Raspoid Maunderings

Intimations of Spring

2011-08-16T07:29:00.002+08:00

I hope someone had a good view of the Perseid showers this past weekend, in spite of the full moon. We were looking forward to them, but the rain moved in last night.
It is funny (with wonderment) how on Friday morning the day was smelling all spring-like, that incipient anticipatory smell with birds visibly trailing nesting material as they fly about (or carrying on noisily in the trees as you walk to the car at the end of the day and the small child walking their dog asks its parent what they are doing - that was amusing), and Sunday was the same with the frogs in the various ponds around here harmonizing croakingly about the depth of the water and the possibilities therein.
Then it rained and it doesn't smell wintery any more, even though the front has come up from the south and the temperature dropped like a stone and the rapid changes in air pressure brings its own headaches.
Spring officially doesn't get here until September, two weeks away at least. But I have a sneaking suspision that the birds and flowers are a more accurate indicator about when spring starts to get sprung *g*

Style or fashion?

2011-08-14T09:56:00.001+08:00

I think I have finally got my phone working properly (only four years after I bought it *humph*) Took me an hour sitting on an uncomfortable stool in a Vodafone shop in Garden City but I can now send pictures and access the internet if I need to on my phone.
I know, it's not like I actually NEED to use my phone on the 'net when I have computers at home and at work, but it was the fact that I should be able to access it and it couldn't...
Though I won't have to shell out for another phone for another few years now *G*

And why was I in Garden City? There is a new tea-shop in town with outlets in Claremont & Garden City. Since I am currently on the hunt for a pair of shoes, I went down there yesterday afternoon on the basis that they might have some more stylish footwear, being a somewhat 'posher' shopping centre than my usual haunts, it was an excuse to look at 'posh clothes' too.
I wasn't totally disappointed. There is a Maggie T shop there, which is always good for the inspiration, I did get my phone sorted, and I did buy some leaf tea from this rather nice tea-shop I mentioned it on my blog last month. I must say, that as an occasional indulgence it is worth every penny

But the quality of 'fashion' today strikes me as being quite desperate. And messy. Aware that it is the weekend so folk tend to dress more casually, there was not a lot of style to the people wondering around the shops, but there was a lot of "fashion".
It is almost as if Perth is too afraid to be stylish, it just wants to be 'fashionable' with the result that being on the end of all the supply chains inevitably has. I think I really am going to have resort to the sewing machine and just go back to making the sorts of shirts and slacks I've been making for the last 9000 years. At least I know that style suits me, and I don't really have to think about what I'm wearing *G*.
Now if only I can find a pair of shoes that will work with all that, and are comfortable *laughs at self*

So there you have it. I give up on fashion, it's ... boring!
My 'official' style will be slacks, long sleeved shirts, a hat and comfy shoes. And a handbag big enough to carry all the rest of my junk as usual *G*

Tau Day

2011-06-28T23:27:00.001+08:00

Today is apparently Tau day … 6.28 This provides for all sorts of amusement, but I prefer the concept of Pi, mostly because I get twice as many days to celebrate (3.14 and 22/7)

But what has me most thoughtful tonight is an article about business cards and how they 'say' a whole lot about the person they represent.

If a brand can describe its core values and philosophy on its business card without resorting to a detailed description, then the brand becomes a full representation of its vision. - Martin Lindstrom

This makes me wonder if the symbol I chose for my business card reflects on how I present as an information professional.

I've used an owl (in various forms) over the years on my personal business card. Owls have a reputation for either keeping secrets (appropriate for records management) or seeing through subterfuge to things that have been hidden (appropriate for librarianly research). Owls are also supposed to be wise, and I have often delighted at the wisdom of my fellow librarians. I wonder if it is due to the fact that we read/find all sorts of odd information that bubble up in other situations to illuminate them like lava lamps.

I rather like those attributes for two of the sides of the information dynamic. The bringing of information to light and the organising of it for later retrieval. How odd that something chosen because an owl lodged in the tree in my garden for a week when I decided that I would study librarianship at university, years later starts to inform me about how I am creating my own philosophy of being a librarian.

I need to take some of the ideas in this article and see how I can make my 'brand' as a librarian/information professional more explicit.

The quality of my business card will be the next thing I have to work on, I think. So long as I use inexpensive card stock, it makes it easy to dismiss the idea that employing me (or my fellow librarians) is an investment. Unless it can be demonstrated in a profit and loss statement that having a professional locator of information on staff makes a difference to how an organisation (or a society) operates, then the library side of the equation of information dynamic will be reduced even more than it is now. Managing records is an easier economic proposition than investing in someone to help find good information.

I'm still thinking, somethings will be easier to 'fix' than others, as they are perhaps more easily deciphered. Having a nice business card that is an accurate reflection of my 'brand' is one thing. Actually demonstrating that emplying a librarian as well as a records manager is a good investment?
When I've worked it out, I'll let you know.

Creativity followed by tweet-up

2011-06-25T23:36:00.026+08:00

I had a lovely day today not only did I get to attend a spin in with some interesting people. I am always impressed, in gatherings of this nature, by the sheer creativity of the participants. My personal preference was the pink scumbled jumper with all the beads and beautiful embroidery. I think it was the most spectacular of all the beautiful things worn by the participants typically also designed by the wearers too. I am constantly impressed by the creativeness of these people; I feel quite pedestrian by comparison. Unfortunately my one photo of it ended up all blurry so the detail can't be seen. Mind you, it is fascinating to realise now many different types of fleece and prepared fibre there are, and the amazing range of things that can be done with them!

The day only got better because there was a librarian's tweet-up in Claremont at Koko Black. This turned out to be a good thing on several levels. I got to meet @kalgrl, @figgles61 and several other of my Perth based twitter friends 'for real' (thank goodness for the essential supplies provided by @Lutie) and I indulged in one of the most Indecent Chocolate tarts I've ever consumed.

There was the obligatory talk about personal gadgetry (and sympathy expressed about @sirexcat's damaged iPad) plus the bemusement of how these gadgets tend to work their way into our lives so that when it comes time to replace them it becomes abut of a trial to find something that works as well. There was also conversation about food and literature and how to get things done at work, and ... and ...

It's hard to work out how much we talked about. It's late now and I keep think ing of yet something else I will have to follow up on, based on a passing comment by one or another of the interesting people around those three or four tables.

And then, on the way back to the car, I passed a tea shop. Unfortunately for me, it has some teas that I have not as yet tasted – but I plan on doing so soon! I may even give up entirely on coffee if some of the teas, whose perfume I sampled, taste as nice as they smell. The crockery is a great incentive too for a return visit ... *sighs happily* Such an inspiring day!

Walking a labyrinth

2011-06-21T21:53:00.002+08:00

Since I start a new job later this week, and I had found a copy of ”Clash of Kings”. I decided I would indulge and read it. Two days later (this morning) I smugly handed it to my beloved, and observed, “think the next book will take a little longer to read because I will have to go to work. Isn't that sad!”*G*

Today I walked a labyrinth. This is something that several of us have been talking about for a while since we discovered a labyrinth that is easily accessed on the grounds of a local church. But every time we've planned on walking it, something has got in the way. Not today though.

It was lovely and very peaceful. All of us felt that as we walked the path through the labyrinth the everyday world disappeared. A busy road runs right next to the church with plenty of cars and buses passing by, yet the sounds just faded away. Each time I walked past the rose bushes at the beginning of the path, the smell of a different rose floated past: this proved to be a very interesting effect.

We also came to the conclusion that walking a labyrinth involves some kind of time stretching effect as we didn't think it took over ninety minutes to do the walk, but it did! Fortunately there is a little shopping centre just across the road with an excellent coffee shop that served some of the best chips I've tasted in a long while. Just what was needed to restore an everyday sense of reality. It was was a very pleasant way to spend the day.

Watching TV

2011-06-18T23:11:00.001+08:00

I had a lovely day re-watching “Sherlock” today, I've seen it several times now and every time it makes me appreciate the skill of Conan-Doyle all over again. One of the things I have always appreciated is a well designed character that is observant of the situation around them to work on a puzzle. Over the years, in all the books I've read Sherlock Holmes has always been my favourite, but I am now of the opinion that the latest version with Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock is probably the closest, for my taste, to the original stories. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the rrecent Robert Downey Jnr version, or the old Danial Rathbone version, just that they appeal on different levels and in different ways.

I remember reading somewhere once that the reason crime fiction is so popular is because it solves an intractable problem and puts the world to right while punishing those that are wicked. It's a way of controlling the chaos in our lives I suppose what is fascinating is that the “detective story” is so effective, be it in the written, cinematic or television forms.

