Tips on Spinning Cat Hair

Tips on Spinning Cat Hair

Comix Without Words A-Z

Letters of Marque and Reprisal

Wrist PDA - Watch this space

Watch this space
By Adam Turner
March 29, 2005 [ Next ]
www.smh.com.au/news/Upgrade/ Watch-this-space/ 2005/03/28/1111862289183.html

Often the coolest gadgets aren't the cheapest or most practical, they're the ones that make your tech-head friends green with envy, like Fossil's Wrist PDA ...The device lasts four days without a charge if you use it as a PDA for 30 minutes a day and don't use the backlight but you lose all data if the battery goes completely flat. We think it needs a separate watch battery ...
A Wrist PDA Software Development Kit is available and Australian Palm developer Gavin Maxwell ( pocketscience.com.au) has written several applications for it, including a version of the popular Wassup.
Wassup lets you quickly see how many appointments you have, how many to-do items you must attend to and your remaining memory and battery life. If you're sick of carrying around a handheld PC just to remind you what time Channel Nine have randomly chosen to screen Star Trek this week, the Wrist PDA will put you in Nerdvana.
Fossil's Wrist PDA, rrp about $315. Details: fossil.com

But does it have a camera? (There is a camera-watch available.) Yes, I kinda like it, but needs nicer looks and rather better functions. Different to technolust.)

Searching for SF?

I like Science (aka Speculative) Fiction for its ideas.
If you want information on the authors, titles, series, dates, etc., of published works, try:
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database www.sfsite.com/isfdb
Contento's Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections www2.best.com/~contento/0start.html
The Locus Index to Science Fiction (1984-1997) www.sff.net/locus/notes.html
The Library of Congress Home Page lcweb.loc.gov
Ingram Book Group's The Book Kahoona www.ingrambook.com/surf

Drop a Rock on Your Nearest Landmark!

Earth Impact Effects Program
Robert Marcus, H. Jay Melosh, and Gareth Collins

www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects

Welcome to the Earth Impact Effects Program: an easy-to-use, interactive web site for estimating the regional environmental consequences of an impact on Earth. This program will estimate the ejecta distribution, ground shaking, atmospheric blast wave, and thermal effects of an impact as well as the size of the crater produced.

SMS campaign backfires -- car firm fined for sending spam

Slightly cheery news for the spam-haters, and those dreading its infestation of mobile (cell) phones. From the Sydney Morning Herald: SMS campaign backfires as car firm is fined for sending spam
By Kirsty Needham, Consumer Reporter
April 6, 2005
A car company that sent text messages to people after copying their mobile phone numbers from classified advertisements has been fined under the Spam Act.

It is the first time that text message advertising has been caught under the new law, which came into effect last year and is designed to cut the torrent of junk email.

Carsales.com.au was fined $6600 after members of the public complained to the Australian Communications Authority about the unwanted marketing messages.

The chief executive of the automotive website, Greg Roebuck, said his staff sent out several hundred of the text messages each week because he believed it was "less intrusive" than calling.

But the authority ruled that the recipients of the messages had no relationship with the car website and did not give their consent to receiving the text messages.

News Release: NC State Paleontologist Discovers Soft Tissue in Dinosaur Bones

www.ncsu.edu/news/ press_releases/05_03/075.htm "NC State Paleontologist Discovers Soft Tissue in Dinosaur Bones"
Scientists have recovered 70-million-year-old soft tissue inside a Tyrannosaurus Rex bone they found in a sandstone formation in the US.

The find included what appeared to be blood vessels, and possibly even cells.

The material is currently being studied, and if scientists can isolate proteins from the material they may be able to learn new details of how dinosaurs lived, lead researcher Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University said

“Soft-Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex”
Authors: Mary H. Schweitzer and Jennifer L. Wittmeyer, North Carolina State University; John R. Horner, Montana State University; Jan B. Toporski, Carnegie Institution of Washington Geophysical Laboratory
Published: March 25, 2005, in Science

WAL-MARX

WAL-MARX

The weblog of Citizen Cross. Here you will find entries dealing with politics, history, the media, and cultural, social, and economic issue

Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The Politics of Diversion
I was going to write about the current controversy regarding Terri Schiavo. Then I decided against it. But in order not to, I have to write a little something about it anyway. You know, it’s easier if I just begin . . .
Another is the hypocrisy of Our Great Father, who has been talking about a “culture of life” and how in cases such as this, it is “better to err on the side of life.” ...
This is the man who, as Governor of Texas, publicly mocked a woman (Kayla Faye Tucker) he put to death, despite her plea for clemency: "'Please,' Bush whimpered, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'"...
Finally, it is worth asking how her medical care has been paid. It turns out, by Medicare - the very program conservative Republicans are determined to eliminate. And what helped pay for her early treatment and medical bills? A million-dollar settlement from a lawsuit, the very kind of malpractice lawsuit that Republicans are determined to eliminate. Isn't irony just delicious? ...

