Ramblings of the Pudding

The existential dilemma of my blog

2011-12-03T08:02:00.001+11:00

I myself, do not suffer from the phenomenon that it pleases some to name "man's existential dilemma".

I know exactly why I'm here and what the purpose of my life is.
<p>What I don't really know is the purpose of this blog.

What's it for?

Sometimes I blog, just because I can...

2011-11-27T22:37:00.001+11:00

I am lying in bed, at the end of a very cool weekend.

Good Thursday night at the pub, good Friday night with the dumplings, Saturday with the shopping and spit-roasting and twenty-firsting, today at church and lunching with Delia's cousins and lounging and Frozen Planet.

Tomorrow, God-willing, I will wake up, ride to work, and test Airdroid on my office desktop.

Good life, peeps. Good life.

I am blogging from a dumpling restaurant

2011-11-25T18:57:00.001+11:00

Ed says, "There is a Blogger app."

Well, so there is.

I will surf by later and see how this worked out.

Thought I'd drop by

2011-11-23T09:42:00.000+11:00

I just thought I'd drop past my blog, on my way to my cousin's travel blog, and realised I haven't been here for several months, and that the last post I left dangling up here makes it sound like I haven't posted because I died of pneumonia or something.

Luckily for me, there really isn't anyone that reads my blog and doesn't know me personally; or I could've copped a lot of concerned emails.

Never mind.

I'm not dead. I just don't have anything to say on the internet.

At the moment.

This could change by this afternoon.

Monsters in my lungs

2011-03-19T07:54:00.000+11:00

Every time I am sick, I think to myself: "Never do this again. This is not fun."

Thankfully, it isn't something that happens often. I'm currently recovering from a fever and a chest infection. There are these monster blobs of yuck in my lungs, and coughing them up causes acute headache. About this time yesterday, my fever was causing me to hallucinate. Thank God I'm on the mend.

Now I'm off to eat a piece of toast, so I can down a handful of pills. w00t!

I'm thinking about a return to blogging ...

2011-03-17T06:09:00.001+11:00

Not that you care.

I've said it before and I'll say it again ...

2010-10-20T20:46:00.001+11:00

First Dog on the Moon is an ever-loving GENIUS:

This is cool

2010-10-14T21:07:00.003+11:00

Delia sent me this list.

It's pretty mad. I like the earthquake simulator.

Yo-yo. Big one.

2010-10-13T21:08:00.000+11:00

Yeah, told you it was a big one.

Ha ha haaa! Big one.

Ah ...

2010-10-13T07:18:00.002+11:00

Is this me?

2010-10-12T22:10:00.000+11:00

I clipped this out of today's Crikey daily mail:

"Most citizen journalism strikes me as nothing to do with journalism at all.
"A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people ... okay -- the country is full of very angry people. Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk.
"But the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night.
"It is fantastic at times but it is not going to replace journalism.
"...Most of the blogging is too angry and too abusive. Terrible things are said online because they are anonymous. People say things online that they wouldn't dream of saying in person."

No, that's not the latest editorial from The Australian. It's the BBC's Andrew Marr, former political editor who now presents BBC1's flagship Sunday morning show, speaking at a literary festival over the weekend.

Aaaaaaaahahahahahahahaaaaa!

2010-10-07T06:09:00.000+11:00

I think this comic adequately sums up most of what I think about a double-fistful of subjects; from scientology to those stupid hologram bracelets:

Ha ha haaa! Gullibranes.

The Good and the Ugly

2010-10-05T06:14:00.000+11:00

Quick stop-in to say HI and check out these tattoos:

This one is INCREDIBLE and I love it!

And this one is horrible and yucky ... but Bathurst is on soon, so it's topical, I guess. I just wanted Bike Boy to see it, really. Hee!

Toodles!

Ha ha haaa! Toodles.

Fun things to look at on the internets

2010-09-29T21:18:00.000+10:00

Firstly, check out the 1000 Awesome Things blog because they are and it's mad.

Secondly, check out the 50 supposedly funny Twitter-related t-shirts, none of which I own; because some of them really are funny. Some are just stupid.

Thirdly, I was going to post the YouTube of the 100 Greatest Movie Insults of all time ...

... but it's too rude. And kiddies read my blog.

Ha ha haaa! Kiddies.

I just had to post this ...

2010-09-29T06:30:00.002+10:00

It's gorgeous!

If you don't already; check out A Softer World. It's lovely.

See, now THIS is why we have bad pop music ...

2010-09-25T04:53:00.000+10:00

... so that genius people like these can make something great out of it:

I'm not really sleepy. This is just weird.

2010-09-25T03:59:00.000+10:00

It's four. I'm unwell. Meh.

This video is for EnthusiasticHack. And Glitters should totally show it to her boy, too.

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

Getting weirder ...

The hits just keep on rolling

2010-09-25T03:31:00.002+10:00

Yup. Still here.

2010-09-25T03:28:00.003+10:00

Yeah; I'm still up.

2010-09-25T03:17:00.000+10:00

It's a quarter past three or something, now; and I'm watching stuff like this:

Yeah. How about that?

Bleah

2010-09-25T01:23:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure whether I took a dose of sudafed too late in the afternoon, today; or if I just haven't burned enough energy; but either way, I can't sleep.

I'm listening to SomaFM Lush and cleaning up random internets stuff. Catching up on comics, &c.

*sigh* How boring.

Tomorrow is the AFL Grand Final. Go the wossnames. Rah rah rah.

Ooh! Imogen Heap on the radio! I am partial to Imogen Heap, tis true.

She's wacky-lookin' and I like her voice and her tunes. So there.

Can't sleep; dreams will eat me.

2010-09-21T05:11:00.000+10:00

I'm quite unwell, at the moment; and I couldn't sleep tonight, on account of the fever-dreams. They weren't scary - just weird. So I got up at 04:25, because I figured my day isn't going to get any worse for 50 minutes' less sleep.

This video is both long, and interesting. Todd Weinberger interviewing Ami James in the Sixth & I Synagogue about being Jewish and having tattoos. Todd is the Creative Director at Inked magazine, and Ami is, of course, the owner of the famous shop in Miami Ink, and was born and raised in Israel.

I bought new darts, which arrived yesterday. I threw a few last night, after Delia and I came home from seeing Despicable Me (which was very good).

I'm rambling because I'm sick. Bleh.

Bleeurrrrgh

2010-09-14T07:20:00.003+10:00

I am on an emotional rollercoaster.

Please God, make it stop.

