Balmain, Redfern, First Fleet, and Pretend Julia Gillard

1. Reminded by my new Treasures of Australia book that the Sydney suburb of Balmain was named after a surgeon on the First Fleet.

William Balmain.

Lord Wiki says he delivered the first baby on the First Fleet.  I wonder whatever became of that baby.  Did it survive?  Does it have descendants?

2. Learned that William Balmain ended up getting together with a convict named Margaret Dawson.   They ended up having a child together.

Did I do a post on Dawson?

I can't remember.

I'll go check.

3. Saw that I did do a post on her.

I shall read it and relearn what I learned almost two years ago.

I wonder if I mentioned William Balmain.  

4. Read some of the post and saw that I did mention Balmain.

I also mentioned the fact that Redfern was named after a surgeon as well.

I was thinking before that Balmain had impressed me for some reason; but now I'm remembering that it was Redfern. There was something I liked about the guy, but I can't remember what it was.

5. Consulted Lord Wiki about Redfern.

That surgeon had William as a first name too.  

William Redfern was a convict.

What got him into trouble was being part of a mutiny.

He was a doctor before becoming a convict, and in New South Wales he became a doctor again.

William Redfern spoke up against the sanitary conditions of the ships.  His words were heard and improvements were made.

Lord Wiki says Redfern can be considered one of the fathers of the Australian medical profession.

6. Read article that says there have been huge storms in south-east Queensland.   

It sounds very intense.  I hope people and other animals stay safe. 

7. Read Andrew's distressing post about the mistreatment of chickens.

This is timely for me since I accidentally bought products with egg in it.  

I guess on the plus side, the protein bars probably don't have a lot of eggs.  I think there's a difference between eating an omelet which uses a 2-3 eggs per serving and eating a baked good or other product that uses 1-2 eggs for many servings.

8. Agreed with what Andrew and Anonymous discussed in Andrew's comment section. Anonymous says.

The fact is modern farming practices and thinking have reduced animals to products where the bottom line is the almighty dollar - farmers and corporations want to make high profits and consumers want cheap, plentiful food. To get either, food animals must live appalling lives where terrible cruelty is commonplace and sanctioned at most levels of society.

Andrew replies, You may well be a few months younger than me, but you would remember when chicken was a luxury. It was a luxury because it was expensive. Now it is so cheap, because of the mass production of chicken meat. 

Yeah.  I think meat and other animal products should be expensive.  I don't think everyone needs to be vegetarian.  But I do think meat should be something people have once in awhile, rather than on a regular basis. 

Meat shouldn't be mass produced and cheap.

9. Thought maybe there's a correlation between the obesity issues, that people worry about lately, and factory farming.  People want to pay low prices for huge portions. To keep up with that, there needs to be factory farms.

10. Went to Kevin Rudd's Twitter page.   I thought this Tweet was cute:  The students at the model UN were first class. A few too many future foreign ministers for my liking… I better watch out. KRudd.

11.  Read article about asylum seekers.  It sounds like good news. Although some of it confuses me.  

Some people who come by boat are going to be put into what's called community detention rather than mandatory detention.

Rather than being isolated from the community, they'll live in the community. But they'll be monitored and required to check in with officials.

12. Read the article more closely.  People won't automatically get released into the community.  They'll spend a short time in the detention centers for medical and identity checks.

I wonder how long they'll be in there?  Days? Weeks? Months?

The people released into the community will have what's called a bridging visa.

A human rights advocate named Marion Le worries nothing will change. She's concerned that the bridging visa is just another name for the protection visa.  With the protection visa, sometimes it would take three to four years for people to get one.

Hopefully her suspicions aren't warranted, and people won't get locked up for that long.  

13. Read editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald about the best characters on television.

Only one character is Australian and it's Tim Mathieson from At Home With Julia.  I heard of that, but I didn't know it was an actual show. I thought it was a one time special.

Most of the characters on the list are from American shows.

I don't watch a lot of Australian television, so I don't have much to go by.  But my favorite characters are probably Maggie Beare from Mother and Son and Billy Proudman from Offspring.  

14. Went to the website for At Home With Julia.

I was sort of right.  It was a miniseries—not an ongoing thing.  

15. Started to watch the video clips they have on the website. The actress who plays Julia Gillard does a good job of imitating Gillard's voice.

I laughed a few times during that. The show looks pretty good.

16. Watched more of the show. I'm finding that I agree with the editorial's pick of best character on the show.

17. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read History of Magic: The First Lesson. 

It looks like there's a new professor for that.

I think last semester the class was taught by Professor Rodrigez.

Now we have Edvard Adalwin. 

18. Started to read.

Professor Adalwin is a bit nervous about teaching his first class at the school.

He eats a Bernie Botts bean and gets pumpkin pie.

I think of pumpkin pie as being an American food. I guess because of Thanksgiving.  I wonder if other countries eat it as well.

I peeked at Adalwin's biography.  He's from Norway.

I wonder if Norwegians eat pumpkin pie.

19. Consulted Lord Wiki about the history of pumpkin pie.

It's pretty interesting.

He said pumpkin seeds were first found in Mexico. They made their way to France, and then to England.  The British started using pumpkin as a pie-filler. Then it was brought, by the pilgrims, to America.

20. Went back to reading about the Tally class.

The students are entering the room.

21. Wondered about Reade's line here.

Sure, he was still feeling the lowest he ever had, with the Arti situation hanging over him, but History was his favourite class and it was brightening up his day considerably just thinking about attending it.

So what is the Arti situation now?   This story takes place on October 10. I need to go see when the coma storyline took place.

According to Reade here, is Arti missing?  Does he know she's in the hospital?   Does he know what has happened to her?

22. Went to the coma storyline....or the awakening-from-the-coma story.    

It takes place on October 5.

So by now, Reade should know Arti is in the hospital—unless she's being hidden.

23. Intrigued by the fact that the class is going to be learning Australia history.

Riley's not at all excited about it.

I wish I could trade places with him—well, just for a few hours.    

I'd love to hear about Australian history through the eyes of a wizard.

24. Read Sarah Kent's post.  She's very excited to see Victor Hartwell in the classroom.

That triggered my memory.  Victor's the one who has recently found out he's William Kent's son.   This means he's Sarah's half-brother.

I'm guessing, from her excitement about seeing him, that she knows they're siblings.

Or maybe she doesn't know and adores him as a friend?

25. Finished reading the story thread.

Most of the students are not at all excited about history. The exceptions are Reade and Juli Preston.

26. Wondered what kind of magic was happening in the beginnings of Australia.

Any witches and wizards on The First Fleet?  

Maybe that baby, William Balmain delivered, was a wizard.   Or maybe the intrusion of Muggle medicine in his childbirth messed things up, and the baby became a Squib.  


27. Went to the biography of Mr. Edvard Adalwin.

His face claim is Vincent Furnier, who is also known as Alice Cooper.   I didn't know that. Lord Wiki had to tell me. I'm usually ignorant when it comes to music stuff.

I know of one Alice Cooper song: "Welcome to My Nightmare".



I think,  for some of the Tallygarunga students, they're biggest nightmare is attending history class.

28. Learned that Edvard is in his early sixties.

He's tall.

It sounds like he's a skeleton.   In fact, one won’t find an ounce of fat or muscle on his body.

What is he? Skin and bones?

29. Reminded of myself when I read this.  He loves natures and strolls out through forests and wooded areas but cannot stand humid, stick heat or the frigid, chilling cold. This is why he so often spends his time indoors.

I'm very picky about weather. Anything over 82 degrees is too hot for me, and anything under about 70 degrees is too cold.

30. Liked this detail about Edvard. Also when out on strolls, assuming his attire has pockets, his hands will typically be shoved deep into pockets. 

I think it provides insight into both his appearance and personality.

I'm not sure what it says about his personality though.  What kind of person sticks their hands in their pockets?

Maybe....

My guess is it's someone who's a bit nervous and insecure. They may be trying to hide a part of themselves, in a subconscious way. They also might be holding something in their pocket to give them security.

In the story, Edvard had candy in his pocket.  I wonder if that's usually the case for him.

31. Learned that Edvard has the type of face that makes him look grumpy, but it doesn't match his personality.  He's pleasant and likes to joke around.

32. Reminded strongly of someone I know when I read this line about Edvard.

He can keep his cool around certain company like strangers or pupils, but behind closed doors, if one is disrespectful or overly-insulting with their words, he will not hold back his fury.

