IT'S BECOMING FASHIONABLE

Keely Shaye, womanly, voluptuous with portable dessert.




Rachel, womanly curves ahead.



Stick Insect. Please feed.

I DIDN'T REALISE IT WAS JULY

more cat pictures

I needed the laugh. Only 30 days of my youth left. I can feel the skin wrinkling.

STILL CLEANING, CLEANING EVER CLEANING

Another bruise, same shin. Bruise on the bum where I backed into the sharp corner of a table, can't confirm that by looking just by hurties. I didn't need to climb the ladder to dust the glass balls hanging from the ceiling not when the chandeliers look like set dressings on the Addams Family. It just confirmed that I shouldn't be allowed near a ladder at any time.

To hide the bruises I thought I should get out the black stockings and the new black garters I made last winter. Yes, I wear garters. No company yet has made pantyhose that reach halfway to my crutch let alone my waist. I buy thigh high stay-up stockings which just reach the knee and for winter, thick stockings that I cut the hose off the panty. And use garters. Except I can't find them.

I must have put them away so carefully after one of my riotious nights out on the booze. Oh yeah, there you are, still wrapped in my sheer black stockings, stuffed into my good shoes which I've put in their shoe bag. I have shoe bags. I wore them last...... sometime in12 months, give or take a week or two.

I really have to get a life.

THERE COMES A TIME WHEN ONE KNOWS ONESELF

I confess to being housework shy. Just a tick above slob but a long way down from proud housewife. Scrap that I was never a housewife ever. Now that I'm almost old, my eyes don't see the dust until a whirlwind moves it.
This cleaning up rubbish is for young people who can handle it. I have so many bruises and pains including sticking a pin through the ball of my hand and belting my head on the corner of the hand basin in the bathroom. A million times I must have told the kid to watch the corner but I had to bash it. There's something creepy about a house that's clean and tidy when it usually isn't, it's like I've gone away when I'm still here.
The only reason I've vacuumed the floor is so they can lounge around on it without crushing the wildlife in the carpet ecosystem. It's a shame the filligree hamster hasn't been spotted again, they'd have enjoyed that.
I've had the guilts all day because I didn't go to mother's. This is how you get sucked into the vortex of guiltguiltguilt. I should be able to stay home when it's blowing a gale. I should be able to be excited about the girls but because somebody is snivelling, I can't quite get there. I can't help it that she doesn't know it's Monday because I didn't go. She didn't know if I'd been there anyway. She had to ask the BrickOutHouse.
She's having a bit of trouble with the MealsOnWheels. They sent her salads twice last week and "it's just not good enough" but I know exactly what she's done. She's read Roast, hasn't gone any further and ticked the box so received a roast vegetable salad and a roast chicken salad. And it's my fault because I didn't check what she ticked. Give me strength.
This week her regular cleaner can't make it so she's getting a substitute and she'd like me to give the house a once over before a stranger comes. FFS the bloody woman's coming to clean the house not photograph it for Gracious Living.
I swear there's not a jury of daughters that would convict me.

DAME JOAN MOMENT OF JOY

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL!!!!!!!

My granddaughters are coming for a few days and I haven't seen them in two years.

I had an email last August and a card for my birthday.

I have a lovely new doona for the sofa bed and a bedroom for them.

I don't know what they eat.

I almost forget how old they are, must check birthday book.

Not tell the Blight, stuff him.

Must explain that Nannie (not me) is bonkers.

Must take naked guys off the fridge door.

Must remember to get a nightdress out. They're too young for that kind of freakness.

Camera is ready and I have two spare rolls of film.

Daughter-in-Law has changed her mind twice already so I'm not getting excited. Not really. Cool, I'm very cool.

BUTTERFLIES

Philip Treacey went overboard with the butterflies as hats this year but I have to admit I really like them. The purple cloud above was seen at Royal Ascot and Princess Beatrice wore her rainbows to a wedding and ruined the effect by covering the matching colours of her dress with a ivory jacket. I'm allowed to bitch, I make my own clothes. The joy today was getting out my black wool crepe dress and finding it all made up except for the V neck which I finally know how to fit in properly. The pattern says to sew up the front seam and leave half an inch open into which the V part fits....not. It slips, slides, moves to everywhere except the half inch opening. Solution, sew the seam right up to the top, tack the V piece to the centre of that seam and then take out the half inch of stitching. Now why couldn't they say that on the pattern? Thank you to Mother who wrote it down before she went batty.

SNIPPETS

Faeries in the garden are often disguised as Dragonflies.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince isn't opening in Australia until December 11. A pox on Warner Bros.

IGNORE CRITICS

Harrison Ford, the thinking woman's mature age crumpet, actor and movie star. He and I spent a great couple of hours this morning, tramping through jungle and swashing over waterfalls, big waterfalls. I don't care what critics have said, 18 years on and Indiana Jones still rocks my boat.

I loved the way he goes from prissy archaeology professor to scruffy adventurer and looks both parts to a tee. The action is frenetic and only the fans would get all the in jokes from the first three films. Five stars from me but then I'm probably the only person in blogdom that thought "Hellboy" was a hoot.

As a change from viagra, Russians and fake rolex watches, I'm now getting weight loss spam. The email today gave me a word that should be in the next urban dictionary....fadmongery.
If any word would describe the idiocy that is diet and food management for lard arses, it's fadmongering. I expect to use it a lot.

AND HOW WAS YOUR DAY?

Mine started with a phone call from the BrickOutHouse who told me not to come near the rotten old bitch who won't do a thing she's told for her own good. (Poor thing got the daily double with grandmothers. His fraternal one is also batshit insane)

Follow up call from Mother who tells me that BrickOutHouse is nothing like he used to be before that 'sheila' came into his life. In other words, he now has a life and is not waiting on grannie hand and foot. It is 8.15 a.m.

Hysteria starts early around here.

9.10 a.m. and I ring the bank for a balance which seems to be the same as it was on Ma's last pension day and shouldn't be. 20 minutes on hold then a real person who is as bewildered as I am and keeps going away to confer until she disconnects me.

9.58 a.m. and I'm dressed and heading for the bank at Southland. Another half hour of my life I won't get back. The teller prints out the last 10 transactions and I'm still confused when I see a pension amount of $500. Ding Dong, could it be the one off pensioner payment?

