Whatever happened to Julia Whatsaname?

I'm finding it hard these days to find the real Julia Gillard under the inconsequential bumph on education that is piling up in the media.

Where did that feisty fighter go? Was she squashed under the weight of the Rudd camp's expectations that Deputy PMs should be rarely seen and never heard?

Speak up, Julia - a lot of us wouldn't mind a ginger sheila as prime minister after the stairway to Kevin collapses.

"Moggy Musings" [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]

A weighty musing:
According to ABC News 33% of all cats and 41% of all dogs in Australia are overweight. I can purr with satisfaction because I am the same svelte shape I have been for the last ten years or so. Of course it is a different matter for my little canine friend, Veronica Lake - she has a very noticeable middle-aged spread. More walkies is the way to a long life, Veronica!
A power of the press musing:
On Friday 13th June The Daily Examiner ran a story about a three-legged female three year old Staffy-cross named Missy who had run off after being hit by a car in South Grafton. A week later Missy was recognised by an Examiner reader and reunited with her owner. A happy ending all round.
An if pets could vote musing:
A recent AP-Yahoo! News poll found that pet owners favour McCain over Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners particularly in McCain's corner.
Wonder what their pets think?
http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-pets-and-politics;_ylt=Ap5H5fOjo.KDBuOPBCDKTHOs0NUE
A fly away home musing:
Diesel the Northern Giant Petrel rescued on Wooli beach at the end of May, buddied with another petrel by the Australian Seabird Rescue (Ballina), has been released back into the wild.
Congratulations to rescuers Erin Brady and Kasia Stack for alerting Clarence Valley Wires to Diesel's plight.

It's official according to the Parliamentary Library- the Internet didn't play a big part in the 2007 Australian federal election

According to the an Australian Parliamentary Library research paper, candidates standing at the November 2007 federal election did not make much use of the Internet during their electoral campaigns.

The Australian Centre for Public Communication at UTS reported that most candidates either did not use the Internet at all, or else used it in a very limited way. Within four days of polling day, one-third of Commonwealth MPs had not created a personal website, 90 per cent did not have a MySpace page and only a handful (6.6 per cent) had a blog. Fewer than six per cent had a Facebook site, a podcast or had posted a least one video on YouTube.[88] It was also noted that the most successful and innovative postings were those of bloggers and election commentators, such as Antony Green of the ABC.[89] All of which suggests that use of the Net by politicians has some distance to go before it is a major influence on electoral outcomes in Australia.

The research paper appears to wonder just how much new media might have affected the election outcome, but doesn't address the fact that many under 40s are now getting their political news from online news sites and blogs, if U.S. Pew Foundation survey results can be extrapolated to Australia.

Nor does it take into account the fact that traditional media in Australia is taking a hit from this apparent change of reader allegiance, with many advertisers bypassing print media according to the Australian Press Council.

The only thing proven by our politicians failure last year to widely engage with the Internet, is that political debate moved passed them and was mainly conducted without their direct input.

Urban legends are not all myths it seems

We have all heard a tale or two about revenge on a cheating spouse.
The most popular when I was younger was the tale of the load of wet cement supposedly dumped in the cheater's sports car.
The details often differed but the main thread stayed the same - revenge!

Now an Australian woman has proven that 'truth' is stranger than fiction, if The Tech Herald is to be believed.

Specifically, the woman in question -- known only as "annastella007" through her eBay seller identification -- has held a public auction for a pair of lacy black panties worn by her husband's lover, and also an empty condom packet belonging to her husband....
eBay has since informed annastella007 that the sale of actual used underwear violates the service's sales policy, so the 'Tart's knickers' have now been replaced by a photo of the 'Tart's knickers'. The seller has reduced the price accordingly, stating that $0.99 AUD was perhaps a little ambitious.

The last time I looked at this eBay entry (which includes a story of the affair) the current bid had risen to US $31,849.62 with only 23 hours left to go in the auction.

I can hear a generation of deserted and divorced women cheering mightily and hoping that myth does indeed turn to fact.

The Olympic elephant in the room wins doubt, doubt, doubt!

Great performance [by Michael Phelps] but if there is any doubt carry out every test on the super star and free him on any doubt. The 100th of a second win may create doubt as the finish video [7th gold medal] leaves me in doubt. Money may be involved ?
APPSIE
Clarence Valley

The Star Tribune lays out the foundation of similar concerns to Appsie's in Here's trying to believe in Michael Phelps.

GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them.
Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak@live.com.au for consideration.

"We'll nuke Poland" says Russian general. Yeah? Well I'll tell my mother on you!

It seems that Russia has entered a silly season all of its own, if this piece below is any indication.

Can't say that I am all that impressed by what has to be a barely credible veiled threat to use nuclear weapons by Анатолий Алексеевич Ноговицын. [Pic from U.K. Telegraph]

If it looks like a nong, and talks like a nong - then it's a nong as far as I'm concerned.
Don't think the Kremlin was too happy with Anatoly either. Tsk. tsk.

"Poland agreed on Thursday to host elements of a US global anti-missile system after Washington agreed to boost Poland's own military air defences.

"The USA is engaged in an anti-missile defence for its own government, and not for Poland. And Poland, in deploying (elements of the system) opens itself to a military strike. That is 100 percent," Interfax quoted Nogovitsyn as saying.

Nogovitsyn said Russia allows nuclear weapons to be used in circumstances defined by its current security doctrine.

The Russian government revamped its national security doctrine in 2000, broadening the range of conflicts in which nuclear weapons could be used."

Why Anatoly thinks nukes are needed is not all that obvious when Russia can just walk in and bash down the bedroom door anywhere it likes, courtesy of Bush, Blair and Howard's previous comprehensive trashing of international law.

There is absolutely no need for the Russian Government to pretend it has kultury when these three amigos publicly turned barbarian.

One thing's for sure - this is going to make 'fitness to lead' a bigger question in the U.S. presidential race, if Russia continues to throw its military might around and threatens to nuke the Ukraine as well if it signs on the dotted line for the U.S. anti-missile network.

Have you heard the one about....

Have you heard the one about a Clarence Valley retiree (who doesn't appear to know one end of a slide rule from another and is famous for not thinking outside the square) filing a patent application for inventing a method of amplifying energy using centrifugal force, in conjunction with a company which was registered in the same month of the international filing date noted by World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Is this a case of divine inspiration or simply cashing in on patents which ceased due to failure to pay renewal fees?
There have been previous patent applications along the lines of the one above with reported novel engines being numerous and, currently the Orbital Engine Company's technology package includes over 1000 patents or patent applications lodged in more than 20 countries worldwide, covering innovation in all aspects of engine and control system technology.
Clarence Valley locals are betting the retiree's application will fall foul of existing patents.
New energy sources have been noted in an article about amateur inventors, which may indicate where this particular invention is heading.