Some people are very good at controlling their temper in some situations, but unable to control it in other situations.

33. Started to read Edvard's history.

His mother is a witch but worked at a Muggle department store.

His father made money casting runes.  He would do this for both Muggles and magical folks. The Muggles saw it as mostly entertainment.

34. Learned that, although Durmstrang is the closer and more logical choice of wizarding school for Norwegians, Edvard was sent to Hogwarts. The reason is his parents didn't like the school's association with the dark arts.

35. Learned that Edvard was sorted into Hufflepuff.

He would have started school around 1970.

Who would have been there then?

36. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin about Sirius Black.  He was born in 1959, the same year as Edvard.

So he'd probably be in the same year as a lot of Harry Potter people—Black, James Potter, Lily Potter, Snape, Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

37. Saw that when Edvard finished with Hogwarts, he went to London's Magic University.

He didn't do so well there—too much partying.  He was kicked out. His dad was very angry about that.  He refused to pay for any more of Edvard's education.

Edvard worked instead.   After struggling, he made enough money to pay for his own education.   That's where he learned the history stuff.

38. Intrigued by these lines.

His luck took a turn for the better though in his early forties when at least a teaching position had opened up. The Hogwarts History of Magic professor had grown deathly ill and had to take an extended leave of absence; unfortunately, the professor’s conditions never improved and died a few months later.

I wonder if that's referencing a Harry Potter character.

39. Did the math. That would have been around 1999, and that's after the battle at Hogwarts took place.

It still could be a Harry Potter character though.

Who taught History of Magic?

40. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin again.  The class is the one that's taught by a ghost.  

I'm guessing the ghost wasn't the one who got sick. And it really couldn't have died. 

Maybe someone else was hired to do the job, and then he or she got sick?

41. Did another Australian accent practice video.  I followed the advice of a friend who suggested I try reading nonfiction.  So I read about Broken Hill in my new Treasures of Australia book. 

I think (hope) that this time I sound more Australian and less British. That's not to say I don't love British accents.




42.  Went to the YouTube channel of Stephniijane. 

She's another singer, and has done a lot of videos.

Her profile says she has a degree in zoology and is a wildlife demonstrator.

At the time she wrote the profile, she was living in London as an au pair.  I wonder if she's still doing that.  I also wonder if she liked the job.

43. Listened to Stephniijane sing the Glee version of "Defying Gravity"



It's interesting. I don't think I've ever seen an interesting cover on Glee. I need to check it out.

44. Listened to Glee's version of "Defying Gravity".

It's less interesting than what I hoped for.

It sounds very much like the one in the musical.



45. Thought it would be funny if Stephniijane was simply singing the song wrong, and I'm liking it because it's different.

I think her version sounds different from the Glee version. 

46. Listened to Stephniijane sing Katy Perry's "Firework".



In some parts, her voice sounds good.

Often I can't hear her well over the guitar.

47. Watched Stephniijane do one of her animal demonstrations.

This is with her pet potoroo. I've never heard of that.




She mentions that her most popular video is of her singing Lady Gaga's "Just Dance."  She talks about how she gets mixed reviews.  Some people love it and some people hate it.

I decided I'd watch it and see for myself.



I don't think she has a very powerful voice, but she does have a cute one.

48. Consulted Lord Wiki about the potoroo.

He says there are four types. Two of them are endangered. One of them (Gilbert's Potoroo) is the most endangered animal in Australia.  There's not many of them left.

49. Learned from my Treasures of Australia book that the main streets in Broken Hill are named after minerals.   

I'm looking at it on Google Maps.  

I see Silver City Highway.

There's Argent Street. Is that a mineral?

Lord Wiki says it's a tincture. I wasn't sure what that was; so I asked him.  He said it's a color used on a coat of arms.

50. Saw Galena Street.

Lord Wiki says Galena is the mineral form of lead sulfide.

There's a Gypsum Street.

Gypsum is made of calcium, sulfate, and water. 

Lord Wiki says gypsum is used in the making of tofu. Interesting......

51. Saw that my Australian of the day is John Macquarie Antill.   He's the grandson of the guy I wrote about two days ago: Henry Colden Antill.

Henry worked with Lachlan Macquarie, so I'm guessing that's why John Antill has Macquarie as his middle name.

52. Saw that John Antill did military work.

He won medals for that.

53. Saw that one of Antill's pastimes after retirement was "bowls".   I'm not sure what that means.

He also liked gardening, woodwork, reading, and writing.   He and his daughter wrote a play about William Redfern. It was called The Emancipist.

It's funny to read that since I was thinking about Redfern last night.   

54. Amused because I saw, from IMDb that the woman who plays Julia Gillard in At Home With Julia was one of the stars of The Upside Down Show. 

Her name's Amanda Bishop, and she played Mrs. Foil.   I don't remember her...except maybe vaguely.   It's been a long time since we watched that show.  

55. Saw that Phil Lloyd, the guy who plays Tim Mathieson, is also the writer of the series.  

56. Started to look at more of John Lampard's Flickr photos.

Today I'm going to look at his Spot Food and Film Festival pictures.

It's part of the Australian Film Festival.

Here's their website.  They have a page about the Spot thing.  

57.  Thought  these cupcakes are cute and colorful.  

58. Saw different names on a walk of fame type thing.   Here's one for an actor named Steve Bisley.

Lord Wiki says he was in Mad Max and currently he's on Sea Patrol.  He was also on Water Rats and Sea Rescue.

I really haven't seen any of that stuff. 

59. Saw Claudia Karvan has a circle on the Walk of Fame.  

60. Saw that Peter Garrett was at the festival.

I have to admit, it took me about three seconds to remember who he was.  

But I'm pleased with myself for figuring it out eventually.

61. Continued to watch At Home With Julia.

It has a lot of funny parts.

62. Found article about At Home With Julia.   It's about Tim and Julia having a sex scene involving the Australian flag.   I saw the headlines a few days ago, but didn't pay much attention. It wasn't of interest to me. Now that I've seen the show, I'm interested. 

Some people were offended by the flag thing.   

A spokesman for the show responded.

If it's OK for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don't see why it can't be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love.

Yeah...why not.

63. Read blog post from someone who found the show to be funny but disrespectful.  

Scarlett Harris liked the first two episodes and felt it made Gillard seem more human.  But she pointed out anti-feminist aspects of the program.  

She doubts a show like this would be made about other Prime Ministers. She acknowledges that Rudd and others have been mocked in comedy, but it was about their public lives and not their private ones. 

I don't know.  She might have a point.  There's probably some gender prejudice involved in the motivation behind the show.

But I still like it.

Gillard and Mathieson are portrayed as being kind of buffoons.   But I think they're very sympathetic characters. 

It would be nice if we lived in a world where no one would think twice about a female Prime Minister being in a de facto relationship with a hairdresser.  Someday that will probably be the case.   But I CAN imagine that there's truth behind the show.   It can't be too easy being Mathieson in today's society.   We still cling to the idea that in heterosexual relationships, it's the man who should have the more powerful career.

I imagine it's hard enough for most men to be in a relationship where his partner has more power and money.  I think it would be even more difficult when you're constantly under media scrutiny.

That being said...is the show adding more salt to the wounds?

Maybe?   Or maybe Tim and Julia find it funny.  Do they have the ability to laugh at themselves while watching the show? Or do they feel it goes too far?

Do they even watch it?

64. Decided I personally feel the show isn't disrespectful or cruel.  Why? Because it's actually made me kind of LIKE Julia Gillard.

I don't often give Tim Mathieson a lot of thought, but after seeing the show....I'm liking him too.  

The characters are a bit silly, but they're also very lovely.   

Now instead of seeing Gillard simply as the anti-gay marriage person who stole Kevin Rudd's job, I also see her as the woman wearing a bathrobe who doesn't know her way around Canberra.  

65. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.  

Today's street for me is Victoria Square.

Well, I guess it's not really a street.

Lord Wiki says it's a public square.

66. Learned from Lord Wiki that Victoria Square has a statue of Queen Victoria.

67. Found Victoria Square on Google Maps. 

It looks like there actually is a street called Victoria Square.

It's to the east of the square.

68. Read article from May 2010 about fixing up Victoria Square.

It seems for a long time there has been talk about fixing up the square, but people were slow at making actual plans to do something.

