tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40721692011-04-22T13:17:29.537+10:00northbysoutheastgreen or left or just left alone...Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comBlogger891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1129947319858472762005-10-22T12:08:00.000+10:002005-10-22T12:31:31.766+10:00After all this time...
A relocation has occurred to cqrain in the hope that there will be many future tales of rainy days and somedays.
Thanks.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1059626959474801322003-07-31T14:49:00.000+10:002003-07-31T14:57:35.103+10:00I felt mildly sorry for author, Nikki Gemmell when she broke down on LNL the other night. I think it caught Phillip Adams a little off guard too. It left him strenuously denying any kind of set-up in the face of Nikki's accusation of cynicism on his part or that of online guest, Dr Rebecca Peelan from the National University of Ireland. Before this I'd not taken much note of her book The bride Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1059439660378759302003-07-29T10:47:00.000+10:002003-07-29T10:47:40.336+10:00A lot of whacky events in the week past, hey? Mick Jagger turned 60 and PM Howard finally reached his 64th (not out) the one where he said he'd consider retiremens. The fact that he has and isn't seems to have sent the journos back to questioning the longevity of Leader of the Opposition, Crean. I know I'm tired of how political analysis in this brown land seems preoccupied with questioning Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1058836356895932642003-07-22T11:12:00.000+10:002003-07-22T11:13:39.336+10:00Been spending so much time reading about events in Asia lately that I have kind of lost track of a lot of the old faithful blogsters that used to keep me from my studies. Noticed that Tom picked up on the masturbation preventing prostate cancer story. I thought it would have appeared in more blogs than I've noticed, blogsters being such wankers. But then again that term (along with "tosser" in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1058503755575732772003-07-18T14:49:00.000+10:002003-07-22T11:14:19.280+10:00Well the Beau Blair has been hard at it with his wordsmiths hasn't he? Great speech to the US Congress, and ain't it ironic that the US is the last English speaking country where such political rhetoric is taken seriously and done well...
After overseeing the terrorist breakout from the slammer in Manilla, no sooner does our intrepid PM set for in Seoul than the whackos from Pyongyang start Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1058402577633986272003-07-17T10:42:00.000+10:002003-07-17T10:42:57.486+10:00Interesting moments in this week's West Wing ep. that once again seem to reflect on events in the real world. It was one of the things that made the show initially compelling and now is even more uncanny when you think of the lead time between scriptwriting and airtime in the US, then the lag before each ep is shown in this country, squeezed as it is, between inane "special events" and the Nine Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1058060455890738502003-07-13T11:40:00.000+10:002003-07-17T10:43:42.883+10:00Well it's been about a week and all I can say about "new Blogger" is that pour moi, it's old Blogger with an easy to miss color change.
Last night finally got a chance to catch up with the second season of Grass Roots. The transition from the previous actor playing Biddy to the new went incredibly smoothly, and Col is as wonderfully shifty as ever. Due to a gremlin in the taping, missed the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1057811612756308342003-07-10T14:33:00.000+10:002003-07-10T14:33:32.730+10:00Just having a quick break from keeping myself busy while awaiting the call from the vet-dentist. Little Yanyan was deposited this morning after fasting and being dosed with preparatory antibiotics for the past couple of days. Amazing how fast that stuff works to get rid of catty death-breath - one hopes the dental work will effect a more enduring cure! It will be rather strange seeing her little Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1057628136386542292003-07-08T11:35:00.000+10:002003-07-08T12:12:53.323+10:00The last whiffs of smoke from saturday arvo's barbecue have finally gone. It was an okay way to spend some time with friends in the sun, but sitting in that inescapable smoke was like a simulated twenty-a-day habit. A nice end to the previous few days painting the last bit of the mother's house before a dry run of prospective house buyers. They decided "it wasn't quite what they wanted" but twas Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1057468441131942522003-07-06T15:14:00.000+10:002003-07-06T15:14:01.086+10:00Since kind of deciding that a spot of esl teaching in China would be a nice way of winding out of the past few years of academic study, I've been trawling the many websites on the subject. One thing that's astonished me is the volume of postings from US teachers which so conform to prejudice we non-Americans have of that country's dismal awareness of what goes on in the world outside their Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1057198744357029172003-07-03T12:19:00.000+10:002003-07-06T15:14:27.920+10:00A lazy morning ironing (ironing?!?) and listening to Radio National. There's always something to amuse and irritate this curmudgeonly old laundress. How about this exchange:
Reporter: ...yes and they're ready to process halal meat...
