moon phases

Started this before change to "New Blogger", as backup in case of trouble with digiphoto blog "In a Small Dark Room", or rants & links blog "Hello Cruel World" . Useful - at one stage Dark Room was there, but like the astrophysical Dark Matter, we could't see it ... better now, but kept Just In Case.

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There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought. And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought.
Mark Twain (letter to Joseph Twichell after his wife's death)
[me, on a bad day]

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(and my Wish List)

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Photos of Australian Landscapes - SMH Galleries  
Photos of Australian Landscapes - SMH Galleries
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/18/1097951603237.html

Midwinter on the Main Range in the Snowy Mountains. The steep faces of
Sentinel Ridge and Watson's Crags offer the finest skiing Australia has to
offer. Unrivalled scenery, zero crowds and no lift queues (then again, no
lifts either, and a hell of a hike back to the top ... )
Photo: Andrew Martin
Also see: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951677187.html and
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951735119.html, or

NOTE: If you're looking at Michael Meryment's photo of the waterfall at Kanangra Walls in
this gallery, check the person abseiling about halfway down the photo, on
the right ( www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/18/1097951604775.html).

In Sydney suburbs --
St Ives: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951743850.html
Dobroyd Head: www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951742774.html

For some reason there is a suburb called Dobroyd Point, near Haberfield or
Leichhardt, in Sydney which is not at all near the peninsula on the harbour
called Dobroyd Head, near Clontarf or Balgowlah Heights! Here is an aerial
photo showing Dobroyd Point, the suburb, and you can see that the view
between the heads shown in the photo above is round quite a few corners from
it, and well beyond the city buildings seen in the background.
www.airviewonline.com.au/stock-photographs/photodetails.asp?ID=2228
(This brought back memories of working for my Biology thesis, and here is
some of the stuff from the Sydney University SOBS as it is more currently:
www.bio.usyd.edu.au/hochuli/article.htm ,
and
www.bio.usyd.edu.au/SOBS/RESEARCH/FACILITY/JOHNRAY/Johnray.html )
This shows you something about Dobroyd Head, from a visitor's perspective.
www.stuharris.co.uk/apple_oz/spitman/spitman.html He doesn't mention
Clontarf Beach being the site of an early attempted political
assassination, where a mentally-unbalanced Irish migrant called Henry
O'Farrell shot the then Duke of Edinburgh
(Alfred -- see
www.wordiq.com/definition/Duke_Alfred_of_Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ) on the
first Royal Visit to Australia in 1868 -- see
www.shoalhaven.net.au/~cathyd/history/prince.html. Fortunately, the
bullet bounced off his braces. We swiftly pointed out Henry was visiting
from Melbourne, but despite his obvious derangement, he was fairly summarily
tried & executed.

Am fond of the story that goes with this picture of Cox Bight on the South
Coast Track, Tasmania:
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951665813.html
Been here! www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951666139.html
(Part of a longer story of mine.) And here:
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951678102.html (see also
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951740480.html for a different
view). And this one scarcely touches the wonder & beauty of Barrington Tops
-- www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951734794.html.
These are something I had to take when I was visiting Western Australia.
It's a sight you can't see from the Eastern States -- very few of the water
lakes are big enough to not have anything on the horizon, though if Lake
Eyre in the centre-south (the lowest point on mainland Australia), usually
just salt flats, is full after a flood year it might be possible.
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951676988.html
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951677368.html
Oops: Looks like at certain angles in the geology you can get the effect.
But it's rare <ahem>, e.g. Stockton Beach, Anna Bay (I believe this is near
Newcastle, NSW)
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/19/1097951678108.html

These show the more common effect:
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951743386.html
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951729789.html
www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2004/10/20/1097951742843.html

Explanatory story re SMH collecting these.
www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/18/1097951590937.html

Restoring Faith in Humanity, One Story at a Time
www.heroicstories.com/

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:03 pm

 
 
I was truly shocked at this story, at www.klas-tv.com/global/story.asp?s=2421595 -
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed, about "Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes", saying that "The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee." That, if true, is just banana republic stuff.

It does completely make my jaw drop, that people's voting registration can possibly go through an unaccountable & possibly partisan group rather than an independent body of some kind - especially if you actually register as being of a particular party. This has always worried & puzzled me about that system, presumably based on the older English system which didn't have secret voting (an innovation from Australia in the nineteenth century).

So why have a secret ballot at all? Why bother with elections or voting -- just ask people to change their registration from one party to another when they change their mind? (I gradually came to understand that you could register as something, but vote differently. I read somewhere that it's possible to register as independent, or something non-partisan -- I personally am somewhat neurotic about disclosing who I vote for, after the fight to get a truly secret ballot to help stop some kinds of oppression, so I'd have to do that -- though you could probably work it out from my opinions, if you cared.)

Here are some extracts from the story:

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2421595

http://www.klas-tv.com/global/story.asp?s=2421595&ClientType=Printable

Eyewitness News
klastv.com
Las Vegas, Nevada

George Knapp, Investigative Reporter
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed
(Oct. 12, 2004) -- Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day ... Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected ...

The focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering
voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.

Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats ...

[a former employee] managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed
voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County
Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law ...

We attempted to speak to Voters Outreach but found that its office has been rented out to someone else.

The landlord says Voters Outreach was evicted for non-payment of rent. Another source said the company has now moved on to Oregon where it is once again registering voters. It's unknown how many registrations may have been tossed out, but another ex-employee told Eyewitness News she had the same suspicions when she worked there ...

The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 8:17 pm

 
Life is pain, Highness. Anybody who says differently is selling something.  
Life is pain, Highness. Anybody who says differently is selling something. -- The Princess Bride
Not unlike my feelings - brainsnap.com/node/83

A little cheery thought on a really bad night -- extreme spelling correction.

U.S. nuke city to correct Einstein misspelling
Fri 8 October, 2004 03:20
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=598840§ion=news


More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:04 am

 
 

You are Form 5, Dragon: The Weaver.

"And The Dragon seperated the virtuous from
the sinful. He tore his eyes from his sockets
and used them to peer into the souls of those
on trial to make a judgement. He knew that
with endless knowledge came endless
responsibility."

Some examples of the Dragon Form are Athena
(Greek), St. Peter (Christian), and Surya
(Indian).
The Dragon is associated with the concept of
intelligence, the number 5, and the element of
wood.
His sign is the crescent moon.

As a member of Form 5, you are an intelligent and
wise individual. You weigh options by looking
at how logical they are and you know that while
there may not always be a right or wrong
choice, there is always a logical one. People
may say you are too indecisive, but it's only
because you want to do what's right. Dragons
are the best friends to have because they're
willing to learn.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:11 am