The best part about watching a tv/movie detective story for a second (third or more time) is that the boring bits can be occupied by doing something else – like knitting socks, or sewing something or writing emails/blog posts. Guess what I've been doing today – I think my sock knitting and email writing has been caught up to date, and now I've just got to finish this post. Good night! *G*

Five book meme

2011-06-17T21:08:00.004+08:00

Catching up on my reading

(Courtesy of @flexnib)

The book I’m currently reading:
The Beader's Handbook Juju Vail, Octopus Publishing 2007 ISBN 978-0-600-61613-9
The last book I finished:
A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin, Harper Collins 2003 ISBN 0-00-647988-X
The next book I want to read:
A Clash of Kings (and the rest of the "Song of Ice and Fire" series)
The last book I bought:
Unseen Academicals Terry Pratchett, Doubleday 2009 ISBN 9780-38-560934-0 (hardback edition). At fourteen British pounds on the way out of the UK last year, I was so cross that in Australia even the paperback would be more than I paid for this book. At least I had something to occupy my time on the plane home - there is nothing worse than trying to watch a crappy movie on a chair back that is too close for even my short-sight to see. The book was enjoyable though.
The last book I was given:
I can't remember the last book I was given, Mostly my beloved and I have a list and whichever book reaches the top of the list is the next one that is purchased. Just recently it has been his selections that have been purchased, but the last batch of purchases were mine. Does this imply that they count as given to me, even though I paid for them too? We long since gave up on the idea that our book buying would be separate, as we enjoy too many of the same styles, stories, authors &c to worry about separate shelves since we tend to read anything that walks through the door wearing words.

Freo adventure

2011-06-16T22:33:00.003+08:00

I had a lovely day today. Since I just signed a contract for a new job that starts next week I decided to that myself with an adventure and venture out as a tourist in my own town, well Fremantle anyway. I also indulged one of my favourite transport options, and took the train.

I've always enjoyed travelling by train, ever since it was a summer holiday treat when my family visited our grandparents in London. When my children were small, a favourite trip was to travel into town on the train or the bus. Although the train was always our favourite.

The best bit was before the new electric trains were commissioned. There was always a delightful sense of cheap thrill travelling over the Wyndam bridge in the old carriages as they rattled over the trusses. And of course my offspring would threaten to hang out by the open doors – not that they ever really stood in the open doors, but there are certain things that seem to be necessary when travelling on those old carriages and that involve doing things that make your mother sound like a worried wet hen. There are days when I miss those days, but I must admit that the new carriages/trains are a lot more comfortable in all weathers * G *

Wandering around Fremantle is always fun. There are all those op-shops (getting incredibly trendy and more expensive now) and the bookshops and the art galleries, some of them elegant and others so wonderfully touristy, not to mention all those delightful shops that sell silver jewellery and knick-knacks. So my friend and I spent a really lovely warm winter's day under a beautiful blue sky lightly fluffed by white clouds.

We planned to have lunch at a relatively new place we found a couple of months ago that served a really good curry. But sadly, it no longer existed so we retreated to the one place we know that always has a decent cup of tea and a consoling pastry … Culley's.

Both of us have fond memories of hiding down the back of Culley's with young children as the rain poured down, or sharing a pastry or preferably a bag of hot chips with them sitting in the street outside or sheltering in the arcade next to the shop. It's one of those establishments that has been there for as long as I can remember, that figures in the memories of almost everyone I know, even those of an extremely elderly persuasion that have always lived in Perth.

So, we collected another good memory of Culley's in our lifetimes, and decided that we had had a very enjoyable adventure for the day.

A few good days

2011-06-14T21:02:00.004+08:00

This last few days have been quite good. I've spent a fair few hours spinning on the Christmas present I bought myself last year.

Many centuries ago I trained to be a primary teacher and the most fun I had was in the classes on textiles and other art things (that and the child development theory that proved very handy in raising my offspring). I enjoyed the loan of a spinning wheel to such an extent that my parents bought me an Ashford Traditional wheel for the birthday just before I graduated from Churchlands College (now I feel quite old). What with one thing and another, I never really did a lot of spinning mostly due to lack of time and more lack of knowing where to find good fleeces after I left college. But my wheel stayed in my bedroom, or my lounge room all these years.

The best bit about graduating from university was that I found a connection to an organisation, the Handspinners, Dyers and Weavers Guild of WA, that is seriously into spinning and all those other textile creating arts. And that meant that I now have access to fleeces, and discovered the concept of prepared wool fibre, and the possibilities of other fibres.

And I discovered that my lovely basic wheel was no longer sufficient to what I wanted to learn to do. So I bought an Ashford Joy, and I have enjoyed spinning in some interesting places (my favourite so far being Matilda Bay earlier this year), and some interesting fibre (the oddest by far being recycled plastic bags *G*). This last weekend I've spent spinning the finest yarn I've managed so far. And it's really silly/amusing how incredibly pleased with myself I am that I now have almost 200g of a 18 wrap-per-inch yummy red yarn.

Now this was a prepared fibre, 'sliver' or 'top', so for my next indulgence and attempt to make a fine yarn, I need to wash some of the fleece I have stashed in my studio, prepare it and remove all the short bits and vegetable matter that would make it more difficult to make a fine yarn, possibly dye it (sky blue pink with yellow spots as the family saying goes) before seeing if I can repeat this lovely feeling of having achieved something I have been heading towards for a while.

Now I just have to find a suitable lacy, but simple, pattern that will make up into a nice shawl of some kind. The worst of it is, I can't make up my mind if a triangle or rectangular shawl would display this yarn off better.

But I'm going to have fun making it too!

mondayitis

2011-06-13T08:00:00.001+08:00

I indulged over the weekend, not that it involved alcohol to any great extent (I don't think a single glass of port after dinner really counts) but I unearthed some lovely fibre on Friday and started spinning. I haven't stopped since, and now I ache of creation. And have a 'hangover' and stiff shoulders and my brain is all foggy and I've managed to boot my laptop into Ubuntu and Android because I finally worked out how to run this program that lets me turn an ISO file into a bootable USB stick so I can boot things from my netbook.
Actually it's more like spinning the fibre gave my brain the space to turn the instructions into something I could understand. Which is why I didn't get to bed until some wee small hour, and why I am stubbling around the house having woken at my usual moment have had at least two/three hours less sleep than I usually acquire on a Sunday night, because having spent time creating a lovely yarn, it suddenly clicked how to use uNetbootin to create install disks for my netbook so I could play with the things that I want to on there when I'm away from my desktop machine
Once upon a time I would learn new things quite easily; these days I find I need to cogitate more, slow down a touch. Think a little more as to "where Tab A fits into Slot B" sort of thing. Find the still centre of things in order to spiral out with new understanding.
There is so much information available that for someone with a compulsion to read anything that is word shaped, I forget that I need that contemplative space in my own head at times. It is so easy to keep the words rattling down the eye-ball chute into the information collector that I don't allow myself to sit and order them in quietude. It makes me wonder how those who have much more high-powered academic accomplishments learnt the habit of quiet contemplation and maintain it, and I wonder how I lost the habit in the last few years.
I think I have just found one of the keys to getting back that habit ...

A year and a day

2011-06-09T21:04:00.001+08:00

Twelve months ago today, I was staggering off the plane at Birmingham airport for the second time in a month. Less than thirty-six hours earlier I had received "that phone call" from the UK to tell me that my father had finally left us.

I had taken some leave and spent a lovely couple of weeks in May with my parents and sibling, visiting my Dad and thinking how well he looked, even though he was very frail and not really aware of things, but at 84 he was holding together pretty well.

The first thing he said to me when I walked into see him was "Gorgeous!" and his face lit up and his eyes shone bright blue. I spent time with my Mother doing the things that we enjoy doing (involving textiles and looking at beautiful things), but I also spent a good bit of time just holding Dad's hand and talking to him.

Dad was a teacher of English at Edith Cowan University until his retirement. He was involved in the music department too, being a teacher of the trombone, and a founding member of the Churchlands Community Orchestra. He told stories, and loved words and history and it's probably part of his gift that I consider myself 'terminally curious'.

One of my favourite memories is of the four of us on holiday singing "The Gas Man Cometh" (or "1000 green bottles on the wall") at the top of our voices in four part harmoney as we traveled by car. I think that this particular Flanders and Swann song is particularly appropriate, given his uncomfortableness with some aspects of modern technology. We played it after his funeral while we ate little sandwiches and drank tea and told each other favourite memories of him. I enjoyed it before, but now it is tinged with the bittersweet memory of saying good-bye to my Dad.

Curiosity nudged by focus group

2011-06-08T21:01:00.000+08:00

I was asked to partake in a focus group for Centrelink yesterday to review a jobseeker workshop project. It was interesting as the proverbial "bureaucrats from Canberra" did actually seem to listen, and for that I feel as if I did some social good.
What concerned me most though, was in conversation with the other participants about where they get their information there was a great dismissal of libraries as a resource because ...

the computers don't have USB ports so you can't upload cover letters or resumés, and there are all sorts of blocks to printing stuff off. Not only that, but the computers are so old that sometimes they still have floppy disk drives, or they are so filtered that you can't access the websites you need!

Admittedly this was only one conversation, but a perusal of the material I've received recently lists the "local library" twice in nearly ten pages of possible resources.
That doesn't sit with what I have bumped into; not only talking to librarians who work in public libraries, but in the literature about promoting public libraries. So I am left wondering when "the local library" got dropped as a resource for those who are unemployed and without other access to online resources, including government information.

A chance comment from my sibling suggests that "the internet" is being bypassed by the use of smartphone technologies, and that perhaps those that might otherwise have been using a library to look for work are using their phones. I'm not so sure, but it does leave me with a second dose of wondering about the extent to which smartphone technology is being used "instead of" computers and the internet and how it affects public libraries in particular. I suppose this means I now have something new to read up on *G*

Actually, I am now incredibly curious as to what the status is in my local libraries. This means that when I take my "Artist's Date" next week, I plan on taking a busman's holiday to find out the state of library computers in the four libraries in my local council area. Having contributed in one public field *hah!*, I am feeling the need to do something else that might be of social benefit - plus I will have fun driving around the area, which has some lovely views, and that will be good for my soul too.