10.35 a.m. and I'm having a black coffee and toast breakfast with the last of my money. I decide to ring centrelink on my mobile and check and 5 minutes of mobile money departs before I hang up without speaking to anyone. The seat was comfortable, the coffee was good so I sat there for an hour trying to get a handle on a science post that's been eluding me. Blood pressure seems to be going down.

11.45 a.m. I pick up lunch and arrive at mother's who didn't remember I was coming even though I told her during the morning's phone call. I look at the mail and find the letter from the Minister about the $500 which would have been a real help if I'd read it on Friday. Ma's looking shifty and I know she's put that letter in her walker basket instead of where it should have been.

By 1.00 p.m. I've got all the outstanding bills in order and done the shopping list for Thursday.

1.30 p.m. she has lunch, if you can call a huge custard tart, lunch but I can't be bothered argueing any more. She suddenly remembers she hasn't got any purple pills, they're green but I know what she wants. I put them on the list for Thursday.

At 2.15 p.m. I begin the trudge home because the chemist has to be paid, letters posted and every other bill can be paid at Australia post. I grovel to the pharmacist for the biggest hit of codeine in a pill without a Doctor's prescription. Bits and pieces of me are paining. My ring finger knuckle joint, my big toe, both thumbs, part of my jaw, one hip (don't mention the knees) so I get lovely painkillers.

Sit down in the park for a rest and realize I haven't bought any water to take the pills. Say several bad words and start trudging again. Pull two feet of pretty cerise geranium out of the nursing home garden and sneak off. Walk past the house that sold on the weeked for $650,000 and hope the ex reads it and chokes.

If I take enough pills I should be unconscious by 10.30 p.m. tonight.

ANOTHER CREATION RE-NEWED

I made this shade for my Mother-in-Law when they down-sized to a town house and she had her wish and got a bedroom all to herself which we furnished with everything shiny and new.

Originally the shade was cream pure silk but when it came back to me after her death, the colour was more tobacco and so was the odour. I even had to replace the bias binding on the frame because of the smell. Fabreeze works a treat.

I decided to re-do it exactly but in a pale pink pure silk and replace the trim which was ivory (and tobacco) with the same in white. I had just enough to do both top and bottom. The buttons also got the Fabreeze treatment. I don't turn it on often because I'm not sure how safe the wiring is and the only globe that doesn't burn the fabric is one from a sewing machine.

The ex and his new missus gave me items that they didn't think were of any value but they were to me as I'd made most of them and knew how much pleasure they had given his mother. I've washed, re-covered and re-framed her memories and I feel she's still around.

ZULTANITE

At this rate it'll be July before I get to June's birthstone but I couldn't resist these pieces of Turkish Delight. Zultanite comes from only one source in a remote area of Anatolia, Turkey. It's mined by hand with chisels and pick axes in the mountains at heights of 4000 feet. It also belongs to my favourite category of gems, the colour change stones which show different views under different light sources, such as sunlight or indoor light.


Zultanite has durability, colour saturation, light play or scintillation. Its mineral name "Diaspore" comes from the Greek word "diaspora" to scatter. The kiwi greens with canary flashes in sunlight can change to pink raspberry hues in candlelight. The faceted stone can also show khaki, sage green, cognac pink, rich champagne, canary yellow or ginger in incandescent or candescent light. Like all colour change gems, the larger the Zultanite the more visible the colour change.


Zultanite has a double life as a gemstone. A few specimens show Chatoyancy, the cat's eye effect. It's a reflection that appears as a single bright band of light across the surface, caused by parallel inclusions in the stone.


The gem wasn't faceted until the late seventies and is still extremely rare in jewellery. The stone is very difficult to cut even by experienced cutters. Each crystal has to be orientated to get the best of its colour change and 98% of the crystal can be lost during the cut. Faceted Zultanite over 5 carat size is very rare.


As with all gems, it has esoteric properties attributed to it. If you want to believe, Zultanite can assist in the development of psychic power, astral force, ambition, intellect, desire and emotions.

It's definitely on my want list.

JUST ANOTHER CRAP DAY

I know where J. K. Rowling got the idea for her soul sucking dementors....She has a mother.

That roaring noise from the south was not a volcano erupting.....it was me.

And it seems I must apologise to you all for my fat arse making Australia sink into the sea.

I will now do the only honourable thing.....open another packet of black jelly beans and find where I hid yesterday's chocolate.

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER......NOT

There was some chat a while ago in the comments at Pavlov's Cat about how delicious Coles Belgian chocolate with the mint crunchies was. I hadn't noticed it up until then so I tried a small block, delicious.

Today I walked into the supermarket and was met by a wall of Coles Belgian chocolate in the large large size and only 2 for $4.

I WAS STRONG, I WAS HALF WAY OUT OF THE AISLE, I WAS STILL BEING STRONG.



So strong I only bought two blocks.

So strong I haven't eaten any yet.


I really need a backbone.

SOLSTICE MOON

Two days til the Solstice. I'm watching the moon rising over the roof top next door as I blog. I think I'll give dancing nekkid a miss this year, it's freezing out there.

JUST ONE MORE FOR THE LIST

I have a birthday coming up, "Chocolate" pearls are acceptable as are Maltesers and Jaffas, just so long as they are in jumbo size packets.

CHOCOLATE PEARLS

The dangers of the WWW. I went looking for this month's birthstone and became lost for hours. Those delightful earrings have as their centre piece, "Chocolate" pearls, a product of a bleaching process developed by Ballerina Pearls.

The Gemmological Institute of America conducted a series of spectroscopic tests, Infra-red, Near Infra-red Reflectance, Raman and Photo luminescence on chocolate cultured pearls, silver dyed Tahitian cultured pearls and natural colour Tahitian cultured pearls.

They also cut into two pearls to a depth of 1mm (pearl on the left) and a deeper cut toward the nucleus (pearl on the right). The induced colouration appeared homogenous throughout both pearls. The GIA deduced that the treatment alters the organic components of the pearl nacre unlike an introduced dye.

A dye or stain will only penetrate the top layers of nacre, lessening in intensity toward the nucleus. This dyeing process (using silver nitrate) will also work on white or grey South Sea pearls. Dyed "chocolate" pearls are considered a "treated" pearl.

