Nobody Important

I have a dream.

2012-01-26T02:49:00.000-08:00

Published on behalf of Miss Moggs!

Hmmmn… Dreams are funny things aren’t they?

Normally we don’t seem to remember them, at least I don’t. Or they are all jumbled up and crazy. This one was different.

OK. Nobody psychoanalyses me, unless they say only nice stuff, ok?. ^_^ I know I am sometimes a bit crazy already ^_^

So. One morning a week or two ago my alarm went off like it usually does.

But this time it was different as it woke me from a really consistent, somehow more real, dream that seemed to have gone on all night.

I fumbled the alarm off and realised I felt pretty dopey and I was really chilled and still half in the dream. I got myself ready for work and I still felt really chilled and a bit weird as I set off. I wrapped up extra warm but still felt cold.

I had two songs running through my head from when i woke up, one Abba and one, maybe a shanty or folk song that mentioned 1843 or something. Like a sea shanty or gold prospector's song.

I figure I know where I got the Abba song I had watched the movie Mama Mia again a day or so before..

I wrote most of the details of the dream here about 8 hours after I woke and it was still really vivid, even if some of the details faded. I still have these scenes and flashes in my memory. It had seemed to go on for a really long time without the normal flitting all over stuff.

From details I remember of the dream I think the dream must probably have been set in Europe, in maybe the early to mid 19th century. Clothes, Locations, Transport and stuff I just knew in the dream.

I remember taking lots of journeys in stage coaches and carriages.

I remember seeing some sort of ‘steam leviathan’ was what I thought of it as in the dream. It had one front wheel and could carry people, or tow a carriage with them maybe? It was on a city or town street I think. I didn’t get to ride in it but I saw it. I was looking at the front of it and slightly to the left side of it and it was bearing or turning right. I can’t remember what colours it was painted.

At some point I remember speaking to someone in French, I was joining these people for a journey, I think and I just came out with greetings and chat in French. It seemed authentic to me at the time from what French I do know, but I guess it could have been nonsense, I remember a tiny concern my accent was good enough to pass without raising suspicion- but I think I mostly generally spoke English.

There seemed to be lots of travelling and intrigue and sneaking about in different outfits or disguises. Maybe doing something clandestine. I remember at one point, maybe even more than once, travelling dressed as a young man in something a bit like a simpler more tired version of what a regency dandy or maybe a Victorian gentleman might have worn.

Everything seemed a bit grubby and worn, buildings and clothes. Sometimes paths or the ground was just plain muddy, with grass maybe. Sometimes stones had been laid. None of the clothes looked properly ironed/pressed or even properly clean sometimes, the seams looked poor, puffy maybe?.

I remember in a conversation talking over some possibly cold war or maybe hostile relations with the French. I remember some other conversation about some group, communitarians? communists, communards something like that.

It was definitely in colour because I remember having to quickly disguise myself at some place that seemed like a cross between a country fayre and a farm yard, with big dilapidated looking wooden barn type buildings and canvas marquees.

There were these dancers maybe? People in uniform? costumes at any rate, with patriotic colours. Men and women. The dresses were concentric circles of red white and blue cotton sewn together, big ones of white and narrower of the colours. And there were coloured ribbons ties on the costumes and hats, maybe rosettes. I remember getting one of the outfits and putting on one of those dresses as a disguise to change my look. I think someone had it ready and gave it to me, maybe because I was followed? Then wandering out again in this costume hoping none of the others dressed like that said I was an imposter.There might have been bunting in places.

They reminded me a bit of English Morris dancers or old fashioned Greek soldiers' uniforms, but there were definitely women also.

I also remember seeing this carved painted wooden thing with representations of two women on it. It was mounted in a building. Maybe an inn or hostelry?

I remember two fit slim, taller than me, older women seemed to be very much in charge there, maybe giving me instructions, or advice and help?.

The steam engine didn’t seem to make sense to me so I googled it along with other stuff here is what I found:
.
Nicolas Cugnot on 23rd October 1769 demonstrated a self propelled three-wheeled vehicle in France primarily for towing artillery. Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) built the first self-moving engine in England. But I didn’t know any of that till I googled it. If I were asked I would have placed steam powered vehicles later than that.

As far as fashion goes the ‘regency period is roughly between 1795 and 1837.

Also French revolutionary wars with other European powers were 1792 until 1802, Napoleonic wars were from 1803 to 1815.

The US Civil war was 1861–1865.

The name Leviathan seems to be applied to anything huge and powerful, like the ‘Great Eastern’ ship or maybe Jupiter type steam engines in the US, but I get swamped by reference to steam punk when I check for the words, so couldn’t really find out much..

The S.S. Great Britain launched July 19 1843 by I. K. Brunel is the first of the large iron-hulled screw-propeller steamships that will dominate the transatlantic trade.

Alexander Bain a lieutenant in the Royal Navy patented a sort of primitive fax machine in 1843 would you believe and congress was authorising the first telegraph line between Washington DC and Baltimore . The typewriter was patented. I half expected ^_^ to find someone patented the TV but I didn’t, that had to wait till the 1930s. Not that I dreamed about fax machines, just that stuff seems to have been thought of so much earlier than seemed likely. Including Steam powered vehicles.

Google has various social reformers in the early 19th century founding rational and philanthropic communities based on common ownership. Robert Owen, founded New Harmony in Indiana, 1825, and Charles Fourier, whose followers organized other settlements in the US such as Brook Farm from1841 to 47. There were Communards in the 1871 Paris (France) Commune.

There was so much upheaval in parts of Europe and Latin America in 1848 it is known as the year of revolutions.

I am not really making out this is anything more than my having a lively interest in lots of things and maybe a good imagination.

I guess my subconscious must soak up way more than I thought. Stuff that is not how I intuitively thought it was. Does anyone else have odd dreams like this?

Still, there is this weird freaky little thought hiding right in the back of my mind. what if I hadn't had the alarm set?

The Legend that is Puss in Boots. P

2012-01-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

This came out of a conversation in sl, about the Shreck spin-off movie over the holidays.

Why did they make him Spanish we wondered? Well the Movie cat came out of Shreck and that was playing fast and loose with fairy tales.

I thought it was pretty cool to mix Puss in boots with Zorro.

So we were all claiming the original PIB for our own and making a case for it.

After I looked it up. Wikipedia said he was French of all things! Not German and not English.

Published around 1697 by a French guy named Charles Perrault in a collection of eight fairy tales called Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Le Chat Botté.

Ah! I thought. He got it from somewhere else then. It seems the Grim Brothers did the same thing to him later on.

For me it is all mixed up with the tale of Dick Whittington Thrice Mayor of London, between the years 1397 and 1420 and the cat that brought him fortune and fame. Dick Whittington was absolutely a real person and remembered kindly.

I am sure I saw a Pantomime of it with the cat wearing boots once as a treat when I was little.

The Dick Whittington story was first recorded in writing in 1605 and turned into a play/pantomime the same year. "The History of Richard Whittington, of his lowe byrth, his great fortune."

There are suggestions the story in some form might come from Persia by way of a fifteenth century Italian source, the "Novella della Gatte". There is no doubt a cat was carved above New Gate Prison in London, because of Whittington's will.

I am pretty sure I saw the cat drawn in a story book when I was small wearing a pair of boots and carrying a handkerchief tied up on a stick with his belongings. He was standing by a milestone with the lad Dick whittington and Old London Town in the background.

I don’t think it matters so much if there were two cat stories, or one, or they got combined. They, or it, come from way back pre-medieval even and spread all over Europe going round and round maybe changing a bit. So I guess everyone was right in a way.

I just can't help thinking of PUB having Antonio Banderas' voice now. It is practically iconic. ^_^

Happy New Year for 2012 from JMB and Miss Moggs

2011-12-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

MAY 2012 BRING YOU ALL THAT YOU WISH
BE HEALTHY AND HAPPY!

And so ends 2011, a rather sparse year for posts on this blog, from me at least, although Moggs has been entertaining you with her thoughts about this and that. Healthwise it has been so much better for me than 2010 and I am assuming my cancer is cured until proven otherwise. So far, so good!

Besides spending way too much time in Second Life, running my three art galleries, this year I have become involved with a wonderful seniors' centre called Brock House Society and volunteer in the Library and the Office there. Yes, I still convene my Thursday walking group so I have lots to keep me busy and on my toes.

While you my blog friends have not been so much in my life of late, what I wrote before still remains so true I'm will repeat it. You have all enriched my life in so many ways. You've challenged my mind with your posts, you've helped me with my tech problems, you've taught me so much about your different worlds, you've entertained me with your humour. Some of you have shared your poetry and stories and your beautiful paintings and photographs. You've welcomed me into your lives and shared your innermost thoughts and I am grateful to each and every one of you.

I wish you all health, happiness and prosperity for 2012, may it be infinitely better than 2011 and being half Scottish, I'll close with the words of Rabbie Burns in Auld Lang Syne and make a toast (non-alcoholic, of course) to you all.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right guid willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

or for the linguistically challenged English speakers

And there is a hand, my trusty friend!
And give me a hand of yours!
And we will take a right good-will drink,
For old long past.

Eddi Reader, Scottish singer/songwriter, in a very different version of Auld Lang Syne

NB: Words and translation from the World Burns Club

For Unto us a Child is Born -- 2011

2011-12-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

The Adoration of the Magi
Fra Angelico and Fillipo Lippi

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

For those who are wondering where JMB is these days, I am quite well but seem to have lost my muse for blogging for the moment. Fortunately Moggs is keeping things alive here while I "waste" too much time in Second Life. I have become the owner of three art galleries there and hold regular exhibits for Second Life artists. Who would have thought I would actually become an art curator and even a Second Life photographer. Here is the Christmas card I made to send out in Second Life as JMB Balogh. It's called The Carol Singer and features JMB dressed as a Victorian lady.

To everyone who is celebrating this feast, may I wish you and your families a very Happy and Holy Christmas.

From Handel's Messiah the wonderful chorus, For unto us a child is born.

Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2011-12-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come around again. Doesn’t it seem to happen so quickly when you are a grown up.. well adult. I am not so sure I have quite grown up yet ^_^

For Kids of course Christmas probably seems to take about four years to come round again.

JMB and I have put up messages wishing happy Christmas to all our visitors in past years, but we just don’t seem to have got to coordinate it this time round.

So if JMB posts one also then you are getting a two for the price of one deal. Way to go!

Christmas. Why is it when it is? Well it is literally the celebration of Christ’s Mass.

No I don’t mean his maybe 135 pounds of adult male mass, or maybe inertia. I mean a religious celebration of the Christ’s birth. The word comes to us from old English, via vulgar Latin from the Latin for “to dismiss”

Was it really Jesus’ birthday? I don’t think anyone can be absolutely sure of the day. But pagans the world over, especially in the colder northern places celebrated the winter solstice and the turn of the year where days started to get longer again promising the return of summer.

When those first missionaries were converting they were not going to tell them they had to give up a bright point in winter. Not if they didn’t want to get thrown out on their ear into the snow. No they figured they might as well put it to good use.

Like… Hey guys! No need to give up the traditional feast and fun, Jesus was born around this time anyway.. probably. You can celebrate that, just quit with the virgin sacrifices.

Not just rebirth, but the birth of the Christ and the gift of eternal life through him. Awesome deal guys n gals, get it while you can.

So why is it the 25th not the 21st? All to do with the old Julian calendar loosing time against the universe I guess, on account of leap years.

Our modern Christmas traditions owe a lot to Queen Victoria’s Husband, Prince Albert. They married in 1840 and he imported a lot of traditional Germanic ideas and bolted them on to the traditional English ones. He had quite an austere childhood from what I read and maybe he wanted to make the cosy family he never had as a kid. He made a new thing out of it all and everyone copied it.

The Christmas cards we send were invented by the same guy who invented the penny black postage stamp in 1843 and the modern postal service. Sir Henry Cole, he commissioned John Calcott to design a card mostly for his own use to save writing lots of Christmas letters. He sent his out and sold the rest of the print run in his art dealership It was a bit controversial because it pictured drinking a cup of good cheer… at the height of the temperance movement. They say no publicity is bad publicity and the cards sold like hot cakes. Now there are cards for all occasions.

Then along came Coca-Cola in the last century and took the not necessarily fat or jolly Father Christmas and Saint Clause from different European traditions and tuned that in the jolly tubby grandfatherly guy in a red suit. Santa A.K.A Father Christmas.

So I'll quote Charles Dickens' Tim Cratchett "God bless us... every one" and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous and healthy new year, from JMB and Moggsy x

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." Charles Dickens

Apropos of nothing

2011-12-15T01:07:00.000-08:00

I have been wracking my brains for something to blog about and I couldn’t really come up with anything much.

I have not read any really nice novels recently I wanted to share, I have done some hard hat posts lately, and I thought something lighter might be nice, plus if the hard hat stuff really takes off it might actually be on some other site anyway.

Even my music is a bit in the doldrums. And ooh boy am I fed up with apple right now and their itunes software!! It has gone haywire, maybe because of an update and it does not realise my computer is where it should be and wants to delete my CDs I loaded in so I can’t properly synchronise it. All my playlists on the computer are gone.

And can you email Apple? Maybe… but the address sure seems to be secret, well hidden somewhere on their site, so if anyone knows how to fix the problem pleeeease comment it.

Some tracks I am liking just now are:
“Standing in front of you” by Kelly Clarkson
“Now or never” by Jodie Connor & featuring Wiley
“Jar of Hearts” by Christina Perri
“Set fire to the rain” by Adele

I would put in links but they don’t seem to work lots of times in different countries.

Now in Second Life people are getting ready for Christmas or Winterval. A one size fits all celebration. Having it so general and generic lets most everyone celebrate. There is very little ‘traditional’ prejudice in sl. A person can be any race or color they please. The auto translators are.. mostly adequate. All there are at least smart enough to use a computer.

There are some new prejudices maybe. I have seen signs banning vampires and others banning non humans, fair enough in a themed sim. You have to fit with the theme, but in clubs?

Anyway. One thing people do is send each other cards at this time of year, some get quite creative. I have been working on ours and I have received a few already (ty Tom). There is snow in many places and skating rinks are frozen over. We are all shopping for Christmassy outfits. I got something in more traditional green this year, instead of the fire engine red.

Did you know Santa was often shown in green traditionally until Coke used him in it’s advertising in the 1920s and 30s? Our idea of Santa owes a lot to Coke.

(I used the pic of an Ad I found but if Coke objects to me advertising them I can take it down)

Decorations are going up and lots of places have trees.

We are still organising the castle after moving, nothing much unpacked or in place yet. We have lit our Advent candles.

Democracy. Is it working?

2011-12-07T01:58:00.000-08:00

OK here is a hard hat post for sure, and I welcome any reasonable comment even ones that disagree, because I am not sure if I am right or being sensible and I am, as anyone who reads my stuff would guess, an Ardent (cool word) believer in democracy.

How often did you see or read about something stupid and think or read something like: “And these people get to vote?”

Several Bloggers have raised the fact that democracy does not seem to be working like it should so much any more. Especially a comment by Suboptimal Planet on the post above.

It was about a poll of UK voters and how absolutely badly informed they were, but it could be about most any voters. I should also give a wave to Nourishing Obscurity and Critical Faculty Dojo here for stuff that made me think.

"The poll asked whether the coalition (UK Government) would be keeping the (UK) national debt the same over the next four years, increasing it by £350bn or cutting it by £350bn. Just nine per cent got it right – 21 per cent thought it would be staying the same and an astonishing 70 per cent thought the national debt would be cut by £350bn."

Critical Faculty Dojo actually has a UK debt clock always climbing in the side bar, I guess they don't read that.

So some problems with the system:

Anyone too dumb, or too ignorant of facts just can not make a sensible decision about anything even slightly complicated. And life these days is complicated.

Anyone with too little experience of life is basically less likely to think long term and have experience to base their decisions on. Like you can’t believe politician’s promises for a start.

Lots of people are disengaged from politics, because they feel their votes don’t count, or because they are focussed on “single issue” stuff., or not committed to the society they live in.