My holiday from the internets continues

2010-09-09T06:11:00.001+10:00

I still haven't caught up on webcomics or blogs. Between busy at work, busy at home and busy being out all bombed and drinking (spot that quote); I just don't have much time for a virtual life.

I've been loving Audiograbber, though. I'm pulling out CD's I didn't remember I had! Morrissey has been copping a fair flogging, recently. Cyndi Lauper scored a spin, yesterday. Bush (remember Bush!), Heather Nova (I'll bet you don't remember Heather Nova), Cornershop, Kula Shaker (!!!!!). Yeah, I'm digitising some daggy, 90's pop.

I really do need to go out and buy me the Scott Pilgrom soundtrack, because I have been bopping along to this one, since the movie released. My brother tells me he bought the Metric album and it ...

... isn't great. You never know, though; his standards are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay higher than mine. Anyway: enjoy the pops, peeps.

Yeah; you're welcome.

I am inutterably bored.

2010-09-03T12:17:00.000+10:00

Of course, you realise; this means I can't talk about it.

Ha ha haaa! Literal!

I had a holiday from the internets ...

2010-09-02T12:22:00.000+10:00

... and it continues, really. I haven't caught up on webcomics, at all. I haven't caught up on anyone's blog - not even food blog's. Or Delia's blog! What a slacker.

I propose to do not much about it, until later. I don't know when.

On the subject of waiting for things, First Dog on the Moon has done it again. He is a legend. Go join up for the Crikey online paper, all you people. It doesn't cost much, it's informative, and there is First Dog there:

Many years have passed ...

2010-09-01T22:43:00.000+10:00

... but when I hear a song from Counting Crows - August and Everything After, I still feel heavy in my heart.

I never should have been there.

Sweet album, though.

Ha ha haaa! Regrets.

How about that?

2010-09-01T22:29:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure this will surprise you, unless you know me well enough to know what I'm like about music, but not well enough to know how busy I am ...

... I have just gotten around to downloading Audiograbber, so I can rip some of my favourite CD's to mp3.

Yeah, it's only been about seven years since I ripped a CD for myself. I have purchased dozens and dozens and dozens of CD's in that time ... and haven't had them on mp3. Unless I've asked Vroenis to rip them for me. What a slacker.

Anyway, there you go. CD currently in the ripper: Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Ha ha haaa! Junkies.

Random thoughts that go through my head, while I'm sitting at my desk

2010-08-31T10:01:00.003+10:00

I need to read The Iliad again. I miss Odysseus.

Ha ha haaa! Random.

I have had a holiday from the internets ...

2010-08-26T12:14:00.000+10:00

... but I'm back now. And boy-howdy, I have a lot of webcomics to catch up on.

Anyway, First Dog on the Moon from Crikey is a genius. Look:

I told you so.

Ha ha haaa! Medallion.

A non-specific sort of grumpiness ...

2010-07-31T10:17:00.000+10:00

I have many sorts of grumpy. It's like anything you become good at, in life; you begin to notice the subtleties. Drink enough wine, you begin to taste the different between a Cab Shiraz and a Cab Shiraz Merlot. Grump enough, and you begin to notice the difference between a I Had to Give My Ice-Cream to Someone Else Grump and a I Didn't Want That Ice-Cream But I Just Don't Like the Person I Had to Give It To Grump ...

... I haven't been giving away ice-cream.

I don't know why I'm grumpy. I just am.

Now go away. The lot of you.

Suppose I never, ever met you. Suppose we never fell in love.

2010-07-27T09:11:00.000+10:00

The title has nothing to do with my post; it's just that the song is playing and I couldn't think of a title, so I typed what I was hearing at the time. What-EVerrrr.

I received an SMS from Metro a couple of minutes ago (around 08:45) to tell me that the 07:00 train wouldn't be running. I guess the power outage took out their phone services as well ...

... it's a good thing for me that I'm still on holidays, but spare a thought for poor Delia.

My family came back from Italy, yesterday. They're all raving about the food and the weather and shopping and the driving and the beaches and the cities and the autostrada and yeah ... you get the idea. I'm spending the day with my brother, today. We're just going to run a whole heap of errands that he needs to get done before he goes back to work. We'll have breakfast at my favorite local spot first, though.

Incidentally, if you're at all interested in reading incredibly talented poetry and prose, you should click on that link for my brother. I'm a verbose person, but I would have to sit here for a good quarter-hour just to work out the words to describe his work ... and I don't have the time. Just read it. Blow yourself away.

Oh! I just received the Metro SMS to tell me that the 07:12 train won't run (it's 08:57).

In food news, Adam won Masterchef ... AS IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW ... and I learned to bake cookies. I just had a craving for them, the other day, and decided that I'd learn how to make them. It wasn't hard. I read a dozen recipes online and worked out a set of ingredient ratios that seems to work very well. I cruised out to USA Foods with Glitters and the Cherub yesterday, and I scored a bag of Hershey's Cinnamon Choc Chips. These make MAD cookies. I threw together a batch of batter with mostly plain white flour, a spot of self-raising for soft centres, some cocoa for colour, some continental flour for texture, a little brown sugar and, of course, the cinnamon chips. They are totally wicked cookies. I didn't take all the process photos and things that Delia usually does when I cook ... and she wasn't there ... and my family ate them all when they came back from the airport. So you don't get to see them. No big deal: I'm sure I'll make something similar again, soon. I love my rhino-shaped cookie cutter. Hee!

Anyway, Vroenis is going to be here any minute so I'm signing off.

Good catching up with you.

Ha ha haaa! Fourth wall.

Grrr

2010-07-21T22:05:00.000+10:00

I'm tired, I'm grumpy and I'm having trouble forgiving someone.

I'm going to watch Masterchef online.

*bleah*

Sketchbook Project Thingy ... I am TOTALLY onto this ...

2010-07-20T17:51:00.000+10:00

... ummm.

The lovely Amiriche found this mad sketchbook project thingy where they post you a small Moleskine sketchbook and you fill it with arty stuff and send it back and they scan it and put it online and file the physical sketchbook in a gallery in the States and it's all very post-post-modern and über-über-cool.

Delia explains it much better than I do.

So yeah. My sketchbook has arrived. My chosen theme is "I'm a scavenger". I reckon I'll start grunging the book up, tomorrow.

If you're all very good, I'll take a few crappy-phone-photos of what I do to this poor book and post them here ...

... but you'll all have to behave and sit up really straight.