The bleaching and heating process used on jet-black Tahitian pearls reduced the lustre but since the pearls chosen are usually a very shiny black, they end up with a warm iridescent copper, bronze or rust-brown glowing colour.

CALIFORNIA AND GAY MARRIAGE

Ray Almeida, a school principal just purchased a wedding ring. Almeida, 47 is marrying his partner, Alan, a 46-year-old accountant. He wants a ring that says, I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you.

Jeffrey Dreiblatt, 47 and Willie Walker, 44, a legal assistant plan on marrying in San Francisco.
Dreiblatt said,"When I was younger, I didn't understand the point of getting married and replicating heterosexual life. But over the years, my thinking has changed. The law in California and the implications for New York spoke to us and said, 'now is the time'."

Ed Schultz, a social worker who became domestic partner to Steve Berlin last year plans to marry on July 10. "Marriage has a certain dignity," he said. "When I go to work and say, 'I'm domestically partnered', that's something different than saying 'I'm married'."

Armistead Maupin, one of the city's most famous authors, who married his partner, Christopher Turner in Canada last year, will probably marry him again in California. "Straight people have grown up thinking they're entitled to a fairytale wedding. One of our great advantages as gay people is that we've been forced to forge relationships without that fantasy. In doing so, we've figured out what's at the core."

Faced with a wilted economy, water shortages and price shock of petrol, Californians are welcoming Gay Marriages with open arms ( holding bank accounts). A study by the University of California predicted that over three years gay nptials would contribute $US684 million to the state's wedding industry and $US64 million to the state budget.

Social justice only comes when the price tag is high enough not when discrimination is socially unacceptable.

WORD OF THE DAY

From the Latin:

Cat - Feline. I knew that.

Tortoise - Testitude. I didn't know that.

LIVE BLOGGING......ALMOST

Everyone knows dial-up is slow so while the page was loading I thought I nick in the bathroom and wash my hair.

I fell headfirst into the @#&%ing bath.

I was swearing and laughing so much I couldn't get out.

I'm okay, hair is washed, page loaded, sense of humour intact and live blogging five minutes after the event.

I'M BAAAACK!

EX-HUSBAND JOKE

more cat pictures

hello, is anybody there?

She yells in a small voice from a deep pit.

I can't think, my mother ate my brain so I'm finding it hard to blog anything remotely intelligent.

I'm trying to finish a winter dressing gown before spring.

I'm still reading April New Scientist.

I'm still trying to finish reading two novels.

I haven't managed to see 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'.

My diet is down the crapper even after reading Craig Harper's motivational blog post about not making excuses for life changes. Craig Harper meet my mother.

At least the dishes are under control in the kitchen, they're confined to the sink indefinitely.

But in the words of the great Arnie, "I'll be baaack!"

THE X FILES

On Sunday night troops returning home from Iraq were left stranded in Darwin after a bird collided with their plane and the captain decided to turn the plane around and assess the damage.

THEY'S TRAINING STEALTH BUDGIES, I TELLS YA!

CHAITEN UPDATE

Chaiten Volcano in Chile is still erupting ash and steam over land and sea. The image from NASA below shows a blue-green plume along the coastline which is likely to be ash and pumice in the water. The inland lakes to the east show a similar blue-green colour which could also be from volcanic material. A fresh ash delta extends into the harbour and mud has also filled the river channel forcing a slurry of ash and water over the banks of Rio Blanco and through the town's streets. The volcanic plume appears to be hugging the valley floors as it moves inland, leaving the mountain peaks clear.


This image, also from NASA is a false-colour thermal radiation image of the volcano at night.
The light colours are high temperatures (the caldera). The dark colours are lower temperatures (the ash plume)

The lava dome is continuing to grow with fresh material emerging from the earth.

WHEN IS ART NOT ART

I bought a print of this Fragonard painting when I was 18. I was interested in 18th Century French history and even more interested in fabrics and fashion of that era. So when I looked at this, I saw lace, silk, the hat and the slipper shoes. I studied the construction of the clothes and how the hair complimented the fashionable dress.

It was only after a lecture on 18th Century art that I found out it was a lovely example of l8th Century soft porn. It's not just a pretty girl in a silk dress on a swing. She's kicking her leg high enough to lose a slipper, high enough for the well-dressed gentleman hiding in the bushes to get a good view up that leg. Ladies of that era did not wear undergarments and by the look on his face, he's enjoying the view. So who paid the shadowy figure (possibly wearing a cleric's collar) in the background to send the swing so high? The lady with the high kick or the gentleman with the low look.

It's not what we look at but what we are taught to see.

COALITION CREEPS

Conservative MPs are still attempting to stop Labor passing laws that recognise gay partners in the same way as married couples in public sector superannuation laws. The Coalition has managed to delay this by sending it to a Senate inquiry.

Brendan Nelson and his Coalition want to be seen as defending the institution of marriage.

Yes, it's that Brendan Nelson, the one who ordered $14 million worth of clusterbombs for the military.

Hypocrite.

FOODPORNMEME

1. What food do you consider the best "date" food? In other words, what meal or food item do you think is sexiest to eat in the company of someone you would like to look sexy around?

The thought of me looking sexy near any kind of food is hysterical to start with but the choice is kind of limited. Nothing that will stick on teeth, nothing sticky to make teeth fall out, nothing that will melt in inappropriate places and please, no garlic.
It will have to be raspberries in Dom Perignon and in a very, very expensive crystal glass, better make that a large bowl, no, glass, I forgot the looking sexy bit. Perhaps a delicate silver pickle fork to fish out the raspberries instead of spearing them with a fingernail. That's a helluva lota work, can I slurp from the bottle and eat out of the punnet? Not Sexy enough?

2. What well-known person would you like to share a meal with?

Share??? Kevvie would probably say Grace. Prince Chuckie would want to talk to the flower arrangement. Elton would want to wear the flower arrangement. Aha! I see a loophole, it doesn't say which sex. Okay, I'm having tea with The Queen at the Palace if I can get my tiara back from Elton in time. The Queen and I have so much in common, she likes gin.