There's a Hilton in/near the square.  The general manager of the hotel, Michael Schmitt feels revitalizing the square will be good for business. He says, Victoria Square at the moment is the centre of the city but not the heart.

I'm not sure if that's true or not; but I think it's a great quote.

69. Went to the Adelaide City Council's page about the redevelopment of the square.

One of their taglines is a bit off to me.  They say, think inside the square.

I'm guessing it's a play on, think outside the box. 

And in that saying , thinking INSIDE the box is a negative.   The whole point of thinking outside the box is to be original.

So what's the point of thinking inside the square. Does it have a meaning? Or did they just like how it sounded?

I think it sounds cute, but I'm not sure if the message works for me.

70. Decided it probably works all right if you don't connect it to think outside the box.   

Self-Indulgence, Mothers, Family Trees, and Famine Food

1. Felt angry and sad when reading The Distant Hours.

One of the themes of the book is people who selfishly hinder the dreams of others.

I hope I never do that to anyone—especially Jack.  

Some relationships add feathers to our wings.  Other relationships add bars to our cages.

Is that a corny metaphor?

Probably.  

2. Had a chance to put my self-righteous stances into practice.

Earlier today, I told Jack I really love how we read our books at bedtime together.  He reads his book.  I read mine.  I love that.

I said I hoped we would do it every night—meaning bedtime should be at a reasonable time so we're not too tired to read.

Well, Jack's been really into playing with Legos tonight.   He wanted to start working on a Harry Potter set.  I warned him there wasn't much time.

Then I thought about how it feels to be really into a project—the dread of having to quit because someone else says you have to.

I went up to Jack and asked him if he would like to skip reading so he can have more Lego time.

He said yes and acted very grateful.

I'm going to read with Mushu instead.  He won't read with me, but he'll sit by me and purr.

3. Went to bed and had some Australian and Blogging related dreams.

In one of them, I find a website that has information about Australians who have Cystic Fibrosis.  One of them is going to be an actress in an upcoming movie. I watch a short documentary about it, and think of linking to it on my blog.   

In the other, Cherie from Waste Not Do Want has a recipe for a tuna fish salad.  It has no tuna fish and she's substituted the mayonnaise with cream cheese.

It might be significant that I hate tuna fish sandwiches, and I have a strong aversion to mayonnaise.   I'm not sure of the meaning behind the dream though.   

4. Prompted by something on Statcounter to find a maybe-clue in my Jessica and Gavin mystery.  On the Australian mining website, there's an interview by a person named named Jessica Burke.   She's interviewing the CEO from a company called Kingsgate Consolidated. His name is Gavin Thomas.

This could be a dead end on a wild goose chase, but I'm thinking I should at least take a look.

I'll do it later.  Maybe.

5. Learned from Jack that Guy Peace won an Emmy.

I didn't know he was nominated.

It turns out he won best supporting actor for a miniseries called Mildred Pierce.  It's with Kate Winslet.



6. Consulted Lord Wiki about the miniseries because I thought Kate Winslet was kind of young to be having a daughter so old.

It turns out Kate Winslet is only twelve years older than the actress who played her daughter (Evan Rachel Wood).   

7. Went to Tallygarunga.

Today I'm going to read the continuation of I Don't Mean To Stare, We don't Have To Breed.

8. Read my first post about that story thread to trigger my memory. That's actually helpful. I think I'll start doing that more often.

The last time I read the thread it was only one post long.   Now two more posts have been added.

So...Frankie is this arrogant actor from a dynasty family.  He's dating a girl named Gemini Chevalier.  Her post is the second one in the thread.

9. Learned Gemini is from California. She feels somewhat out of place in the Australian-accent dominated Tallygarunga.

10. Finished reading the thread.

Frankie is wanting to have sex, and is hoping Gemini will give into him. He's not too patient about the whole thing.

11. Skimmed the biography of Gemini Chevalier, a bit.

Like Maya Arcemene, she's part Veela.   Maya's a 1/2 Veela and Gemini is 1/4.

Also like Maya, she has pyrokinetic powers.  Gemini's biography says it's due to her Veela heritage.   I was wondering if Maya's pyrokinetic powers were Veela-related, but wasn't sure.

Now I know.

12. Consulted Lord Wiki's cousin about Veelas.  I thought I consulted her before.  But I must have not read carefully enough.  She does say that Veelas can throw fire balls. I missed that the last time.  

13. Started to read the biography.  

14. Learned that Gemini's Patronus is a gryphon.  I think that's magical, right?    That's another thing she has in common with Maya.   Maya has a magical creature for her Patronus—a dragon.

I'm not sure if Magical is the best term for these animals.  They're part of the magical world, but do they really possess magical powers?  Then we also can't really call them mythical, because in the Harry Potter universe they're real.

15. Consulted Lord Wiki about gryphons. He says they have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

16. Learned from Lord Wiki that JK Rowling didn't invent the Hippogriff.   It was an already established legendary creature—supposedly the offspring of a horse and gryphon.  

17. Liked this about Gemini. Gerry has no problem mixing her styles and wearing Converse or army boots with a formal dress or a tiara with a singlet and ripped jeans.

I think that's really brave and creative.  I try to be daring sometimes with clothes.   It's hard for me to know whether I look innovative or completely foolish.  I don't think we can know those things until we look at the photo albums five years later.  Then it's either, Well, that looked pretty cool; or it's What the hell was I thinking?

18. Learned that Gemini sometimes sews her own clothes. I definitely admire that.

19. Learned that Gemini plays the guitar. I admire that too.

20. Started to read Gemini's history.

21. Realized Gemini's nickname is Gerry. It's been written that way all along, but I didn't notice until I started reading the history.

Personally I prefer Gemini over Gerry, but that's just me.

22. Learned that Gemini...Gerry....(whatever) was pretty much raised by a single mother. There was a father in the picture; but he was hardly in the picture.  He has a thing for traveling, because he's a gypsy.  

23. Learned that when Gemini was thirteen, she found out she had a half-sister. She was eager to meet the sister, but the sister didn't want to know her.  The rejection was very rough on Gemini, and it led to her and her mom leaving California for Australia.  

24. Saw that Gemini's face claim is Hanna Beth Merjos.   She's a model. Here's a website about her.  

25. Learned that my Australian of the day is Henry Angel. 

He was a convict!

I haven't had many of those.

26. Learned that Henry was born in England in 1791.

He was sentenced to Australia when he was twenty-six.  For what? I don't know.

He went on a ship called Neptune, and arrived in Sydney in May 1818.

Six years later he was part of an expedition.  He went with eight other men, and they discovered the River Murray.

I was wondering why they called it that instead of the Murray River.

Lord Wiki says in South Australia the two words are reversed. It's called River Murray.

That's interesting.

27. Read more from Lord Wiki.   He talks about the expedition too.   It was led by two explorers—Hamilton Hume and William Hovel.  If I'm understanding things right, they found the river near Albany.

Back then though it was neither the Murray River or the River Murray.  It was probably just called, Hey, look there's a river over there!

28. Learned from this website that the Aboriginal name for the river was Millewa.

29. Learned, from Lord Wiki, that when Hume, Hovel, and their crew found the river, Hume named the river Hume. He didn't name it after himself.  He named it in honor of his father.

Six years later, Charles Sturt (the name sake of Sturt house in Tallygarunga) rediscovered the river.  He didn't realize it was already discovered and named, so he gave it the name Murray River.

30. Learned that Henry Angel got a ticket of leave after that adventure.  Then he married the daughter of Mary Wade. Wow!  I think she's the one who's an ancestor of Kevin Rudd.

Yep. Lord Wiki confirms that.

So Henry Angel is related to Kevin Rudd.   I'm not sure how direct the relation is.

31. Wondered about Henry's wife. Her name was Mary Ledwidge.  Yet her father's last name was Brooker and her mother's last name was Wade. Why wouldn't she have her father's last name?

32. Tried to find answers on the Mary Wade Family tree site.   

It's not easy.

33. Read the Australian Dictionary of Biography more closely.   I missed something important.   Mary Ledwidge was a widow.  That's why she had that last name. Originally her last name was Brooker.

I feel much better now.

34. Explored the family tree more.  I'm trying to see if Henry and Mary produced Kevin Rudd's direct ancestors.

They had two kids, but one of them died at the age of two.