Boss Contact Diary Day 17

2010-07-20T17:30:00.000+10:00

The day count was messed somewhere along the line, so I'm correcting it here:

Day 1: Once
Day 3: Twice
Day 9: Twice
Day 10: Twice
Day 11: Once & left a message for me to call him back, though I'm not going to until tomorrow.
Day 12: Twice
Day 16: Twice
Day 17: I went into the office for what was meant to be 3 quick hours, ended up working just over 4, and since I left, he's called once more.

Running total of calls from my boss in the first 17 days of what will be 43 days of holidays: 13 and 4 hours' work.

Watch this space ...

Adventures in fried bread continue

2010-07-18T10:49:00.000+10:00

So this morning I rose early and cooked this crumpet recipe.

I just punched "crumpet recipe" into Google, opened the first half-dozen results in tabs and ended up keeping this one.

The crumpets rocked. It took me a little while to nail down the mixture viscosity, how thick to pour the mix; and how long to cook each side. In the end though, they worked out just great. The A-Bay set gobbled them up and showed much love; so I'm happy.

If you keep an eye on Delia's blog, I'm sure she'll probably post some of those unreal food-pr0n photos that she takes. So talented; my girl.

To the airport/train station/caravan park in Copenhagen:

2010-07-18T07:47:00.002+10:00

When people commit to doing things on bicycles, sometimes they really do commit.

Oh, I like this one ... and I DISLIKE her!

2010-07-15T21:14:00.000+10:00

I hear Chamois loves cows ...

2010-07-15T20:47:00.000+10:00

Basement Cat ownzez you ...

2010-07-15T20:30:00.000+10:00

I am just posting random stuff, now

2010-07-15T20:22:00.002+10:00

Boss Contact Diary Day 14

2010-07-15T19:01:00.000+10:00

Day 1: Once
Day 3: Twice
Day 10: Twice
Day 11: Twice
Day 13: Once & left a message for me to call him back, though I'm not going to until tomorrow.
Day 14: Twice

Embedded Video - just because I know I can, now:

2010-07-14T23:44:00.001+10:00

Yes, I really do like Regina Spektor.

I'm going to bed now.

Good night.

PS. REALLY cute photos of Delia that I found on my phone, just went up on my facebook. But ssshhhh, don't tell her ...

Just because it's playing ...

2010-07-14T21:41:00.000+10:00

Loquat - Slow, Fast, Wait & See

I think it's my favorite Loquat song ever. I would've linked to a YouTube clip, but I couldn't find one.

I can't even remember how I got onto Loquat, but I remember that when I found their album at Amoeba Records in San Francisco for US$4.95 I actually made that squeaky "Eee!" noise that small creatures make in cartoons.

Ha ha haaa! Gerbils.

Boss Contact Diary Day 12

2010-07-14T21:34:00.000+10:00

Day 1: Once
Day 3: Twice
Day 10: Twice
Day 11: Twice
Day 13: Once & left a message for me to call him back, though I'm not going to until tomorrow.

Embedded YouTube Video Test

2010-07-14T19:09:00.001+10:00

Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be

2010-07-14T18:05:00.001+10:00

This stuff is scary, and to my mind, quite plausible ...

Link here shows source and just in case it moves or dies; text follows:

It’s one of the great assumptions underlying modern democracy that an informed citizenry is preferable to an uninformed one. “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789. This notion, carried down through the years, underlies everything from humble political pamphlets to presidential debates to the very notion of a free press. Mankind may be crooked timber, as Kant put it, uniquely susceptible to ignorance and misinformation, but it’s an article of faith that knowledge is the best remedy. If people are furnished with the facts, they will be clearer thinkers and better citizens. If they are ignorant, facts will enlighten them. If they are mistaken, facts will set them straight.

In the end, truth will out. Won’t it?

Maybe not. Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.

This bodes ill for a democracy, because most voters — the people making decisions about how the country runs — aren’t blank slates. They already have beliefs, and a set of facts lodged in their minds. The problem is that sometimes the things they think they know are objectively, provably false. And in the presence of the correct information, such people react very, very differently than the merely uninformed. Instead of changing their minds to reflect the correct information, they can entrench themselves even deeper.

“The general idea is that it’s absolutely threatening to admit you’re wrong,” says political scientist Brendan Nyhan, the lead researcher on the Michigan study. The phenomenon — known as “backfire” — is “a natural defense mechanism to avoid that cognitive dissonance.”

These findings open a long-running argument about the political ignorance of American citizens to broader questions about the interplay between the nature of human intelligence and our democratic ideals. Most of us like to believe that our opinions have been formed over time by careful, rational consideration of facts and ideas, and that the decisions based on those opinions, therefore, have the ring of soundness and intelligence. In reality, we often base our opinions on ourbeliefs, which can have an uneasy relationship with facts. And rather than facts driving beliefs, our beliefs can dictate the facts we chose to accept. They can cause us to twist facts so they fit better with our preconceived notions. Worst of all, they can lead us to uncritically accept bad information just because it reinforces our beliefs. This reinforcement makes us more confident we’re right, and even less likely to listen to any new information. And then we vote.

This effect is only heightened by the information glut, which offers — alongside an unprecedented amount of good information — endless rumors, misinformation, and questionable variations on the truth. In other words, it’s never been easier for people to be wrong, and at the same time feel more certain that they’re right.

“Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be,” read a recent Onion headline. Like the best satire, this nasty little gem elicits a laugh, which is then promptly muffled by the queasy feeling of recognition. The last five decades of political science have definitively established that most modern-day Americans lack even a basic understanding of how their country works. In 1996, Princeton University’s Larry M. Bartels argued, “the political ignorance of the American voter is one of the best documented data in political science.”

On its own, this might not be a problem: People ignorant of the facts could simply choose not to vote. But instead, it appears that misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions. A striking recent example was a study done in the year 2000, led by James Kuklinski of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He led an influential experiment in which more than 1,000 Illinois residents were asked questions about welfare — the percentage of the federal budget spent on welfare, the number of people enrolled in the program, the percentage of enrollees who are black, and the average payout. More than half indicated that they were confident that their answers were correct — but in fact only 3 percent of the people got more than half of the questions right. Perhaps more disturbingly, the ones who were the mostconfident they were right were by and large the ones who knew the least about the topic. (Most of these participants expressed views that suggested a strong antiwelfare bias.)

Studies by other researchers have observed similar phenomena when addressing education, health care reform, immigration, affirmative action, gun control, and other issues that tend to attract strong partisan opinion. Kuklinski calls this sort of response the “I know I’m right” syndrome, and considers it a “potentially formidable problem” in a democratic system. “It implies not only that most people will resist correcting their factual beliefs,” he wrote, “but also that the very people who most need to correct them will be least likely to do so.”