Phil Agre's Home Page

Phil Agre's Home Page

Includes links to some of his recent publications, such as:

The practical republic: Social skills and the progress of citizenship, in Andrew Feenberg and Darin Barney, eds, Community in the Digital Age, Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.

Internet research: For and against, in Mia Consalvo et al, eds, Internet Research Annual, Volume 1, Peter Lang, 2004.

Information and institutional change: The case of digital libraries, in Ann P. Bishop, Nancy A. Van House, and Barbara P. Buttenfield, eds, Digital Library Use: Social Practice in Design and Evaluation, MIT Press, 2003.

Peer-to-peer and the promise of Internet equality, Communications of the ACM 46(2), 2003, pages 39-42.

Real-time politics: The Internet and the political process, The Information Society 18(5), 2002, pages 311-331.

The practical logic of computer work, in Matthias Scheutz, ed, Computationalism: New Directions, MIT Press, 2002.

Cyberspace as American culture, Science as Culture 11(2), 2002, pages 171-189.

Changing places: Contexts of awareness in computing, Human-Computer Interaction 16(2-4), 2001, pages 177-192.

Supporting the intellectual life of a democratic society, Ethics and Information Technology 3(4), 2001, pages 289-298.

Your face is not a bar code: Arguments against automatic face recognition in public places, Whole Earth 106, 2001, pages

yellowarrow.org

yellowarrow.org
bout

The YellowArrow is a global public art project that merges graffiti and sticker culture with wireless media, creating an interactive forum for people to leave and discover messages pointing out what counts in their environment. Participants place arrows to draw attention to different locations and objects -- a favorite view of the city, an odd fire hydrant, the local bar. Each arrow has a unique code, and by sending a text-message (SMS) from your mobile phone to 1.646.270.5537 in the format "+code your message" you associate a short text with your arrow -- messages can range from literary quotations to personal commentaries to game-like prompts to action. When another person encounters the arrow, he or she sends "?code" to 1.646.270.5537 and immediately receives the message associated with it on their mobile phone. Through this location-based exchange of text-messages, the YellowArrow becomes a symbol for the unique characteristics, personal histories, and hidden secrets that live within our everyday spaces. And it's not just places, it's people: YellowArrow TXTshirts are individually coded just like the stickers. YellowArrow text-messaging is currently compatible with all phones and service providers in the US as well as internationally with those networks under the GSM standard. The website, YellowArrow.org, allows participants to annotate their arrows with photos and maps and is the online gallery of YellowArrows placed throughout the world -- visit to order arrow stickers and tshirts and see announcements about new events and features.

Court: Man can sue over 'surprise' pregnancy

Chicago Sun-TimesCourt: Man can sue over 'surprise' pregnancy
February 25, 2005
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Legal Affairs Reporter
Fef a woman performs oral sex on a man, leaves the room, secretly uses that sperm to impregnate herself, then sues the man for child support, is that "extreme and outrageous" conduct?

Yes it is, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled this week.

The justices said Chicago doctor Richard Phillips can try to convince a jury that his ex-fiancee pulled that trick on him, causing him emotional distress.

The ex-fiancee, Sharon Irons, also a doctor, says Phillips got her pregnant the old-fashioned way -- sexual intercourse -- and concocted the oral sex story as a novel excuse to get out of paying child support for their 5-year-old daughter.
...
The panel, however, tossed the other two counts in Phillips' suit, including the one for conversion because they could not accept that Irons "stole" Phillips' sperm.

"She asserts that when plaintiff 'delivered' his sperm, it was a gift -- an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee," Hartman wrote. "There was no agreement the original deposit would be returned upon request."

