(Note: Bit on the rude side; sensitive viewers might want to avoid this one)

(For mature audiences)

There's a "news item" currently going around about Japanese being scammed by being sold sheep as poodles:

Here are some of the news items:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/27/1177459933458.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/26/ovine_poodle_scam/
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Japanese-fooled-in-poodle-scam/
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=263297

And then, a bit more research. Here's someone very soundly debunking it:

http://www.souzouzone.jp/blog/2007/04/media_flock_to.php

And finally, I went to the motherload of all debunking sites:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/lurkers/poodlesheep.asp

As noted on the TV3 New Zealand News site (with video):

Hoax news story does the rounds worldwide

So, yeah, it looks like it's not true. But I find it both hilarious and disturbing that all those "serious" news media picked up the story and ran with it. I wonder if they'll print a retraction when they find out it was all just an urban legend... ?

I have a new gadget, an MP3 player. It's a cheap one, made in China, but it does what I want it to, so that's okay. The instruction manual is .... interesting. It's auto-translated and some of the translations are nearly impossible to understand, while others are bizarre. For example, it can pick up FM radio and it has an automatic manhunt to find stations. Yes, that's what it says. An automatic MANHUNT. Now why on earth the translation software chose to say "manhunt" when it ought to be "search" I cannot imagine, but that's what it has...

Fortunately, Andrew is better at figuring out auto-translated Chinese technical babble than I am, and he worked out how to put stuff on and delete things and so forth. Yay. I owe him bigtime for that.

I'm mostly using the MP3 player to look cool and look like I belong in the 21st century. No, wait. That's not it. I'm using it mostly for brainwave entrainment, actually. I export the session as a .wav, convert to .mp3, put it on the player, and then I can go and lie down and listen to it that way. Works well for stuff that's meant to make you sleepy, for example (though I can't really fall asleep with the ear buds in, ouch; I can, however, get suitably rested and get the other stuff I want to accomplish, such as the sub-delta brainwaves for the chronic pain/fibromyaglia).

So, yeah. Good stuff. An MP3 player with automatic manhunt. If I ever need to hunt a man on FM radio, I'll be all set...

My husband has the body of a god.... Buddha.

Looking at the five images that Edwin Zwakman has contributed to a new exhibition, Tales From the Grid, at the Q Gallery in Derby, you’d be forgiven for thinking that he was just another contemporary photographer with an eye for documenting the modern cityscape. In a way, he is – but it’s the way he goes about making his pictures that separates him from the conventions of urban photography: all of Zwakman’s images are of painstakingly constructed models, assembled from memory.

I took Miranda to the dentist on Tuesday (we had a fun day out, rode the train, ate lunch, poked around in shops, etc., and her teeth are in great shape), and after lunch I bought a pack of sugar-free gum to help her clean her teeth (so the dentist would have to pick bits of rice out of her teeth, basically; the dentist is in Box Hill, which has a very big Chinese population, so we had Chinese food for lunch).

I checked the package for the standard phenylalanine warning, and didn't see it, so I had some. In fact, I had a few pieces over the course of a couple of days. Nice gum... but I started feeling worse, physically. Foggy-brain, high fatigue, pain level rose, and last night I got an absolutely killer headache, of which I still have some lingering reminder.

Found out that Extra (the gum) is full of phenylalaine (aspartame). *sigh* I can't have that. I don't metabolise it properly or something, and it makes Fibromyagia symptoms worse for whatever reason (I don't think many people have researched why it does, but it's documented in a few studies that there's definitely a link). I cut out phenylalanine a couple years ago and have never looked back, and I avoid the stuff entirely now (I use Splenda in my tea or coffee, since it's made from actual sugar).

Except that on Tuesday I bought a big pack of gum and was happily chewing it a few times a day for several days. D'oh.

The effects are wearing off now, thankfully, but I still feel pretty crappy. And if I'd had any doubts that phenylalanine is bad for me, I no longer do. Ugh.

Please note: I am in no way claiming that all people will or do have a problem with the stuff. I do, as do many other people with Fibromyalgia and some other disorders (most notably, Phenylketonuria). Just thought I'd better put that in, just in case.

Wikisimpsons, a wiki-style collection of Simpsons information. Don't have a cow, man!

I've got some gorgeous blue and also some red/orange jewellery made by an Australian artist who goes by the nick of Unique Dichroic. Total strangers will comment on this jewellery, folks, it's THAT good, and it's all hand assembled and fired and everything else by the actual designer. The pieces ARE unique, and they're incredibly beautiful. Plus, we're talking sterling silver or gold, so no turning your earlobes green (or black, as mine are prone to do, yuck).

I highly recommend this lady's work, and her prices are stunningly good. Don't know if she ships internationally, but I bet she would if you asked. Oh, did I mention great customer service, too? Seriously, go check it out. You'll be thrilled with anything you buy from her. (I love her work so much I just wanted to give her a little shout out).