I know that last bit sounded a bit pompous, but attending a 'Commonwealth Focus Group' has to have had some lasting side affects, surely? *G*
Hopefully I'll be over the pompousity shortly *sighs disparagingly at self*

Monday's Meme: Seven

2011-06-07T22:17:00.000+08:00

The Bun-toting Librarian devised a meme for Mondays for this #blogjune challenge. It's actually a lot harder than it looked, and will require me to contemplate the catagories again at some point...

Seven Things that Scare Me
1. Not being able to pay the mortgage
2. Enclosed spaces
3. Riding in a car driven by someone who doesn't concentrate on the road
4. WA drivers on wet roads
5. The apparent increasing stupidity of public figures pandering to the greatest ignorance
6. Going blind*
7. Dementia*
  * These don't scare me, they terrify me. There is a qualitative difference
Seven Things I Like
1. Sewing/knitting/crochet/spinning – playing with textiles generally
2. Eating good food in good company
3. A comfortable chair in which to read
4. A stack of books to read and time to read them
5. Tea: black, green, white or herbal, just so long as it's served 'nekkid' (no milk or sugar)
6. finding out how to find stuff
7. My children, who seemed to have turned into reasonable people
Seven Random Facts About Me
1. I learnt to knit on socks because nobody told me it was difficult (Knitting for Dummies was very useful)
2. I arrived 'on Australia (the biggest island in the world)' the day before Tracey blew Darwin away
3. I used to be mother to seven. “Two cats, two dogs, two kids and a husband”. The dogs died and the kids grew up. The cats and the spouse are still around though.
4. My children and my dogs were all trained to the whistle, and it still occasionally works on the cats
5. I like having long red hair, though I could wish it were a little thicker
6. I like co-ordinating my outfits with my wildly coloured hand-knitted socks
7. I once entertained Jimmy Doohan (Cmdr Montgomery Scott) in my own home
Seven Things I want to Do Before I Die
1. Attend the launch of the first colonists to the Moon, or at least visit the Kennedy Space Centre
2. Visit the Ashford spinning wheel factory in New Zealand
3. Tour the 'Top End' during the dry season and visit Uluru
4. Wear clothes of my own design, from creation of the yarn and fabric to the manufacture of the garment. (At least one jacket anyway.)
5. Be better at what I do
6. Write a really useful Library Hack
7. Learn to speak Klingon?
Seven Things I Can Do Well
1. Listen
2. Ask questions
3. Help others find solutions
4. Edit other's work
5. Tell really bad jokes – badly *G*
6. Sew
7. Cook
Seven Things I Can’t Do But Wish I Could
1. Play the piano
2. Write really well
3. Dance
4. Travel whenever I want
5. Tell really bad jokes well
6. Play computer games
7. Be one of the first Lunar colonists
Seven Phrases I’m Known to Use
1. “Oh bother!” said Pooh
2. Bloody hell!
3. Bugga
4. Poot
5. Abso-fraggin-lutely
6. Where in heck are my specs?
7. Live long and prosper!

Creative Classification

2011-06-06T15:33:00.000+08:00

(or being a sucker for a pop-quiz)
I admit it, I'm a sucker for a good pop-quiz, and this #blogjune collection is starting to provide a degree of amusement and strange "morning thoughts" with regards to the answers thus generated. And having read, generated, cogitated and composed my thought/blog for the day, I'm off to cook a Sunday Roast for a change. I may even attempt Yorkshire Pudding!

Alethea Raspa's Dewey Decimal Section: 352 General considerations of public administration Class: 300 Social Sciences Contains: Books on politics, economics, education and the law. What it says about you: You are good at understanding people and finding the systems that work for them. You like having established reasoning behind your decisions. You consider it very important for your friends to always have your back. Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com	Having led a very sheltered life (by comparison to some), I sometimes wonder if my need to read books is in no small way trying to understand how others have arrived at the conclusions they hold. And despite my desire to be 'unconventional' I find myself drawn back to the conventional repeatedly. Or is that an appreciation of what the conventional offers as a starting point to build from?
Alethea Raspa's Dewey Decimal Section: 675 Leather & fur processing Class: 600 Technology Contains: Health, agriculture, management, public relations, buildings. What it says about you: You are creative and inspired to make the world a better place. You can work hard on something when it catches your interest. Your friends have unique interests in common with you. Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com	There are so many avenues to this one I have not yet explored. But does it imply merely in the making of 'stuff' or the making of society / community. G'Kar (Babylon5) observed that "Humans are about making community." I think that is a True Statement, and one of the things that being a "librarian" means to me is that I'm helping create a better community. (Or I would like to think I am!)
Alethea Raspa's Dewey Decimal Section: 002 The book Class: 000 Computer Science, Information & General Works Contains: Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations. What it says about you: You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve. Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com	Up-to-date? Me? I find myself struggling at times with all the lovely ideas that being online allows me to see. I am frustrated at the moment because I am not able to put some of them into practice. But I must admit, having the time to catch up on all the longer articles and reports I've bookmarked in the last couple of years is nice. I don't know if that makes me up-to-date, but it does mean that I have lots to think about.

Saturday

2011-06-05T00:15:00.000+08:00

It's past midnight so I could say this is Sunday's post, except it is actually Saturday's. I had gone to bed but couldn't settle because I had forgotten something. Writing a blog post for today (well, yesterday now). So I sit here in my flannel nightie and dressing gown relieving my "guilty conscience" so that I can settle properly.

I shall now commit this short comment to the deeps, drink some chamomile tea and arise well and truly after the sun is shining to attempt to write a more coherent post on Sunday. Preferably before midnight.

Manipulating time

2011-06-03T23:24:00.001+08:00

Following from yesterday's thought, I'm having fun trawling Trove and Flickr for images to use as 'journal pages'.I'm thinking of using them mostly as backgrounds and for my own indulgence. I don't know yet if I will share them: I may not but then again I may.

It is so easy to forget how much fun it is to print things out after distorting the original with a graphics program and pile them up to await further manipulation. It's probably a reflection on myself that having spent the day doodling around visiting friends and buying wine from a favourite local vinyard, I've spent the evening (so far) working my way through my own image collection as well as Creative Commons images from the above mentioned resources and playing with GIMP and my graphics tablet making them look seriously weird.

I now have a selection of prints, scanned magazine bits and other paraphinalia together with some paints, crayons, pastels and pencils (and some glue - mustn't forget the glue!) ready for tomorrow. And the best bit about using the computer is that if I decide I don't like what I've just done, I can just print out the starting images and manipulate them all over again. What fun!

Mashups: the process of recreation

2011-06-02T09:20:00.003+08:00

Checking out the Library Hack entries it struck me that many of the photo entries reminded me of this video about Sketchbook Secrets.
I've kept a notebook/journal/sketchbook for years, but because "print was sacred" in our house when I was small, it has only recently dawned on me that cutting up magazines or photocopying rather than drawing and sticking them into my journal and "manipulating the image" was acceptable! I am slow of learning at times.

Though I also think there may have been an element of fear of failure, of not 'getting it right' that prevented me. Strange how the things one thinks one hears from one's parents bump along in the undergrowth of one's mind frightening oneself from making the failures that lead to success.

I'm going to spend today finding images from Trove that fit some of the thoughts I'm thinking today. And then I will manipulate them and recreate them in the image I want to make. I think I will have fun!

#blogjune

2011-06-01T15:01:00.003+08:00

I am told that exercising the writing muscles every day is a great way to become a writer.
I am told that practicing a new routine every day for a month is a great way to create a habit.

I think, therefore, I will knock the dust off my keyboard and brain, oil my joints and make the effort. It will likely be good for me, and will certainly relieve the abandonment of this derelict blog, not to mention that it might recharge the wellsprings of my creativity...
I may even have to read stuff so that I have something to write about! Now there is a dangerous thought *laughs at self*

New Toys

2010-12-08T07:13:00.005+08:00

I decided to treat myself this week when I had to buy a new monitor for my computer. I also bought a small graphics tablet with software that allows me to scribble words on the screen (like on my PDA). It's such fun! Oddly enough, since I started playing with it, my frozen shoulder has eased.
Such a little thing that makes such a difference!

How to work better

2010-12-04T07:48:00.001+08:00

Do one thing at a time
Know the problem
Learn to listen
Learn to ask questions
Distinguish sense from nonsense
Accept change as inevitable
Admit mistakes
Say it simple
Be calm
Smile

Spotted on my Twitter stream last week and it settled into my head and kept echoing. Wonder if there is something to it? I know that the last one is one I practice, but not because it helps me work better, but because it takes fewer muscles to smile and when wrinkles eventually grace my visage, I would like them to echo the well worn tracks of smiles across my face.

6/100 books, a BBC meme?

2010-11-22T22:42:00.001+08:00

Swiped from Ruminations with absolutely no shame, but with fascination because every time I come across some list of this nature, I find that the links to others who have also contemplated it, nearly always have a slightly different list. Perhaps only one or two different titles to be chose from, which is it's own fascination, but the different selections are intriguing too.