Compere: That's meat for Jewish people isn't it?
Reporter: No, er, Muslim actually...
So. Next story is about Fat Cow Motel a rare new comedy series that starts Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-1057112784869139942003-07-02T12:26:00.000+10:002003-07-02T12:28:26.750+10:00Hello again! Don't adjust your sets - just repapered the walls and did a bit of dusting to take advantage of what they're calling "Blogger New" up at the office. This template's by one of their own, Jason Sutter and it appears somewhat more conforming to modern standards and all that.
Now, where was I? Oh. Yes the academic doldrums and term paper crisis. All done and posted off and those that Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-953574032003-06-06T14:50:00.000+10:002003-06-06T14:52:30.000+10:00So hello! Yes it's been an age and I've been all over the place while not even budging from this ever hardening old chair. Hasn't it been a fine transition from end of Autumn into official Winter? The temp here I noticed was exactly double Melbourne's - they had a 8 to 14C range and we flung off the bedclothes (narrowly avoiding a drowsy cat) and next morning cycled around in shorts again.
ThreeIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-949189952003-05-27T11:42:00.000+10:002003-05-27T11:42:16.510+10:00In the absence swiz or goss from across the Tasman, it's left to me to record that the Speaker of the NZ Parliament has okayed a male member playing with his carburetor in the House following an earlier ruling that allowed female members to knit. "Knitting's their hobby - I play with vintage motors" he apparantly claimed. Meanwhile, a 24 year old woman has been jailed for five years for beating Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-947610942003-05-23T10:12:00.000+10:002003-05-23T10:12:51.000+10:00How fast things seem to be moving. Yet I'm not really going anywhere. First a dear friend on hearing about the China fantasy suddenly says something that just makes so much sense. Then my mother not only concurs, but comes up with her own rather earthshattering scheme. Meanwhile, I think I've covered all the procrastination potential of plans, schemes and future adventures, and can face the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-946582412003-05-21T10:06:00.000+10:002003-05-21T10:11:25.000+10:00The best way I've found of keeping the continuing madness at bay is to avoid news outlets. This is not as head-in-the-sands as it may appear, especially if one is a bit of a radio afficionado. The first to go was the nightly tv news which seldom provided anything other than a few pictures to match the information already installed. The pics soon became a bit repetitive - I knew this had to go Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-945244502003-05-18T14:59:00.000+10:002003-05-18T14:59:43.883+10:00A state of barely controlled mania has been my daily order for the past couple of cycles. All this talk of Higher Education reform and user pays (and we thought we were already) was beginning to hammer home the dire state of my student loan + HECS indebtedness. It was latterly aerated by a few predictable but well-intentioned questions from an acquaintance of the "What are you going to do after Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-943016452003-05-14T12:02:00.000+10:002003-05-14T12:08:48.000+10:00Hot on the heels of the truly awful Logie Awards for Television Mediocracy, and the far more trenchant Fuglies we await Eurovision 2003. As the publicity says: "A wide ranging cultural program has been prepared for visitors to the city by the Riga City Council's Cultural Department." Because they won't be exposed to any at The Event, perhaps?
The stage in Riga's Skonto Olympic Hall is an Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-941779622003-05-12T12:22:00.000+10:002003-05-12T12:24:29.000+10:00The lab lost its printer so was unable to send path results to the GP until this morning. So with a small sense of achievement I can announce that my overall cholesterol has gone from 7.7 to 6.8 in around 6 weeks. This can attributed to diet alone because, to reiterate the earlier rationalisation, the exercise phase of the program is yet to kick in. With the increased intake of beans, legumes andIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-939001082003-05-07T12:04:00.000+10:002003-05-07T12:04:28.350+10:00This morning went without breakfast and slowly and weakly (o c'mon now....) headed down to the lab for my follow up cholesterol test. Results should be available friday. Any guesses? I don't think there will be a significant improvement, but I'll be disappointed if there's no indication that the mMols are heading south. Still, diet has improved and the weight and waistline has gone down. Phase Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-938995142003-05-07T11:53:00.000+10:002003-05-07T11:53:23.766+10:00Ah, doldrums and apathy - go away soon.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-937309632003-05-04T13:10:00.000+10:002003-05-04T13:10:13.570+10:00Looking forward to RN's week on Re-imagining Utopias that starts Monday. Great site with loads of very interesting links. And the short interview with Max Lindegger is perhaps the first time I've seen Flash used to enhance the message rather than just clog up the ether with decor.
