koala they do that?

I love koalas! they are so cute, yet so dangerous. Recently koalas have begun to raise concerns among zoologists that they may be in danger of inbreeding. But have no fear fellow koala lovers! they have come up with a solution. A koala sperm bank! Thats right, they are going to freeze the sperm of koala males (as apposed to the sperm of female koalas) and inject it into the female.

i feel a bit weird about this though...i mean, how do they get the sperm from the males? Will they do the same thing they do for human males? "here's a copy of playboy and a cup. We'll leave you to it."

but that is just silly. Have you seen the claws on a koala? there is no way the zoologists would let them do that themselves!....um...well...uh....the option this leaves is disturbing. therefore we'll end this post here.

daylight savings

I woke up on sunday believing my day to be full and complete. It was not til i opened my computer that i realised that daylight savings time had ended (or begun, i can never remember which) and my day was an hour shorter than i had previously believed!

Today is now tuesday. I should be completely over the whole waking up at what feels like 6 am. i should be bouncing out of bed greating that lying bastard of a clock.

le sigh. it is just not to be.

And you can Quote me on that

After much careful research, i have come across a long lost converstation between two of the greatest minds, George Bernard Shaw and Mark Twain.




GB SHAW: Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough.

GB SHAW: A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

MARK TWAIN: Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

GB SHAW: I can forgive Alfred Nobel for having invented dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.

MARK TWAIN: Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.[but] Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

GB SHAW: Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.

MARK TWAIN: I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.

GB SHAW: [Well,] if you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

MARK TWAIN: I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't.

GB SHAW: Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing.

MARK TWAIN: I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.

[part of the transcript is terribly damaged, but it continues...]

GB SHAW: Americans Adore me and will go on adoring me until i say something nice about them.

MARK TWAIN: It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to miss it.

GB SHAW: Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.

MARK TWAIN: The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession.






thanks to the quotationspage.com for the quotes.

I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69 revolution was in the air
I was born too late into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When the head of state didn't play guitar,
Not everybody drove a car,
When music really mattered and when radio was king,
When accountants didn't have control
And the media couldn't buy your soul
And computers were still scary and we didn't know everything

When pop-stars still remained a myth
And ignorance could still be bliss
And when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale
When my mom and dad were in their teens
And anarchy was still a dream
And the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail

When record shops were still on top
And vinyl was all that they stocked
And the super info highway was still drifting out in space
Kids were wearing hand me downs,
And playing games meant kick around
And footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face

I was born too late to a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

Eye Popping Fun!

The other day I was really worried that by turning my myspace account into a virtual cartoon homage I was losing the plot. Turns out, I'm fine. The rest of the world could possibly use a script.

There is a new craze that is expected to explode in the USA. What is it? Eyelash transplants. Now I'm not the world's expert on cosmetic surgery but I think this has proven the world has gone just a bit too far. Now I have never been a big fan of cosmetic surgery because I generally believe it to be self mutilation. But I'm young, as so many point out, my mind may change when natural forming wrinkles begin to appear on my face. I may decide that I want to get rid of them and look like a stuffed plastic Barbie instead....but I'm getting off topic...

Eyelash Transplants. What would cause a normal looking girl with a size 34 (inch) waist and triple D cup breasts to want eyelashes that she will now regularly have to trim to keep herself from looking like a freak of nature?....hmmm possibly its far too late for her already.

But could this craze really catch on? Besides Pam Anderson and Demi Moore (and a few other freakish..I mean gorgeous, celebrities) who would get this done? Or maybe the question should be what would cause a person to believe themselves to be so ugly they would pay over $6000 to get longer eyelashes?

I'm serious when I say, pop culture needs to get a therapist!

I did it!

After surfing the internet, I found out that many people create their own videos on YouTube and then distribute them among their friends. As I was surfing, I got to thinking that this is a great way to not only keep in touch but also share ideas and express yourself. So I got to thinking about some of the videos I made for my classes in college. I realised that, at least one of them, is of decent quality. So I opened it up and had a look at it. Turns out, I was right! (note the humility in which I say this) it is a really good video. So I decided I'd go ahead and load it up for all the world to see. In fact, I'll give you a personal look at my video!