I look at the ones I've read and compare to the ones others have read and wonder when they read the same ones as me, and what made them select and finish the others that I didn't choose.

And I sometimes wonder how much my taste in stories has changed over the years, because this list is, in many ways, so short!

“Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Instructions: Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish or read an excerpt.

“Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.
Instructions: Bold those books you’ve read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish or read an excerpt.”

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials trilogy – Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk

18 The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia series – CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – CS Lewis (given #33, why is this here?? Not counting this one!)

37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50 Atonement – Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52 Dune – Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

65 The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72 Dracula – Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses – James Joyce

76 The Inferno – Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal – Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession – AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94 Watership Down – Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

36/100 - some I'm not sure I've read, others I know I've read but can't remember, the rest I've either not got to (and I wonder why sometimes) the others are old friends.

Quitting Facebook?

2010-04-13T07:25:00.001+08:00

Yet another person I respect is considering quitting the ubiquitous Facebook. In fact the thinking has paralleled mine in many ways, and I've still not weaned myself totally off. I often feel it also has the feel of the worst aspects of huge shopping centres, soul-less and dedicated to cheap goods and high turn-overs. I've often thought that it feels more like reading a trashy comic in comparison to the presentation of a well produced hard-cover when comparing it to a considerate blog post or email communication, which is not to admit that some blog posts or emails are not poor mental sustenance.

Mind you, it's not necessarily the influx of younger people, but the way in which the ToS and Privacy change without notice, which lessens my control of what information I make available. The blatant and clumsily bolted-on attempts to "monetise" ... I've just realised what fictional character of whom I am reminded: Mr CMOT Dibbler of Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels!

Perhaps I have always been cynical after an early experience with Fido-Net (yes I've been on line that long), when I realised that anything online can be read or tracked down especially if contributed to a forum whether it was advertised as public or not. At least with email, forums and blog-posts the status of what is public or quasi-private is relatively clear in comparison. Yet there is that whole 'network' thing, that is supposed to be an important part of the modern work experience. But I get that by reading blogs of those I find interesting and following the links to places that they recommend, so why should I be satisfied with the 'discount store' version, when I can explore/read the exotic, individualistic crafted communications that are blogs?

Except, just occasionally I suppose, I need to get the equivalent of cheap paper towels?

Nearest book meme

2010-04-12T22:05:00.003+08:00

Trawling through favourite blogs this evening I thought I would follow this particular meme from an old Ruminations and was appropriately amused - especially when I realised that I had the choice of six books that were equidistant from my hand.

The rules are:
* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence - either here or on your blog.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don’t look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

Mapping Inner Space Nancy Margulies and Nusa Maal (2002) Crown House Publishing, Wales. ISBN 1904424473

The audience will be much more engaged if you ask them for ideas and add their input to the map

Considering that I am currently involved in a project to use Web2.0 technologies to assist in the creation of a community of practice, I have a feeling that asking the people who are the 'target audience' exactly what they want in an information website is very important step.
One thing I think will be important will be mobile phone access, there are so many people starting to use that form of net-access.

Mind you, a quick check of the other books produce sentences that;
make me realise, yet again, that I have have a horribly eclectic reading habit;
I don't practice the art of just writing stuff down as much as I perhaps should; and,
if I had included all the quotes from those six books, I would have almost had an entry for the Bulwer Lytton contest this year!

What kind of D&D character would you be?

2010-01-30T09:33:00.001+08:00

Couldn't resist the survey. Sadly it is as I feared. I'm a law abiding citizen with a taste for the arcane *sighs*
Even in my fantasies I am still playing some kind of information worker!

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Wizard (6th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-11
Dexterity-10
Constitution-12
Intelligence-12
Wisdom-13
Charisma-12

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

E-books - to embrace or not?

2009-04-25T08:09:00.002+08:00

Author Steven Johnson outlines a future with more books, more distractions through the agency of ebooks, the Amazon Kindle (and it's offshoot application on the iPhone) being the major excuse, but I'm experiencing it for myself using my Palm Treo. There is something quite handy about being able to carry around a large number of books and being able to chop and change between them as I go. It occupies all those empty moments while waiting for other things to happen, like bus trips and waiting rooms where dragging out one's knitting is not necessarily a convenient thing to do.

Mind you, it strikes me that this reduces reading in public from its traditional subversive status to something that no one knows you are doing (you could be texting your lover for an assignation after all, and who else needs to know that?) and elevates knitting or crocheting in public to a quite rebellious action!

Ebooks make reading all those PDFs so much more easy than trying to read them on a monitor with the associated eye-strain and 'cricked neck' that is usually resolved by printing the whole thing on single sided sheets of paper. There by increasing the whole waste paper/ink load in rubbish collection - not to mention the increase in paper that is then stored in filing cabinets until it is forgotten and reprinted because one cannot remember where the original printout is.

I can see that the ebook readers on offer have a distinct advantage over my Treo; the screens are bigger for a start and have the physical presence of a "real book".
But I have software on my Treo that means I can add notes directly to the text, draw cartoons as needed, or otherwise highlight the text of what I'm reading as well as play solitaire, create an email and send it to someone based on a passing thought, or web surf to confirm an idea, all while still being involved in the text that I'm reading. I expect that the iPhone (given it's huge user base and stylish interface) to be even more effective than the equipment I use.

My challenge is to find ways of encouraging the use of e-readers (be they ereader or phone) so as to reduce the amount of paper is printed out, and then connecting the electronic text with electronic comment by the reader so that they can find it later and link it with other things.
This means that somehow I have to encourage the people I deal with to find the time to learn new software/equipment that at first glance is not necessary to the way they find information or record their contemplations on it. And that won't happen until there is that moment when the amount of material available electronically is more attractive (both cost wise and comfort wise) than the inconvenience of printing things out and using paper.

That and the cost of the equipment reduces and is available everywhere. Until then, reading in public I think will maintain it's slightly subversive edge (only now it might also be a bit 'techy')

Migration to the internet "cloud" is nigh

2009-02-22T08:41:00.001+09:00

says Katie Cincotta

LAST century we said goodbye to personal generators such as the water wheel, and most of the developed world plugged into the new electric grid, giving us high voltage on the wire with long-distance transmission. Now computers are set to make the big switch, transferring computer power and storage from our humble hard drives to the "cloud" - where everything happens on the internet.

There is a part of me that still wonders if, as the move to the 'cloud' gathers pace, there will be people who store everything about themselves online. And, at some point in the future will people be required to sort through the accounts of those who have died and are taking up useful server space be deleted* ... and then what will happen to all the interesting detritus that washed into the future from the past? Now we get letters from great grandma, stashed inside the wardrobe that is to be sold because she has finally died, implicating her in a wild fling with some famous rock star which leads to all sorts of explanations as to actual family descent ... *G*
Not to mention that by maintaining things on paper does leave one the option of ultimate destruction of evidence, but should those embarrassing thoughts be bit-mapped to some server in some other jurisdiction ... who knows who would read that material?

All sorts of questions as to how things are organised, accessed, documented, unalterable (which is possible with paper, but not so much so with electronica), recoverable in the future. All the sorts of questions that records managers and librarians have tackled over the years and were starting to get some sort of handle on, now need to be reexamined in light of what is now understood to be 'good professional practice'. How will that change? Be altered to accommodate the finality of a drive being formatted to remove from existence incriminating evidence of wrong doing? I'm fairly sure that there are folk somewhere starting to think about this, but even so ...

Questions. That's all I have at the moment. No answers. Not even vague ideas as to how it can all be managed.
Except that, should the apocalypse happen there will be probably no electricity to spare for such 'fripperies' as leaving it all online, which at least would save us the energy of wondering how to manage it all.

*Anne Mccaffrey's "Silent Drums" again.

Cloud computing

2008-12-05T07:29:00.000+09:00

- take an umbrella

It happened about twelve months ago. I was listening to a marketeer from a software company describe their idea to make a software application available online. I said "so you become an application service provider".
She looked at me with great distain like I was still wearing my favourite Spandau Ballet T shirt from the eighties (tragic, I apologise). Her non-verbals screamed "Get With It!". Her verbal communication was more civil. "No this is more cloud computing, you know software as a service".

I may be old-fashioned but I think that the thinking that has 'cloud-computing' as a good idea also infects the idea that 'everything can be found on the web'. Both statements have some real dangers that need to be examined much closer.
The first part of that examination is probably that, apart from the major cities in Australia, the speed and connectivity that permits 'cloud-living' is just neither available nor reliable yet.

Yet, there is a great attraction to the idea of being able to access one's information no matter where one is in the world because it is on-line. It actually reminds me of an Anne McCaffrey story about "Silent Drums" ... who gets to take the information down when the individual dies and is the only one who had the access codes?

Yet another thought to add to the mix about 'cloud-computering"!

2008-11-10T18:30:00.000+09:00

A 1960s tape recorder the size of a household fridge could be the key to unlocking valuable information from NASA's Apollo missions to the moon.

Seriously cool bananas. It was neat to realise that tapes had been found in Perth, but to think that a tape-recorder that might be able to read them exist in the same country is pretty amazing. Perhaps we will find a way to leave home before it gets too late?