Now like I said, I am an ardent ^_^ believer in democracy and I am very opposed to disenfranchising (another cool word) anyone because they are female or not wealthy, or not as sharp as others or some such thing.

So how can we fix some of those things?

Well first of all maybe 18 is a bit too young to have enough experience? Maybe 21 would be better?. I am not being mean about under 21s or anything and I would literally violently oppose going back to a system that didn’t allow the vote to women.

Safe driving might be a measure of a person’s judgement and insurance actuaries definitely pay attention to ages like 21 and 25 when they set premiums.

And thinking about driving people really value their driving licences, so maybe it would be an idea if a person needed to pass a test and get a licence before they could vote? The licence should cost only a token amount to pay for materials, maybe the cost of a couple of pints of beer.

Say 18 year olds could apply for a student voter licence and be able to vote but their vote would only count for a 25% share of a vote.

A person could pass a basic test about economics and such to be able to apply for a full licence, and if they did at 21 their vote might count for half, then at 25 their vote would count for 75% and at 30 it would count as a full vote.

Maybe give anyone in the armed forces a full licence automatically with at least a 75% vote and a special 50% bonus because they are willing to put their lives on the line for their society. Maybe include emergency services at 50% vote?

Maybe a special bonus for being a tax payer or property owner where whatever your vote was, was increased by 50% or maybe doubled.

Maybe cut the percentage vote of government workers in half.

Also maybe if someone never voted their licence would lapse. And need to get a new licence.

Jailbirds would have their licence confiscated and have to take the test and reapply when they got out.

I do think having a person vote for a person who represents them and where they live is important.

I also think it would be good to have more referenda on single issues. Maybe have a department specially looking into issues to decide on for the public to vote on and frame laws based on that, maybe have high number petitions trigger them as well. It might even include the removal of politicians, presidents, prime ministers, and governments.

Nothing would pass if it didn’t get a good turn out and more than 60% of the vote.

If we can have a weekly vote on dancing with the stars/strictly and electronically access our bank accounts then how difficult would it be to have a few referenda say once every 4 months.

Here are some quotes about voting I figured make some important points:

"Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.” - Will Rogers

"Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom” - Friedrich August Hayek

“If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves” - Thomas Sowell

"Vote: the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.” - Ambrose Bierce

“Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals.” - lunaleelee Lucy Parsons

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” - George Jean Nathan

That ought to set some cats amongst all the pigeons.. I do hope ^_^

What Price Life and Liberty?

2011-11-11T01:53:00.000-08:00

A short hard hat post, feel free to agree or disagree. I don't want to keep on about this subject, but it does keep on turning up with stuff that just shouldn’t happen.

This is what you get when self justifying misogynist males get too much power (for "too much" read any power). I am sure they felt they were doing Allah's will and were all real fired up with moral outrage.

Scarily they probably feel aggrieved that anyone would even criticise them for what they did.

Sadly I guess they can’t have been too bright, or prone to self examination, or doubt. I guess they must have been fed a good diet of hate with their religious education by some wicked evil old men.

They use Sharia Law to justify what they did. And its supporters might be reluctant to criticise, others might say you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs.

No matter what excuses supporters of Sharia Law make, there is no argument that it sanctions and enables brutal repression and murder. It uses ultimately extreme force to steal life and liberty particularly from all women also any and all non Muslims.

I figure the only reason things are not far worse through the Islamic world is that most normal people (of whatever religious flavour) are more civilised and try to stop the worse stuff like this from happening.

I just cannot see how there can be a place for such laws or behaviour in a truly decent and just society.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I added this because it seems to me like another example of intolerance and persecution sanctioned by Sharia Law.

Clerics in two Islamic Malaysian states (Pahang and Malacca) are planning not only to persecute gays using Sharia Law but also anyone who objects to their persecuting them (promoting or supporting illegal activities).

It seems to me love is.. love, and being gay is basically a harmless enough thing. It is a rocky enough road to tread even without officially sanctioned persecution adding to it.

I do wonder what is behind such hatred and I can't help wondering if it is maybe a tiny worm of doubt about their own sexuality in those who hate and persecute.

Dona Nobis Pacem

2011-11-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is my fifth year of participation in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. I have chosen a new quote for the globe from that venerable Roman sage, Marcus Tullius Cicero.

But again, I choose to reproduce for the body of the post, John Lennon's very moving vision of what the world could be like, should be like - his dream for all of us. May the day when the world will be as one come in my lifetime. Peace be with you.

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

John Lennon, 1971

Mimi's Blogblast for Peace Official Website

Peace Globe Gallery

Castles Surf and Beach babies

2011-11-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

Not a hard hat post, I wonder if anyone will have anything to say?

I have been wracking my brain on what to post about. I have not done much in sl the last week or two. Our clan (not a Gorean one) is moving. So decisions need to be made about what our main place will be. Probably a castle, but not sure what design yet.

The new land is near the ocean, but surrounded by small and inconsistent plots that I don't like the look of at all. I do hope we can buy them up and clear them.

I will have to pack up all my stuff and see what space I have in the new place.

The places have lived in sl that I liked best of all were basically a beach houses or villas.
Before I joined the clan I lived with a group that had an oceanside villa.

White stucco plaster, ochre floor tiles and roof tiles.

The house was perched by the ocean with a stone wall like a harbour wall. There was a white balustrade to stop you falling in the ocean, and steps that lead down to a stone jetty and more steps from that into the water.

The tiled balustradeed open area was bordered on two sides by a colonnade. There was a table and chairs and you could dance there to the music of cicadas.

My room was on the second floor, I had a balcony with railings and a view, the colonnade was below my balcony. There was a roof terrace also that you could sit out on. Lovely.

When I first joined the clan their main place was this beach house with lots of picture windows and a deck that extended out over the ocean, with a dance floor on it and steps down to the water. Part of the building was on stilts. The main door was land side.

I had a ground floor bedroom that looked out across the beach at some palm trees and opened into the Living area. You could hear the sound of waves from my room. We had fun there.

I had a jet ski and we used to swim. Also we had sunshades and rubber rings and stuff.

We had a bit of beach set aside with logs, cushions and towels where we kept a fire for beach parties.

I spent a lot of time being a sun bleached blond tanned beach bunny then.

Like living a permanent holiday. All you have to do is step round a notional corner from everyday rl for a moment… and your sl is one long relaxing and basically carefree (if you can avoid dramas) holiday.

Live and let live is a two way street.

2011-10-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

Published by JMB on behalf of our roving reporter Moggs Tigerpaw.

This is a “hard hat” post if ever there was one, maybe I ought to get me a flack jacket also.

So. A loaded-ish Question. Can Islam ever learn toleration and co-existence at all?

I asked myself that when I am yet again disappointed with it by reading about how Islamists have started to persecute Coptic Christians in Egypt. Fellow Egyptians, who maybe foolishly stood shoulder to shoulder with their Islamic neighbours to help depose Mubarak.

It seems Islam can only ever pretend to tolerance when it is restrained by a secular state or at least where it does not have the upper hand… and often not even then.

Other religions seem genuinely to mostly be able to tolerate each other, If there is disapproval they mostly figure the big boss in the sky will pick the bones out of it after the game and figure they are bound to come out ahead anyway because they are in the right.

I figure quite a few in Europe and the UK have come to this sort of Deist viewpoint that most religions are like mobile phone networks, they all do the same job and the price plan and handset are personal choice and what fits best with them. It makes them pretty tolerant and they can’t see why they can’t be Christian with a hint of Buddhism if they please with just a pinch of Jeddai Knight in their imaginations for coolness. ^_^. I think they often don’t trust priests and clerics to know what God wants any better than anyone else either.

In the US the constitution relies and expects all religious groups to live and let live.

Islamics tho, they seem to want to execute anyone who converts from Islam, and want to execute anyone who preaches Christian ideals to Moslems. They don’t seem quite sane to me.

They also to me seem to behave like someone who is not confident in and maybe doubts their own faith and are scared to admit it so they lash out and strut about trying to puff themselves up to pretend they are not. Like with a chip on the shoulder. Full of harsh wickedness.

I am all for toleration, but it should be a two way street. Should we all really be quite so willing to tolerate something which will not even properly tolerate our right to exist if it isn’t forced to?

It would be good if there was more sign of live and let live in Islam and less of idealising so called “Martyrs”, people wanting to kill Jews and Christians as far as I can see basically because they are Jews and Christians. To me, people like that, they only serve evil, not good.

It would be good if there was less of the dividing the whole world into "houses", either Dar al-Islam (Muslim territory) or Dar al-Harb ( or Dar al-Garb) (non-Muslim territory).

The give away about the second category is it means "house of war" or "house of the west" and is only supposed to be temporary… Till it becomes Dar al-Islam, I can only guess, through violence and coercion and killing, based on the “House of War” name.

Those ideas don't seem to come from Islam's holy books the Qur'an or Hadith as best as I can tell, so I guess they must have been made up by some wicked old man somewhere. So a reasonable, sane person ought to and ought be able to loose them surely? What is it with people?

Wisdom or not?

2011-10-10T03:04:00.000-07:00

Wisdom of Crowds vs Dog Mess Rules (A million flies can’t be wrong) - Fight!

Anyone who had read this Blog for longer than a year might have noticed I have commented on this show before. They also get a thanks from JMB and me .

The new season of Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars has started.

I noticed a change in the format that I think might spoil it, if they keep it.

The score a couple gets depends on how the judges mark their dancing and also on the votes the TV audience phones in. That is what makes the stations their money.

Up to now the two couples with the lowest score get to have a dance off, then the judges save the best of the two.

For want of a (French polished) Nail...

2011-09-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

My train pulled in to the station. I walked thru the barrier and crossed the road to a narrow footpath.

I followed it and past a bend, down to where I had parked my vehicle.

I rounded anther bend and there it was. I approached it and remotly keyed the locks.

I was going to dump my laptop bag on the passenger seat, walk round and get in the driver's side.

I was moving to slip the strap off my shoulders, I had just reached for the passenger door handle to open it and pulled, when it happened...

My fingers slipped off the handle and the tips of my nails, longer than the end of my fingers caught on the door handle.

My fingernails broke, bent, tore or shattered. one split torn horizontally hafway accross. They were totally trashed... and to make matters worse it was agony.

I bit on my lip and I sooo didn't cuss, you could practically hear me not cussing. If I were a manga"graphic novel" there would have been this blank speech bubble drawn in just to show I wasn't cussing.

The lock had not released. It needed a second click to release the passenger doors. I thought I clicked it twice. It felt like I clicked it twice.

I Just bet that security system was designed by a maaan ^_^

I did my best to fix things when I got home, but it looks terrible. What to do?

Really long cuffs? Maybe a glove? Falsies?

This could be para- para- paradise

2011-09-28T04:21:00.000-07:00

Hmnn.. Is this hard hat or not? Now I was thinking about a post that ended up somehow trying to figure out how many virgins anyone gets in an Islamic Paradise.

It turns out when, I read up on it, it is probably (best guess) 72. That is if you are talking about Houries, who are apparently some sort of (could be soulless) fabulously beautiful transparent clone (in two flavours), male and female with extra pointy boobies..

(There is no mention I could find about how many lashes you might get for taking the family car for a spin tho.)

Sooo.. Sounds easy so far. But if you get in to paradise you also get your earthly husbands or wives, at least two of them. Now having your ex living in possibly with all their exe’s as well strikes me as worse than having the extended family over for a looong long Christmas. Thos it sounds like food and booze is all laid on and guaranteed no hangovers.

It also racks up the possible spousal total to maybe 74, with some of them on a timeshare system. Gives me a headache just thinking about those numbers… is the virgin thing renewable?

Anyway. Part of the paradise deal is you get totally rebuilt from scratch, but way better than you were before. It’s like this complete makeover thing, where you come out looking fabulous, totally hot and eternally young.. aand as in the song; “Like a Virgin”, with everyone being the same age. Maybe that might make your ex slightly less awful to put up with.

So that got me thinking… What is the “perfect” age? Maybe there are several even depending?

But the deal is all the same age, so someone must have officially decided on a perfect age.

I am thinking about 17 ish? Does that work for you all?

If paradise were half as nice…

Taking back the school yard

2011-09-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

This is a touch “Hard Hat”.

I saw a discussion between two British “educators” (Headmasters) on TV the other day.

They were arguing about a new sort of free school.

They are free in that they can be run by any group, say parents not happy with the quality of schools in their area, and they are free from Local Authority control, just subject to school inspectors.

One of the “Educators” clearly hated the idea and hated school “league tables”. He was absolute that the new schools would take money from underprivileged children in failing schools. He felt the schools should not have to be compared as that made “pushy” parents want to avoid sending their kids to those schools. That it was elitist and took resources out of “underprivileged” schools.. He didn’t approve of completion either.

The other guy was trying to argue that the money for those free schools came from the government based on the number of pupils they had and the money the government gave to Local Authorities was based on pupil numbers also, so the Local Authority would get just the same amount per pupil as they were getting before.

He was also arguing that it was not a case of taking away from kids, or pushing them down, or elitism, but helping to raise the standards for all and that there was really no excuse for Local Authority schools failing long term.

The TV showed a new free school in an “Underprivileged” area where all the kids were all in uniform and behaving .

The second guy was arguing it was as much down to teaching methods and proper rules and such. The other Guy just thought it was turning back the clock and entrenching “Privilege”

I thought to myself that he was only just about keeping connected to the real world. Was he kidding, even without “League Tables” parents compare notes and have a pretty good idea of what schools in the area they would really want their kids to go to and what ones to avoid if you possibly can.

The first guy didn't seem to like the idea of privilidge or uniforms.

Call me naive, but I can’t see why all schools can’t be at a much higher level. Goodness knows they need to be. I know that some kids are not as bright as others. I know some are less motivated and have less support at home. But to me school should expect and encourage the best a person can manage.

It should provide an environment that helps them to achieve that.
Surely it does not have to be that some schools are useless and some good.

It is not a Malthusian closed system equation, and that first guy was trying to make it one.

I know what one of them I would want in charge of a school my kides went to if I had a choice and it would not be the first guy.

Lest we forget

2011-09-11T05:20:00.000-07:00

I had trouble getting to sleep the other night. There was a documentary about 9/11 on the TV and I could not stop thinking about it. So a serious post, maybe a hard hat?.

It’s ten years since that evil atrocity. Once I never thought I would fail to regret a person’s death, but when I heard Osama Bin Laden had got his I could not find it in myself to feel anything other than relieved a source of hate and evil had gone out of the world and regret that he had been festering, spreading and breeding it so long as he had.

I remember I was working at home doing something tax related for the company. Heart not in it, but It needed to get done. The phone went and the world changing ripple washed over me.

It was my nearest and dearest calling from work. “Hun turn on the TV, see what you can find out, call me back ”.

Their Company had an office, people, in the World Trade Centre. I put on the TV and they were showing the loop of that first air plane cutting through the perfect blue New York sky and slamming into the north tower.

I thought "OMG! What a horrible accident. How terrible." I was thinking about how, in the past, a plane flew into the Empire State Building. Confused horror. Still hope that it would not be too bad.

We had flown to NY and stayed there for a few days Just coming up around Easter that year. Funny little prop driven air planes. We had done lots of the touristy things, Empire State building, Central Park Zoo sort of thing, but missed out on going up the WTC and figured we could do the WTC next time. It was dawning on me that there might never be a next time for that now.

I was truly horrified for the people there and feeling a sense of there but for the grace of God.

I was thinking what a terrible accident and how the world could be so randomly cruel with disasters and stuff and how we need to support one another and work against the randomness of these things.

There was not much on the internet and TV news reports trying to give facts and make sense of them.

Then the second plane hit the other tower. I watched that live, on TV and realised horribly in that instant it was never an accident, Not just chance. It was something deliberate. I had a real feeling in that moment of true evil being abroad in the world. That whoever had done this had only one master.

It seems to me now I figured in an instant it must be terrorism. They were commercial flights, not missiles, someone willing and eager to die to commit such acts.

