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November 30, 2008. Okies, Aussie Odyssey is now updated again with the latest from Booroowhangary. It's fun ya know... ambling about, taking pics, meeting peeps and writing a journal. As I remarked to Oregon Richie, what I've done so far is only a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to what lies ahead of me on the real Odyssey - literally thousands of new places and new faces. It's gonna be quite an adventure!

Right, let's check the Beeb: Pakistan expresses concern about tension with India after reports that gunmen who killed 200 in Mumbai had Pakistani links. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Hmmm. Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed during religious clashes in the central Nigerian town of Jos. Religious clashes? Well, well, well... how about that. Opec energy ministers have decided to leave oil production quotas unchanged after talks in the Egyptian capital following falls in the price of oil. The price of a barrel of oil has tumbled to below $55 after peaking at a record $147 in mid-July. But let's not rush into buying big V8s just yet. Rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda has threatened war unless the government of DR Congo holds a new round of talks. Yes, provided he's nowhere near the front line, and can get all his young soldiers to do his dirty work. Voters in Switzerland are going to the polls in a series of referendum votes to decide the country's policy on illegal drugs. One ballot asks voters to vote on whether to approve heroin prescription as a permanent Swiss health policy. Opinion polls suggest voters are likely to approve the plan, which would make Switzerland the world's first country to include it in government policy. You can rest assured that the manufacturers and pushers of heroin will vote against legalization. Does that tell you something? The Danish architect of the iconic Sydney Opera House, Jorn Utzon, has died at the age of 90, after suffering a heart attack. Mr Utzon, an award-winning architect, put "Denmark on the world map with his great talent," said Danish Culture Minister Carina Christensen. Now there's a bloke who has definitely left his mark. A shop worker has died after being knocked to the ground by bargain-hunters who stormed into a superstore in New York's suburbs as it opened. The 34-year-old man, along with several other workers and shoppers, was trampled in the rush at the Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, Long Island. You'll never see me at one of those sales - NEVER. No country takes toilets quite so seriously as Japan. Machines with heated seats, built-in bidets and a dynamic range of flushing options are almost ubiquitous in homes and public buildings. I do agree that a cold toilet seat in winter is one of life's great miseries.

Speaking of falling oil prices, I'm just back from a bit of shopping and filling TT's tank. I saved 40 cents a liter! That's $20 saved on 50 liters! I like it! TT gets about 6 kms a liter which ain't all that economical. I think that's less than 20 mpg. Eeeek! But that includes starting, warming, farting around in car parks and all that gas-guzzling shit.

And there goes Sunday, and the last day of November. It goes quickly, yes, but for some strange reason November 3, the anniversary of Cody's death, seems a long time ago. Not sure why. Maybe keeping busy has something to do with it. By the way, Francois has updated Codysworld with a new home page and a link to Cody's 'special place'. MrB

November 29, 2008. Yes, I did the motor rail thing at Taree Railway Station and Aussie Odyssey is updated. I'll update it again tomorrow with the lotus pics I took later this morning at Booroowhangery, plus a few others such as the dreaded water dragon. Eeeek! No, they're harmless... about 2 foot long but kinda prehistoric.

Let's take a quick look at the Beeb before I update this week's RD: Indian police say the last gunmen have been overcome at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai but room-by-room checks must be done. So with over 100 people killed, what did those dickhead terrorists achieve apart from demonstrating to the world their lunatic mentality? By the way, did you notice in the pics of the burning Taj Hotel that the local pigeons were going about their normal business as if nothing was amiss? The Thai prime minister promises peaceful means to end the sit-ins that have paralysed Bangkok's airports for several days. Good ol' religion and politics... where would we be without them? Thousands of people march in Colombia and other countries demanding freedom for hostages held by Colombia's Farc rebels. There we go again... I've run outta comments. What the hell can I say? Drug companies are blocking or delaying the entry of cheaper generic medicines into the EU, pushing up medicine bills, the European Commission has said. It added that drug firms used legal action and multiple patents to stop rivals getting to market. Drug firms said the "perfectly lawful" measures were justified to protect investment in research and development. It's obvious that the drug companies are in the business of making money rather than any humanitarian cause such as saving lives. Eating blueberries can reverse memory loss and may have implications in the treatment of diseases like Alzheimer's, University of Reading scientists claim. Scientists found adding foods like blueberries to a regular diet, resulted in improvements in memory. I like the word 'reverse'! A court in Iran has ruled that a man who blinded a woman with acid after she spurned his marriage proposals will also be blinded with acid. The ruling was reported in Iranian newspapers on Thursday. The punishment is legal under the Islamic Sharia code of qias or equivalence, which allows retribution for violent crimes. Hmmm, that's a tough one and I really wouldn't like to have to judge it in terms of fairness. If there is a point of equivalence worth considering it may be that the guilty man's action was not premeditated; that it was a crime of passion, whereas the court's action in blinding the man as punishment is certainly premeditated and deliberate.

Okies, gotta split. Enjoy the motor rail! MrB

November 28, 2008. Jeez, another month almost gone. And I started Neighbors 13 this morning... making it up as I go along, as usual hehe. I've heard authors say that they start out with a plan - a formula, a set plot - but then something happens and the story takes over and basically leads the author to unchartered waters. Yeah, I can believe it.

A copy of Green Room was just returned to me by the ABC Tuesday Book Club TV show with an explanatory letter about why they couldn't review it yadda, yadda, yadda. *Shrug* I'm way past getting my knickers in a knot about rejections these days. It's par for the course.

Oregon Richie wrote to say he can't quite identify with young Josh's assessment of me as being like the Joker in Batman. Richie thinks I'm more like the cool and suave butler Alfred in the 007 series.  ALFRED !!  Now...that is WAY more YOU, Gary !! Who? Cool and suave? Yeah, right. No way, Jose. Suave I ain't.

I'm almost afraid to check the Beeb because it's bound to be full of misery, but let's do it anyway: Indian forces fight to clear the last gunmen from two hotels in Mumbai, more than a day after a series of attacks in the city. I hope good guys trash the bad guys. The bad guys (suicide recruits) don't realize it, but their minds have been poisoned by the scum that controls them... the insanely twisted leaders of terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. They make me puke. A former Malaysian flight attendant who repeatedly scalded her Indonesian maid is jailed for 18 years. You really have to worry about that pound of gray soup... its potential for lunatic bahavior is way too scary for words. The Iraqi parliament has voted to accept a deal on the future presence of US troops in the country. The decision, praised by US President George Bush, means US troops will leave Iraqi streets by mid-2009 and will quit Iraq entirely by the end of 2011. And the entire series of events in Iraq since the 'invasion' will go down in history as...? The upper house of the Czech parliament has backed US plans to install part of a missile defence shield on Czech soil. The deal still has to be approved by the lower house, where the opposition is against the shield. The US wants to build a radar on Czech soil and put 10 interceptor rockets in Poland as a defence against what Washington describes as "rogue" states. Russia sees the shield as a direct threat and has said it will deploy new missiles in the Baltic in response. It's not that we don't like you, Mr Putin, it's just that we don't trust you... or your mates. Two people have been killed and five others are missing after an Airbus A320 jet crashed during a test flight after maintenance work, officials have said. The plane went into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of France near Perpignan with two Germans and five New Zealanders on board. The plane was leased by Germany's XL Airways from Air New Zealand whose chief executive Rob Fyfe said the cause of the crash was not yet known. Those maintenance mechanics are gonna be a worried lot. The leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka has said that the government is living in "dreamland" if it expects outright military victory. In his annual speech, Velupillai Prabhakaran said that it was "a dream from which they would soon awake". For some people, happiness is having an enemy. Cliff Richard and The Shadows are to reunite for an arena tour in 2009 to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They dominated the charts in the late 1950s and 1960s and notched up 19 number one hits between them. That means I was 15 when I first bopped to their music. Might as well be a million years ago.

Just fiddled with a few Odyssey things and realized that I'd deleted links to all the pre-Odyssey albums. I made some changes a while ago to the site to simplify navigation and made a boo boo. So, if you wanna refresh your memory, or if you haven't seen those albums, check out the links at the bottom of the journal0001 page. The OLD STUFF - pre-Odyssey section.

Because I plan to photograph the vintage motor rail tomorrow morning at Taree station, I was reminded of the steam loco I rode a while ago. A while ago? Make that over 5 years ago in April 2003! Whoosh. The album was still on the site but not the link. Other albums include the vintage Holdens display, various pics of the Manning Valley area I took with my first digital camera (the 2002 Kodak), and the Hot Rods show.

I think Richie has compounded his Oregonitis with Odysseyitis. He's been out and about taking pics of things such as the Pine Mountain Observatory. Odysseyitis is highly contagious ya know. He even sent me a pic of his shoe. Why? And the famous FOOT and SHOE scene?  Of course!  Them thar sneakers have been around !  Those shoes trod the top of Table Mountain, then Pine Mountain, and all around Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Argentina, and... the Oregon coast, too ! Richie is the sentimental type, and will probably have that shoe preserved for posterity and mounted in a museum one day.

Well, that's it for this particular Friday. Forecast for tomorrow is showers and thunderstorms, so I hope the morning is okay when I check out the Tin Hare at the railway station. I'll save Booroowhangary and the lotus for Sunday, which will be fine and sunny. MrB

November 27, 2008. One of *those* days again. Francois is trying to update Codysworld with the new Table Mountain "Special Place" pics and a revamped home page but has encountered technical probs. However, I think I've managed to sort those out with my ISP techie (AJ, who's a good bloke). I'm not sure when Francois will have the site back on line but it shouldn't be more than a day or two. He's up at 4am his time tomorrow to go fishing. Obviously, Caribbean fish are not civilized... they should be trained to feed at proper times!

Earlier, I had to drive Lindsay to the doc's. Interruptions, interruptions. And I wasn't feeling too chirpy this morning after imbibing a bit last night at Josh's speech night. He railroaded me into attending the public speaking comp at a local venue, and insisted on being driven there because he felt conspicuous walking around town dressed in his school uniform. Kids are sooooooo image conscious it's pathetic. "Don't park too far away... don't park too far away...!" Sheesh.

Anyway, Josh didn't win - and there were no other placegetters. The girl who won spent her entire 5 minutes on stage telling Rotary what a marvelous organization it is. In other words, she sucked up to the sponsors. Another young girl had a repeated "Did you know?" theme. I thought she looked a bit silly at 17 years of age asking an audience of middle to mature age "Did you know?" every minute or so. Josh's subject was Sex, Drugs and Alcohol, and the problems teens have with their desire to experiment especially under pressure from peers. I thought he did well but he needs to improve on his delivery.

The Rotarian 4-way test begins with "Is it the truth?" Well, the old bloke next to me complained that his meal wasn't cooked properly. I ate only a small portion of mine, and Josh left almost all of his. Later, during the president's speech, the caterer (the hotel kitchen) was thanked for serving a wonderful meal, and everyone applauded hehe. To have refrained from applause would have been impolite, so basically everyone was applauding woeful cooking. "Is it the truth?" Yes, I know... I'm a cynic.

I gather Rotarians in Oz are strong supporters of our Constitutional Monarchy system of government. They toasted the Queen and we were all required to be upstanding. At the end of the night, everyone stood and sang the Australian National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair. For one thing I can't sing, and for another I don't know all the words... so I remained mute. They probably think I'm a communist.

The people at whose table Josh and I sat were curious to know what relationship Josh and I had. So I said, 'neighbor'. "Besides, Josh couldn't find anyone else to go with him and he got desperate. So here I am." After further quizzing, Josh told them: "He's The Joker from Batman." I am? I didn't know what to make of that but I didn't contradict him.

Yes, a bit of a dreary night, and if it weren't for Josh I wouldn't have attended. The people I was with reminded me that I'm certainly not part of the social mainstream. What's more, I have no desire to be. Eeek!

Let's check the Beeb: Gunmen launch co-ordinated attacks across the city of Mumbai, India, killing 101 people and taking hostages at two luxury hotels and a hospital. The madness just never stops... how depressing. Anti-government protesters in Thailand force the closure of the second airport in Bangkok, amid an escalating political crisis. So where's the good news? Russia and Venezuela agree to co-operate on nuclear energy, during a visit to Caracas by President Dmitry Medvedev. No, I mean GOOD news... you know, something to make me feel better. A newly discovered fossil from China has shed light on how the turtle's shell evolved. The 220 million-year-old find, described in Nature journal, shows that the turtle's breast plate developed earlier than the rest of its shell. I guess that explains why I don't have one. The two daughters of US President-elect Barack Obama will still be expected to do chores after they move into the White House, their mother has revealed. Speaking to ABC News, Michelle Obama said she wanted them to make their own beds and grow up in a "normal" way. Obviously I'm not normal. I only make mine when I'm expecting visitors. US President-elect Barack Obama has named former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker to chair a new panel advising him on the economy. Mr Volcker, 81, who advised Mr Obama on the economy during the election campaign, led the Fed under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan. An oldie but a goodie, apparently.

