I have been weblogging since the sixth of December 2002 but now there is no evidence of same. I have deleted my previous blogs run by Blogger and Greymatter. So if there was something fabulous there that you had linked to I'm sorry. But really, it's not very likely.
Gone but not forgotten (by me anyway) are rants on subjects such as Dr Who, reproductive rights and J. K. Rowling and raves about orrerys, comic art and gardening.
Why? Just tidying up my little corner of the internet.

What is the biggest problem facing Australian parents today? Drugs, sex, rap music, illiteracy?
No. It is attacks from over-opinionated do-gooders who do little more than criticise and blame.
And what moron at The Age allowed this subheading through?
If mothers knew how to cook better food, children would not be so fat.
Yep. Because Dads never cook and there is only fruit available at the school canteen and there aren't any milk bars on the walk home and all advertising scheduled during children's programming is for skipping ropes and soccer balls. Sweet Jesus. How to get really big group of people to hate you in one sentence.

Some comments on today's Age content:
The Consumer Electronics Show in the US has used up a whole lot of energy to offer us very large televisions to watch Friends on and bread machines that could be controlled from anywhere on the planet. Which immediately gave me the image of a woman in the middle of a business conference in Canberra suddenly realising that her 17 year-old son won't have anything for breakfast in New Jersey and using her mobile phone discreetly under the table to turn the machine on. Because some things will never evolve.

Latham's $100 million plan to help parent's read to children
It's easy. Read 'em anything. Possibly not Penthouse. But do you really need $100 million to work that out? Kids will quickly tell you if they don't like it or are bored. For the record Abbey (at 2 months) and I are reading Dick Bruna books or a couple of pages of Dr Seuss at a time. She has a real short attention span. I guess War and Peace will have to wait.

Punters set to flutter on wandering albatross
The Big Bird Race, launched in London last night, involves British bookmaker Ladbrokes, the British charity The Conservation Foundation and 18 satellite-tracked Tasmanian shy albatrosses.
What a thing to do to a reclusive animal. Now if it were the Tasmanian gregarious albatross. You know they leave their home islands for up to three years. It's to get some _alone time_.

OK people, it is now two weeks until my birthday. Hear that? Two weeks!

So I'm spending a lot of time awake in the middle of the night of late which does interesting things to one's brain. A few nights ago I tried to recite a poem to myself.
In Xanadu, I began, did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Erg.
For the life of me I could not recall two lines to complete the first stanza of either poem. For the record, here's how Kubla Khan and Jabberwocky are supposed to go.

I wonder if Faith knows that in the future her knife will be used for evil. (Actually I haven't seen Nemesis, but anything to do with the Star Trek franchise lately has got to be evil.)

I've recently discovered Surface magazine. After reading a couple of issues cover to cover I remain impressed overall. The content, covering all aspects of design - fashion, architecture, interior, sculpture and automotive - while avoiding the ubiquitous pandering to Hollywood or pop celebrities, is thoroughly researched and presented in one of the most stylish publications I have come across. Even the advertising is beautiful.
What is strange, and I suppose an indication of the high level of technology used in publishing today, is the apparent lack of a human proofreader. In issue 43 there are whole slabs of text that appear out of order within two separate articles and the letters page is a shambles. Issue 44 boasts typographic errors (bear instead of bare for example) and missed markers (page XX). It's a shame that's such an upmarket magazine contains such basic flaws.

Actual Comments Overheard In A Poetry Workshop By A Fiction Student In An MFA Program That He, In Order To Fulfill All Degree Requirements, Is Forced to Take.
"You're an ass"
(via Bookslut)

I'm currently reading A Perfect Harmony: The Intertwining Lives of Animals and Humans Throughout History and it contains the following gem in the chapter on the domestication of goats:
A single Nubian ibex that I "knew personally" helped reestablish the species in Israel.
The mark of a disgruntled typesetter perhaps?
Otherwise it's an interesting book so far. More opinion once I've finished it.

Caring for your Introvert
The only thing a true introvert dislikes more than talking about himself [sic] is repeating himself.
Lord, yes. I have thought about what I am going to say. I have whittled it into brevity. I may have even rehearsed it. So listen.