The other married a Charles Malcolm Inglis.

35. Struggled more with the family tree.  It's hard because I can't see all of it. I don't know if there's some kind of glitch, it doesn't work with my browser, or you have to be a member to see the whole thing.

Or I might simply be doing something wrong.

36. Saw that Mary Wade's daughter (the one that married Henry Angel) was married TWICE before she married Henry.

When she was sixteen, she married John Hart.  He died two years after they married.

Then she married Christopher Ledwidge. He died about a year after they married.

I'm trying not to be suspicious here. Maybe it wasn't unusual to have your spouse die young in those days.

37. Decided to give up on the family tree.

38. Went back to reading the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

They say that Mary Angel gave birth to sixteen of Henry's children.  She also had two children from her first marriage.

When she died in 1890, she left ninety grandchildren and forty great-grandchildren.  By now, there must be tons of descendants. And that's only one line of the Mary Wade family tree.

I think there're probably a lot of Australians who are related to Kevin Rudd.

39. Decided to take my mind off the family tree by reading the Gavin and Jessica mining interview.  

40. Found the website for Kingsgate Consolidated Limited.  

They do gold mining.

Here's their profile of Gavin Thomas.  He's the CEO. One of his exciting accomplishments was discovering a gold deposit in Papua New Guinea.

41. Got mail from Australia!!!!!

I'm so excited!

It's a CD from Jayne from Gleeful.  It's full of Australian music. VERY COOL.

And the envelope has koala stamps!   

41. Heard bits and pieces of the songs as I labeled them on iTunes.  So far I'm loving what I hear which is unusual for me.  I rarely like songs immediately.

Maybe Jayne is one of my music soulmates.

42. Went back to Gavin and Jessica.

I was wondering about Jessica? Who is she?

I'm thinking she works for the Australian  Mining website?  

43. Watched a little bit of the video of the interview. For the most part I'm going to read the transcript though.

But anyway....

Gavin Thomas reminds me a bit of that actor. What's his name?   He's the one in Jurassic Park.

44. Remembered the actor. Richard Attenborough.

45. Started to read the interview.

Gavin is a geologist and his mother was a geologist.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's it was hard to find a mining job.  He ended up being a field assistant in Papua New Guinea.  He loved it there and stayed for a long time.

46. Read that Gavin thinks that miners receive more respect these days than they did in the past.

I don't know enough to argue with him.  I'll take his word for it.

47. Lost my respect for Gavin when I read that he said this.

Every person who thinks their mother isn’t s hero, isn’t a human being as far as I’m concerned.

Narrow-minded attitudes like that make my blood boil.


What about people who grew up with abusive mothers?  Why should they see their mother as heroes?

There's probably a ton of people out there with bad mothers, but the one that comes to my mind is a fictional one.  Rose Pickle.  Her mother was awful—drunk all the time and sleeping around. Should she really see her mother as a hero?

I don't know. I guess it's how you define hero. Maybe for Gavin Thomas all you need to do is go through childbirth (or sign adoption papers) and you're a hero.  

48. Started to listen to the Jayne CD.

I'm going to listen to more as I look at plants later.

I like listening to music while I look at photos.  

49.  Watched a video of an Australian guy doing back flips all over Europe.   It's pretty amazing.



His name is Tim. He's  17.  His thing is tricking.  What is that?  Magic?

50. Started to watch one of his tricking videos.  Maybe that will enlighten me.



It seems to be some kind of gymnastics thing.

I'm impressed.

As a child, I couldn't even manage a cartwheel.

51. Learned from Lord Wiki that tricking is connected to martial arts. 

There's a big Trickster community on YouTube.

I love learning new things like this.

52. Looked at massive DK cinema book with Jack.  We saw a few photos from Australian movies—Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee, The Year of Living Dangerously.  

I was reminded that Peter Weir directed Witness.

It's so weird though.  I had no idea we had that book, and I don't remember where we got it.  Did we buy it?  Get it as a gift?  Inherit it?

53. Started to get more plant education from Arthur Chapman's photos.  

And I'm also listening to Jayne's music.

54. Liked this photo of Button Everlasting Daisies.  

Lord Wiki says the Latin name of this flower changed in 2008.   It used to be called Helichrysum Scorpiodes.   Now it's called Coroindium Scorpiodes.  I wonder if the scorp is related to the scorp in scorpion.  Is scorpion a Latin word?

55. Learned from this etymology dictionary that the word scorpion comes from the Latin word scorpionem.

56. Wondered why Latin words are italicized.  

57. Liked this photo of the Trailing Guinea Flower.

58. Thought these flowers looked like purple poodles.  

59. Thought these Broad-Leaved Drumsticks looked interesting.  

The Australian government has a page on them on their website.  They say the flowers are related to Banksias.   That's one of the May Gibb flowers, I believe.  

60. Reminded by Lord Wiki that May Gibbs had Banksia Men.  They're the villains in the book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. 

61. Consulted Lord Wiki about Morinda citrifolia.  

It has a variety of common names including Indian Mulberry, dog dumpling, kumudu, beach mulberry, and cheese fruit.

Arthur Chapman uses the cheese fruit term.

Lord Wiki says the plant is native to South East Asia and Australasia.   Now it's cultivated in many tropical areas.

62. Learned the fruit has a bad smell....I guess like smelly cheese.   And some people call it Vomit Fruit.   Yuck!

It reminds me of the Durian. I've never eaten a Durian, but I've tasted Durian ice-cream. It tasted kind of cheesy.

63. Learned that the Cheese fruit is a famine food.

Lord Wiki explained to me that this is a food people eat during hard times. It's associated with starvation and poverty.  I guess other foods in that category would be potatoes and cabbage.

64. Reminded by Lord Wiki that lobster used to be seen as a poverty food.

I remember learning that in the past and thinking it was quite fascinating.

65. Saw that Lord Wiki doesn't list cabbage and potato as poverty foods. I guess maybe because they're eaten all the time? I think maybe famine foods are ones that people usually avoid eating when there's no famine.

66. Saw a picture of the inside of the Cheese fruit.  

67. Read article about the lobster thing.

It's amazing.

Before the 1880's, it was seen as an almost shameful food. American servants negotiated agreements promising they wouldn't have to eat lobster more than twice a week.

Then it started becoming more popular.  The prices became high around the 1950's because of overfishing.  There were less lobsters and rare things are usually more expensive.

68. Watched the season premiere of season 3 of The Sing Off.   One of the groups has an Australian!   I'm excited about that.  Sadly, he wasn't on the first episode because he had to return to Australia.   One of his family members is ill. 

My heart goes out to that family.

One of the other groups did a song called "Secret" by One Republic.  I had one of those moments of I've heard this song before.  WHERE?

Lord Wiki said it's been played in various TV and movie trailers.

I looked it up in reference to Lost and found this beautiful promo.   I don't think I've seen it before tonight.




Now I'm stuck back into one of my Lost crying moods. You know how some people get drunk and become annoyingly emotional. I don't do alcohol to get that effect. All I need is to watch a Lost video on YouTube.  

69. Thought I'd want to watch another Lost video.

Instead I found myself wanting to hear this song.




Now I'm missing Lost AND Offspring.

The good news is Modern Family is coming back on Wednesday.  I'll have that.

70. Decided I have to watch one Lost video.  

I'm going to forgo the childbirth one this time, and do Ben scene instead.

I think the Emmy's should have awards for best scenes, and this could definitely be a winner.



And here's one of my other favorite scenes...not a Lost one. It's from True Blood.



I'm being very self-indulgent right now.

I better post before I end up with 50 embedded videos.

Deafblind Alphabet, Writer's Block, Small Churches, and Mysterious Photos

1. Saw article that says the Labor Party isn't so popular in Queensland right now.  But they still like Kevin Rudd.

I probably feel the same way.

2.  Thought of Andrew when I started looking at Phunnyfoto's Railway Stations, Trains, Bridges, photo set.  

3. Intrigued by this photo.  People are having some type of lunch event on a bridge.  

4. Found information about the lunch event.  It was part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.  The bridge with people eating is the Noojee Trestle Bridge.

5. Found Noojee on Google Maps.  It's about 2 hours east of Melbourne.  

I'm starting to get the feeling that Phunnyfotos lives somewhere in east Victoria.  Most of her photos seem to be from around there.