One of the oldies at my table last night at the Rotary do was a spritely 83-year-old who still has his pilot's license. He spent years flying 4-seaters all over the top end of Oz. It's a pity I didn't get the opportunity to hear some of his stories, which are no doubt fascinating.

Well, I'm buggered, ladies and genitals... which reminds me, when one of the kids made a speech last night, and began with Ladies and Gentlemen, I was sooooooooo tempted to yell, "What about me?" But I didn't. I behaved. Anyway, as I said, I'm buggered. Gotta go feed the troops, now. MrB

November 26, 2008. If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. Milton Berle. Yeah, thought I'd start with that quote on this morning's desk calendar.

Opportunity did knock yesterday when I phoned Ted about the departure time of the motor rail from Taree station. He was most chatty, and this morning he dropped off a society brochure in my mail box. The society - made up entirely of volunteers - runs a small fleet of the old motor rails that can be hired for club outings, tours, etc. Ted said the one I traveled on as a kid is probably this one. It came from Sutherland, where I caught the train over 50 years ago. How's that for deja vu?

Rail is interesting in that it began a couple of centuries ago and remains one of the most efficient methods of moving goods and passengers. I've waited at level crossings a couple of times for a goods train to pass, and I could've had a picnic beside the road while I waited hehe. One time I was standing on a lookout and saw a goods train way down below, snaking its way through the countryside. That was quite a sight and, from where I stood, it looked like a model railway.

Okies, let's check the Beeb: The US Fed says it will inject another $800bn into the economy as it battles to stimulate lending and boost the economy. Those kinda figures boggle my mind... where the hell does it all come from? The UN secretary general says Zimbabwe must quickly agree a power-sharing deal to avoid humanitarian disaster. Zimbabwe already has a humanitarian disaster that goes by the name of Mugabe. The BBC uncovers evidence of serious overcrowding and poor living conditions in one of Iraq's prisons. That reminds me of Wingnut on a hiking trip. He was happily wanking away until he was exposed - literally, and then he was seriously embarrassed. Jamaica's parliament has voted to keep the death penalty, as the Caribbean nation struggles to contain one of the world's highest murder rates. So you have to ask yourself the question: who is murdering who? A man who fathered nine children by raping his two daughters over many years has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 19-and-a half years. The 56-year-old from Sheffield was sentenced to a life term for each of the 25 rapes he had admitted. The attacks led to 19 pregnancies, Sheffield Crown Court heard. Supporters of the death penalty would argue that it's not worth spending $50,000 a year on keeping that grub locked up. A US federal appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against the Vatican over claims it covered up decades of child sex abuse by priests can go ahead. The case was filed by three men from Kentucky who say they were abused by clergy in their childhood. It centres on a 1962 directive from the Vatican - made public in 2003 - which told church officials not to disclose sex abuse complaints against priests. Judgement Day has arrived earlier than expected... and I couldn't be more pleased. China has dismissed the new Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, as a "venomous attack" on the nation. An article in the Global Times, published by the ruling communist party, says the album, launched this week, "turns its spear point on China". The title track of the album, which has not been released in China because of the sensitive material, refers to the banned Falun Gong spiritual group. The album's official website has also been blocked in China. If most Chinese people have similar taste in music to mine, they wouldn't buy the album anyway. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities are doing a splendid job of promoting Guns and Roses. Maybe I can convince the Chinese to ban Green Room. Mobile internet use is growing while the number of people going online via a PC is slowing, analyst firm Nielsen Online has found. Some 7.3m people accessed the net via their mobile phones, during the second and third quarters of 2008. This is an increase of 25% compared to a growth of just 3% for the PC-based net audience - now more than 35m. It also found that the mobile net audience was younger and searched for different things. No surprises there. Firefighters helped operate on a man who was rushed to hospital after getting a metal ring stuck on the end of his penis. Doctors at Royal Wigan Infirmary in Greater Manchester put out the alert after fearing the man faced amputation as the ring cut off his blood supply. Two firefighters used a mini hand grinder to cut through the ring during a 20-minute procedure. It is understood the man, aged in his 40s, was given an anaesthetic. I wonder if they also asked him to write 1000 times on the blackboard "I will never put a cock ring on my penis ever again'.

I spotted Stan the Lawn Man checking my grass, so I grabbed my magnifying glass and went outside to ask him if he wanted to borrow it. "What are you trying to say?" he asked. Fair dinkum, that bloke would mow bare earth. Anyway, he wanted to know if I use the glass when I go to the toilet. Cheeky bugger.

Interestingly, he traded his old caravan on a newie recently. The old van had a shower and toilet but the newie doesn't. He said he and his wife never used it... they preferred caravan park facilities. My guess is that they also didn't fancy emptying the gray and black water when required. My camper won't have an inbuilt loo and shower either... I'll be happy with an external system in a pop-up tent. And a shovel. Dig a hole, empty the porta-pottie and it's all done. Byeeee. "Why is the grass greener here than anywhere else, mommy?" "Because Gary was here, darling."

People complain about recycled water extracted from sewage. But we heap manure and other ikkies on our tomato and vegie patches. We forget that everything on the earth is recycled. It's not like we get deliveries from outer space. Everything that was on the earth to begin with is still here... recycled. There's not a drop of water on this planet that wasn't here millions of years ago. And you can bet your sweet bippy that much of it has seen a few livers and kidneys hehe.

Meanwhile, I'm really looking forward to photographing the old Tin Hare on Saturday morning... everthing from the driver's cabin to all the nuts and bolts. I may never get the opportunity again, so I'll give it a real thorough going over. Besides, my shutter button finger is getting ITCHY!

Knock, knock. Who's there? Josh. "Wanna come to my public speaking night at the Exchange Hotel? It'll cost you 30 bucks." "WHAT? I can get my lawn mowed for that!" Anyway, I got sucked in. He'll be here at 6:25pm for a 7pm start. And guess what? The comp is organized by none other than Dr David Healey... MY DOC. So then Josh started giving me "fashion tips" as he called them, and told me how to dress for the occasion. I've been checking my wardrobe and dragging out things I haven't worn for years! Jeez, he's a pushy bugger. And yes, I'll take the camera. Stay tooned. Make that chewned. MrB

November 25, 2008. Neighbors 12 is now posted. And yesterday, I bought a refill for my desk calendar... 2009. A minute ago (metaphorically speaking), I was looking at a refill with 2000 printed on the front, and thinking, "Wow! The beginning of a new millennium!" Well, it came and went, and the world kept turning just like it always has. No biggie.

Let's check the Beeb: President-elect Barack Obama names his top economic advisers to oversee a huge stimulus package. To quote what I wrote Richie this morning: Yes, how the mighty have fallen. Trying economic times go to prove that the whole system is basically a house of cards. It might look formidable to an ant, but not to a puff of wind. If large corps like Citigroup and GM can teter on the edge of collapse when the bubble bursts, you have to question their solidity in the first place. As they say, appearances can be deceiving. The UN secretary general issues a report saying all sides in DR Congo have committed serious human rights abuses. There ya go... God is on the side of nobody. A far-right Italian party is offering 1,500 euros ($1,900) to parents who name their children after the fascist dictator Mussolini or his wife. The small Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT) party denies its gesture is racist and says the names Benito and Rachele are merely "nice". Together the names Benito and Rachele mean only one thing to Italians - they signify their former dictator and his wife. I wonder how many German kids are named Adolph - or Iraqi kids are named Saddam. Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see how the name Barack goes in the US. Former US President Jimmy Carter has said the crisis in Zimbabwe is "far worse" than he had imagined. Mr Carter is one of a group of world leaders, known as the Elders, who were refused entry visas for Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian situation. He was speaking in Johannesburg after talks with South Africa's leaders. Does that surprise you? It doesn't surprise me. Mugabe has a lot in common with history's most despicable and vile despots. Singer Boy George chained a male escort to his bedroom wall and beat him with a metal chain after accusing him of hacking into his laptop, jurors heard. The former Culture Club star handcuffed Audun Carlsen in his home in Shoreditch, east London, in April last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. The singer, real name George O'Dowd, made contact with Mr Carlsen, 29, on the social networking website Gaydar. Mr O'Dowd, 46, who is now a DJ, denies unlawfully detaining Mr Carlsen. Hmmm... well, I've never thought George was quite the full quid if you get my drift. Taking a daily supplement of vitamin C will not protect most people from common colds, scientists say. A review of 30 studies, involving 11,350 people, also found doses of at least 200mg per day did little to reduce the length or severity of colds. But people exposed to periods of high stress, like marathon runners, could reduce their risk of catching colds by half if they took the vitamin daily. I take vitamin C daily and rarely get colds. Is that because I rarely get colds anyway, or because I take vitamin C? Hmmm.

So what does the Odyssey have in store? This weekend I'll do the lotus thing at Booroowhangary and have a coffee with Bob, who should have some interesting stories to tell. I'm also endeavoring to find out what time the "Tin Hare" leaves Taree railway station on the weekend for a luncheon trip to Gloucester. Tickets are $70 so that leaves me out... but I'd like to visit the station and take pics of the old girl. I believe it's a refurbished 1923 model rail motor (the one pictured is 1928).

Just now there was an item on TV about insurance, and how it works. One American insurance company even offers insurance against alien abduction. I'll give them a call and ask to be insured against NOT being abducted by aliens. Do you think they'd go for that?

Ted, the bloke who organized the Tin Hare trip this weekend returned my call and has invited me to meet him at the railway station on Saturday morning to take a tour of the train and do the whole photography thing. He even invited me on a free ride to Wingham but I'd have to find my own way back to Taree, which is... yes, a problem. Still and all, I'll get to talk to the organizers and also to the fitter (mechanic) and TAKE LOTS OF PICS! The website for the rail motor society hasn't been updated for a few years but it's worth a look if you're interested in such things. MrB

November 24, 2008. Tackled Neighbors 12 again today and I think I've painted myself into a corner here hehe. So I'll take a break and hope that my tired old brain can come up with a solution to the tangle by tomorrow, in which case I'll post the new chapter.

Often, when I stand on the front verandah for a puff and watch the traffic constantly whizzing by, I see vans with painted signs on the side - electrician, plumber, floorcoverings, builder, computer repairs, auto parts, real estate, and all those services that are in demand - and I think to myself, "I never see any vans with 'writer' painted on the side". Hmmm... sumthin' wrong here. Maybe I'm in the wrong biz.

However, just got an email from the Bookshop Darlinghurst... a reader of GR is asking about the sequel. Okay... that's encouraging. All I need is another million guys like him.

Beeb time: Senior Democrats in the US Congress consider backing a huge stimulus plan to boost the flagging US economy.  Stimulus... I like that word. Asia-Pacific leaders say they expect the global downturn to end during 2010, at the end of George W Bush's final summit. Yes, it's important to keep in mind that 'downturns' don't last forever. Big Dippers are no good without dips. Yeah? Eight teenagers have been sentenced to time in jail by a court in Israel for carrying out a series of neo-Nazi attacks that shocked the nation. The eight, aged from 16 to 19, were found guilty of attacking religious Jews, gays and drug addicts, and the desecration of a synagogue. The group, immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union, were sentenced to between one and seven years in jail. I can think of a more appropriate punishment. Hi-tech thieves who specialise in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5bn (£3.35bn), research suggests. Symantec calculated the figure to quantify the scale of fraud it found during a year-long look at the internet's underground economy. That could soon be a thing of the past if an Aussie invention has its way. It uses an encoded chip on a card that is inserted into a slot on your computer and requires no keyboard input from the user. Only an authorised reader can read the chip.

It's late now. Got railroaded into shopping for Averil... plus a bit for us. So it's almost time to hit the kitchen. Yeah... been one of those days that went "that a-way!" MrB

November 23, 2008. Dear Diary... no, bugger that. This is not a diary, this is an imaginary stage upon which I stand to deliver my ponderings just for the hell of it. The old song and dance man trick.