And from the 'How would you feel?' department. Our fave vet, Trude about to give the snip to a hitherto Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-935640772003-05-01T10:41:00.000+10:002003-05-01T10:41:42.936+10:00Here's something for May Day, unusual around these parts:
The Internationale
Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.
So comrades, come rally
And Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-935070412003-04-30T13:08:00.000+10:002003-04-30T13:08:21.540+10:00Lest the reader imagine, on the strength of yesterday's silly post that I spend my time parsing pages of purple prose, for this morning's act of procrastination I shovelled the cowshit collected some weeks ago onto a stockpile in preparation for the next compost cycle. So...Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-934473542003-04-29T15:10:00.000+10:002003-04-29T15:13:48.000+10:00O dear. See how you go in the Lit Pop Quiz. Me?:
Scored 9 out of a possible 10
Born to be Wilde
Congratulations.You are a literary genius. You clearly have spent far too many warm summer days indoors writing frightening verse to a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg. Go out and get some fresh air and buy a Gareth Gates record. (and if you don't know what we're talking about, you're a lot less Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-934354322003-04-29T11:29:00.000+10:002003-04-29T14:49:31.000+10:00Our Prime Minister leads a sainted existence. His government announces changes to our health system which effectively end its universality. Doesn't actually end bulk billing, just restricts it to the most economically disadvantaged as well as allowing private insurance of "gap" charges. It's unlikely the PM's poor embattled opponent, Simon Crean will be able to gain any traction with this issue, Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-933229062003-04-27T12:27:00.000+10:002003-04-27T12:30:22.000+10:00Now that we've been told that the Iraq war has all but ended the tv schedules have returned to normal. The extended news broadcasts are well gone because, apparently we like to see things exploding, burning and dying, but not reconstructed, reconciled, created. Think Afganistan and how infrequently we see that place mentioned now that conflict has been "resolved" in the minds of Western decision Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-933227142003-04-27T12:22:00.000+10:002003-04-27T12:22:29.250+10:00Now that we've been told that the Iraq war has all but ended the tv schedules have returned to normal. The extended news broadcasts are well gone because, apparently we like to see things exploding, burning and dying, but not reconstructed, reconciled, created. Think Afganistan and how infrequently we see that place mentioned now that conflict has been "resolved" in the minds of Western decision Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-930789752003-04-23T10:19:00.000+10:002003-04-30T12:57:23.000+10:00Today's the anniversary of Shakepeare's birthday (and deathday) 1564 -1616. Didn't know that the State Library of NSW has a complete set of the Folios (the only ones in this country) which they have on display all year together for the first time. Most of them donated by benefactors. Wish I was there: t'would make a visit to Sydney worthwhile. Snorkle!
O learn to read what silent love hath writ:Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-930138212003-04-22T10:35:00.000+10:002003-04-22T10:35:41.700+10:00I always seem to have the radio on when Awaye is broadcast. I did make it known in their recent listener survey that I was heartilty tired of the two issues they always seemed to give a thrashing to: land rights and the stolen generation. It wasn't that these issues are in any way resolved, just that the in the little airtime available I wanted to get exposed to some positive messages - the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-929142092003-04-20T12:50:00.000+10:002003-04-22T10:37:47.000+10:00In the absence of anyone interesting to chat with across the Tasman [insert sly smiley here...], I curled up in my blankey and watched the late night movie again - another Fred & Ginger classic Top Hat (1935) in glorious black & white... I like it that ABC-tv has scoured its vault and is currently having an RKO-Radio Pictures festival - their budget doesn't stretch to movies made after Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-928126122003-04-18T12:06:00.000+10:002003-04-18T12:08:05.000+10:00In a reversal of the old line, apparently, lots of folk are as interested in what goes between the legs of blogsters, as between their headphones. I know I've been quite amused and rather delighted at some of the handsomer members hanging around the blogosphere. Or standing as the case may be. In retrospect perhaps there should have been categories - hard, limp, cut, un. And special awards for Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-927654622003-04-17T17:15:00.000+10:002003-04-17T17:18:32.000+10:00What next? The bird stripped bare...(via Jill)Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-927538982003-04-17T12:50:00.000+10:002003-04-17T12:59:40.000+10:00Today was vet day for YY the cat. Everything's okay of course except that she needs dental work. Now our exhortations for her to eat her bones are vindicated but that doesn't change the fact that pretty soon she's going in for a scrape and probably a few extractions. The canines (weirdly, they're called that even on a feline) that have given her a "littlest vampire" visage will also probably go. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-925661862003-04-14T15:43:00.000+10:002003-04-14T15:44:03.000+10:00My maternal grandmother would have turned 90 yesterday. I had forgotten (how soon...) until mum mentioned it. Oddly, and I don't usually do these things, but Firda who does, linked to a pop actuarial site which predicted that I'd be kicking around until I'm ninety. My mother's comment was along the lines of what an ornery old bastard I'd be...a Victor Meldew in the making. Nana was anything but. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-925106712003-04-13T12:29:00.000+10:002003-04-13T12:33:22.000+10:00 I don't think it could be quite as bad as they make out. Heard yesterday on an ABC-tv mid-evening news voiceover: Only three Bagdad hospitals remain open. Others are turning away patients after looters have dissected them.