2008-06-13T08:46:00.002+08:00

Health - ninemsn.com.au

New research has found that, contrary to popular belief, bottling up your feelings after a traumatic event is better for you than 'letting it all out'.

Interesting that only now it has been validated by 'men in white coats' is the desire not to talk about bad things happening is seen as okay ... how the wheel turns! WW1 veterans returned and either could not or were not encouraged to talk about what had happened. Their sons in WW2 were more vocal in constructing the myth of their valour (all the movies helped, no doubt). Their grandsons in Korea and Vietnam finally started speaking out when they needed to though years down the track ... and now, their great-grandchildren are trying to work out why.

I don't think that it is actually the talk/not-talk dichotomy that is the problem. It's just that after a trauma, some people need to talk it out immediately, others need to think about it first, while others will stew before exploding. It's spotting those differences and working out and making it acceptable to ask for help to deal with those memories, especially for those who might explode later, that is needful.

It is never as clear cut as sometimes news reports would seem to paint it. Being traumatised is a messy business, it would therefore follow that healing from it would also be a messy business too.

New hope for diabetes sufferers

2008-06-09T09:34:00.001+08:00

ABC News

Sophie Scott - Jun 7, 2008
The findings of an international study, led by Australian researchers, could improve the health of millions of patients with type two diabetes.

But were all options on how to reduce blood glucose levels canvassed, or was it only the use of drugs considered?
And what were the new reduced levels for blood sugar that are going to be recommended?

I find myself constantly baffled by the recommendations emanating from the medical profession on this topic, it makes it very hard to work out (without completely wigging out about the whole thing) what to do to improve one's situation.

Australia set to give the go-ahead for Creative Commons licensing

2008-06-04T12:19:00.001+08:00

Michael Cross - February 14 2008

When you're dealing with a flooding emergency in the middle of the worst drought for many years, the last thing you need is barriers to the sharing of geographical and meteorological information.

Redundancy

2008-05-26T16:33:00.001+08:00

by Barbara Quint
Editor, Searcher Magazine

The Searcher's Voice PodcastAs information professionals, we have two primary — not to say, primal — goals the pursuit of which qualifies us as a profession. One is access, guaranteeing that our clients, which some might define as encompassing the human race (a definition Second Lifers might consider unduly limiting), attain all the truth they can use. But an even more basic goal is the guaranteeing that all information in existence stays in existence, the command to archive.

Information With A Twist

2008-05-19T11:22:00.001+08:00

5/15/2008 - Library Journal

Vendors keep the party going with Web 2.0
By Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, & Jill E. Grogg

Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies led the social whirl of the information industry. Publishers and librarians tried to keep their products and services relevant by mixing authoritative content with user involvement, but that wasn't enough. Enhancing interfaces, adding new forms of content, and making strategic acquisitions—all are necessary to ensure that the information industry party continues.

The question is, to what extent can a one person library keep up to date and then leverage this stuff into providing a better library service for their clients? This is something I'm still wondering about, and part of the answer is, I think, providing a spotting service for new things and providing links and education for my clients.
*Warning - contemplation in progress*

Judges abandon wigs

2008-05-14T14:48:00.001+08:00

for 'Star Trek' look -

May 14, 2008
"Star Trek" outfits ... The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Phillips, left, and Betty Jackson, right, present the new civil gown which forms part of a reform to simplify judicial court working dress in England and Wales.

"Star Trek" outfits ... The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Phillips, left, and Betty Jackson, right, present the new civil gown which forms part of a reform to simplify judicial court working dress in England and Wales.
Photo: AP
Advertisement

British judges abandoned a 300-year-old tradition of wearing horsehair wigs to a chorus of mockery from fashion critics and traditionalists, who say the new robes have turned them into Star Trek look-a-likes.

Is a cup of tea really the answer to everything-- even anthrax?

2008-05-07T12:06:00.001+08:00

Is a cup of tea really the answer to everything -- even anthrax?

A cup of black tea could be the next line of defence in the threat of bio-terrorism according to new international research.
A new study by an international team of researchers from Cardiff University and University of Maryland has revealed how the humble cup of tea could well be an antidote to Bacillus anthracis –more commonly know as anthrax.

2008-03-22T00:50:00.002+09:00

Boomerang returns, even in space - ABC News

21 March 2008
In an unprecedented experiment, a Japanese astronaut has thrown a boomerang in space and confirmed it flies back, much like on Earth.
Astronaut Takao Doi "threw a boomerang and saw it come back" during his free time on March 18 at the International Space Station (ISS), a spokeswoman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

This is seriously neat! Not only is it a conformation that a boomarang works on a gyroscopic principle, but at that it holds under very different circumstances to those that hold were most people will try to use one. and the whole idea that an experiment to see if it would work is just the neatest thing with regards to basic science.

At one in the morning because I can't sleep, I think that is a great idea!

2008-03-10T10:52:00.002+09:00

Is User-Generated Content Out?
I think this is one of those perenial questions that appear when a powerful group thinks it is under 'attack' by a 'less qualified' group.
Trouble is, some of the user-generated content I have been reading this last few years makes a heck of a lot more sense than some of the stuff coming from the previously respected gatekeepers of knowledge.

2008-02-07T13:24:00.002+09:00

GTD In Space: Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains

If you want to learn good organization skills, look no further than some of the best leaders in the universe: the captains of spaceships.

Hilariously appropriate.

2008-02-05T09:13:00.002+09:00

by Kevin Kelly

The internet is a copy machine. At its most foundational level, it copies every action, every character, every thought we make while we ride upon it.

Now there is a thought to conjure nightmares with ... especially if one's ambition is to wring profit from the last skerick of possibility. My first thought on reading this was that any paradigm of profiting from the internet has to re-examine the whole concept of what the concept of profit actually is.<

But then, I'm still thinking about this one...

2008-01-30T11:34:00.002+09:00

BBC NEWS | Technology | Aboriginal archive offers new DRM

Aboriginal archive offers new DRM
Aboriginals viewing the Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari Archive
The archive has attracted a lot of attention
A new method of digital rights management (DRM) which relies on a user's profile has been pioneered by Aboriginal Australians.

The Mukurtu Wumpurrarni-kari Archive has been developed by a community based in Australia's Northern Territory.

It asks every person who logs in for their name, age, sex and standing within their community.

This information then restricts what they can search for in the archive, offering a new take on DRM

Interesting take on restricting access to things. And reasons why that access might need to be restricted.
There would also need to be a means to maintain the information into the future when the originators of the program are no longer here. Wonder how that will work?

OkCupid.com: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test - Online Dating Test

2008-01-26T14:34:00.000+09:00

OkCupid.com: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test

Your Score: Older Futhark

You scored

Language of the Norse, Older Futhark! Thirty symbols, all told. And no hardier, more warrior-like tongue has ever graced the longships of the Viki or left the Celts and Saxons in such quivering fear. There's only one drawback, that being you died 800 years ago.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
View My Profile(imipak)

Build a library, build a clever country - Opinion - smh.com.au

2007-12-23T18:00:00.000+09:00

Build a library, build a clever country - Opinion - smh.com.au

Oh Yes!

I cannot understand a town council that doesn't get it's head around the concept of a public library. It strikes me as being a recipe for increasing ignorance, and ignorance never made anyone any money. But how to frame it in such a way that people who have never appreciated sharing a resource such as a library can understand.

I suppose that is/will always be the conundrum of a library manager.

2007-12-19T08:30:00.002+09:00

YouTube - Librarians at work

And people say librarians are the staidest of creatures ...

2007-12-18T18:43:00.002+09:00

In Pursuit of Mysteries » For the ex-Catholics in our midst
Not an ex-Catholic (though I liked the Romans well enough to find one of my own *joke*) but this appeals on so many levels ...

I know. A very warped sense of humour at the best of times *sighs*

2007-12-18T10:20:00.000+09:00

Your Score: The Squirrel

You scored 55% domestic, 48% gregarious, 25% trickster, and 32% intellect!

Domestic, Solitary, Serious, Emotional: you are the Squirrel!

Squirrel people tend to be organized, thrifty, prepared for anything, slightly obsessive. Squirrel medicine teaches the benefit of good planning, looking towards the future, and conservation. The squirrel is a symbol of delayed gratification, resourcefulness, agility, and foresight.

This test categorized you based on four different axes of personality, which were then associated with a different animal. The four axes, as well as all possible results are explained below.

Wild/Domestic: This first axis categorizes you based on how much you are drawn to the outdoors, versus how much you are drawn to civilized situations. Domesticity has many shapes and forms, and varies from the joy of dolphins leaping next to a ship to the steadfast loyalty of a family dog.

Gregarious/Solitary: This axis measures how solitary you are. If you scored high, it means that you enjoy the company of other people, while a low score indicates that you prefer a more solitary lifestyle.

Trickster/Serious: This axis measures how well you line up with conventional trickster archetypes. People who fall into this archetype have a sense of humor and an excitable, highly chaotic streak. Scoring low doesn't mean that you don't have a sense of humor; it just means that you probably don't think dynamite is very funny.

Intellectual/Emotional: This last axis determines whether you are more emotional -- acting based on feelings and instinct, or rational and intelectual -- acting more on thought than on your gut feelings.

