Fundraising for this year's Anzac Appeal has taken a new twist with a pre-recorded minute of silence up for sale.

The Minute of Silence is a pre-recorded 60 seconds of silence that can be purchased for $2.26 via a phone and text service.

It was recorded by more than 80 serving and former Australian Defence Force members and their families from conflicts including Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and Vietnam.

The president of the Returned and Services League WA branch, Graham Edwards, concedes it took him a while to get used to the idea when it was first raised.

"I was a bit dubious, a bit doubtful, but the more I've looked at it and the more I've seen the enthusiasm at which this is being picked up nationally and talking to younger people who thought it was a good idea, you know I felt that Western Australia couldn't miss out," he said.

Mr Edwards says with an ageing membership it is harder to get veterans out on the streets fundraising in the traditional way.

"We saw the dreadful circumstance where a veteran in his 90s had his poppy tin stolen and that unfortunately appears to be a sign of the times," he said.

"These are the sorts of reasons why we have to be more innovative."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-13/anzac-appeal-to-sell-minute-of-silence/5386508

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You'd think that this "news" item would have made it for a first of April Fool prank but no... It left me speechless for a couple of minutes... though I was tempted to smile and laugh after 20 seconds...

Remembrance can become a business... I know some geezers who are raising money to build monuments to such and such dead in various glorious wars, mostly to have a brass plaque with their names on it as "benefactors", though all of the cash would have come from rich dudes too polite to refuse making a donation.

From what I remember, there are no war memorials in Germany. In Aussieland, we tend to leave a blank space on monuments to honour the dead of the next one (war).

Ah shut up Gus... let the silence be sold...

In a full-court press, Madrid is doing everything it can to shut down the Catalan independence referendum planned for October 1.

Armed police in Spain are on the hunt for voting papers, ballot boxes and leaflets to be used in Catalonia's October 1 independence referendum, raiding print works and newspaper offices in the region in what many referendum supporters point out is ongoing state-sponsored repression by Madrid.

Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's president, is facing thinly-veiled charges of civil disobedience and tax evasion from Madrid for his part in planning the referendum. Although some 6,000 ballots boxes have been reported to be prepared, their locations remain unpublished.

"Right now, we have no idea where they are," claimed Toni Castejon, a spokesman for the Catalan police force union, which supports the referendum.

Madrid's government strongly opposes the Catalan secession vote, declaring the move unconstitutional, and fearful that a vote for Catalan independence will spur a political and financial crisis in the country.

On Friday, Madrid passed measures to increase control over Catalonian spending, in efforts to prevent the breakaway state from using its own government funds to finance the independence ballot. Earlier last week, Madrid questioned over 700 Catalan mayors over their support for the referendum, Reuters reported.

read more:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201709171057470171-catalonia-police-seize...

Crimea got lucky... Scotland is still dancing with the Queen... WA Liberals (CONservatives) are hypocritical opportunists for thinking about secession with no reason... But in WA (Labor government presently) female kids win the right to wear pants and shorts.