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 Sarah Murdoch backs body image code
('Embrace the beauty of ageing': Sarah Murdoch appears on untouched magazine cover)
Just for the record... If I looked as good as Sarah Murdoch, I'd also be happy to not be "air-brushed" too! (actualy cover =>)
<= Sarah Murdoch with a picture of her on the front
of the Women's Weekly. Photo: Glen McCurtayne
This U-Tube (Dove Evolution) might explain why Sarah thought it was important to do this?
(and because nothing is sacred) *chuckle*
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Maybe, just maybe... Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett are/were the same person?
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Well done to the U.S. It's just amazing ~
A hopeful choice, a joyful outcome, and steps forward from the dark days and policies of the Bush administration.
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"Stupid risks are what make life worth living"
Homer Simpson |
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OMG!!! Tell me truly, was I the only person absolutely BLOWN AWAY from last night's Four-Corners??
>> Daylight Robbery (if you missed the program, you MUST watch one of the repeats)
I always knew the Dick Cheney was corrupt, but you know, he actually doesn't CARE that he's corrupt. He just does whatever the damn fuck he likes! and.... then when he gets questioned, it's like *what??... what are you talking about?* I always knew it, but for once I just can't hold back... CHENEY IS A GOD-DAMN FUCKING WANKER!!! and he treats the American people like they're STUPID!
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I am greatly saddened by the news of Jane McGrath's death. This was her third time around battling cancer, and she has been instrumental in the raising of funds for research programs, and truly inspirational in her public battle against the disease. Glenn must be devastated. Never have I seen another couple who lived such a great public example of being the best "friend" of your primary relationship.
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So.... what do we think? Are we happy for Micro$oft to take-over Yahoo! ?
Does the U.S. not have any "anti-competitive" laws regarding business acquisitions and buy-outs? Mind you... I suppose we could say the same thing about BhP's current plans to buy RioTinto (am I the only person who sees "riot-into" in that name?)
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Happy birthday to bear-bear (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kim_bear_ly) today.... :o), and to zelda (tassie_gal) for tomorrow. Hope you have lots and lots more!
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According to a BBC report this morning, Perth was the hottest city in the world yesterday. At 44.2°C (111°F), apparently we sweltered through our hottest ever December day.
~ now, how's THAT for a Boxing Day to remember?? ~
 Of course, hot hot hot weather equals extremely high fire danger, with fires in the northern suburbs on Xmas day (40.7°C) and fires south of the city yesterday. I've been "on call" over the holiday period, which mercifully means no alcohol for this sucker! This has its advantages you know....
Anyhoo.... Luckily, even though "The Hills" area is most *at risk* in this weather (I live in The Hills of Perth, which is why I'm a volunteer bushfire fighter), we've only had one small scrub fire late yesterday, which was contained very quickly. With the temperature expected to only reach 32°C today, some of our stand-by resources have been made available to other brigades. So at 3pm I'm off to the southern-suburbs fire (Mandogalup), and hopefully be home by midnight. Provided the weather doesn't change too much - although, winds WILL swing back around into easterlies during the evening, that much a fire-fighter can be sure of!, we should be able to consolidate containment lines and begin mopping-up the mess left behind from three days of fire.
If it has enough battery, I'll take my camera along and snap some shots.... either way, I'll report in tomorrow.
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 Regardless of one's personal politics, or one's view of the man.... I am really pleased for Al Gore. ESPECIALLY if he donates the $2 million that comes with the medal back into global-warming research!
On an entirely 'nother note.... BRING IT ON!!!!
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OMG! I'm sick of Bush and that silly gummy grin he walks around with. Oh well, at least Rumsfeld isn't here. He isn't is he?? *please please not!*
I look at Bush, and he's just this little cowboy figure that everyone seems to want to have a beer with.... He doesn't actually do anything right? He just makes the ultra-right-wing views of Rumsfeld and Cheney a little more palatable for the American masses??
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Happy birthday murg! You're too young, you're too sexy, and you play for the other other team. But if you ever want to sow-your-seed...... I'll have your babies!!!
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FYI!!...
My laptop has DIED!!! *sob*
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The American FBI wants university students to stop travelling. *I friggen knew it!... tassie_gal is a foreign national terrorist spy!!*
no no no... being serious... excerpt from article below:
| | "The FBI wants the universities to impose rules that will stop US university students from working late at the campus, travelling abroad, showing an interest in their colleagues' work, or have friends outside the United States, engaging in independent research, or making extra money without the prior consent of the authorities....