If your having trouble viewing it, click here.

Dove-the evolution

thanks to Melody for this video

what have i done!

Living in cooranbong, without a job have finally caused me to crack! just look at my myspace page! i fear that its glaringly obvious that i've finally lost the plot!

day trip

Today i'm taking a special friend out. We are going to go see things that i've never seen before. and i'm hoping we'll have a really fun day! My friend is 87 years young. I want to take her to places that will make her really happy, but to be honest, i'm not completely sure where to take her. I'm currently thinking that a tour of the Hunter Valley Gardens sounds like a really good idea...any ideas for next time?

A revolution

I remember studying in my history class how revolutions start. There are a lot of theories about the 'formula' that will lead to a revolution. The one that most of my class seemed to favour was the idea that when the gap between rich and poor widens to an extent that the middle class begins to become extinct, a revolution begins. of course there are various holes with that theory but it got me thinking. Why has there been no revolution in the states in the last 20 years?

I suppose you might call the LA riots a mini-revolution, but it didn't accomplish a lot. The rights of all poor people are being trodden. Freedom of speach is on the verge of disappearing. The right to the pursuit of happiness is quickly dwindling away with the new laws on terrorism. (who can pursue happiness if the government might suddenly decide your a terrorist?) The poor are getting poorer under the current government but no one is actually looking at it. The only person that seemed to care about the poor last winter was the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. His country is the world's 5th exporter of oil. He used this to export very cheap oil to the poor in the USA. What was the response?

Pat Roberson called for the US government to assasinate Chavez. Now i'm not saying that Chavez isn't playing political games. he is, but he's doing it in a way that i can respect. So when is the US government going to start looking out for the needs of its own people? Or are the poor of the USA going to have to keep looking to the charity of a "third world country"?

wierd links

i must be having a bit of a brain freeze after the late night last night cause i can hardly think of anything truely coherent to write about. so I'll leave you with a few links that i believe are worth the read. Thanks to Adele and Chris for the first two of them. (chris doens't get a link cause he's too shy to have his own blog)

Girl gets questioned of myspace ani-Bush content

Hungrian Revolution- a look back

American Pictures (some fo these photos are very graphic. So don't bother if you'r of the faint heart)

A Reference

This is one of the best continuing poems i've read in ages! Women everywhere can immediately identify with it. check it out, its a three parter by Adele. (Don't let the three parts fool you, it won't take all day to read. only a couple of seconds.)

An Ode to My Shoes
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

waiting for qantas

So we're supposed to go pick up the baby sister (chris') from the airport. It may seem like a strange task, being that we are living a LONG away from the Sydney airport, but brotherly love has conquered the distances and he's coerced me into driving down.

The interesting part of it is that her flight arrives at 8:30 pm. or rather is was supposed to arrive at 8:30 pm. Now it is anyone's guess as to when it will arrive.

This means that Chris and I will likely be spending most of the hours normally occupied with sleep, on the road to and from the airport. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing sharona, but i think i shall welcome the feel of my bed with more gusto than a normal night would require.

STAR TRECK FOREVER

Don't laugh, but when i was younger i was a HUGE Star Trek fan. i loved the shallow plot lines and all that cheesy sci-fi stuff. Well, it now looks like some of that cheesy sci-fi stuff is becoming reality!

Duke University has created something that bends microwaves around an object. This means that (if we could see in microwave frequency) the object would seemingly disappear, just like the cloaking divice the Romulans used!

How cool is that! Next week they'll figure out how to make a Scotty to beam you up!

Steven Hawking-drama drama drama

Well, Mr. Hawking has just proven, you can be the smartest cookie in the jar but it doesn't mean you don't have shit for brains.

Mr. Hawking is getting a divorce from his second wife. I normally wouldn't hardly bat an eye-lash at the news that a public figure is getting a second divorce...but wait til I tell you who she is.

