Australians are expected to spend $20m on fair trade products this year - “an 80-fold increase in revenue in just over four years”

Leading British fair trade brand now popular enough to compete directly with Cadbury and Nestle - “yet is made and co-owned by 45,000 small-scale cocoa growers from the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative, spread across 1200 villages in Ghana.”

But apparently “coffee certification systems such as Fair Trade are hollow marketing apparatuses wrapped in charitable skin that injure the very population they ostensibly protect.”

Lots to think about, especially since Fair Trade Fortnight starts today.

Dan, read this obituary of Larry Norman, pioneer of Christian rock, from smh last week.

I’m a Christian. Here’s why I hate religion:
(Take the 5 minutes to watch it. You’ve already spent longer than that on the net.)

If the video raised any questions, or you already had some, please feel free to use this page to ask me.

Dear Faithful Reader,
The conspicious lack of posts on TCA recently has been a result of:

• My overflowing social life
• School heating up (less than 8 weeks until my final exams start) 

Posts may remain sparse over the next two months until school ends, but I will post reasonably often. Stay tuned.

Until then, I’d love to hear from you. Who are you, where are you from, how did you find TCA, what is your favourite ice-cream flavour, and what do you love about life? (And anything else you care to add.)

We had our school athletics carnival over the last two days. The weather was perfect, and as it was our last carnival we were ready to have a good time.
The slideshow below shows a selection of the photos I took. You can get the full photos or comment on them by clicking them (or something - I’m no expert).

What do you think? Leave a comment.

3 great things happened to me today:

1. I woke up, which is always nice. As far as I can work out, it means I’m alive.
2. I had the last of my trial exams - just my real exams to go now!
3. I took my new board out for a test run. Yesterday I wrote about how to get into surfing, and point 4 was “Do it often”. This afternoon I found out why. I haven’t been out for a while so I was very unfit and even more un-surf-fit (the surfing muscles… were gone!)
   Even though I was a bit rusty, the new stick is very, very nice! I haven’t tried out all the features yet (like standing up… kidding, sort of) but I like it heaps.

Tonight will be sweet too: youth group. Good food, good music, good fun, good people, and learning about Jesus - good times! If you live on the Coast, 7-9:30pm tonight @ the Erina High School hall (on The Entrance road) is where it’s at!

This afternoon I drove out to Long Jetty to pick up my new surf board, which my awesome friends and family bought me for my 18th.

Thanks guys: I love it!!!

It’s my first real board, and I’m super-dooper excited to try it out. If you’re interested, it’s a 6 foot 1 custom Wizstix fish, something-or-other inches thick.

 But I reckon it needs a paintjob. I could pay to get one done, but I have some arty friends who would probably do a sweet job. I’ve got basically no idea what sort of design I want - hopefully they will have some ideas.

Watch this site for updates.

What do you think? Have you got any ideas for a design?

If you’re procrastinating an exam, done for the week, or just interested - I’d love to see your ideas! Leave a comment.

.

A month ago, TheCrazyAustralian.com began with this humble start.
Since then, there have been:

• 31 Posts
• 84 Comments
• Over 470 different visitors
• Over 650 visits
• At least 2 smiles (maybe more, not all of you have your webcams switched on. Creeepy)
• A new design

And loads more to come. 

Some of the weirder searches that have lead here have been:

• crazy known facts about australians (Hope you found some. I eat 8 weet-bix for breakfast every morning… does that help?)
• “i’m stuffed” aussie (Yep, you found me.)
• albert einstein time bus waiting pretty (Not going to ask)
• sleep watch tv repeat steps 1-7 untill death (Sounds good to me… except the death bit)
• old age drivers (not me!)

So, what have you liked? Not liked? Leave a comment.

[pic: Apparently this is what I would look like if I was in The Simpsons - thanks to simpsonizeme.com]

You’ve heard of kevin07.com - go check out howard007.com

john howard campaign howard07 liberal labor election
Update: What’s HOWARD007 without some James Bond action?

Photoshop is always more fun than studying.

A few days ago I posted the first episode of I Agree With Dale. The 2nd ep has landed! (I’m in this one!)

 Is skateboarding for everyone?
Did Jesus die because I suck?

Do you agree with Dale?

I agree with him. I screw up every day. I lie, steal, cheat, hate, slander, lust, cuss, gossip, and idolise. I am arrogant, disobedient, greedy, selfish and lawless. In short, I suck.

There isn’t much hope in that picture - alone, I’m stuffed. Thanks to Jesus, we can have hope.  He took our place on the cross so we can be forgiven:

 ”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Have you ever actually thought about what that means?

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

How good is that!

DO YOU AGREE??? Head here and say “I agree” in the comments… (or “I disagree”)

I turned 18 on Saturday, which was really exciting. Now I can go to war, go to ‘adult’ prison, buy cigarettes, and buy beer. Except none of those particularly attract me.

It was funny, a lot of people said “Congratulations” as if I had done something to earn my 18th birthday. Is surviving 18 years that much of an achievement?

I don’t feel all that different, but I realised I have lots to thank God for.

Spending the day with my friends was awesome. Some of my mates and I went paintballing, which was incredible (one of them wrote a review here) - and yes, it hurts (but is so totally worth it!). After that we had a a barbeque and bonfire at my place.

Surrounded by my friends,I felt really blessed to know and love such great people.
I thank God for a family who has loved me and cared for me for 18 years.
I am fortunate to be healthy and to live in freedom.
I have been blessed with 18 years of life - what a great gift!
But most of all, I am so thankful that Jesus Christ loved me enough to take my punishment, that I can have everlasting life!

I agree with Dale. Do you?

Are floaties sometimes just not enough?
Is it all about Jesus? 

Life. The Universe. Everything. It’s all about Jesus. We were made by Jesus. We were made for Jesus. If you know Jesus you know God. He lived a perfect life. Died a terrible death. Did the smack down on death and rose again. It’s all about him. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

DO YOU AGREE??? Head here and say “I agree” in the comments… (or “I disagree”)