....The Feds are convinced that if you are doing any of these things you are likely to be a foreign agent who is [stealing] technology for foreign powers"
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Article link: FBI wants students to stop travelling
other: Boston News (MIT is one of the targeted campus')
Indian Express
Press Esc: FBI to restrict student freedoms
Why is it laughable??.... because (and quote me on this) Any hard-working university student will inevitably work late on campus, will probably travel abroad, should always show interest in their colleagues work, and will probably have friends outside of the country they study in... many will even be from another country. Oh, and in order to push the boundaries, we simply must engage in independent research ~ who discovered anything new of any worth by simply researching within their set field? . So... as described by our behaviour, we are all probably terrorists!
This is the kind of rhetoric that makes us laugh at the yanks... sorry to offend my American flist-ers... but it truly is ridiculous! I mean, this isn't some crack-pot saying this stuff, it's the FBI! (FBI = fucking bloody idiots?? ~ removing tongue from my cheek)
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so I might not feel like Michael's maid..... but I sure as crap feel like his friggen conveyor belt!!
Word: "conveyor belt"
Result: synonym for aussie_annie
noun machinery.
an endless belt or chain, set of rollers, etc., for carrying materials lunches, or objects hot-chocolates short distances, as part of a churn-out process.
Pronounced:  [con-vay-a-belt]
 (kettle; knife on bread; draws opening etc)
<= is going back to bed for a bit!
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Word: "mess"
Result: aussie_annie
noun a state of embarrassing confusion. My affairs are in a mess.
Pronounced: [mes]
(some carping, moaning & arguing noises)
Word: "really good timing"
Result: aussie_annie
adjective sarcastic under-tones. The timing of stuffing everything up at just the wrong-est time.
Pronounced: [loo-z-a]
(wouldn't convert to Mp3)
Post NOTE:
Sorry, but I made my previous entry  private. If you saw and commented, please do not take offence that you can no longer see what you wrote. I think it was all a bit much for me. I just hate being so *negative*, sarcasm and humour are a more presentable way to voice displeasure at one'self and the universe, don't you think? And self-deprivating humour is a good way to fend-off inevitable feelings of worthlessness and disappointment ~ keeps it all a bit more cognitive.
Today.... I decide. I am contemplating spending the day in our garden ~ my god the lawn needs a mow (it's so long it's probably gonna snap blades).... I decide.... whether I am even going to continue with the PhD. I don't think I've ever "quit" something before, but I am so close to my physical, intellectual, and now emotional limits.... why am I putting myself (and the people I love) through this?
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 "Dennis, down by the river" (Ely, Cambridge) *cold morning*
 "In Rome" (also Dennis BTW)
PS: tassie_gal, I'll give you five bucks if you can correctly tell me who this "Denis" is :o) sodyinoz don't help her!!
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All I do is spend my hours (and hours) sitting in front of my laptop; running queries of my user-results database; downloading the results to my hard-drive; and creating tables upon tables of data to compare and contrast in word and excel documents. I'm so mentally tired, that I often catch myself half-way through a task ~ say, adding a table-row to a table ~ and wondering *what am I doing that for?... what am I adding?... what was I comparing again??* and my train-of-thought has vanished amongst a cloud of headache and fuzzy fonts on computer screens.
*groannnnnn* ~ I've got such a headache. Four panadol, and I still can't get rid of it |
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Why is a cup-of-tea at the end of the day, so nice......?
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I made a post in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) landscape (post link) showing some of the fire-scape pics from my post on Friday... but with some extra shots I took on Saturday (after the fire).
Photos taken this afternoon (Sat, March 10th)
  Black-boys, truly black
The aftermath of the fire is black.  The Australian bush though, recovers remarkably well ~ as is the case in many semi-arid eco-systems, fire is a *natural* phenomenon that helps spread seeds and rejuvenate the landscape. Of course, as a bush-fire fighter I would be far more comfortable with this prospect if the majority of fires we spend hours putting out were in fact caused by natural events. From experience though, most fires are the result of either deliberate acts of malice, or careless acts of stupidity! Either way, the landscape ends up look like this!
 detail.....
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 Mosquitoes leaving
~ at the end of the day, the helitacs leave, heading back to the airport, and leaving us to fight-on without them. They are our god-send, without a doubt. Our god's with horizontal blades buzzing ahead and long phallic's dangling below, they scoop up the escarpment and douse the flames just as they threaten to take  hold.
