In the Scenery category of my Picture Gallery, there's a whole new sub-category (The Faeries' Tree) and several new photos in the Melbourne category, as well. (Yes, we went for an outing yesterday, and of course I took the camera, as it's all part of my desire to show the world why Melbourne is known as "Marvellous Melbourne".)

This is my new blogchalk:
Australia, Victoria, Melbourne, English, Bonni, Female, 36-40.

WTF is a blockchalk, you may well ask? Well, visit BlogChalking and find out. It's kind of a cool concept, actually...

Forgot to mention when it was released, but I have a new texture set available at Poser Pros.

Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. Saddam Hussein was captured by Kurds, not US forces.

Saddam Hussein was betrayed and handed over to Kurdish forces, who negotiated for political gain before leaving him for the Americans to find, a British newspaper has reported.

Washington's claims that brilliant US intelligence work led to the capture of Saddam Hussein are being challenged by reports sourced in Iraq's Kurdish media claiming that its militia set the circumstances in which the US merely had to go to a farm identified by the Kurds to bag the fugitive former president.

(Ah, but is it really art? Who cares?!) There's a new fairy in the gallery at elizabyte.net.

Yes, there are new pictures in the Committed to bandwidth on Sat, 27 Dec 03
in Webdev, Digital, & Geeky Stuff

Sometime right around this time of the year (I honestly don't remember the precise date, but it was sometime before Christmas) in 1993 I got on the net for the first time. We (we being myself and the guy I lived with) had gotten a new computer, a Compaq 386. It didn't even have a math co-processor, and it had a whopping six (6!) Mb of memory, which was 2Mb more than the standard at the time.

It also had a built-in internal modem. It was 2400 KBaud.

We got the computer home and got it set up and my then-boyfriend ran the phone line to hook up the modem. And I uttered these immortal words, words which will live in infamy.... What on earth do we need a modem for?

He logged in to his university dialup account. He showed me Usenet (alt.fan.monty-python, as a matter of fact, and by sheer coincidence, I have Monty Python and the Holy Grail on in the background). I was hooked. I can't explain it. I was just immediately, irrevocably, instantly, and in all other ways permanently HOOKED.

And here I am, ten years later, making a post in my weblog about this historic event from a decade ago...

I've finally gotten the girls' photo gallery updated. Whew. It's been almost a year since I did an update, due to repeated hard drive crashes, server upgrades, bandwidth problems, and, most recently, having to reinstall some things on the server. Whew. Anyway, they're updated now, if you want to take a peek at the kids' picture gallery.

It was formerly the home of Henry VIII and has long reported to be haunted.
 
The 16th Century palace in south-west London is well known for alleged supernatural activity, but nothing suspicious has been caught on film before.
 
However, in October this year, this curious image was caught on the palace's CCTV footage.

(I saw the moving footage of this on the news. It's really eerie and spooky looking.)

And yes, of course, you can try your hand and make one of your own.

Bakersfield prostitute strips attacker and takes him to police (guess that's what happens when a 140 pound guy tries to take on a 275 pound angry woman...).

Einstein dies and goes to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter tells him, "You look like Einstein, but you have NO idea the lengths that some people will go to sneak into Heaven. Can you prove who you really are?"

Einstein ponders for a few seconds and asks, "Could I have a blackboard and some chalk?"

Saint Peter snaps his fingers and a blackboard and chalk instantly appear. Einstein proceeds to describe with arcane mathematics and symbols his theory of relativity.

Saint Peter is suitably impressed. "You really ARE Einstein!" he says. "Welcome to heaven!"

The next to arrive is Picasso. Once again, Saint Peter asks for credentials.

Picasso asks, "Mind if I use that blackboard and chalk?"

Saint Peter says, "Go ahead."

Picasso erases Einstein's equations and sketches a truly stunning mural with just a few strokes of chalk.

Saint Peter claps. "Surely you are the great artist you claim to be!" he says. "Come on in!"

Then Saint Peter looks up and sees George W. Bush. Saint Peter scratches his head and says, "Einstein and Picasso both managed to prove their identity. How can you prove yours?"

George W. looks bewildered and says, "Who are Einstein and Picasso?"

Saint Peter sighs and says, "Come on in, George."

I've had my spamcop address for a couple of years. I've just noticed that 10,000 messages have gotten caught in my spam filter in that time. Mind you, some of them were legitimate emails (because I use a very high level of filtering just out of preference; if I set it lower, I'd get far fewer false positives, but more spam would hit my inbox). I'd say that maybe 5%-10% of the mail that gets stuck in my spam filter is legitimate mail. The rest really is spam, pure and simple.

So, let's say that 90% of the recorded items in my spam filter have been spam, that's 9,000 spam messages caught, reported, and deleted.