Could Rumsfeld be right about distorted reporting? Nah. I haven't seen as loathsome a creature since Hubert H. Humphrey smeared his way across small b&w screens way back in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-924112192003-04-11T15:58:00.000+10:002003-04-11T15:59:34.000+10:00I'm posting this while I wait for a new printer driver to download. So it's unlikely that subject two's assignment will make it to the mailbox. Grrrgh. I seem to be coming down with mysterious computer mishappenings. Could some kind of virus have squeezed through the firewall? Naah - I waste too much time perusing the nerd-prattle sites and I'm sure there would have been much prattle on that Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-922086762003-04-08T18:07:00.000+10:002003-04-08T18:07:56.780+10:00I've tried to ignore it, but it happens to come on the air around the time I have lunch. It's RN's Book Reading and for god knows how long they're repeating Alex Miller's Conditions of Faith. On the strength of his wonderful Ancestor Game some years back I would've been inclined to hunt out this book. But this reading is, well, like shock treatment aversion therapy. The reader's gone not just to Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-921890022003-04-08T11:39:00.000+10:002003-04-08T11:42:00.000+10:00The tangled vine that obscures the entrance to my hovel is in flower and bees are enjoying themselves. Nobody's been able to identify it - Something jasminoides is about as far as we can get - but the scent is lovely, bright yet subtle and I'd rather like to taste the resultant honey. Occasionally I clip off the extra leggy bits, but the Willy Wagtails Rhipidura leucophrys like to flit around it Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-918819022003-04-03T11:53:00.000+10:002003-04-03T11:53:48.000+10:00Ah the joy of old bookmarks. They sit there patiently until my curent fit of procrastination has me casually click one at random and serendipitously arrive at this little Shakespearian gem. Just what I wanted. Thanks Alamut. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-918797022003-04-03T11:09:00.000+10:002003-04-03T11:11:22.000+10:00 Apparently Astroboy will turn 51 years old on April 7. There's a brief timeline and an episode guide and probably endless ephemera elsewhere. Why do I know this? Today's morning paper has a pic of a 100mm Astroboy statue made of gold and studded with diamonds and other colored rocks valued at $1.4 million. Early viewings of this cartoon probably would explain my penchant for present day anime Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-917437372003-04-01T11:03:00.000+10:002003-04-01T11:03:53.310+10:00 My first deadline missed. Another assignment, the first for the year will be a day or so late. This always happens but I really need to get real about this stuff. Blame-rationalisation falls on Mrs J who kept hassling me about the newsletter because she had until yesterday to distribute hers before her vacation; the group in council who have resisted all my attempts at organising their material;Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-915292532003-03-28T15:51:00.000+10:002003-03-28T15:52:26.000+10:00Yesterday morning four Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksi) took a break in the upper reaches of the lemon scented gum tree. Kind of looked like big black chooks way up there until they changed position to flash their vermillion feathers.
Got the results of my first full checkup in a bit over a decade. Most everything is okay but cholesterol is 7.4 mMol/L when it should be below 5Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-913817852003-03-26T11:38:00.000+10:002003-03-26T11:45:32.000+10:00Now that Salam's Iraqi blog (see below) has made it to the establishment media, interesting to hear William Gibson's take on the assertion that he's some kind of propaganda plant. As well as for the reasons made plain in WG's well crafted words, you have to wonder if any of the doubters have actually read Salam's stuff.