Sooooooooo, I started Neighbors 12 this morning and it seems to be going along okay. Once again, I had no idea where the story was headed until I threw the first few lines on the screen. Then it took over and lured me to a scenario I hadn't anticipated hehe.

I toyed with the idea of taking a mini Odyssey trip today but the wind was howling this morning so I rejected the idea and tackled Neighbors instead. There's always something to do ya know. Besides, the Odyssey I had in mind can be undertaken any old time. Meanwhile, the forecast for the next week looks a bit bleak showerwise. Bleh.

Let's check the Beeb: Leaders from Asia-Pacific nations meeting in Peru pledge not to raise trade barriers in the face of the worldwide financial crisis. Maybe people are beginning to realize that we all live on the same planet. Yeah? Zimbabwe denies refusing entry to a team led by former UN chief Kofi Annan and ex-US president Jimmy Carter. So what does that mean? Did they or didn't they? I'm not a big fan of those "denies" headlines. You know the kind... "so and so has not ruled out yadda yadda..." A former police chief in Argentina, wanted for alleged crimes against human rights, shoots himself dead live on television. We've all heard the expression 'going out with a bang'. A man has been attacked by a panda at a park in southern China, after he climbed into its enclosure hoping to cuddle the creature. The 20-year-old student had ignored warning signs and scaled a two-metre (6.5ft) barrier to get into the pen. State media say the panda bit him on his arms and legs, and he had to be rescued by the animal's keepers. Speaking from his hospital bed, the injured man said the panda had looked so cute he had just wanted to hug it. Yes, dear Breth, when man creates cartoons and other forms of fiction that bestow human personality traits on animals (anthropomorphism), it pays to remember that they are the product of human imagination and not reality. But some people find it difficult to tell the difference. Hillary Clinton will agree to serve as secretary of state in US President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet, the New York Times has reported. She'd be a bloody drongo if she didn't. A Vatican newspaper has forgiven the late English singer John Lennon for saying four decades ago that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus. The paper dismissed Lennon's much-criticised remark that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ as a youthful joke. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." Hmmm. Whatever blows your hair back. Footage of a large meteor streaking across western Canada has been broadcast on Canadian television. The video filmed from a local police car on patrol, showed a small light turning into a massive and blindingly bright fireball as it fell from the sky and appeared to hit the Earth in the distance. Today we call it a meteor. In Biblical times it would have been called a miracle. Go figure. A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men. Let me remind you that India's population is 1.13 billion. Hehe. Apparently size mattereth noteth.

Actually, I knew a young bloke who whipped out his thingy one time and waved it around as if to say, "Get an eyeful of this." Well, ladies and genitals, I wouldn't call it an eyeful. In fact, I felt like doing a Sherlock and grabbing the nearest magnifying glass. Oh dear, I've been places and done things that I'd rather not remember. TOO MANY TIMES.

Jim M's no dummy ya know. For starters, he knows the diff between 'lose' and 'loose'. Some peeps don't *ahem*... but I won't mention any names. Jim M also queried my Waffle paste yesterday and the reference to 'Grace'.

Well, I used to hang with a bunch of crazy gays. We all had nicknames and mine was Grace - as in Grace Kelly. It was my nick for years and years. I even have a coffee mug with Grace printed on it, which was given to me as a prezzie a long time ago. Jim goes on to write: Funny, but i was disappointed with my own life until i sat down and wrote something of my experiences. Only then did i realize how much turmoil i survived. I guess it's easier to reflect on the past than it is to measure the present. Yes... I wrote something to Richie this morning along the same lines: "Anyway, I just thought of something... the purpose of aging is to see life more clearly in retrospect. Yeah.

And that applies as much to Obama as the rest of us. The only permanent judge is history, and history's view can be very different to the current view, as shown by Galileo's discovery. I suppose (despite my ignorance of such things) the words "let history be my judge" have been uttered by many people over the centuries."

And Richie responded with:  History be the judge, eh... ?  To quote Churchill.... "History will be kind to me.... for I intend to write it myself....." and that, my friend... well- could be just a little of that in there in your case.  HA !!  Good show...

You've gotta humor Richie cuz he suffers from a serious case of Oregonitis. Jim M also believes that Green Room "IS gonna make it". Yeah... it's just one of those things... nothing to do with me as an author, but EVERYTHING to do with Cody and his extraordinary life. People are pretty dumb ya know, and sometimes it takes a while for a story like GR to penetrate their thick skulls. Sorry, God... I know you did your best but you blew it.

Jeez, I'm gonna get an earful when I get to the Pearlies.

I'm gonna make a cup of coffee. They don't have coffee in heaven ya know. Did you know that? Yep, no coffee. Imagine that... a billion years without a cup of coffee. No coffee, no tea, no booze, no Coke, no Hershey Bars, no nuthin. If people realized that they wouldn't wanna go there.

I wonder why I don't include stuff like that in my books. Maybe it's too off the wall, and I'm kinda focused on "real" issues. You know... credibility. Hmmm, maybe I should keep it in mind... the lunatic stuff, I mean. Also, I tend not to be my weird self during regular conversations with people in case they freak. It's different here on the Waffle page... it's like I'm let out of my cage for a while to exercise my peculiar imagination. Can you imagine me talking this kinda rubbish to people in the street? Or the checkout chicks at the supermarket? Or people I meet on the Odyssey? They'd call the police.

Ya know, sometimes I think about my sense of humor... my sense of the ridiculous... and I wonder how the hell I still have it after all the shit I've been through. On the other hand, perhaps it's all the shit that honed and enhanced my sense of humor and the ridiculous as a matter of necessity. Where would I be without it? I think I wrote somewhere that instead of sending troops into Iraq, we should send a bunch of comedians. Hehe. Maybe that's not such a silly idea. Anyway, I'm convinced that a keen sense of humor is the key to survival. To wit: that poor kid who off'd himself on internet chat the other day obviously could not see the funny side of his predicament. And there's always a funny side if you look for it. He was so steeped in misery that he was blind to any other perspective. Very sad.

The irony is that many comedians suffer from severe depression. How do you figure that? It must be an act: they know and understand what makes an audience laugh but they themselves don't see the funny side. Take Peter Sellers for example. He was a comic genius but he never saw the joke. I've told this story before but it's worth telling again. He was booked to appear on Michael Parkinson's show and reneged at the last minute. Why? Because Michael wanted to interview Peter Sellers... the man himself. And Peter was petrified. Peter didn't see himself as a worthwhile interviewee. He thought of himself as boring with nothing to say. So Michael got the bright idea of asking, "So who would you like to be interviewed as?" And Peter Sellers turned up as a German soldier. The interview was a huge success, and very very funny. So there ya go. The person and the person's image can be two very distinct identities. And I'm very careful not to separate my image from myself. I'm a grumpy old fart. Period.

Hang on... make that a grumpy old fart with a sense of humor. MrB

November 22, 2008. I'm looking sartorially scrumptious in my St Vincent de Paul shorts today... I think they cost $2.50. But I might've put on a few ounces over winter. They fitted just fine when I first bought them some months ago. Why aren't I out Odysseying? It's cloudy, with showers and gusty winds predicted for later. So I'm doing the laundry instead.

I've also updated the RD for this week. His name is Sebastian and I guarantee he would bring tears to your eyes if he got his way with you. Hehe. That's one of the great compensations about getting older. All that silly business is behind me. Well, I mean... hmmm... I think you know what I mean. No more shenanigans.

Okay... question time: How come clouds instinctively know when I'm hanging the washing out to dry? It was blue sky when I started, and now the sky is full of dark menacing clouds. I mean I knew they were coming but not THAT quick.

So what's happening at the Beeb? The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe nears 300 as the water and sanitation situation "worsens", the UN says. Does it bother Mugabe? Go figure. Somali Islamist rebels search for pirates who hijacked a Saudi oil tanker, saying seizing a Muslim-owned ship is a crime. As opposed to...? US shares rise sharply on reports that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his treasury secretary, reassuring investors. From what I've learned about investors and their unpredictable jitters, I'm glad they're not in charge of my personal affairs. A teenager in the US state of Florida has committed suicide in front of a live internet audience. Abraham Biggs, 19, from Pembroke Pines, near Miami, killed himself hours after announcing his intention to do so on his blog. He posted messages online telling people he was going to kill himself and then started streaming live pictures from his home. Reports say that some of viewers who logged in to watch began to encourage the teenager to commit suicide, others tried to dissuade him. After several hours, when he had not moved some viewers finally notified the site's moderator, who then called the police. The last transmission from the webcam is of a police officer bursting into Abraham Biggs's room, when he discovers his body and then he places his hand over the camera. The footage has since been taken down and his father is now calling for more regulation of chatrooms. So sad... so terribly sad. And the ghouls? They're out there ya know. They're out there. IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains. Part of a field called "cognitive computing", the research will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists. I've written to them and asked them not to forget the pecs, abs and naughty bits. Hillary Clinton will agree to serve as secretary of state in US President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet, the New York Times has reported. Well, I think that's just great... couldn't have made a better choice. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has issued her traditional Thanksgiving "pardon" for one turkey - while other birds were slaughtered in the background. The former Republican vice-presidential candidate was doing her governor's "duty" to save one lucky bird at a farm in Wasilla. "This was neat," she told reporters, referring to her "pardon" of a turkey. How sick. The woman is nuts. A judge has sentenced a 19-year-old white South African to four life terms in jail for killing four black people in a shooting spree in January. Those shot dead by Johan Nel included a three-month-old baby and a boy of 10. Witnesses told the court he shouted racist abuse while shooting. I'm lost for words. It's gotta be the wiring, about which nobody can do anything. It makes you wonder how many sick minds are disguised by human clothing. A popular comedian active in Burma's democracy movement has been sentenced to 45 years in jail by a Burmese court. Zarganar was found to have violated the Electronics Act, which regulates electronic communications. He is the latest in a string of opposition activists to be given long jail terms by the military government. And then, of course, you get situations where sick minds run the government. How scary is that? Surfing the internet, playing games and hanging out on social networks are important for teen development, a large study of online use has revealed. The report counters the stereotypical view held by many parents and teachers that such activity is a waste of time. The net saved my butt, I can tell you. Evangelical and Pentecostal churches in London say restrictive planning regulations have left many worshippers crammed into small buildings. The denominations have seen rapid growth and an estimated 350 London churches want bigger premises. Yes, more donkeys, longer sticks and a stack more carrots.

I just said to Sue, "The older I get, the grumpier I get, and the grumpier I get, the happier I am." I dunno if that made sense to her, but there ya go. I think one of life's great joys is venting spleen, and if you don't have anything to bitch about - like the insanity of the human species - then you're missing out on one of the great pleasures of life. It's a bit of a conundrum, really... do I complain about the descendants of Adam and Eve or do I thank the Lord for creating such a hotchpotch of wallies that keeps me entertained?

And does that hotchpotch include me? Certainly NOT! Of the entire 6.5 billion people on the planet, I'm the only one who's sane. Aren't you lucky to be reading my waffle? Even if you're one of the wallies, which you're bound to be, at least you know what it takes to be someone who's not. :-P

As predicted, the wind is blowing like crazy, and if I hadn't retreived my washing from the line, it would have ended up in Kalgoorlie. Took me forever to hang all the shirts... and you can blame Ohio Sean for that. How the hell am I gonna fit all those things in a camper van?

Should I paste an email that I just sent to a former colleague? Oregon Richie has reminded me of a few things lately about my past and I've been kinda dwelling on it. Yeah, why the hell not:

I wonder if you can onsend this to members of the old gang.

It's been quite a few years since we all partied. BIG ONE! And it's crossed
my mind several times why no one recognized my slow and painful demise. No
one ever asked if I hated what I was doing... which I did with a passion;
resorting to desperate measures to make a quid, selling savings plans and
then encyclopaedias. That wasn't me. That was me struggling in quicksand and
trying to make it look like a posh spa.

Mother Hubbard was the only one who "noticed" but even he remarked on how
"successful" I looked in a suit. I have to laugh now. That was pretty much
like the way they dress up a corpse for viewing.

And then I got sucked in by my ex-biz partner... the cunt to end all cunts.
He crawled out from under a rock, chewed me up and spat me out.

Finally, there was nothing left except the dole. I was finished. Spent.
Worthless. I made a few half-hearted attempts to resurrect myself but former
colleagues were disinterested and left me to rot. I had nowhere to go; no
one to turn to.