Plants In Motion

Plants In Motion
Created for nonprofit educational use
by
Roger P. Hangarter
Indiana University, Department of Biology, 915 E 3rd St, Bloomington, IN 47405

sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/~rhangart/ plantmotion/starthere.html

With few exceptions, plants grow and change on a time scale that is too slow for us to observe in real time. Time-lapse photography is a simple technique that allows us to see the movements of plants and clearly demonstrates that plants are living and capable of some extraordinary things. This is done by capturing a series of images at intervals ranging from minutes to hours apart. The images can then be viewed in rapid succession, much like a flip book. The effect is to compress into a short period, the changes that occurred over a relatively long period of time. We especially hope this site provides material that may captivate the interest of budding plant biologists but even seasoned plant biologists will find interesting material...
* Germination
* Photomorphogenesis
* Tropisms
* Nastic Movements
* Circadian Responses
* General Growth
* Flowers
* Cellular Responses

Teaching / Learning Projects
* Plant Dance
* Making time-lapse movies
* Plant projects

Plants & Art
* Plant Art
* Plants in Hollywood

Note that all of the movies are in QuickTime format. The QuickTime plug-in is available for free at quicktime.apple.com. However, if you want to save movies to your computer for educational use away from an inernet connection, you will need a copy of QuickTime Pro

Trebuchet - not the font/typeface

www.trebuchet.com: Trebuchet.com * Dedicated to the art of hurling *

Now available, these two previously out-of-print books!

Catapult Design, Construction and Competition
AND
The Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients

The convertible tabletop trebuchet!: This small trebuchet is fully functional and is based on true trebuchet mechanics.
It can be converted from a hanging counterweight model to a fixed counterweight (and back!) in seconds! Great for hurling missiles across the room!

Be sure to visit our other web site at:
www.mangonel.com
The ancient Roman engine of war, Mangonel, also known as an Onager. This fully functional model is professionally engineered and is as historically accurate as possible. It really works and can throw golfballs, potatoes, eggs, tennis balls and more!

I always wondered why the Sydney Morning Herald never ran a story about the scandals about the Swiss pushing Jewish & other refugees escaping the Nazis back over the border, or even directly taking them to patrols, ever as much as it put the stories of Australian treatment of people arriving at our borders on the same or facing pages, let alone tried to run them in parallel columns, which would have made the point reasonably clear.
Two WWII examples are Sabine Sonabend & Joseph Spring. See here www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/ lawrpt/stories/s96863.htm and here www.jewishsf.com/content/ 2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/7369/ format/print/edition_id/139/displaystory.print

Hmmm ... dunno about this ...

Congratulations! You are the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

You seem quite logical and approachable, but you're actually quite Complex, in more ways that one.

Which Fundamental Theorem of Mathematics Are You?


brought to you by Quizilla

Hemispheric contrasts, and other things

February 10th, 2005: A quite chilly-looking photo in Daily Imagery at topleftpixel. Some interesting patterns, not just aesthetic, but showing what's happening.
wvs.topleftpixel.com/archives/photos_snapshots/ 050210_1030.shtml
Note, the previous day's one is very like my stuff.

These are the sort of things that remind one, Gee, the weather hasn't been all that bad in Sydney recently. (see also first link from topleftpixel, above)
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6509576224

"Reversioning" picture books
www.whatisdeepfried.com/zogg/zogg1.html

A set involving discussion of the use of PhotoShop and author's photos
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/ 006081.html#74135
also
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/ 006081.html#74139
and a short note at
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/ 006081.html#74144
discussing these photos
www.pulseweekly.com/article_read.asp?id=2234

I guess this is a horror 'zine online. Quite nicely done - at least with a fat pipe. Less atmos with lower-rent home brand.
www.chizine.com/

Navy releases tsunami images
By Richard Black
BBC environment correspondent
newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4247409.stm
UK scientists have released images of the ocean floor near the epicentre of December's giant Asian earthquake.
They were obtained by the Royal Navy's hydrographic survey ship HMS Scott.
The three-dimensional pictures ( newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/ sci_nat_asian_tsunami_rupture_zone/html/1.stm) detail the deformed seabed 150km (94 miles) off the Sumatran coast, and reveal huge underwater landslides.

[Sorry about gaps. This blog is down the priority list at the moment. Lots of other things taking up time, physical & mental energy. Please check interesting things at some of my recommended links in the sidebar & beyond.]

Discussions

From Rob Hansen (December 31, 2003 07:14 PM)
Mitch Wagner wrote:

I think the central gimmick -- the rolling roads -- is deeply wonderful, and who cares whether they're practical or not? Ever driven for hundreds or thousands of miles on flat, featureless highway? Wouldn't it be nicer to >have a whole STREET along with you, sit in a pub or restaurant for a little while, go out for a little stroll -- all while moving at 100 mph -- and then arrive at your destination?

I've done this. The thing I did it on is called a train.

From Anne (January 6, 2004 09:22 PM)

I have a warning for all of you: if you have not yet read The Da Vinci Code, avoid it at all costs! The whole thing is based on faulty philology, not to mention the fact that it's so badly written that I can't think of an entertaining way to insult it. Go read Preacher instead, which although based on the same bad philology is a masterpiece.