So I basically sat watching, stunned, clutching the phone, connected on and off to a bunch of people also by now watching TV in a boardroom, or something . All trying to make sense of what was going on., pooling our collective smarts and knowledge…. All Involved and made immediate, somehow intimate and realer than real to us as we were twined into it by our connections with the City and the buildings and our humanity.

I tried to make sure a friend was ok, it turned out they were evacuated and the cells were all tied up with traffic.

At least that’s I figure it might have been something like that... if I lived in rl.

So I am remembering and keeping true and real in my mind, because we need to do that and not be useful idiots playing silly games about it being some Israeli plot, or dynamite or other nonsense.

I do apologise in advance if anyone comments and I don’t get right back with a response, but I will be away for a week or two and might not get a connection.

What Feminism is to me.

2011-08-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

OK, this is one of my getting rare “Hard hat” posts. It is prompted by James at Nourishing Obscurity

He is constantly posting about Feminism recently, and he seems to have such a jaundiced way of seeing it. Really negative. He seems to see it as some sort of variation on socialism and really destructive.

Well I think he is wrong. I think he is conflating two different things. Socialism and Feminism. It seems to me he has a very different definition of Feminism to mine.

It does make me wonder.. Is it him misinterpreting it, or do I misunderstand it? Feel free to comment anyone who reads this.

To me Feminism is about giving women a "level playing field" not stacking the odds against. It is about listening to what is said and if it makes sense not about who is saying it.

It is about the ultimate trump card not being that men are stronger, or a woman's opinion being discounted just because she is a woman.

It is about getting the same money for having the same ability, qualifications, experience and seniority and doing the same job. It is about being equal before the law.

In a way it is not just for women either. It has to be about men too, that both men and women get an even deal with neither being badly done by.

When it is all said and done men and women generically need each other. They each have strengths and weaknesses that balance each other out in partnership. We are all people. Human beings.

To me it is absolutely not about "Quotas" and ticking boxes, quotas. I just see that as destructive to all. It poisons, causes resentment and undermines the position of any group who's "box is ticked". It fosters an unreasonable feelings of entitlement.

It is not about Women being in charge or being dominant (tho whatever floats your boat in private ^_^). It is not about turnabout being fair play, two wrongs don't make a right, or even cancel each other out. They just make a sense of injustice and two wrongs. It is not about women trying to be men, or dispensing with them.

To me the heart of it is about Equality of opportunity, equality before the law, freedom from coercion. Basically freedom and liberty.

I figure things like "box ticking" are basically wrong, coercive and make everything that a person achieves tarnished and suspect. It takes away from the individual. It is about the Government saying how we can, or can not, live and that it not really the government’s business to do. It should not be about asking the Government to pretty please give us what should be ours anyway, being a supplicant or a client. That is just what we wanted to be free from.

Now Some people latch on to the fact that some people who call themselves feminists are also socialists, or propose coercive solutions that basically involve force at some level. That some of them do seem to see nothing wrong in "Turnabout is fair play"
To me this is missing the point, people are more than one thing at once. They might be Christian, but they can still be to the left or right, they could be a sportsman too, or a couch potato, and be a commuter, a music lover, a Star Trek, a member of the Women’s institute, whatever. The thing is you should not go mixing all Trekkies up with all sportsmen.

And the thing about Feminism is that no one can absolutely argue it is no longer needed. You might say, “well you got the vote didn't you? You are allowed to own property. It is not legal for your husband to beat you these days…” in the west.

I say sure. But that is here and now… and mostly.

And yes, whenever things change everyone gets a bit unsure of how things are, especially if they keep changing. People feel unsure how to behave and that makes them uncomfortable. The rules of being polite and what is expected change a bit. People make mistakes.

Maybe sometimes in some ways it has gone too far the other way, in others not far enough. But! That is just here and now.

The thing is some places in the world things are not that way. In Saudi Arabia women don't have the right to drive a vehicle. In Birmingham in the UK there are Sharia Courts sitting, not as part of the British legal system yet.

But the Arch Bishop of Canterbury himself sees that as inevitable.

Sharia law is actually Islamic religious law. where is there separation of church and state in that?

As far as I can see Sharia law is pretty cruel and has an anti female bias built into the very heart of it. It says it is ok to beat a women if they disobey their husband. (Quran 4:34) I also read somewhere a woman's word only counts half as much as a man's.

If I looked I expect I could find more, stuff like women being stoned to death for being unfaithful and guys being able to divorce their wife just by telling her three times he divorces her. You can bet a woman can't do the same.

So if you ask me if there is still a need to watch out for women's rights, then I would say, absolutely. It is not a done deal, written in stone, share prices can go down as well as up.

I don’t think it is safe to take your eye off the ball, or before you know it.. well you had better hope that the guy who basically owns you and who you never had a choice about belonging to is not too mean.

Thomas Jefferson once said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." I think he was right. But that is only half the price. You have to be willing to defend and protect it, with force if you absolutely have to.

A Daring Rescue.

2011-08-21T00:47:00.000-07:00

It was still night, the dark before dawn. I stepped off the ferry after being away for a week.

I heard and could make out movement into the forest. There was a thwack!

I ducked a little knocking an arrow myself and a deer went down thrashing not to far away. I slipped into the trees and spotted a Panther stalking another deer a way into the trees. I took it out before she could just to see if I could and to show off. I have been practicing.^_^

I got another one too almost straight after, so we had plenty of meat for the camp for a while. She came round to where I was and we introduced ourselves and swapped news and gossip, while the first rays of the sun were stealing through the leaves.

Together we got the carcasses dressed, back to camp and strung up to finish bleeding. Then we decided to slip back into the woods for a patrol to see what was about.

We went together for a while and then I spotted a Kajira (slave girl) sitting quietly on the Town battlements in the morning sun. She looked familiar, so I said I was going for a closer look and peeled away, while my companion followed the contour of the Town wall within the forest.

I got close enough that I was fairly sure the Kajira might be “Y” who I last saw as a fellow Panther. I had heard she had been captured and thought this might be a chance to rescue her.

It was quiet, hardly anyone was about, such a chance might not come so easily again..

I slipped into the river that separates the town from the forest and quietly swam across. I snuck up to the base of the wall and listened. I could hear the Kajira speaking to a free male and could tell it was “Y”.

I waited till I could hear the guy wander away and then got set with a grappling hook.

I called out, “Psst! Y…!”, so there would be no alarm from her, then threw it, setting it in the battlement and swarmed up, jumping onto the battlements. I grabbed her, she struggled. I thought it was like swimmer’s panic and feeling a need to be back in the forest real quick I (as they say) "slugged" her.

Then I grabbed her and flung us both back over the battlement before I got spotted, slowing our fall with the rope. We came down hard. I un hooked the grapple and whipped the rope round her wrists to make sure she didn’t go adrift and then ran like the wind dragging her along back to the camp.

Once we were safe back behind our palisade I untied her and we hugged. She was glad to see me (except for acquiring bruises and scratches and getting messed up) and to get to see the camp again, but not overjoyed to be rescued.

We caught up on things and she confided her master had “lit her fire”. She was in love and he was talking manumission papers. Maybe even making her his woman. So my daring rescue was.. um.. not entirely what she was hoping the day would bring.

Awsome! parade.. on.. rain.. my.. make a poular phrase out of those words.

I thought about ransoming her back to him, but could not do anything to mess her chances of being happy. So I let her out of the compound and together we ran back towards the Town.

Near the town “Y” continued on over the bridge and I peeled away keeping out of arrow shot range, spotting my earlier companion coming back from the opposite direction.

She had been busy also, finding and capturing a male slave in the forest, while I was off rescuing people who didn’t actually need rescuing.

She was planning to trade him back to the town for golds.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- One

2011-08-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

ONE

For the theme of ONE I am using another of my heron photos, taken very recently. He was fishing in the shallow pond on our Granville Island walk, nonchalantly ignoring the nearby swimming mallard ducks and the pigeons and the passersby. Yes he did catch a fish, but naturally I missed it!

One lone heron on the hunt

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

No good deed goes unpunished

2011-08-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

Mercenaries. Mercenary, the word has a negative meaning, money is all important.

Throughout much of history the quality of Mercenaries varied from highly effective to little better than marauding bands. Throughout much of history the average population had good cause to fear the military and mercenaries. Foraging often amounted to stealing and rape.

Victors sacked cities and the countryside, more murder rape and pillage and retreating armies.. you guessed it.

I know all this! So you would think that I would know better when I crossed paths with a Gorean mercenary, wouldn't you?

I returned to our camp, jogging through the forest from the ferry, as I neared camp I thought someone was somewhere nearby threshing through the forest. Then I was through our gate and into the compound and there was "F" keeping watch.

We heard crashing round near to the camp. We could tell it was one of the Mercenaries who had set up camp near the Town. "F" said she thought there was supposed to be some sort of truce with them just then, so we cautiously went to check he was ok.

He was making an awful noise and waving his sword around like to take his leg off. A huge bear of a man mostly in furs but with a crested metal hoplite style crested helmet.

"F" and I decided to be good neighbours and tried to make sure he came to no harm. We got him to sheathe his sword and peace tied it in with a neat bow and sat him down then unstrung his bow and rested it against a tree. Without his helmet he was scarred but handsome.

After a little we talked him down and he seemed calmer. "F" had to go on other business. I thought he might go to sleep and sleep it off, so I stayed near to keep watch...

A few moments after she went he attacked me with his fists, unprovoked and beat on me. I have had the same sort of training and got in some good strikes back. But the fact is he surprised me, I only came up to his chest and his arms were bigger round than my thighs.

I just couldn’t win a straight barehanded fight. If I tried I would just get beaten unconscious. I knew then that if I did that then I would wake up with collar and a “For sale” sign round my neck for my troubles. Gee thanks!

I got in one more good strike, turned and ran as fast as I could back to camp with him thundering close behind making horrible threats. I was faster and more lithe. I made it through the stockade gate a little ahead of his pursuit.

Once I was in camp he shouted threats. I told him to “just go away” maybe opined he was a brute too then he actually went off, restrung his bow and came back.

I called to him to "Go away" (and yes ^_^ it was just “go away”) but he shot arrows into the camp that hit me and threw stones at me.

I shot back at him then, once he broke whatever truce there might have been.

An ungrateful beastly mercenary with no sense of obligation.

Eventually he got tired of shooting at me and dodging my arrows, I managed to avoid falling off the stockade ^_^ and he went away.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Painted

2011-08-05T11:01:00.001-07:00

PhotoHunt

PAINTED

With my Thursday walking group yesterday I came upon this mural painted on the back of the buildings for maintenance equipment in a park by the Vancouver harbour beachside. Click to enlarge for more detail.

Blue for by the sea?

It was certainly very colourful although I had no idea what the
imagery meant.

The centaur seems a bit outnumbered and outweaponed by
the king and his cohorts

The Mural was painted in June 1992 by Los Artistas Mexicanos under the auspices of the Arts in Action Society.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

An Earth Girl's Rough Guide to Gor

2011-08-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Falling for Petra

A change of pace... in case you were getting a bit punch drunk with all the skirmishes and chases.

I am becoming quite amazed by sl Gor the more I find out about it. Gor is a whole virtual counter world.

Well at least the known map is a huge continent that spans from inside Gor's verion of the arctic circle to the tropics past the equator. You saw the map.

Imagine it covering everything from Greenland to beyond the Sahara and from Cape St Vincent in Portugal to maybe at least the Urals? That looks like a single continent. Are ther others as yet undiscovered?

I have also mentioned how beautiful some of it is. The forest I live in and our caves you have seen pictures of. Well I am finding that is not just true of our little corner of Gor. The work and creativity and sheer detail and even artistry of the sl users who have created it all, every last blade of grass and brick is wonderful when you stop to think about it.

Now Panthers sometimes travel in disguise to spy and buy goods. They quietly slip into towns and cities disguised as Karjia, or Free (free women).

I wasn't quite ready to rp being a spy, but I was curious, especially when a friend mentioned some interesting places.

So I disguised myself and slipped off to explore at a quiet time of day ...and being cluck-cluck chicken I also collected an official observer's tag to wear, just in case. I didn't want to come unstuck half a continent away from help armed only with a dagger ticked into my gladiator sandals.

Far to the south and east, by the ocean, is the port city of Petra... Someone told me it was beautiful. I went to look.

Petra (πέτρα) is Greek for rock, as in petrified... turned to stone.

In rl on Earth it was "a rose-red city half as old as time" strategically placed in the desert in what is now modern Jordan where it grew wealthy on the caravan trade. Spices and Myrrh passing through...

So it was that early one morning (local time) suitably veiled and metered I stepped off a ship and down the narrow gangplank onto the docks of Petra.

The sun was casting a pink glow on the cream stones of the city. The sky was a perfect Mediterranean blue the waves were gently cresting and foaming out beyond the breakwater and lighthouse. Brightly coloured birds were wheeling in the sky.

I turned left walking along towards what I took to be harbour docks and warehouses. It reminded me strongly of old Mediterranean towns with a hint of the east. It was beautiful as it opened up before me.

There is a place to traders to deal there, but it was deserted as I walked on past. In fact there did not appear to be a sole about I had the city to myself.

I explored until I came to what I think must have been the library. It was like the rest of the place wonderful. I explored and looked in on the library, but I am not in the group so could not access any materials.

Eventually I came out on a high roof terrace where a giant chess set was laid out ready. Standing facing it looking on was a tall handsome, solidly built guy, frozen, as if by magic (he was away, but yes there is some magic in Gor).