Wild	Gregarious	Trickster	Intellectual	The Hyena
Wild	Gregarious	Trickster	Emotional	The Otter
Wild	Gregarious	Serious	Intellectual	The Antelope
Wild	Gregarious	Serious	Emotional	The Wolf
Wild	Solitary	Trickster	Intellectual	The Weasel
Wild	Solitary	Trickster	Emotional	The Coyote
Wild	Solitary	Serious	Intellectual	The Raven
Wild	Solitary	Serious	Emotional	The Frog
Domestic	Gregarious	Trickster	Intellectual	The Fox
Domestic	Gregarious	Trickster	Emotional	The Dolphin
Domestic	Gregarious	Serious	Intellectual	The Horse
Domestic	Gregarious	Serious	Emotional	The Dog
Domestic	Solitary	Trickster	Intellectual	The Rat
Domestic	Solitary	Trickster	Emotional	The Ferret
Domestic	Solitary	Serious	Intellectual	The Cat
Domestic	Solitary	Serious	Emotional	The Squirrel

Link: The Animal Archetype Test written by crumpetsfortea on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

2007-11-07T13:30:00.001+09:00

Cor blimey, I taste like Tea.

I am a subtle flavour, quiet and polite, gentle, almost ambient. My presence in crowds will often go unnoticed. Best not to spill me on your clothes though, I can leave a nasty stain. What Flavour Are You?

*snorts* If I'm going to be a teapot, I would love to look like this

2007-11-01T08:38:00.001+09:00

By Dr Matthew Rimmer - May 4, 2007

Back in the 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organisation promulgated internet treaties to help protect copyright owners in the digital environment. The United States passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (US) to comply with its treaty obligations; and Australia has spasmodically revised its copyright laws in 2000, 2004, and 2006 to deal with new technological developments.

Still thinking about this one, will update later

2007-10-19T12:52:00.001+08:00

YouTube - A Vision of Students Today
I think there is a great deal of applicability of this to many of the ways in which new things are happening in old structures.

It's a bigger question than just having younger people passively resisting the impartation of 'knowledge'. I think it is a reflection of how the whole world has changed while those that equip the young to function in it have neither the life experience to start pointing young people in the right direction, nor are acknowledged as having a particularly worthwhile role in society as valued by 'how much they earn' where earnings are mistaken for 'worth' and all those altruistic reasons are just not entered onto the accounting sheet that society seems to think is so important.

2007-10-16T16:06:00.001+08:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Entirely Miss Reverend Lady Alethea the Feline of Biggleswade by Biscuit
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

2007-10-11T15:32:00.001+08:00

The Indexer - Ig Nobel prize winner

Ig Nobel prize winner
"The Definite Article: Acknowledging 'The' in Index Entries,"
Glenda Browne, The Indexer, vol. 22, no. 3 April 2001, pp. 119-22.

The Ig Nobel prizes are awarded for "Research that makes people LAUGH then THINK"

The 2007 Ig Nobel Literature Prize was been awarded to Glenda Browne of Blaxland, Blue Mountains, Australia, for her study of the word "the" -- and of the many ways it causes problems for anyone who tries to put things into alphabetical order.

*hoots of laughter* This is so cool!
And even cooler that an Australian has been honoured again.

2007-10-07T09:48:00.001+08:00

Space pioneers look to Australia's colonial past - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hans Mick - Sat Oct 6, 2007

It may be a century or two, or even three, before humankind calls another planet home, but researchers say lessons learnt from the settlement of Australia will prove useful for the future colonisation of other planets.

2007-10-03T15:15:00.001+08:00

Ad agency cribbed my lecture notes: professor - theage.com.au
3 Oct 2007

Yet another example of someone's words being used in a different context. Does it breech copyright?
I'm still thinking about that ...

2007-09-28T18:31:00.000+08:00

Skiing Ostriches?!
Advertising is definitely taking the narrative form and doing interesting things with it. This one has my jaw dropping ... and is either some pretty amazing training of animals, or some pretty nifty CGI stuff happening - I don't care. It's hilariously brilliant!

Reborn

Ski Hero

Triple Jump

Ski in the City

2007-09-19T09:30:00.001+08:00

NASA's 'space economy' reaps windfall for humanity: chief - Yahoo! News UK

AFP - Monday, September 17

WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA is at the thriving heart of a 180-billion-dollar "space economy" that benefits life on Earth, the head of the much-maligned US agency said Monday ahead of its 50th birthday.
Launching a lecture series to mark next year's anniversary, NASA administrator Michael Griffin said the space agency was "a critical driver of innovation" which has enduring relevance on terra firma.

Just goes to prove that a tiny investment from a big government budget can make a real difference.
Perhaps I might get to the Moon one day too! *wistfully*

2007-09-17T21:12:00.001+08:00

China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation - Newsweek Beliefs - MSNBC.com

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission.

This has to be one of the silliest things I've come across recently. I was under the impression that the communist government of China was determinately secular, claiming (with Lenin or Marx, I can't remember which) that "religion is the opium of the people" ... in which case, surely, the belief that certain Budhists will reincarnate as human beings is impossible!
Which just goes to imply that it is all about control, and that really the communism of China is more religion than it wants to admit. Funny how you can tell what things are by the "fruit" of their behaviour. Or is that a bit too cynical, even for me?

2007-09-13T13:17:00.001+08:00

Can't quit chocolate? Don't fret, it's no addiction - Reuters

By Michael Kahn - Sep 12, 2007

YORK (Reuters) - Resistance is futile. The more we try to fight off a craving for chocolate, the more our desire for it grows, a British researcher said Tuesday.

They had to do research to discover this?

2007-09-07T14:01:00.001+08:00

news @ nature.com - Eels imitate Alien - Fearsome fish have protruding jaws in their throats to grab prey.

Published online: 5 September 2007; |
Michael Hopkin

A moray eel's second jaws lie in wait (top) before snapping out to help catch prey (bottom). Click here to watch a video.
Researchers studying one species of moray eels have uncovered a deadly secret that helps the snake-like fish to swallow their prey. Like the fearsome extraterrestrial from the sci-fi horror classic Alien, these real-life beasts have a second, extendable pair of jaws — encrusted with sharp teeth — that thrusts forward to ensnare hapless fish and shrimp.

WOW!!!

2007-09-07T07:28:00.001+08:00

Libraries fight to balance books - smh.com.au
Where is the evidence gone to convince these 'first world' accountants that providing a public service like schools and libraries works towards a better educated society which tends to be wealthier.

I can't be so old that I can remember what happened in the late 1800s when men like Carnegie built Free Libraries (even in Australia) and Mechanics Institutes formed the backbone of what are now state library systems in this country?

I know I would be stuffed if I had to pay to borrow from my local library ... but then, I pay both rates and taxes and think that I should get my moneies worth for what I contribute!

2007-09-06T14:31:00.001+08:00

LawFont.com » The Cooper case: how linking in Australia can land you in hot legal water

Another case of having to think about hot water.
Though I don't think it was the linking that was the problem, so much as what was linked to, and the fact that the target of the links was illegal/immoral.

Gets back to the need to find a whole new paradigm for accessing copyrighted information on line and encouraging people to do the right thing in contrast to the punitive measures that currently enforcing copyright exclusivity.

Again, another thought in progress

2007-09-06T14:29:00.001+08:00

http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/contactwo/oitp/ALADigitalReferenceIPReport_Crews060305.pdf">Digital Reference:Copyright and Related Issues
An ALA paper that may (or may not) have relevance to the Australian copyright scene. I'm still trying to get my head around this whole 'copyright' thing; Publishing and making available one's ideas is the whole point, I always thought, of writing a book. Having one's ideas referred to by others, quoted and used to create more ideas is the whole point of reproducing in quantity (aka printing) so that those ideas can be shared.
Locking up the ideas is like chopping trees down because they get in the way of the view, totally missing the point that the trees (the ideas) are the view.

I'm still thinking about some of the stuff in this paper. I may add more to this thought at a later date.

2007-09-06T13:27:00.001+08:00

For butter or worse - theage.com.au

Katy Human Denver - September 6, 2007

A MAN who microwaved and ate two to three bags of extra-buttered popcorn a day for a decade has come down with a dangerous lung disease, apparently the first public case of "popcorn lung".

That's just ... sad (but amusingly predictable - what a great advert for "moderation in all things" *G*)

2007-08-29T13:59:00.000+08:00

What type of Fae are you?

Flippin' Vulcans!
Even as a fairy, I'm a Vulcan!
*highly amused*

2007-08-28T20:56:00.001+08:00

Lunar eclipse turns moon 'coppery pink' - ABC News

Star gazers across Australia have witnessed a total lunar eclipse, which occurs when the sun, the earth and the moon line up.

Don't care how geeky it makes me ... I think this is totally amazing, not to mention being able to watch it on the computer at the same time.
To quote a dear friend ...

*whoot!*

2007-08-27T14:56:00.001+08:00

Gizmodo UK : USB Stick + SD Card Reader = Kingston DataTraveler Reader

2007-08-27T14:47:00.002+08:00

Altruism: A test of your spirit

2007-08-24T09:42:00.001+08:00

Why Being a Librarian is a Radical Choice

by Naomi Klein (Dissident Voice - July 15, 2003)

- Knowledge (as opposed to mere information gathering)
- Public Space (as opposed to commercial or private space)
- and Sharing (as opposed to buying and selling).