What’s going on? How can we have things so wrong, and be so sure that we’re right? Part of the answer lies in the way our brains are wired. Generally, people tend to seek consistency. There is a substantial body of psychological research showing that people tend to interpret information with an eye toward reinforcing their preexisting views. If we believe something about the world, we are more likely to passively accept as truth any information that confirms our beliefs, and actively dismiss information that doesn’t. This is known as “motivated reasoning.” Whether or not the consistent information is accurate, we might accept it as fact, as confirmation of our beliefs. This makes us more confident in said beliefs, and even less likely to entertain facts that contradict them.

New research, published in the journal Political Behavior last month, suggests that once those facts — or “facts” — are internalized, they are very difficult to budge. In 2005, amid the strident calls for better media fact-checking in the wake of the Iraq war, Michigan’s Nyhan and a colleague devised an experiment in which participants were given mock news stories, each of which contained a provably false, though nonetheless widespread, claim made by a political figure: that there were WMDs found in Iraq (there weren’t), that the Bush tax cuts increased government revenues (revenues actually fell), and that the Bush administration imposed a total ban on stem cell research (only certain federal funding was restricted). Nyhan inserted a clear, direct correction after each piece of misinformation, and then measured the study participants to see if the correction took.

For the most part, it didn’t. The participants who self-identified as conservative believed the misinformation on WMD and taxes even more strongly after being given the correction. With those two issues, the more strongly the participant cared about the topic — a factor known as salience — the stronger the backfire. The effect was slightly different on self-identified liberals: When they read corrected stories about stem cells, the corrections didn’t backfire, but the readers did still ignore the inconvenient fact that the Bush administration’s restrictions weren’t total.

It’s unclear what is driving the behavior — it could range from simple defensiveness, to people working harder to defend their initial beliefs — but as Nyhan dryly put it, “It’s hard to be optimistic about the effectiveness of fact-checking.”

It would be reassuring to think that political scientists and psychologists have come up with a way to counter this problem, but that would be getting ahead of ourselves. The persistence of political misperceptions remains a young field of inquiry. “It’s very much up in the air,” says Nyhan.

But researchers are working on it. One avenue may involve self-esteem. Nyhan worked on one study in which he showed that people who were given a self-affirmation exercise were more likely to consider new information than people who had not. In other words, if you feel good about yourself, you’ll listen — and if you feel insecure or threatened, you won’t. This would also explain why demagogues benefit from keeping people agitated. The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are.

There are also some cases where directness works. Kuklinski’s welfare study suggested that people will actually update their beliefs if you hit them “between the eyes” with bluntly presented, objective facts that contradict their preconceived ideas. He asked one group of participants what percentage of its budget they believed the federal government spent on welfare, and what percentage they believed the government should spend. Another group was given the same questions, but the second group was immediately told the correct percentage the government spends on welfare (1 percent). They were then asked, with that in mind, what the government should spend. Regardless of how wrong they had been before receiving the information, the second group indeed adjusted their answer to reflect the correct fact.

Kuklinski’s study, however, involved people getting information directly from researchers in a highly interactive way. When Nyhan attempted to deliver the correction in a more real-world fashion, via a news article, it backfired. Even if people do accept the new information, it might not stick over the long term, or it may just have no effect on their opinions. In 2007 John Sides of George Washington University and Jack Citrin of the University of California at Berkeley studied whether providing misled people with correct information about the proportion of immigrants in the US population would affect their views on immigration. It did not.

And if you harbor the notion — popular on both sides of the aisle — that the solution is more education and a higher level of political sophistication in voters overall, well, that’s a start, but not the solution. A 2006 study by Charles Taber and Milton Lodge at Stony Brook University showed that politically sophisticated thinkers were even less open to new information than less sophisticated types. These people may be factually right about 90 percent of things, but their confidence makes it nearly impossible to correct the 10 percent on which they’re totally wrong. Taber and Lodge found this alarming, because engaged, sophisticated thinkers are “the very folks on whom democratic theory relies most heavily.”

In an ideal world, citizens would be able to maintain constant vigilance, monitoring both the information they receive and the way their brains are processing it. But keeping atop the news takes time and effort. And relentless self-questioning, as centuries of philosophers have shown, can be exhausting. Our brains are designed to create cognitive shortcuts — inference, intuition, and so forth — to avoid precisely that sort of discomfort while coping with the rush of information we receive on a daily basis. Without those shortcuts, few things would ever get done. Unfortunately, with them, we’re easily suckered by political falsehoods.

Nyhan ultimately recommends a supply-side approach. Instead of focusing on citizens and consumers of misinformation, he suggests looking at the sources. If you increase the “reputational costs” of peddling bad info, he suggests, you might discourage people from doing it so often. “So if you go on ‘Meet the Press’ and you get hammered for saying something misleading,” he says, “you’d think twice before you go and do it again.”

Unfortunately, this shame-based solution may be as implausible as it is sensible. Fast-talking political pundits have ascended to the realm of highly lucrative popular entertainment, while professional fact-checking operations languish in the dungeons of wonkery. Getting a politician or pundit to argue straight-faced that George W. Bush ordered 9/11, or that Barack Obama is the culmination of a five-decade plot by the government of Kenya to destroy the United States — that’s easy. Getting him to register shame? That isn’t.

Joe Keohane is a writer in New York.

WARNING: Slightly serious post - do not read unless a slightly serious person

2010-07-12T18:08:00.001+10:00

So my Crikey Daily Mail delivered an article to me, today; that I took extra-special notice of, since I was discussing government aid and related official generosity with my cousins, just the other night.

Article here. If it says you have to log in to read it, just join up on the 21-day free trial ... or go read a webcomic, instead: you'll receive no judgement from this little black pudding.

Ha ha haaa! Bloods.

Boss Contact Diary Day 10

2010-07-12T17:11:00.000+10:00

Day 1: Once
Day 3: Twice
Day 10: Twice (he went a whole week: I'm impressed)

A double rainbow ...

2010-07-12T16:59:00.001+10:00

I'm on holidays. These things amuse me, now.

Funny, and quite accurate ...

2010-07-12T10:46:00.000+10:00

... in a simplified humour sort of way. I like it:

It's probably been around forever ...

2010-07-12T10:42:00.000+10:00

... but I don't remember ever seeing this map before. I did laugh. Out loud and everything. Oh yeah.