3. What does your perfect breakfast-in-bed look like? (food and the details, please)

Whaaat! Oh right, food part, you're not getting the details. Um, food, right, just wait a minute til I get my eyes back in focus. Mini croissants, several different preserves, fresh coffee, long black. Chocolates, Swiss-made, in a large box, for the choice. I mean I'll only have time for one or two.
Shut up, civilised people eat chocolate for breakfast.

4. What do you consider the best application of whipped cream to be?

Piled on top of the Pavlova he's holding. What other use would there be? REALLY, you can do that with whipped cream? Where does the Pavlova go?

5. Oh-God-No, Biff, the yacht is sinking! You are sent to the galley to retrieve the food. What luxury food items do you snatch first? The champagne? The caviar? Smoked salmon? Truffles? Chocolate? or something else?


Idiots! I'm on a yacht, I own it so I grab the cabin boy. The cabin boy I've personally trained to carry chocolate and a bottle of champagne 24/7 in case of this kind of emergency. I'd leave Biff behind, he's rather a bore.

BIOSPECTROSCOPY

I've written about spectroscopy for analysing solids and gases so it's about time for a living organism. Biospectroscopy is used to solve biological problems and reveal the chemistry of individual cells.
It uses a combination of visible light and infrared techniques to chemically analyse individual cells. That's an individual cell not a cell cluster and since cancer causes chemical changes in cells long before morphological changes, analysis of a single cell could lead the way to much earlier diagnosis of cancer. Early diagnosis of cervical cancer in women is under this type of research at the School of Biospectroscopy at Monash University using the Australian Synchrotron.

Microalgae are good idicators of the health of oceans and are the basis of the aquatic food chain. Fourier-transform spectroscopy is used to study algae where the change in a live single cell alga is recorded over a period of time. The alga can be stressed by too much ultra-violet light, increased carbon dioxide, deprived of nutrients, over-nourished, deprived of light, exposed to pollution.

By analysing the the spectra of the bio-chemical changes, researchers can see how a single alga responds to this external stress in their environment. They can measure how much the proteins, fats, silica and carbohydrates change over time.

And this is how to hold a single cell for analysis. A method called acoustic levitation which was developed for zero gravity experiments in space and successfully adapted for earth laboratories.

This image of a drop of blood in an ultrasonic acoustic levitation device won Steven Morton equal first place in the Eureka Museum Science Photography section, 2007. "This set-up enables us to probe the molecular structure of living cells without interference from any surface and without perturbing the morphology of the cells. It is part of the technique used by researchers at Monash University in Melbourne to monitor drug uptake by red blood cells that are affected by a range of diseases, including malaria and sickle cell disease."

HEY BEAR

Oi Gerry
will this do?
Or maybe this one?
I'm trying to be kind to the aged here.

Bloody bear

FUNNY ON SUNDAY

Saturday wasn't funny after I stood on the scales. I haven't dropped a gram in 8 weeks, nothing, nada. It's very disheartening especially when other bloggers have stuff about peppermint frogs which I read late at night and get a craving for. But according to the paper this morning, help is on the way.
A diet pill is going to be marketed here which will help people lose, on average 10kgs, in six months. Somehow I don't think it's the pill that does it. The side affects are so bad you won't want to eat food. Nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, insomnia and an increased heart rate. The drug affects the part of the brain controlling appetite, making people feel full soon after starting a meal.
When are these dumb arse scientist/doctor/obesity gurus going to finally twig that comfort eaters don't worry about appetite and feeling full? We eat because it's a tranquillizer, food makes us feel better. Food takes us to a place where we don't feel anything bad is happening. I am constantly trying to meditate, calm down, change my lifestyle and stick to portion size of anything I eat including peppermint frogs. As it is I'm too frightened to look up how many calouries are in gin.
After that bit of madness, I came across the survey from FHM magazine. Almost one in three Australian men say they want to marry a virgin. 41% wanted a bride who had had five partners or fewer (that's right - fewer) and only 5% wanted a bride who had slept with more than 15 men.
Okay, I guess that means men are officially crazy. Most of them wouldn't know how to identify a virgin for a start and no woman in her right mind would tell a man anything about the other men in her life. We are sensitive to the little green monster lurking in their puny minds, you know the one that wants to know the important details like, 'how big....?'.

But I leave the best til last. Some dreadful cyber vandal has been playing with Mick Keelty's wikipedia page and portrayed him as a deranged conspiracy theorist.
The unidentified hacker mockingly quoted Mr. Keelty warning: "The Americans should stop looking for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. I have particularly sensitive intelligence from aliens he's living in an outside dunny in Dubbo. At this time he is training terrorist pixies and raising an air force of stealth budgies to strike at the heart of the infidels."
I love it, terrorist pixies and stealth budgies, divine. I just wonder how long it would take the CIA to work out what a 'dunny' is?

MOONBOW

Moonbow or Lunar Bow.

This image of a lunar bow was photographed by Thomas Thies of Gearhart, Oregon, after the sun had set on December 8th 2003.

The rainbow, which lasted for about 20 minutes, was out over the ocean with the moon rising behind the photographer. The bright yellow lights near the horizon are crab boats.

Just as sunlight produces rainbows during the day, moonlight can produce rainbows at night. They're rare because moonlight isn't very bright. A bright moon near to full is needed, it must be raining opposite the moon, the sky must be dark and the moon must be less than 42degrees high.

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

This image from Keith C. Langill is a fogbow. It's a reflection of sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colours. The photo was taken with the sun behind the photographer.
To download a larger version this is the place.

DEEP OCEAN

Raman spectrometers tell scientists what almost any substance - solid, liquid or gas - is made of, eg. paint pigments on ancient temples on land but it also goes well under water.
The spectrometer works by focusing a laser on a target object. Most of the beam scatters off the object at the same wavelength as the laser. A small part of the beam (one in 100,000,000 photons) interacts with the chemical bonds of the molecules inside the target area and scatters at different wavelengths. Reading these wavelengths scientists can distinguish the composition of any samples collected.

Sheri White has helped develop the Deep-Ocean Laser Raman In-Situ Spectrometer (DORISS). This is a precision laboratory instrument in a pressure-proof container designed to work on the seafloor where many materials exist only in unusual conditions and can't be brought to the surface to study. She had already helped build and test ALISS (Ambient Light Imaging and Spectral System) to measure the light emanating from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. White was able to determine that the energy from this vent glow came from thermal radiation produced by extremely high-temperature (approx 350 degrees C) vent fluids.