And now for a simpler kind of reality...where I think I'd rather hide for Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-913154442003-03-25T11:38:00.000+10:002003-03-26T11:21:26.000+10:00How come the US defence expenditure is "...11% higher than average cold war levels..." if the end of that long period of fear and nuclear stand-off removed the threat of total warfare between superpowers?And what is it about the term "embedded" to describe the official US sanctioned press corp that sounds so sinister? Of course the obvious thing to note is that it's just a syllable or two away Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-912040932003-03-23T11:56:00.000+10:002003-03-25T11:41:43.000+10:00Just (better late than...)stumbled across this from an Iraqi blog [ thanks danny ]
On BBC we are watching scenes of Iraqis surrendering. My youngest cousin was muttering "what shame" to himself, yes it is better for them to do that but still seeing them carrying that white flag makes something deep inside you cringe.
we sit infront of the TV with the mao of Iraq on our laps trying to figure Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-912033472003-03-23T11:33:00.000+10:002003-03-23T11:36:29.000+10:00There's this blanket coverage mentality that journos promote apparently without any appreciation of how thus shoring up their domination of on-air chatter, it exposes their narrowness, their inadequacy, their complicity. If my sad insular life has me sitting in front of the box on Saturday evening, I don't need to see grey suited Kerry O'Brien switching between his grey suited back roomers Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-911086622003-03-21T16:17:00.000+10:002003-03-21T16:17:11.700+10:00The bizarre events of a bizarre week - so the sky's alight and my little world isn't. Just as when the New York incident happened, the networks switch into repetitive reporting of the minutiae of destruction. PM Howard on every tv station blathering what we've heard him saying for the past few months. Even he sounds bored with it. The RN breakfast team for the past two weeks have asked every Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-908268162003-03-17T11:03:00.000+10:002003-03-17T11:06:57.000+10:00Surprised that the Peace March attracted around 500 of this town's concerned citizens. Not bad for the place that dredged up enough goons to form the first branch of La Hanson's ill-fated political party. Initially, police estimated that there would be somewhere between 50 and 100 the gleeful organiser announced when we gathered under the huge spreading foreshore fig trees to hear the predictablyIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-906961542003-03-14T17:04:00.000+10:002003-03-14T17:04:11.546+10:00Since monday I've been living in a slow boil of relatives who moved in awaiting finalisation of the purchase of their new abode. It's been like a legal home invasion with the small concession of their decision to sleep and eat most meals in their caravan. This they shifted from the garage where for the past few years it's been inconveniently parked, to a place where they could more easily access Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-905715362003-03-12T16:11:00.000+10:002003-03-12T16:17:53.000+10:00Last night's tutorial on Research Methods A leaves me confused and strangely interested in the subject. Dr Jim seems very dotty and a closer look at his notes about the assigned course work confirms this. Whenever I'm torturing myself over my non-mathematical bent I'll think of him and try ever so much harder. Luckily, the waffling answer he gave one of the participants was baffling to the othersIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-902704482003-03-07T10:48:00.000+10:002003-03-07T10:49:48.000+10:00Today I agreed to meet a fellow off-campus student from the next town at our local library. So seconds will see me cramming the reading of the main text just so I don't seem too slack. Actually, after reading the first four recommended papers, Research Methods doesn't seem as dry as anticipated. Lots about ethics and qualitative vs. quantitative research which I usually find interesting. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-901492212003-03-05T12:22:00.000+10:002003-03-05T12:22:08.246+10:00The power supply's installed and did the trick, but just in case I decide to plug the monitor into its own wall socket rather than run it thru the computer's own. It runs Mac OS 7.5 which is a bit of a comedown from X - I can't understand all those macolytes and their nostalgia for Classic. Something about those regular crashes and living on the edge. Still, it's kind of cute and as long as I Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-900355612003-03-03T16:04:00.000+10:002003-03-03T16:05:46.000+10:00The computer hoodoo has been unnervingly close. The old cheap computer is a behemoth that weighs tonnes. Has two keyboards, a workable inkjet printer, v.old modem and miscellaneous cables, huge Trinitron monitor. So after a clean up inside and out it all worked okay and after a few mysteries (I expect them) the files are transferred across and I settle in to watch tv for the evening. Yeah, Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-898842192003-02-28T15:18:00.000+10:002003-02-28T15:18:12.360+10:00A week of water. It falls from the sky or drifts, suspended, gathering in the folds of the skin and feeding little gardens of fungus. So in this slimy world, I've been busy trying to finish a booklet I have no heart for, and the job app. Both delivered today thank bog. The job may or may not revisit, the booklet certainly will but having got a basic layout to the main section, shouldn't be such aIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-896863702003-02-25T13:18:00.000+10:002003-02-25T13:18:05.263+10:00Damn. After