Jane Hawking was his first wife. She brought in a nurse, Elaine, to help Mr. Hawking deal with his disability. This nurse was married to the man who helped invent the machine that helps Mr. Hawking to speak. Long story short. Elaine and Steven both get divorces. (not necessarily at the same time) and marry each other. NOW guess who he's divorcing?

Talk about an inbred culture!

i just wanna be a fish

Researchers have found a fish that they believe is the link between water creatures and land creatures. This fish is supposed to be our anncestor...the thing that took us out of our primortial soup to live on land.

Now i'm not exactly a creationist so its not that i'm doubting this theory on the basis that God created everything just as it appears now. Its just that i can't see how they got to the point to say that this creature is the link between water creatures and land. What evidence do we have that this isn't just an extinct animal that dwelt both on land and in water? I mean, we have examples of that today. Alligators are both land and water dwelling. So are penguins and turtles.

i just want some REAL evidence!

Torture me happy

The Bill I sign today helps secure this country, and it sends a clear message: This nation is patient and decent and fair, and we will never back down from the threats to our freedom.” - US President Bush

The Bill that Prez Bush is talking about is the anti-terroristm law that allows torture of persons suspected to be terrorist. A nation that allows torture doesn't sound very "patient and decent and fair" to me. It sounds like it wants to get fast results out of the flesh of its 'enemies'. The message that the USA has sent out is not something that strikes fear into the hearts of its enimies. or something that causes its allies to swell with pride. It is a move that inflames those already apposed to the USA and causes the Allies to newly question thier own morals.

Torture is not easily dismissed if you any sort of conscience. According to The Psychology of Torture, torture takes away a person's soul. "[It] is the ultimate act of perverted intimacy. The torturer invades the victim's body, pervades his psyche, and possesses his mind."

This article used the terms 'coercion' and 'torture' interchangably.

The CIA, in its "Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual - 1983" (reprinted in the April 1997 issue of Harper's Magazine), summed up the theory of coercion thus:

"The purpose of all coercive techniques is to induce psychological regression in the subject by bringing a superior outside force to bear on his will to resist. Regression is basically a loss of autonomy, a reversion to an earlier behavioral level. As the subject regresses, his learned personality traits fall away in reverse chronological order. He begins to lose the capacity to carry out the highest creative activities, to deal with complex situations, or to cope with stressful interpersonal relationships or repeated frustrations."

What scares me though is the fact that Human Rights have stated that "Once captors are given license to torture, the abuse of large numbers of prisoners usually becomes standard operating procedure."

The only question left is, Where will this end?

let the maddness begin

Reglion is one of the big three that you're not supposed to talk about (the other two being politics and sex). There are some things that we hold so close that to have someone else touch them, causes us pain.

I've heard of people who "wear their emotion on their sleeve". These poeple will tell you what they feel like no matter what. You can ask them about any part of their emotional self and they will freely express! But ask them about their religion in a probing way, you'll likely get stone-walled.

i admit regligion can be a difficult topic, but it seems to have gone beyond difficult. It now seems to be boardering on outright maddness. Everyone wants to protect their religion without being influenced by the others! Symbols are being held as if they were an indicator of our actual soul committment!

The British media are awash with stories of people wanting to protect or
protest against a particular expression of faith.*

Don't we realise that to suppress anothers religous expression does not liberate us, but shackle us? Don't we realise that our own expression of faith should be less symbolic and much more practical?

*Schools veil row deepens cultural rift by: Rochelle Mutton in London and agencies [October 16, 2006]

Welcome Home

doorbell
Originally uploaded by narnia_k.

We've settled in nicely to our new home. Wanna take a tour? click on the picture of the doorbell to begin!

Inside our house

master bedroom
Guest Bedroom
Living Room (Part 1)
Living Room (Part 2)

Kitchen

our house

turtle progress

So you've been waiting with baited breath for the news that i'm legally allowed to stay in the country. Unfortunately, that news will not be delivered today. Although, there is news on that front.