6. Wondered if Phunnyfoto ate at the Noojee lunch event. Or did she just come close enough for photos?

7. Saw that the Australian dollar is going up high again.  It's now equal to 1.061 American dollars.

8. Glad to see that the Victorian government is working to pass laws that will inflict harsher punishments on people who have dangerous dogs that kill.    

If someone has a dangerous breed of dog, and it kills someone, the owner can get up to 20 years in prison.

That makes sense to me.

The article, I read, says there's also going to be a hotline for people to call if they know of a dangerous animal in the neighborhood. I don't know what will happen once the call is made.  Will the dog be taken away from the owner? Or will neighbors have to wait for the dog to bite someone?

Will certain types of dogs be outlawed all together? Or will they be judged on their behavioral record?

Personally, I think they should just be outlawed. I think having a pit bull is like having a lion or tiger. They might be very friendly and lovable. Then suddenly they snap and attack.

If someone has such a huge desire for a pit bull, then they should have it well hidden. If the owner keeps the dog safely away from the neighbors, how would anyone know about it in the first place?

9. Read article about Melbourne's public transportation ticket inspectors.  Research shows that people see these officers as being rude and intimidating.

I went to the Metlink website to see what they have to say about their ticket inspectors (AKA Authorised Officers).  The site says these officers ARE there to reduce fare evasion. But they also say they're to provide good customer service and assist travelers.

Maybe the officers are doing more policing than supporting? Or is that just public perception?

The article says the officers are being accused of lacking interpersonal skills. I can imagine this means if you go up to one and ask a question, they respond in an unfriendly way.   If that's true; it's unfortunate.  Sometimes it takes courage to admit you're lost....confused. If you ask for help, it's nice if someone responds in a polite, kind, and helpful way.   

10. Went to Tallygarunga.  Today I'm going to read a Reade and Arti story called Silence is Golden.  

It takes place in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne, on the evening of August 26th.

11. Started to read the story.

Reade and Arti are learning a blind-deaf type sign language that is done by tapping on the body.  They're doing this so they can have secret conversations with each other.

12. Found a website about the deafblind alphabet.  I'm not sure if this is the version Arti and Reade are using.  This one talks about messaging letters on someone's hand.  Reade's post says the messages can be done on any part of the body. Maybe it's a different alphabet; or maybe they made their own adjustments to the one on the site.

13. Looked at various letters in the deafblind alphabet. They're pretty cool.

It's basically just touching someone's hand in various ways. For example, the letter R is done by bending the index finger and laying it on the other person's palm.

14. Noticed the website provides other blind-deaf communication methods. One is to just spell out the letters with your hand. I guess it's kind of like the game where you write a letter with your finger on someone's back; and they guess what it is.

There's also a form of braille that can be used.

15. Went back to reading the story.

I'm wondering if Reade and Arti have had sex yet.  It says here, After buying a book in Narragyambie on the topic they had spent the last two weeks absorbed in their project in almost every spare moment.

Other spare moments had been spent in more adult activities.

Maybe they're having sex; or maybe they're having almost-sex.

16.  Learned that Reade has a doctor's appointment coming up.  He's dreading it less than usual because Arti's staying at his house. He feels better having her around for support.

17. Concluded from more reading that Reade and Arti are having sex.

18. Found the story thread where the sex first happened.  What can I say?   I was curious. It's not very explicit, which is probably good.  The book I'm reading now is too explicit for my tastes.  I guess it's like vampire erotica.  It's probably not the explicit bit that bothers me, but more the idealism.   It's that romance novel fantasy of perfect love and mind-blowing sex. I think I've heard it too many times before, and it's gotten old.

19. Felt like I have writer's block today. Usually it's so easy for me to find things that make me blab on and on. It's different today.   I feel kind of blah. I read stuff and it doesn't inspire any deep thoughts.  Or if it does, I don't have the motivation and energy to write about it.

Hopefully this is just a short phase.

Maybe I'll be back to my old self later.

20. Saw that my Australian of the day is another William Anderson. This one is Sir William Hewson Anderson.   He was a business man and political organizer.  

21. Learned that William was born in Sydney in 1897. His father was a Minister and, because of that, the family moved around a bit.

William did some of his schooling at Fort Street Boy's High School. Then he went to the University of Sydney. He didn't stay long. He joined the armed forces.

War wasn't easy on William.  He was wounded, traumatized, and suffered hearing losses.

He left the fighting stuff and went back to school. He also started working for Shell.  

William got married. He and his wife had three kids.

22. Learned that William was a Liberal. He reminds me of American Republicans because he equated the left with communism.

23. Learned (if I'm reading this right) that William was part of the group that helped establish the Liberal Party.

He became the first President of the Victorian branch of the party.

24. Learned that William didn't like socialists, people on the left, and pacifists.  He did like patriotism and free enterprise.  He differed from some right-wing people, I've encountered, in that he supported social welfare. I guess he believed in some social welfare, but not to the point that it becomes socialism.  I think people on the right vary with that. I know of some who seem to be against social welfare all together. If you're life isn't doing well; it's probably your own fault for being lazy and lacking interest in work.  If it's not your fault for having a bad life, it's not the duty of taxpayers to help you.  I'm guessing other people, on the right, are more open to helping others.  But they might believe changes are needed in the system.

25. Perplexed by Americans who are so bothered by the idea of their taxes going towards universal health care and welfare; yet they have no complaints about their tax money being wasted in the war.

Why is that?

26. Started to look at Phunnyfoto's Hotel Flickr set.

I think it's hotels as in bar/restaurant, rather than the sleepover kind.

Or maybe I'm wrong.

This photo caption uses the term inn.  I'm thinking inn infers sleepover capabilities.  But I could be wrong. 

27. Went to this dictionary site. They say an inn is an establishment for the lodging and entertaining of travelers.    

So it does involve sleeping there rather than just eating and drinking.

28.  Looked at pictures of the the Royal Hotel in Drouin.    

The building doesn't look too inviting to me, probably because I'm not fond of that architectural style.
I think maybe it's art deco.

I don't hate art deco; but it's not one of my favorites.

29. Looked at the website for the Royal Hotel.

They do provide accommodations.  There's five ensuite rooms.  

30. Thought this hotel looked fairly nice. It's called Copper Mine Hotel at Coopers Creek.

I also like this Shamrock Hotel in Bendigo.  

31. Didn't love the photo set so much, because there seemed to be a lot of art deco buildings.   I don't mind a few,  but I get tired of them after awhile.

32. Started to look at Phunnyfoto's Church set.   Maybe I'll like this one better.   I don't think churches are that often art deco.  If the ones in this set are; then I'll assume Phunnyfoto prefers that type of building.   Then maybe it's best I find another Flickr account to stalk.  

33. Liked this small church.  It's yet another thing that reminds me of Little House on the Prairie.

34.  Pictured this church as something that would fit into the decor of Fort Worth. 

35. Felt unimpressed so far with what I'm seeing of south-eastern Victoria.   Is it a place I wouldn't like?  Or is it a matter of Phunnyfoto having different taste than me?   Maybe she's taking photos of things I wouldn't like; and someone else, with a camera, in south-eastern Victoria would take photos of things that would appeal to me.

I don't know. 

35. Noticed the sky was very blue in this picture.  

36. Thought this Catholic church was very unusual looking. 

37. Thought this church looks extremely tiny. How many people could you fit in there?

Well, maybe it's in a very rural area, with a very small population.

38. Looked up Yinnar South, Victoria.  That's where the church is located.  

Lord Wiki says it has a population of 1148. All those people couldn't fit into that church.   Although why am I assuming they all belong to the same congregation?  Some might not even be Christian.

Oh!  Lord Wiki talks about the church.   He says it's one of the smallest churches in Australia.  It's four metres by five metres.

I have to convert that.....

Google says one metre equals 3.28 feet.   So it would be about 13 by 16 feet.

That's small!

39. Impressed by the tall tree in this photo.  

40. Did not like this Catholic church.  Well, I mean I don't like the building.   It reminds me of synagogues I've seen and been to. It's just so unimpressive.

I know.  I'm a building snob.  

41. Did not like this church building either. It looks like a doctor's office.

42. Liked this church, at least compared to a lot of other churches I've seen in this photo set. 

43. Unimpressed with St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Brisbane.  

Really.  I'm starting to feel enlightened here. I thought Jews were the only ones who liked worshiping in ugly buildings.  