Serenity Rose - A Bucket of Whimsical Awesome

2010-07-09T09:34:00.002+10:00

So way back in the aforementioned day, when I collected comics, I bought a debut called Serenity Rose, which was all sorts of awesome to my "everything is cute!" mentality.

I know that the artist was putting the comic up online, as well as selling it on paper, from the start, but I just thought to check out the website again, and I have to tell you, I've been totally sucked back into the comic.

If you have time on your hands and like cute, dark things, go here: http://www.heartshapedskull.com and enjoy.

For science geeks AND Mallrats fans ... how many are both?

2010-07-09T08:27:00.000+10:00

Another winner from Scenes from a Multiverse:

I no longer have any idea of the implications of this ...

2010-07-09T08:18:00.001+10:00

I haven't collected comics in years, but I was a big fan of the Sandman, back in the day.

Apparently Death of the Endless is crossing over into the DC Universe for a story.

I can't say it really affects me one way or the other. If anyone's interested enough to read the story, it's here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=27068

I'm just down with the art:

Randy Milholland is a LEGEND

2010-07-09T08:07:00.000+10:00

I always read the little line of text Randy puts at the bottom of his comics, and today he pointed to Scenes from a Multiverse, which is a newish comic and ABSOLUTELY GENIUS!!!

This is my favorite, so far:

Dear Diary ...

2010-07-07T22:54:00.001+10:00

Today I went and painted walls at Tom & Louise's house. It was fun. Except for all the things that went a bit sideways. Hopefully next week's session will work out a bit smoother, for all the work we did, today.

Last night, I cooked roti, for the first time. They turned out well, especially for a first try. I need some ghee. My whole house still smells like burnt dairy-soft.

Tomorrow, I will hang out with the cherub again, all day. We will go to Williamstown and do some shopping, I think. I need supplies, for more adventures in fried bread.

I believe that I will try crumpets, very soon.

I am very tired now, and instead of sleeping, I have spent the last fifteen minutes messing around with the format and background image of this blog.

Ha ha haaa! Distractions.

My girl is wicked-smart < /southy >

2010-07-06T14:26:00.001+10:00

Delia takes mad photos for a cute chick toting an iPhone camera ...

Things I eat when I'm able ...

2010-07-06T14:15:00.000+10:00

So this is my lunch, today:

It is mostly natural yoghurt, with toasted muesli, peach slices in syrup, sour-cherries in syrup and grenadine molasses layered in for texture and flavour.

It is NOT healthy. It might sound healthy, if you read that list quickly; but it isn't. Not even.

Ha ha haaa! Molasses.

Two things I love, at once:

2010-07-06T11:27:00.000+10:00

I love Alice in Wonderland.

I love tattoos.

Cha-ching!

Boss Contact Diary Day 4

2010-07-06T09:32:00.000+10:00

Oh yeah, and I've decided to keep a record of how many times my Boss calls me while I'm on holidays:

Day 1: Once
Day 3: Twice

This list will grow, you watch ...

Six weeks to remedy the disorder ...

2010-07-06T09:30:00.000+10:00

So I have six weeks off work, starting yesterday.

I resigned, in the end; but my Managing Director made a couple of offers, the last of which I took.

I'm on six weeks' leave, three of which are paid, at my new, higher pay-rate, which is 20% more than my old pay-rate.

When I get back to work, a few things change around the office which should make me happier to stay.

In December, I can review my decision again. If I decide I want to be a baker, my Managing Director has promised to make a couple of phone calls for me; which, when you consider that we have one of the larger Western-district bakers as a client, is not anything to be sneezed at.

So now all that remains is for me to get my life back into some semblance of order, after the complete shambles it has become, wholly due my inattention, over the last month or two.

1. One of best mates has gone a couple of months without an explanation as to why I haven't been talking to him.

2. My toilet has been slowly and steadily leaking from the water supply, and while I thought this wasn't doing a lot of harm, yesterday, water started coming through the ceiling downstairs ... yeah, I just called a plumber.

3. I have a LOT of study to catch up on.

4. I have a LOT of reading to catch up on - including internet reading.

5. My blog and other online pursuits have been woefully ignored.

Add to the above neglected things all of the stuff that I've wanted to get done (Baking, Guitar Hero, reviewing & rewiring the stereo/multimedia systems, getting the bikes back on the road, brewing, etc) during this holiday, and the only conclusion is that there will be no sleeping in.

It's a good thing I'm not in love with sleep, yeah?

I've been so busy at work, that I've managed to make six weeks of stuff for me to do when I'm on holidays.

Ha ha haaa! Irony?

Decisions, decisions ...

2010-06-11T08:21:00.000+10:00

So I'm considering an offer from my boss to stay on.

It's a good offer. Worth considering.

It means I don't get to be a baker ... or whatever, for a bit longer, though. Like maybe forever.

Hmmm ...

I guess I can always bake in my spare time, like I do now.

And I will be making some more money ... which is not to be sneezed at; despite the weather.

Decisions, decisions.

I Heart Newport Youth

2010-06-06T08:19:00.000+10:00

So I'm speaking at the Searching Issues session thing, this morning, and I'm up early, rereading emails from other leaders and going over the kids' questions and like that.

I love teaching, but I always end up facing the same question in my preparations: do you give people the bare, objective facts; without decoration - which tend to be very dry and you end up splitting hairs and defining things a lot - but at the end, your students have close to all of the knowledge they need to make interpretations and determine applications for themselves ...

or do you cut all of that out, and just tell them what YOU think is the interpretation and the application, which is interesting, and holds people's attention, and gives them something to disagree with and think about and chew over ...

... or do you hit a middle-ground in between.

And of COURSE you hit a middle ground in between, every time; but I still wonder whether I'm doing too much of my own interpreting and not enough of the dry stuff.

I still wonder whether doing any interpretation for anyone about anything is just the sort of thing that is killing the minds of humans, and their ability to work out anything for themselves at all.

It sometimes feels as though we, as a race, are getting better at sudoku, but worse at life; and I wonder whether it's all the predigested, regurgitated thought that people rely on to form their opinions (on which they base their life decisions) that is doing it.

I sometimes feel as though a few more people need to be dropped into situations where there is no-one to tell them how to read the graph, or filter the data, but where their life is hanging on how they absorb and apply the information. Un-natural-selection-ise some initiative back into the species ...

Of course, this line of thinking completely ignores God's grace for his people and at the end of the day, I will always come back to that: it's His world, after all. They're His people. I just help out sometimes, when He lets me.

*shrugs* You gotta know your place in this world.

Saturday in the Bakery

2010-06-05T14:07:00.000+10:00

Bagels today. They've turned out quite well.