Despite all that, I'm surviving. I'm now writing my 6th book, and I have
plans to travel Australia by campervan and write a journal online. I'm a
keen photographer. Life ain't all that bad. www.aussieodyssey.com

If any of you is interested in where I've been these past years, read Green
Room, my first book. www.lulu.com/content/439077  If it doesn't move you,
then you ain't got soul, bro.

But the main reason for writing this email is this: I was screaming for help
during the 1990s and nobody noticed. Nobody saw behind the facade. Nobody
*really* knew Grace. No one said to me, "This isn't you, Grace. What the
fuck are you doing?" "He hasn't changed," was Kearnsy's remark about me the
last time he saw me about 10 years ago. Hehehe. Yeah, right. I guess I
should have been an actor.

Nope, I'm not bitter... just wiser, and quite content to live the rest of my
life solo. I'm looking forward to traveling Oz and writing about my
experiences and adventures. I gotta make up for lost time ya know.

MrB

November 21, 2008. I read something in an advertisement about megapixels. 5MP is sufficient to provide a high quality image for printing. But, higher resolution such as 10+ gives you an advantage when you crop a picture. If there's a particular section of the photo that you want to separate and highlight, high resolution means that the cropped area retains good quality. Fair enough.

I'm not a fan of cropping, though. I figure a photographer should endeavor to compose the ideal pic in situ... not afterwards in photoshop or whatever. I'm not a fan of manipulation of a photo in post production. There are exceptions, however, such as cropping or reducing the size of a pic for inclusion in a page of text, or the creation of montages for use in a specialized graphic. In any event, the original pic should remain the original - untouched and virginal. What the viewer sees should be exactly what the photographer saw.... IMHO.

I just heard a motoring guy talking on the radio saying how impressed he was with the new Holden wagon (which Holden believes will grab a healthy section of the 4WD market even though it's not 4WD), and how Dec/Jan is the perfect time to grab a bargain. "Aside from being crash tackled when you walk into the showroom," he began... which made me laugh, he says that things are bleak in the car biz at the mo, and retailers are DESPERATE to sell. "When Toyota says it has 40,000 new vehicles it needs to clear right now, it's not kidding."

Let's do the Beeb: US carmakers are given a deadline to produce a viable recovery plan if they want a $25bn government bail-out. Fair enough. The government can begin by giving me the dough to buy a camper van. The UN Security Council votes to send 3,000 more troops to DR Congo following renewed fighting in the east of the country. Fighting, fighting, fighting... I don't think I'll ever understand it. Singer Madonna and her film director husband Guy Ritchie are to be divorced in London on Friday, High Court lists show. Let's face it, most showbiz types are insecure. China has stepped up computer espionage against the US government and American businesses, according to an influential Washington congressional panel. In its annual report to Congress, the panel warned that China was gaining increasing access to sensitive information from US computer networks. It said China was aggressively pursuing cyber-warfare capabilities to gain an advantage over the US in any conflict. There has been no comment so far from the Chinese on the report. Shame on the Chinese! The US would never even think of spying on anyone. Hehe. Oil prices have fallen below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2005 amid fears of a recession and expectations that demand will drop. US light sweet crude fell to $49.62, while London-traded Brent crude fell to $48.90 a barrel. The price of oil is around two-thirds cheaper than in July, when it hit a record above $147 a barrel. Amidst all the doom and gloom, that's one silver lining that is most welcome. An anti-piracy watchdog has welcomed the destruction of a suspected Somali pirate vessel in the Gulf of Aden by an Indian navy warship. INS Tabar sank the pirate "mother ship" after it did not stop for investigation and instead opened fire, an Indian navy statement said on Wednesday. Excellent news! Sink the bastards!

Jeez, I hate crooks. Shortly after I bought my little terrace house in Glebe, I arrived home one night to find my things piled into bundles on the floor ready to be taken away. I thought it was a joke, and expected to find friends upstairs laughing and saying something like "fooled you!" But no, it wasn't a joke. I'd disturbed the thieves as I came in the front door, and they'd escaped out the back. When the cops arrived, they said it was a good thing the thieves ran out the back otherwise I would have been in their way as they tried to escape via the front door. For a long time thereafter, I suffered nightmares and freaked at the slightest strange noise. Even now, almost 30 years later, I still have a sense of relief when I see my car waiting for me in the supermarket car park. Thieves - pirates, call them what you like - are nothing but human trash.

Just had the landlady and her twins (son and daughter) visit the house with the agent. For the twins, now middle age, it was a trip down memory lane... they used to run around the house and play here as kids. The house was built in the 30s by the landlady's husband, and it would take a pretty strong cyclone to damage this joint. Solid as a rock. They all live in Canberra now, and the landlady is 86 - still in good nick tho. Anyway, they were all satisfied that we're good tenants and said that we can stay here as long as we want. The landlady is also a good friend of Averil next door - she owns that property too - so they got together for a long chinwag. Averil has lived there for 17 years.

Hmmm... well today hasn't been too thrilling. It might be a little more adventurous tomorrow when I take off on another mini Odyssey. MrB

November 20, 2008. David Archuleta fans should note: Just a quickie. I found a site that has the Ellen Degeneres interview and others for David Archuleta. http://davidarchuletafanblast.com/ His performance and interview (Ellen) are toward the bottom. As you scroll check out the Bonnie Hunt interview it is one of his better chats. Ohio Jace.

There were another 3 excellent inventions on The New Inventors last night but one really stood out, and was classed as genius by the judging panel. It's called Quiet Wave - a thin green membrane made cheaply from leftover vegetable matter - 100% organic, non toxic, non flammable - that is positioned between a building's inner and outer walls to inhibit noise from adjoining flats/apartments. The inventor is a French guy living in Oz. No more noisy neighbors! The judges say that it will revolutionize the way buildings are built. It can also be retro-fitted.

I love new ideas but I do wonder why sometimes it takes so bloody long for someone to think of them! I mean you would think that the wheel is the most obvious tool for use in transport or in machinery. But no... a wheel is useless without fitting an axle. So, for me, the axle was the key to the "invention" of the wheel.

But when new things are invented, we soon take them for granted. For example, we complain about the poor standard of television programming. But back in 1956, when TV was first introduced to Oz, I would quite happily watch the test pattern. I was 12.

Let's do a Beeb check: The owners of a Saudi oil tanker hijacked by Somali pirates are negotiating a possible ransom, the Saudi foreign minister says. He conveniently failed to mention that they're also simultaneously planning to attack the pirates and send them to oblivion - which is where they belong. Al-Qaeda deputy leader calls on Muslims to harm America, describing President-elect Obama as a "house slave".  So there ya go, if you're an idiot with a sick mind, and you're looking for a rewarding career, join Al-Qaeda. Wall Street plunged more than 5% on Wednesday to its lowest level in over five years on rising economic worries. The Dow Jones average fell 427 points to close at 7,997.28, below the 8,000-level for the first time since 2003. I don't recall things being so bad in 2003. What's all the fuss about? US President-elect Barack Obama's rhetorical skill, his ability to captivate and inspire audiences with his powerful speeches, has led some writers to describe him as the greatest orator of his generation. "He has certainly studied all of his predecessors, he is quite aware of the rhetorical heritage that he draws on," Ekaterina Haskins, professor of rhetoric at the University of Iowa, explains. "He clearly sees himself as a descendant of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King. He is summoning the ghosts of previous leaders and presidents who Americans have learnt to revere." Hmmm, what is it they say about the pen and the sword? A missing cockatiel is now safe and sound at home after confirming its own name in a phone call to its owner. Accountant Sue Hill, who found the bird in Wrexham, was put in touch with a possible owner by a local vet. When she called the number she let the bird listen to the voice at the other end of the phone - at which point it chirped its own name: "Smokey."  The other day I  talked about ID and the necessity for titles... and what do we get? "Accountant Sue Hill..."

Well, well, well... a 1963 Toyota Tiara pulled up in front of my house and parked. I haven't seen one of those things for ages! So I spoke to the owners - an elderly couple - and took a few pics. It's now on Aussie Odyssey.

And on the subject of parrots, little Keiran "found" an abandoned lorikeet chick yesterday and took it to school today in a small cage. Hehe. Maybe he's a distant relative of Noah or something. Anyway, when I checked the green and blue bird in the box, I realized something about the way I think. I immediately visualized the bird's perspective of proceedings... and imagined this huge human face outside the cage, peering at me. Eeeek! How scary is that? Poor little thing.

Francois wrote: Yes Dominica is the neighbor island of Martinique in the north (20 km) and we passed 4 days around it this summer going in Guadeloupe (the other big french Caribbean island), then 2 days going back here. It's one of the poorest island of the Commonwealth (don't mix up with Dominican Republic which is as poor but 20 times larger 3000km in the north) and Portsmouth is its 2nd "town" with a big american university. The hurricane Luis in 1995 devastated this poor island throwing many big boats on the (town) beaches where they're still rusting. It's the island where were made the 3 Disney movies "pirates of the caribbean":

And yes, your queen is the queen of all this islands... The East Caribbean Dollar (XCD or biwi) is indexed on the US$ : 1XCD= 0.38$ =  0.60AUD = 0.30€ and in more they kept the british units! I leave you imagine my headache when I buy 80 (british) gallons of diesel for the boat, to convert the price in euro/liter .... never sure of the result! Portsmouth is at less than 1h (with my boat) from Pointe a Pitre ( Guadeloupe capital) and I wanted to buy a house there to live  some years (because they're very cheap as life , and I'd live as an emir there), but the square feet, the acres, the XCD and the left driving have dissuaded me hehehe

So there's Francois sailing around the Caribbean, catching fish, taking photographs, and living the high life. Not bad for a retired language teacher. I wonder about those rusting beached hulks, though. Maybe the Caribbean mindset is so relaxed they figure, "Hey, why bother to move them? They'll only come back in the next hurricane." I feel exactly the same way about dusting and vacuuming.

Here's a gem from Oregon Richie: Funny quote on cable news: "IF the US felt it had to come to the defense of Taiwan... we'd first have to borrow the money from China to do so....!"

Bob from Booroowhangary just called me "Gaz" on the phone. How about that? I'm often called Gaz but usually by peeps who know me well. Anyway, I asked about the lotus... there's a few out but in a another week there'll be hundreds, so I'll postphone the Odyssey until then. Bob asked me to contact him beforehand because he says there are lots of things he wants to show me... various budding shrubs and trees that I'll probably miss without an escort. And he promised me a coffee in the "shed". Oh yes... the Booroowhangary Cottage? That's only a facade. Inside it's a greenhouse. That revelation surprised me... a facade! Yeah... like a Hollywood movie set.

So... what can I do for the Odyssey this weekend? If the weather's okay - and it looks promising - I might wander up the Pacific Hwy and take some pics of the upgrade, then mosey around a few places - Big Fella Gum Tree, the largest tree (by volume) in NSW, Mudbrick Cottage and a few other places I missed on previous trips there. MrB

November 19, 2008. Yep, Neighbors 11 is now posted. The weather today is capital D for DREARY. But if the rain is falling on various parched areas of Oz, then that's cool. God knows those farmers have had a pretty rough trot for several years.

I saw some news items and interviews about the new Oz movie AUSTRALIA last night on tele. It's an epic. Cast and crew are all Aussies, many of whom work overseas but their roots are here (including Nicole Kidman who was born in Hawaii but raised here). The comments are for and against... all over the joint. You might as well ask a gaggle of geese what they think about stamp collecting. Personally, I hope the movie does well at the box office.

It's strange how some people think that the inclusion of kangaroos in an Oz movie is cliche. Maybe they think the inclusion of Aussie actors and accents is cliche as well. So what do we do? Leave out the kangaroos and use Japanese actors? Hehe. PEOPLE ARE SOOOOOOO DUMB! Yeah, let's dismantle the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House... they're also cliche. And get rid of the outback... cover it with plastic lawn and plastic palm trees. And Uluru? Blow the thing to smitherines! We don't need some stupid rock in the middle of nowhere. And Aborigines? Send them to deportment school and give them elocution lessons, and teach them how to play the clarinet instead of that big wooden thing.

Save me.