It only seemed to add to the magic and beauty of the place that the only obvious inhabitant, possibly the ruler of the city seemed frozen in place, as if by some powerful spell. I sat on one or the benches placed nearby, I guess for people to watch the game and just enjoyed the place and the atmosphere for a moment to two.

~~~<>~~~

It seems no work of Man's creative hand,
by labour wrought as wavering fancy planned;

But from the rock as if by magic grown,
eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!

Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,
where erst Athena held her rites divine;

Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,
that crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;

But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,
that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;

The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,
which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,

match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,
a rose-red city half as old as time.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Together

2011-07-29T09:21:00.001-07:00

PhotoHunt

TOGETHER

First I had a photo of a heron and a cormorant together, well in the same photo.

But then a gaggle of geese flew by and there was a heron and a cormorant together with geese in the same photo! Even more togetherness. Better clicked to enlarge.

Sorry I only had the camera with the 3.8x zoom with me.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Close Encounters of the Pointy Kind

2011-07-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

It was a quiet day at the camp. There had been something happened earlier, I had heard of signs of arrows expended, Panthers unaccounted for. Townsmen again.

So I had a look round the forest and then took up position on the 'battlements'. I was trying to pot deer as far away as possible for target practice and provisions. Looking out for deer I spot a guy sneaking through the forest. I don't think he was a Townsman. We are being a bit sensitive about people getting too close to our camp just now. So I figured it would be good to try out my shooting skill on him.

He had stopped behind a tree and was looking at the camp, but I could see him from the angle I was at so I hit him with a flurry of arrows. I could tell I was getting direct body hits, so I should have been doing good damage. Then he started to move. I kept up fair accuracy getting more direct and 'splash' hits where the arrow bounces off the ground. I must have got in around 20 hits.

Finally he worked out where I was from my arrows and shot back at be. His arrow hit me real hard, doing real damage. It stunned me and I realised I couldn't take many more hits and survive so I moved sharpish, while trying to cover the approach to our palisade gate. I was shooting in a high arc to at least keep him busy dodging while I recovered.

I had him wary enough of me he was at least treating my shooting with respect. Then, not watching where I trod and trying to get a beter shot I slipped off the battlement and fell outside the camp.

"Oops!" I thjought... He spotted it and charged up shooting. Again there were a couple of very hard hits.

Then I sensed (by im) "Y" had escaped from the Town. I called to her to stay away as I was under attack.

I realised we were very unevenly matched and figuring it worked for me once decided to try for the ferry.

He was basically between me and the ferry so I set off dodging (Jinking I am told) as fast as I could run in the opposite direction towards the trading post with him at my heels. Then I curved, going closer towards the Town, and ended up doing a sort of "U" or "J" shaped path recovering from my hit damage a little as I did. I had managed to pull ahead and jumped onto the ferry and away. I kept quiet all through this (too busy fighting and escaping), no jeers or anything, so did he.

Once I was away and safe at the market I gradually recovered fully, he didn't follow.

After, I wondered if he was the same intruder pulled off the sneaky ambush the other day.

Later I went through the events with "A". She wondered if his bow or armour might be illegal (too good) anyway as it seemed too powerful and the damage I was able to inflict not as much as should be expected.

I am not sure, as we are not allowed armour and men are so much stronger. It might have just been that. I didn't log chat at the time so can't say for sure who he was now.

Earth Girls are... Armed to the Teeth

2011-07-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

Tal everyone. Well life ticks on in Gor.

Some of our band were captured by Townsmen in the forest and held prisoner over the last day or so.

What is it with the way they obsess over Panthers anyway? I heard they have a tavern in town called “The Chained Panther” or some such.

So the elders decided we should make it real hot for the Townsmen if they crept more than an arrows flight into the forest. The idea being to maybe trade prisoners and generally discourage them from the forest on principle.
Also a band of mercenaries have set up camp fairly close to the town. I wonder if they will make a nuisance of themselves? ...And I heard a farmer had cleared some trees and set up, better not be more where he came from.

“Y” got back and had picked up a slave from somewhere who is happily pottering round the camp at the moment.

I was hunting in the forest the other day thinking, either two, or four legged, prey would do.

In the end I got a couple of deer and a condescending “Don’t worry babe. I am only after deer… so long as you don’t come too close to the town.”, call from a Townsman. I noted he was staying in sight of the walls, mostly on the town side of the bridge and gave that right back to him. I guess he seemed ok.

I also snuck up to the new Mercs compound in the NE and spied it out. There is a solid wood palisade with a gate in the corner. It has a big communal tent, a couple of smaller ones and an open one. There is also a cooking area.

I was soo not impressed with their lookout. Someone was there but maybe too occupied to keep watch, easy enough to shoot an arrow over their palisade I bet.

Later a trader came to the trading post in the forest, “F” and I went there. She picked up some spices and wine in exchange for a nice fur. I kept watch and chatted to the Trader after. Maybe we will keep in touch.

I am still practicing every chance I get to improve my weapons skills. I am told I am not too bad.

My main opponent is this automated ranger-bot at the OOC common practice ground. It is practically unbeatable on the top settings, but I am told no one wins against it set like that. Even set lower it still kicks my ass nine and a half times out of ten at the moment.

Weaponised Moggsy

OK a word about weapons. The very first thing I bought a nice bow for myself. It cost me 600 Linden$. I also bought a set of throwing daggers.

I shopped in the Primus Weapons Store:

Primus Weapons – Gorean Weapons, Primus Weapons (83, 55, 906)

Conspicuous product placement guys! if you feel like giving out any freebies, or anything…

I planned to go back there because they were affordable. I liked the products aaand a single HUD can conveniently cover all of their weapons. so much easier, plus it comes with built in grappling hooks.

Well I wanted to make sure I had at least one good melee weapon and took advice from “D” I really liked this weapon set that had a spear, bow and dagger at a discount pack price, but it had a shield and that is a no-no for us. Then I saw one similar also at a discount with a glaive instead. I thought surely that can’t be illegal but “D” assured me it was. I thought that was stupid. So I didn’t have any more time right then and bought nothing.

Later I went back with “L” my sl fellow runaway sister. We couldn’t find any spears without glaives. I guess I could have bought one and tried using it without, but $600L I did not want to chance.

Anyway I saw this lovely pair of roman sandals with knife built in in two colours so I snapped those up, melee weapon problem solved.

Then I spotted this… Hmm best kept for backup as a nice surprise… so I won’t post on it just in case. Mwahahaaa! If you-go down-to the woods-today…

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Backwards

2011-07-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

BACKWARDS

Looking backwards down the hill, I took this photo of ships in Vancouver harbour and the mountains in the background, despite, those ugly electricity wires which are an eyesore. If I had more ambition and skill I would try to remove them. Click to enlarge.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Earth girls are (not so) easy

2011-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

A day or so later, after my first Gorian post, I was in the caves below our camp and lookout point. The caves are beautiful, the sort of place that would be a tourist attraction you paid for a guided tour of in rl.

I heard one of my friends “Y” coming, by her treading on a twig warning system we have on the approach.

Now I have thought about what happened next and rewritten it a couple of times.

I think maybe she was followed by a raider from some place far away. Not a local from the town. It all got a bit confusing and I pieced this together after.

Now I should mention I can swim in SL (this will be important later because I bought and wear a swim animation)

So I thought I would go out to meet her and went out of one of our secret entrances to meet up with her. This must have messed with the lurker/stalker’s plans. I figure he planned to follow her and capture her once she opened the entrance. But I messed all that up by walking towards them.

Secret caves

He had to switch targets to me.

He must have had an arrow knocked. Suddenly there is a mad flurry of arrows, very close together that makes me think he was really close by. Me, I had no chance...

He managed to simultaneously take me out and follow “Y” into the cave after she opened it. She had enough warning because of him hitting me solidly with a flurry of arrows “Thwack-wack-wack-wack” to run into the caves and the chance to put up a fight, surprised as she was. She is good.

Now a quick explanation... If your health falls to zero in Gor (say from being hit by a bunch of arrows) then you are caught up in a capture net, helpless for 3 minutes while you can be tied up and taken away. Think of it like the way vets tranquilise wild animals on TV. Grrowl…

“Y” and I both got lucky that day. There were two of us, so twice as much time was needed. Time was in short supply as it happened.

I helplessly fell in the river fed by the falls, but luckily for me here the swimming ability helped. Instead of just staying where I fell, it basically carried me away, stopping me sinking, (probably a slight conflict between the two aos both trying to do their jobs at the same time) and I ended up netted but hidden in reeds well away from where I fell. “Y” had the luck to get some warning after I was shot. She managed to put up a fight but fell in the caves.

Then there was a lot of: “Sneaky raid!”, “Not us! Must be outsider” IMs on the group IM. So it all stirred up a hornets nest.

I figure he must have searched for me after be fought "Y" and that took up valuable time.

In the end the raider never had enough time to get round to capturing either of us before I got free and ran back into the caves all hyped and arrow knocked by another entrance to stand guard over his other victim until she was able to become free.

But he had fled and had his work cut out for him getting back to the ferry and away.

After that and a chat with the villagers we went to the local arena (see the picture below) to practice our combat skills.

Local arena

I think mine sure do need improving (tho people are making positive noises) and I really need a good melee weapon, being (literally in Gor) but a weak and feeble woman.. Grr..

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Near

2011-07-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

NEAR

Near or far off this tiny octagonal Russian Orthodox Church in Junea, Alaska is very intriguing.

St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

In continuous use for 117 years, most of its congregation are native people. The Russian Orthodox Church missionaries were much more successful in converting the native population in Alaska, as they conducted services in the native Klingit tongue rather than trying to suppress it as other missionaries sought to do. In fact this church was established through the efforts and initiative of the local Klingit leaders.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

An Earth Girl’s Adventures in Gor

2011-07-01T04:18:00.000-07:00

Ooh boy! Let me tell you about adventures.

There is there is world called Gor. I have been a bit scared to go there up to now. Gor is big in sl, huge, like Steampunk and Vampires are big.

You all heard of Vampires maybe the Twilight books/movies or read Ann Rice maybe, and how things work with them I expect, maybe Steampunk also?

Well the world of Gor is based on books by a guy called John Norman, as far as I can tell they are something like 'X' Certificate Edgar RFice Burrows. Pretty risqué erotica really, not for shelves in the book store low enough for kids to get hold of them.

Basically Gor is a counter earth. Societies there are technologically primitive (swords, bows n arrows, spears) male dominated society that keeps slaves.

I am not sure about the books but one of the main occupations of guys in Second Life is to steal or capture female slaves or Karjira. ^_^

There are two main distinct cultures. A northern one and a southern one. The northern is more European, the Southern more Eastern/Southern Mediterranean. There are also counterparts to Vikings and native Americans.

There are all sorts of different classes in the main societies. They basically split into groups or casts and sub-casts. They include free men and women, warriors and slaves.

I bet you can Google tons about it.

So I had avoided Gor, because it seemed to be insanely complicated and very easy to slip up and to be specifically designed as a guy’s paradise, so why should I be cannon fodder, grist for the mill?

Mostly the girly advice was to avoid it, and I have for years.

But I got talking to a Panther. Now Panthers are women who live on the outskirts of Gorian ‘civilisation’ In the vast Northern Forests and woods.

Panthers are women who can’t or don’t want to fit in with the Gorian norms. They come from all levels of Gorian society, Escaped slaves, Free women, you name it.

So I did a little research and got a guy I trusted to show me around. I got dressed in something that turned out to be unsuitable armed with illegal (for women) weapons (so much for research) and after being assured I was “fine” we set off.

I had worked out a character/history. I felt like some sort of secret agent doing that ^_^

I was one of two sisters. Young daughters of a scribe, who had run away to join the Panthers, who they had heard tales of, rather than one of them be partnered with a guy their Father (probably sensibly) wanted for them, but they could not want to be with. Nicely accounting for any mistakes made and total lack of fighting ability. Way to go Moggsy! ^_^

When we arrived the first stop was a huge sort of meeting centre or clearing house full of people from all over Gor talking and arranging stuff.

Then we moved on to where there is this vast map in a sort of arena/stadium place..

You walk over the face of Gor like some sort of giantess to where you need to be and then teleport into the world at that location. The map really is the world ^_^

Despite seeming giant, in the pic I am still a tiny figure against the whole map, standing by the northen forests (the picture is taken facing south from the north). That gives an idea of the scale of it.

But he had to go off and do something after not really answering my questions about the prominent posters banning most non sanctioned armed females… Hmmnnnn

He went off to see a girl, with the parting advice to get in touch with my friend the Panther about details and guidance in that region.

To be fair he made sure I had an observer's tag and I think the rules vary, depending on where you are.. and he did say he was persona non grata with the authorities in that geographical location over some .. trifling misunderstanding. I think maybe some group of Panthers thinking on it after.

I was very struck by how beautiful, well made and detailed the sim was.

So I got in touch with ‘D’, an elder of a Panther clan. She had a quick OMG!! Over my general attire, seriously illegal weapons and general “walking disaster waiting to happen to me”-ness.

A quick shopping trip later.. Ahh Shopping… Stores I do know. And with the assistance of "Y" another Panther I met and more shopping with "L" and I looked the part. An awesomely sexy part too, I have been assured by several male acquaintances and a number of female ones also.

Basically the outfit I ended up is a fur bikini with fur leggings and a bow, daggers and darts. Also a GM ‘meter’ that keeps track of your health and fits you into the rules. I decided on going red head with an updo involving a looped plait and feathers.

OK so there I am looking the part with simply no real idea what to do. I can talk the talk.. but as for walking the walk? Nooo..

So super quick advice and a bit of training from several helpful people gives me the ability to know I am in deep doo-doo if I try to go up against anyone who knows what they are actually doing..

Oh and did I mention? Women are considerably weaker than guys on Gor.. by order of the laws of nature. And that is imposed on you too. So a girl needs to be much better than a guy to have a hope of equalling, or doing better than, him… Hmmmnnn sound familiar anyone?

“Crazy girl” you will be thinking by now, or maybe if you are a guy “Heyyyy.. easy capture” and I am not necessarily saying you are completely wrong.

I was genuinely nervous and scared as I got off the river barge to make my way to the camp in the forest. A raw Panther recruit. I saw one of the clan’s scouts as I approached who shouted at me to “Knock an arrow and Ruuunnn!, taking her own advice. I followed as best I could.

Thwack! Twang! Thwack! Arrows were falling and nipping at me as I ran. “Oh Crap! Oh Crap!” I thought and tried to zigzag and get behind a hill.

It turned out a sister had captured an intruder and was trying to trade them back when it all went pear shaped and a small brush war developed that I had walked into the middle of.

So I did a lot of running and shooting and hiding and spying. With a bunch of self assured full-of-themselves guys against us. I hit one who was a little too sure of himself enough that he had to actually run from me, but to be honest it mostly went the other way.

I did some spying and we regrouped, but then got really hit.

We ran for it, fighting as we retreated and splitting up. I was soo close to being captured when I reached the ferry 15%. Health and falling. I escaped down river by the skin of my teeth, not forgetting to Jeer at the guys in return for their insults.

I could hear our scout got captured and someone else "Y"? made it back to our secret camp. But I had managed somehow, against the odds, to at least get away ...and hurl insults back at them while I did it. Somehow it felt like a great victory. Way to go Moggsy!

Woo-Hooo! What a rush!. I got so into it. I was petrified but bouncing off the walls. I guess maybe that is why guys love this sort of stuff.

I soo need to practice this stuff.

Now we need to mount a rescue…

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Card(s)

2011-06-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

CARD(S)

Recently I went to an Ikebana show in which a friend was participating. Each of the displays had the name of the flower arranger on a card and the style of the arrangement. Yes, lame I know.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Informative

2011-06-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

INFORMATIVE

A signpost in Skagway, Alaska, informing you of which direction to take to various places. Of course it neglects to tell you that to some there are no roads or the distances, which can be considerable. Some are accessed directly on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.

Skagway, gateway to the Klondike but everywhere practically:

Whitehorse and Carcross in the Yukon Territory - 114 and 65 miles repectively
Atlin in BC - 161 miles
Nome Alaska, the finish of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race - 1643 miles
Fairbanks Alaska - 546 miles
this way for the Chilkoot Pass - 33 miles and straight up
or that way for Whitepass - 15 miles and straight up.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Triangular

2011-06-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

TRIANGULAR

Not very much that I could see to fit this theme in the old archives so I am stretching it a bit. This heron is standing on a triangular rock and there is one in the background too. I need to get taking more photos!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photohunt --- Dirty

2011-06-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

Dirty

Ooh.. Dirty... Well that can be looked at several ways, can't it?

There is just plain Dirty as in covered with dirt, or you can have Dirty Money.. or like the Tao Cruz song says, Dirty Pictures.

Well I thought on it some and I got a short messy 'Dirty Blonde' hair do ^_^.