A major problem with DORISS is the fact that spectrometers only see the precise point where their laser beam focuses, an area smaller than a pinhead and then it has to be held absolutely still for minutes at a time, something impossible to do from a ship at sea level to a ROV aat the end of a 4,000 metre tether on the ocean floor. White's answer was to build a 3-legged lab bench - Precision Underwater Positioner (PUP). This device complete with rigid legs, camera, light and crossing lasers helps to position the laser probe precisely and stably on the small targets in the deep ocean.

Chip Brier is a postdoctoral fellow who developed the Suspended Particulate Rosette (SuPR) to collect samples from the deep ocean vents. SuPR can collect 24 separate 100 litre samples where other samplers collect a single 2,000 litre one.

White and Brier are working to integrate a raman spectrometer into the SuPR for a trial run through a hydrothermal vent plume effectively analysing the chemical and trace elements as they emerge before combining and transforming as they interact with sea water. Then by taking a succession of samples they hope to record what happens as the chemicals and particles (eg. iron, manganese) interact with sea water elements (eg. vanadium, chromium) forming new minerals.

MY SECOND RUG

This was given back to me after my Mother-in-Law died. It didn't come back looking like this. I almost put it in the box to send to the dog's home but when I looked at the squares some of them had worn quite well for 25 years. The brown main colour was pretty ratty and some squares had felted very badly after being washed in hot water and others had cigarette burns where she'd fallen asleep and dropped ash on them. So I rescued the goodish ones and crocheted them into a new main colour and I'll use it as a picnic rug. I still have the pattern but it's one you have to think about as you work so I don't think I'll repeat it but this was only the second rug I ever completed so you could say it's part of the family history.

The first one was very simple and it went on the boy's bed. In first grade, the teacher used to take the kids around to each house so they all got to know their classmates and parents.

We didn't have fancy furniture, just old stuff that I could paint to match whatever colour he wanted. He suffered from Bronchitis a lot so I made a wool rug for extra warmth. In one of those moments that mothers wrap up in silver paper and pink bows and put away in their hearts, he announced to the class that the best thing in his room was this rug because, "My mum made this by herself, for me."

I COULDN'T RESIST ANOTHER

What Flower Are You?
	You are a Sunflower. You are spirited and vivacious. Willing to do anything to help others be happy, and ask nothing in return. You always see the bright side of any situation and are the life of the party. It is impossible to feel down when you are around.
Find Your Character @

I AM STILL ONE

What Animal Were You In Your Past Life?
	You were a unicorn. You were mysterious and noble. You have fairytale traits, and other people can only dream in envy. Your nature is completely impossible to decipher and behind all that, you know that you shine bright, for only the luckiest people get the chance to know you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

ABOUT PAINTING THE TEMPLE

Copan, in Honduras, was one of the largest of the Mayan City States during the classic period. The re-constructed Hieroglyphic staircase contains the longest written inscription from Pre-Columbian America. It's 92 steps tell the story of Copan's rulers up to AD 755.

This is another of Copan's wonders. Underneath Temple 16, in the centre, archaeologists found the perfectly preserved RosaLila Temple. It was still covered in vividly painted stucco unlike the rest of the buildings and sculpture (intricate sculptures, just google) of Copan. It had been maintained and used for an exceptionally long time and when it was finally abandoned, the two storey, multi-roomed structure was carefully preserved and buried intact when a new temple was built.

Physical and Chemical Sciences PhD researcher Rosemary Goodall from the Queensland University of Technology used a new infrared analysis technique called FTIR-ATR (Fourier Transform Infrared-Attenuatted Total Reflectance) spectral imaging to study the red, green and grey paint applied to the stucco masks on the exterior of the building.

This technique has not been used for archaeology before and combined with Raman spectroscopy, Goodall found the chemical "signature" of each mineral in paint samples only millimetres in size. The advantage of FTIR-ATR is that while other techniques provided analysis of a microscopic area, it mapped a larger portion from which the recipe of paint could be more easily deduced.

Since the RosaLila Temple has more than 15 layers of paint and stucco, the mineral make-up of the pigments tells scientists what colours were painted on each layer. The stucco itself became more refined over time and changed in colour from grey to white. Ms. Goodall discovered a green pigment and a pigment of Muscovite mica. Mica is used in paints today to create a shimmer effect and the Maya may have used it to get a sparkle effect on the temple which is the only building found with the mineral. Mica isn't found near Copan so it was probably traded from other Mayan cities like Tikal in Guatamala while Copan was a centre for the obsidian market.

Ms. Goodall now wants to take a portable Raman spectrometer to Copan to do more paint analysis as these tests do not destroy any samples. The research will help stop any further damage to the Copan complex.

The temple has been re-constructed to scale and can be seen in the Sculpture Museum at Copan.
This building was used for a hundred years according to the opening and closing ceremonies dated precisely by the Mayan calendar. While the temple was repainted between 15 and 20 times, Goodall estimates the mica was only used every fourth or fifth repainting. Because the Maya had very regular calendar periods, the research team will look at the paint layers and try to determine if the frequency of use correlates to important dates in the history of Copan's Royalty. The calendar is based on a 20-year period called a Katun and the Katun endings were important times of ceremony in the life of the King.

The team consists of Ms Goodall, her PhD supervisor Peter Fredericks with Dr. Jay Hall (University of Queensland) and Dr Rene Viel (Copan Formative Project, Honduras) directing the long-term UQ-led archaeological field research program at Copan.

I'VE THOUGHT OF THE CHILDREN

As one of the very last acts of the Howard Government, Brendan Nelson bought $14 million worth of cluster bombs - weapons that contain mini-bombs, some of which remain unexploded on the ground for years awaiting innocent civilians. It's the first time Australia has bought such a weapon, and one we would hope the new Government would categorically reject.

But right now, as the international community meets in Dublin to ban them, the new Australian Government is going out of its way to frustrate the process. They're calling for their 'SMART 155' bomb to be excluded, and for rogue nations who persist in using cluster bombs to be permitted to do so. We've got just a few scarce days left before the fragile international agreement is drafted. Sign the petition today telling Kevin Rudd to ban the bomb: no loopholes, no exceptions.

