I was using a counter with Easy Hit Counters that I'd installed prior to the first assessment. With todays class and a second look at what this counter service provides, I realised that I may as well have had no counter at all because there was no way to gather any statistics. So, I'm changing counters to Sitemeter. When I closed off Easy Hit I had 145 visits. Because of the poor quality of my original counter I can't determine how many of those hits were from myself or from others.
That will change from now on.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Technorati ratings update
I'm getting more popular - I now have 3 authorities and have gone from a rank of 2,090,250 to 1,504,548!!! I'm jumping for joy!!!
Those were the days part 3
The continuing saga of my life as a twenty-something... the first part & the second part
The third person to live with me in Lakemba was Mark, a really great guy. We moved from there to a ‘secure’ apartment building in Burwood, (still in Sydney) with about 12 or 15 floors. The building had a body corporate that was quite strict and we had to sneak my cat in. Every time we had someone come to the door we had to hide her, especially as the ‘secure’ part of the building – having a key to get in to the front door or having to buzz the apartment you wanted – didn’t usually work. All ‘guests’ had to do was wait for a resident to open the door and make an excuse about having forgotten their key and the (usually) older tenants would happily help.
While in Burwood I held my first party; I slaved all day marinating chicken wings and making meatballs and didn’t have anything to eat all day. Needless to say, approaching party time, I downed a few wines and not long into the party found myself in bed, as sick as a dog with all the alcohol having gone straight to my head. Fortunately my mother was a guest and she took over for me. It was a bit embarrassing as my boss was also there, but had a positive consequence, because one of the guys who came as a guest of Marks became a boyfriend for a time. He very attentively looked after me while I was recovering in bed… Nothing too serious though, all the guests were coming in to see me and mum kept coming in to find out what else I wanted done.
This particular boyfriend had a motorbike – I don’t remember what kind anymore, but it was turbo charged (nearly thrown off the back many times) and being very enthusiastic and anal about his bike, he refused to have anything other than the grab bar at the back, which was like having your wrists tied together behind you. You had that or hold onto him. Oh, and if my clothes didn’t go with the colour of his bike, well….
We were at Burwood for about a year during the time of the bicentennial celebrations when we watched the special air force planes fly overhead from our 9th floor balcony.
The next stop was 1 suburb towards Sydney – Croydon and it was here that my accommodation-sharing days really took off. Mark and I moved into a great federation-style 3 bedroom house with a huge enclosed veranda at the back that we used as a 4th bedroom. 2 girls joined Mark and me; Kathy; a Novocastrian with a sometimes boyfriend and Karen; a country girl with a uni-student boyfriend. Kathy was (and hopefully still is) a pretty laid back girl who introduced me to lots music that was just outside the top 20 type of stuff I tended to listen to – REM is one that stands out. Karen, on the other hand was into heavy metal in a very full-on way. She used to listen to it really softly in her bedroom, which still seems to me to be a complete contradiction, while she read romance novels. I saw quite a few metal bands during those years, including Christian thrash (another contradiction), which is what her boyfriend was into.
Going to gigs was the go during the Croydon years – yes, I actually did live in 1 place for more than a year (but I can’t remember how long it actually was). One of our favourites was The Croydon; a local pub within walking distance that used to have Irish bands on Sunday nights. The place would be wall-to-wall footballers and Irish – it was absolutely great – the atmosphere, lots of alcohol, great music and just a walk home.
Used to go out quite often with mates from work, too. A favourite haunt when we went out was the pub across the road from the Balmain tigers footy club (can’t remember the name). We used to see Tommy Emanuel and his brother Phil, the Bondi Cigars and loads of other blues bands. The night was always finished off with a hot dog, the likes of which you don’t see anymore – a roadside vendor with sauerkraut, onions, pickles, cheese and anything else you could want on a hotdog. They were really, really good.
Had a couple of parties here, but the one that remains strongest in my memory was a ‘black party’. The food was typical party fare, but everything else was back; decorations, clothes and we used black ultraviolet light bulbs and black candles. We were cleaning candle wax off the carpet for ages.
