1)Put up with it; or

2)Frack off back to where they came from

Boy, what an un-christian attitude. What if this is where they have come from?
I thought christianity was supposed to be about living the life of jesus. I don’t think he would have been telling people to frack off. If I remember what I was taught at sunday school he was more into treating people with respect and compassion. Not ramming his own ideas down peoples throats and saying “if you dont like it, frack off”

yet the schools ban lamington drives to make money because lamingtons will make kids fat…

what a load.

I am getting so sick of every thread being hijacked into an anti-school-closure whinge. You know what? For all that it appears to have been put together on the back of an envelope, the basic idea of the much maligned 2020 plan is sound (ie, that as demographics change, new schools will need to be opened and old schools will need to close.) That’s sad for the schools concerned, but (and I say this as someone who had to change schools halfway through primary school because of an earlier round of schoool closures) that’s life. You change schools, you settle in, you make some new friends, life goes on.

O.o …childhood obesity anyone?

More drivel from the London Circuit Soviets.

If some people (non-Christian) are not happy with Easter festivities in schools they can do one of two things:

1)Put up with it; or

2)Frack off back to where they came from.

This is Australia and people need to realise Christian activities are a major part of our society.

most christian holy days appropriate pre-christian holy days.

its the best way to get the natives to convert.

the romans (pre-christian) did the same thing.

‘hey your god x is the same as our god minerva!’

soon a temple goes up.

everyones happy or enslaved.

life goes on.

Poptop, some Christians see easter eggs to be a secular activity in this secular society anyway, so even the muticultural set (self-defining as excluding Christians) should be ok with it.

Easter has been a festivity long before Christianity came along. Something to do with the phase of the sun etc.

Non-christian’s can rejoice at their leisure.

Some of the recently closed schools could enter as a protest action. Even better, they could all join together and enter one huge ball. Would government accept the entry as valid? Would anyone from these gutted communities be keen to take up the challenge?

Bit tough on the schools with the sensitivity to not focus on Christian festivities; because such a competition may make their non-christian students feel excluded.

Props to the ACT Government for their active support of our multicultural community.

What a fantastic way to encourage kids to eat stupid amounts of chocolate.

I saw a piece on the news last night where someone claimed that up to one in five four year olds are now overweight or obese.

… and can be used to make new things, like soft drink cans, ladders, door frames and even … Al Grassby statues!

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