According to my agent, my application is now in the process of being assessed. There are things "missing" from the application however. They are vitally important things like a single signiture missing from the 10 billion other signitures. Other things include proof that we are still living together...(as in since we lodged the application 3 months ago)

anyway...we're making progress on it...slow progress but progress none-the-less!

Chicken little's political agenda

I'm not a chicken little fan. I don't believe in running around screaming "the sky is falling the sky is falling!" but this week I've been tempted to look up and make sure the sky was actually still there.

From the North Korean test of a nuclear weapon (oh no! The USA can't control other country's nuclear programs!) to the news that young pages for the US congress were being sexually text messaged by "authority" figures (could the US congress be the new Catholic church?)...Well, it all made me wonder.

I suppose that bad news happens every day, but it seems that this week the "bad news" was hyped up first; with reports that "if [insert name of event] happens the world will not be the same place tomorrow". Finally the event happens and the response is a general mumble of "that really wasn't a good idea...Someone is responsible...We are sure of it. We just can't name who".

Everyone knows that bad news makes a good story but it seems that the media (or maybe the US press conference room) is making a big show out of telling us news but not actually getting beyond the initial news itself. There is no follow through on the story. We are only left the the re-hash of the hype. In the end, all we have is the voice calling, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling"....

quick note

i'm not dead...i'm just working;)

My father is Homer Simpson.

There are merely thousands of pages of physiology to explain the Simpson family. (You know the family? Yellow, has four fingers, belong on TV?) What some of the pages explain is why all of us can identify members of our family as a member of the Simpson family. And like many people, I can identify some of my family as cartoon characters.

Dad is Homer. He tries to understand his children, but he can't see past his Duff beer. (not that my dad drinks Duff beer, its a metaphor for something else) Probably if we removed the crayon from his nose/brain cavity he'd be brilliant.

Marge is mum. She carefully disguises her wisdom so that other can be empowered by their own choices.

The difference is in the children. In the Simpson family the next generation of children inherit their parents problems but also loose some of their inhibition. Lisa has a mind like a trap, just like Marge. While Marge is careful not to let anyone know, Lisa practically screams her intellect to the world! My siblings and I aren't like that. We have learned from our parents mistakes but somehow battle the idea that we will be forced to make the same ones anyway.

In the Simpson world, every choice made in their water-coloured world is undone at the end of the show. No matter how much progress Homer makes by the end of the show, its gone by the next episode. All maturity gained, lesson learned, improvements made...all are lost.

Unlike the Simpsons we have to battle our own psyche in this water-colorless world. Unlike the Simpsons the choices we make at the end of the day do affect us the following day. We have the ability to grow. We have the ability to mature. Now it is only a matter of choice.

veil of secrecy

Why is it such a big deal that muslim women wear a veil over their face? If it were truely a matter of safety, we would outlaw those horible looking lounge-wear tents older white women wear. What are we willing to take off for the sake of "safety"? Are you willing to go around without a shirt on in order to prove that you don't have a bomb strapped to your chest? Come on!

Not being able to see a woman's face does not necessarily "take power away from her" either. In some ways it gives her more power because of the secrecy of her veil. She obviously knows something that you don't, there is power in that.

I wish some people would just leave the veils alone. If a woman feels more comfortable with a veil, let her wear it! For gooness sake, we let teenagers walk around with bright red hair and chains hanging out their nose. We can afford to let muslim women wear a black veil.

Fear Factor

The grandmother is coming over for tea tomorrow. It's the first time she will be attending our house for a meal and i feel the need to tell her (thru my brilliant cooking) that i can take care of the cooking. There isn't a lot in the cubbards so i know i've got to go shopping. The problem is, i have no idea what to make! It definately needs to be easy, vegetarian and use australian ingredients.

