March 27, 2005
Not-so-thin French
A fad diet book claims that "French Women Don't Get Fat".
Sounds cool, eh? One problem.
Easter Fun
And you think you're a hardcore Christian?
The Doctor is Back!
Yay! Doctor Who is back, and the first episode has finally aired.
Here's the website of the conspiracy nut in the episode.
Heh.
And now...WHEN THE FUCK IS AUSTRALIAN TV GOING TO SHOW IT?
ABC, you have failed me for the last time...
T-Shirts and the Dickheads who wear them
Want to get on a T-Shirt, but unfortunately you happen to have severe fascist leanings?
Don't worry, the left can, and will forgive all crimes if you hate capitalism as much as they!
March 26, 2005
Coats of Arms
Recently, I was scanning around the web looking to see if I could find coats of arms belonging to my family.
I also found a site here that explains meanings and concepts behind them. Pretty cool.
Technically, you're not supposed to use them unless you can prove descent.
Bugger that!
Anyway...
This is the crest for the family of my paternal grandfather.
Apparently
Stag = One who will not fight unless provoked; peace and harmony
Arrow = Readiness (for battle); if depicted with a cross, represents an affliction
This is the "badge" (since they be Scottish) from the family of paternal grandmother.
The meanings aren't as easy.
But apparently
Crown = Royal authority
Woohoo!
O'Brien is the surname of my maternal grandfather's family.
Lion (Here the lion is "passant guardant") = Dauntless courage
This one is a bit dodgy, as my maternal grandmother's surname was actually Bazzo, not "Basso". Still, it was the closest I could find. (Ignoring that they were dirt poor farmers and probably never had any coat of arms....)
Helmet = When depicted on the shield, denotes wisdom and security in defense; strength, protection, invulnerability
Cross = Faith; Christianity; Service in the Crusades
....or it could all be a big load of steaming crap.
Interesting...
The NRL tipping site is letting me put my tips in AFTER games have been played. That's a little odd...
March 25, 2005
Makes sense
You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.
What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
I'll pay that.
Drink Up!
Grafton's drinkers are about to be surveyed as part of a 20-town, five-year study by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. The researchers say they know there are more alcohol-related problems in rural areas. Now they want to know whether or not the issues vary between towns.
Best place to do it, I suppose. After all, there is more than one pub per thousand people.
from Stateline.
March 24, 2005
Noooooo!!!
This national tragedy must be rectified at once.
Shock! Jacko is a Sicko
Look at the cool shit Michael Jackson spends his leisure time perusing.
During the hearings the jury was shown the covers of a wide array of magazines with titles ranging from Total Teen Filth, to Over 50, Plumpers and Big Women and Barely Legal that police found at Neverland Ranch.
But don't worry! This prurient tidbit is purely for a good cause!
"The relevance, as the prosecution said, is that Michael Jackson showed the material to young boys to get them interested," said legal analyst Ann Bremner outside the courtroom in the California town of Santa Maria.
Of course, "Over 50" and "Plumpers" is the sort of material that would interest anyone.
Jackson, meanwhile, seems to be angling to get on a Centrelink disability pension.
The hearing came after Jackson, who has been suffering what aides call "intolerable" back pain, arrived at court looking much fitter and healthier than in recent days.
Shame, Derryn, Shame.
Apparently Derryn Hinch admitted on air to sleeping with a fifteen year old girl.
Don't worry...he thought she was 25, and dumped her arse shortly after.
I guess that makes it alright. (?!)
Well, for a minute there, I thought he was going to admit to sleeping with Kathy Donnelly.
March 21, 2005
Happy Canberra Day!
It's Canberra Day!
"The best view of Canberra is from the back of a departing train."
- Percy Deane, Secretary of the Prime Minister's Department, 1928
"It is an expression of bureaucratic Existentialism. It exists without existing."
- Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was not impressed with the Canberra of 1958.