So what does the Beeb think of this crazy world? The bosses of the three biggest US carmakers, Ford, GM and Chrysler, ask Congress for a $25bn bail-out. I'm not sure I understand this bail-out biz. If I go broke, whose fault is that? Pirates anchor a hijacked Saudi oil tanker off the coast of Somalia, as two more ships are seized in nearby waters. Once upon a time, every ship that sailed the seven seas was equipped with cannons. Is Obama black? It depends on who - and when - you ask. One well-known African American writer, Debra Dickerson, famously objected that Obama is not of the people properly defined as "black" on the grounds that because he is not descended from slaves. Ergo, he is not black - at all. The bulk of the people protesting against references to Obama as a black man, however, grant that he is "part" black (by way of his father), but assert that because he also has a white mother it is not "accurate" to call him black. He is "in fact" mixed-race, they say. If it's true that we are all descendants of a common African mother, which I believe to be true, then we are all black. Anyway, what the hell does it matter? Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman have attended the world premiere of period epic Australia in a rainy Sydney. Directed by Baz Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge! fame, the film - reported to have cost $120m (£80m) - is the most expensive ever made on the continent. Australian critics have given a mixed reception to the film, with one saying it was "good but way, way too long"... "There is a lot of narrative flab and longueurs," wrote Jim Schembri in the Canberra Times, adding the film "often has the pace of a steamroller with engine trouble." And as we all know, Jim Schembri is a household name right around the world. *ahem* Vast swarms of locusts (in Australia) have been spotted in Condobolin, Wagga, Gundagai and Narrandera - some up to six kilometres long. Locusts feed mainly on green vegetation. New South Wales is approaching its harvesting season, and in some areas, this is the first successful crop after years of drought. That's enough to bring tears to the eyes of even the most hardened of farmers. Good quality olive oil contains a natural chemical that acts in a similar way to a painkiller, a US study says. Researchers found 50g of extra-virgin olive oil was equivalent to about a tenth of a dose of ibuprofen. A Monell Chemical Senses Centre team in Philadelphia said an ingredient in the oil acted as an anti-inflammatory, the Nature journal reported. The team said while the effect was not strong enough to cure headaches, it may explain the Mediterranean diet benefit. There ya go... Popeye wasn't silly.

Hmmm. On the other hand, if Olive Oil was extra virgin, did that make Popeye gay?

Back to Obama and the black issue. Dame Edna Everage - tongue in cheek and with a twinkle in 'her' eye - would call him "Tinted". Mixed race? Who among us isn't? Besides, show me a better man than Nelson Mandela and I'll show you a man who can turn water into wine. This whole race thing is ludicrous. There is no such thing as a master race. If there were, they would have won the second world war. These so called white supremacists are fooling themselves into believing that melanin has something to do with intelligence. Okay, let's compare Obama's IQ to theirs hehe. In fact, by voicing their racist views, the supremacists are proving beyond doubt that they are mentally deficient.

Richie wrote this morning and decreed that assholes are everywhere, and he's right. May I also add that assholes come in all colors. It's not color that determines whether or not a man is good or bad, it's his character - it's what's in his heart. Hitler wasn't black. Say no more.

There's a local Chinese boy - his voice is breaking so I guess he's early teens. I've often seen him with his parents (his mother is an absolute doll, and his father is particularly handsome). I said something to them once - some months ago - and they gave me the impression that their English was virtually non-existent. But the boy attends a local high school so I suppose his English is getting better. Today, for the first time, I saw him with an Aussie mate, which was cool. For a while there I wondered if he felt isolated because of his race and/or language problems. His mate is a little guy, and pretty cheeky from what I saw. His antics put a smile on the Chinese boy's face. Now let me tellya something... you ain't seen a smile as wonderful as that one. That's the second time I've seen it, and it's totally magic. I figure with a smile like that, the Chinese kid can't go wrong in life. It's his ticket to whatever he wants. And ya know something else? That smile is so powerful, it makes all the problems of the world evaporate... at least for a while.

And that's it... I'm all waffled out. Roast chicken and roast spuds tonight. RIP chicken. MrB

November 18, 2008. Got on a roll again with Neighbors 11. It went that a'way! Hehe. Totally different to what I'd expected. Yes, folks, I'm sitting on the driver's bench of a runaway coach with no reins. But it's interesting. Young Josh reckons I should have a character named Bruce in the story. He says it's a real Aussie name. I wouldn't have thought so, but... well whatever.

Got an email from Lulu this morning to say that I've earned about $35 US from the recent sale of books. Dunno which one(s). It ain't no fortune, to be sure, but it's encouraging. Maybe the word is getting around, albeit slowly. It would be nice to think that I've planted a seed that will eventually grow into a very large tree that will live for several centuries. Meanwhile, the Bookshop Darlinghurst hasn't paid my invoices yet. Grrrr.

Ohio Jace wrote to say: I noticed during the American Idol show and tour he (David Archuleta) is not very good at giving interviews. Never seems to know what to say. Also he has a tendency to ramble and giggle which is not bad, actually it is kinda cute. Ellen called him the most adorable contestant ever on Idol and she watches the show regularly and has all the castoffs on the show.  She also apologized for not having him on after the finale. Her show went into hiatus that same week so she only had time for the “other” David. Archie let her know he was "so bummed" about not being on the show earlier and was excited to finally meet her. You may be able to find the interview on youtube or maybe not. Yes, I agree. David is certainly not one of the world's great orators hehe, but hey, you can't have everything. I remember one of the judges on Idol saying that Archie was a "real sweetheart". I think part of his inability to converse with interviewers is caused by his youthful innocence, and I also think he's still quite overwhelmed by all the fame and attention. I remember him saying in reference to the judges, "these people scare me to death!" (or something close to that). By contrast, when he sings he loses all sense of self-consciousness.

Jace goes on to say: He won two 2008 Teen Choice Awards, one of which was a surfboard for the “most fanatical fans” and the other for “best smile”. Also he has (or will) make his acting debut on Nickelodeon in a show “iCarly”. Don’t ask me what it is I have no idea. He will be playing David Archuleta so…it must be a cameo. Hits Daily Double predicts; that based on Tuesdays sales David Archuleta’s album will debut at No 2 with sales in excess of 225,000. The single CRUSH also debuted at No 2, in Aug, and is still on the charts.

And now for the serious side of Jace: Racism is still alive and well in the U.S. Ever since Obama won the election, threats, assaults, and vandalism have increased against blacks as well as whites who voted Obama. His life has been threatened a lot more than is typical. Chants of assassinate Obama have been heard in schools. It is mostly in the “old” south, but spread around the country too. Yes, as I mentioned yesterday to Averil, the Middle East has its fair share of loonies but the US has a wider variety. Lemme quote what I wrote Richie this morning: And yes, the warped minds are furious about the elevation of a colored man to the White House. Certainly, the whole world is full of loonies and, I'm sad to say, I can't see them ever being eliminated. They are permanently and inextricably warped.

Richie also had this to say about Obama, his wife and kids: ...they are currently often called the "First Family of Cool" now. Yo! I can believe it, and I like it!

Let's check the Beeb: US bank Citigroup announces plans for about 52,000 new job cuts, on top of 23,000 cuts already made this year. Stay tuned, the subject of unemployment will be tackled soon in Neighbors. Pirates have seized a giant Saudi oil tanker off the Kenyan coast and are steering it towards Somalia, the US Navy says. Brazen bastards... but they'll get their just desserts. You just wait and see. Emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised nations rose 2.3% from 2000 to 2006, the UN climate change agency says. Time for action, guys. We're crapping in our own nest. A French court of appeal has overruled the decision to annul the marriage of two Muslims because the bride had lied about being a virgin. Under the French civil code, a marriage can be annulled if a spouse has lied about an "essential quality" of the relationship. Aren't you glad you're not Muslim? President-elect Barack Obama and John McCain have met for the first time since the US election, vowing to "work together on critical challenges". The former rivals for the presidency met at the Chicago offices of Mr Obama's transition team. Mr McCain said he "obviously" planned to help Mr Obama's administration. Very sensible. It is as thick as your arm, gungy and smells disgusting - and it has just been caught on camera for what is thought to be the first time. A crew has managed to record a whale shark - the world's biggest fish - expelling food waste, which was then scooped up for research. "It does seem rather weird, someone being so excited about seeing whale shark poo. And I'm pretty certain that this is the first time it has been filmed. One way to work out what is going in one end is to look at what is coming out of the other." Charming. Surely that would make anyone think twice about taking a dip in the ocean. Ew! Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose was sunk by a French cannonball and this was covered up by political spin, according to a new academic study. Until now it was believed a combination of wind and tide pressed Mary Rose over, causing her gun ports to flood in a 16th Century battle in the Solent. But University of Portsmouth geographer Dominic Fontana said the truth was withheld to maintain the Navy's image. Mary Rose sank with the loss of more than 400 lives on 19 July 1545. I wonder if Francois is on the lookout for English flags as he sails the Caribbean. According to an online survey, cliches like "at the end of the day", "24/7" and "literally" are among the most reviled. Here are 20 more that particularly irk Magazine readers. You can read them all by clicking here.

I just got slugged $25 for a late payment to my bank. So there ya go... it's legal for banks to rob their customers but it's illegal for people to rob banks.

And the next mini Odyssey? Well, according to what Bob told me last time I visited Booroowhangary the lotus will be blooming this weekend. Lotus are exquisite flowers and I promise to do my best to capture them in all their exotic and stunning glory while they're at their peak. And then? I keep checking the local events calendar on the net but there's not a lot going on at the mo. Never mind, I'll figure something out. Oh, and the pic? No, it's not a shark... it's a dolphin. MrB

November 17, 2008. Two of the neighborhood boys woke up 20 minutes late this morning and were in a mad panic to get ready for school. Little Keiran, on the other hand, was on time and chirpy as he bounced a basketball while chatting to me. The other two, when they arrived, were grumpy. Not a good way to start the day... and one reason why I HATE appointments.

What did I just say? Jeez, I spent years on radio as an announcer, governed by the clock. On air at 5am, timing everything precisely for 4 hours to coincide with the half-hourly news and the hourly pips. Later, after I'd gone solo as a copywriter/producer, my nickname in the biz was 29 Point 8 (writing scripts for 30-second ads).

But now it's different. I refuse to be a slave to the clock. In fact, in so far as possible, I refuse to be a slave to anything or anyone. *ahem* Well, I did say in so far as possible. I still haven't found a cure for the wobbles.

Wot's happening at the Beeb? The Iraqi cabinet approves a security pact with the US, which foresees a US troop withdrawal by the end of 2011. That's about 3 years away and a lot can happen between now and then. Space Shuttle Endeavour docks with the International Space Station on an "extreme make-over" mission. It's still early days - rather like the Wright Bros and the Wright Flyer. The mind boggles at what humans might be doing in space in a century from now. As the dust settles on Washington following the Barack Obama earthquake, one group more than any other is expecting to be out in the cold. For the past eight years, the so-called Religious Right has enjoyed a warm reception at the centre of White House policy-making, and with the Republican coalition on Capitol Hill. Mainly white, "born again" evangelical Protestants, who adhere to a literal interpretation of the Bible - and oppose abortion rights above all - the Religious Right comprise around 40% of the Republican Party's support. And there's the problem - literal interpretation. Why anyone would believe that the ancients had a monopoly on truth and wisdom I can't fathom. Comedy actor Reg Varney, best known for playing driver Stan Butler in ITV sitcom On The Buses, has died aged 92. On The Buses was one of the most successful British comedies of the 1970s, with over 60 TV episodes. The series, which ran for seven years from 1969 and spawned three feature films, followed the two characters as they dodged work and did their best to wind up inspector Cyril "Blakey" Blake, played by Stephen Lewis. Successful series such as On the Buses make time stand still so that it comes as a surprise to learn that a lead character is "suddenly" in his 90s.

Almost 10 years ago I wrote a page on MrB titled "Fifty Fucking Five!". And I wrote, "how the bloody hell did I get here?" Hehe. Now I'm headed for sixty five next year. I suppose it's been an interesting decade... 6 books (or will be) and the launch of Aussie Odyssey. At least that's something to show for it. And the next ten? That should be even more interesting as I travel the land down under. And I wonder if all the experiences and adventures that await me will have a profound effect on me as a person. Actually, I don't see how I could resist at least some fundamental changes in certain aspects of my personality after having met all kinds of people in all kinds of places over a number of years. Yeah? In fact, that may be the greatest adventure of all! The new me!

Yesterday, I commented on Obama's search for identity. This morning, young Josh (after I mentioned that my crack to the local Mayor about "nice frock" was ignored) said, "He probably thought you were being smart. He likes me". Josh has met the Mayor twice at official functions. But during the time I've known Josh, he's made a number of comments about being popular or whatever, that give me the impression that he likes to be liked... probably because he's fatherless and of mixed blood. Like Obama, Josh is searching for identity. And he's not the only one.