Now tell me my paid account isn't worth the US$45 a year for two accounts (Andrew's and mine).

It's bloody damned hot today. I'm normally not that bothered by the heat, but I feel it when it gets really hot, and today it's definitely really hot. Bleah. I've got perspiration actually running down my body in a couple of places (I know, that's Too Much Information, but one of those places is the back of my neck, so what were YOU thinking? Hmm?), and I'm not someone who actually perspires a lot. My hair is damp all around the hairline and scalp, both little kids have damp hair matted to their necks and faces, ugh.

The good thing about Melbourne, though, is that the weather is very changable. Well, it's good when you don't like the weather, it's not so good when you're trying to figure out what to wear, sometimes. Anyway, there's a predicted cool change (Does anyone but me remember that Little River Band song? And yes, they are from Melbourne, and the band is named after a road sign between Melbourne and Geelong, so there's your trivia for the day.)

No, there was really no point to this entry. I just wanted to complain about the weather (even though I'm not going to DO anything about it). And pass on some obscure pop music trivia.

In New Jersey this morning, human cloning is one signature away from a statewide legal green light.

(Note: This is a very conservative publication, so they do have that spin on it, but still... Pretty scary stuff to allow cloned human fetuses to gestate up to the very moment of birth before "harvesting" them...)

Not long ago, a member of Generation X was shipwreaked at sea (you could tell he was GenX because he was an Individual™). He floated for a week through monsoons and storm and at the verge of death was cast upon the shore of small tropical island. The natives found him on the beach and carried him back to their huts. They nursed him back to health and one day he awake to their smiling faces. As he looked around at the kind people who had saved his life he uttered his first words.

"Is there a government on this island?"

The natives looked at the cheiftain who spoke the strange man's tounge.

"Yes," the chieftan answered.

The GenXer took a deep wheezing breath, and managed to prop himself into a semi-sitting position then announce...

"Well, it's corrupt!"

I was seriously into Archie comics when I was a kid. In fact, my style of cartoon drawing (as oppoosed to drawing from a visual reference) is very clearly influenced by the Archie style. Imagine my delight when I looked on the web and found a whole website dedicated to them, complete with some complete comics. Whee!

PawSense is a software utility that helps protect your computer from cats. It quickly detects and blocks cat typing, and also helps train your cat to stay off the computer keyboard.

I hate people. No, I hate human nature. I think that sometimes individual persons are all right, and even do amazingly kind and good things, but human nature is pretty ugly, genreally speaking.

The thing I REALLY hate is people who decide they know "all about" me, who I am, what my history is, etc., based on one or two isolated comments viewed in a setting outside my normal area or style of communication.

That really bugs me. I don't know why. I need to learn to be able to just dismiss it all entirely, to just say, "Screw it, you don't know me," and let it go, but it bugs me.

Humans never fail to disappoint me. I think that human beings are mostly wretched creatures (myself included). I'm sometimes ashamed to be one. I hate being wrapped up in all these flaws and wrongful thoughts and misdirected desires and all the other nastiness that is involved with being human. Many times I have felt trapped in my own humanity, and when I see humans in action, I frequently feel quite nauseated by all of it.

Yeah, I'm cynical. Unfortunately, every time I try to set that aside and give the benefit of the doubt, I am rewarded with typical human behavior, i.e., my cynicism is reinforced and my moment of faith and/or trust is rewarded with betrayal.

Next time someone tells me I'm "too cynical" I think I'll just smack them and get it over with.

I rarely post virus warnings or other security alerts, but this one is potentially very dangerous. Internet Explorer is the most vulnerable but Mozilla isn't entirely immune, either:

New IE Bug Hides Real Site Address

Mozilla Partially Vulnerable to Internet Explorer URL Spoofing Security Flaw

Google Search for internet explorer vulnerability

Test to see if your browser is vulnerable to this spoof

I rarely post virus warnings or other security alerts, but this one is potentially very dangerous. Internet Explorer is the most vulnerable but Mozilla isn't entirely immune, either:

New IE Bug Hides Real Site Address

Mozilla Partially Vulnerable to Internet Explorer URL Spoofing Security Flaw

Google Search for internet explorer vulnerability

Subject lines found in my spam can today (no, I didn't read ANY of the messages or open them in any way; I just skim the titles):

FORGET Viagra

Good idea.

Discount enlar-gem`ent p.i-ll_s

Which discount will these pill enlarge?

Billroberts Completely safe and doctor endorsed

Is he, now?

Because of You........ ragntph c blbqt

Hey, don't go blaming ragntph c blbqt on me. I had nothing to do with it!

The more I see of politcal arguments, the more I think politics are very like religion. People believe what they believe, with or without evidence, with or without supporting facts, etc. It's all about personal perception and spin.

