Today, I (Kate) have been attending the  Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne. Perhaps I am really really tired, but I did have to laugh.

While medical doctors battled on for Matthew, I’ve been watching academic doctors deliver delightful insights on the history of the lamington as Australia’s cake, a comparison of house brick colour as indicators of cultural difference, the aesthetics of the headphone as a fashion accessory, and the cultural role of the designer outlet shopping bag.

I actually won’t ever look at a set of headphones again in the same way, but…

Cute, expensive, and apparently a descendent of the ear trumpet…

An ear trumpet. Also cute, expensive, but very old.