"It's just like a little country town, isn't it? Charming, of course, but just a little country town."
- The Duchess of Kent after visiting Canberra in 1970.
"Canberra: There's nothing to it!"
"Canberra: Why wait for death?"
"Canberra: Gateway to everywhere else!"
- Comments associated with British (American expatriate) writer Bill Bryson, 2000
I kid, I kid. Canberra's great.
March 19, 2005
History Lessons
Some interesting posts on some past events (notably the Crusades and the Spanish Civil War) by Steve Edwards and Oliver Kamm.
Additionally: March 16, 2005 is the 17th anniversary of the gassing of Halabja. (Note: Pictures are not pretty)
Optus = Hitler
For some bizarre, yet to be explained reason, my phone line stopped working between midday Friday and Saturday afternoon.
People keep telling me about the unreliable telephone services in the bush, but 18 years of living in Grafton, I can't ever remember the phone line "mysteriously" having a two day outage.
Fucking ACT.
March 16, 2005
Changing Shit
I'm doing different stuff at work, currently, not fixing the shitness of the Pensions and Parenting online systems.
Now I'm doing some web-based prototype for self-service at Centrelink or something.
So I'm reading all these high-level design documents...and is it just me or does jargon piss you off?
I'm getting sick of the term "granulation", and all this blather about "fine-grained" and "coarse-grained".
I need a drink!
Good posts
Leigh Cartwright has some good posts on both Cuba's amazing "free" healthcare, and VSU.
Update: Here's some more from Marty at the Rat Pack on VSU, including a bit of Hansard.
I just keep thinking of the poor, poor lunatics who ran my old uni's SRC. They won't know what hit them. I'd shed a tear...if, of course, the buggers hadn't sown the seeds of their own demise.
Blogger Jumps the Shark
It seems that increasingly deranged blogger (and academic) Tim Lambert decided that, because Tim Blair's blog doesn't allow the assorted trolls, Margonauts, Lancet-obsessives and shrill lefties to comment to their heart's desire, he has to mirror the site (without permission) except for the comments, which he has redirected.
The mirror site has gone now, but I think we can appreciate what long-term employment in academia does to one's mind.
I'd like to note to everyone that I do not censor any comments. Unless, of course, I'm in a particularly fascist mood.
Or if I don't like you.
Either way.
Update: Ha Ha Ha!
March 15, 2005
Trailers
Here are some trailers for upcoming sci-fi/space fantasy movies.
Note: Stephen Fry as the voice of the Guide!
Tasty
Today is International Eat an Animal for PETA Day.
Dig in!
March 14, 2005
Back in the ACT
I'm back, but after over thirty hours of driving in the last three days, I'm not inclined to write anything.
Except for this.
And this.
March 09, 2005
AWOL
I'm leaving Canberra on Thursday, heading up north to see some old-skool British comedy act in sunny Bris Vegas - home of orange nosed children like the following example:
March 08, 2005
Uppin' It
In other news, money was burning a whole in my pocket, so I got me a new computer.
It's real good n' stuff.
Plus, it's black.
Oooh.
Freaks and Geeks
You know, every now and then I get an unexplainable urge to find a message board community (usually relating to some geeky hobby of mind) and join it for some good discussion.
It's usually a bad decision. Most of these communities seem to be a collection of idiots, sociopaths and twee dickheads who think adding "smilies" to a stupid post will not make the other person annoyed.
It's doubly irritating that you can't reach out and strangle said anonymous wanker. Ah, the beauty of cyberspace - you can get pissed off at people you've never even met!
After each of these brief flings, I go into a period of detox, and then, one day, I return, naively hoping the dickheads aren't there anymore.
Big mistake.
Osama Plots Again
from news.com.au
Those Al Qaeda boys sure are crafty:
IN one of the more bizarre terror plots hatched by al-Qaeda, Australian actor Russell Crowe was the target of a kidnapping scheme as part of a "cultural destabilisation plan".