Trying to argue someone out of their politics is exactly the same as trying to argue them out of their religion (and by the use of that word, I don't necessarily mean "organized religion," but also use it to include atheism, secular humanism, universalism, etc. etc., and yes, I know that people who associate "religion" with deities are going to object, but I'm using the word in this sense: "A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship" or "A cause, a principle, or an activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion", both as per the American Heritage Dictionary beause that's what I happen to have on my desktop).

So, basically, I don't see much point in political argument, just as I don't see much point in religious arguments. People believe what they believe, for reasons of their own. Arguing isn't going to make them stop.

"Oh! You're right! Wow, I guess there IS no God after all! Thanks!"

"Oh! You're right! [Political figure] really IS honest and trustworthy after all! Thanks!"

Same thing, IMHO....

Andrew and I were married on Easter Sunday, and we had an "afternoon tea" reception. Afterward, we and a few close family members went out to have dinner together at a nearby restaurant.

This particular restaurant had a table with water jugs, and somehow or other, we all ended up having water while we were getting ready to order (someone or other from our party brought water over to the table). This was a pretty upscale restaurant, and the glasses on the table were actually wine glasses, but none of us particularly cared, and we put water in them.

A waiter saw this and was apparently horrified by it. He came over and literally removed all the glasses of water and informed us that the WATER glasses were with the water jugs at the other table. Needless to say, we were all shocked and very, VERY amused by this.

It's now a family joke that you can't drink water from the wrong sort of glass...

Well, today Andrew went there for lunch with his co-workers for the Christmas celebration thingy that offices often have. I called him on his mobile phone while he was there, because I didn't know it was an office lunch out day and he wasn't at his desk (normally I just send him an ICQ). He told me where they were.

I said, "No one drank water out of a wine glass, did they?" Thankfully, no one had. (And yes, he told them the story while they were there.)

So let that be a lesson to you. Or something.

Caught in my spam filter:

Stop emails like this one

Uh, dude, I just did. But thanks for thinking of me, eh?

I put a very, VERY tongue-in-cheek rant up at RantSome, regarding Xmas trees and the horror to which people subject the poor things...

"The only thing that helps me maintain my slender grip on reality is the friendship I share with my singing potatoes." - Red Dwarf's "Holly"

Holiday elf wallpaper for download now. Not bad for someone who doesn't really like Xmas all that much (I admit, I like Xmas themes and colors, though).

I've been getting a great giggle looking over the stuff at The Plain English Campaign Awards.
I think my favorite is this:

'Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know.' - Donald Rumsfeld

Judith Schaechter's Parables in Glass is surreal, on the strange side, and oddly compelling. Aside from the skill it takes to render images like this in glass, the images are strange and wonderous and very, very weird. I like weird. Weird is good.

I like the artwork of R.S. Connett (note: strong language and extremely strong images). I've liked his work for years, but then, I really enjoy psychosurrealism. His work strikes me as disturbing and bizarre, but terribly honest. What a powerful combination...

Look what happens when you do a Google search on the words miserable failure...

Of course, there is just a bit of a story behind this.

Not that I, of course, would refer to George W. Bush as a miserable failure, or anything.

Well, well. The party that opposes the current Prime Minister has got a new leader, i.e., a new person who will run against the Prime Minister (it's taken me a while to figure out how this stuff works, and I'm still not entirely up to speed, but basically the parties choose their own leaders, and the leader is then the one who runs in an election, and they can kick someone out of the position of leader if they need to).

Anyway, I really, REALLY dislike John Howard for many, many reasons. I would have voted against him no matter who was running, but I'm actually quite amused by the bloke who has been made Leader of the Opposition.

It's Mark Latham, a guy not too much older than I am, from a very working class background. He's a guy who really, really speaks his mind. Not too long ago, he called the Prime Minister an arse licker, and when he was called on it, he said he was just using the language that the people in his district would use, and that he was their representative, so that's all. He also doesn't like John Howard (as if you couldn't guess that).

Well, when I heard the name Mark Latham I kept thinking, "Why do I know that name?" I couldn't place it. He's from Sydney, so it's not because he's a local guy. Finally it hit me, the "arse licker" comment, which I thought at the time was bloody hilarious (and rude, but it's how I feel about John Howard, too). When I finally put two and two together I was just howling with laughter.

I am SO going to vote for this guy. I mean, I would have voted for the strongest opposition anyway, that's how much I dislike John Howard, but I'm pretty damned amused that it's actually Mark Latham. Any politician who calls the Prime Minister an "arse licker" gets my vote. If nothing else, the guy speaks his mind (a refreshing quality in a politician).