From teep (January 6, 2004 11:17 PM)

Two thumbs up on Preacher here, heck of a fine comic. (Graphic Novel? Something. Sequential art in panels with word balloons, whatever you want to call it.) It has lots of head explosions that are not particularly tasteful. It's got amazingly fun dialogue. Vampires! Angels! Corrupt earthly organized religion! Strange inbred people! Cannibalism! Sodomy of all kinds! Arseface! There's also a preacher and a dead guy (not a vampire) and the devil and so forth. Fun stuff. With, did I mention, astonishingly graphic head explosions? Oh, and you'll see a serial killer, a meat-processing plant, a few horses, some grand theft auto, a certain amount of sex, a truly frightening grandma, and John Wayne.

Preacher lead to the following memorable conversation with my mother:

My mom (flipping through a volume of Preacher): "This is pornography!"

Me (over her shoulder): "No, mom, that's cannibalism."

My mom: ...

Savage Love column: New Year's Eve stories. www.thestranger.com/2004-01-01/savage.html

Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea (Book) in Books > Fiction & Literature > Women's Fiction > Glitz & Glamour

Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea (Book) in Books > Fiction & Literature > Women's Fiction > Glitz & Glamour [on lulu.com ]

http://www.lulu.com/content/102550

Travis Tea is a pseudonym for a group of (mostly) science fiction and fantasy authors who were amused by PublishAmerica's claim (at their authorsmarket.net site) that SF & F authors are "writers who erroneously believe that SciFi, because it is set in a distant future, does not require believable storylines, or that Fantasy, because it is set in conditions that have never existed, does not need believable every-day characters."

So about thirty writers knocked off a novel over a long weekend, writing it as ineptly as they possibly could. Plot, characterization, graceful prose ... none of them are to be found in ATLANTA NIGHTS. Grammar and spelling take a drubbing. The book was submitted to PublishAmerica -- and it was accepted.

Now you can see for yourself what PublishAmerica considers to be "believable storylines" and "believable every-day characters."

Prepare to be amazed.

Reviews
Breathtaking! Mind expanding!You will never view reading a book in the same way!

Amazing. Incredible. Mind-bending. Sweet. Coy. Surprising. These are all words. Some of them are found in this book. Buy it. Read it. Lend it. Love it. I have seen the future of American literature. And his name is Travis Tea.

hy on earth... by MacAllister Stone
Wed 26 Jan 8:36 am EST 2005 last modified on Wed 26 Jan 8:40 am EST 2005
would a talented, smart, dedicated, and otherwise exemplary group of people participate in a hoax of this magnitude? For a worthy cause, I suppose.

I anticipate MANY pleasant hours reading and re-reading this piece of utter drek--trying to puzzle out which of my favorite writers to blame for each and every dreadful chapter.

I just hope I recover from the annoying twitch beneath my left eye that I developed upon reading the first three pages. Fans in the know could develop an online game of "identify-the-chapter-writer" to keep ourselves occupied for months.

Skeptic's Annotated Bible (also Quran (Koran) and Book of Mormon)

Skeptic's Annotated Bible
www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/index.html
Also available:
Quran (Koran)

Book of Mormon

There are particular links under the headings

Injustice
Absurdity
Cruelty and Violence
Contradictions
Intolerance
Women
Good Stuff
Family Values
Prophecy
Sex
Science and History
Language
Homosexuality
Interpretation

As well as the text of the Old and New Testaments linked book-by-book, a phrase search/concordance, and some other useful related links.

Plush Lust & Dinoplush desire

Two places wherein much plush lust may be slaked -- or, alternatively, stirred -- including dinoplush desire. Approach with caution. (Isn't a beanie a type of hat?)

http://www.thebigzoo.com/Store/Toys/Tyrannosaurus_Rex.asp
Medium Plush T-Rex
This 10" plush dinosaur is sure to be a big hit with dinosaur fans.

Small Plush T-Rex
This 7" plush dinosaur is sure to be a big hit with dinosaur fans.

Velvet T-Rex
This 11" tyrannosaurus rex is covered in soft velvet and features characteristically small arms and lots of teeth!

http://www.warehouse23.com/info/plush.html
GIANTmicrobes | Godzilla Origins | Bunnywith | Alien | Battle Cattle | Caltrops | HoL | Other Side of the Looking Glass | Fuzzy Dice | Fat Dragons | Call of Cthulhu | Here Be Monsters | Monty Python | Beanosaurs | Presidential Plush

Memes aka The Big Lie aka Truth getting on its boots

Although some of the Stella Awards cases are true, many are pure fictition, others are partly true, but changed to make them sound ridiculous. The true cases are also usually told in a slanted way, or the story ignores the fact that the case was thrown out either straight away or on appeal.