One party that Mark and I went to that was the best party I’ve ever been to was a Halloween cocktail party. Everybody was told to bring a specific type of spirit or liqueur. They had a couple of blenders, lots of ice, juice and fruit and cocktail recipes plastered all over the walls. They also had lots of dry ice and stuff that looked very like cobwebs and cool coloured lighting and Halloween-themed decorations. Nobody left sober, that much was certain, but it was a great change from beer and cask wine!
The third person to live with me in Lakemba was Mark, a really great guy. We moved from there to a ‘secure’ apartment building in Burwood, (still in Sydney) with about 12 or 15 floors. The building had a body corporate that was quite strict and we had to sneak my cat in. Every time we had someone come to the door we had to hide her, especially as the ‘secure’ part of the building – having a key to get in to the front door or having to buzz the apartment you wanted – didn’t usually work. All ‘guests’ had to do was wait for a resident to open the door and make an excuse about having forgotten their key and the (usually) older tenants would happily help.
While in Burwood I held my first party; I slaved all day marinating chicken wings and making meatballs and didn’t have anything to eat all day. Needless to say, approaching party time, I downed a few wines and not long into the party found myself in bed, as sick as a dog with all the alcohol having gone straight to my head. Fortunately my mother was a guest and she took over for me. It was a bit embarrassing as my boss was also there, but had a positive consequence, because one of the guys who came as a guest of Marks became a boyfriend for a time. He very attentively looked after me while I was recovering in bed… Nothing too serious though, all the guests were coming in to see me and mum kept coming in to find out what else I wanted done.
This particular boyfriend had a motorbike – I don’t remember what kind anymore, but it was turbo charged (nearly thrown off the back many times) and being very enthusiastic and anal about his bike, he refused to have anything other than the grab bar at the back, which was like having your wrists tied together behind you. You had that or hold onto him. Oh, and if my clothes didn’t go with the colour of his bike, well….
We were at Burwood for about a year during the time of the bicentennial celebrations when we watched the special air force planes fly overhead from our 9th floor balcony.
The next stop was 1 suburb towards Sydney – Croydon and it was here that my accommodation-sharing days really took off. Mark and I moved into a great federation-style 3 bedroom house with a huge enclosed veranda at the back that we used as a 4th bedroom. 2 girls joined Mark and me; Kathy; a Novocastrian with a sometimes boyfriend and Karen; a country girl with a uni-student boyfriend. Kathy was (and hopefully still is) a pretty laid back girl who introduced me to lots music that was just outside the top 20 type of stuff I tended to listen to – REM is one that stands out. Karen, on the other hand was into heavy metal in a very full-on way. She used to listen to it really softly in her bedroom, which still seems to me to be a complete contradiction, while she read romance novels. I saw quite a few metal bands during those years, including Christian thrash (another contradiction), which is what her boyfriend was into.
Going to gigs was the go during the Croydon years – yes, I actually did live in 1 place for more than a year (but I can’t remember how long it actually was). One of our favourites was The Croydon; a local pub within walking distance that used to have Irish bands on Sunday nights. The place would be wall-to-wall footballers and Irish – it was absolutely great – the atmosphere, lots of alcohol, great music and just a walk home.
Used to go out quite often with mates from work, too. A favourite haunt when we went out was the pub across the road from the Balmain tigers footy club (can’t remember the name). We used to see Tommy Emanuel and his brother Phil, the Bondi Cigars and loads of other blues bands. The night was always finished off with a hot dog, the likes of which you don’t see anymore – a roadside vendor with sauerkraut, onions, pickles, cheese and anything else you could want on a hotdog. They were really, really good.
Had a couple of parties here, but the one that remains strongest in my memory was a ‘black party’. The food was typical party fare, but everything else was back; decorations, clothes and we used black ultraviolet light bulbs and black candles. We were cleaning candle wax off the carpet for ages.