Woke up today with that familiar "flulike symptoms" feeling. Ugh. I may have just done too much yesterday or something. I feel pretty exhausted and unmotivated today. Eating isn't helping, although exercise may (once I go in and actually do some; I wanted to eat first).

At least the pain in the shoulders/neck isn't too bad today. It's there (as always) but it's not horrible and it's responding (slowly) to some slow, gentle stretching.

Ugh. At least I don't have that horrible "brain fog" today. I HATE that more than anything.

It is hailing like crazy outside. The room I'm sitting in has lots of big windows, and the hail is smacking off the glass. It's quite disturbing to listen to. I'm keeping well away from the windows and the heavy drapes are drawn, so that in the event that one does actually break, no one will be hurt (hopefully).

Hail is not at all uncommon in a Melbourne spring, but this is the worst I've personally seen. Some of the hailstones are walnut sized or a little larger.

It's dying down now, thankfully. That was quite scary. I was pretty worried that a window would break, actually. When it's died down a little more, I may go out and take a picture of the hail.

[EDITED: Stuff below added a couple hours after the storm]

Okay. Yes. It was a nasty storn. Leaves and small branches everywhere. At least it smells really nice, because all the eucalyptus leaves were broken and bruised and that lovely fragrance is rich in the air. There was quite a big volume of hail, and some of it was quite big. It had started to melt by the time I got any pictures, but I did get a few interesting ones. Note that they're fairly large (600px x 398px):

A scene from the deck (99Kb)
Another shot of the deck (80Kb)
My foot on the deck, for relative size (116Kb)

We shan't discuss what the storm did to the newly planted tomatoes in the garden.

Well, I'm happy to note that some (or all) of the small changes I've been making are making me feel MUCH better. Even the small amounts of exercise seem to be improving the pain in the joints and muscles, and I've figured out how to combat the "brain fog" at least some of the time (basically, eat a small, high-protein snack). Dunno if the mineral supplements are helping, but I'm going to continue with them, and with my newly developed habit of always, ALWAYS eating breakfast as soon as resonably possible.

I do still have some noticible pain/stiffness in the neck and shoulders, but I've had that literally for years. I've always kinda thought it's because my breasts are too big (note to small-breasted women: do NOT wish for large breasts, as they're far more trouble than they're worth and gravity is a cruel mistress).

Anyway, I'm very happy that I'm feeling better. I'm not entirely out of the woods, but at least the very worst of the symptoms have eased, and that's quite a relief.

It must be one of the best excuses teachers have heard for bad school results: police took my school books because they thought I was a terrorist.
 
But that's the excuse 17-year-old Nosrat Hosseini, from Coburg in Melbourne's north, has used in her application to the Victorian Centre for Tertiary Admissions Centre for special consideration in the assessment of her results.

(Note for non-Australians, or for non-Victorians who don't know: VCE is the Victorian Certificate of Education and it's a test required for graduation. It's quite stressful, and requires a good deal of study for most students, and if your score isn't high enough, you can't get into the university or other higher education courses you want.)

Well, I'll have to go back to the doctor in a couple of weeks. The symptom list is long and complex, and it could be any number of things, including simply the culmination of about four years' worth of sleep deprivation.

The advice in the meantime was to exercise regularly and gently, even if it's only a little bit, watch what I eat and cut out unnecesary junk (I'm also trying to keep an eye on the refined sugar, because I know from experience that I have trouble regulating my blood sugar levels sometimes), take anti-inflammatory medicine for the pain. Gosh, that's pretty sensible (could have thought of it by myself, hehe).

I've also picked up some magnesium and mineral supplements because I read that it can be helpful with chronic muscle and tendon pain, so now I'm taking a multi-vitamin, a magnesium/mineral supplement, iron/folate supplement, and frequently use a mineral (phosphate and iron, mostly) treatment that helps inflammation (they're known as "tissue salts" and they really do work; I've been using them for a while). When I get too much pain, I do take ibuprofen, sometimes with codeine.

But I've learned a few things about keeping my blood sugar levels even, such as the fact that when my brain starts to get "foggy" and I start to feel tired, a small high-protein snack (such as nuts) will help considerably. And the exercise is good. It helps to get rid of the pain in the shoulders/neck, although for the neck I also have to do slow, gentle stretching to release some of the pain (and it HURTS when I first start the stretching, too, let me tell you!). I am feeling somewhat better, and this is good.

I also want to note that I really LOVE my air walker exercise thingy. I actually bought it after seeing it in an infomercial of all things (first and possibly last time I ever buy anything that way!). I can't do a full workout yet, but I've been doing just a little bit two or three times a day. It's really good for stretching my shoulders to ease the pain there.

I'm starting to strongly suspect that my aches, pains, exhaustion, and other problems may just be a combination of poor diet, not enough exercise, and too little sleep...