There was a time when people thought of me as Gary Kelly the radio announcer... then Gary Kelly the creative writer... and then, after my world fell apart, Gary who? Obama will soon be President of the United States. So it seems that in order to "be somebody" we need to have a title... astronaut, mountaineer, actor, comedian, navigator, explorer, banker, pope... it's all part of the "who am I?" question.

So who will I be at the end of the Odyssey? Hang around for a while and find out. Meanwhile, whatever you think I am is what I am. I don't think of myself as anything in particular.. and maybe I never will. Nonetheless, it's an interesting question - who am I? Maybe it's a question that matters a lot more to some people than it does to others. In the end, I suspect that what one thinks of oneself is more important. BUT... what one thinks of oneself can often depend on the opinions of others hehe. The old vicious circle trick.

There's an old saying - clothes maketh the man. I don't believe that for a second. I think clothes maketh the image. And I'm inclined to think that titles also maketh the image. If, for example, the title of President made the man, then all presidents would be the same. Food for thought, ladies and genitals.

Do you know why blokes have foreskins? According to my mother, it was to protect our unmentionables from damage when our ancestors (presumably naked) ran through long grass. However, my mother also believed in Adam and Eve, and Creationism. I don't think it ever occurred to her that prehistoric ancestors and A&E, as concepts, are at odds. As a kid, my teachers accused me of "having an excuse for everything". I'm sure I inherited that trait from my mother.

I'm not sure why I mentioned my mother's view about the need for foreskins. I think it's probably because human beings have an annoying predisposition for rationalizing their beliefs according to their version of "logic". And yes, you can include me in that lot. After all, this IS the Waffle Page. If you'd like to see more Obama jokes and cartoons, go here.

MrB

November 16, 2008. Yes, folks, Neighbors 10 is now posted. The federal opposition in parliament is always accusing the government of "making it up as it goes along". Well, they could accuse the author of Neighbors of the same thing hehe.

I thought more about that elderly woman yesterday who blamed me for causing her to trip and fall after I'd walked past her. She was embarrassed, and needed someone to blame for her misfortune. Not the brightest of ladies, dear Breth. But that incident reminded me of another that happened many years ago. As I approached a railway level crossing, I noted that the red lights were flashing, so I stopped my car. The car in front, however, left it too late and came to a halt under the boom gate. I knew that the car would reverse, so I stopped well short of the crossing. As anticipated, the bloke in front panicked and threw his car into reverse when he realized that the boom gate was about to land on his roof. He shot back and crashed into my car. He then accused me of running into him. So I grabbed his arm and took him to the driver of the truck behind me. "Who hit who?" I asked the truckie. "That guy reversed into you," he said. Then the driver's wife got out of the car and gave me a pathetic sob story about them going to a funeral and that they were running late. Jesus Christ... the shit that people carry on with when they're embarrassed and at fault is more than enough to fertilize the entire Amazon.

Beeb time: Global leaders at the G20 financial summit in Washington pledge to work together to restore global growth. GWB wasn't too happy when he shook our PM's hand probably because Rudd is under fire from the federal opposition here for allegedly leaking details of a recent phone convo with Bush to the Oz press. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hopes US President-elect Barack Obama will help rebuild strained mutual relations. Hmmm, well that depends on who's doing the straining and I don't believe that the Ruskies have a monopoly on halos. Thousands flee their homes in the foothill suburbs of Los Angeles as winds whip up wildfires, which now threaten power supplies. It's happened before and it'll happen again, but people still choose to live there. A teenage student attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world has admitted he is "a little crazy" to do it at his age. Michael Perham, 16, from Potters Bar in Hertfordshire is the youngest person to have sailed across the Atlantic alone. The current holder of the youngest non-stop circumnavigator title is 18-year-old Australian, Jesse Martin, who arrived home in Melbourne on October 31, 1999. As Cody used to say, whatever blows your hair back. The ingredient which makes jalapeno peppers hot also makes prostate cancer cells commit suicide, a study suggests. Tests showed that capsaicin triggered 80% of the cells to start the process leading to cell death. The US research in the journal Cancer Research also found tumours treated with capsaicin were smaller. UK prostate experts say capsaicin could be the basis of a future drug but warned eating too many hot peppers has been linked to stomach cancer. Mmmmm! I love my chillies! Never has there been an American President who revealed so much of himself prior to taking to office, or launched upon such a public quest for personal discovery. By his mid-forties, President-elect Obama had authored two memoirs of his scattered life, both of which became global best-sellers. His search for identity has been instrumental in his upward journey towards power. I think the question "Who am I?" drives me as well.

There's also a story from NASA about astronauts drinking their recycled urine during long periods in space. Well, that gives a whole new meaning to waste not, want not. Ew! Mind you, it could be worse... but let's not go there.

Ya know, photography can be a very frustrating business. You transfer the pics from the camera to the comp following a shoot, and the first thing you wanna do is go back and do it all again. It's the "if only I'd done this or if only I'd thought of that" trick. Yeah... but, of course, like life itself, you can't go back. What you can do is try to remember what you've learned and observed and then utilize that experience next time.

However, frustrating though it can be, photography is addictive... the never-ending quest for the perfect pic. Now lemme work this out... 10 years on the road with the Odyssey, 20 pics a day-ish, 150 a week, 8,000 a year over 10 years = 80,000 pics. Hmmm. Hehe. Bloody hell! Where the hell am I gonna put 'em all?

Okay, Teriyaki pork stir fry tonight... sounds yummy. MrB

November 15, 2008. With a bit of luck, the forecast showers and thunder will wait until today's scheduled parade by the Royal 41st Battalion is over.

Meantime, I wrote more of Neighbors 10 this morning, and I expect to post it tomorrow. Just checked Ellen Degeneres web site but the interview with David Archuleta is not posted yet. I'll try again later today.

Beeb time: World leaders arrive in Washington to discuss measures to contain the recent financial turmoil as the G20 summit begins. Our bloke is there as well. It's a pity this summit didn't take place last year. US President-elect Barack Obama met former rival Hillary Clinton to offer her a top job in his administration, reports say. That makes sense... the girl ain't no dummy and she has a large following. An American woman has been promoted to four-star general - the first female to reach the US army's highest rank. In her acceptance speech, Ann E Dunwoody said she had never expected to rise so high in the ranks in her 33-year career. She said no one was more surprised than she and her husband. "Behind every successful woman there's an astonished man," she added. Watch out, boys, the girls are taking over! Actress Charlize Theron has been made a messenger of peace by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. The South African-born actress, who won an Oscar for her role in the 2003 film Monster, will have a special focus on ending violence against women. Theron, who is now a US citizen, is the founder of a project aimed at promoting HIV/Aids education for children and their families in South Africa. The 33-year-old will be formally inducted in New York on Monday. See what I mean? Oh well... Nearly 70 fans of an Argentine football club have been charged after two buses were hijacked at knife point to get to their team's game on time, police said. Now THAT sort of behavior is excessive, extreme and just plain idiotic...not to mention disgusting. A wildfire has engulfed at least 100 homes in Montecito, an exclusive enclave near Santa Barbara, California, and forced thousands of people to flee. Celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Rob Lowe, Michael Douglas and John Cleese are among Montecito's wealthy homeowners. Yep, nature doesn't discriminate. President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel has apologised to the US-Arab community for remarks made by his father. Benjamin Emanuel told an Israeli newspaper that his son, who is Jewish, would "obviously influence the president to be pro-Israel". Oops! Shuddup, papa. A manhunt is under way in western Germany for a convicted drug dealer who escaped by mailing himself out of jail. The 42-year-old Turkish citizen - who was serving a seven-year sentence - had been making stationery with other prisoners destined for the shops. At the end of his shift, the inmate climbed into a cardboard box and was taken out of prison by express courier. His whereabouts are still unknown. As much as I hate crooks, I can't help admiring this one's ingenuity hehe. A Brazilian woman has died after being struck by her husband's coffin when the hearse they were travelling in was involved in a car crash. The 67-year-old woman was on the way to the cemetery to bury her husband, who had died the day before. Now I've heard everything.

Right, Aussie Odyssey is updated... and don't you dare accuse me of manipulating the bus sign in the final pic on purpose... it was an accident hehe. MrB

November 14, 2008. The other night there was a full moon. I was on the front verandah as the moon sat above the house across the road. So I grabbed the Sony, flicked over to 'night shot' and took a couple of pics... as an experiment. The flash doesn't operate automatically as it does in low-light situations, because the camera knows you want to take a night pic using available light. And it worked a treat. I've deleted the pics because it was only an experiment to see how the thing worked, and the moon was too high to be "dramatic". The Sony uses infrared technology - like the night vision binoculars the military uses - to capture an image. One of these days, I'll be somewhere during a full moon rise, with no power poles, houses and other dreary infrastucture to get in the way, and be able to capture something worthwhile. When the moon is low on the horizon, the atmosphere acts as a magnifyer so that the moon looks enormous. Imagine a couple of distant mountains, a tree branch, a few whispy clouds, all silhouetted against that big cheesy disk as it rises. Yes! Gotta get that one!

Actually, I tried last night down by the river but there was too much thick cloud on the horizon.

Got started on Neighbors 10 this morning and it's moving along. I'm trying to avoid getting stuck in a 'gay' rut, which ain't easy because it's an issue I find fascinating. But there's more to life than gay issues, right?

Let's check out the Beeb: US President Bush admits the financial system needs reform but insists the credit crisis was not a failure of the free-market. "It would a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success," said President Bush. Yes, I'll buy that. The CIA says Osama Bin Laden is isolated from day-to-day operations of al-Qaeda and that survival is his key task. Laden knows that he is the most loathed man outside of Hitler. "But, hey, it's no biggie, you know... Allah thinks I'm pretty cool." Some five million Californians "drop, cover and hold on", in what organisers say is America's biggest earthquake drill. So if you know it's gonna happen eventually, why do you still live there? Silly question - the house is there, the family is there, the friends are there, the career is there... The Taleban's senior spokesman has used a rare radio interview to call for all foreign forces to leave Afghanistan. Otherwise? The spokesman said that, in areas controlled by the Taleban, they've stopped beheadings and given women the right to education. How sweet and generous of them. Thomas Beatie, the US "pregnant man" who gave birth to a daughter in June, is expecting his second child. The 34-year-old made the announcement in a television interview with Barbara Walters of ABC News. Mr Beatie was born female but underwent gender reassignment and is now legally male. He kept his female reproductive organs so he could have a family. Hehehe, and you think you're confused! A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, officials from the Russian Orthodox Church say. The building had stood near the village of Komarovo since 1809. It was intact in July but some time in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, they said. All that's left is the foundations... and nobody noticed the theft? Sheesh.

As the saying goes, there are as many opinions as assholes. So what do you do about it? There are people out there who are determined to convince others to agree with them. The Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on doors, the politicians on soapboxes, the critics, the table thumpers and the rest of the righteous brigade. What is their motive? To convince enough people to agree with them in order to vindicate their own belief? Oh... okay... so if one dickhead convinces a million people to think like he does, he's not a dickhead any more. Is that it?

When I express an opinion on the Waffle Page, I get some people who agree with me and some who don't. That's cool with me, I have no desire to change the world. However, I do have a desire to stimulate thinking, whether it's mine or someone else's. I worry about people falling into a 'thought rut' if you know what I mean... like tunnel vision of the mind. In other words, when a mindset becomes fixed and unalterable, the thinking process disappears. Such a person might as well be a robot. ON THE OTHER HAND robots serve a useful purpose hehe. So there ya go, I've painted myself into a corner again.

Which brings me to tolerance. To what degree should we be tolerant of things that annoy us, or worse, shock us? Yes, it's all a matter of degree, and the more you ponder such things the more confused you become. The more I learn, the less I know.

Yesterday, Averil wrote 'insoles' on her shopping list. I looked in the footwear section. Nope, no insoles. I looked in the socks section. Nope, no insoles. So I returned empty handed (except for all the other groceries). Today, since my chemist buggered up yesterday's prescription repeat, I went back to the mall. "They're in aisle 5," Averil had said. They are? Well, I can't see the bloody things! So I asked a shop assistant. "Aisle 5," she said, "about a third of the way down on your right." So I searched again and couldn't... wait a sec. Oh! THERE they are! In amongst all the toilet deodorizer thingies! Now, I ask you, what the hell are footwear items doing lurking amongst the toilet deodorizers? Where's the logic? Yes... deodorizers... I get it now.. BUT THEY'RE BLOODY FOOTWEAR NOT TOILET ACCESSORIES!