Don't try this at home ~ one of the hardest things about taking photographs of fires at twilight is camera and/or truck movement!! I thought the effect though was outstanding!!... *hic*
From inside the truck
~ arriving at sector 4, where "running fire" is still a major issue. Four other vehicles just in front of us, and dozens of fire-fighters scrambling to assess the situation and decide the best course of action.
Hill ablaze ~ As night fell, the north east corner of the fire had gripped the valley. Unfortunately, photographs don't always show the true *scale* of an incident such as this. It was going to be a long, difficult night  without the support of the helitacs (which go home at sunset)
Waiting for the fire
For the most part, bush fire fighting is a patient combination of on-going waiting and defending. In this picture (left) I stood on the back-tray of the appliance (that's firey-speak for "truck") and *spotted* if flames or embers "hopped-over" the road we were using for our fire-break.  In the meantime, the team waits.... waits for the fire to approach.... and then, when the time is right (when the flames have gotten as near as we dare let them) we *go in* and fight ~ or defend, whichever is appropriate.
Going In
And that........ is an evening at the office.
To put this entry into perspective. Yesterday a fire-call came over at 2.50pm. A fire had started next to the Zig-Zag in Gooseberry Hill, and was spreading through the Gooseberry (pronounced goozeberry) Hill national park ~ which is beautiful hills and valleys. By 5pm it was massive and we had some 70 fire-fighters battling with four helitacs to get the blaze under control before the Southerly wind blew the fire into Helena Valley (which is far more densely populated ~ as far as houses go ~ than the GH national park). We fought the fire all-night and into today. Me personally, I was at the fire-ground until 11.15pm last night, and then back there at 5.30am this morning, after a surprisingly restful midnight-to-pre-dawn sleep. I was paired off with Paul (an ex-pat Canadian who's lived in Perth for a decade) today, and I really enjoyed getting to know him during what can be tedious hours of mop-up. We finished around 2pm, and I was terribly relieved to finally get home to a warm wrinkle-all-over bath and cup-of-coffee.
*phew* ~ going to put my feet up for a bit.
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 Thank you for the nudge sodyinoz, makes me feel special ~ ~ ~
I don't mean to leave it so long between drinks, but I suppose it's just been one of those week's month's . . . year's so far. If I'm not reading/writing for my PhD, I'm reading/writing a new course Dr Bode asked me to teach. Research & Writing Processes teaches new university students how to approach "academic" research and writing. It's a big area to cover in 13 weeks, and in my experience, I achieve quality in my courses by developing too much content and then culling it back. When I've not been working, I've been fire-fighting.
We've had really substantial fires over the past few weeks in Dwellingup, Toodyay, Forrestdale and Mundaring... There's been some down in the Porongorup's (near Albany) and Williams too. The back-burning we did at Mundaring was really successful (where we worked with CALM *Conservation And Land Management* workers) at containing the fire. This was the first fire I've fought where I've experienced "crowning". Crowning, is when a tree's foliage catches fire and the fire spreads quickly from the "crown" of one tree to the crown of other trees. It's amazing.... it soon creates it's own wind, and builds in ferocity, and sounds like a fucking freight-train!! Scary? . . . . well, yes.... and fucking HOT!!!
The fires at Forrestdale were really close to homes, and at one stage our crew had to stop en route to our next post and bolt-cut our way into someone's back-yard because their huge pile of bulk-rubbish (an old couch, cupboard, and other house-hold rejects) had caught fire. I remember feeling the 6 foot colour-bond fence to assess the fire behind it, and it was hot-as! Later in the evening, we literally drove into the bush a few meters from one of the fire-fronts, behind an earth-mover, and cut a containment line between the fire and houses. That was hot too... I was driving that day. Had to go $130km p/h down the Tonkin Highway, through red lights with lights'n'sirens going. And no, people do not always give-way.... what's worse, a stupid woman actually pulled out in front of me, forcing me to brake hard.... *shaking head ~ some people are just plain stupid*.
Okay... that's about it I suppose. It's been an amazing few weeks really. I feel like most of the time I'm waging a personal battle against sheer exhaustion. I think about stopping in and writing often ~ as much because life goes on and I experience new things, and I want to keep a record of my journey. I feel I continue to grow and change as a person, finding the words and documenting the voyage though, takes time and cognitive energy, both of which I seem to have so precious little left in reserve... I also miss catching up on what people on my flist are doing (or have been doing).
cheekyassmonkey I miss your words of wisdom, rubygloomrox I miss your stories and your humour, hwar I miss reading and vicariously enjoying jane growing up ~ I hope she's doing well....