That means that the current stage of globalization is not simply about “trade” in the traditional sense of selling more products across borders. It is about feeding the market’s insatiable need for growth by redefining entire sectors that were previously considered part of “the commons” – and not for sale – as “products.”
When we talk about free trade or globalization, what we are really talking about is the fencing in, the enclosing, of the commons.

2007-08-17T07:20:00.001+08:00

Does crime run in your family?

The Convict Transportation Registers: 1788 – 1868 now available online, exclusively at Ancestry.com.au

Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 165,000 convicts, mainly British, but also North American, West Indian and African, were transported to Australia to serve out their sentences. Whilst most have long been forgotten, their legacy to us is a rich collection of documents, stories and images that make this one of the most important and definitive collections for Australia.
It is estimated that about 1 in 5 Australians can trace their ancestry back to a convict. Could you be one of these Australians?

2007-08-15T17:34:00.001+08:00

Viking ship ends voyage in Dublin

A replica Viking ship has pulled into Dublin nearly 1,000 years after the original sank off Denmark's coast

How fascinating!
Though I suppose they wouldn't be taking a leaf out of the Monty Python Book of Quotes about what to do after they land *dry chuckles*

2007-08-14T11:46:00.001+08:00

Boy meets girl, her dad sues for patent infringement

Peter Glaskowsky, CNET News.com
13 August 2007 03:29 PM

commentary: America's love affair with patent litigation has moved to another level, with a well-known patent expert arguing movies and movie scripts should be patentable.

You're probably aware that movies, like books and music, can be protected by copyright.

Copyright protection is automatic, but narrow. The owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to copy the work and distribute the copies, to display or perform the work, and to create derivative works (like a screenplay from a novel).

A copyright, however, doesn't give the owner any rights to the basic ideas in the work. Even if you were the first person to write a story about a boy meeting a Martian princess, you couldn't use your copyright in that story to stop other people from writing their own stories using that simple plot.

However, there is a way to protect ideas under the law, according to Aharonian. First, you reduce the idea to practice: you design a system or process that embodies the idea. Then you file a patent application. If you're the first person to describe such a system or process, you get a patent.

What is it with some people? This proposal strikes me, an ordinary individual (admittedly with a particular interest in the use of copyright from a day to day perspective), as completely misunderstanding the whole point of producing a creative work.

Creative material is created because at some level it has to be made for the well-being of the individual creating it. Then it has to be shared in some way. How can one "patent" sharing? or the creative process itself?

Is it that there is such fear that 'the other' will benefit from what one creates? I have no problem with a creator being remunerated for creating. But once that creation has form and physicality then it will take on a life of its own, interacting and changing with each interaction.
A patent would probably restrict how something could be talked about or reviewed. Would a negative critique become a challenge to the patent?

This idea just confirms to me that copyright, as a concept, needs to go back to basics and evaluate exactly what it was designed to do, and just how far it has moved from that original lofty sentiment of supplying remuneration and recognition of the original creator.
Though how to wade through the layers of privilege enjoyed by those benefiting from current laws and those who aspire to that lofty state that there may be a more equitable way of dealing with things ... I feel that it lays somewhere in that psychological development layer between recognising the physicality of something (a chair) and the concept of it (all chairs).

Warning: Thinking in process!

2007-08-14T09:18:00.001+08:00

Analytics According to Captain Kirk

By Matt Bailey (Founder, SiteLogic)

In my seminars, I enjoy teaching analytics because the fun is in finding effective and memorable methods to help people understand the concepts. One of my favorites is an analysis of the Red-Shirt Phenomenon in Star Trek.

*tee-hee*
And for years I have been laughed at for liking (ok, being a fan of) Star Trek. Just goes to show that it is useful for so much more than 'mere entertainment'!

2007-08-10T14:50:00.001+08:00

to do you over, judge-free

Richard Ackland
August 10, 2007

What remains to be suborned to the will of Canberra? If you search the horizon it is apparent the constitution has pretty comprehensively been redesigned and state powers picked off, while distant indigenous people, the public service, the military and the press gallery are all pretty much under the thumb of the "ancién régime".

Now that the official press pundits are starting to get worried, I think the rest of us can too.

What to do about it though, now there's the question!

2007-08-10T07:24:00.001+08:00

Broad ranging amendments to the Copyright Act which (in part) implement obligations under the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) were introduced into parliament on October 19, 2006. They serve to bolster the power of copyright interests through the introduction of a series of new criminal offences and the extension of prohibitions on circumventing technological locks. They “balance” this with the introduction of some narrowly defined user rights.

There is a certain inequality between what we apparently had a right to do under the old laws, and what we are now allowed to do under the AUSFTA last year. I don't think we have seen all the damage that it has done to the Australian 'body politic' yet. I think that given the way information is accessed online, the whole idea of copyright needs to be re-imagined - not only for what it was and why it was first created, but what it might be in the future.

The trouble at the moment is due to the need by those who have made capital investment in previous states of art with regard to copyrights, but where/what/how people are using it can be very different to how the tradition of copyright use dictates.

Warning. Thinking in process!

2007-08-09T14:05:00.001+08:00

via Crikey - Media & Arts

Date: Thursday, 9 August 2007
By Jane Nethercote

Cough up or you're dumped.

Book publishers and distributors choked on their cafe lattes when they were issued the ultimatum recently by Australia's largest book chain, Angus & Robertson, which is owned by private equity group Pacific Equity Partners.

I can hardly believe this ... it's just so groteseque! Fastest way to completely do away with any concept that Australia has a healthy publishing industry not to mention any sort of book buying audience!

I am just to tempted to visit my local A&R and tell them why I will not be patronising them and point them to this website and that of the SMH.
Mind you, for someone who is fascinated by the idea that Mr Angus and Mr Robertson started their collaboration in the 1880s and developed as one of the leading booksellers of the world and certainly of Australia, with a vast and enduring history of investment in Australian literature typified by our small publishers, just playing 'whack-a-mole' with Australian publishers ... is just ludicrous!

One could almost think that it is a bad dream or a particularly distasteful April Foolery ... however, I shall be investigating my local Angus&Robertson stores to find out which is a franchise and which is actually owned by A&R and direct my book buying appropriately (Franchisees shouldn't have to suffer, but I'm tempted to 'make comment' so that a racket is roused anyway!)

2007-08-03T07:45:00.001+08:00

in that 'sorry' from Howard

So, we are better safe than sorry?

Why am I not overly impressed with that, no matter the fact that there are times when I have appreciated that very safety, as an individual and as a nation, being safe can also lead to loss of a certain humanity. Have we come to that? Fear of change leading to fear of other?

I do hope not ...

2007-08-01T10:27:00.001+08:00

Edgar Z. Friedenberg

Not only do most people accept violence if it is perpetuated by legitimate authority, they also regard violence against certain kinds of people as inherently legitimate, no matter who commits it

Ben Franklin said something similar, and I have to admit I think they both have applicability in the world today.

2007-07-31T15:05:00.001+08:00

Bookninja 30 July 2007

Twenty-five years later, Fighting Fantasy readers are normal, productive adults instead of demon-obsessed Satanists. Go figure. See, your parents’ apoplectic fits of exorcism-like screaming were largely unnecessary.

I wonder if my mother would look again at the original cover of the Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook and not freak, knowing now how well adjusted and sensible her grandchildren have grown despite being surrounded by such fantasy works all their lives?

2007-07-23T15:04:00.000+08:00

Your Score: Ogham

You scored

You are Ogham, an ancient alphabet used by a number of peoples in northern Europe and still in limited use by some people in Europe as a "secret language". You're all structure and tedious to use, but have outlasted all opposition so far and will likely continue to do so. Just don't expect to be liked.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

2007-07-19T17:52:00.001+08:00

Dylan Welch - 13 Jul 2007
It's one of the more extraordinary statements issued by those chaps in the British Army.

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area," said British military spokesman Major Mike Shearer.

To make it crystal, another spokesman added: "We have not released giant badgers in Basra and nor have we been collecting eggs and releasing serpents into the Shatt al-Arab river.

This has to be one of the silliest statements about this 'war' that I've heard in a long time. Yet it is also so utterly sad that what education had been available in Iraq is so degraded that it is completely understandable why such medaevil thinking is so easy to spread as explanation for a beast that may not have been seen in the area before.

I feel sorry for the badgers ... and the people who haven't met them before and think that they are scary. This whole thing is just a mess *sighs*

2007-07-17T13:27:00.001+08:00

Badgers used to kill Iraq squirrels - blogolob exclusive » blogolob

*snortles*
After following the links, I've come to the conclusion that the only reason the so-called Islamic fundamentalist might "win" is because they may take this stuff at face value and defeat the "west" while we are incapacitated by laughing at the stupidity of it all

*sighs*

2007-07-16T00:10:00.001+08:00

Web Worker Daily » 15 Productive Uses for a Wiki «

links to wiki ... to explore.

2007-07-13T09:53:00.001+08:00

6 Ways to Sharpen Your Intuition

Looks like something I need to follow up on!

2007-07-11T09:15:00.001+08:00

Hitchhiker's galaxy guide on the money

AFTER pondering the weighty question of the mass of the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have come up with an answer: 42.