Pretty tired today (as in "chronic fatigue" tired, although I'm "ordinary" tired, as well). I got up, got dressed, ran a brush through my hair, got Miranda sorted out for school (snack, lunch order, etc.), and then took her to school. Prior to leaving, I sat and thought, and even said out loud, "Okay, do we have everything?" and it seemed we did. Being tired, I wasn't quite thinking clearly, though...

We went on the approximately ten minute walk there, I had a rest while waiting for school to start, she went in, I walked home. On the way I was feeling pretty good, just thinking what a pretty day it is and how lovely the cool breeze felt, etc. And then, as I started up the actual front path to our house I realised.... I haven't got my keys....

In the not-so-distant past, that would have caused an immediate panic attack, but I kept it together (yay!). I walked around the house for a bit trying to see if there was a way in (I couldn't find one). Tried all the doors, all locked. Looked for the emergency key, couldn't find it. Finally, after about twenty minutes, some prayer/thought, a couple of rests to think about it, I thought I'd better go next door and use their phone and call a locksmith. I did think of calling Andrew, but he's in the city and it's about an hours' ride on the train from there and it just seemed like not the best plan.

Anyway, our next door neighbor, Chris, is a police officer (and his wife is a school teacher, but she's on maternity leave with a new baby) . Really good bloke, I like him a lot. We don't really socialise with them, but we're on quite neighborly terms with them, and I knew they wouldn't begrudge me a phone call and maybe a cup of tea.

So I knocked and Chris came to the door and I said, "I hate to bother you, but I'm locked out of the house..." and he said, quick as you please, "Oh, d'you want me to come and see if I can get in?" So I said "Yes, that'd be great, if you could!"

Took less than five minutes for him to find a way in, and less than five minutes for him to GET in. The windows in this house are... well, let's just say whoever designed them was an idiot. They're drafty (draughty?) in the winter and they're pretty insecure. Just how insecure I didn't know until I watched Chris break in!

Anyway, he got in a window and came round the front door to let me in, for which I thanked him profousely and kissed him on the cheek. He was away from his house for no more than fifteen minutes (closer to ten), I got inside, and all is well. Andrew's getting a new emergency key cut today.

The thing that is really staying with me on this is that I didn't panic or even get especially upset. I was a bit frustrated and annoyed with myself, and slightly concerned that I might have to have a wee in the back yard, but I just sort of knew that there would be a reasonable answer to the problem if I just stayed calm and found it, and so there was.

So, that's my adventure for the morning. I think I might go back to bed now...

Well, if someone had told me a month ago that I'd find a reasonably priced software that was easy to use and even fun, and that it would get rid of my chronic pain - including my constantly stiff/painful neck - I would have rolled my eyes and laughed. I really would have. I'm skeptical that way.

I am just so glad that I overcame my skepticism long enough to give Mind Studio and NeuroProgrammer a try (they do offer free trials).

In the short amount of time I've been using the software, I've been doing a regular thirty minute session for chronic pain a few times a day (I can do it while listening to music, sitting at the computer!) and I swear, it's absolutely working. The first pain to go was the legs and feet, and slowly the rest has been dwindling away day by day. Even my horrible stiff neck, something that has plagued me for decades, is improving! I can hardly believe it. I know I'm writing this and readers are probably going "Uh, sure, whatever," but it's true. Regular readers will know that I don't enthuse about a lot of stuff, but... just... WOW.

Please, give it a try. ADD, insomnia, other sleep problems (I'm sleeping a lot better these days), meditation, chronic pain, and a whole host of other stuff, it can all be helped with brainwave entrainment. I can hardly believe it, but my neck is only just slightly stiff and it's been progressively improving for some time now... In a few weeks, I hope to be able to write that my chronic neck pain is actually completely gone.

Anyway. There's the report on the chronic pain. Yippee! I'm mostly pain-free today! And I certainly credit brainwave entrainment for this minor miracle.

There's been a lot of talk with the current government (that's John Howard & Co., don't get me started) of making new immigrants take an "Australian Values" test. Now, I can see requiring, say, a requirement for minimal English competence (necessary in many workplaces, for example), but other than that...

Well, there has been a lot of counter-talk as to what, precisely, these "Australian Values" might actually be. This is an extremely diverse and multi-cultural society. What "values" are these that we're going to test potential new citizens on?

Values Australia attempts to answer that question in classic Australian style: by taking the piss.

Well, the new server has been built. It has to be set up and configured, but it's built. We haven't scheduled a time to go and install it yet, but it'll probably take an entire afternoon. So, yay! No more crappy stupid downtime every time the dang power flickers! At least, once we get the new server live and on site...

On Saturday, Andrew and I went to a show that was part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Puppet Up! Uncensored. It was highly entertaining, to say the least. It's all improv, done with suggestions from the audience. You can watch the puppeteers at work (which I found fascinating), and it was just really worth seeing. A good time was had by all, but what do you expect from the Henson Company and at an internationally known comedy festival?

You may not (probably don't, actually) know what "brainwave entrainment" is. I didn't know, either until a couple weeks ago.

According to Wikipedia, "Brainwave synchronization, also called brainwave entrainment, is concerned with frequency following response, a naturally occuring phenomenon in which similar frequencies tend to synchronize with each other."