Then I got deressed what some might call a little barefoot and trashy... (But hey! It's my front yard so no dirty looks!)

...and then I got gardening and cleaning and scrubbing.

Now I am still not so so sure about the number of pics allowed, and I admit I am sometimes terrible about making my mind up, especially if picking an outfit to go out in.

So here are three for the price of one 'value' pics.

One of me trying to look, if not dirty, at least cutely grubby, in my garden.

Also a couple of me in my kitchen, before I got myself cleaned up.

Feel free to comment..

...but no dirty ones please ^_^

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Dirty

2011-06-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

DIRTY

It's quite a while since I played Photo Hunt. Either I had nothing to suit the topic or else I was away but I was determined to participate again. Miss Moggs has been taking up some of the slack and I see she is taking part again this week too as she has scheduled a post. So we will have two here this week.

One of my favourite belted galloways wallowing in the mud in this wet muddly field at Steveston. The so called "white" belt is always dirty as a result.

This one with the itch, taken on a different day, was especially dirty!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Looking Down

2011-05-28T02:06:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

LOOKING DOWN

Oops! Dropped the ball last week. I forgot to do a PhotoHunt. JMB is away (hopefully having a wonderful time) of which probably more later...

I wondered if I should take it in a social or metaphorical sense, or maybe like the feeling low sense, but in the end I decided to be (possibly less adventurously) absolutely literal.

Now in rl I saw a guy putting up a satellite dish on top of an 8 story apartment block. He was looking down, but I figure I should stick to sl for my posts, that is where I live.

Sooo.. I have a couple of pics that ought to fit the subject. I am still not totally sure if it is
entirely ok to put in more than one pic at a time. But whatever.. Let's live dangerously.

The first pic is of me, in the hall of our castle.

It is taken from the gallery looking down into the hall. There are the three thrones on the stage at the end. Behind them are windows that open onto a balcony that looks out on the ocean. The clan stone with the sword is to the right. I am in the Elven warrior standing in the hall.

The second is of a friend outside her home.

It is taken looking down from a trees branches. It is a beautiful estate she lives in that has a park and dance club. The sharp eyed amongst you might notice she is also an elf.

I have included a 'bonus' close-up of me showing my current look to finish.

Eurovision

2011-05-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Well, another Eurovision Song Contest has been and gone (Sat May 14).

*waves to it as it dissapears into history*

Some of you may not know what it is, maybe it's better that way? ^_^

It is very important to lots of Europeans. The rules forbid any commercially successful songs being entered... maybe that says something right there? Tho they are allowed to be successful (if they can be) after the contest.

Although it is “Euro”vision the Turks, Russians and Israelis also take part in it.

It would probably be waaay better if Simon Cowell were running it, but he probably never will. ^_^

Now I can't claim this post is absolutely my own idea as 'SW', when i mentioned Blue, knowing my interest in music, gave me ammo, wound me up and sent me off to write it. whirrrr.... click-click.. whirrr...

This year the UK's entry was "I Can" It was sung by "Blue". Now I think it was the best song entered, I even bought it. Not the greatest track in the history of the world ever, but good enough that I paid real cash money for it and put it on my itouch.

OK. So I do realise that national musical tastes are real and do vary - Especially European tastes. In fact they often absolutely do vary, big time, from what I guess I should call English speaking transatlantic norms. So I am not Bit#*$%n because blue did not win.

There is a list of the songs here.

So, even though I personally thought it was self evidently 'right up there', as one of the best three or 4 songs, if not the best, I still didn't necessarily expect Europeans to think it was best also.

You simply would not believe some of the stuff that scores highly in the contest.

At this point I do have to declare that I did call in a vote for the winner Azerbaijan, so I am not dissing it or anything. Tho being honest, and I hope objective, if I only had one vote and I could have, I would probably have voted for Blue, purely on musical grounds and leaving Duncan right out of it.^_^

Now the BBC, I guess, trying to talk up the result, given how much TV Tax they spend on it, are saying "Blue managed to notch up a respectable score - 100 points - compared with last year's entry that came last with just 10 points."

But that's not really saying much, if you think about it.

Sure. It was way better than coming last, but no way were there, even by European standards, 10 songs in that contest that anyone rational would really think were better. (Did you hear that awful mix of the Greeks did with rap bolted on to an otherwise ok-is song? What were they thinking of?) I can sort of guess why Ireland entered Jedward. I won't be too mean about them they are at least wierdly cute.

So the BBC would say that wouldn't they? Or they might end up with the Boss of the BBC hanging onto the big aerial on top of Broadcasting House (maybe being attacked by biplanes?) while citizens with pitch forks and burning torches baying for his blood below.^_^

So, following the money trail… The "Big Five". The UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy automatically qualify for the final because, basically they cover the lion's share of the whole cost, they pay for it

Now back in 2008 The Eurovision Bosses tried to tell us sponsorship deals and "other sources of funding" could now easily cover the costs of Eurovision, should the big 5 nations bankrolling the EBU decide to withdraw.

So why don't they raise the cash that way - if it is true?

It is quite difficult to find out actual figures for it on the net (not saying there is a conspiracy to keep it looow profile or anything... nooooo) but it looks like the BBC coughed up north of £300,000 toward the 2010 contest, that ,they say, could easily be covered some other way.

I have a sneaking suspicion - and I am absolutely not alone in this that it is pretty much impossible for the UK to win the contest, no matter how good the song. Not so much because of European musical tastes, more to do with the voting system, voting blocks and politics.

I would guess the only country less likely to be able to win, if it could ever take part, would be the US, and not because the song sucked or anything.

Maybe it is time this contest was finally allowed to finance it's self, if it can. Like "fly little bird, be free!"

Maybe the winner ought to be decided by downloads even? Might be more real, more credible, more honest. At least voters would have to put their money where their mouth is.

Moments

2011-05-20T03:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was driving in the early morning, listening to my radio. The roads were empty, the fields and hedgerows and trees, lush with early summer.

The sky was clear, promising a golden morning, and it had rained a little overnight. The moisture was rising out of the ground as a low lying mist.

The moon was almost full, straight ahead of me, low to the horizon and looking huge.

The sky and landscape was all soft muted pastels. Pinks and purples and blues in the sky with a huge faded silver/white lace moon and greens and greys and blues and misty silvers in the fields, like stage backdrops in front of other backdrops, each slightly faded with distance.

It was all so beautiful in that moment, like some precious jewel to be put away in my box of memories to keep... and share.

It made me feel good to be alive.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Square

2011-04-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

SQUARE

Slim pickings in my archives for this theme but this quilt is square and hangs on my family room fireplace wall. I couldn't resist the lovely Japanese fabric when I saw it, but since I am not a real quilt artist this is a quite plebian design I used. Click to enlarge.

I wish you could get bigger images on blogger. This is in focus but doesn't look like it until you enlarge it.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Dusty

2011-04-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

DUSTY

This dusty path near us is a favourite walk along the edge of the Fraser River. We share the walk with dogs and horses and when it rains it becomes rather muddy and we have to walk elsewhere.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

HAPPY EASTER TO THOSE CELEBRATING IT

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Road

2011-04-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

ROAD

Now some of you take photos especially for Photo Hunt themes and others browse their archives. I tend to be in the latter category and since there were slim pickings for road in there, I am stretching the theme just a tad or rather a lot. It's more like a building with some road! Good heavens, those New Zealanders drive on the wrong side of the road!

This was taken in Napier, New Zealand which was levelled by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt totally in the Art Deco style. It also has the distinction of being the only World Heritage site in New Zealand and the place where my father-in-law was born, although he later emigrated to Australia. Click to enlarge if you wish.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Trees

2011-04-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

TREES

I meant to take a photo of the Spring blossom trees when I was out and about today but got sidetracked. So I had to root through the archives and found this nice collection of trees , taken on a walk on the dyke at Steveston at the end of last summer. Click to enlarge, I think. Is anyone else finding this enlarging is not always working?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Spring in the air and in my step

2011-04-07T02:03:00.000-07:00

This morning I feel good, for no accountable reason - and I just had to share it.

I have not been able to make much time lately for sl, or blogging and I have missed that. I half started several posts and they didn't get finished or posted.

Tho maybe it is accountable...

On account of the bright golden morning sunshine guilding everything in glory. The blue sky, warmth in the air and the fact that spring has finally and unarguably sprung.

Such simple things can lift us up. So - just now, my soul has fairy wings... and is dancing

.. and I thought the world is so full of bad stuff it might be nice to share this feeling. Now I need to publish this before something dents my good mood :-)

Oh. Three tracks I am really liking just now:

"All I Ever Wanted" by Faith hill - don't confuse it with Basshunter's track of the same title (that I also liked) Also

"Desenchantee" (radio Mix) by Siria ...aaand

"Be Your Wings" by Girl Next Door(the Girl x1 Boy x2 group) I really like as a bouncy Track and it has a great video also.

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- Closed

2011-04-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

CLOSED

As I showed in the Photo Hunt post for Machinery, there's construction work taking place at my favourite walk along False Creek at Granville Island. So of course parts of it are closed off and you have to take a small detour.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- Cage(d)

2011-03-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

CAGE(D)

I'm a zoo person! I love to visit them and watch the animals. One of my favourite zoos is the San Diego Zoo. There the animals are displayed in very natural surroundings and the fact that they are "caged" is rather subtle for the most part.

These gorillas are certainly confined by dry moats and a low fence but no traditional cage for them. They can people watch without the interference of wire.

Not true for this fellow however, for while his habitat is as pleasant as they can make it, he lives his life totally within a large cage. Click to enlarge if you wish.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- License plate

2011-03-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

LICENSE PLATE

For 16 years I drove a rather unusually coloured Ford Taurus, a sort of soft celadon green. Everyone knew it was me, especially as it only seemed to be available for that one year. But it died and I had to get a new car last summer. It's a boring silver grey one, as owned by every other car driver it seems. My friends said, how will we know it's you now?

Well at Christmas time, not needing anything really, I suddenly thought of the outrageous idea of getting personalized license plates as a gift. Tadah! Well JMB was already taken it seems, so it had to be my second choice, JMB 1.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Machines

2011-03-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

MACHINES

Here's a pair of machines I saw today when I was out with my walking group. I have been told these large apartment buildings, on the edge of False Creek, which is an offshoot of Vancouver Harbour, are apparently sinking, so they are driving pylons into the ground nearby. Oh yes, it was incredibly noisy. Click to make a little larger. Sadly I upgraded to iPhoto 11 and the images do not upload at full size or even a decent size. Even more sad is the fact that I can't go back. to the previous version. Sighs.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Goofing Off!

2011-03-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

Normally I hate these things but this ornamental
cabbage warranted a photo

I see that while I have been on a little hiatus from blogging, or one might say goofing off, I passed the fourth anniversary of the date I ventured into the blogging world, February 8th, 2007.

I don't consider myself a writer by any standards, but over that course of time I've written over 700 posts and if you consider each to be the equivalent of at least a page, well I've written a rather lengthy book. The truly amazing thing is I have never published a post that has not received comments, from the very first one, when 6 kindly people welcomed me into the blogosphere, until now.

But sometimes the muse leaves even the best of writers, let alone me. It's not that I haven't had things of interest to tell, like going to New York City for Thanksgiving, or lots of occasions at the theatre or some interesting books I've read recently which I could have recommended. I even lost focus on Photo Hunt, such that Miss Moggs bravely took up the baton with it and she has been keeping the home fires burning so to speak, with thoughts on this and that.

Well last Saturday I returned to the hunt, after more than a month away and I'll certainly try to keep that up. As for the rest, well as the spirit moves.

I am well, in case you thought I might be having health issues. Still croaking away, although more strongly, but learning to accept that it is what it is. I have every reason to be grateful overall I know.

Four years! My aim was to complete one year at least, then a second went by, and a third. This last, my fourth, my annus horribilis, has seen a lot less action here. Let's see what the fifth one brings, but don't hold your breath!

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Self Portrait

2011-03-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

SELF PORTRAIT

It's been a while since I've participated in Photo Hunt, having had a little hiatus from blogging. I'm going to treat this theme as being a Portrait of Self, rather than Self Portrait. You can paint yourself easily but photographing yourself, well that requires more organization.

Now I'm not planning on using this photo anytime soon, but I call it my Funeral photo. You know the one they have on a stand at the front of the church at funerals. The departed one looking his or her very best. Obviously it's not current. I was in my mid forties at the time but I've always liked it for some reason. Yes, I do have that very pale, very freckly, Celtic skin, even today, thirty years later, although the flash washed it out a little.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt

2011-03-04T12:21:00.001-08:00

PhotoHunt

Self Portrait

Another Moggsy Photohunt. I hope I remembered the theme right. I have really been rushing to get this done and it would be just my luck if I got it utterly wrong. Hope I get credit for next week if I did ^_^

OK. I think the theme is self portraits this week. Seems simple enough…

This is my try at digitally painting a picture in oils on canvas… of me, naturally. That would make it a self portrait by anyone’s reckoning surely? It even has a frame.

It is from a pic of me taken through the window of a car parked up near a nightclub.
The hair do students among you (a little running theme) will notice it is yet another different platinum do, this time bound up with a black ribbon.

I used the pic this is done from to do my profile pic, maybe it would work for the by-line pic also...

I thought the whole thing looks quite 1960s. Sort of glamerous and Bond movie-ish, what do you think?

A spooky Tale

2011-03-02T04:08:00.000-08:00

I was not sure how to start this post, I heard of it and thought it would make an interesting post, but how to tell it?. So please be patient with me as it goes round the houses just a little.

First... a little bit of history.

In the middle of the 19th century Victorian London was crazy-busy and huge numbers of people needed to be able to get about the city, especially to and from the railway termini feeding into London.

Some of you may not know it, but London's underground system (Subway/Tube/Metro) was the very first, and is the oldest in the world.

It wasn't planned and built by just one company, but each line was built by separate ones formed specially to build them, sometimes in the early days they were in competition in some places. It sort of evolved organically... and it grew one or two appendixes along the way.^_^

So in 1860 work was started on the Metropolitan Railway (now the Metropolitan tube line) to link three of London's main line termini with the City. The first bit of the line was opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon. Way to go!

By the turn of the century there were a number of lines. One was run by the Central London Railway (now the central line) formed in 1891. It was electric and opened in June 1900. Now we are getting to the point, so pay attention ^_^. One of the Stations on it was 'British Museum' at 133, High Holborn. What is now Holborn Station was opened in 1906 and in time became an interchange between the Piccadilly and Central lines.

'British Museum' was between Tottenham Court Road and Chancery Lane when it was opened, close to the Museum, of which more later.

by September 1933 'Holborn' Station was by then a more useful interchange station now, on the same line, close by, so British Museum was closed. It is not the only station that happened to. There are lots of disused stations under London, cut loose by the flow of the city's history.

Did any of you read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman? I really enjoyed it.

Ok so back to the actual Museum the station was near, and named for. The British Museum is fascinating especially if you like ancient history.

It is one of the oldest in the world Founded in 1753 by Act of Parliament. I have visited it a few times. There are ancient statues and sarcophagi and Mummies... It is worth a visit.

And now back to that station but keeping in mind the mummies...

Not long after the station closed people started claiming the newly disused station was haunted. Haunted by the ghost of an ancient (surely beautiful and exotic also?)Egyptian Princess who would return to haunt it late at night, dressed in a fabulous regal loincloth and headdress, wailing and screaming in the tunnels.

The haunting was rumoured to be some part of the curse of Princess Amen-Ra's tomb, a curse on any who disturbed her rest. Her sarcophagus had arrived in the British Museum in 1889. There were rumours she was taken out of the sarcophagus because there had been too many incidents and disturbances.

She herself ended up going down with the Titanic can you believe, though she lived around 3000 years before it was ever built.

At the time The rumours about the haunting got so strong it is said a newspaper offered a reward to anyone who would dare to spend the night there, but no one took them up on the challenge.

In 1935, two years after the station closed two women are said to have disappeared from the platform at Holborn... and marks were subsequently found on the walls of the old station...

More recently it is said that she can still sometimes be heard, further on down the track, at Holborn station.

'British Museum' station is still down there, on the Central Line, between 'Tottenham Court Road' station and 'Holborn' station.

Saturday Photo Hunt

2011-02-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

Mostly In Black

Well I am trying to step up to the plate on this Photohunt thingy as it dind't get put up the last week or so.

I am not 100% sure of the rules, even if I do comment on the pics from time to time ^_^