I'm joking.  We have some ugly churches in Fort Worth.  And I do know that there's pretty synagogues out there somewhere.  

44. Listened to "Charlie Hangs Around" from the Lost soundtrack.



I wondered why I had love for a character that died way back in the second season. By the 6th season, shouldn't I have stopped caring?  Then I remembered he died in the 3rd season, not the second one.

Lord Wiki helped me remember what happened on the third season finale.

Now I'm trying to remember what happened in the finale of the second.

I know Lord Wiki will give me all the details if I ask. But I want to remember on my own.

45. Gave up trying to remember.

I'm thinking it might have had something to do with Michael, Ana Lucia, and Libby—all that stuff. 

But I don't think all that happened in the finale.

Oh!

Now I remember!

It was the big trade scene, and we learn about Ben's position with the Others.

46. Started to miss Lost again.

47. Decided not to quit Phunnyfoto; but I'll stop looking at her building-oriented sets. 

I don't think we have the same test in architecture.

48. Started to look at Phunnyfoto's Tasmania set.  

49. Saw a photo of Truganini's memorial. It's in Bruny. 

50. Liked this photo of Bruny Island.  It's beautiful. 

The boat in the picture makes me think of a movie I found the other day.  Throughout my adult years, I sometimes remembered this short film we watched at school.  It was about a little boat.   My memories were vague, but I decided to try and find it.

It's called Paddle To The Sea.  



I haven't watched much of it yet.

I watched 2-3 minutes, and to be honest I thought it was kind of boring. It was probably entertaining to me as a child because it meant we got a break from hearing the teacher blab on and on.

51. Listened to the movie while looking at Phunnyfoto's Tasmania pictures.

It's getting more interesting to me now.

52. Liked this photo of Cape Bruny.  

53. Liked seeing photos of the Lake St. Clare Visitor Centre in Cradle Mountain. It has a summer camp feel to it. 

54. Found the website of the architects who built the centre.  They're called Heffernan Button Voss Architects.  

I'm intrigued by this Trial Bay house they made. 

55. Amazed by the tulips in this photo.  

It's from a place called Table Cape, which is about 30 minutes north-west of Burnie.  

56. Started to look at Phunnyfoto's East Gippsland set.

57. Consulted Lord Wiki about East Gippsland.

It's not a town, but a region.  It's made up of towns.  The only one I've heard of (that I remember) is Lakes Entrance.  I think Lakes Entrance is on my pretend-Australia-trip itinerary. 

58. Checked my pretend-trip calendar.

Yep.  Lakes Entrance is there.

I have us pretending to go there on February 6.  

59. Liked this photo of Croajingalong National Park.

And I like this photo from there too. 

60. Enjoyed looking at photos of the Delvine Cemetery.    They're delightfully spooky.

Here's one in color.  The trees are great for the scene.

Then here's a picture using a negative effect.  It looks like a classic horror thing.

61. Decided to look at one more Phunnyfoto photo set. It's called My Faves, and is a collection of all her proudest photography moments.

I'm wondering. Will any of her favorites be my favorites?  

62. Wondered how this jumping rebel photo was made.  

Is it special effects?

Can people really jump that high?

I can't.

63. Liked this Ferris Wheel from Adelaide.  It's very unusual...and colorful. 

64. Consulted Lord Wiki about Glenelg, the suburb of Adelaide that has the Ferris Wheel.

He says it's a beach suburb.

In the 1930's, Glenelg had it's own Luna Park.  It lasted only four years. Then the rides were disassembled and sent to Luna Park in Sydney.  

That's very interesting.  

In 1982, a new park was opened in the area.  It was called Magic Mountain. Lord Wiki says this stayed open until 2004.    It was well-liked by some—especially young people. It was disliked by others. They thought it was ugly.

Now there's something in its place called The Beachhouse.

65. Thought The Beachhouse sounded fun.  It has the cool Ferris Wheel, a carousel, indoor water slides, and other stuff.

66. Looked at the Beachhouse website.

They have a variety of pricing plans.    It's expensive, but not shockingly expensive. The prices are comparable to American amusement prices.

Well...actually.  Maybe it's a little more expensive.

Maybe I'll try to compare.

Mini-golf there is $9.50.

At the mini-golf place we go to in Fort Worth, it's $7.50 per game. That's not too huge of a difference.  

67. Thought the Power Hour Max at the Beachhouse was ridiculously expensive.  It's $45 per person for 100 minutes. You get mini-golf, the carousel, water slides, bumper boats, train, arcade games, and a few other things.  You do NOT get the cool Ferris Wheel.

In comparison, one day at Disney World costs $85 dollars.  You can stay ALL day, and not just 100 minutes.  For that price, you can go to only one park (versus all four) but there's much more at that one park than there is at The Beachhouse.

68. Read article about dangerous dogs in Victoria.  People can keep their scary pets, but they have to register them.  This action includes getting them neutered and micro-chipped. And they need to be kept in a secure location.

If this is not done, then the state can take the dogs away and have them destroyed.

I'm not sure if registering the dogs will solve the whole problem; but maybe it will reduce the dangers.

I hope it does.

69. Went back to looking at Phunnyfoto's pictures.

I'm not liking too many of them; so I think we have different taste.

That's okay.

70. Loved the building in this picture.  It's fantastic.

The caption says it's from Harbourtown Melbourne.

71. Googled Harbourtown Melbourne and came up with an outlet shopping centre in the Docklands.  

I was really NOT expecting that.  

72. Consulted Lord Wiki about Harbourtown, and got the idea that I've mixed things up.

I think maybe it's some kind of trick?  Like this is an old classic European building and it's photo-shopped into Harbourtown?

Well...no.  It's not photo-shopped.  It's in a photo group called Illusions (NO photo-shop creations please)
 
73. Perplexed by the photo.   How was it done?

74. Searched through Flickr for other photos of Harbourtown Melbourne. So far, I'm not seeing anything like Phunnyfoto's picture.

There's no super fancy building.

75. Realized I'm probably making a huge fool of myself.  The fancy building is probably something famous that I should recognize from elsewhere.  

It looks like the type of thing you'd find in Prague...or somewhere like that.

76. Started looking at the wrong photo album.

Oops.

I'm going to try to get back on track.

I ended up looking at the illusion photo group rather than Phunnyfoto's favorite photos set.  It took me a few photos to realize I was on the wrong path.

77. Thought this cloudy building photo was cool.  

78. Wondered....

What's the deal with Australia and their scary clowns?  

Are Australians missing the clown phobia gene?

I imagine when Australians saw Poltergeist they looked at the clown doll and thought, Oh, how darling!

79. Decided to admit I do like Fizbo the clown. But I like him better without his make-up. 




80. Thought this photo was really cool.  I wonder if it's natural; or did Phunnyfoto use effects? 

81. Thought the tree trunk in this photo looked very strange.

82. Loved this storm cloud photo.  

83. Saw a picture of a pink lake, and wondered if it was real.  

Someone in the Flickr comments says it's caused by algae.

Why have I not heard of this pink lake before?

It's near Dimboola, Victoria.

84. Found Dimboola on Google Maps.    It's four hours north-west of Melbourne, and only 1.5 hours north-west of Halls Gap.  I was planning on us going to Halls Gap for our REAL (but probably canceled) Australia trip.  If there's a pink lake, we'll drive that extra hour or so to see it.  

85. Looked at a website that talks about the lake.  It says the day has to be overcast for you to see the pink. 

What if end up going on a day that's sunny? That would be disappointing.  

86. Followed link that Phunnyfoto provided about the lake. 

It looks much less exciting on that website.

I'm guessing Phunnyfoto used some kind of coloring effect with her photo. 

I wish photographers were more revealing about what effects they used. I think it's frustrating looking at a photo and not knowing if you're seeing something real or manipulated.  

Or maybe it is real in her photo.  If it is, then the tourism sites should borrow it. 

87. Liked this snowy photo.  It's from Mount Hotham in Victoria. 

Lord Wiki says that's north-east of Melbourne.

There's a ski resort there.

I've never been to a ski resort.  

Do I ever want to go to a ski resort?

Probably not.

I don't like too much cold; and I'm scared of the ski lift thing. 