The "cruise control" story is definitely false. [ www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp ]

The material below is from a US site, but the comments on the story from people around the world on the sitepoint out that the same process is happening in many places.

The first section is just a quick summary example using 'Stella'.
The section below that is a longer bit giving more examples, websites to check things, tracing some of the history and making the points in greater detail.

You can probably remember the big fuss about similar things and changes made here which have cut back both the health and life expectancy of injured people, and the responsibility of careless and negligent people or groups to not injure us, without much visible improvement in the evils this was meant to cure.
________________________________

nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/005850.html
December 03, 2004
Common fraud

You know all those stories you’ve read about ridiculous court cases where greedy plaintiffs and their greedy lawyers collect huge settlements for minor injuries that were their own fault in the first place? The McDonald’s coffee case is the most famous. I’m sorry to say that those stories are fabrications, part of a PR campaign. Some of them are pure fiction. Others have been cooked up by grossly misrepresenting real court cases. The Net has spread them far and wide.

... Even Snopes.com has fallen for them. But then, Snopes would. They grew up out of the old Internet, back when less money was at stake, and they’re dependent on their informants.
...
Remember, that supposedly huge settlement $2.6 million settlement against McDonald’s wasn’t because they gave Stella Liebeck third-degree coffee burns (though they did, and then refused her offer to settle if they would just pay her medical bills). The punitive damages were because it came out during the trial that in the ten years prior to Stella Liebeck’s accident, over 700 people had been seriously burned by the coffee McDonald’s kept at an unsafe temperature. McDonald’s knew this was happening, but they maintained their coffee at 190 F. anyway ...

the amount of the award wasn’t McDonald’s income for two days, nor even McDonald’s income from coffee for two days. It was two days’ profit from selling coffee that their own spokesman characterized as “unsafe for human consumption.” Ten years of serious injuries didn’t get them to turn down the temperature on their coffee pots. Two days’ coffee profits did.

Common Good's website ( http://cgood.org/ ) claims it’s about “restoring common sense to American law,” and pretends that Common Good is a grassroots organization ... It smelled wrong ...

I looked further. It didn’t take long, and Common Good was at the top of the list.
From the ConsumerWatchDog.org site, 29 May 2003:

Consumer Group & Author Reveal Corporation’s Invisible Hand Behind Attack On Individual’s Legal Rights
Santa Monica, CA
The growing attempt to roll back legal rights for individuals in state houses across the nation is being surreptitiously coordinated by America’s largest corporations through the use of front groups, a national consumer group and author revealed today. …The “Astroturf” corporate consultants masquerading as independent, grass roots reformers, according to FTCR’s research, include:

* Common Good, described in Monday’s front page New York Times story only as “an advocacy group…dedicated to changing what it calls the lawsuit culture,” was founded by corporate defense lawyer Philip K. Howard, the Vice Chairman of Covington & Burling. This leading corporate defense firm represents many of America’s largest corporations, all of whom have a large stake in limiting consumer’s legal rights. The list includes Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., Lorillard Tobacco Co., Philip Morris Inc., and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co, the American Automobile Association, the Association of American Railroads, the American Petroleum Institute, Eli Lilly, ExxonMobil, Goodyear, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Trane, and Union Pacific.

That is, Common Good is a corporate-funded organization whose entire purpose is deception and the spread of disinformation.
...
In the case of Common Good, the agenda being pursued can be loosely grouped under tort reform, which isn’t a reform movement at all. It’s a massive lobbying and PR campaign surreptitiously financed by business interests. It works to (1.) bring the law into disrepute; (2.) turn public opinion against small plaintiffs by portraying them as greedheads who file groundless or frivolous lawsuits; (3.) spread the idea that American firms are being driven out of business by runaway jury verdicts (which they aren’t)(and by the way, juries tend to make smaller awards than judges do); (4.) likewise spread the idea that American doctors are being ruined by skyrocketing malpractice premiums caused by an epidemic of outlandish malpractice awards (premiums are up, but malpractice awards aren’t, and the greedheads in this instance are actually the insurance companies); and (5.) create a climate of public opinion that will enable them to get laws and regulations permanently changed in their favor.

