27 June 2005

Faces from the past


This is my grandmonther's mother (on Dad's side). She was born around 1890. Spooky huh?

25 June 2005

And for the boys

In Toronto there's a gorgeous new statue commemorating Alexander Wood, depicting a 19th century "sex" scandal . Our Alex was a well respected magistrate unitl 1810, when

A woman reported a rape, noting she had scratched the attacker on his genitals. Wood took matters into his own hands, lining up the suspects and demanding that they drop their pants so he could "inspect" them.

The incident is commemorated on the statue's granite base, with a bronze plaque depicting a man's rear end with his pants around his knees, and Wood's outstretched hand in mid-examination.

Sounds like an initiative worthy of CSI 200 years later to me, but sadly Mr Wood was too forward thinking for his time, and was run out of town because people though he was interested in those men in a more than a professional capacity. Sounds like the Newtown police could take a tip from old Alex in how to catch a criminal....

The upside of the story is that the locals have been rubbing the bare bum on the statue for good luck.

21 June 2005

Scary scary monsters

I had a dream in the early hours of this morning. In it, there was a large airport terminal where someone had planted a bomb inside. I started to run outside at full speed. Then I stopped, because a former work-mate was inside. I turned back, went into the back area of the airport to look for her. It turned out John Howard was inside, he was walking on top of a very high ledge that ran round the inside of a large and shadowy room (approaching hangar dimensions). John Howard was trying to get me out of there or attack me or something, and then he jumped on my head. I remember a very vivid feeling of his ankles on on either side of my ears- I was standing up, it was a bit like an acrobat balancing act. He was clamped on and I started to panic and try to beat him off with my hands, as I was trapped and held down. Just as the terror really started to kick in, I woke up.

19 June 2005

When spin goes mad

A quick update from Sydney media slut. Sometimes spin doctoring is just so over the tops its laughable. Under the heading of "13 detainees slash wrists at Villawood" comes this gem from Mandy Vanstone:

A Department of Immigration spokesman confirmed a "small group" of people had "self harmed" inside the detention centre, but refused to say how many or how seriously they were injured.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said: "Self harm is not a form of protest the Government condones. I urge anyone - media, advocates and others - not to encourage such protests.

A form of protest the government condones??! Well DUR.. that's because its a protest against government actions. And a pretty damned serious one at that. So her media monkeys get her to responds by telling us to only select "government approved" forms of protest?.. get me off this terrible island.

16 June 2005

for the ladiez

Hey y'all.. I've recently had a review of my last coupla months of blogging (yes okay, Aunty B pretends to have a real life but actually its all a carefully constructed ruse) and it struck me that recent posts have been rather, well, overtly, er, hetro. And frankly, that was a bit of shock, to have come over all exclusionary. So in humble tribute to our mighty sapphic sisters* Aunty B brings you a small piece of reporting from the cutting edge world of Science.

You may have noticed a recent snippet in your daily rag loudly dictating that the female ability to orgasm could be genetically inherited. Read the fine print:

The discovery of a genetic basis for the ability of women to orgasm raises questions about its evolution. One theory is that it is a tool for mate selection, the idea being that males best able to bring females to orgasm are also the best males to help raise children. Another is that the female orgasm produces movements that increase sperm uptake, and therefore fertility.

But studies of other primates suggest otherwise. Female stump-tailed macaques have orgasms too - but mainly during female-female mountings, which hardly supports the fertility or mate-selection idea.



12 June 2005

your world news update

Hi homies,

Well looks like things are calming down a bit in bolivia. Which is nice to hear. Although I'm not too sure about this new president dude, Rodriguez,

Also, let us be capable of discussing the issue of natural energy resources and their effective ownership by the Republic of Bolivia. The constitution states that the resources are originally owned by the state. Nothing has changed.

What has changed is the way to manage them, and it is Congress and the legislative branch which must be capable on this opportunity, or in its reviewed capacity following an electoral process, or when the most opportune moment occurs, to solve all the difficulties and render effective that constitutional principle, and a better way to recover what nature and God gave this country.

Que? If thats not a bit of governmentese double speak I don't know what is.

Meanwhile on the home front
.. some statesman in a farflung province of Eastern Australia is going to build some a gas power plant or two. But there's also a trial on for increasing the cost of energy in peak times, which is eventually good for reducing emissions because it controls the amount of new supply you need. Although at a rate of 12% of homes in 5 years, mind you.

And finally, Garret gets a sound bite into the press about nuclear power still being a fairly crap idea. Thank god - although it was Sunday night of a long weekend. Did someone say global warming?