So this is my likely not so good try at it.

Here is a pic of me in my kitchen in sl dressed... Mostly in black.

..and also me playing the piano dressed (wait for it) mostly in black.. are two allowed? Will I get disqualified? It is a different outfit...

You will notice that there is a pretty big difference between my usual byline pic and my current look that I have had quite a while now...

Platinum hair and different makeup... more back towards my look before the byline pic for anyone who remembers...

So what looks best? The brunette or the blonde hair do?

Drive to Arrive

2011-02-24T04:35:00.000-08:00

Some young guy got wiped from the face of the earth last year. In an instant. In a Road accident. It was on a route I use. I never saw it, just found out after.

His friends and family put flowers and stuff on the spot by the side of the highway, a picture at first I think also.

He is not the first, just the latest. I hate it when I see new forlorn little bunches of flowers appear by the side of the road. In the UK it basically means one thing...

Why is it so often young guys at night, brim full of confidence and promise, their lives stretching out in front of them like the open road one moment - the next it’s all just might have beens, if onlys, no undoing it, wasted opportunities and tears.

Often these things are at places you think “Why there?”, not on a bend or anything, but with clear views.

Everyone. Please. Just think twice when you are driving, especially guys – but also girls, girls too, no get out of jail free card for you.

“Drive to arrive.”.

If that’s all you remember about this post then remember those three words.

So the flowers got sad and faded... and they were replaced several times, at slightly longer intervals.

They were just recycling themselves when, come Christmas, they were replaced with balloons and Christmassy stuff. I guess someone just couldn’t bare the thought of him missing out on Christmas. Maybe lonely and cheerless.

When I saw that it made me smile sadly and tear up a bit thinking that. Heart wrenching, Poignant.

So Christmas came and then disappeared again in life’s rear view mirror.

A week or two back I drove past it again in the dark. I thought I saw someone tall and slim, standing there in a long coat maybe looking at the spot. Odd - maybe someone paying respects I figured.

I moved wide past and realised there was no vehicle nearby. I did a double take and realised there was no one actually there.

Funny the tricks your mind can play on you. A shadow maybe...

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Hands

2011-01-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

HANDS

I did post a photo of my own hands for Photo Hunt once, for the Wrinkled theme! This time I give you the young hands of my granddaughter as she showed off one of her treasured silly bands.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Moments

2011-01-17T04:14:00.000-08:00

It's so dark and so early. It's raining really, really, wet rain, and it really means it.

Today is Blue Monday. According to the radio it is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. Now I must admit I wasn't feeling uber depressed, just a bit Monday morningish.

I have just got off my train, off the platform onto the concourse. I guess I am feeling.. less than utterly slim, if I thought about it, but I just can't be asked to beat myself up over it too much just now. Whatever...

So of course I pop into a convenience store at the station to get something utterly unsuitable for breakfast ^_^.

While I stand at the counter making my guilt inducing purchase I notice faint singing. Not a radio, more... ethereal.

I turn to walk out of the store trying to figure where it was coming from. As I walk out I notice a young Hindu woman stacking the shelves.

It was her, quietly singing something to herself. It sounded cheerful and as I pass we catch each other's eye for a moment and smile at one another.

I walk on with a hint of a bounce in my step, smiling slightly and feeling somehow good, my mood elevated.

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- Shadow

2011-01-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

SHADOW

I walked into my dining room the other day and noticed the liqueur bottles were casting shadows and snapped a photo. Sorry a tad out of focus on the left. Better if you click it maybe?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Babble-on in the street of Babel

2011-01-09T14:12:00.000-08:00

A few recent thoughts from Miss Moggs.

The other day, not long before 11 in the morning, I happened to find myself in the Real Life version of London Town... in Oxford Street in fact. Some might call it a shopper’s paradise.

For those of you who have never been there it is lined with mostly up market and nice stores. Some are uber multi floor department stores (think Macey’s). Think fancy strip mall, complete with red buses going slower than you can walk, because of the traffic.

It would be possible to spend all day there... *sigh*

But just then I couldn’t tarry... I walked half the length of Oxford St, watching those poor stores disappear forlornly behind me, one by one, giving me the store equivalent of puppy dog eyes in my imagination (poor neglected things)... in shoes that I had thought were perfectly ok, when I set out that morning.. but came to realise were just a bit pinchy.

You might figure if I had any sense I should have worn trainers... Nahhh. Maybe ok for the journey to work but not for Oxford St, or where I had been, in otherwise nice clothes.

So anyway... There I was walking down Oxford Street. I was quiet the whole way, taking it in, listening to snatches of conversation and people watching, along with some practically automatic wistful window shopping... and do you know?

It slowly dawned on me that I was not hearing a single word of English. Now I can manage to shop and order food in several languages. I recognise more, but there were languages I was hearing I didn’t even recognise.

Maybe the English speakers just weren’t talking?. I wasn’t, but then I was not with anyone and I don’t do an upmarket 'bag lady having animated conversation with herself' routine. Apart obviously from the perfectly normal thinking out loud "Hmmnn... The red or the black?" sort of thing, that I wasn't doing just then.

I kept thinking “this can’t keep up”... but it did. In the heart of a capital city of a nation who’s first official language is English.

It made me think of the tower of Babel... only stretched out along the ground instead.

What did I do in the end? A very quick shot of “retail therapy” before I had to be somewhere else ^_^ They spoke English in the store.

* Image of Oxford Street courtesy of Wikimedia here

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- Free week

2011-01-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

"FREE WEEK"

It's some time since I participated in Photo Hunt and it's very easy to get out of the habit but I was determined to start again in the new year. First up is a free week with your choice of any image. As usual this doesn't help me at all, as free choice tends to paralyze me with indecision.

I took this photo on a walk during the Fall. It's not easy to see but it shows an interesting thick ribbon of fog lying low on the water all along the harbour with North Shore mountains in the misty distance. Also hard to see is a raven perched on the remains of the tree. What a great photo, not! You can click to enlarge it for more detail if you are so inclined.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Kindle, Amazon's ebook Reader

2011-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my daughter I am now the proud owner of a Kindle ebook reader, in its bright red cover, which I received as a Christmas gift. Miss Moggs raised some good points in her post here and I have some thoughts and answers to some of those she expressed as I have explored my Kindle this past week.

But first a few generalities about ebook or electronic book readers which have been around since the nineties in a limited way, but they really seemed to take off in popularity when the Kindle was launched by Amazon in November 2007 and sold out in 5 hours, despite its $399 price tag. It was sold only in the United States and had a 250MB memory which was the equivalent of 200 books.

Today, three years later, the third generation Kindle, which is an international version sells for $139 for the WiFi version or $189 for the WiFi/3G (cell phone connection) version and has 4 GB of memory, equivalent to over 3500 books and also includes a text to speech option. Since its release in August 2010 this third generation Kindle has become Amazon's top selling item, of all time, eclipsing even the sales of the 7th and last Harry Potter book. Not only that but Amazon is now selling more ebooks than hardcovers although paperback sales still remain larger. While the number of ebooks varies from country to country, depending on the laws, in the United States Amazon offers 800,000 titles, increasing every day.

Of course there are other prominent ebook reading devices such as the Sony and the Nook from Barnes and Noble, each using a different file format and thus ebooks are not interchangeable among the various devices. Both these allow you to read ebooks borrowed from the public library system whereas the Kindle does not. Apple launched the iPad in April 2010 and while essentially much more than an ebook reader it does have that capability and you can buy ebooks from the iBook store of Apple. Naturally they are a different file format again from the others.

A new interesting development is the array of Kindle apps or applications for various devices which allows you to buy ebooks from Amazon without ever owning a Kindle. There's a app. for your Blackberry, your Android phone, your PC computer or your Mac, one for your iPad, one for your iPhone or iPod touch. Yes, I downloaded the Kindle app. for Mac before I had my Kindle and had already downloaded some freebies from Amazon, books which are in the public domain like Pride and Prejudice. Similarly Nook has come up with these apps too so you can buy books from Barnes and Noble without owning a Nook. However the Nook app. for the Mac is not as good as that for the Kindle as yet.

The beauty of these apps is making the ebooks able to be purchased without being tied to the specific ebook reader and it was these apps which made my daughter choose the iPad for herself since the apps allowed all the different file formats to be read on that device. Obviously Amazon and Barnes and Noble took the introduction of the iPad very seriously and wanted in on the action of selling books to their owners. This is just as well for iPad owners since the iBook store has a very small selection in comparison with the other two stores.

Having owned the Kindle now for a couple of weeks, I have found it very easy to use and set up. It comes preloaded with two dictionaries and the user manual installed but I have added 52 items to the library so far. I already had an account with amazon.com and buying books is very easy and quick. Most I have acquired are freebies in the public domain or offered as one day freebies and I found a blog called Books on the Knob which is very informative about bargains for all ebook readers. Another called I love my Kindle is also a useful blog with a lot of information about the Kindle. I did actually pay money for a couple of books although at discounted prices.

My problem is the many books I own, including a half dozen recent additions, which I still have to read and the fact that I have $50 in gift certificates at Chapters to use up so I am not rushing into buying a lot for the Kindle.

This is a pretty basic model so the library is a list of titles of the ebooks, no pretty covers to remind you of what the book is, you have to remember them by title and author. Rather like black and white TV versus colour TV. It is very easy to read and not an unpleasant experience, although I do have a tendency as I get immersed to try to turn the pages instead of hit the forward arrow button. As one who likes to flip the pages back and forth on occasion to find something, yes or skip to the end, I find reading a book on such a device or even on the computer screen can be a bit irksome. Where I see the strength of such a device as the Kindle is going on holidays with a load of books in your pretty little device, instead of a suitcase full of books but for everyday reading I'm still a book person.

I was offered an iPad as a Christmas gift but really felt that would be a very expensive luxury at this point since to my mind it's really a mini computer and frankly I would rather use my computer. No doubt I will get one at some point, but I'm transitioning there with the Kindle.

In her post Moggs made an emphasis of owning a book where it truly is yours to do with as you wish versus owning the rights to read an ebook on the device of your choice but not much more and she was correct. A limited number of ebooks you can lend, but one time only and for a 14 days in a rather complicated procedure. The ebooks you purchase belong to your account at wherever you purchased them and they are archived there. They can be downloaded to more than one device up to a certain number of times and family members could share an account and have the books on each person's device. Should you sell or give away the Kindle the books do not go with it and you should deregister the Kindle from your account. Yes you can gift a specific ebook to another person but at the moment it is delivered immediately which may not be what you want if it's a gift.

While it is very convenient to buy books so easily, if you lose the Kindle or it is stolen another person can also easily buy books on your account at your expense until you deregister the Kindle.

Yes, it's a new world with ebooks and ebook readers. But I love books and bookstores, new and secondhand, and libraries so I can't see myself converting completely to ebooks. Then again I love the techie toys so I'm happy to play around with this Kindle. Will it be simply a toy for me or a serious reading device? Time will tell but many of my daughter's serious book friends are completely hooked on their Kindles and many of my online dunnetworks friends are too. As Janice said in her comment on Moggs's post, at least we are saving trees!

* Apologies for the photos which were taken hastily after dark.

A Novel Approach to eBooks

2011-01-04T00:32:00.000-08:00

Moggs Tigerpaw wrote this post recently with her thoughts on eBooks and eBook readers a while ago but it got lost in the shuffle. I received a Kindle for Christmas so I will have a few thoughts of my own which I will post a little later in the week.

A previous post I did and more especially the comments on it made me think...

We were discussing “electronic books” and “readers” like the Kindle. Then I had a thought.

When I buy a real book in a bookstore I take home something that is my property. I can keep it, or lend it to someone, or sell it and get some of my money back to maybe buy another book. The words are part of the book.

I can go to a secondhand bookstore and browse for something that may have been out of print for years.

If it is still in copyright then I can’t copy all or part of it without the owner’s permission, but I become the owner and can give or sell it. I can make a little dedication inside the front cover if it is a gift.

It is not the same with a Kindle. You might own the electronic gadget that is the Kindle, but not the words in it, a bit like a book with blank pages. What’s more, as best as I can tell, you can’t lend the words to someone else because of digital rights management, you can’t sell them either, or buy them second hand and get any money back. Unless you sell the Kindle too.

Some novels I only want to read once, but someone else might like to read it. Some are old favourites.

You can’t lend to someone or even give the ‘digital books’ to charity as things stand. All you really have bought is permission to display the words on the screen of your personal kindle. You downloaded a file.

I wonder how will that all work with libraries? Charity/goodwill stores? What will happen to all those wonderful second hand book stores.

Will schools have to pay for a new text book for every student instead of recycling them to the next class intake each year? Corporate licences?

Could you still buy a particular book as a gift or would it be more like iTunes where you basically buy a prepaid store card. Half the fun is finding and buying a particular book for a particular person as a gift.

It seems to me there need to be some thinking.. some changes in the law behind copyright and licences maybe. It seems to me that books may still be better value for some time to come until those changes develop. Or else Lending a book to your friend might be illegal file sharing and you could end up in court.

What about keeping reasonable backups?

Until Digital books can be treated more like the real thing legally I think I will be slightly uncomfortable with them. Second life allows for that sort of thing. You can buy clothes and items that you can give or sell to other people but not copy.

Also the only equipment you need to read a real paper book is the book, a light source your eyes and the ‘software’ in your brain. I worry some what we might loose if we only look at what we might gain without asking questions and insisting on answers.

Happy New Year for 2011 from JMB and Miss Moggs

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

MAY 2011 BRING YOU ALL THAT YOU WISH
BE HEALTHY AND HAPPY!

And so ends 2010, the fourth year of this blog, and what I have previously called my annus horribilis. Posting has been very sparse here over this past year as I have undergone various treatments for Thyroid cancer, a disease so curable in younger people but far more deadly for the age challenged. Thus it required an all out attack with all the weapons available and it seemed never ending as one treatment followed another. But it did finally conclude and I am now considering myself fully cured, although still enduring some of the side effects of radiation. No, while stronger, my voice has not returned and it's still a cross between Lauren Bacall and a man who smokes 3 packs of cigarettes a day. I'm beginning to believe it will be permanently thus. Sighs.

I say this every year and it still remains so true I'm will repeat it. You, my blog friends, have all enriched my life in so many ways. You've challenged my mind with your posts, you've helped me with my tech problems, you've taught me so much about your different worlds, you've entertained me with your humour. Some of you have shared your poetry and stories and your beautiful paintings and photographs. You've welcomed me into your lives and shared your innermost thoughts and I am grateful to each and every one of you.

I wish you all health, happiness and prosperity for 2011, may it be infinitely better than 2010 and being half Scottish, I'll close with the words of Rabbie Burns in Auld Lang Syne and make a toast (non-alcoholic, of course) to you all.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right guid willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

or for the linguistically challenged English speakers

And there is a hand, my trusty friend!
And give me a hand of yours!
And we will take a right good-will drink,
For old long past.

Eddi Reader, Scottish singer/songwriter, in a very different version of Auld Lang Syne

NB: Words and translation from the World Burns Club

For Unto us a Child is Born --- 2010

2010-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Adoration of the Magi
Fra Angelico and Fillipo Lippi

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

To everyone who is celebrating this feast, may I wish you and your families a very Happy and Holy Christmas.

From Handel's Messiah the wonderful chorus, For unto us a child is born.

Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus

Merry Christmas to all from JMB

2010-12-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

I don't know if there is anyone out there still reading Nobody Important. Although while I have been on hiatus of late for various reasons Miss Moggs has been doing her level best to keep things alive and well here.

It's been quite the year, 2010, but after finally finishing my medical treatments and regaining some of my lost energy, I went to spend American Thanksgiving with my daughter and her family in New York and visited the theatre a few times. The past couple of weeks I've been brought down by the worst cold but now I am looking forward to Christmas which hopefully will not be a "White" one, despite being so beautiful.

But as you can see I did bring a White Christmas to my Second Life home at Nestor, my little log cabin.

Those outdoor Christmas trees are ablaze with lit candles which are perfectly safe in Second Life but would be unthinkable in Real Life. Poinsettias adorn my front deck just as they do my Real Life house.

It looks so warm and inviting at night. Come in out of the cold snow and sit by the warm fire with me and let's share some spiced mulled wine and some shortbread. The snow is falling gently, thanks to a snow emitter I put into place. My snowman and his family keep guard outside and while they are not in this photo two reindeer have come to investigate the log fire on the other side of the front steps.