[To explore] this issue, probably your best single-stop website is CorpReform.com ... As the site sums things up,

Tort reform isn’t about fixing a “broken” justice system; it’s about protecting the public image and bottom lines of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world. Tort reform isn’t about protecting doctors from high insurance rates; it’s about protecting their insurers from having to pay large judgments. Tort reform isn’t about keeping “greedy lawyers” from filing frivolous lawsuits; it’s about keeping those who are severely injured out of the court system and away from the public eye.
...
The message is not new. For the past fifteen years, pro-business interests in America have sought to “reform” the judicial and regulatory systems ... by limiting the remedies of injured citizens. Until now ... most states have rejected the more Draconian reforms. In fact, courts in some states have struck down tort reform attempts as unconstitutional.

The tort reform campaign has gained much wider acceptance, however, in the jury box. Many jurors now treat as axiomatic the notion that the nation is plagued with “frivolous” lawsuits and outrageous jury verdicts. The rich and greedy plaintiff’s lawyer has become a part of American folklore. Of course, these stereotypes have not emerged by chance. They have grown out of a calculated attempt by corporate America to portray itself as the helpless victim of an unfair legal system—to cultivate a legal system that favors business interests

Some links to satellite photos of Indian Ocean tsunami damage

Digital Globe satellite photos of tsunami damage to coastlines:
www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html

National University of Singapore satellite Asian tsunami photos:
www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/tsunami/tsunami.html

Indian Ocean Tsunami Warnings & Helpful Hints - charities & contacts

www.smh.com.au/news/Asia-Tsunami/Who-to-call-and-how-to-help/ 2004/12/29/1103996616211.html

Indian Ocean tsunami disaster: Who to call and how to help

December 30, 2004

Foreign Affairs help lines
The Department of Foreign Affairs has two toll-free help lines. The first is for people concerned about relatives or friends in tsunami-affected areas: 1800 002 214. The second is for Australians in disaster zones who need help from embassy staff: +61 1300 555 135 or 6261 3305.

Travel advisories
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued warnings about these areas:
Thailand: The west coast and islands, including Phuket, and southern region (Ranong province and all provinces to the south). A temporary consulate has been established at the Hilton Hotel to assist Australians in the surrounding islands and can be contacted on +66 76 370 672 or aus-phuket@inet.co.th. Phuket Airport is operating and travellers are encouraged to leave by commercial flights. A Department of Immigration and Indigenous Affairs officer will be at Phuket Airport to provide travel documents to Australians who have lost their passports.
India: Coastal areas of southern and eastern India plus, in particular, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Sri Lanka: The east coast from Trincomalee in the north-east to Galle in the south. Colombo Airport is operational. Travellers are encouraged to leave by commercial flights. Four-wheel-drive vehicles are being used to transport Australians to Colombo and the Sri Lankan Air Force will also help stranded Australians who are south of Colombo.
Maldives: Avoid all travel to the Maldives until further notice. A British team has set up an emergency consulate at the Iskander school in Male. An Australian official will join these consuls for any Australians in the Maldives who require assistance. The airport in Male is operating and travellers are encouraged to leave by commercial flights.
Indonesia: The west coast of northern Sumatra, including Aceh province and offshore islands.
Malaysia: The resort islands of Penang and Langkawi were hit by the tsunami, but escaped the devastation of other areas. The department advises those heading there to check with local authorities and hotels that it is safe to travel there.

More information and updated advice from the department at www.smarttraveller.gov.au

Donations
PLAN: Vist www.plan.org.au or call 1800 038 100.
CARE Australia: 1800 020 046 or www.careaustralia.org.au
Australian Red Cross: Call 1800 811 700, visit www.redcross.org.au or post a cheque to GPO Box 9949 in capital cities.
Oxfam: 1800 034 034 or www.oxfam.org.au
Medecins Sans Frontieres www.msf.org.au
UNICEF: 1300 884 233, 1300 732 240 or www.unicef.org.au
World Vision: 13 32 40 or www.worldvision.com.au
Baptist World Aid Australia: Call 1300 789 991, by mail to Baptist World Aid Australia, Locked Bag 122, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086, or www.shareanopportunity.org
Caritas Australia: 1800 024 413 or www.caritas.org.au

Some banks are also allowing donations to be made to various charities at their branches.

We have some of these in our cupboard

Gallery of Regettable Foods

www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/spec.html
Where have all these images slumbered, lo these many decades? In small faded books, shoved in the back of some Mom's pantry...

The Other Other White Meat
www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/othrwhtmeat/index.html

Meat! Meat! Meat! In which you'll meet Meat! Meat! Meat! Also, Meat!
www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/meat/index.html

The Unbearable Sadness of Vegetables
www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/sad/index.html

Jello Confronts the Depression
www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/jello/index.html

Future Blog Titles?
Musicohistorical Theomathematics
Hypnagogic Myoclonus

nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/ 005797.html#67146
NARCISSUS' QUESTION
If my love
is an echo
what is it an echo
of?