Well, goodness gracious me!
I wonder what other fantastical concepts that have been laughed about over the years have later been found to be the numbers that actually mattered?

I do believe I am highly amused!

2007-07-06T11:05:00.001+08:00

SMH - July 6, 2007

THE popular notion that women are much more talkative than men has been exposed as false.

I love it ... finally evidence that the spousal unit talks just as much as I do!

2007-07-04T12:59:00.001+08:00

Explaining Knowledge Management #1

*snark*
Well, that answeres that, then!
*/snark*

2007-06-06T09:39:00.001+08:00

Expect new censorship, if our privates enter the public domain - Opinion

The beauty of cities, and much of their excitement, lies in the idea of public space: permeable, universal, inalienable. But they are exciting because they're unpredictable and, to that extent, threatening.

Not sure what I'm thinking about this idea. But it does have relevance to libraries and how 'silos' are created so that wider audiences, who might be interested or have a desire for that information, are prevented from accessing it "because of privacy".

It comes down to the impulse to share or to hoard, I think. One operates from a position of plenty leading to 'power shared', the other from a position of scarcity leading to 'power over' - a place where we are constantly being lead back to by those with more money and the (possible) perception that they are loosing by sharing their power with others ...

Warning! This is still a thought in process ...

2007-05-24T13:19:00.003+08:00

TECHknitting

Tuesday, May 08, 2007
An easier way to Kitchener Stitch (also called "grafting seams" or "weaving seams")

Love this! Can use it so many other places! Not to mention all the other interesting bits at tricks that are talked about.

2007-05-24T13:19:00.001+08:00

Telstra hit over virtual Uluru

TELSTRA is being investigated by Uluru's administrators and the Sydney Opera House Trust after cashing in on the images of Australia's two most famous landmarks as part of its massive investment in the online world Second Life.

Still not sure about this Second Life thing. I find that I'm more interested in the real, I can't cope with the blocky graphics and the stuttery way in which I maneuver in -world.
It probably has something to do with the fact that I don't play a lot of video games either so I'm not really familiar with the way of making people move. But on those occasions I do venture online, I do find that there is a marked number of interesting people to talk to most places I venture.

2007-05-07T15:04:00.001+08:00

OPL Plus (not just for OPLs anymore): A SHORT AND EASY SEARCH ENGINE TUTORIAL

Rince and repeat ... not only for self but in explanation to others!

2007-04-27T12:14:00.001+08:00

Japanese sold sheep instead of poodles

Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.

Not sure what this says about the Japanese who bought the beasts, if they bought the beasts, but it says alot about people who want to make a 'fast buck', and those who spread the story with delight at the misfortunes of others.

But ... as an idea, I have to admit. It makes me chuckle. Just a bit.

2007-04-25T17:11:00.001+08:00

Ginmar has, as needed, found a way to make me giggle this ANZAC Day.
She and her respondants define a completely new noun (and associated terms) that definately describes the process of living with cats ...

Such a way with words! After watching the Dawn Service at Gallipolli it was just what I needed to restore my sense of the absurd.

2007-04-25T17:07:00.001+08:00

Film footage discovery brings Anzac Cove to life

It's one of those things about Australia that appeals to those aspects of Australians that enjoy a good yarn, a story with clear characters (the "brave digger", "Johnny Turk", those "bloody Pommy officers"); that is joyfully and proudly stereotypical and recognised for many years as being a constructed celebration,

Yet, in another way it is not. At base, it was a military disaster. The ANZAC forces were dropped off in the Dardenelles in the wrong place, with the wrong information as to what they would face and yet, despite that, they gave their best to do what they saw was their duty to "King and Country".

Then they went on and gave more of their best in Flanders and France.

And yesterday came the news that three Australian soldiers in Iraq were injured. I just hope that our troops get the medical and psychological support they need and deserve at the beginning of their return home, and not after years of having to fight for it.

War is a stupid waste of resources that produces lots of damage to souls and landscape and no one really benefits.

2007-04-17T10:12:00.001+08:00

Prehistoric relic lurks in the chookyard

WHY did the chicken cross the road? Because it used to be a Tyrannosaurus rex and still thinks it can do whatever it likes.

The T rex terrorised the world for 85 million years but its closest living relative turns out to be the chicken, research suggests.

I love the idea that the dinosaurs are still with us, they just have better disguises than those we expect ...
No matter how many times I see these titbits about finding out just a little bit more of how we developed as a group of related species on this planet I get all delighted at what a neat puzzle has been set before us. Perhaps one day we will work out how to go to the stars, but this planet in the meantime is still full of things to wonder at and be delighted in.

2007-04-16T12:21:00.001+08:00

Shopping trolley book scoops oddest title gong. 16/04/2007. ABC News Online

April 16, 2007. 6:10am (AEST) A page from The Stray Shopping Cart Project, by Julian Montague A page from The Stray Shopping Cart Project, by Julian Montague (The Stray Shopping Cart Project) Shopping trolley book scoops oddest title gong A guide to the different types of abandoned shopping trolleys has won the Diagram Prize for oddest book title of the year, following an online vote in an industry publication.

What a hoot!

2007-03-30T13:08:00.001+08:00

You scored as Silver wolf. It's true what they say, you can never judge a book by it's cover, But you allow them to. You never share who you really are with the world, And I bet you are a truely unique individual. Share your emotions, no one's going to leave you for them, and if they do, they weren't worth it in the first place.

What color wolf are you?

created with QuizFarm.com

2007-03-16T11:26:00.001+09:00

Catherine Orenstein - Op-Ed Writing Seminars

“Let’s stop,” Ms. Orenstein said. “It happens in every single session I do with women, and it’s never happened with men.” Women tend to back away from “what we know and why we know it,” she said.

There is surely something in this ... one reason I like reading Ginmar is that she too is convinced that women can write, and should not back away from stating our truths that we know stuff and we are able to state our opinions just as well as anyone else. (Actually I think Ginmar writes better than some men I've read online passing their opinions.)

2007-03-15T09:43:00.001+09:00

Save light, lose energy?

PROPONENTS of daylight saving who claim that extended daylight hours cut energy consumption levels have been dealt a blow by a recent study.
The report, Does Extending Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence From an Australian Experiment, looked at what happened to energy usage when Victoria extended its DST by two months to facilitate the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Ryan Kellogg and Hendrik Wolff of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley compared Victoria's half-hourly electricity consumption, prices and weather conditions with those of South Australia, which did not extend DST over this period.
Supporters of DST often argue that longer daylight hours in the evening mean that less power is used for lighting. However, the US researchers found that the decrease in evening electricity demand and the increase in morning demand "almost perfectly balanced each other out".
There was even a slight but statistically negligible increase in overall usage.

Hah! I still think the best answer is that daylight savings 'makes the curtains fade faster', though I am increasingly of the opinion that daylight saving time means people actually fade in energy and enthusiasm the longer this 'saving of daylight' goes on. I know that getting up in the dark (though I will admit rediscovering sunrise has been lovely) I find to be less disturbing that trying to relate to watching the early news while it's still too hot to be in the house ... and watching the TV from the patio through the fly-screen is somehow inhibiting to the proper expressions of appreciation of what is being shown.

2007-03-10T16:13:00.001+09:00

Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job?

I don't know which is more amusing ... the different point of view on the the original Star Wars movie, or the comparison of the whole affair to the conspiracy theories of our own time?

Alternatively it is amusing because I found it thanks to a librarian blog! That's just plain weird!

2007-03-09T10:51:00.001+09:00

Legislation online - Australian style. Good? Bad? Really silly?

There was an incident on late night television last year that has got the Communications Minister of Australia clutching at her pearls in outrage. However, the results of her outrage would seem to be leading to a legislative response that betrays a real lack of understanding of the culture, and structure, of the internet.
Crikey has links (and other commentary) to the draft legislation that may already have been updated. Peter Black and Kim Wetherall, lecturers in law at Australian universities that have illuminated aspects of recent copyright legislation for me, have also made comment.
I find their understanding of what is being proposed in this draft legislation quite concerning. And the implications for communication in my country very worrying.

What to do about it, I don't know ... but I think I shall be making enquiries of my local federal member to find out what is going on!

2007-03-08T11:20:00.001+09:00

A hot chocolate a day helps bloodflow

HOT-CHOCOLATE lovers can raise their mugs in a toast to Adelaide researchers who have found that drinking cocoa daily has positive effects on blood vessel functions and could help lower blood pressure.

Mmmmm ... funny how chocolate, red wine and green tea are now considered good for me. I can live with that, even if the chocolate being studied is a 'refined cocoa product' . It just means that I have to find a better quality chocolate to consume!

2007-02-28T09:38:00.001+09:00

Th e Scientist :The cow whisperer

Fascinating ... I'm looking at this article as a possibility to forward to one of the researchers I support, and realise that the majority of complaint is from people who seem to be dis-connected to the process of farming, seemingly convinced that all farmers are evil beasts out to deal cruelly with any animal that crosses their path. The tinyurl is to an article by J.M. Coetzee in The Age newspaper.
The more I bump into the people who keep telling me that humans are incredibly cruel to other animals the more I am struck by the number of them who seem never to have had a personal experience of living with a familial animal, a companion beast that shares their living space ... and they all seem intent on converting me to their point of view, at the point of their argument while the impression is often left that something sharper might be preferred.