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/BanTheBombs

Thousands of civilians have lost their lives and limbs, mainly children from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. So much so that the international symbol of the campaign is a limb. Just last week the Pope took the unusual step of calling on the international community to outlaw the deadly weapons.

But our government has refused to accept that a total ban on cluster munitions has to prohibit countries from assisting other nations who use cluster bombs. They are also arguing that the Smart 155 is not a cluster munition, despite having no independent tests on its safety and refusing to provide any evidence to back up that claim.

The UK Prime Minister yesterday reversed his decision to exempt his own weapons, leaving Australia increasingly isolated. We should be encouraging positive international agreements to save lives, not hindering them. Tell the PM today - as this decision is being made right now - to ban the bombs.

I've already voted, click the link and add yours. Whatever Nelson gets now, he's got it coming after ordering these.

@$#%^&*ING TAXI SERVICE

After another day at Southland and then mother's I decided I couldn't face the walk home so I rang for a taxi at 4.01 p.m.

I sat outside on the fence from that time until 4.45 when I rang again on the mobile this time.

I sat there for another 15 minutes until I nearly froze my tits off. No joke, it turned freezing.

I went back inside and rang the operator, no problems there's one on the way.

At 5.25, I rang again. Was I sure the address was ...........? @#$%!!

At 5.55, I rang the supervisor who checked and said 5 taxi drivers had said the pick-up was completed. She was outraged and 5 taxi drivers were listed for a rocket. If I wasn't picked up in 10 minutes, I was to ring her again.

At 6.15, another call to the supervisor and the despatcher. The sixth driver was threatened with no more jobs for the night unless I was picked up.

In all this time, not one taxi was spotted in the street. Even when I went inside I was sitting in front of a six foot wide/tall window where I could see the street. When it was dark, I put all the outside lights on.

At 6.27, a taxi arrived and I was delivered home at 6.32. The driver looked like Professor Snape, so much so I checked to see if it was a full moon. No kidding, he had shoulder length black hair parted in the middle and was wearing a long black coat. He also had no sense of direction but he was polite.

At 6.40, I had the gin in the glass and had opened a packet of jellybeans for tea.

How was your day?

GLACIER CAVING

This is a glacier cave in the Greenland Ice Sheet. The caves are made when seasonal meltwater or geothermal vents cut fissures and channels through the ice.

Spelunk over to here for more

Yes, it is Bombay Blue and no, I don't have a glass by the computer. It's a coincidence that's all.

WHILE I WAS POSTING

The email ding dinged and it was another Russian spam email.

It was a naked tart.

You wouldn't believe where she was holding a long stemmed wine glass.

It didn't have crystals and Bombay would never allow itself to be dragged down to that level.

WITH ALL THE MONEY SAVED

I just can't stop thinking about all that money I'm saving. Here I was last week wandering around the Swarovski Crystal shop at Southland and thinking how expensive everything was and I didn't know I could afford these.

I wasn't overly impressed with the jewellery except for the pendant and that hit me right in the drool centre of my brain. It's called "Dementra". It has a sculpted-cut Copper crystal. Ceralun(TM) applied directly onto the facets and then set with light Colorado topaz, light smoked topaz, Golden Shadow and Fuchsia crystals. It really is a knock out, much better than the photo.

I liked these as well. The stems are filled with little crystals and the Bombay would be so sweet to drink from them. The first drink that is, the Bwca and I have a tendency to break glasses after the second. I think we broke glasses before we had the bottle open.

OUR GREAT WHITE ROO

Anyone who wants to wear a white T-shirt and smile for a satellite photo should be at Monash University's Clayton campus tomorrow morning.

NASA will use four satellites to photograph the kangaroo and measure how much of the sun's warmth would be lost if the planet were covered in white cloud which bounces sunlight back into space.

The "space roo" is 32 metres by 18 metres and made from white cardboard and scientists will compare the photos with images taken a year ago.

UPDATE ON TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Way back in November 2006, I blogged about this stranded oil rig on the island of Tristan Da Cunha and the dangers it could pose for the ecosystem of the island.

I finally remembered to go back and see if anything had been done and the rig was towed into deep water and sunk in February, 2007.

A colony of Brazilian Porgy fish had apparently made their home around the rig and had swum with it to Tristan. It was hoped that the fish would follow the rig to where it was sunk and be eaten by predators.

You can read the whole saga here

DEAR SANTA/BIRTHDAY FAIRY

I don't care what old tight-arse says, I LOVE THIS PENGUIN! You can find it and other penguin goodies

here.

HOW TO STRANGLE A DOLLAR

Interesting read in the paper this morning about a book called, 'Wealthier than you think'. It was written by self proclaimed tight-arse and penny pincher, Paul Squires who says that by following his rules, average Australians can put as much as $50,000 back into their own pockets within five years. He says we are all living beyond our means and letting a river of money slip through our fingers every day. In the article he didn't say what to do with the $50,000.

These are his top 10 penny-pinching ideas.

1. Avoid your family. Christmas and Easter gatherings are expensive and psychologically damaging.
I'm trying hard but I can't see a thing wrong with this idea. Avoiding my family would have saved a giant amount of psychotherapy bills but it was also a good way of getting a free feed.

2. Limit your mates.
All my mates are internet mates so you're using your electricity to post on your blogs which I read. When I read, I'm eating and drinking alone so I don't share with you. You live a long way away so I don't have to visit and you don't get to visit me so I save on house-cleaning products. And if you don't really like me (Mr Squires says this happens) or I don't like you, we can turn each other off or I can leave you on and not hurt your feelings.

3. Ditch "friends" who are living beyond their means.
Hmm! People with Visa debt shouldn't throw plastic cards at others with bigger debts.

4. Don't fall for "special day" marketing, such as Mother's, Father's and Valentine's days.
Nothing about very big special birthdays in there. So all my 'living beyond your means' limited internet mates can still send me cyber wishes in July. I will then have a cyber party and youse can all get cyber pissed and I'll sit here eating a real cake.

5. Don't volunteer for committees. It can become a financial burden.
I'm right with this. I've done my time on the kinder, school, canteen, fete committees.