_______________

The www.genesiantheatre.com.au Genesian Theatre Company was formed in 1944 and has developed into a community theatre group providing a training ground for young actors and a place where those who love the theatre can meet, share and extend their knowledge of the performing arts.
The building which houses the Company dates from 1868. It served as both a church and a poor school until 1932 when it became the Kursaal Theatre, housing the Sydney Repertory Company. In 1938 it became the first Matthew Talbot Hostel [for homeless men]. Since 1954 it has been the home of the Genesian Theatre Company. The Company took its name from Saint Genesius,the patron saint of actors.

www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/31/ 1036026977747.html
Spencer Tunick
November 1 2002
Spencer Tunick's images of mass nakedness reveal much more than just skin, writes Peter Hill.

thegreenman.net.au/mt/tunick.htm
Spencer Tunick - Melbourne Photo Shoot
As part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival American artist Spencer Tunick asked for people to strip off and pose nude on mass for a photo shoot.
On a cold and rainy Sunday morning in Melbourne 4,300 people turned up. I was one of them. This is my story of this remarkable and exhilarating event.
Chris Padgham
1st November 2001

www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2521
Highly Inappropriate Christmas Cards

Kraue, sch?ner Schadenfreude,
In der Weblog Heiligtum;
Schlag in Ruhe, mit Verst?ndnis

www.livejournal.com/users/rusty76/338799.html
Sandy Claws

www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/techhom.htm (Index page)

www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/failure.htm

www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/fluids/cargo.htm (The Cargo Ship)
www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/oldleng.htm
Old Units of Length - Units of weight and volume are also considered

www.archive.org/movies/ details-db.php?collection=siggraph&collectionid =et138_18_pipe_dream
Pipe Dream 2001
In this SINGLE from a VIDEO ALBUM, all instruments are played by steel balls shot out of PVC tubing.
From the producer of the original ''musical fountain'' in More Bells and Whistles, SIGGRAPH 1990. Two years in the making, the full video album comprises 7 pieces, each by a completely different instrument configuration. Proprietary animation software analyzes the music, and automatically drives the movement of the instruments for highly accurate and efficient animation. Essentially no traditional keyframing is used. The DVD version of this video album is due to be released in late Summer 2001.
Director: Wayne Lytle
Producer: Wayne Lytle
Production Company: Animusic
Contact information: wayne@animusic.com
http://www.animusic.com
317 Nye Rd.
Cortland, NY 13045
United States
607-756-0190

content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/24/2476
Caring for the Wounded in Iraq — A Photo Essay
George E. Peoples, M.D., James R. Jezior, M.D., and Craig D. Shriver, M.D.
From the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
New England Journal of Medicine
NEJM Volume 351:2476-2480 9th December, 2004 Number 24

Licences: 1854-2004

Licences: 1854-2004
Although, from what I have heard so far, I disagree with these "UPMART" people, I did wonder if this Victorian group protesting about a licensing law was in some way marking the sesquicentenary of the Eureka Uprising?

[CHECK for EXPLANATORY LINKS: CHECK for EUREKA LINKS]

Remember this case?

Crematory operator pleads guilty to corpse abuse
November 17, 2004 - 8:47AM
A former crematory operator accused of dumping 334 bodies on his property and passing off cement dust as ashes had agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges, ...
... a source with knowledge of the deal told Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Marsh will be sentenced to 12 years in prison with credit for about seven months he already has served while awaiting trial.
The sentence, which covered all 787 criminal charges of theft and abuse of a corpse, would be followed by a lengthy probation period, the source said. If Marsh were to go to trial and be convicted on all charges, he could be sentenced to more than 8,000 years in prison ...
Marsh and dozens of funeral homes that sent bodies to the crematory have already settled a civil lawsuit for $US80 million ($103.53 million). Attorneys for Marsh had asked Judge Bodiford to throw out the theft charges, arguing that the corpses did not constitute property.

Just to cheer you up after that -- this may have you ROTFL, or possibly cringing behind your hands in recognition of repressed memories.

THINGS I WILL NOT DO WHEN I DIRECT A SHAKESPEARE PRODUCTION, ON STAGE OR FILM
www.livejournal.com/users/angevin2/148520.html

(also links to things like Caxton's Chaucer online) - www.bl.uk/treasures/caxton/homepage.html, and some other things you may find useful or interesting.

A Nartist: www.eyeballpress.com

A Nother wvs.topleftpixel.com

For those annoyed moments: www.elfonlyinn.net/beating.html "autofellating coprophage" sounds nice.

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night ...