Christmas is a time to celebrate with family and friends. For almost 50 years we have celebrated Christmas with a Scottish family, expats like ourselves with no nearby family. Our children, who were so small or not even in existence when we started, now have their own children, who are with us some years. Some of them are adults now and maybe there will be another generation joining us soon. We alternate houses for the celebration and we have evolved our own traditional menu, which hardly varies. This year I made the Christmas pudding and will make Foamy Eggnog sauce while my friend cooks the turkey and trimmings. Cranberry sauce is a North American dish we have added but mostly we follow the British traditions we both grew up with. Yes even Australians of my generation followed British Christmas traditions, although they hardly suited that hot climate.

May I wish all who are celebrating this festival a very Merry Christmas, filled with much joy and peace for you and your families.

Ms JMB Balogh and Rudolph sent this Christmas card to Second Life friends

* Click on any photo to enlarge.

Moments in time

2010-12-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas in one of the biggest cities in the world.

It is cold and grey, the wind chills. Warmly wrapped people hurrying bustle about. The pedestrian lights are against me, waiting to cross the road. Two young Japanese touristgirls, Christmas shopping, are waiting to cross on the other side.

I see the traffic lights change to red and I start to move. The green crossing guy lights up a second later. The touristgirls do a double take, hold hands, and hurry across, almost running.

As they pass me I hear them saying to one another “Run Fores’. Run!” .Smiling.

And I smiled to myself, feeling somehow lifted because of it and thought.. Life really is soo like a box of chocolates...

Counting your blessings

2010-12-23T05:01:00.000-08:00

I had something happen to me just a little while back in rl. It was something that, if things had happened just slightly differently, I might not have seen Christmas 2010. Slightly different in another way and it would not have happened at all.

Some of the things that went towards it were chance, other things were actions of someone else and my own too, all coming together in a certain way.

It really made me think. If that bad possibility had happened then for those who know me in sl... and here on this blog, I would have just not bee seen or heard of again. Dissapeared. No one would have known anything else for sure.

Then there is RL as well...

One thing is it has really made me count my blessings. It is Christmas anyway and I think Christmas makes a person do that some anyway, so it is even more so for me just now.

If I find myself thinking “O that is a nuisance.” Or feeling badly done by for some reason then I pull myself up and there comes the understanding... like a cold drip of water running down my neck.

And I really know that it could really be worse. Like the glass resets its self from being half empty to half full.

It is a bit like those perspective puzzle pictures that swap between two ways of seeing the same thing.

Mostly we don’t actually really get our heads round really realising things. We just use the word, Like we might say “Awesome” or “Fantastic”. Mostly it is a sound, we are not actually “getting it” properly. We don’t see the wood for the trees.

So. Next time you feel put upon like the world treats you unfairly. You count your blessings. And as it’s Christmas maybe watch “It's a wonderful Life”.

Merry Christmas from Moggsy

2010-12-22T02:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas is approaching. It is moving like it is on Nikes in fact. I guess that would be red ones with white laces and white fur trim maybe? The tread ought to look like reindeer prints.

(Nike Guys. If you want to use that design idea then show me some Linden$ love)

In SL (Second Life), like RL (Real Life), everyone is getting ready.

There is snow in many places, but unlike RL it does not disrupt, or cause inconvenience... and never messes with your travel. Sometimes you can’t TP (Teleport) to a destination, but that is another thing.

People have decorated and put up trees, presents and cards are exchanged.

I am no exception. There is a tree in my lounge, now decorated and surrounded by interesting looking boxes bound with ribbon, green garlands hung on the walls, Cards put up on the walls and a bottle of bourbon with glasses ready on my coffee table.

I have on a nice not, specially seasonal outfit, in a seasonal red looking a bit like I just stepped out of the movie White Christmas.

One of the cards I have up is a cute one from JMB, well from her and Rudolph actually... ^_^ TY JMB.

That is the thing about sl cards, they are mostly personally designed and often a lot of work has gone into them. One I got plays the sound of jingling bells when you are close to it.

Like every year since I got here I made a new card. When you touch it, it says “Merry Christmas from Moggsy” I have sent it out to my friends and now I am ‘posting’ it now to you ^_^.

Contrasts and Beauty

2010-12-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

I almost did a post on the beautiful autumnal fall colours this year.. now I am I guess ^_^

The other day I was driving home through a frozen wintery wonderland.

Lots of the snow had melted. There was still some in the fields and in places where it had drifted, but we had some mild weather for a couple of days and lots had melted. Then it was really cold the night before and we had a hard frost. The next day it didn't get above freezing all day.

There was a freezing mist that blued out the distance. Low cloud and no sunshine and all the twigs and trees in the hedgerows and all the dried out plants in the verges were coated in icy frosting and looked beautiful. Wintery and beautiful all whites, greys, mauves, pinks and blues.

...and then it struck me how short a time separated this very beautiful scene I was driving through from an equally beautiful autumnal scene I had experienced.

So here it comes... One Sunday afternoon, only a few weeks ago, I had been driving over to a friends. It was a lovely afternoon with intensely blue skies, there were birds playing high up and warm golden honeyed sunshine painting everything.

I was really struck by how truly beautiful the fall colours were, they seemed so much more vivid than usual, with wonderful golds, and red in so many different shades. Dare I say as good as new England usually is if not a tad better? It lifted me up emotionally, so much in fact that I still remember it very vividly.

A perfect combination of time of day and season. Sky, sun and foliage.

Let it Snow, let it...

2010-11-29T23:47:00.000-08:00

Well It’s turned to Narnia out there. I saw tracks that could have been Mr Tumnus but I guess they must probably have been a deer.

It’s snowing quite heavily just now here.

JMB is off in NY She has been taking in Shows and generally having a good time.

We seem to have seen lots more snow over recent years than we had got used to. It seems to come earlier also.

I have lit a fire and it is quite snug and cosy to sit warmed by it watching the flames dance and then looking out at the snow falling. The cat is sitting so close to it I worry it will catch its fur on fire.

Everything seems muffled and quiet...

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- Juicy

2010-11-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

JUICY

I was looking for a completely different photo for this theme but couldn't find it in amongst the many. But I think this one might fill the bill. It is one of the most delicious lunch dishes I have ever had when dining out. Juicy and absolutely scrumptious. Monk McQueens if you are ever in Vancouver and it right by the water with a lovely view as well as serving delicious food.

Today is a travel day for me, flying off to New York for American Thanksgiving! I'll catch up with you over the weekend sometime.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Itchy

2010-11-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

PhotoHunt

ITCHY

You have to feel sorry for this poor heron as he balances precariously on the rock and takes care of the itch under his chin! Click to enlarge, sorry he's not absolutely in focus. Sigh.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

"Stag Party"

2010-11-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

From our roving reporter, Miss Moggs Tigerpaw

Now I am not all "Beatrix Potter" and "Disney" over animals. I live in the country.

Sure, I do love cute kittens and puppies, but I don’t get all dewy eyed over a fox or imagine they are little furry people, maybe in waistcoats.

If we are to co-exist with animals then they sometimes need to be managed, even the wild, or feral ones and that includes deer. Too many deer are a nuisance.

Now I know when deer get old their teeth wear down, so eventually they can’t get proper nutrition and get ill and feeble. Slow unpleasant death. In a “natural” setting there would be predators who would hunt and eat them before they got too far down that road.

They have no natural predators in the UK any more, except for the odd escaped big cat, so humans need to manage them, and part of that is doing the job of a predator and culling the ones who’s lives are getting to the stage where they would be easy pickings.

So you see I am not too soppy over animals, or particularly anti-hunting.

Now there was a news story I heard lately that I was quite upset to hear.

There is or maybe was a deer sometimes known as the ‘Exmoor Emperor’. Said to be the biggest stag on Exmoor, which is in the UK’s west country. Nine feet tall and 300 lb. A real “Monarch of the Glen” type awesome looking stag still in his mature prime.

The report was that he had been shot dead near the side of the road in the middle of the mating season. There was talk it was done “legally” by a wealthy foreign hunter who paid plenty to do it.

A red deer stag

Then there was spin about how one of the Stag's off-spring was maybe stepping into his place.. so that was alright then. Also there were talking heads saying how deer need to be culled when they got old.

Now there is deer management and legitimate culling, but we are talking about a creature in its prime here. It didn’t need to be culled, and taking such an obviously superior creature out of the gene pool during mating season can only harm the species and just stinks anyhow.

Then there was a suggestion that
.. The story seems to have faded pretty quickly. Did Bobby Ewing Dream it maybe?

So was it a real story, spun out of existence to cover for some powerful foreign prince or oligarch, or just some “urban” rumour that presses buttons and got out of hand and suited some pressure groups? Is this just me being all conspiracy theory paranoia-ish?

Whatever - it surely brings up the question of what exactly should our relationship with the world, the environment, and the creatures in it be. Yet again!

One way of looking at it can be found in the bible, in Genesis 1:26, where it says mankind is made in God’s image, and because of that has “dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth ~ and over, every, creeping, thing, that creeps on the earth.

Well what is this dominion thing? Really it is governing, controlling, having authority over, but how are we actually supposed to go about doing that?

Well in the best selling sequel to the Old Testament I think Jesus gives as good an example as any, in Matthew 25:14-30. The parable of the Talents.

You probably know it. It is about the man who gave his servants gold coins to look after for him. One servant got only one, the second was given two and the third five. The master went away for a long time.

The servant with one coin buried it to keep it safe. The other two used them to work and trade and invest, doubling the stakes they had been given.

When he got back the man was pleased with what the two servants had done, even tho one made much less, he started out with less too. He was so not pleased with the one who never tried.

The story doesn’t cover what would have happened if one of them had lost it all on the stock market ^_^ but I figure he would have been annoyed with that servant too, but maybe not as annoyed as he was with the one who just buried the coin.

Basically I think it tells us the things we are given “dominion” over ( by God or chance, depending on how you look at it) are not ours to just trash if we choose to, we get only to look after them for a while. We should keep them vital and manage them, so we are in a position to hand back (or hand on to our children, if you prefer) as more, and better, than we were ever given.

The thing about this way of seeing the world is I think it makes sense and works if you are religious or not. Not so much in the short sighted short term, but for sure in the long term, If you care about your children and your children’s children...

Remembrance Day 2010 - In Flanders Fields the Poppies Grow

2010-11-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

John McCrae was a Canadian doctor who served in the First World War and in honour of his friend he wrote this very famous poem, In Flanders Field, which is commonly used on this day, November 11th, when we remember those who have died while fighting for their country. Click on the link to read it in full.

Last week, many people posted Peace Globes, as did I. Maybe, one day, there will be no more wars. Even then we must never forget those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

from For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

Lest we forget

Dona Nobis Pacem

2010-11-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is my fourth year of participation in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Again I have chosen a new quote for the globe and how simple that concept is. Respect for the rights of others! Why is it so hard to put into practice?

Again, I choose to reproduce for the body of the post, John Lennon's very moving vision of what the world could be like, should be like - his dream for all of us. May the day when the world will be as one come in my lifetime. Peace be with you.

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

Imagine all the people

*Benito Juarez (1806-72) was an illiterate until the age of 12, but went on to study law and became Mexico's first indigenous native president, serving 5 terms of office in all.

Catching the Wave

2010-11-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

From the pen of our roving reporter, Moggs Tigerpaw

I read something interesting today. A Boston Consultancy are saying that the "The internet is pervasive in the UK economy today, more so than in most advanced countries,". And this is above the US, Germany and France.

I had not thought about it really.. not till I read that.

Now as an Avatar I am of course entirely a creature of virtuality and the internet ^_^ I owe my existence to it. I don’t get to spend as much time in Second Life as I would like of course, there is Real Life too.

So.. thinking about RL and the internet.. just personally mind you.

Well I spend easily as much time on the internet as I do watching TV, probably more. For entertainment and work.

My grocery shopping is practically all bought over the net and delivered to my door these days. It saves so much bother time and expense, especially round the holidays. I have a choice of at least 4 providers.

Speaking of holidays, lots of my Christmas presents are bought over the net, more and more each year. Also big purchases. I “Research” exactly what I want and you can get really keen prices, usually better than the stores.
Also Vacations we look for them on the net.

Music. If I buy a physical CD it is often ordered from Amazon. Mostly I just download from the Apple store to my i-touch.

I basically just don’t send snail mail any more. I do write regularly to friends and relatives... but they are emails. Some work colleagues I have never actually met, tho we interact regularly, some friends I have only ever met virtually. JMB for instance. We are separated by oceans yet still we are friends thanks to the net.

I sometimes use voip to Skype friends and relatives for free, well free once you allow for having paid for an internet connection and a computer.

I expect if I thought about it I could add more things. I don’t know if I am unusual, it all crept up on me over time. Is the UK more “plugged in” than the French? The US? I don’t know. I do know I would fight tooth and nail to keep my online grocery shopping and deliveries ^_^.

I still mostly buy books physically, myself tho. I love the feel, the smell of bookshops, the restful way sound gets soaked up and the world is held at bay. The feel, the sensation, of a book in my hands... and when you open it the smell of new print that blooms as you do mmmmmmmmm.....

Happy Halloween from JMB and the Dunbar Haunted House

2010-10-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

Witchy JMB in Second Life!

*Click to enlarge any photo

Once again I'm featuring my annual visit to the Dunbar Haunted House for my Halloween post. This is the fourth time I've blogged it although I believe this is its sixth year and each year it gets better and better and scarier and scarier. Admission is free but donations towards several local charities are encouraged. Last year $42,300 was raised for these worthy causes.

Doesn't look so scary on a sunny day, does it?

I always go during the daytime - it opens at 1pm- but at 6.30pm costumed actors insert themselves into the displays and pop out and scare the heck out of the huge crowd of people who tour this spectacle. The top number of visitors in one day so far this year was 1500 which is amazing when you think this takes place in the grounds of a typical suburban lot. But the crowds wait patiently, sometimes for more than an hour and the lines are often capped way before so that closing can take place on time or nearly so. Of course there's an amazing soundtrack to increase the tension as well.

A fine Roman senator

This year the theme is again the The History of Terror and the display covers the whole outside of the property, including tents set up especially for this event. The tour moves methodically from one area to another around the house, moving through historical times, starting with Ancient Egypt, then Roman times, through the middle ages and forwards, taking you around the whole house.

Scary Roman soldiers

What started as two people making a small display to bring back the fun of Halloween to their neighbourhood now involves almost year round planning, months to set up and the help of a large number of volunteers.

Gruesome looking monks

Neither of these two look happy, do they?

Marauding Crusaders

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

The Age of Capitalism, with special effect smoke

Seafarers?

19th Century asylum inmate?

Nurse Ratched herself?

Her book has teeth!

Just a selection of the many photos I took at this year's display at the Dunbar Haunted House. But these slideshows from youTube, put together by a very fine photographer, show the 2010 display much better than I could.

Part I

Part II

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Dark

2010-10-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

DARK

Second time around for the dark theme and last time I went for almost total dark. Since it's Halloween this weekend I thought these photos might fill the bill. I took them at the Dunbar Haunted House, which is not far from me, where the owners go all out each year with decoration for Halloween, I mean all out! They even have actors dressed up after dark who pop out and scare the visitors. The other night 1323 people went through the display in one evening and the wait to get in was more one hour. I'll do my annual post on this house on the day itself for I took lots of photos. Err I only visit in the daytime.

EEK!

Scary face looms out of the dark!

Don't ask!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Orange

2010-10-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

ORANGE

For once I am not delving into the archives but took these photos just this week, on a visit to a charming little nursery in Steveston. Click to enlarge.

The colours of autumn

Yep, definitely Orange

A lone orange pumpkin in amongst the bright display

A lot of orange pumpkins with charming names like Baby Pam
and Speckled Pup

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Solitary Confinement or Radioactive Iodine Treatment!

2010-10-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Even the most careful surgeon is unable to remove all the thyroid tissue when doing a total thyroidectomy, consequently follow up treatment with Radioactive Iodine is extremely common for papillary thyroid cancer, basically killing any thyroid tissue left behind or which has spread to any other part of the body.

When I finally saw the head and neck oncologist he agreed with the endocrinologist that this should be undertaken as soon as possible. Ahah! Everyone was on the same page for once and this was put into motion, with me opting to stay at home rather than be hospitalized during the isolation period, which I will talk about later.

The thyroid gland accumulates iodine which it uses to produce the thyroid hormones required for normal body function. But the radioactive iodine or iodine-131, by virtue of its beta particles, causes mutation and death in any cells which it penetrates, and other cells up to several millimeters away. Naturally you want the thyroid tissue to take up as much of the Iodine-131 as possible so preparation for the procedure is very important. This involves being off the thyroid hormone replacement drug and on a low iodine diet for a period of time so that the tissue has little iodine already.