6. Don't buy jewellery.
I knew it, he's lost me. I love my shiny things.

7. Have a weekly black-out night to save on electricity.
I like candle light as well as the next person but read a book with my eyesight, oh laugh. What does the man do, go to bed at sundown? Of course if you have a 50 square house with 200 lights you probably could save a bit on the bill. I'll give this one a miss too. Although I could navigate by the light of the computer and the TV and the lights have gone out while I was in the middle of a shower so I know I can dry myself in the dark but still he's really getting pinchy here.

8. Buy a standard TV, not a home theatre package.
Right, I have two geriatric televisions, one hooked up to the DVD and the other's hooked up to the video but I don't have them going at the same time especially not on black-out nights. I didn't buy either of them, a plus and I didn't buy the DVD, a plus and the video is 10 years old, a plus and I tape movies instead of going out.

9. Dress your children in hand-me-downs.
Has this man tried to tell a teenager that they can't have the latest craze?
My father-in-law was great at this hand-me-down stuff. If anyone in his street died he was on the door step before the flowers wilted, shoes, reading glasses, anything. He'd have taken the pennies off the eyes if they still had viewings at the house.

10. Don't be super-sized. Avoid two-for-one deals.
I spend half my shopping time in the supermarket working out if I'm getting a good deal on two-for-one deals. I work out the cost difference divided by the time the goods will take to run out divided by how many pension days that equates to and when that's done, I'll buy it because it looks nice or smells good.

This is not good. I consider myself an excellent spendthrift but I'm heading towards penny-pinching in a big way.

But where's my $50,000?

THAT THREE THING

That saying about things happening in threes. The saying that always makes you look over your shoulder when two stupid things happen. I thought about it today and wondered when the third thing was going to happen and I realized it already had.



Tuesday I left the oven on so high I set off the smoke alarms and had to open every door and window in the house. I just wandered off and forgot. Charcoal vegetables, good thing I'd had that vanilla slice for lunch and the cupcake for breakfast. I noticed tonight when I finally got around to washing the dish that it now has a lovely meandering crack across the bottom. That's one.



Now for two. My office chair has been wobbling like a clown on a spring so I had a look at the workings this morning. I seem to have created a crack in the steel base plate. I can't blame the workmanship, I've been sitting on this seat for a quarter of a century so it's seen some heavy duty service. I just have to sit very upright and still and be careful scooting along the carpet in case the wheels decide to come off as well. I've already been through the great lounge chair disaster. It's just that it's my chair. I bought it with the first real chunk of money that was mine.



And then there's three. I'm standing at the stove, currying up a storm and talking to Ma on the phone (multi-tasking) and I'm blind in one eye. I mean I'm seeing perfectly well out of the left eye but the right one is blurred but not hurting. Calm is restored when I swivel the left lens of my glasses and spot the right lens in the curry. The screw came unscrewed. It's really weird to be able to see clearly out of one side and not the other. Okay, so that's three and I'm counting them as three.



**

And while I'm here. Where do the news services (hah!) and current affairs shows ((double hah!)) get off making air time for a crappy criminal being brought home for justice and having another crim's wife giving a tour of criminal haunts in Melbourne?

I HAVE A REASON TO EAT

I eat when I'm stressed and now there's an earthquake to stress about.

The way to shoot a diet down in flames is to have AustraliaPost deliver a cupcake to the door at 8.30 in the morning. It was from the Vintage Garden and Cupcake Cafe in Buninyong and it was just the best breakfast and worst diet thing ever. Thank you Dysthy.

Just to make sure I didn't do a diet right meal all day I finally made it to San Sebastian and their fabulous vanilla slice delight in Hampton. This is not just a vanilla slice, it's a meal but the chairs are a snug fit for a large bum. It's also expensive but worth it.

Then I had a flu shot, blood pressure which was 45 points lower than the last one and then I made it to the bus with two minutes to spare before the ticket expired. Now I call that a good day.

CHAITEN VOLCANO, CHILE

This image from NASA showed the ash plume from the eruption had passed over Argentina to extend over the Atlantic Ocean.

This is inside Chaiten. A 1000 metre high lava dome within a caldera about 2.5 kilometres wide and 4 kilometres long.

Here the ash plume has soared 12 kilometres into the air. Scientists now believe the eruption is at the critical point where the ash column could collapse quickly, generating pyroclastic flows down the sides of the volcano or it might subside gradually and do little damage. The ash has already contaminated ground water across Chile and Argentina and the army has forcibly evacuated the civilian population from the possible fall-out area.

FINISHED THIS - STARTING ANOTHER

I found the photo under a pile of blogfodder that was misplaced during all the moving of tables and computers etc.

My sister actually received this on Christmas Day, a record for my gift making and giving.

The rug is usually done on a No 3. crochet hook but I thought I'd save time and use a 3.50 hook. It doesn't save time and it uses more wool and it doesn't look quite the same. So for the next rug, in progress, it's back to the No 3. The 'in progress' rug was also supposed to be for last Christmas but there's always another Christmas in front of me.

The main colour is off-white in a silk/wool blend which was easy to crochet. I had to hand it over determined never to think of what Sister will do if it ever gets dirty. I made that decision after I watched her jam a wool filled doona into her washing machine and put it on 'Hot Wash'.

This is my favourite rug to crochet but not to make up. Crocheting 600 of these little squares together is a real pill but it lasts forever and I like to use pure wool. It's called a 'Jewell' blanket and made with a main colour of black it looks like tiny stained glass windows.

I keep saying this will be the last one I make but I can't resist the oddment baskets at any wool shop. The little blob at the top which is clearer if you click is a patchwork chicken. Next Christmas project because we didn't get to it this Christmas. I've bought all the fabric, got the pattern now to remember to start in October, when I've finished this rug.

ALWAYS SEND YOUR CHILD TO THE BEST SCHOOL

A good public school which will cost you more than a suburban house is supposed to turn out good citizens, educated, polite and upstanding.

Crap to the public schools little bastards who ran off the bus taking the emergency window handle with them thereby setting off the alarm which stops the bus which is taking me home and makes me just a tad homicidal.

Congrats to the driver who when into the newsagent and came back with sellotape for a makeshift repair.

Remember those old comedies where someone would take an orange from the bottom of the pyramid and the whole lot would fall? I'd like to choke the supermarket packer who thought it would be a good idea to do the same with blocks of chocolates. By the time I managed to get 10 or so blocks back on the shelf, I was half looking around for a concealed camera recording for 'Funniest Home Videos'.