One party that Mark and I went to that was the best party I’ve ever been to was a Halloween cocktail party. Everybody was told to bring a specific type of spirit or liqueur. They had a couple of blenders, lots of ice, juice and fruit and cocktail recipes plastered all over the walls. They also had lots of dry ice and stuff that looked very like cobwebs and cool coloured lighting and Halloween-themed decorations. Nobody left sober, that much was certain, but it was a great change from beer and cask wine!
technorati top 100
I've actually looked through all 100 of the top site listed in technorati, and even followed some interesting links that I've bookmarked. Some are really dreadful, some so plain that you wouldn't know hat you were on someone blog. Of the 35 sites that I've put into flickr as having some aesthetical appeal to me, my favourite overall site would have to be xiaxue. Pink is not a colour I'm particularly drawn to, but I really like the graphic on the page and the typography works well with it. Variety of the blog entries is added by the use of bold, all caps, italicised etc type, as her entries are about her life, she types them as she'd speak them. Here's her site
Thursday, May 24, 2007
engadget
Ok, 1st site of the Technorati top 100 and I get a blog that is a commercial site!!?? Okay they say that they're not, that they're purpose is "we're here to keep you informed about what's up", but at first glance commercial appears to be what they're all about. Turns out their digital everything reviewers/advisors and a way for like-minded digital geeks (no offence intended) to communicate with the team at Engadget and each other. I though blogs were a personal thing - product reviews seem, to me, to fall outside this definition. Do I have to review my definition? Or can blogs have a multitude of purposes?
Bohemian Rhapsody
One of the greatest songs ever! Youtube has the original video and soundtrack. the video's not great, but the music sure is!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Technorati
The diffrence between Technorati and a search engine is in the way they search content. The Help in Technorati refers to this difference as live vs wide; the live engine is Technorati, whose tools cause it to be notified of new content as it happens. A wide search engine, such as Google, searches static, inactive material, occasionally searching for new content. "Technorati allows you to find out what people are saying about you, your company, your products, your competitors, your politics and, other areas of interest, on the Internet in real time." In addition to being places for people to use as diaries many blogs are reviews of current affair items - news, gossip and technology to name a few. On the Popular page there are links to show users the most popular links (from within blogs, I think) to sites about music, videos, movies, games, DVDs, news and blogs
I have Authority: 1 · Rank: 2,090,250 - Woohooo
In addition, Technorati allows you to save favourites within the program, different to a search engine whose pages can be saved in your browsers favourites
I have Authority: 1 · Rank: 2,090,250 - Woohooo
In addition, Technorati allows you to save favourites within the program, different to a search engine whose pages can be saved in your browsers favourites
Saturday, May 19, 2007
piano juggler
No, this guy doesn't juggle pianos, he plays the piaqno by juggling balls... quite clever!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Hotel California
aesthetics
This myspace site is stunning in its ugliness. It's garish, extremely busy and the content is almost impossible to read. The background is static, so even when trying to read, the type is moving over new parts of the background, contributing strongly to its unreadability. Magically disappearing and reappearing type is distracting and the font used with it so elaborate that there isn't enough time to read what's flashing the first couple of times.The links down the left hand side of the page in the "interests" are indistinct - it's hard to find where one ends and the next begins. The type is in all caps, nullifying the advantage of using a sans serif font (increasedreadability than a serif font on a screen).
This site, however is relatively plain, but has a strong design. It's purpose is "The main idea is to provide information for new media designers, graphic designers, creative people, and also to any of you who take a keen interest in the area of creative industry and its aspects. We also would like to see designers throughout the world sharing their ideas, knowledge and inspiration." The sections within a page are clearly deliniated, the colour palette limited and bright and the font is a good size and highly readable. Navigation is simple, there is no horizontal scroll and the whole site is bright and clear with plenty of white space. I like it.
This site, however is relatively plain, but has a strong design. It's purpose is "The main idea is to provide information for new media designers, graphic designers, creative people, and also to any of you who take a keen interest in the area of creative industry and its aspects. We also would like to see designers throughout the world sharing their ideas, knowledge and inspiration." The sections within a page are clearly deliniated, the colour palette limited and bright and the font is a good size and highly readable. Navigation is simple, there is no horizontal scroll and the whole site is bright and clear with plenty of white space. I like it.
RSS reader account
I looked into both Bloglines and Google Reader and couldn't work out what, if any, the differences were between them. At first I though it might have been the ability of Bloglines to add images, but was able to do so in Google, so that can't be it. I decided to go with Google Feeder becasue of the linking between Google products.
I can't seem to link my Google Feeder account to anything because the URL is generic - it doesn't link to me specifically. I think this is becasue as a feeder account it's not designed to be read by anybody but the account holder. I did note that ability to email items from the account's page though, so maybe this is in lieu of a URL link.
