Crackers

[Crackers]

G'day everyone, my name is Brian (nick name is Crackers). Just joined and trying to work out how to use the forum. Not all that good with a computer. I live in Perth, Western Australia and am the editor for The Blacksmiths Association Of Western Australia. We're a small group of blacksmithing enthusiasts who meet every Sunday. I hope you'll excuse any mistakes I make while I'm teaching myself how to use this facility.

[yesteryearforge]

Welcome Crackers , we have quite a few of your fellow aussies here / hope you enjoy the site and visit often

[irnsrgn]

Welcome Crackers, live demoes at 10 Pm eastern time tonight at http://misfitchat.com/chat.htm

[Mr Smith]

G'day Brian!

(you'd probably know me better as Michael) - welcome aboard! :)

[Archie Zietman]

Welcome Brian! we shall not release you from the forum if you make mistakes, I hope. (Monty Python ref.)

[Strine]

Welcome Cracker,

BAWA must be on a recruitment drive...there seems to be quite a few new names here associated with the group. Goodonya from this side of the 'sweeping plains' and ABA(Vic)

[Dodge]

The more the merrier! Welcome:)

[Brett]

hey mate.

welcom aboard brian...

it would seem there is a takeover of aussies joining...

we are coming from the darkness.

just be careful when you open a cupboard,,, you might find one of us

hope you enjoy your time here...

have fun man

from brett. aka pcII75

[sandpile]

AUSSIES hey It is good to see so many folks from different countries showing up. Y'all are sho-nuff welcome. Put up some of your work. It might be a little diferent than what the rest of us are.doing.

Welcome
chuck

[Strine]

Put up some of your work. It might be a little diferent than what the rest of us are.doing.: Sandpile

Not sure if you are aware or whether I speak for the majority but us lot from down under have had it ingrained for so long that we are an inferior lot. The ingraining has gone on for so long that the ingrain-ees believe it to be absolute truth much to the happiness of the ingrain-ers, who ever they are. I blame the 'media'. We even accept the name given to the phenomenon...cultural cringe. Add to that a general reluctance for the fair dinkum bloke or sheila to blow their own trumpet and you have a couple of reasons why you might not see much of our work.

[Glenn]

Show us what you do, and how you do it, so we can learn. It is the rest of us that will have the cultural cringe when we find new ways of doing things. :)

[Thomas Dean]

I have come to the conclussion that people that run others down have to do so in order to make themselves look better, so don't give them the victory! I, for one, enjoy seeing other peoples work, it's a good learning tool and gets my creative juices to flowing.

[Rich Waugh]

Strine, in fact, all you 'strines:

I dunno just who it is who might be running down you folks from Oz, but it would never be me, nor is it likely to be much of any blacksmiths. As a gereral rule, smiths tend to be and appreciate, the sort of independent, hard-headedly individualistic sort that I think typifies the population of your fair country. Of course, I'm a westerner, a country boy, as far as US heritage goes; we're pretty much the same lot as you in many respects. A bunch of hard-headed cowboys. (grin)

By all means, post those pictures of your work so we can all learn something, mate! I'd love to just drop on down there for a few months and check out the work first-hand, but my state of general near-poverty prohibits such fanciful excursions. I'm depending on your generosity in posting some pics to prevent me from remaining forever ignorant.

[rthibeau]

Now that's a concept we don't need to foster. Please, by all means, post photos, the more the better. I can always use new or different ideas to work from. If we don't get it from y'all, who else would blow the horn for youse?

[Jeremiah]

Hullo and Welcome

[Mr Smith]

Here's a bit of Australian culture for you all (Taken from Wikipedia) It'll explain a bit betterer what we mean. Not that I'm suffering from this - I got loads of photos of our stuff, and will be posting in the BAWA area at regular intervals!


Cultural cringe, in cultural studies and social anthropology, is the controversial idea that some national cultures suffer from an internalized inferiority complex which causes people in those countries to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the cultures of other countries. It is related, although not identical, to the concept of a colonial mentality.

The term is most commonly used in Australia due to its roots as a penal colony, where it is widely (although not universally) accepted as a fact of Australian cultural life. Its national day, Australia Day, is not as venerated as other nations' national days. Many cultural commentators in Canada have also suggested that a similar process operates in that country as well, although the specific phrase "cultural cringe" is not widely used to label the phenomenon in Canada. Another example is the claimed New Zealand and Scottish cringe.

In many cases, "cultural cringe" is an accusation made by a fellow-national, who decries the inferiority complex and asserts the merits of the national culture. An example is the epithet "West Brit" applied by one Irish person to another who is felt to adopt excessively the mannerisms of the British (specifically, the English).

The term "cultural cringe" was coined in the Australian context by the writer and critic A. A. Phillips. His 1950 essay was republished in 2006, attesting to the potency of the term.

The idea of cultural cringe was defined by Australian sociologists Brian Head and James Walter as the belief that one's own country occupies a "subordinate cultural place on the periphery", and that "intellectual standards are set and innovations occur elsewhere". As a consequence, a person who holds this belief is inclined to devalue their own country's cultural, academic and artistic life, and to venerate the "superior" culture of another country. (Such persons may, on occasion, come to respect or appreciate certain specific examples of their own national culture, but generally only after that example has already been deemed worthy by an international audience.)

In Australia it is linked to the way an audience would "cringe" when it saw films and acting that featured an array of Australian animals, like the kangaroo and koala, in everyday suburbia. It also refers to the use of events that other countries may find to be humorous and/or stupid.

In Another Look at the Cultural Cringe, Australian academic Leonard John Hume critiqued the idea of cultural cringe as an oversimplification of the complexities of Australian history and culture.

[Rich Hale]

Strine in my dreams I hope to do the quality of work you have posted here in the past, I look forward to seeing more of your work,,more of the work from your country and work from all over the world,,,,It keeps me working to improve.