I miss dragoneletra's self-focused, yet absolutely honest and incredibly articulate ramblings (that goes for quietthomas too)... and thomas, I miss your's and sodyinoz's council.... I probably shouldn't have started writing individual comments, because I don't want to offend anyone by leaving them off ~ ~ *sigh* ~ and I really must get back to Dr Bode's course, as it starts in less than a week...kim_bear_ly thank you for your little comment/reply a couple of weeks ago, I miss you too and hope teaching is going well. Oh and penelly I hope your PhD writing is making progress.
I'll try and find some time (and decent band-width) during next week to catch up on flist-journals properly ~ then you can all get sick of me again! *smirk*
One last thing ~cliff_gallup ~ mikie, it goes without saying how much I miss my cyber-beer-buddy's encouragement and kind words. *god, that was so poetic, it was pathetic* phhfffttt
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Last night I popped out to "Borders", a book store in the city-centre of Perth ~ complete with a Gloria Jean's coffee shop and lots of comfy chairs on which to plant your 'tush and peruse your possible purchase.
I decided to buy "An Inconvenient Truth" (Al Gore) for my niece for Xmas. This morning, when I was supposed to be leaving for work, I sat down to quickly look at the book before wrapping it. But once I started reading, I couldn't put it down! I never did make it into work (cosmos, I love being an academic sometimes).
You know..... I wonder what a different place this planet would be if Al Gore had become president of the U.S. in 2000.... *sigh*
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hmmm.... I think I was just offered a financial *incentive* to "revisit" a student's result for this semester. University lecturers don't really do things like that do they?
Oh, and next semester, I have no teaching load with MIS ~ seems weird really.... Any lecturing I do will be purely my choice. *whoo-hoo!!!* concentrating on research-only ~ oh it will be bliss.
And finally ~ this will mean *jack* to most, but I'm excited about the Case/Units of Analysis model I've designed for my PhD research.  This is the third model to come out of the research.... maybe I just think in spacial/model ways??? cosmos knows, I am a "Space-Cadet" after all.
I got a "great aussie air-chair" from Jo for my birthday last Monday (11th Dec). It's terribly comfy!! It hangs under the patio but apparently I can tie it up anywhere!! Next time we go to Busselton, maybe I can tie it under the jetty.... *whoo hoo*
If I don't get a chance to visit again, merry Xmas.
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Well *phew* ~ yesterday was one helluva effort! Big fire on the Kalamunda escapement (close to where we live), that was caused by an old codger burning his *rubbish*. Poor fool lost control of it (never mind that it was a high-fire-danger day and absolutely against the law for anyone to partake in such a careless activity) and by 12.30pm ~ when the sea breeze came in ~ flames were racing up the escarpment at a rate of knots.
For those who don't know, a fire doubles in speed for every 10° in the inclination of a hill. The Kalamunda north/west escarpment is about 40°, so the fire was travelling up to eight-times faster than if it were on a flat! Coupled with a relatively strong sea-breeze (blowing up the hill), and tinder-dry bush, the fire was pretty hair-raising.
Unfortunately, even our best efforts could not save every house, and one was totally destroyed, along with a second very badly damaged and a third sustained some damage.
» Hills fire sees dream home go up in smoke
» Hills fire contained after home destroyed
» Man charged over Hills blaze
No, I was too busy to take any photographs myself.... and boy, was I bushed by the time I got home.
You know.... in the *comments* and *letters* to the papers etc, people always say such nice things about the fire-fighters, and how we work our butts off etc, but I want to send a special thank-you to all the support people. The Salvation Army van rocked-up to the incident control area and set up a BBQ, providing fruit, fresh cheese-toasties and gallons of freezing-cold water for all of us.... Their efforts are hardly ever acknowledged. So thanks.... after a few hours in the heat, that food just tastes terrific!!!
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good god.... I NEED COFFEE!!!!
