Buried beneath the Commonwealth Games, the start of the football (oops, rugby league and Aussie rules) seasons, and the Test series in South Africa, Victoria and Queensland are playing off at The Gabba for the 2005-06 Pura Cup.

Blurring the line between employees and directors is poor corporate governance and presents a potential conflict of interest: the immediate interest of workers, after all, is not always in line with that of the long-term health of the company or its shareholders.
- Editorial, The Australian, 27.3.06

Spare a thought for the Australia Post philatelic division. Having bitten the bullet in 2000 and deciding to issue a postage stamp featuring every Australian gold medallist at the Sydney Games, they have now stretched their policy to include the Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

Guardian Unlimited Business | | French MPs say song downloads must work on any player

All I can say is: Ogg Vorbis is the answer.

Who was Amal Basry and why do we mourn her passing?

The medal tally after Friday night's episode of the Channel Nine reality show "The 18th Commonwealth Games" reads as follows:

Australia 12 gold, 9 silver, 8 bronze.
Rest of the Commonwealth 17 gold, 19 silver, 21 bronze.

The way Channel Nine are covering these Games you'd think it was really Australia versus the Rest of the Commonwealth. Just think, if it wasn't for the women's weightlifting we'd probably be in front now.

My enjoyment of Melbourne 2006 peaked early. The sheer joy of explaining an opening ceremony to your three year-old daughter is something that cannot adequately be put into words. To her, it all made sense: the flying tram, the absurdly colourful clothes of some of the nations, the big red dragon on the Welsh flag ("I want to see the dragon again, Daddy" was to be heard frequently on Wednesday night), Ron Barassi walking on water, Dame Kiri singing Happy Birthday to the Queen.

Exhibit A: Ian Thorpe pulls out of the Australian swimming team for the Commonwealth Games because of the flu. Who is first to know?

I've been providing some cheap entertainment for CricInfo readers on the 23 Yards blog over the past week.

Now Amit Varma is one of India's better known bloggers - I often enjoy reading India Uncut - but his socio-economic world view is, well, a tad different to mine.

... a part of our community might be regarded as suspect because many were recent immigrants. They put the strictures of their faith above Australian law and recognised a foreigner as their highest authority. Their loyalty and patriotism were suspect, particularly when newspapers published stories of secret training camps in the Blue Mountains for young men planning to fight against Commonwealth forces.