So now you can appreciate why I'd never get a job with Woolworths. I'd have all the merchandise in sensible places.

Okay, tomorrow the 41st Battalion of the Royal NSW Regiment will invade Taree, led across Martin Bridge by local Pipes & Drums bands. The cheeky buggers are gonna try to take over the joint! Eeek! So... the local cops will be out in force to put a stop to the invasion hehe... and challenge the army's advance down the main street before they permit the Battalion entry to the city. It's called the Freedom of Entry Parade, and is a tradition that goes back to ancient Roman times. Yes, I'll be there with my trusty Sony to capture the event. It should be pretty interesting, pictorially, with all the color and ceremony of a major military occasion. It promises to be quite emotionally stirring as well, seeing all the young Aussie diggers in their slouch hats. So that'll be this week's Odyssey. The weather forecast is for a day similar to today, which is sunny and hot.

And that's it. Bacon, eggs and chips tonight... and I have to say, that is a fav with all of us. I'm glad I'm not Jewish. MrB

November 13, 2008. Pay day... the day I pay the bills. It's kinda like being handed the baton in a relay race hehe. One minute I've got the baton, and the next, someone else has it. Oh well...

My shutter-button finger is getting itchy again but there's not a lot going on here in the Manning... nothing of Odyssey value, anyway. The weekend after this I have a date to photograph the lotus at Booroowhangary. I'm also toying with the idea of traveling up the Pacific Hwy to record the major roadworks project happening at the mo... but I'll need good weather for that otherwise the machines will be idle.

Meanwhile, I emailed Blackhead Surf Club, asking them to suggest a suitable time for me to do "A Day in the Life of a Surfclub". That could be interesting. :o)

Well, the Cody rose is gone. Stan was gonna cut it back to minimum but declared that it was history, so the whole thing is in the bin. He said there was a chance it might shoot again from the stump but he doubts it. We'll see. This house was built about 1930 so I suspect the rose bush was at least 50 years old and probably more.

Beeb time: US Democrats say the $700bn bail-out should include help to rescue the car industry, contradicting the treasury chief. The car industry in Oz has just been granted a bail-out. A food aid convoy crosses the frontline to reach a rebel-held town in eastern DR Congo, the UN says. Killing people and saving people... what's the bet those engaged in the fighting don't recognize the contradiction? Iran says it has successfully tested a new surface-to-surface missile capable of reaching targets in Europe. Meanwhile, Europe has missiles capable of reaching targets in Iran. Hello? Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party has called on President Robert Mugabe to form a new government quickly, despite protests by opposition leaders. Mugabe is playing silly buggers and he will continue to play silly buggers whilever his silly game stalls power sharing. The Royal Navy has repelled a pirate attack on a Danish cargo ship off the coast of Yemen, shooting dead two men believed to be Somali pirates. Those bastard pirates need to learn the hard way that the world won't stand for their evil ways. Defeated Republican running mate Sarah Palin has said that a woman would be good for the party's ticket in 2012. And she's quite right... provided it's not her. Songbirds learn to sing from a hymn sheet in their head, according to a new study. Swiss researchers have identified a region of the Zebra Finch brain which they believe has an internal recording of how the birds ought to be singing. A separate region seems to enable the birds to identify mistakes in their songs, they wrote in Nature journal. There ya go, ladies and genitals, now we know why dogs bark and cows moo. Sheesh. Director Baz Luhrmann says he has yet to finish his $130m (£84.2m) epic film Australia, despite the fact it is due to have its world premiere next week. Luhrmann is to fly back to Sydney with just a day to spare to complete the film, which stars Nicole Kidman. The 46-year-old, who has spent the last four years working on the film, said he was "going back to the mixing desk to finish it in 24 hours". The guy who helped Luhrmann write the script is Australian author Richard Flannagan. Luhrmann had heard about Flannagan and wanted to meet him. Flannagan works in a shack that certainly ain't no Hilton. He was worried that Luhrmann, who is used to posh hotels and flash restaurants, would freak at the thought of spending a few weeks with Flannagan at his bush shack "with broken crockery and plain Aussie cooking." As it turned out, Luhrmann had a wonderful time, fishing and drinking, drinking and fishing, and occasionally doing a bit of writing with his host. From what I've heard, the movie Australia is a must see. A method of producing synthetic diamonds using tequila - Mexico's favourite alcoholic drink - has been discovered, scientists there say. The amazing discovery was made by physicists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and could have many industrial uses. There is one catch however. The synthetic diamond crystals are too small to be turned into jewellery. A diamond tipped drill is more useful than a necklace hanging around some socialite's neck. A fake edition of the New York Times announcing the end of the Iraq war has been handed out to commuters in the US. More than 1m free copies of the 14-page "special edition" newspaper were distributed mainly in the cities of New York and Los Angeles. :o)

One of those days... all over the joint like a mad woman's knitting, and now it's late and kitchen time. Ohio Jace wrote: David Archuleta’s album has been released only to be panned by critics. Jeb Gottlieb of the Boston Herald {newspaper} gave it a near failing grade of D+. Don’t be too concerned though... these are the same blokes who panned James Blunt [5 Grammy nominations] and Celine Dion [won 5 Grammys and album of the year]. Add to that list John Mayer, Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow, and Justin Timberlake so Archie is in very good company.

I get the impression that the Boston Herald hires dickhead critics because it creates more publicity and controversy. Why else would they hire a critic who is consistently wrong?

However, Ohio Jace goes on to say: Others think it is very good. CRUSH was released earlier as a single and debuted very high on the charts. Billboard said in part, “The 17 year old…has one of those once-in-a-decade pop voices: A silky tenor with a natural melancholy that makes him a heartbreaker by default. His charming debut exploits that very quality with some strokes of pop genius.”  I will find out myself in a few days I ordered a CD for June {early Xmas pressie}.

BTW he is guest on Ellen Degeneres, Nov 14 American time. You might be able to catch his performance/interview on her website: http://ellen.warnerbros.com/ You will have to check quick though they change videos every day or so. It’s about time she had him on her show. He said in an interview during the Idol tour that he loved her and that is saying something since he is Mormon and she is gay. Mormon’s were heavy financial contributors for the passage of proposition 8 {the same sex marriage amendment in California}.

It's a pity they don't have Proposition 9 which bans dickheads from entering politics. MrB

November 12, 2008. Oregon Richie got his knickers in a knot about racism and other forms of discrimination after reading Neighbors 9. He sent this comment: Your N 9 segment was something that could really make your skin crawl at the start, and sadly enough... that sort of thought and hatred IS something that commonly happens but is too "politically incorrect" to utter in public at times.  It happens a lot, and particularly with some of the older generations. Anyway... weaving that sort of thing into N 9 is valid, has a point, and is something that should be expressed as to the darker side of the human soul. ...Or about gay relations... and one wonders WHY so many TRY to hang on to the stereotypes and bigotry of the past.  One MSNBC commentator BLASTED the California results of Proposition 8... banning gay marriage as such and EVERY other sort of stupid precept that supported it... and said... "In the early 60's there were 19 states in the US that banned inter-racial marriage, so.... in over one third of the states in this country, it would have been illegal for the couple who gave birth to our current President-Elect would not even have had the right to marry to begin with.....!", and he made the statement with legitimate consternation.  Yup.

Richie can get quite uppity ya know. His hairdresser tells me that she has a problem getting him to sit still in the chair for longer than five minutes - especially if she mentions JT Plumber. Here he goes again: Neighbors 9 and the dialogue is very good because it's so damn real... you can see that happening, or CAN imagine it happening with folks of different generations and that's a tough one to swallow for a lot of folks, writes Richie. Yes, I go into a trance-like state when I write that stuff... I "hear" it. How weird is that? I watched an author being interviewed one time and she said she simply could not write dialogue. I suspect that's because she wants to tell the story from her point of view as opposed to being a "reporter". It's my characters who tell the story, not me... and it's often the case that they take me on a roller coaster ride that I hadn't anticipated. I just tag along hehe. That wasn't the case with GR or GRII, of course, but it is with fiction.

Well, I've said it before... if there were no heterosexuals there would be no gays. It's the married straights who give birth to gays. So, problem solved... ban all marriage and all sex... period. Is there anyone out there who wants to tell me that the world would be worse off without humankind? Hehe. We refer to areas of the world that are pristine. And why are they pristine? Go figure.

Ya know, there's no law against wearing odd socks but if you do you can expect a comment from anyone and everyone who notices. People have this infuriating need to advise everyone else as to what they should do and how they should behave and how they should live their lives and yadda yadda yadda. Who the fuck are they? to put it bluntly. There's something about human nature that insists upon everyone marching to the same drum. Well, bugger that. Grrrr.

Let's check the Beeb: The UN food agency says it has cut rations to four million people in Zimbabwe because its appeal for funds has been ignored. Ah yes, the world has been caught up in "more important" issues. Ceremonies are held around the world to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. Was it called "1" before the second in anticipation of a series? I mean, we refer to WWIII even though it hasn't happened ... yet. German investigators have said they have enough evidence for charges to be brought against an alleged Nazi death camp guard who now lives in the US. They said they had obtained new files that would prove John Demjanjuk, 88, was responsible for the death of 29,000 Jews at a camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. How any person could justify having extinguished the lives of almost 30,000 people and continue living to the ripe old age of 88 is beyond me. If he is guilty, it must have something to do with a total lack of conscience. The world-famous QE2 liner has left Southampton on its last ever voyage, as thousands of well-wishers looked on from the quayside. The ship began to slip its berth at 1915 GMT, followed by a spectacular fireworks display. The 41-year-old liner is being taken out of service and turned into a floating hotel in Dubai. Why is it that we expect those grand old girls to last forever? Man might have a lotta faults but you've gotta admit, building such a magnificent ship takes a helluva lot more than a couple of monkeys. With the QE2 heading into retirement, many people are losing their favourite place to spend a holiday and the crew is losing a workplace. But 89-year-old Beatrice Muller is actually losing her home. She is the QE2's only permanent resident. "I have been on this wonderful ship off and on for 14 years. This is now my only home," she told BBC News. Fancy that... you wouldn't read about it... but you just did. Long before Americans went to the polls, the world had already chosen Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. The crowd of 200,000 excited Germans that cheered him in Berlin, in July, was a far cry from the protesters that often greeted President George W Bush on his foreign trips. It was also an unprecedented welcome for an unelected American politician. We're living through it, so I guess we don't see the profundity of the Obama revolution the same way as history undoubtedly will. I mean this is almost like the Second Coming! The George Bush presidency has been rich pickings for those in one line of work - comedy. But with Barack Obama's election win steeped in historical significance, is America's new leader beyond comic reproach? How interesting! Yes, any comedian/cartoonist who dares to satirize Obama risks being labeled a racist. Have we taken racism too far? Is it okay to make fun of Bush but not Obama? Hmmm. That's a tricky one.

My personal view is that everyone and anyone is a legit target for humor and satire. The Pope, Betty Windsor, Mohammed, Hitler, Palin, God, you name it. If it's good for one it's good for all. Otherwise, let's ban humor altogether and be grumpy. Mind you, if black comedians/cartoonists lampoon Barack, that will make it politically acceptable hehe. Yes, dear Breth, it's a crazy world. "All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer." --Robert Owen, 1828

Wot's for dinner? Well, I think some Simvastatin and a bit of Metroprolol followed by a little Ramipril. How does that sound? Then some fish oil, a multi vitamin and a vitamin C tablet for dessert. Mmmmm. All washed down with a glass of Classic Dry White, of course, which is very naughty. Yes, 58 years without a bloody pill and then boom boom - heart attack - and from then on it's been pills, pills and more bloody pills. This entire Waffle Page is brought to you by pills, otherwise I wouldn't bloodywell be here.

So much for flesh and blood. I'm a walking, talking, keyboard-tapping PILL. And all this time you thought I was human.