I can't seem to link my Google Feeder account to anything because the URL is generic - it doesn't link to me specifically. I think this is becasue as a feeder account it's not designed to be read by anybody but the account holder. I did note that ability to email items from the account's page though, so maybe this is in lieu of a URL link.
Those were the days part 2
The continuing saga of my life as a twenty-something... (the first part)
My third place was in Lakemba. My boyfriend didn’t come with me, but a friend of his did move in – I was still an apprentice, someone had to help pay the rent. This fellow was of a fairly traditional Greek family and my now ex-boyfriend knew his family well. Shame he didn’t tell me what a pig he was! Do the dishes? Sweep the carpet in his room (didn’t have a vacuum in those days)? Do anything else domestic? Forget it – “women’s work”!! Needless to say, this particular flatmate didn’t last real long. Good thing? I got to know that upstairs neighbours when I went to ask if I could borrow their vacuum to clean out the foot of dust and crap that he’d left behind in his room.
My next flatmate was also a friend of my ex-boyfriend’s, although I knew her as well. She was the sister of my exe’s best mate, who I got on really well with. This mate begged me, (and so did his mother) to let this girl stay with me; someone to look after her… I went looking for some knickers in her room one day, mine seemed to have gone missing and I found a desert-sized spoon in one of her drawers. I should add at this point that this girl was a heroin addict and my proviso on her living with me was that she didn’t use in the flat. I confronted her and she broke down, promised to never do it again etc etc. Anyone who knows an addict (I hadn’t before) will know that such a promise is worthless. At one stage she asked me if her boyfriend could move in and took some efforts to persuade me. I didn’t know him and the flat was small, so I kept saying no. Good thing I did… I got a call from the police one night; her boyfriend was actually her pimp and I was advised to stay away from him. How they knew me, or the fact that this girl was living with me and bringing her boyfriend home for visits I still to this day don’t know. But I not long after asked her to move out. I found out several years later that she died, alone, on her 21st birthday in a flat in Kings Cross from; you guessed it, a heroin overdose. Apparently the stuff she had bought was too pure and the overdosed was accidentally.
My third flatmate in Lakemba, where I lived for all of a year, was someone who would move with me for years to come. The atmosphere in Lakemba in those days was pretty tense; I live 4 apartment blocks down from a public school, which was regularly burnt-out. One of the girls living in the apartments across from our driveway was a teacher there and her stories of being sworn at in Lebanese, and the treatment she received from the Lebanese boys she taught were enough to curl your hair. I used to stack shelves in the supermarket as a 2nd job and walk to the station to go to work, so I was in the main street of Lakemba quite a lot. Not a great place to be if you were blond, young slim and pretty (yes, I was once). I used to cop a lot from the men standing in shop doorways. On one occasion while in the flat I was lying in bed, reading, naked, with my cat, when a hand stuck itself through my venetian blinds (no screens but the windows key-locked open about 3 inches wide) and watched me. I couldn’t reach the light to turn it off without revealing myself, so I threw my book at the blind and yelled and screamed. I was living with the Greek guy at the time and when I later confronted him, he said that he thought I was yelling at the cat……….. So much for having a male on hand for safety!
Another eventful occurrence was when I was living alone in the flat (in-between flatmates) and I’d gotten into bed when the phone rang, it was the friends upstairs who said they’d spotted a guy lurking around my ground-floor flat. Don’t panic and keep talking like you’re still on the phone was their advice to me before they hung up and phoned the police. I hung up and called my mother, all the while talking like I knew nothing. By the time the police got there, they’d gone of course; in fact guys trying to get away from someone or something often jumped the fences between the blocks of flats down that stretch of road. I had a cat, given to me by my boyfriend, for company and during the times I was living alone she’d be my ‘guard dog’. My flat was alongside the driveway and on the other side of that was the neighbouring fence and some shrubbery, then next-door flats. She used to raise her hackles and growl, and I knew that there was someone watching me, so I could lock the door out on to the balcony and pull the blinds. I’m sure that she saved me several times during my yearlong stay in that flat.
part 3
My third place was in Lakemba. My boyfriend didn’t come with me, but a friend of his did move in – I was still an apprentice, someone had to help pay the rent. This fellow was of a fairly traditional Greek family and my now ex-boyfriend knew his family well. Shame he didn’t tell me what a pig he was! Do the dishes? Sweep the carpet in his room (didn’t have a vacuum in those days)? Do anything else domestic? Forget it – “women’s work”!! Needless to say, this particular flatmate didn’t last real long. Good thing? I got to know that upstairs neighbours when I went to ask if I could borrow their vacuum to clean out the foot of dust and crap that he’d left behind in his room.