going throught the convoluted diagnostic troubleshoot from Iomega, I have to conclude that my fecking zip drive is toast. I paid lots for it when I got my disketteless computer years back just before the price plummeted on cd burners. So my backups have been on $30 250mb zip disks rather than sub-$1 640mb cds. Their "reengineering " charge is $157 plus freight to Sydney and back and Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-895815762003-02-23T14:19:00.000+10:002003-02-23T14:19:38.360+10:00Situated demographically as I am, in the centre of the post WWII baby-boom, I often find myself neither at the forefront nor the fag-end of social trends. Rather somewhere in the squishy middle. So it appears that half a decade ago when I moved north to this part of the 'great southeast' I was once again in the midst of a trend that The Australia Institute has identified as "downshifting". They Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-895422032003-02-22T17:35:00.000+10:002003-02-22T17:35:18.410+10:00I usually steer clear of mainstream sport, not because I prefer not to comment on stuff I know nothing about (should be obvious) but because others, notably Graham in lovely Albury, do quite enough sport for me. But after catching a glimpse of the Fat yesterday where they discussed the Warne doping issue I have to comment. Graham calls him a goose. Too nice. Comments like this from Warne:
I feelIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-895406352003-02-22T16:42:00.000+10:002003-02-22T16:47:26.000+10:00Yes I said I wouldn't comment until after the war genie's cork was popped, but it's just so hard to avoid all the crosstalk. So. Rather liked this article despite reading about by blogster, Charlie giving it a very negative slant. Pity how any discussion about the Iraq business becomes synonymous with being anti-American. On both sides of the argument. I mean the pro-warriors say the antis are Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-894768892003-02-21T14:27:00.000+10:002003-02-22T16:45:07.000+10:00Politics in this country continues its journey away from credibility with the news that in NSW, recent arrival in Sylvania Waters (no, she has neither shame nor sense of irony) Pauline Hanson will stand as an independent for that state's upper house. If elected she'll join other notables like her old partner David Oldfield, the Niles and miscellaneous lapsed thespians and real estate agents. A Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-893442432003-02-19T12:18:00.000+10:002003-02-19T12:22:38.000+10:00Occasionally one cleans off all the crap flapping on the side (not the door!) of the fridge. this season's trawl:
Unnamed raffle ticket 'orange E 46'.
Bill Leak cartoon of Pauline Hanson at the time she was in court for alleged funds irregularities. She's sobbing, "I'm losing my land and I'm not even Black!!
cuttings - local rag: Older Men Unlimited (Mar 02); Community Flea Market Policy Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-891762812003-02-16T16:29:00.000+10:002003-02-16T16:32:26.000+10:00All I'm doing is organising study guff and looking at my calendar which now has two horror strips of weekly assignments - one of three weeks in early April and another four week stretch in May with a week's relief before the final one in June. Fun. And kind of related, glad I looked in on New Internationalist because their complete back issues cd-rom is now half price. Certainly less that half Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-889506062003-02-12T13:18:00.000+10:002003-02-12T13:20:27.000+10:00The recent rain in rural areas, mostly rusted on National Party enclaves, seems to be driving some of that party's supporters a little frisky. Even non-supporters are getting whatever kind of troppo one gets in this climate. Witness the odd buttering up (ummm...) of Nationals leader and deputy PM by Matt Price on page 6 of yesterday's Australian commenting on the how dull the procedings were in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-888820712003-02-11T10:54:00.000+10:002003-02-11T11:03:58.000+10:00Yesterday when the earthmovers started whining again, I wondered what the crazy old couple opposite could possible be removing after Sunday's scoriation. Turns out they needed heavy duty crane and wide load lorry to have a concrete water tank taken away. My guess is that it was where they stored to bodies and now all that remains of their enemies are bleached bones that will crumble into Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-887865652003-02-09T15:42:00.000+10:002003-02-09T15:42:08.370+10:00The expanse of green that I look out on is now punctuated by a patch of cloudglare. The couple diagonally opposite who have a block alongside the one they live on, have just had it bulldozed bare. The eucalypts, acacias, citrus, mango in fact all of the trees and shrubs have gone. Bare soil and bright sky remain revealing a line of mismatched ugly garages along their northern boundary. Now the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-886810412003-02-07T12:11:00.000+10:002003-02-07T12:12:34.000+10:00My god, is that the time?? The rain has made my brain a bit soggy. Thank you former cyclone Beni and the promising clouds that still linger over our skies. The first few days of this month brought the 100mm or so of rain that should've come last month and the next few days have brought the same amount again.So of course I spend Tuesday clearing out over a year's worth of debris from the gutteringIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-884605262003-02-03T17:04:00.000+10:002003-02-03T17:06:36.000+10:00I post my membership app to join the Greens and the sky clouds over. That's not a bad thing: drizzle started yesterday, continued with the odd shower overnight to the