Josie slept-in today.... she pressed *snooze* on her mobile phone (her alarm), without realising it wasn't the snooze button at all ~ it was the camera, and she now has a bunch of useless photographs to delete. So.... needless to say, she was fried (she's NOT a morning person at the best of times anyway) as she realised it was 5 to 7, and she leaves at 10 past 7! So I made breakfasts and packed lunches as she quickly got herself ready. Now I look around me ~ after having shifted Jo, then Michael, then Lewis off to their respective places-of-daily-activity ~ and I realise there's a dishwasher to empty (and re-fill), kitchen to clean, pond-filter to clean *yudda yudda* ~ and I still have to be showered and ready and on-campus for a meeting with my supervisor #2 at 10.30am???? How will I do this thing..... I NEED COFFEE!!!!!!!!! *I wish I could just go back to bed*
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Friedrich Nietzsche | | 100% | Miyamoto Musashi | | 67% | Dante Alighieri | | 67% | C.G. Jung | | 58% | Steven Morrissey | | 58% | O.J. Simpson | | 42% | Elvis Presley | | 25% | Stephen Hawking | | 25% | Sigmund Freud | | 25% | Mother Teresa | | 17% | Jesus Christ | | 17% | Charles Manson | | 8% | Adolf Hitler | | 8% | Hugh Hefner | | 0% |
| GREAT! Friedrich Nietzsche!
Just what I need ~ another hairy lesbian top-lip!!
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you're an egotistical maniac, and you are so very iconoclastic that you probably are currently lost in a post-modern Jupiter, I mean jungle of self-definition. Don't let it get you down though, someday, through a willful onslaught of reinterpretation of dated forms and ideas, you will strike on something that passes as remotely new, and people WILL be into it on the basis of how hip it is alone. Also, the average espresso drinker looks up to you
Okay.... so you have a go: What Pseudo Historical Figure Best Suits You?
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euphemism [yoo-fuh-miz-uhm] & colloquialism [kuh-loh-kwee-uh-liz-uhm]
The guessing game
Rule #6923: Sorry... You may not guess if you are an aussie... although you may *confuse* by "throwing in a curly one" :oP
Rule #32: Try not to google it.... just have a guess and try repeat the following few sentences in proper English. Or perhaps even just try and make sense of it. :o)
Work on Friday was flat out like a lizard drinking, and more importantly gettin' on my pip, so at ten-to-one I high-tailed it over the deli for a Mrs Mac's and a good strong brew.... Came back fresh as a daisy, only to hear the boss goin' off! He was mad as a cut snake... started sproutin' on at me about leaving without permission.... Phew!!... what an ear-bashing! He actually called me a dipstick. That's when the shit hit the fan....
.... Not that I mind being called a dipstick, it's just when he shoved the "dyke" on the end of his "dipstick"... YUP, that's right, calling me a "dipstick-dyke" ... that for some reason, I just saw red!
Now see; apart from my thinkin' we're all entitled to a smoko now and then, it really gets my pip how - with all the bludgers I work with - it's always me who cops the crap. In the end I just lost it, ended up goin' off me nut. Started hurlin' abuse and carrying-on like a two-bob-watch.... I think I said something about him being a wanker arsehole boss/manager, who couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery if he tried..... mind you, I think it was the hat-full of arse-holes accusation that upset him the most.... that and my suggesting he couldn't get laid if he was the last man on earth..... oh.... and when I told him I'd already done his wife. . . . (hanging head... yeah, I probably took it too far with that one) . . . The next thing I know, the pigs are there and I'm gettin' shoved into a divvy van!?!? . . . . . To-Be-Continued...
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See "Bart's Heart Attack" on youtube! Be warned! This is funny, you might not want to draw attention to laughter by watching it at work! (Click on image below to open URL)
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My brother's girlfriend just gave birth to a baby boy ..... (8.53am Perth time)... They have named him William, and I am once again, an aunty! :o) just to a different sibling this time.
Hope my mother now doesn't think I will join my sister and brother's ranks as a "breeder"?????... eeeeekk!
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 Regardless how you feel about the dude, he wasn't a BAD man.... in fact, he was a nutcase eh! I can be philosophical and say *hey, he died doing what he loves best*, but you know ~ I'm beginning to feel rather sad about the utter mortality of us all.
It's just a sad thing really, he's a husband, a father... I know my reaction to this is probably because of the head-space I am in after Sharon's sudden death ~ which happened exactly a month ago today on Aug 4th, but why do crappy things have to happen to people that are essentially adding something to the planet.
CRIKEY!!......
ETA:
PS: Hey jo.... do you think it happened quicker than he could say "crikey, what-was-that!"