And an experiment in wholemeal & rye fougasse with my Dad's pickled eggplant in the dough. Not sure how that's going to work out; but that's why we call it an experiment, I guess.

Shopping soon.

Burning the Midnight Oil

2010-06-03T23:48:00.000+10:00

Yes, that's right: it was an expression before it was a preachy band with a wacky-dancing lead singer, who was doomed to eventually toe the party line in a government that continues to trample a lot of what he always professed to believe in ...

... I honestly didn't think I had an opinion on the Federal Member for Kingsford Smith until just then.

At least I didn't mention the ... you know ... the stuff in the ceiling cavity ... and the electricity. Yeah. I didn't mention that.

Back to the topic at hand: Amiriche and I are up late working on a job application. For her though; not for me.

And I have Lush on SomaFM playing in the background; which is love.

Anyway, gotta go. We need to submit this application.

Ha ha haaa! Cram.

Oh yeah! (part 2)

2010-06-02T21:51:00.000+10:00

Hi Enthusiastic Hack!!!

Glad you found my blog. I keep trying to subscribe to yours, but it doesn't work, for some reason.

Do you have sort of privacy setting turned on? I don't think I can even link to it ...

I'll try again later, when I'm not feeling so apathetic.

Meh, I say.

2010-06-02T21:48:00.000+10:00

I'm supposed to be doing so many things, right now.

I am doing none of them.

I am quite tired.

I am a little careworn.

My oven is broken.

I left my baking bowl and semolina at Jonny's.

I'm going over there => to look at pictures of people's tattoos.

It is my birthday, today

2010-05-30T09:29:00.002+10:00

Happy birthday to me.

So there.

Quote of the Day

2010-05-28T07:17:00.000+10:00

"I'm almost on a pilgrimage--seeking something to fill the void that I am experiencing--and no one else knows. Certainly the public and the readers of my novels, while they see that void, are not finding the answers in what they are reading. But deep down you are right--I am searching for something that that the world is not giving me."

- Albert Camus

So if you were wondering why you read The Plague and just felt a bit empty inside, it's because Camus was an incredible writer; in that he was able to quite comprehensively communicate what was going on inside of him.

Oh yeah!

2010-05-27T21:23:00.000+10:00

HI MISHY!!! *waves maniacally*

To Do 2

2010-05-27T21:10:00.001+10:00

Add a few things:

1. Totally bake the bread for which Delia emailed me the recipe
2. Totally talk to my tattoo artist about the changes we need to make to his design

3. Learn to play bass

4. Find the right flour to make Indian breads

5. Cook Indian breads

6. Eat Indian breads

Yeah ... I'm tapped out again. I sometimes wish I could have ideas like Amiriche or Delia: they're both genius ideas people.

*sigh*

I do have to admit that I'm a little distracted at the moment. I'm in the middle of a DnD session, after all.

Ha ha haaa! What a geek.

To do list

2010-05-26T23:09:00.000+10:00

Okay, I have delayed going to bed because I have to make a To Do List ...

... on Blogger ...

... because THAT makes sense.

Anyway:

1. Totally bake the bread for which Delia emailed me the recipe
2. Totally talk to my tattoo artist about the changes we need to make to his design
3. TOTALLY stop starting everything I say with the word "totally" because I'M STARTING TO SOUND LIKE KE$HA!!!
4. I like your beard ... AAAAAAAAAAUUUGGHHH!!!!!

RSSssssssssssssssssss

2010-05-26T23:02:00.000+10:00

So yeah, I finally stepped into the twenty-first century and got around to configuring Google Reader ...

... pfffffft! How funny is that phrase? "I finally stepped into the blah blah blaaaaaaah"

It is late.

I am tired.

Buh.

I'm going to bed.

Ha ha haaa! I totally quit my job ...

... and stuff.

Top Five Future Career Choices

2010-05-23T00:41:00.000+10:00

Well well well ...

... it HAS been a while, hasn't it?

So I've been injured (wrecked my back moving a pool table), depressed (low-swing of my bipolar cycle), and making major life-decisions, lately. This has kept my mind off my blog.

The news: I have resigned my current employment, effective 2 July 2010, which leads us to the title of this post.

1. Owner and operator of my own trendy little bakery
2. Paid Youth Minister
3. Editor of interesting Science-Fiction and Fantasy novels
4. Owner of a record store
5. Bass player in an emo band (emo makes the money, and bass players - especially emo bass players - have the least pressure on them to smile for cameras)

Oh, and I am KILLING my left hand on Guitar Hero at the moment.

Ha ha haaa! Hand-cramp.

Saturday morning lie-in

2010-05-01T08:57:00.000+10:00

So I'm just having a lie-in, this morning.

I didn't wake up in time for what I was meant to do, because I came home at 01:30 and decided that instead of going to bed, I was going to watch Speed Racer ...

... yeah, I dunno.

So I can't sleep, because as far as my brain is concerned, we've been at work for 90 minutes; so I'm just lying around.

I need to find a new pair of Redback Barman shoes to wear to a wedding. And a new belt.

I need to go shopping.

I love shopping.

Lock up your credit cards ... or lock up mine.

I'm going to Knifepoint, I think. I'm probably going to have to catch a bus. From Footscray.

I'd better take a book.

Ha ha haaa! Adventure.

Lalalalalalaaaaa ... NEW KEYBOARD!!!

2010-04-29T12:55:00.000+10:00

So I finally and ultimately cracked the sads with my crappy generic keyboard and mouse, here at the office.

I stomped off down to the local MSY, spent $85 of my own hard-earned, and picked up the Logitech MK700 wireless keyboard and mouse.

I'm just going to take a moment to sigh with relief ...

*sigh*

... and now I'm done.

There is no such thing as too much cheese.

2010-04-29T07:56:00.001+10:00

Dinner at Boy K's last night.

He and his lovely wife made pumpkin risotto and apple crumble.

I am going on record now, to the whole world, to say this: Boy K did not put too much cheese in the risotto. As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as too much cheese. The risotto was good. Cheesy AND good.

So there.

In other news, I have picked up a novel for the first time in a couple of months. I had forgotten the pleasure I take in reading science fiction. It is wonderful.

In case you're a fan of the new space opera; the book I am 63 pages into is The Lost Fleet: Dauntless by Jack Campbell. So far it is holding my attention and capturing my fancy just fine. I plan to read the whole series.

I bought this book from Of Science and Swords, which for my money, is the best Sci Fi, Fantasy and Supernatural Fiction store in Melbourne - and has been for years. A great range, and usually way cheaper than places like Borders or Minotaur.