(side note: the other day i bought a cook book that was organised into ingredients. It was great cause you say, i've got this in my fridge what can i make with it. and the book would tell you. The only problem is i found on a much closer inspection that 90% of the recipies were for an American household. i couldn't get a lot of the ingredients unless i went to a very specialised store....probably in the middle of sydney. in short, the book was useless to me)

so back to the problem at hand...what do i make to impress my grandmother-in-law? It probably needs to be some sort of varient on an English recipie. So no grand japanese food tomorrow!

I suppose i could do a quiche...or a vegetable bake. Anyone else have some brilliant ideas in time for tea?

A Safe Place for Pedophilia

According to a new report, child models are being posed in sexual ways. Surprised? Probably not. If you frequent a mall or shopping centre of any kind, you've probably seen posters of children posed for various types of clothing. Ever start wondering if the clothing was a little too sexual for a 6 year old girl? Turns out I'm not the only one that gets a bit weirded out by the advertising companies!

Dr. Emma Rush is the author of "Corporate Pedophilia". She claims that "sexualised images were commonly of girls and let to pedophiles seeing children as sexual objects."

"For the sake of corporate profits, children are being posed like adults,
photographed with come-hither expressions and encouraged to see themselves as
sexual when they are not," Dr Rush said.

Now I have no children, but it would seem to me, that parents should have been up-in-arms long ago! Products don't get advertised like that unless people BUY INTO THE ADVERTISEMENT! Shouldn't parents have been saying, "No, I'm not making my child out to look like a cheap street hooker!"

Apparently I'm just not into dressing children like skanks.

*by the way, thanks to www.sosweetboutique.com/ for the pictures!

If you love Jesus, smack your forehead three times

I am so sick of forwards that end with "if you love Jesus and aren't ashamed of his death on a cross, you'll forward this to everyone in your contact list". Someone please explain to me, how forwarding an email will save me, cause as far as I can tell that seems to be the main motivation for sending these emails. The only reason to send (usually) poorly written dribble is to prove to my friends that I'm "not ashamed" to spread the name of Jesus. Well, I've got a news flash: I am ashamed to forward badly written, religious pulp to my friends!

Of all the forwards that bother me the most it is the one that states that something like 97% of people who read this forward won't forward this email because they are "ashamed" of Jesus. It then goes on to say, "if you are one of the 3% who believe in Jesus and aren't ashamed to claim it, forward this on (or repost this) with the subject title [insert stupid name like 'fat boy slim concert at 7:30pm'] What exactly does this prove besides the fact you got duped into reposting something?

Now I know that you've probably gone (at least once) 'yeah, okay, I'll forward it. Just cause I feel a bit hypocritical if I don't. I mean, I say I love Jesus, so if I don't forward it, maybe I don't.' Please let me assure you that your actions of NOT SENDING it do not denote your betrayal to the Christian order. It is only merely stating that God gave you free choice and a brain that has the ability to think. You are choosing to exercise a right that Christ died to give you. It is the choice to either forward meaningless drival or to delete it forever!

and if your contemplating forwarding the stuff to me let me just say, "chose life".

Tree of Knowledge: DEAD!

I nearly laughed out loud in this quiet library when I read the title of the article: ALP's Tree of Knowledge declared dead. For those who don't know, ALP stands for Australian Labor Party. Yep, you guessed it, its a political party. So now that the tree has been officially declared dead, (by a tree doctor) does this mean that all the knowledge of the party is dead?

apparently Kim Beazley (party leader) was quick to rebuke the idea when he spoke to the press. His words were:

"So the Tree of Knowledge is dead but the values and the struggle lives on. Just as relevant today as it was for the shearers who met under it.''

I love politician speak, they can turn almost any event into a political spew about their party. They are their own best Public Relations Officers. But is the tree is really worthy of all that eloquence? ....I wonder if a funeral will follow....

and if a funeral does follow, do you were black to the funeral of a tree? Or are there tree customs we should observe?

All hail the dead Tree of Knowledge!

wahooo for complished accomplishments

I'm very happy to report that i have a new house, large backyard (that i've just weeded for the first time) and (most importantly) figured out how to fix the comments problem!

Glad you all are keeping up with me!