Quite by accident, I stumbled upon a very cool software that lets you put brainwave synch sounds in any music you want, and it also has a way cool visualisation thing that synchs to the music. Very hypnotic, which is the point, of course.

I got the software because I wanted help with meditation and I thought it could also help with the panic/anxiety. I'm very seriously impressed with it, to say the least. The calm/relaxation sessions definitely work. I feel... well... calm. It's pretty weird for me, but weird in a good way. It's like being on Valium (which I only ever took when I had to visit the dentist, I want to point out; too addictive otherwise!), but without the sleepiness and without the actual drug. I'm actually just walking around feeling pretty much calm and centered and when I do get frustrated or annoyed (and yeah, I do, pretty regularly), it goes away relatively easy. Outstanding. Really. I'm kinda shocked and very, very pleasantly surprised.

I'm also sleeping better (there are sessions for insomnia, but I haven't needed/wanted to use any of those yet). There are sessions for Seasonal Affective Disorder, which I haven't tried yet because it hasn't hit me (still pretty early in the cycle for me to be bothered much). I do a daily "wake up" session that really perks me up and makes me feel happy and calm, and there are sessions for various kinds of meditation (very helpful!) and other cool stuff.

But the most impressive thing I've seen so far is the results from the sessions for chronic pain, Fibromyalgia, etc. I was pretty dubious as to how much good it would do, but I had a high pain day and I did a session and it seemed to help, so I did another and then went to bed and slept fine and was nearly pain free the next day (suprisingly!). Then, the day after that we went out to the zoo and I did a lot of walking and tiring myself out, which would normally trigger another high pain episode, but I did a couple of brainwave sessions and today I feel pretty good. Even my stubbornly constant stiff neck is more tolerable. I'm actually quite pleasantly shocked that it does, indeed, seem to work!

I've had some good success with some of the deeper meditative sessions (meditation is tricky for me; it's really hard to keep my brain quiet long enough to slip into it, but it's very straightforward with this software). In fact, there are a lot of interesting sessions that I'll eventually try, stuff to do with very deep meditation, stuff to encourage lucid dreaming (something I've always wanted to try), stuff that induces a really pleasant kind of euphoria (and yes, it works, it's great), just all sorts of cool things.

I would hope that regular readers would know that I rarely enthuse about software. I mean, it has to be extremely impressive software for me to get excited about it, y'know? But this is worth getting excited, and worth putting a link to their site, because I'd recommend the software to anyone. Change your brain, change your life, eh?

I particularly like Mind Stereo, which lets you listen to any music you want while you're also getting the brainwave entrainment, and you can add positive affirmations if you want, with or without the entrainment (sometimes I just put on some music - I've been really liking Vangelis lately - and listen to my positive affirmations while I work at the computer).

Oh, and they do have trial versions and I can also say that the customer service is excellent (that's always a good thing, in my opinion), plus they have a community forum where you can ask questions or whatever.

So, go check it out. Try it. If you like it, buy it. I think you'll be glad you did. I know I'm grateful that I happened upon this stuff.

It'll help if you're a "dog person", but the jokes are still amusing. And there's a cat one, as well, along with some other things that might give a smile. Woof.

Today is Andrew's and my eight wedding anniversary. We're still extremely married. We're still in love. We're still happily married, although, of course, that doesn't mean we're happy 100% of the time (nobody is, and it would be creepy, anyway). But the marriage is rock solid and that's my point.

Our anniversary always kind of sneaks up on me. You see, we were actually married on Easter Sunday, so I always think of Easter as our anniversary, and the date of Easter changes every year (obviously). But the Easter Sunday on which we were married happened to be 4 April, and today is 4 April, which makes it our anniversary.

We have no plans for doing anything special tonight, but this weekend we're going to see Puppet Up! at the Princess Theatre (I've always wanted to see something there, since the first time I set eyes on the place in 1997!). The show is part of the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and all the reviews we've seen indicate that it'll be a great deal of fun.

Last time we went to the Comedy Festival it was to see Puppetry of the Penis, and I laughed so much I thought I was going to wet my pants. Not that it has much to do with my anniversary, but I'm pleased that I managed to coherently work the word "penis" into this post.

Anyway, our wedding site is still online if you want to have a look. I redid the pages a while back so it's much easier to navigate and it looks a lot nicer now, and the photographs have been made into a sort of digital scrapbook style thing. Hard to believe it's been eight years. In some ways, it seems like we've always been together, and in other ways, our wedding seems like it was only yesterday...

Special note to Andrew: Fiddly pea pods.

Talking Cats - For more of the funniest videos, click here

Miguel Nunez, a Brooklyn-based artist, has sparked protest and outrage within the art community with his "Jesus Rising #4," a non-controversial, non-feces-smeared painting that in no way defiles or blasphemes Jesus Christ.
 
"Jesus Rising #4," included in Nunez's new Divinity exhibition at the Whitney Museum, has received harsh criticism from artists and academics since its June 6 debut. The painting has been picketed nearly around the clock by angry protesters, who say they are stunned by its lack of obscene imagery metaphorically conveying a provocative, highly charged theopolitical message.