extent of 11mm this morning. Yippee. Double the precip of january and the drizzle continues today.So no fooling around with the compost heap, just spreading out some of the makings and mulchings to take advantage of the free water Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-883014462003-01-31T12:07:00.000+10:002003-01-31T12:07:34.176+10:00Well it doesn't look like rain anytime soon so it's pretty safe to report that January this year has has less than 5% of the rain we got in the same month in 2002. And back then the total rainfall for the month amounted to a bit less than half a cupful per square metre. Somewhere this week I heard Peter Cullen, awarded the 2001 PM Prize for Environmentalist of the Year, with the paradoxical Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-880842422003-01-27T16:48:00.000+10:002003-01-27T16:48:46.680+10:00Now that HH has left, I have renewed energy that's being channeled into cleaning up my sad, rundown cottage. A lot of this is out of necessity – the little prick left fallout, like Louie da Fly wherever he moved – but also because (ahem!) it really has been a long time between flicks of the old duster! So curtains have been taken down and cleaned leading to windows being washed (well you see justIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-879329602003-01-24T12:34:00.000+10:002003-01-24T12:34:21.423+10:00No pollie in this country can out-weasle PM Howard. There's no point really, but perhaps his despatching the troopship after the phone conversation with his leader, Prez Shrub (don't we love the way Bushisms pepper Howard's prattle after these little talks?) gives us a clue as to when we can expect curtain-up on Gulf War II. Now how long does it take to steam from Garden Island to the other side Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-878806472003-01-23T14:22:00.000+10:002003-01-23T14:23:31.000+10:00Over the past couple of days another two portions of the new year resolve enter the mouth for predigestion. Every step begins with a thousand indecisions. The participation on the board of the Community Group was okay on Tuesday and the first meeting with the local Greens was fine last night. Both meetings were occasions where I sat there and wondered just how things get done: the CG moves from Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-878232642003-01-22T14:39:00.000+10:002003-01-22T14:39:59.150+10:00Now US President Bush says that he's sick of waiting for the Europeans to fall in behind his lust for war with Iraq: "It's like a rerun of a bad movie." How sad that this is both the level of rhetoric to which this man has descended as well as being a tragically apt description of his administration's foreign policy. If we must have life imitating art (well Hollywood's version of art) couldn't itIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-877063612003-01-20T12:51:00.000+10:002003-01-20T12:55:56.000+10:00The bleedin' obvious thing about middle age is the likelihood of hearing about the death of relatives, friends, contemporaries. Today's event was a road accident that wiped out a high school chum and one of his young kids. I haven't kept up contact with him but it's oddly affecting in the way that I keep finding each time I hear about these things. The bizarre thoughts...inappropriate things... Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-876624572003-01-19T12:57:00.000+10:002003-01-19T13:12:21.000+10:00O how hard is it to be hard? I keep letting the opportunities to kick out the Horror Houseguest slide. And making lame excuses to myself. Yesterday it was a visit to my Louch Friend Ms J which turned into a knocked together gourmet feast ("Some of my made over left overs are better than the meals before") or something passably tasty anyway. Then an invigorating bike ride along the full moonlit Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-875683702003-01-17T13:01:00.000+10:002003-01-17T13:01:54.140+10:00The weird formatting apparent in the previous post is not the fault of the management. Sorry anyway.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-875679072003-01-17T12:52:00.000+10:002003-01-17T12:52:20.316+10:00Just had to check out the Vets in Practice page at the BBC after this week's scary wedding. Hawaiian!! In England?? I wonder whether the thought of this moment being seen in Summer repeat across the globe had anything to to with the eventual marriage falling apart? My co-watcher, not a fan of Emma doesn't think so. She paraphrased the marriage celebrant asking Joe if he'd take Emma to be his Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-874509792003-01-15T12:35:00.000+10:002003-01-17T12:58:31.000+10:00So disappointing to hear that Stephen Crittenden, presenter of RN's Religion Report, didn't correct the blunder in terminology he made in his earlier report on dodgy U.S. Catholic priests. In the repeat of his interview with an American critic of that branch of the Catholic Church and its appalling record of lies, exploitation and deviance (they call it sin, I believe) he failed to make the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-873386942003-01-13T15:28:00.000+10:002003-01-13T15:33:01.000+10:00Some serious reading ahead now that I've received my copy of David Holmgren's new book Permaculture — Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability. A small point that grabbed my attention on first browse is figure of energy use and population over a millenium and a half. The lead up is from 'Pre-industrial sustainable culture' through 'Industrial growth culture (modernism') to the present day 'Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-872924342003-01-12T15:12:00.000+10:002003-01-12T15:12:48.586+10:00Found this further confirmation of what we've known all along in my weekly peruse of Arts & Letters Daily.