88. Decided it's foolish to talk about disliking the cold when it's so hot here; and we have another broken air-conditioner!  This one is worse than our last breakdown because it's the kitchen.   Now our food might melt.  And this is where we keep Max, our cat that pees a lot.  We're going to have to move him to the bathroom in the guest room. That's a total pain, and not fun for him because the bathroom is smaller than the laundry room.

Hopefully, we'll get it fixed soon.  

89. Decided to shut up and be thankful that we still have electricity. 

Reactions, Orangutans, Dieting, and Love

1. Decided, with Tim, that if Australia is worth 1.01 American dollars or less; we'll go to Australia in 2012.

We'll look at the dollar comparisons in November.

2. Dreamed about an Australian.

My cousin Jennifer calls me over to a room in which I made the bed.  She points out that I've put one sheet over another sheet.   She's not mean about it.  But I'm mean back.   I get very defensive and fight back with my own complaints.  I scold her and the other people in the room for changing the sheets of the bottom mattresses.  I say we lay on couches and those don't get their sheets changed.  Why do you change sheets of mattresses no one even lies on?  It's a waste of water.   

I act very intimidating.

Then it ends up people are under the covers of the bed. They reveal themselves and one of them is Cherie from Offspring (Deborah Mailman).  I'm embarrassed that I was horrible in front of her.

Later, while alone, I think that it's okay.  I was just playing a character.  Later, she'll see one of my nice characters.  I argue with myself though. I wasn't just acting. I really felt angry. Then I tell myself that's part of acting—getting yourself to feel real emotions. 

3.  Noticed, when looking at Statcounter, that there's a definite increase in people wanting to see Rachel Carpani naked.

What's the deal, people?

4. Noticed that most of these seekers of naked Rachel Carpani are American.  She must be becoming popular over here.

5. Learned about Melbourne Open House from Andrew's blog.   It happened this past weekend.   Melbourne opens buildings up to the public, and curious people can visit for free.

Here's the list of buildings.   It's really cool. Each item on the list links to a page with more information about the building and what was provided on the open house day.

It seems like most of it involved guided tours which I don't really like. But I do love the idea of the whole thing.

6. Read Fruitcake's blog post.  She returns to the subject of the forwarded email about tolerance and Muslims.   Fruitcake has figured out another reason for why the email may be offensive.  She says, Now that I've actually thought about it, I think the reason the email sounds aggressive is because it carries a bit of untruth.   It assumes that ALL Muslims are humourless fundamentalists, and that is unfair.   No matter how clever the email is,  I have to admit it is mean-spirited. 
 
Then I have to ask whether my initial reaction to the email was prejudiced.  Would I have reacted the same way to the email if it involved Jews or Mormons?  Would I cringe, worried that the Jews or Mormons would get angry?   Or would I laugh imagining that the Jews and Mormons would laugh too?  

I also have to ask whether some of my prejudice is warranted. There have been cases of artists being targeted because they presented Islam in a negative or humorous light.  One filmmaker was killed because of it.  

Then there was the Danish incident in which a newspaper published comics involving Mohammed.    Lord Wiki says the Danish newspaper did this to stand up against self-censorship; and to ask why is it that other religions can be the subject of jokes, but not Islam?  

Well...because it could be dangerous.

We can't expect everyone to laugh at jokes involving religion, racial groups, gender, and other controversial subjects.  Sometimes the jokes are mean-spirited and sometimes they're offensive.   I think it's understandable for people not to laugh. I think it's understandable for people to speak out against the joke.  Hey, that's not funny. It's hurtful. It's mean.

But the response of some Muslims to the Danish incident went way beyond simply speaking out against the jokes.

There were boycotts and protests....which is somewhat reasonable.  But then there were also incidents of Danish embassies being torched.

There were death threats.  Some of the cartoonists had to go into hiding.  And from what I'm reading from Lord Wiki, they weren't empty threats.  Murder was actually attempted in some cases.

I cringe sometimes when I feel the ADL (Jewish anti-defamation league) is overreacting to something. And sometimes I feel Jews are too quick to label others as being anti-semitic. But as far as I know, Jews don't make it a practice of trying to physically harm those who offend them.

7. Wondered though....is it fair to judge a whole group based on a few bad apples?  Do all Muslims react to jokes and criticism of their religion with violence?  Do most of them?  About half?  Is it a small minority?

Are most Muslims tolerant, but their reputation is smeared by a minority that isn't?

Or is there really a double standard in society?   Is everyone a fair target except for Muslims?  

8. Realized there are now two questions for me regarding all of this.

A) Where do you draw the line between funny and offensive?

B) If something is offensive, what is a fair and reasonable response?

I think A is impossible to answer because it varies so much.   What's offensive to some is not offensive to others. It might even make them laugh.  And I'm only talking about the population targeted in the group.  It's expected that an anti-Asian person is going to laugh at a joke about Koreans.  But sometimes a Korean person himself might be amused.  Others might get angry about that joke.

I do have an answer for B.  In my opinion, it's not okay to react to an offensive joke with violence or to encourage other people to be violent. It's not okay to torch a building in response to offensive cartoons.

I think the correct response is to not laugh.  And you can add a simple I don't think that's funny. 

You can write an editorial about it.  You can stop associating with the person who told the joke.   You can stop liking them. You can stop buying the newspaper that published the offensive joke. To me, that's fair and reasonable. 

I stopped watching Mel Gibson movies when I started to get the idea he was anti-semitic.   I didn't try to burn down his house or anything.  And I would feel disgust and hatred towards any Jew if they tried to cause any violence against Mel Gibson.

9. Read article about controversy at the Melbourne Zoo. 

The zoo has posted signs in favor of the government requiring food manufactures to specify whether or not their food contains palm oil.  At this point, palm oil can be listed as vegetable oil.  I guess palm oil is less healthy than vegetable oil?  

Then the chief executive of Malaysian Palm Oil (Yusof Basiron) came to the zoo and complained that the orangutans were being mistreated.  He says they're tropical animals and shouldn't be forced out into the cold.

Was Yusof truly concerned for the orangutans, or was he merely trying to get back at the zoo for speaking out against palm oil?

The zoo says the orangutans are not forced out into the cold.   They have outdoor enclosures and indoor enclosures.  They have access to both of them in cold weather.

I wonder. Since orangutans are so genetically close to humans, what would be in their physiology that requires them to live in a warm and tropical environment? Maybe they're living in a warm climate simply because they haven't managed to migrate.  My guess is that since they're so much like humans, they ARE able to adapt to various weather conditions.   Although also like humans, there are certain weather conditions in which it would be more difficult to adapt.  I can't imagine that most orangutans or humans would enjoy bitter cold weather.   And most of them probably wouldn't enjoy being out in mildly cold weather for long periods of time.

I think as long as humans and other apes have reasonable access to comfortable climate conditions; small amounts of time in less favorable conditions probably won't cause them great harm and suffering.   

10. Wanted to add that I could be wrong about all of this. There MIGHT be something in the orangutan's body that requires it to be in warm weather. I'm really at a loss of how to research that question.

But my guess is that just because a species is indigenous to a certain environment, it doesn't mean they have an absolute physical need to be in that environment. 

11. Read article that says Kevin Rudd's heart surgery was successful.  He's on the road of recovery.   That's good.

He received a heart valve from a cow.  I hope the rest of the cow was eaten. I'm all for dead animals not being wasted.

12. Saw this website which talks about the benefits of using biological valves rather than mechanical ones.  They say although mechanical ones usually last longer, with a biological one you're less likely to have to use an anticoagulant.

Why don't we want to use anti-coagulants too much?

13. Consulted Lord Wiki about artificial heart valves and anti-coagulants.  Well, I'm not sure what the problem is with the anti-coagulants; but the challenge with the mechanical heart valve is it can lead to blood issues.   The anti-coagulants prevent these blood issues.  So then I guess my question is whether it's better to avoid the blood issues by using an animal heart valve or by taking the medication.

14. Decided since Kevin Rudd is a former Prime Minister, he probably has received the optimum treatment method.  So I'll probably just assume that biological valve replacement is a better option then the mechanical valve.

15. Read article about obesity.  Joseph, Proietto, a professor or medicine at the University of Melbourne thinks its pretty much hopeless for obese people. Once you're fat, you'll be fat for life.   You might be able to lose the weight for a year or two, but eventually it will come back.  

Dr. Proietto believes we should put more effort into stopping children from becoming obese in the first place.  And the best thing to do for those who are already fat is to give them bariatric surgery.

