On the “Blood and Sand” gang

Andrew Hobbs writes: Re. “Roll on, #SummerofNazis” (Wednesday)

I am ashamed to say this is my first time writing in to Crikey despite being a long-time subscriber.

However, even as a non-viewer of the show I did know that the “Blood and Sand” tattoos on the surfers of Summer Bay are indicative of the “River Boys” – a Bra Boys-inspired gang who originally started in 2011, if this SMH article is anything to go by. 

I suspect the lingering shot indicates that some equally handsome yet troubled young man of a similar intellectual and sporting bent has arrived in Summer Bay to enact revenge on some poor soul and ultimately be tamed by love (or eaten by a shark).

Given the obvious comparison to the Sydney gangs  the #SummerofNazis statement is perhaps not an inaccurate one, but the closing line of “it pays to do your research” was too good to pass up.

On copyright in the TPP

Jackie French writes: Re. “Rundle: the anti-democratic rot at the heart of the TPP” (Wednesday)

If I build a house or make a chair, I can leave my work to my grandchildren. Why does Rundle then think it ‘ridiculous’ that an author’s work should be copyright for 70 years after their death? Is the work of the mind worth so much less than the work of the hands? He may not like paying a (reasonable) fee for copyrighted work. I would like free ice-cream, too. And chocolate. But I accept that if others make these, I must pay for them. A book — and authors’ work — are just as much “theirs” as any physical artefact.

On the new “tech bubble” 

Laurie Patton writes: Re: Investing like it’s 1999: when will the new tech bubble burst? (Wednesday)

Having witnessed the crash of ’87 and briefly run a ‘dot com disaster’ in the early 2000’s it was nice to see someone in the media looking at the facts. A company’s should be valued on revenue multiples not on the number of news releases they produce.