My next flatmate was also a friend of my ex-boyfriend’s, although I knew her as well. She was the sister of my exe’s best mate, who I got on really well with. This mate begged me, (and so did his mother) to let this girl stay with me; someone to look after her… I went looking for some knickers in her room one day, mine seemed to have gone missing and I found a desert-sized spoon in one of her drawers. I should add at this point that this girl was a heroin addict and my proviso on her living with me was that she didn’t use in the flat. I confronted her and she broke down, promised to never do it again etc etc. Anyone who knows an addict (I hadn’t before) will know that such a promise is worthless. At one stage she asked me if her boyfriend could move in and took some efforts to persuade me. I didn’t know him and the flat was small, so I kept saying no. Good thing I did… I got a call from the police one night; her boyfriend was actually her pimp and I was advised to stay away from him. How they knew me, or the fact that this girl was living with me and bringing her boyfriend home for visits I still to this day don’t know. But I not long after asked her to move out. I found out several years later that she died, alone, on her 21st birthday in a flat in Kings Cross from; you guessed it, a heroin overdose. Apparently the stuff she had bought was too pure and the overdosed was accidentally.
My third flatmate in Lakemba, where I lived for all of a year, was someone who would move with me for years to come. The atmosphere in Lakemba in those days was pretty tense; I live 4 apartment blocks down from a public school, which was regularly burnt-out. One of the girls living in the apartments across from our driveway was a teacher there and her stories of being sworn at in Lebanese, and the treatment she received from the Lebanese boys she taught were enough to curl your hair. I used to stack shelves in the supermarket as a 2nd job and walk to the station to go to work, so I was in the main street of Lakemba quite a lot. Not a great place to be if you were blond, young slim and pretty (yes, I was once). I used to cop a lot from the men standing in shop doorways. On one occasion while in the flat I was lying in bed, reading, naked, with my cat, when a hand stuck itself through my venetian blinds (no screens but the windows key-locked open about 3 inches wide) and watched me. I couldn’t reach the light to turn it off without revealing myself, so I threw my book at the blind and yelled and screamed. I was living with the Greek guy at the time and when I later confronted him, he said that he thought I was yelling at the cat……….. So much for having a male on hand for safety!
Another eventful occurrence was when I was living alone in the flat (in-between flatmates) and I’d gotten into bed when the phone rang, it was the friends upstairs who said they’d spotted a guy lurking around my ground-floor flat. Don’t panic and keep talking like you’re still on the phone was their advice to me before they hung up and phoned the police. I hung up and called my mother, all the while talking like I knew nothing. By the time the police got there, they’d gone of course; in fact guys trying to get away from someone or something often jumped the fences between the blocks of flats down that stretch of road. I had a cat, given to me by my boyfriend, for company and during the times I was living alone she’d be my ‘guard dog’. My flat was alongside the driveway and on the other side of that was the neighbouring fence and some shrubbery, then next-door flats. She used to raise her hackles and growl, and I knew that there was someone watching me, so I could lock the door out on to the balcony and pull the blinds. I’m sure that she saved me several times during my yearlong stay in that flat.
part 3
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Sadomasochism!?
Hungappa had an article entitled "Power Exchange" in week 2's edition which caught my eye, and me, being who I am, decided to do some research on the subject and share it with you. (Sorry, can't provide a link 'cause it's not online yet - shame Hungappa, shame)
Hungappa refers to sadomasochism in the first instance as 'power exchange'. Other aliases include B&D, 'bondage and discipline', S&M, 'sadism and masochism', 'slave and master', D&S, "dominance and submission and the term I'll be using; bdsm.
To quote a very interesting article "SM is fantasy-sharing, which can only be consensual."and "But that's exactly what SM is: discovering and playing with our limits." - Hence Hungappa's use of 'power exchange'.