I have been following (lightly - life gets in the way sometimes) some of the reaction in the US & elsewhere amongst like-minded citizens to the election success of Bush (& Howard).
It's usually agreed that putting as much effort into making sure that electronic voting, voting, ballot security & vote counting in the "First World" is as scrutinised & secure & independently overseen as the system developed for paper ballots in countries with former records of rigging & cheating is worth putting effort into.

But many are also looking at examples like, say, Gandhi, where he said, more or less:

"We can't fight them with force, both because that's the wrong way to achieve our aims anyway, and also because they're better at it & we won't win.

We can try, in some circumstances defying & working against them directly, but that must only be where there is no alternative - and it might serve our cause rather than harm it.

What we should try to do is ignore them. Work around them. Do our own thing our own way rather than fall in with their system. Show that we can do things our way, with our systems, and with better results. Show the people they needn't be dependent on the ones who say 'bend down and serve us, let us make you suffer, because you will suffer even more without us', then their support will crumble from within."

Or as Joe Hill put it more succinctly: "Organize!"

CS Lewis on Theocracy

oddlots.digitalspace.net/downloads/democrat.pdf
CS Lewis - Why I am a Democrat

And in my right hand I hold my sorrow, And with my left hand I reach for joy

Saudi Arabia sees Bush victory as lesser of two evils
smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/28/1098667914319.html
By Ed O'Loughlin, Herald Correspondent in Riyadh
October 29, 2004

Whatever the realpolitik calculations, on the emotional level relations between the US and its Saudi guarantors of cheap petrol - always unsentimental - have never been worse.
While Muslim fundamentalists continue to preach against the Great Satan, America's natural constituency among liberal and reform-minded educated Saudis has been alienated by what it sees as hostility towards Arabs since the September 11 attacks.
Over the past three years tens of thousands of young Saudis have returned home from US universities to escape official or unofficial harassment or because of difficulties in renewing study visas.
"After 9/11 they say that all Arabs and Muslims are terrorists," said the editor of Arab News, Khalid al-Maeena, whose son recently returned from a US university without graduating. "This has made young Arabs turn against the West. They like to listen to Ricky Martin and Mark Anthony and have coffee at Starbucks, and yet their sentiments are increasingly anti-American."
"Saudis love the West and they hate it," said Mansour al-Nogaidan, once a leading Islamic hardliner and now a liberal dissident. "They love Western civilisation but they hate it because they feel inferior. They hate the thought that it is stronger than we are, that it is up while we are a long way down."

Many good useful & hopeful things (as well as rage, despair, &c.) on the "Bad morning" thread at Making Light
nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/005687.html

I really thought that today would be the beginning of our recovery from the current low point. But I guess we have lower to sink. Doesn't mean we won't rise again eventually.

And in my right hand I hold my sorrow
And with my left hand I reach for joy
We all are soldiers whether we fight or fall
No one can run from the scorns of time.

"Scorns of Time", on the Simple Path album, by Irene Kelley and Claire Lynch

Alison ::: November 03, 2004, 04:39 PM
( nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/005687.html )

What I resent most about this election is that 80% of the people who based their decision on "moral values" voted for Bush. Since when did the Republican Party become the last bastion of morality? Well, because they say they are and Democrats are resistent to portraying themselves that way.
These people who voted for moral values believe that abortion is murder and that homosexuals are out to wreck their marriages, but not that every child should be adequately educated or that the elderly should not have to choose between their prescription drugs and their food for the month.
The reason they focus on abortion and homosexual marriage is that someone told them who was to fear and what was to blame for their problems in life ...

What I keep coming back to is an article I read last year about how conservatives use language to dominate politics. The link: www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/ 2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml
There must be a way to make people see that bombing terrorists only breeds more terrorists, that depriving children of education creates crime and that allowing everyone the same rights does not somehow dilute or diminish those rights. In other words, have to talk to the other side. Unfortunately, we first have to figure out how to use words they can hear.

______________________________________
Man tries to convert lions to Jesus, gets bitten
46-year-old leaps into den at Taipei Zoo, calls beasts to Christianity
[There is video of this.]
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6396422
Updated: 5:51 a.m. ET Nov. 3, 2004

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A man leaped into a lion’s den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts.
“Jesus will save you!” shouted the 46-year-old man at two African lions lounging under a tree a few meters away.
“Come bite me!” he said with both hands raised, television footage showed.
One of the lions, a large male with a shaggy mane, bit the man in his right leg before zoo workers drove it off with water hoses and tranquilizer guns.
Newspapers said that the lions had been fed earlier in the day, otherwise the man might have been more seriously hurt ... or worse.