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From: Sydney's own tabloid of note, The Daily Telegraph!! A bronze cast of Tom and Katie's baby's FIRST "POOP"
For fuck's sake!!!! are these people MAD??
ETA: There seems to be a general consensus in the reply/comments that this is probably NOT real baby poop! You don't all think Tom & Katie would LIE do you??
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Poll #806294
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10What best describes Pluto?
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Before you answer the following poll.... some facts about Pluto (and some more too)
1.) Pluto is smaller than the Earth's moon
2.) Pluto (even though it is relatively small) ~ has it's own moon.
3.) Pluto is spherical in shape (not like an asteroid)
4.) Pluto orbits the sun in an oval orbit and is sometimes it is closer to the sun than Neptune (does this make it comet like?)
5.) Pluto could be considered to be part of Kuiper Belt, an area of the solar-system beyond Neptune that has 3 or 4 (known)Pluto sized objects, including Sedna, which orbits the sun in an even more elliptical orbit than Pluto.
In the last 24 hours, Pluto was officially re-classified and removed from the list of planets in our solar-system. We now have 8 planets only!! So, what do you think? (please see my following post for the poll ~ damn editing issues!!!)
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Oh yeah... I forgot to mention, that the W.A. Nationals (the National party has consistently been the most conservative of main-stream polictal parties in Australia) on Monday, decided it was going to support "same-gender" civil unions. So.... there you go!!
Nationals say okay to gays
Sorry Penny, it was Monday's news.... not Sunday's news. The days have been a bit of blur I'm afraid.
ETA & PS (in one)... *if you've not yet answered the poll on lj protocol/etiquette, what are you waiting for?*
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WTF??
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Jul. 31st, 2006 @ 11:23 am
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Wassup with Israel? ANY moral high-ground afforded to Israel because of the "terrorist" activities of Hezbollah has been systematically lost over the last two weeks. Onya Israel!! You might be achieving your aims, but you have just LOST the propaganda war.
FOOLS!! IDIOTS!!
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and I quote:
"The irony is what they really need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it will all be over" G.W. Bush, (to Tony Blair) 17/07/2006 You know what I like about this statement?? It's not scripted... and it's all B U S H, and it's probably one of the most coherent things I've ever heard him say....
*mumbling to myself* . . . . idiot
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"Theories cannot be conclusively proven by repeated observations confirming them. However, they can be dis-proven by one observation of non-confirmation"
(Popper, 1959)
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Happy Birthday to the irrepressible rubygloomrox. My grand-dad's b'day is tomorrow, my mother's is next week ~ so you are in the finest of fine company miss Steph *bowing*. I really hope you have a relaxed and special day.
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 | | Tim Cahill, Devastated at the final whistle |
I'm not going to try and be philosophical about it.... that the boys *did us proud*... or that we really took it up to the Italians. Hell, I'm not even going to complain about how yet ANOTHER dubious refereeing decision could decide the result of a game. With 5 seconds... FIVE FUCKING SECONDS left to play, how could a referee award a penalty that was not clearly a penalty.
So.... losing to Italy? It was expected to turn out this way. Touches of brilliance was simply not enough to convert. The Australian team are good. Very good in fact. Certainly MUCH better than their 41st in the world ranking! But as good as Italy? No... of course not!. That the Italians had only 10 players (also a dubious referee decision) on the field from early in the second half, and the Australians had 59% of the possession (41% to the Italians) ~ yet still, we could not convert.... we lacked something. Not skill, the team has plenty of that. Not heart, the team has plenty of that too.... What they lack is probably *class*. The class that comes from seasoned World-Cup campaigns. The class that comes from experience. The class that Italy showed to keep their defence intact (with only 10 men), to draw the foul with seconds left to spare, to convert the penalty... and (unfortunately for us) the class to go through to the round of 8.
So .... as bitterly disappointed as I am ~ congratulations Italy. Please now, at least go on and WIN the damn CUP!! Viva Italy!
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Sody!!... for you darling :o).... And good luck Socceroos tonight Vs Italy!!
| HARRY!! The stuff dreams are made of..... |  |  |   |
....GO GO Socceroos!!! Vs Italy tonight....