It wasn't a pyramid of chocolate more like a roman arch with one block as the keystone. Impossible to re-create so I shoved the leftovers in the nearby freezer.

As our Bwca would say, 'Bad man did it and ran away'.

VOLCANO

This image is from NASA showing the ash plume from the Chaiten Volcano as it streams across Argentina to the sea.

As the volcano continues to erupt through the night, it creates its own electrical storm complete with massive lightning bolts.

DRESSMAKING TIPS FOR THE STITCHINGLY CHALLENGED

1. Don't bother, buy them.

2. If you have to make them try to do it sober.

3. If you decide to get all arty and put in concealed pockets, don't cut out the pockets until you've cut out the wristbands.

4. If you cut out the wristbands properly make sure the back neck is going both ways not all the same way.

5. Don't panic when you can't find the scissors, you're sitting on them.

6. Don't cry when you realise you're cutting out fat dresses again from the fabric you were saving for the thin dresses you thought you'd be wearing by now.

7. Forget no. 2 and drink.

BB IS BA

I was unfortunate to have to endure 5 minutes of BB last night because I didn't want to miss the opening credits of 'The Revenge of the Sith'.

Channel 10 must be joking.

Or Channel 10 has discovered a way to remove a brain from a living person and turn them loose.

Channel 7 has put 'Stargate Atlantis' on so late that even I can't stay up to watch it.

And why? Because Channel 7 is showing 'Trinny and Susannah undress the nation'. A couple of pommie tarts who'd be right at home at BB are going to tell me how to dress. Two words, piss off.

My sister has a house guest who smokes (another rant). She smokes but always keeps the door open and tries to make sure the smoke doesn't blow over me.

House guest, who doesn't like BB so one point to him, is inclined to shut the door.

My lungs feel as though I've been smoking for years. My hair stinks. My dress, petticoat, bra and knickers are in the washing machine. My eyes feel raw.

I understand addiction, no cake shop is safe from my slavering jaws, but to feel like this every day is insane.

And just to round off the day, Mommie Dearest asked me to start looking for some new summer nightdresses to buy for her. Summer??? The only buying I had in mind was a ticket for the Orphans' Picnic.

TIME

I've had a week of past years coming back to haunt me. A neighbour passing me in the supermarket with another grandchild in tow and telling me about the next one about to be born.
"And how are yours?"
"I don't know. No word, no photographs in twelve months."

Home to another email from another neighbour to let me know that a girl my son grew up with had given birth to a baby boy. She already has two girls, the eldest a year younger than my granddaughter. I haven't seen her for 10 or 12 years but it sounds as though she's happy and going well. And I swear and tear up because she's here and he's not.

I give myself a mental shake and remind myself that thinking like that is not fair to her. She's 35 and made it through anorexia, drug addiction, being pimped out by a boyfriend and getting Hep C but not HIV through good fortune. She's here because I helped her throughout her life.

I helped her on the day of the funeral when she wept in my arms. When she cried, "I'm nothing. I'm no use to anyone so it should be me that's dead. It should be me." But it wasn't and I want for her to be a wonderful mother with her life full of laughter.

So I dragged out the box of mementos and read the notice she'd put in for Euan.

Euan (tragically) died aged 24. I've know you since I can remember, and to think of all the things we got up to when we were kids and young teenagers. There's a never ending list; Pavlovas in the face, swimming lessons with you and all our birthday parties when we were young. I could go on forever. I'm just thankful I was the one who had the privilege to have grown up all my life with such a fine young man who was taken far too soon, and will live on forever in my heart and mind and memories over the past 24 years that can never be taken away. Rest in peace my little matey. All my love forever.

Iwant her to live in happiness forever, the bubbly blonde with the blue eyes who laughed and fought with him and loved him.

IT LIVES

The rodent made an appearance at 9.55pm.

It came out of the bottom of the space heater which was on.

It had a quick shufti around.

Spotted me and run back up the space heater.

Apparently it has flame retardant fur.

And no Bwca, I didn't see the whites of its ears.

I refuse to put a trap in the middle of my lounge room.

It'll probably die of hunger. Damn, I hate moral dilemmas.

GAY PARENTING CHANGES

Themuriels blogspot has the best explanation of how new laws will affect gay and lesbian families.

CONTRASTS

Dr Susan K. Avery is the first atmospheric scientist and woman to lead the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in its 78 year history.

She is an atmospheric physicist and her research interests include studies of atmospheric circulation and precipitation, climate variability, water resources and the development of new radar techniques and instruments for remote sensing.

She earned her doctorate in 1978 and has been on field expeditions in Greenland, Antarctica and Australia but only on land so she's looking forward to her first expedition aboard a research vessel sometime this year.

"Understanding the ocean has never been more important to society," she said. "We depend on it for food supplies, minerals, energy resources, shipping, and recreation. It is host to diverse ecosystems and is tightly coupled to our climate and weather."

AND WHAT ARE THE MEN DOING?

Well, Roberto Cavalli has designed this pair of gem embellished sandals for a mere $1.449.00

And Christian Louboutin designed these shoe boots for the tiny price of $877.00

Woman - 1. Men - 0.

We will rule the world and do it in comfy shoes.

CRETACEOUS PARK

It doesn't quite have the same ring as 'Jurassic Park' but this piece of amber does conjure up the start of the movie.

This is an 87-million-year-old praying mantis found encased in amber in Japan. It came from an amber mine in the northeastern Iwate Prefecture in a deposit containing other insects such as flies, bees and cockroaches.

It measures 1.4 centimeters from its antennae to the tip of its abdomen and while the forelegs, head and antennae appear to be well preserved, the wings and abdomen have been crushed.
This mantis is the oldest ever found in Japan and one of only seven in the world from the Cretaceous period.

The fossil is unusual in that it has two spines protruding from its femur, something that no other mantis from the Cretaceous period has. It also has tiny hairs on its forelegs.
The late Cretaceous was a transition phase between ancient and modern worlds so the fossil has intermediate elements of ancient and modern mantises.

The block of amber is being polished to give researchers a better view of different parts of the fossil and will be on display at the Kuji museum through June.