Crowe has revealed he was approached by the FBI in the months leading up to his Academy Award win for Gladiator in 2001 and warned, vaguely, of the threat: "That was the first [time] I'd ever heard the phrase al-Qaeda. It was about - and here's another little touch of irony - taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural destabilisation plan."
Proof, if ever, that Al Qaeda are getting desperate. I mean, Russel fucking Crowe? Why not an attractive young starlet? After three hours with Crowe, the terrorists would pay US to get rid of him.
March 07, 2005
Geekier than You!
Furries - those poor, defenceless weirdos. Haven't we picked on them enough?
Lebanon
ANTI-SYRIA
PRO-SYRIA
Says it all, really.
How Comics used to be...
A friend sent me this.
Comics used to teach you all important life lessons.
Like these:
The Past is a Another Country
...and they do things differently there.
The site Tales of Future Past, takes a look at how people from a century ago predicted the future would turn out.
It's interesting stuff - and there's a hell of a lot of zeppelins, moving footpaths, funky jumpsuits and blonde aliens.
Just like now!
(Hat tip: A E Brain)
March 03, 2005
Woohoo! HATEMAIL!
My first real hatemail!
Reprinted word for word.
You are facsshit piece of crap look at you dumb picture you are ugly jew.
Stirring stuff, really.
I think, in celebration, I'll add a yarmulke on my pic.
Additional: I've variously been referred to as an Arab, Syrian, "Assyrian" (?), South African, Morrocan, New Zealander and British throughout my life. Now I can add "Jew" to the list.
Hooray.
UPDATE: Australia's probably not feeling a welcoming place for Jews or Israelis lately...
If nothing else, "Theodore Hoezel = Saddam Hussein!" certainly is original.
And stupid.
March 02, 2005
Deutschland, Deutschland, Unter Alles
What is happening in Germany?
According to this article in the torygraph:
Germany risks becoming the new sick man of Europe as the Continent's one-time economic giant sinks deeper into malaise and falls further behind the rest of the EU, experts warned yesterday.
The country whose post-war recovery was hailed as an economic miracle is no longer basking in prosperity but increasingly languishing in poverty, especially when compared with rival nations.
Also, unemployment has apparently hit 1930s levels
More than 5.2 million Germans were out of work in February, new figures show.
The figure of 5.216 million people, or 12.6% of the working-age population, is the highest jobless rate in Europe's biggest economy since the 1930s.
The news comes as the head of Germany's panel of government economic advisers predicted growth would again stagnate.
Speaking on German TV, Bert Ruerup said the panel's earlier forecast of 1.4% was too optimistic and warned growth would be just 1% in 2005.
Where to next for Germany, once the "miracle" economy of Europe? And how will this affect the EU's economic situation, keeping in mind that Germany's economy, even in its parlorous state, is still the most important in Europe.
Update: The other major Euro-Area economy? France is over 10% unemployment.
God's Excellent Adventure!
It's the Back of the Bible!
Everybody loves the Bible. It's shit-full of good advice you can apply to everyday life, from "turn the other cheek" to "God hates fags."
What many people don't know, however, is that the Bible isn't just the basis for highly collectible
Jesus plates—it's also an enormous goddamn thousands-years-old book.
A lot of it's still applicable today. If you're looking for sage advice as to the spiritual direction of your life, Jesus apparently knows the score. I've never spoken to the man personally — but he's gotten enough thumbs-up reviews from friends that, fictional or no, he's probably at least as smart as Oprah. A guy could pay attention to Jesus and do well for himself. Worst case scenario: you don't get to fuck your neighbor's wife, and everyone gets to slap the shit out of your face.
But keep in mind, the Bible's as thick as a phone book. For every chapter about Jesus wind-sprinting across a lake to tell you how much he loves kittens, there's another with God making a smoking peasant fireball because they sacrificed a goat to Him with the wrong knife.