So, there I was mumbling and grumbling about having to go to the shop just to get spuds - gotta have the right kinda spud for crispy chips, ya know - and I spotted some mark-downs in the meat department. Ooer! I bought four kinds of meats and saved $12. Why? Because - as I figured out - it's the day before pension day, and the supermarket is making way for regular stock at full price tomorrow when all the pensioners do their shopping. Yeah? I've been told by some peeps that if you shop at night, just before the supermarket closes, there are specials all over the place, especially on Sunday nights. But... I'm usually tucked away in bed by then. Anyway, it just goes to show that if you're wise to the ways of supermarkets, you can save quite a few bucks.

My second VW Beetle back in '67 was green. And because it was green, I bought it for 800 pounds instead of 900... brand spanking new. The retailer was overstocked with green Beetles. It was the last of the models made in Oz... a 1300 Custom. After that, VW Oz went back to importing them. But that little Green Machine went like the dickens. I had it up to 85mph once and it wasn't supposed to go that fast.

Don't tell the cops.

So that's it for another day. If it weren't for the earth revolving and the sun rising and setting (as it were) it wouldn't be another day. It would simply be a piece of never-ending string. Actually, I'm not too crazy about the idea of being on a spinning rock in space. I know it's been doing its thing for billions of years without a problem but the possibility of it getting a nudge from a large meteor or something, and spearing off into eternity, is a bit of a concern. I just thought I'd mention it in case God is reading this. MrB

November 11, 2008. Jeez, there must be a serious accident somewhere nearby... at least half a dozen rescue vehicles, with sirens blaring, have hurtled past in the last 5 minutes. It's raining, and you know what happens on the roads when it rains.

Young Brendan turned up this morning at the front gate. "Are you still doing cooking at school?" "No." "Oh, I thought you liked cooking." "Yeah, but I'm doing other courses now." "Like what?" "Sewing." I cracked up. I couldn't believe it. "Sewing? You spend half your life kicking heads on the footy field and now you're doing sewing?" Anyway, next year he'll be able to choose his courses, and cooking will be back on the agenda. He ultimately wants to be a chef. So then he told me that I was driving Josh to school. "I am?" "Yeah." "That's news to me." "He asked you yesterday." "He did?" "You must've forgotten." "I have?" So Josh turned up 5 minutes later and explained that he (as school captain) was required to attend a memorial service for Remembrance Day (the 11th of the 11th) in his school jacket, and he didn't want to carry it on the school bus (precious little dear) cos it might get wrinkled or something. So there ya go... there am I in the middle of Neighbors 9 and he wants to be driven to school.

So what is it with Josh? Is it "Gary will drive me to school because he thinks I'm cool"? Or is it "Gary will drive me to school because he's a really nice guy?" Hehe. Buggered if I know. But he knows I won't refuse. Cheeky kid.

Nonetheless, Neighbors 9 is now posted. I got on a roll.

As Josh and I chatted in TT on the way to school, I explained that I'd make a lousy politician because my favorite phrase would be "But on the other hand..." He thought that was funny. I also explained that, as an author, I had to be empathetic towards all the characters in a story... that I needed to be able to think like they do, even if I don't agree with their points of view. He understood. He's a pretty bright kid albeit immature. Hey, he's 17. "I learn a lot from you, too," I told him. "Oscar Wilde said that youth is wasted on the young. But I go further: Youth is wasted BY the young."

Okay, nuffa that, what's happening at the Beeb? US President-elect Barack Obama has held his first meeting with current President George W Bush since his decisive election win last week. The accompanying pic shows them shaking hands, with Obama's left hand giving Bush's upper arm a friendly nudge. No one can accuse Obama of being unfriendly. Rescuers make a last attempt to hunt for survivors at a school in Haiti that collapsed, claiming at least 93 lives. Poor countries have poor standards... it's just the way it is. Nasa says its Phoenix lander on the surface of Mars has gone silent and is almost certainly dead. That's a shame but it won't stop science and its voracious appetite for knowledge. Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has reiterated a threat to overthrow the Democratic Republic of Congo government unless it holds talks. A Congolese official said Gen Nkunda was a criminal who should be arrested. President Joseph Kabila has so far ruled out direct talks with Gen Nkunda, saying they would be unconstitutional. Stalemate... no room for compromise. Rome's Ciampino airport has been closed to flights after a Ryanair plane from Frankfurt suffered "substantial damage" as it made an emergency landing. The budget airline said the plane had experienced problems after birds were sucked into the engine as it came in to land at Rome's second-largest airport. How about a bit of chicken wire over the intakes. No? Okay... just a thought. Strictly Come Dancing has spawned more international spin-offs than any other programme, according to new figures. The BBC show's format has been sold to 38 countries, industry magazine Television Business International said. The show is sold internationally as Dancing With The Stars to countries including Chile, India and Japan. And Australia. Not this kid's cuppa, tho. Bleh. Former South African President Nelson Mandela has paid tribute to singing legend Miriam Makeba, who has died aged 76 after a concert in Italy. She was the "mother of our struggle" and "South Africa's first lady of song", Mr Mandela said. Miriam once said in an interview, "People say I sing about politics. But no, I don't sing about politics, I sing about life." Spammers are turning a profit despite only getting one response for every 12.5m e-mails they send, finds a study. By hijacking a working spam network, US researchers have uncovered some of the economics of being a junk mailer. The analysis suggests that such a tiny response rate means a big spam operation can turn over millions of pounds in profit every year. Well, if you wondered why spammers keep sending stuff despite you deleting it every time, wonder no more. Apparently, there's at least one nitwit born every 12.5M emails.

I emailed the Bookshop Darlinghurst and asked if Graeme knew any publishers who might be interested in GR: From what I hear Australian publishers are very disinterested in gay themed work right now, unless it has crossover potential. I think if you have it available and in some bookshops and it is selling,  then you should be pleased with that.

Oh well... I still believe that ONE DAY it will fall into the "right" hands. Meanwhile, I'll keep myself busy with other things... like freeing up Averil's screen-door sticky lock. Sheesh. Why me? The same thing used to happen back in Petersham. Our neighbor Nancy was forever getting me to fix things. I mean I don't even look like a handyman!

FL Josh comments on the reasons why some Americans chose not to vote in the recent presidential election:  The 27% who didn't vote would include those who didn't make it to the polls and those who didn't like either of the candidates, thought both would do a fine job, or those who weren't interested in it and their vote would not add to the quality of election process.

Incidentally, one of the reasons why voting is compulsory in Oz is because all political persuasions are allowed a voice, even the Nazi party. Shortly after WWII, the communist party gained power by infiltrating the trade union leadership. Rather than ban the communists, as the Americans did, the Australian government - knowing that Aussies are a lazy bunch - figured that compulsory voting would keep the commies at bay. In other words, if voting was not compulsory, most Aussies would be at the pub or the beach and the commies might sneak in as a consequence of Australian voters' apathy.

FL Josh also has this to say about advertising: Back when all American cars were huge, we bought imports if we wanted a small car. Then the big three introduced compacts, and the ads pushed how small they were and all the advantages that has.  Then, the next year, the ads explained how much better the new model was because it now had an extra 4" of leg room and the trunk was 33% larger.  Of course, all these wonderful new features were the result of making the car bigger.  The following year, the ads made similar claims and the car was even bigger.  After about ten years, the car vanished from the scene and the company introduced a new "sub compact," and the whole thing started over again.

The same thing happens with low cost cars.  The ads push how low the price of the car is, and then the next year, power brakes and steering and electric windows and air conditioning are available and when you get the car fully equipped, it costs as much as the regular cars.

And Josh thinks I'm a cynic hehe.

P.S. Do you really think nincompoop, creep, slimy, and sleazy are onomatopoeic?

Yes I do, but it might have something to do with the Australian pronunciation as opposed to the American. It's not the arrangement of letters that is ononmatopoeic, it's the sound.

You have to understand where Josh is coming from, ladies and genitals. He's a legal eagle... a man who deals in legalese. You see, Josh's forte is a language that ordinary people don't understand, so when he argues the point, no one has a clue what he's talking about. It's a devious form of hypnotism. Josh knows that anyone on the wrong end of one of his soliloquies who dares to disagree or ask a question will risk being thought of as an idiot. So everyone nods and mumbles, yes, yes, yes... quite, here, here! We totally agree 100%. Josh is very clever in that regard. :o)

And me? Well, I just rabbit on and amuse myself. I'm a bit like Josh in that I write stuff that looks and sounds like it's logical and intelligent even if it's not. Hehe. Bamboozle the audience, I say! Confuse the buggers! Hmmm... yes, dear Breth, it's all a game. And as PK Shaw said, "A joke, taken seriously, is no joke." MrB

November 10, 2008. Just saw a car go by towing a box trailer with a sign painted on the side: Peter Shoesmith - Lawnmowing. Hmmm.

I asked young Josh this morning what he thought of the Obama thing. "I thought it was good." So that inspired me to write something for Neighbors 9. Josh went on to say that he watched the MTV Music Awards "and everyone was wearing Obama T-shirts." I suggested to Josh that he might be Australia's PM one day. "Well, I'm school captain already." Hehe. You never know! Those of you who are young enough, and reading this, might live long enough to witness just such a thing. Remember the name - Joshua Maguire.

One of the major irritations of my radio days that pissed me off big time was this: after having written a script (or two or three) for an advertising client, and honing it to "perfection", the sales rep would walk into my office after a few weeks and ask me to "freshen up" the copy. Freshen up? I put my heart and soul into those words and he wants me to "freshen" it up? So what was he asking? Since when did the Mona Lisa require freshening up? Grrrr. Now I notice aging car designs and how one year's styling innovation becomes redundant. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." 'Seemed' being the operative word. I imagine all the execs gathered at the launch of a new model, congratulating themselves on a masterpiece hehe... only to reject it the following year for the next model. But the "freshen up" mentality is all-pervasive in the media business. Yes, I'm glad to be out of it. It's a business populated by fools and nincompoops.

Let's see what's happening at the Beeb: Zimbabwe's opposition reportedly warns that at least a million people could starve within a year because of political deadlock. Yeah, right, like Mugabe could give a shit? Perhaps he knows that the rest of the world couldn't give a shit either. If anybody had hoped that Barack Obama's election victory would lead to a swift breakthrough in Washington's relations with one of its toughest adversaries, Iran, the honeymoon seems to be over before it even began. Many Iranians, including some officials, were thrilled by the stunning election victory, seeing it as offering hope of a radical change in US foreign policy and relations. While Barack Obama responded gracefully and personally to messages of congratulation from other world leaders, he held back from doing so with Mr Ahmadinejad, mindful of the political implications of such a gesture. Yes, as I said before, some people will mistake Obama's reasonableness for weakness. Wrong! Israeli police have had to restore order at one of Christianity's holiest sites after a mass brawl broke out between monks in Jerusalem's Old City. Fighting erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Christ's crucifixion. Lead by example, yeah? Next! US President-elect Barack Obama will seek to reverse Bush administration policies when he enters office on 20 January, his transition chief said. Change is what people voted for, and change is what they'll get. Indonesian security forces are on high alert after the state execution of three Islamic militants for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) were killed by firing squad at 0015 (1715 GMT on Saturday). It's interesting that some Australian relatives of the 88 Aussies killed in that attack are anti capital punishment, and regret the executions. I'm not normally in favor of capital punishment either but this case is an exception.

Inconsistency. Hmmm. You either believe in something or you don't, right? I'm not sure about that. In the case of the Bali Bombers, they were unrepentent, and would do it all over again if given the opportunity. They were twisted and evil with no hope of enlightenment and/or remorse. The world is better off without them, as well as that sickening Amrozi smile.

I discussed the effect dope has on people with Averil yesterday. A small number of people are severely affected by THC on the brain. I'm one of those. I tried it twice years ago and it threw me for a loop. It scared the hell out of me. But you get other people - the majority of users - who "mellow out". The brain has different sections/receptors used for different purposes, and not all brains are the same. I figure my reaction and susceptibility to THC is similar to the reaction some people's brains have to religion, which would explain why most religious people are not fanatics. THC can also induce psychosis in some brains, but not in most. I suspect that not all drugs need to be ingested via external sources in order to become addictive; our brains already have internal access to the same, naturally occuring substances. If those substances occur in above-average quantity, well... go figure.

I remember seeing video clips of Smiling Amrozi on tele, desperately trying to convince other people of his "logic" and the legitimacy of his part in the killing of over 200 innocent people in the Bali Bombings. He was adamant about the righteousness of his involvement and therefore completely unable to comprehend the situation from a normal point of view. How scary is that? Imagine how many brains "out there" are ticking timebombs. Wolves in sheep's clothing.

Okay, so much fo