ON THE six square feet next to the computer on which this article is being written, a complex ecology has developed. There are approximately (it is impossible to be precise without disturbing the natural order) 100 assorted print-outs (e-mails, web pages, newspaper articles), 12 books, Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-871956482003-01-10T12:12:00.000+10:002003-01-12T15:18:34.000+10:00Rather liked hearing Balanescu Quartet's version of Kraftwerk's The Model on Radio National this morning. Then the distinctly odd chat between compere Nell and one Patrick Honan, of the Melbourne Zoo about their sending spiders into space to investigate the silk they spin webs with. The composition of this stuff, the strongest weight-for-weight natural substance, remains unknown Mr Honan pointed Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-871437902003-01-09T12:43:00.000+10:002003-01-12T15:19:20.000+10:00At last the LETS 2002 National Conference papers are online. And if you have to ask, then don't go there!Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-871436182003-01-09T12:39:00.000+10:002003-01-10T12:12:13.000+10:00Another example of that oddly disturbing, oddly delicious joining of opposites that postmodern politics struggles to ignore was Carmen Lawrence, doyenne of the Labor Left, agreeing with Laurie Brereton, once the pinup boy of the NSW Labor Right, on the need for the Federal Opposition to come up with a policy on the coming-soon-to-a-theater-near-you War With Iraq (aka Papa Don't Preach).
A Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-870877752003-01-08T11:34:00.000+10:002003-01-08T11:35:42.000+10:00That bit about never having gone to a gym doesn't prevent me from suffering. The "no pain-no gain" mantra has been sung by muscles where I wouldn't have thought there were any after the last couple of days spent gardening. Luckily recovery time is pretty quick especially after yesterday's lazy afternoon. HH left Mallrats (1999) in his rubble from the night before so I have finally scanned alll Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-869920532003-01-06T15:02:00.000+10:002003-01-06T15:02:02.383+10:00The first compost heap is built! All that tramping around collecting cow pats and the grass deposits from the gardener uncle plus the old stuff heaped in the corner of the yard by the HH's past yard clearing efforts...have come to fruition. And part the second of the '03 resolve has taken shape too. I ache but if I keep this up I'll be able to lose the pudgy midriff and still maintain my claim Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-869461772003-01-05T13:54:00.000+10:002003-01-05T14:08:07.000+10:00Early morning (god only knows the time) woken up by the arrival of the Horror Houseguest and later while I breakfast greeted by his emergence followed by tall, thin, plain girl. I supress my horror at the thought that he could have entertained, well slept with, anyone in his unmade (ever) bed in a room strewn with unwashed clothes, bottles, glasses, cheap sluttish porn. And the horror that any Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-869459772003-01-05T13:49:00.001+10:002003-01-05T14:12:13.000+10:00Watched The Shipping News (2001) last evening. A record for me I think in seeing something that the local vid library still classes as new release. Kevin Spacey's such an interesting actor and rather loved Cate Blanchett's not-to-type performance. Dame Judy as reliable as ever, despite that accent. Started thinking of the crush I had on Steve a couple of years back when all the blogsters were Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-869459932003-01-05T13:49:00.000+10:002003-01-05T13:53:08.000+10:00One thing leads to another and this article, especially interesting, the revelation that E. Annie was 56 before finishing her first novel. Hope for late starters.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-869135112003-01-04T17:32:00.000+10:002003-01-04T17:42:50.000+10:00Another one of those new year commitments sees another morning gathering cow manure. The compost heaps will take place once enough crap is collected. In this humidity they'll turn into something nicer in very few weeks then the garden project can begin in earnest.
Does it smell? Not really. A kind of vegetative waft. These cows eat wild grass and wander. The dung beetles and me race to get the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4072169.post-868657932003-01-03T16:51:00.000+10:002003-01-04T17:40:43.000+10:00Was told that blogging would help remind me to do the things that I promise to myself at this time of the year. Includes lots of unordered lists. Lots of semi-ambitious projects. Lots of revisits to old ones. We'll see.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12086396200383227360noreply@blogger.com