Friday, August 28, 2009

Middle East - A Primer

Tickets are booked.
Luggage, via redeemed Rewards Points is on its way.
Won money on the cleopatra pokies last night (sure sign if ever there was one).
Pyramid schemes was a topic of (unprompted) conversation last night (another tell tale sign).



Destination: Egypt and Jordan
Date of departure: before my birthday! yay!


Thursday, August 27, 2009

Innov-8

I had a bright spark of ingenuity at work, using only magnetic letters and a colleague's work shelf.



A bit of late night free-to-air viewing tonight, courtesy of Channel 10. Caught the end of Sports Tonight, now without the rhyming flow of Matthew White; and Dave Letterman is currently delivering his dialogue in the background.



The way Brad McEwan over-emphasised the words "three times' when reporting about newly crowned 800m world champion Caster Semenya's testosterone levels was annoying. Imagine if someone was to add annoying inflections whenever you do something in excess e.g. you talk THREE TIMES more than the average person; you use THREE TIMES the average toilet roll sheets. It is unnecessary.



David Letterman's pants sit quite high on his waist. Part of the funny clown act perhaps.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Ouch Pouch

Apropos of last week's post, and in line with the ever present 'channelling of positive energy' thanks to a certain doctor's new found vocation in the beauty industry ...

Hey Wayne, why not suffer in style, using the ouch pouch



I like the 'days left' touch ...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Mish* Mash*

Mish-ap, Mish-andle

First up, the annual Miss Universe pageant blurb. The glorious spectacle is back on, this time in the Bahamas (or should it be "at the Bahamas". I'm bad with prepositions and happy to be corrected).

This year, the nod goes to Miss Japan aka Emiri Miyasaka and her national costume, or rather the lack thereof. The term 'national costume' has always been subject to liberal interpretations. For example, this year's Miss Ireland sashayed across the room in an Irish outfit consisting of a bikini and stiletto heels. The artistic touch was in the leprechaun hat which was nicely accessorised with the symbol of Ireland - the shamrock. Deep. In fact, she could have re-used her national costume in the swimsuit competition, but she would have to lose the pièce de résistance - the shamrock hat.

Miss Japan 2009's imagination was not to be outdone by Miss Ireland - have a look at this rocking outfit:



Apart from the obvious connection between the kimono and the land of the rising sun, I'm not sure that I see the relevance of pink stockings, pink panties, a garter belt and a come-hither, open-wide designed kimono. They could have at least made the stockings/panties polka dot red/white.


Mash, Mash-ed, Mash-ed Up

Plenty of mashed-up limbs and weary bodies after a impulsive day trip to Thredbo on Monday. Worse for the wear was Wayne who dislocated his wrist and duly ripped the ligament in his wrist after this attempt:



More mashed-up, unsightly fat bruised fingers after our basketball semi finals win (by a mere point). I suspect that my co-ordination is starting to decrease exponentially as I sail into the decade that shall not be mentioned.



Mish Mash

With all this pontification and lack of action on climate change, we might have to take actions in our own hands. Two brilliant ideas for your consideration - the first relatively is easy, the second requires a bit more forethought.
1. Peeing in the shower - saves on toilet paper too (Brazilian initiative)
2. Recycling metal parts salvaged from the dead, and/or recycling crematorium heat (Danish initiative).


Thursday, August 06, 2009

64th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing

At 8:15am this day, 46 years ago, Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" (a uranium bomb) on to the city of Hiroshima. 6th August was chosen because clouds had previously obscured the target. The target was chosen for military reasons and for its terrain. The Target Committee rated Hiroshima as an 'AA Target'. The Committee's clinical research into the suitability of Hiroshima as an atomic bomb target is summed up in the following paragraph (quoted from the minutes):

"This is an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focussing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage."

Boston.Com's The Big Picture has a good visual time line of the Hiroshima bombing.

I was in Hiroshima in February 2008. Something about the place and its plight really resonated in my psyche. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was really very good.