Photographer of bdsm, Barbara Nitke comments: "Communicating the reality of s/m interaction is challenging, in part because so much of what happens in s/m runs directly counter to everything we've been taught about sex, intimacy, love, and pleasure. Tenderness experienced through whipping? Personal empowerment through submission? Intimacy through abandonment? Pleasure through pain? What strange ideas these are to people who have no personal experience with s/m, and never witnessed others in the throes of a transformative s/m scene. And yet all of these dynamics are all utterly familiar, powerfully important, and quite matter-of-factly real to anyone who has made s/m play a significant part of his or her personal and sexual life." Maybe that's why popular media has iconicised bdsm for so long, usually in an aggressive or humourous light - it is so hard for non-practicing people to conceptualise.
Psychology Today states that psychologist Roy E Baumeister believes that masochism is a way of taking a breather from 'the self'; having to be the self-reliant, in control, responsible and driven. By having someone else control what's happening, you are getting a break from all that every-day stress. Interestingly, the article states that it's usually the priveledged 'classes' that are drawn to masochism; society's real victims don't go looking for masochistic sex. It also states that it's men who are most commonly looking to be sex slaves! Submission (societal, and sexual) is historically a feminine thing and "if anything, female masochists desire to be turned into an extreme caricature version of femininity, something far removed from their normal selves."
Often associated with sex toys it seems the possibilities that are open to bdsm's are infinite.
I have been on the internet actively reading and searching for information relating to bdsm for about 4 hours, and to try and encapsulate what bdsm is and what it means is impossible - it means different things to different people and there are so many things tied up (no pun intended) with it - leather fetishes, catheterisation, fisting, same-sex relationships, clubs, fetishes involving urine and faeces.... I have neither the time, nor the space to venture further into this unusual world. Here are a few links that can take you further if you so choose - http://www.geocities.com/stheory/contents.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDSM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadism_and_masochism.
Wikipaedia, in its usual manner have numerous links throughout their articles, which in turn have links and so on in the true manner of the web. Have fun perusing. Me? I'm thankful that I'm vanilla (you'll have to look that one up kiddies) - it's all too complicated!
Hungappa refers to sadomasochism in the first instance as 'power exchange'. Other aliases include B&D, 'bondage and discipline', S&M, 'sadism and masochism', 'slave and master', D&S, "dominance and submission and the term I'll be using; bdsm.
To quote a very interesting article "SM is fantasy-sharing, which can only be consensual."and "But that's exactly what SM is: discovering and playing with our limits." - Hence Hungappa's use of 'power exchange'.
Photographer of bdsm, Barbara Nitke comments: "Communicating the reality of s/m interaction is challenging, in part because so much of what happens in s/m runs directly counter to everything we've been taught about sex, intimacy, love, and pleasure. Tenderness experienced through whipping? Personal empowerment through submission? Intimacy through abandonment? Pleasure through pain? What strange ideas these are to people who have no personal experience with s/m, and never witnessed others in the throes of a transformative s/m scene. And yet all of these dynamics are all utterly familiar, powerfully important, and quite matter-of-factly real to anyone who has made s/m play a significant part of his or her personal and sexual life." Maybe that's why popular media has iconicised bdsm for so long, usually in an aggressive or humourous light - it is so hard for non-practicing people to conceptualise.
Psychology Today states that psychologist Roy E Baumeister believes that masochism is a way of taking a breather from 'the self'; having to be the self-reliant, in control, responsible and driven. By having someone else control what's happening, you are getting a break from all that every-day stress. Interestingly, the article states that it's usually the priveledged 'classes' that are drawn to masochism; society's real victims don't go looking for masochistic sex. It also states that it's men who are most commonly looking to be sex slaves! Submission (societal, and sexual) is historically a feminine thing and "if anything, female masochists desire to be turned into an extreme caricature version of femininity, something far removed from their normal selves."
Often associated with sex toys it seems the possibilities that are open to bdsm's are infinite.
I have been on the internet actively reading and searching for information relating to bdsm for about 4 hours, and to try and encapsulate what bdsm is and what it means is impossible - it means different things to different people and there are so many things tied up (no pun intended) with it - leather fetishes, catheterisation, fisting, same-sex relationships, clubs, fetishes involving urine and faeces.... I have neither the time, nor the space to venture further into this unusual world. Here are a few links that can take you further if you so choose - http://www.geocities.com/stheory/contents.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDSM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadism_and_masochism.