You've been told.

Of Science and Swords also shares an arcade with a Dick Smith store, and most importantly, a tobacconist whose decent-sized humidor holds many cigars from The Dominican Republic, including the fine cigars of the Macanudo Maduro line, which I enjoy so much with a pint or two of stout.

There; you have learned many things about me, just now. Don't you feel educated?

Saturday is so close, I can SMELL it ...

2010-04-28T08:34:00.000+10:00

I haven't had a Saturday off in two-and-a-half months.

I've had four buck's days and four weddings and Easter. This Saturday is the last wedding until late June.

I have a list of things that need to be done.

I have bicycles to attend to.

I have music to rip and transfer to listening devices.

I have several podcasts to catch up with.

I have books to read.

I have study to do.

I have a mountain of laundry.

I have shopping to do, for various and sundry things; both essential and just desirable.

I have lots and lots and LOTS of stuff!

If you're planning to be married and you're thinking of inviting me: consider 2011 for your big day. Or 2012.

Seriously.

Internet cafés and Honeymoons

2010-04-27T08:08:00.000+10:00

Oh, and the lad IM'ed me from a Starbucks in Nooziland. How cute is that?

The Dangling Pudding of Babylon or My Day at Hanging Rock

2010-04-27T08:05:00.001+10:00

It was the ANZAC Day public holiday.

So there was breakfast at the local favorite place of breakfast.

Then there was a gathering of peeps at Casa de Pudding e Delia.

Then there was driving.

Then there was picnicking.

Then there was climbing ... and puffing ... and gasping ... and wheezing.

Then there was scrambling and reaching and scraping and dangling.

Then I was stuck.

Yes; I did that thing where I climb onto a rock from another rock and then a few more rocks; and then I look at how I came up and think, "That may have been the way up, but I do not believe it is the way down."

So that was fun.

In other news, the rest of the crew lost me at one stage and apparently thought the best way to attract me back to them would be to sing Ke$ha ...

... very amusing. Ha. Ha. Ha. I didn't hear them, though. I was stuck on a rock, somewhere else in the park.

I descended safely, in the end. I am not writing this blog from my phone, perched on the top of a rock.

Then we tried to find Macedon and became lost, after missing a turn, because there was a car crash at the the intersection, and we were too busy looking at the casualties to notice the sign.

Then we found Macedon and it was boring.

Then we went to Williamstown for crêpes.

Then we went to Chambers Road for homemade Nandos burgers. God Bless LemonLime - she is amazing. I sliced my hand while cutting a frozen bun. That hurt.

That was my ANZAC Day.

Ha ha haaa! Dear Diary.

Besty married ... check

2010-04-25T23:37:00.000+10:00

So the lad's married and I'm stoked.

I haven't blogged all weekend, because I've been thinking that I should be having some sort of grand thing to say about this.

I can't write a blow-by-blow account of the whole day; right down to what everyone was wearing. I have strong feminine tendencies, but I'm not a complete girl.

I'm not going to post a copy of my speech, which I'm told was good - and I thought it went fairly well. Too private. If you weren't there, you weren't meant to hear it.

I'm usually such a verbose person. I just don't really have anything more to say about it than this:

The lad's married. I'm stoked.

So there.

Mmmphrrrggllp. Geh.

2010-04-24T08:45:00.000+10:00

This morning is Saturday. I am finishing the speech I started yesterday.

Tonight I will deliver it.

I forgot to ask the Maid of Honour what she was putting in her speech.

I need to iron a white shirt with french cuffs.

Maybe Delia will do that for me.

Excuse me a moment ...

... Delia is reading. I don't want to disturb her. I will iron the shirt, myself.

My friend is marrying today. I feel very proud of him. It is a good thing.

It is a very good thing.

Your love your love your love is my drug ... SHUT UP

2010-04-23T15:35:00.002+10:00

Seriously, I need assistance.

In other news; this picture is cute:

And my coffee looks like a weird ghost-panda-monkey:

Help me! I'm drowning in Ke$ha!

2010-04-23T13:07:00.002+10:00

I don't know if everyone has this problem; but when it comes to pop music, my brain does everything it can to like the music that it's listening to, even if it isn't listening by choice.

Our office radio only picks up Fox.

I am drowning in Ke$ha.

I am starting to like Ke$ha.

Ke$ha looks like this:

And sounds like a teenage girl having a musical mobile telephone conversation in a public toilet to the backing of a mid-90's Persian dance compilation tape.

Help me.

Duties and obligations

2010-04-23T07:44:00.000+10:00

This morning I must write the speech of the best man for speeching at the reception of the best friend's wedding.

For this reason, I have nothing to say, unless you want to read a draft of the speech.

And on second thoughts, I am not prepared to publish it.

So there.

Stuff I'd like to do, but can never seem to follow through with

2010-04-22T12:37:00.002+10:00

This is cute.

A morning without panic

2010-04-22T10:29:00.002+10:00

For the first day in quite some days, I'm having a morning at work without panic.

To be sure, I'm busy; but I'm not panicking, and neither is anyone else in here.

It's almost as though I had forgotten what this feels like. Understand, this doesn't meant that I've gone weeks and weeks in panic-mode: it has been more like days and days. Nevertheless, panic had seeped into my bones, and into the underlying processes of my mind. Now it is gone, for at least this morning.

It's nice. I like. I'm not thinking of this afternoon, or of tomorrow.
I'm enjoying this. Now.

Ha ha haaa! Ignorance is bliss.

In Communist Newport, the Agenda has YOU!

2010-04-22T08:14:00.000+10:00

It is really very freeing; the having of no agenda. Where there is no theme, in the blog, there are few rules. Rambling can be anything: from pointless postings of train delays to ranting of socio-political outrages. Furthermore, we must never forget the relevance of hollandaise sauce. I had some on my breakfast. It was weak.

I read an article by Bernard Keane about why Malcolm Turnbull should reconsider retirement, this morning, while waiting for Thunderpants to arrive for breakfast.

I read the article, then I read the comments attached to it. I try to make a point of reading the comments on Crikey, because they tend to veer closer to intelligence than the comments at some other papers, where there are a lot more of both comments & commentators, and people fire up a bit more easily, and with less prior application of brains. Crikey comments tend more towards a balancing discussion with the article's author (with the occasional numpty-spat thrown in). This is all by-the-by.

I found myself thinking, as I waited for my muffins, poached eggs, bacon and (soon-to-be-discovered-as-weak) hollandaise sauce, "Would I vote Liberal, if Malcolm Turnbull stayed on?"