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 Josie got a Wollemi Pine for her birthday from her mum. Shows you how busy I've been, I should have made this entry a long time ago!... Jo's B'day was April 30. Some locals might know, that the Wollemi is a pine/fern tree long thought to be extinct. Fossil records indicate that the tree flourished during the Cretaceous period ~ during the time Dinosaurs roamed the region. The story of their re-discovery goes something like this *David Noble, a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Officer was bush-walking with a friend in late 1994 when he chanced across an outcrop of tree/ferns that he thought he'd not seen before...... (etc)*
To cut a long story short, over the last decade conservation groups (along with various state governments) have worked at a release program that would see the pine carefully cultivated by scientists and then released to the public in April 2006. This was seen as a way of ensuring the long-term survival of the pine. So..... we have Wollemi Pine!, complete with adoption papers (I kid you not) and an official ID-tag/number.
*wonder if it has a computer chip that registers if it dies.... *
Wish our pine luck ~ It is about a foot tall, inside a pot, and lives on our North facing patio... so it gets plenty of warming winter sun at the moment :o). |
Aerial view of Wollemi Pines in the wild
© J.Plaza
www.wollemipine.com | 
King Billy: the largest Wollemi Pine
© J.Plaza
www.wollemipine.com |
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I know, I know... it's embarrassing (for me) to admit, and awfully parochial, but . . . . .
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Still alive... still breathin'. . . . . . . still m a r k i n g.
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I think I'm going to walk up to the chemist today to chat about my cramps ~ and take elgy's advice :o) *thanks so much for that elgy*
I can't drive, because some local council contractors dug up our brick paving (driveway) on Thursday to lay pipes down, and today a bricklayer is putting them back, so there's piles of bricks everywhere... *yudda yudda ~ like it even really matters*. The plan is to take the rest of DWU Post-grad student assignments with me and wonder over to 'The Merchant', sit outside drinking good coffee while I smoke fags and mark assignments. If I can keep going all day, I suppose Jo will join me late this afternoon?
One of the owners made a *joke* at me a few weeks ago "When's your next big round of marking?... I think you keep us in business when it's that time of semester".
cheeky man!!... you'd think if he really did feel that way he'd give me my coffee for less? *no, I do not think the world revolves around me, and yes I recognise he has a business to run.... but consider this: One X-large cappuccino has 3 shots of coffee. If I want a 4th shot, it costs an extra 60cents.... fair enough. But I have my coffee weak. ONE SHOT to be precise, and I still pay full price. If it was a once off? okay, that seems reasonable, but I would - without doubt - be one of their most regular customers... AND on a day like today I will probably sit there for a few hours and drink cappuccinos... *I can do it because I have only one shot?? :oP*... Something inside me grumbles and tells me they should charge me $1 less for my coffee....
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tired....... not having a great day so far. Long story ~ *going to mentally process my thoughts and feelings over a cigarette* ~ then back to marking grind.
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Jo dropped me off at Lomardi Brothers at 8am to pick up my fixed car :o). What a pleasure to drive it to work. I didn't even mind that I got stuck on St George's Trc for 15 minutes (4 light changes) to cross William St.
Oh I do so looooove my car. I have decided however, that after 17 years driving and 4 cars insured with SGIO, and not a single claim ever until November last year (and now a second on the same car May this year) ~ that if it happens again, I am selling the car :o(. It is obviously simply not my good-luck baby.
Besides, it just might be the excuse I need to get me one of those Mazda RX8's with the suicide doors!
| Which is the better car? ~ that is the question. (good to see I have so much time to waste) |  |  | | My Hyundai Tiburon | Mazda RX 8 (yes, I'd get yellow) |
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Thanks sodyinoz ~ instalment #4. (am actually enjoying the process of making each Q a stand-alone entry that could exist even without the question inserted)
4. What prompted you to move from South Africa to Australia?
Sometimes we don't have much choice regarding the major decisions in our lives ~ they just kind of happen. Or, should I say, they're up to someone else.
In 1981 my mother made a decision to immigrate our family to Australia. The "family" being my mum, her husband (not my father), my sister and my half-brother. It took until April 1982 to get all our affairs in order, at which time my sister and I went to stay with our dad for 2 weeks before the rest of the family flew down to Jo'burg and we all left to come to Perth. At the time I never dreamed it would be 23 years before I would see or speak to my father again.
In retrospect, moving us to Aus was the best damn thing my mother ever did for her kids!! Initially - of course - I hated it, but by the time I finished high-school I loved it, and I still love it. At 16 I told my mum I wanted to become a paper-aussie, and the rest of the family followed suite. I didn't personally swear allegiance to the Queen, and I have never voted conservative! *whoo hoo*
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