Wikipaedia, in its usual manner have numerous links throughout their articles, which in turn have links and so on in the true manner of the web. Have fun perusing. Me? I'm thankful that I'm vanilla (you'll have to look that one up kiddies) - it's all too complicated!
Monday, May 7, 2007
Definition RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication is the most accepted definition) is a family of web-feed formats used to publish frequently updated digital content such as news feeds or blogs. A Web feed is a data format used for serving users who frequently update their digital content, which can be syndicated thereby allowing users to subscribe to it.
Its value lies in the fact that by way of software known as 'feed aggregators', users can to subscribe to web feeds. Aggregators reduce the time a user needs to stay online to perform tasks, such as get news or blog updates, that they do on a regular basis. By way of the user's aggregator software the sites the users wants to regularly check on are combined into a "personal newspaper" where all updates are announced. These sites need to have an RSS feed in order for this to happen.
In order for a site to be accessed by RSS feed the language used to write it must be XML.
Its value lies in the fact that by way of software known as 'feed aggregators', users can to subscribe to web feeds. Aggregators reduce the time a user needs to stay online to perform tasks, such as get news or blog updates, that they do on a regular basis. By way of the user's aggregator software the sites the users wants to regularly check on are combined into a "personal newspaper" where all updates are announced. These sites need to have an RSS feed in order for this to happen.
In order for a site to be accessed by RSS feed the language used to write it must be XML.
Definition XML
XML (extensible markup language) is a language primarily used to facilitate the sharing of language across the internet. It's purpose is to combine text and the 'markup' is to show extra information about the text such as structure or presentation.
It's recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium and was designed to simplify SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language).
It's recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium and was designed to simplify SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language).
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Those were the days part 1
I'm married with 2 children, we have 2 cars, a mortgage and all the stuff that goes with living the life we live, but my life hasn't always been this way... I though I might fill you in on what some of those years were like. I’ll do it in instalments, or you’ll be reading forever, so here’s part 1.
I moved out of home 1 month after I turned 18 in 1985 (after being shunted from parent to youth hostel to parent) into a terrace house in Cleveland St, Redfern in Sydney with a girlfriend, her ex-con boyfriend and my boyfriend, whom I'd known for a month. We didn't stay there long - the downstairs windows wouldn't shut, let alone lock.
One of my 'girlfriend’s' stay-overs (her boyfriend was often 'away') couldn't be woken one morning, she had already gone for work, and I had to get going too; so he was left there. I came home to a cleaned-out house. Being my first place all that there pretty much was for him to take was my cassette collection, but it scared the s*** out of me and I broke the lease after 4 months to get out of there. Apparently the reason we hadn't been able to get rid of him was because he was too stoned on heroin.
My girlfriends and I used to visit her boyfriend (before we shared the house) in Silverwater Gaol (interesting experience). Me, being the nice person that I am, decided someone needed to give him a go, and it may as well be me! During our short stay in Redfern (which they called Surrey Hills on the real estate ad, just so it'd look better - Surry Hills was actually the other side of Cleveland St) we were raided by the police one weekday morning at 6am. They were looking for the boyfriend on suspicion of having done an armed robbery! As they stormed up the stairs and into our bedroom, my boyfriend and I were busily trying to get rid of the evidence of dope – bong, bowl of mix, lighters everywhere etc. I stuffed the bong into the bag I used to take to tech (I was a 1st year apprentice) and it spilled everywhere. For those of you who don’t know, dirty bong water smells very strongly, and this one reeked, and was all through the bag. Good thing the police were intent on looking for this guy, or we could have been in deep doodoo. In the short time we lived there, this very intelligent guy my girlfriend had hooked up with robbed the petrol station that we just so happened to live right next door to. The best thing about living there was my discovery of Lebanese pizza.
The second place certainly looked better than its predecessor and the windows all locked. My boyfriend moved with me and we got a guy in to share the rent – my girlfriend had moved back home. I'm always the one who has held the leases, no matter where I've lived; it has always made me feel more secure. We stayed in this town house in Ashfield, Sydney for a year. The guy who stayed with us was a bit strange, my boyfriend and I used to sneak into his room and look through his collection of swinger's mags!