And I wouldn't.

So there you go.

Ha ha haaa! Delayed Transportation.

2010-04-22T06:39:00.003+10:00

I am writing this for no other reason than this: I can.

Ha ha haaa! Drunk on the power.

On a more serious note, my train is delayed. Stupid Metro.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeheheheheheheheeeee!!!

2010-04-21T23:25:00.001+10:00

Go here: http://www.geekytattoos.com/

for stuff like this:

and this:

Witness!

2010-04-21T22:27:00.000+10:00

Watch as many of these as you're able to, if you are at all amused by flashmobs.

Top 10 YouTube Videos About Flash Mobs

I'd like to start now, but Delia is asleep; and I find myself without headphones.

Since we're talking nonsense ...

2010-04-21T20:24:00.003+10:00

I was reading an article on the whole 13-year-old-drops-C-bomb-in-Kick-Ass "controversy", and I came across this:

Real Mums founder Amanda Cox believes film censors have passed the buck to parents, "I think it's a cop-out," she said, "The Government is society's parents; they can't do this stuff and then turn around and blame parents."

Ummm ... yeah. See, the thing is; SHE'S RIGHT! The Government is society's parents. Society begged for the Government to become its parents for years; and the ever-loving Government complied.

The hassle for the poor Government, is that society, having established parents to protect it, nurture it, and teach it right from wrong as it finds its feet in the world ...

... has refused to grow up.

Society is stuck in emo teenager mode.

Society wants all the freedom and none of the responsibility.

Society wants to stay up late, put its feet on the couch, drink Dad's beer, smoke in the house and go out whenever it wants, with whomever it wants, for as long as it wants.

Society does NOT want to be told what to do, when to do it, or whom to do it with. Society doesn't want to hear its parents' advice on whether it should drive at a certain speed, have pre-marital sex, drink Jaeger-bombs on a school-night, or get a job.

But society reserves the right to blame its parents if, through a lack of adequate supervision, it manages to hear the C-bomb on television. Or become emotionally crippled. Or unemployable. Or terminally ill. Or dead.

Give up now, Government. How do you give a wilfully-ignorant, young society everything that they screamingly, tearfully, wilfully want AND keep them safe at the same time?

"Your moostash hairs is in violations ...

2010-04-21T13:46:00.001+10:00

... growin' beyond the corners of your mouth."

1. Go and watch Generation Kill. 7-part series by HBO about the Marines that spearheaded the second Iraq invasion, and the Rolling Stone journo who rode in with them. I am supremely uninterested in how much of it is true, or true-to-life: the series is incredible.

2. Should I shave my moostash hairs off before this weekend's wedding?

Hmmm ... ?

Who is this girl that is bleating on the office radio???

2010-04-21T09:36:00.001+10:00

I can post to my blog from my office email. Oh dear.

So who's this whining bird on the radio carrying on about the way that someone is kissing her in the air or something like that?

Her voice sounds like it's constantly on the edge of cracking. She sounds like she should be red in the face and about to explode. All the time.

She sounds like she's singing in the midst of some sort of high-blood-pressure attack.

How can anyone live like that? How does she do concerts? Is her face wrapped in reinforcing mesh?

Poor child. The things people's mothers make them do for fame and fortune. My heart is bleeding ...

... okay, less than genuine there.

Ha ha haaa! Falsehood.

Picture test ... foo

2010-04-21T08:10:00.000+10:00

Okay, this is just a picture test, but how mad is this photo of that unpronouncable Icelandic volcano?

Hellyeah it's mad. Mad as.

/overenthuse

HA HA HAAA! Addiction.

2010-04-21T07:55:00.000+10:00

Didn't spot the title reference? No? I raise my snobby nose at your pop-culture ignorance and sniff in a supercilious manner at you. It's Phil Ken Sebben from Adult Swim's series Harvey Birdman. Enthusiastic Hack would possibly find it amusing for a little while. Since each ep only runs for about 15 minutes, a little while is really all it takes.

Never mind all that, my lad, I wish to complain about this parrot, which I bought, not half an hour ago, from this very boutique!

Except that I don't. I don't wish to complain about anything.

I wish to confess that my addictive personality has once more come to the fore, and that I have, just this morning, gone for a quick skate around all my mate's blogs and clicked the "Follow" button in a dozen places and now I have ONE MORE THING TO DO WITH MY DAY THAT I DON'T HAVE ANY JOLLY TIME FOR!!!

"Jolly" is my favorite Christian swear word. I have heard it from the pulpit at Richmond Assembly of God, which apparently is now called Bridge Church. It was amusing. I was amused.

I was jolly amused.

My sister says "jolly" and I'm just waiting for the day that my incredibly intelligent two-year-old niece busts one out. I plan to laugh. Loudly. And possibly to shoot either a mouthful of tea or a nostrilful of snot across the room.

Amiriche has a whatsit on her blog that streams all her Twitters onto a sidebar. That looks like fun. Where do I find me one?

Pockets are wonderful things

2010-04-21T06:31:00.002+10:00

I would like to take a moment to praise my pockets, which, when I can't be bothered to carry a bag, hold all of my stuff.

I would not trade them for all the tight hipster jeans in an underage emo gig.

So there.

Late-night, mobile shenanigans.

2010-04-20T22:45:00.003+10:00

I am testing a wonderful device of modern science! It is called email-blogging or something to that effect and if it works, I suspect that it is wonderful.

I send an email to my blog, and it is posted as bloggy goodness. Without me being forced to navigate the treacherous waters of the blogger editing client on my phone, no less. Extraordinary! Capital! Capital!

Oh, and Delia is very cute when she sleeps, btw. And I love rain at night. And I had better sleep if I want to be awake for work in the morning.

How am I meant to tag this beastie?

Bah.

[edited from the office, to make it prettier, and with the tags]

Busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy

2010-04-20T07:30:00.000+10:00

I want to do a good post with the funny and the laughing and witty witty reparteee. Here.

But I'm too busy. LOTS of people are in the office already. Too early.

I did find Delia's blog though. And I'm following it. And Delia is following mine. It is sweet, the way we married peoples are close, even on the internets. Everyone should experience the loves of being internetedly married to the same person they are married to in the house. Everyone.

Wrrrrrrrrrrk! (poo)

PS. I need to learn how to make my blog work with all the clever things of blogs, like words that are links and pictures and music and singing mice and chocolate cake. Oh wait; I just found the button for the linking words. Now I just need the other things.