For the most part I'm agree with him. I've seen too many people go on a diet, lose weight, be super pleased with themselves; and then they gain the weight back again.

I don't think it's completely impossible though. I just think it's VERY hard.

I think it's moderately difficult to go on a restrictive diet and stick to an exercise routine long enough to get to a healthy weight.  Yes, you're tired of eating carrot sticks instead of Tim Tams, but it's so exciting when you get on the scale and see those pounds dropping and dropping. It's so nice when you're tight clothes suddenly feel comfortable.  And then there's that bittersweet moment when your favorite shorts no longer fit you.  

But then you start getting tired of carrots; and you get tired of saying no to popcorn at the movies.   It gets too hard to eat the artificially-sweetened microwaved apple while everyone else at the table is eating a sundae.

Then.....

In response to the low-calorie intake, the body adjusts itself.  The metabolism slows down.  

A few months before my sister's wedding, I decided to lose weight.  I think I started when my weight was in the high 120's.  I wanted to get down to about 112 pounds.  My plan was to go on a strict diet.  Then after the wedding, I'd go off the diet and I could go back to eating whatever I wanted.   By the time of the wedding I was 109 pounds.   At the end of the wedding weekend I was 114 pounds.   I gained five pounds in three days.  That was a bit shocking because usually I don't gain weight so fast.  I think the next day I was up yet another pound.  Scary!

I realized if I wanted to stay this thin I had to keep up with the dieting.  And I did!  I lost even more weight.

But eventually I got tired of walking 8-10 miles a day.  I got tired of weighing all my food. I got tired of being so restrictive.  I got tired of all the rules.

I figured I could stop all the rules and just eat in moderation. Who needs all these rules?  I might not be able to stay at 98 pounds, but I could still be thin enough.  

Well, it didn't work out that way.  Without strict rules I couldn't keep my calorie intake low enough.   And because of all my dieting, my metabolism was very slow.   With dismay I watched the numbers on the scale get higher and higher.  Within 2-3 years I was up to 140 pounds....more than I had been when I started dieting in the first place.

I know my story isn't unusual.  I think a lot of us start out with a load of willpower.  Then we lose it and the weight comes back.

How do you get the willpower back?    I have no idea.   I would really like to weigh a little less than I do now.—be at around 125-130.   But it seems as much as I want that; my desires for eating too much wins out in the end.  

 16. Read article that says an Australian study indicates people should not eat too much sushi because seaweed has too much iodine.  It can mess up your thyroid.  I've read about having too little iodine, but not having too much.   I forgot what I learned though. I just remember thinking that I should eat more iodine for some reason.  And I worried because we didn't have iodized salt in the house.

Well, this website says it's a problem for your thyroid if you eat too much OR too little iodine.

Anyway, it's not a huge deal really.  The article doesn't say we need to stop eating sushi all together.   It says to limit ourselves to 2-3 sushi rolls a week.  That sounds fairly reasonable.  I can't imagine most people eat more than that on a regular basis.

17. Went to Tallygarunga.   Today I'm going to read a story called Gonna Cut You Down.   It takes place in Tallygarunga's library.  

The stars of this story thread are Tamarah Blair and Adele Devylissia.  Tamarah is a student and Adele is the assistant librarian.   The two are related in some complicated way. 

Tamarah is sisters with Jezabel.   I think they're connected by their father?  Stuart Blair.  Then Jezabel's mother is Adele.   So I guess that would make Adele the mother of Tamarah's sister.

I hope I have that right.

18. Started to read the story.

Oh!  This is a continuation of the Spencer Party story.  I never read the end of that.

Tamarah had bullied Améa, who is another daughter of Adele.   I never found out what happened after that.   But now I see she received detention...detention with her victim's mother.   Ouch.   That would be awkward.

The story thread is interesting. I especially like the supernatural aspects.   Adele is telepathic.   Then Tamarah is the type of person who loudly broadcasts her thoughts.   I think that's interesting.   I'm wondering if I've read stuff like that before, in other stories with telepathic people. Did Edward Cullen or Sookie Stackhouse encounter anyone with loud broadcasting thoughts?  It sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I can't think of any examples.  

19. Impressed with Adele's restraint.  She's very calm with Tamarah. It would be hard for me to be nice to someone who purposely caused a lot of hurt and embarrassment towards Jack.

I suppose I might manage to not be horrible.  

Adele asks Tamarah why she hates Améa and then tries to explain why Améa acts so difficult.   Améa is afraid of being hurt again.   Adele says, The only loves she knows have been the ones to leave her, Améa really has no reason to suspect that your family will be any different to her.  


That's the problem with trust being lost.   Sometimes we don't just lose trust towards those who have hurt us.  We lose trust in those who MAY hurt us in the future. If one person caused us pain, why should we believe others won't do the same?    I also think the universe has a wicked sense of humor.  If we get enough courage and strength to trust again, it's likely we'll end up putting trust in another person who doesn't deserve it.  Well, I think this time it's actually going to be okay.  This time it's going to work out.  This person is different.   This time I can be happy.....

We trust again. We get hurt again.  Then we're back to where we started.

20. Thought about how it's probably a karma thing rather than just bad luck.  I find I get hurt in the same ways over and over.   It's so repetitive.  These things probably happen because of something I did in a past life.  I'm betting I hurt others in the same way I'm being hurt in this life.

I'm doubting my problems will end in this life.   But my soul will grow from the lesson and I'll be a better person in my next life. I won't cause others the same type of pain because I know how it feels.

21. Decided that in many stories, the Améa situation would end with her realizing she CAN find love.  After many struggles and fights, she'd grow to accept her new family.  She would love them and realize there are people in this world you can trust.

I think in the real world, it doesn't often happen that way.  I imagine Améa would slowly grow to trust her new family.  She'd finally open her heart to them.  She'd love them.  They'd love her.   Then something would happen and she'd be betrayed once again.  Maybe the family would purposely abandon her—disown her.   Or maybe it would be something out of their control. Maybe after she grew to love them, they'd all die in a magical spell gone wrong.  

I know.  I'm awfully pessimistic.

22. Loved these lines from Tamarah's post.   So what if she lost something in the future? Everybody loses something. Everybody dies. Everybody goes away. That was how life worked. You suck up the pain, move on, and try to find some other refuge. That was how being a human being worked.

I think strong people keep opening up their heart, because although they know they'll probably get hurt in the end, love is worth it.   

What's the alternative?  Living alone and hating everyone?   That might get boring after awhile.

Maybe there's a middle ground.   Love...but love cautiously.  Someone like Améa doesn't have to alienate everyone she comes in contact with; but she also doesn't have to give her whole heart to anyone.  She can give...I don't know  75% of her heart?   Maybe 50%?  

I don't think it needs to be an all or nothing thing.  

In terms of loss, everyone endures it.  It hurts like hell.  But I think in most cases it's survivable.  

23. Learned that my Australian of the day is Henry Charles Lennox Anderson.  I wonder how many Andersons are left on this list.

Probably a lot.

24. Learned that Henry was born at sea in May 1853.  That rhymes!

When he was a couple months old, the boat landed in Sydney. Landed....is that the right word?

Probably not.

25. Learned that Henry won academic prizes for agricultural chemistry and Shakespearean literature type stuff.  I don't often imagine science people being good with literature type stuff.  It's silly of me. I'm probably subscribing to some type of stereotype.

26. Learned that Henry did some teaching and spent much of his life doing agricultural work.

Later he did work with libraries.  He was appointed as librarian of the free public library. Although he was reluctant to take the job at first, it seems that eventually he got really into it.  He ended up going to London to attend a library conference.  From there he brought back the idea of using the Dewey cataloging system.

At some point, Henry was accused of doing bad things related to the library.  It didn't involve young children, or anything like that.  It was book stuff and postal stuff.   I don't really get it.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says, In 1900 a Legislative Assembly select committee on the working of the free public library inquired into Anderson's alleged abuse of postal concessions, the inclusion of some of Judge Wise's books among 5000 volumes sold to Angus and Robertson, undue preference shown to those booksellers as agents for the library, and the presence of 'decidedly “blue”' books.

Most of that just goes WAY over my head.  Although I think I understand the abuse of postal concession things.


What are blue books?

What is wrong with showing preference to booksellers as agents for the library?  What does it mean to be an agent for a library?