Being without the drug surely makes you feel like a washed out dish rag and since the surgery I had been seriously hypothyroid. But now I had the added complication of eliminating iodine from my diet and all this with three house guests and people coming and going for dinner as they came to visit with my daughter.

Thank heavens for the internet as I found so much information there about eliminating iodine from the diet, including a low iodine cookbook. Unfortunately you can't eat bread bought in a store and my bread machine had died some time before, so I chased down a new one and began making iodine free bread.

One of the most difficult things for me was not eating dairy products. I eat a lot of yogurt and I mean what do you put on your porridge, which you now have to consume for breakfast as eggs along with so many other things are forbidden. No milk. Nope, no soy products, so soy milk and yogurt are out but fortunately Kosher salt easily replaces iodized salt. No fish. Virtually no canned goods. For two very long weeks I watched everything I put into my mouth with this in mind. It wasn't easy but manageable thank goodness.

To add to my problems, two days before my first RAI appointment my car died. It needed a new transmission but since it was 16 years old and the transmission had already been replaced once I decided that I deserved a new car. Then was not a good time to look at cars, so we managed with only one for a few weeks.

The OS is perfectly capable of making breakfast and lunch but dinner seems to be beyond him. So before I started the RAI treatment I made three days' worth of dinners which he could reheat and serve while I was in isolation.

After ingestion of the Radioactive iodine which is dissolved in water, the patient becomes very radioactive and must not come into contact with anyone else for three days, except for very short periods of time and this was done in a hospital setting for many years. More recently, provided the patient has a separate room and bathroom, one can opt to do it at home and I did that since it would be more comfortable and I could have it done more quickly without waiting for a hospital bed.

The first part of the treatment is a small dose to see that the RAI is taken up by the thyroid and how much. After 24 hours the patient returns and the level is measured. If all is well, the larger dose is given and the isolation period begins. One week later the patient receives a whole body scan to see where the RAI is located in the body, if it is in places other than expected it would mean that thryoid tissue had spread to other parts of the body which would not be good.

Firstly I had an interview with the nuclear medicine doctor but since there is so much on the internet about it and I had read a lot of it, I didn't learn too much of interest from him. The nuclear medicine technologist was a very good practical resource though, since she had been doing it for more than 25 years. She gave me the first small dose and then I returned the next day to be checked. Everything was a go and I swallowed down the larger dose and hurried home to begin my three days of solitary confinement in my bedroom.

So began three very long days for me. RAI is excreted for the most part through urine and feces but also through your sweat, so everything you touch is potentially contaminated. So no computer! Ugh! Three days totally offline for me! I can't remember when that happened last. I watched old movies on TV using the remote but wearing vinyl medical gloves to touch it. I read five books in three days. I walked the 18 feet length of the bedroom up and down or lay on the bed. I counted down the hours. I drank lots of water. The OS delivered food to the door regularly but I had to wash my own plates. I had to suck almost continuously on sugar free hard candies to keep the saliva flowing, since the salivary glands also take up iodine and this can cause problems there.

Three days doesn't really sound so bad, does it? But that last day seemed never ending to me. Finally it was over and everything I had worn during those days and all the bedding had to be washed thoroughly and the bathroom cleaned thoroughly. I still kept a fair distance from everyone for another week but at least I got to range farther afield than my bedroom.

Seven days after the dose, I had the whole body scan which required laying still for 35 minutes while the machine ran both over and under my body. Sigh. Not only that, after the machine moves past your head you can watch the whole process on a screen. I asked the technologist if she minded answering a few questions. She said ask anything, but the results of the scan. But in the end, she put the whole thing up on the computer screen and showed me where you could see the darker areas of the iodine concentrated in the tissue and it seemed it was in the expected areas only.

When I left she handed me a letter to carry with me, in case I set off anything when going through security in the following three months. Yes I just might set those security things a-clicking even now.

As expected, the RAI was concentrated in the thyroid area and despite it being a very effective treatment to kill the leftover thyroid tissue, it was now suggested that I should have external beam radiation to that specific area. Just to make sure. Sigh.

Well that's another story.

Part one, Part two, Part three, Part four, Part five in the saga.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Miniature

2010-10-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

MINIATURE

Mmm. Well luckily I have a miniature rose on my kitchen table at the moment. All I had to do was photograph it. Mmm. Easier said than done!

Just enough sun to cause shadows, but......

Mmm. I should have ironed that table cloth!

Perfect miniature rose!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Incensed - Moggs Tigerpaw

2010-10-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Our roving reporter Moggs is incensed by a news item

I have been sooo remiss posting, but here is another... I had been going to post on something else. But this kinda got to me.

Now when I visit real life (rl) I often travel on the subway/metro/tube/underground most working days, because of course you can’t fly or teleport in rl.

One of the things you have to keep in mind when you do that is the chance someone (probably a guy) might try to get a sneaky pic up a girl’s skirt with their mobile phone.

You even hear stories of weirdos with concealed cameras who do that, I don’t know if that is so or not. So when travelling it’s on my radar, along with keeping a lookout for pickpockets and purse snatchers and other things.

So. As far as I am concerned that is basically wrong behaviour and ought to be a criminal offence. It is certainly an outrageous invasion of personal space and privacy. People who do that really ought to be arrested. Someone doing that has got to be disturbing the peace in any reasonable society.

So maybe you can imagine what I thought when I heard that some scummy paparazzi tried to take pics up the pop star Katy Perry’s skirt. Her bf and fiancé Russell Brand was there and apparently prevented it physically and good for him that he did. I have not always been that impressed with him, but I was prepared to be impressed if he did that.

I checked out video of the incident on the net.

The two of them were pretty much surrounded by really in your face paparazzi. Then he tried to cuddle and shield her, with his arms protectively round her. Then he tried to clear a path through the Paparazzi for her, to lead her into the terminal, while they were provoking him, saying stuff to him like “ooh Russel is annoyed”, or something.

All I really saw him doing was less than the average security guy would do, just palming pushy paparazzi back out of their path.

So wait for it... He is the one that gets arrested can you believe it? Some pervert is (as they say) allegedly trying to get pics up his fiancée’s skirt to sell for profit and the guy that defends her and stops it is the one that gets arrested!

Why wasn’t the person who committed what is essentially an unacceptable sexual assault on Miss Perry and provoked the incident at least arrested as well? Or better still instead? The local police maybe need to have a little think about their priorities.

I know she is a pop star and has done scantily clad saucy photo shoots and a video wearing cotton candy but that does not mean there are not limits. Here she was just trying to use LAX airport, like anyone else. These paparazzi do not have some sort of legal immunity.

Western society does not seem willing to do anything about these people. I heard of incidents where the paparazzi actually bait some celebs in the hope they will do something that can be twisted into or used as a news story making the photos taken briefly valuable. Maybe that’s what they were doing this time too.

It seemed that the paparazzi played a pretty big part in provoking and creating the conditions for a “perfect storm”, the crash that killed Diana and her bf Dodi in Paris. I can’t help feeling that if the paparazzi had not been doing what they were that car, even with a drunk driver, would have been so very much less likely to have crashed.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Stripes

2010-10-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

PhotoHunt

STRIPES

It sounds like such a simple theme, doesn't it? But I didn't seem to have anything to fit as I scrolled back through my photos. Until I came to these. I never pass them by without clicking away. So may I present the vertical stripes of these belted galloways at the Steve's Farm in Steveston.

Last time we had this theme I used a photo of striped hosta plants.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Doom and Gloom --- The Pathology Report*

2010-10-07T00:49:00.000-07:00

Histopathological image of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland obtained by a total thyroidectomy

* This post was written giving my reaction to the information at the time of receipt, but the pathology report has since been revised more positively, in case you feel alarmed. I have been told by the radiation oncologist that the pathology conclusions of the initial report are changed later in about 30% of cases.

Based on a biopsy which showed the presence of papillary cancer, the large size of the tumour, according to ultrasound studies, and of course my "age" my whole thyroid was removed quite precipitously. But most information is gained from the more complete pathology report for which you have to wait around a week to ten days.

As I said before, there are four types of thyroid cancer, with papillary being the most common and also being described as well differentiated which basically means slow growing and therefore mostly very curable.

One morning, very early, I was awoken from sleep by a telephone call from my primary care physician, whom I have had for 25 years now. The pathology report was available and it showed that there were two types of cancer. The second one was undifferentiated cells which means faster growing and therefore more aggressive and but he actually used the word anaplastic. Now I had read about all four types of thyroid cancer, but not the other three in detail so we had a reasonably unemotional conversation and he rang off.

Of course I was immediately on the computer, out on the internet searching. Imagine my total shock to discover that this very rare type of thyroid cancer is basically incurable, it often arises in conjunction with a more well differentiated cancer like papillary and most patients were dead by the end of the first year, the rest after two years.

I waited till my doctor's office opened and phoned. It was Friday and I knew he was at meetings that day, but hoped to get copy of the report from the staff. They were unable to find my chart so I made an appointment for the following Monday to see him.

The whole weekend I stewed about the situation. In many cases of anaplastic thyroid cancer, it is discovered first as a lump on the throat and they are often inoperable since, being so aggressive, they have already invaded the trachea and nearby areas.

Well the surgery was over in my case. The offending organ was gone. Was there a slim chance that the disease had been caught early enough and it hadn't had a chance to spread? The surgeon had said that he saw no obvious spread but it only needs a few cells to escape to get started elsewhere. Frankly the pathology report was very bad news indeed.

It turned out that my doctor had not seen the report when he telephoned me from his car, but he had been contacted by the surgeon who had read it and gave him a verbal report, telling him to inform me. He was the one who had used the word anaplastic to my doctor, while the report mentioned only areas of undifferentiated tissue. But as my doctor explained, it was six of one and half a dozen of the other, really, whether they used the word anaplastic or not. I already had a referral to a head and neck oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency and my doctor gave me a referral to the Thyroid Clinic at the major teaching hospital where I had had the thyroidectomy and the number of people involved in my treatment was now about increase.

There was a cancellation at the Thyroid Clinic so I went there within a few days, before I went to the BCCA. I was interviewed at length by a resident in Endocrinology about the history of my thyroid illness and he listened carefully but took no notes. We then met with the Endocrinologist and he asked the resident to present the case. I sat there and listened in amazement as he recounted completely wrong information. Did I correct him and make him look foolish? Did I let grossly inaccurate statements stand? I did correct one very important fact and just let the rest slide, hoping it wouldn't really matter in the long run. But I was really staggered by this fellow's confusion.

The Endocrinologist asked for the pathology report to be reviewed, but since the tumour was considered mostly papillary he ordered Radioactive Iodine treatment as the next step. But I said it had to wait till after a two week visit by my daughter and her family, which was imminent. In the meantime I would see the oncologist at BCCA and hope that all these fellows were on the same page.

Part one, Part two, Part three, Part four in the saga.

Real Life, Second Life and Blogging Coincide for Lunch

2010-10-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today it was my pleasure to meet and have lunch with the indomitable Tom Paine, who blogs about the death of liberty in Britain over at the the Last Ditch. We both belong to Blogpower, an international group of bloggers from all walks of life and with vastly different interests.

It's how we first "met" so to speak, more than three years ago. But there is another dimension to our friendship, in that he was the reason I came to Second Life and found a niche.

Tom, or LastDitch as he is known in SL, invited us all to come to an awards ceremony on his SL airship.

Now how can people in different parts of the world be together in the same room at the same time other than in the virtual world?

It was a brilliant idea! There was just one teeny problem. He was the only one involved in SL. However he provided us all with detailed instructions on how to enroll and urged us to explore it beforehand.

It was great fun to meet and "speak" with these people in real time, even share a dance, but when we left SL that day, for most, it was never to return.

But something intrigued me enough to come back. LD found me a mentor, loaned me a grace and favour apartment, along with a cash infusion to get me started and I’ve been there ever since.

Tom's a lawyer in RL and came to Vancouver for the International Bar Association meeting but he was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule for lunch with his SL/blogging friend.

Funnily enough we hardly spoke of blogging or SL, but while we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Fish House in Stanley Park the conversation never seemed to falter as we talked about this and that.

Enjoy your visit to our beautiful city Tom/Last and thank you for your company today.

Sigh, excuse the different sized fonts. I've tried to fix them several times, just not my day technically speaking!

Observations on being without a Voice

2010-10-04T19:13:00.001-07:00

One is told about the side effects of a thyroidectomy but until it happens you have no real idea what to expect. Loss of voice and laryngeal nerve damage are not unusual in these cases and the reality of these two things is amazingly devastating.

Due to the size of the tumour the surgery was much more complicated than expected and took much longer. The surgeon told the OS afterwards that he expected to have to cut the left laryngeal nerve when he saw the situation and he worked on the right side first to ensure I would have one functioning nerve. When he came back to the left side he made a valiant effort and managed to avoid cutting it. However initially and for several months afterwards it didn't function at all: a frozen vocal cord as it is commonly known or vocal cord paralysis.

Our voice is our second face;

unseen, we are judged by our voices.

The reality of not having a functional voice became apparent very quickly for me. At home I managed to croak enough to be understood and fortunately, for the most part, on the telephone I was comprehensible enough. But the moment there was any ambient noise, my voice was lost.

Not being able to drive until I could turn my head, the OS was coerced into accompanying me to the supermarket on my first foray out. But he wandered off and left me throwing things into the cart. I couldn't find the pears and asked the man in the produce department where they were. He simply couldn't understand me, even after I repeated it and turned away. For the first time ,since I had been diagnosed with cancer, I cried. Not in front of him, but as I wandered off looking for the OS to ask him that we leave at once.

There is no index of character so sure as the voice.

Benjamin Disraeli

I mean I was not able to communicate. I had always known that the deaf or hard of hearing people are marginalized in social situations, but it's the very same thing for those who are virtually voiceless. I had no idea until it happened to me and it has changed my whole personality.

I'm very friendly usually, exchanging pleasantries and laughs with cashiers in stores, with strangers in the supermarket over the produce or the meat, with people I meet in the street or on the bus. But it becomes pointless now, as you have to repeat everything several times and often they still don't hear. I try to get away with saying as little as possible now in these situations and smiling a lot.

The human voice is the organ of the soul.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

One on one, I am usually fine if the noise level is low, but put into a group situation I become invisible as I speak and no one hears me or pays attention to me. We all tend to have this very bad habit of speaking over each other but usually we can just muscle our way back into the conversation. That's gone for me, so I smile a lot and frankly become quite bored at times. No matter how interesting a conversation might be, unless you can participate fully it tends not to hold your attention.

People say to me, well if you want to say something, just rap on the table or catch our attention. That really makes me laugh, for if people all stop talking to listen to me, I feel as if I have to have something really momentous to say and how much pressure is that? I have noticed too since this happened that certain of my friends tend to monopolize the conversation., which I never noticed before. I start to tell them something and halfway through they interrupt as it reminds them of some other story and off they go. I never get to finish what I started to say, for even if I speak again, it's not loud enough to make a difference and they talk until they run out of steam.

It's four months now since this began. I'm told that permanent voice changes are rare and they won't even consider a referral to a specialist before 6 months. My voice is flat and expressionless and I have a two note range. My rather odd accent, Australian modified by living in Canada for so long, is no longer apparent and of course, as I said before, I sound like a male who is a heavy smoker or a cross between Donald Duck and Lauren Bacall.

A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.

Margaret Atwood

I've perused the relevant forums looking for other people's experiences with this. Some seem to have recovered their voices relatively quickly, some take a year or so. Some get their normal voice back, others have permanent changes. I've no idea what the end result will be for my voice, no one can predict for sure. I suppose if the surgery plus the subsequent treatments with radioactive iodine and external beam radiation, which I have undergone since the surgery, have cured this cancer, the voice change will be a small price to pay. Each day I wonder, will it be a good day or a bad day for my voice? Will this frustration ever end?

The voice so sweet, the words so fair,

As some soft chime had stroked the air;

And though the sound had parted thence,

Still left an echo in the sense.

Ben Jonson

Part one, part two , part three of the saga.