The friends my boyfriend had hung out with for years were in our lives in a big way during our year here. RSL clubs were the go, and live bands were what we went there for – the Radiators and Angels were big then. We’d all get stoned and then drive to Bankstown RSL, where we’d dance all night, get pissed, throw up, and then go home to get stoned again and play board games all night. The only variation to this was when speed was added to the mix and we’d play board games all night, and the next day. I only tried speed once, made me throw up – didn’t do it again. My boyfriend was (and probably still is) a waxhead and every weekend saw us at Cronulla beach, me frying in the sun or shivering in the car while I watched him turn blue out in the water. I was a cone heads back then, (along with my boyfriend who introduced me to it), smoking before work, and all afternoon and night. We had some good times while living there. I was 18 and 19.
part 2
I moved out of home 1 month after I turned 18 in 1985 (after being shunted from parent to youth hostel to parent) into a terrace house in Cleveland St, Redfern in Sydney with a girlfriend, her ex-con boyfriend and my boyfriend, whom I'd known for a month. We didn't stay there long - the downstairs windows wouldn't shut, let alone lock.
One of my 'girlfriend’s' stay-overs (her boyfriend was often 'away') couldn't be woken one morning, she had already gone for work, and I had to get going too; so he was left there. I came home to a cleaned-out house. Being my first place all that there pretty much was for him to take was my cassette collection, but it scared the s*** out of me and I broke the lease after 4 months to get out of there. Apparently the reason we hadn't been able to get rid of him was because he was too stoned on heroin.
My girlfriends and I used to visit her boyfriend (before we shared the house) in Silverwater Gaol (interesting experience). Me, being the nice person that I am, decided someone needed to give him a go, and it may as well be me! During our short stay in Redfern (which they called Surrey Hills on the real estate ad, just so it'd look better - Surry Hills was actually the other side of Cleveland St) we were raided by the police one weekday morning at 6am. They were looking for the boyfriend on suspicion of having done an armed robbery! As they stormed up the stairs and into our bedroom, my boyfriend and I were busily trying to get rid of the evidence of dope – bong, bowl of mix, lighters everywhere etc. I stuffed the bong into the bag I used to take to tech (I was a 1st year apprentice) and it spilled everywhere. For those of you who don’t know, dirty bong water smells very strongly, and this one reeked, and was all through the bag. Good thing the police were intent on looking for this guy, or we could have been in deep doodoo. In the short time we lived there, this very intelligent guy my girlfriend had hooked up with robbed the petrol station that we just so happened to live right next door to. The best thing about living there was my discovery of Lebanese pizza.
The second place certainly looked better than its predecessor and the windows all locked. My boyfriend moved with me and we got a guy in to share the rent – my girlfriend had moved back home. I'm always the one who has held the leases, no matter where I've lived; it has always made me feel more secure. We stayed in this town house in Ashfield, Sydney for a year. The guy who stayed with us was a bit strange, my boyfriend and I used to sneak into his room and look through his collection of swinger's mags!
The friends my boyfriend had hung out with for years were in our lives in a big way during our year here. RSL clubs were the go, and live bands were what we went there for – the Radiators and Angels were big then. We’d all get stoned and then drive to Bankstown RSL, where we’d dance all night, get pissed, throw up, and then go home to get stoned again and play board games all night. The only variation to this was when speed was added to the mix and we’d play board games all night, and the next day. I only tried speed once, made me throw up – didn’t do it again. My boyfriend was (and probably still is) a waxhead and every weekend saw us at Cronulla beach, me frying in the sun or shivering in the car while I watched him turn blue out in the water. I was a cone heads back then, (along with my boyfriend who introduced me to it), smoking before work, and all afternoon and night. We had some good times while living there. I was 18 and 19.
part 2
Mel Blanc
I was reading Ryan's blog about cartoons and I was reminded of the great talents of Mel Blanc. An amazing man, Mel is known as the man of 1000 voices, and I wouldn't be surprised he really has done that many. Wikipedia has a great biography, and metacafe has a great interview, with Mel doing a good range of his voices. What a shame that such talent has to die!
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