I'm reviving "caption this"...

for a one off because this recent picture of Britney just makes me smile, gag, wonder WTF?? laugh.

Please, brace yourself and click it for the larger version then add to my enjoyment of this pic and provide me with your best caption.

I love frozen...

I'm not sure why, but my fascination with ice worlds grows. The high Alps to the frozen worlds of our poles.

Today's interesting animal from the frozen world is the Weddell Seal. This amazing animal from the southern hemisphere lives further south than any other mammal and endures such a short life. Why?
Well, it's because they live in such extreme conditions that they have to use their powerful jaws and canine like teeth to eat holes in the pack ice to create a hole just to breath. The daily wearing of their teeth limits their usefulness and thus the seals have such a short life. The picture to the right shows one of these holes. You may even be able to see this Weddell's teeth marks in the solid ice. When pack ice stretches for hundreds of kilometers the only way you can grab a breath of air is to constantly battle the freezing ice around you.

They are timid animals and have very few (if any) natural predators. It is also the reason they remain in their harsh ice prisons. The ocean down there is their own. They can dive to amazing depths and hold their breath for well over an hour. As a diver, they truly amaze me. I one day would love to see one face to face.

The Annual Festival of Muzbot draws to a close...

And it's been a great week.

My sister and her husband have been visiting me for a few days. We had a great time visiting all my local fave places. We spent a great afternoon lazing around a park eating roast chicken sandwiches and had a good game of boule. We even managed to fit in a little tourist activity. My love for Chicken Wonton Noodle Soup grows and food courts down in Chinatown have not disappointed.

Yesterday was Australia Day. And to celebrate this, and the end of my birthday week, I had organised a mini pub crawl followed by a picnic by the harbour. It was a beautiful afternoon. A great bunch of mates turned up. It was a relaxing afternoon, everyone was in good spirits and we were in one of those little spots on Sydney Harbour that remind you that this is one special city. It was also one of those days where I realised that I have a couple of very special people in my life. So, thanks to all who came along, you helped top off a mighty good week.

WTF?

You'd think that a show containing acrobats, magicians, singers, dancers and musicians would be entertaining, right?

Last night I took my sister and her husband to the French performance "Au Revoir Parapluie". It promised to be a circus of entertainment, but you know what, I was just plain bored. Maybe I was expecting too much. But for me, it was just absurd. Watching performers twist their wrist and elbows into stupid positions and then throw themselves on the floor is not really my idea of entertainment. But credit where credit is due, the performers were good at throwing themselves on the floor. It was in one of my favourite venues, Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay, so that was a saviour.

So, after the show (which my Sister actually enjoyed, so that was a good thing) "The 38th annual Festival of the Muzbot" continued with a wander and pub crawl in The Rocks. Really, what else is there to do in The Rocks other than go to the pub? The Argyle was as beautiful as ever and rather busy for a school night. We managed to not let the night get out of hand and we were home a little after midnight, very tired after a great day.

It was a great day. I have to say that I was blown away by the many fantastic birthday wishes. There are some beautiful and special people in this world and I'm glad I know some of you.

Wednesday Haiku...

Coffee cups lined up in rows.
Another year passed.
Time for a special breakfast.

Intriguing...

BP1_6678.jpg
Originally uploaded by bartpogoda

Sometimes I come across a Flickr portfolio that truly arouses my curiosity. To me, this is photography at it's best. I don't understand how images like these are captured. The person behind the lens has to be one amazingly talented person.

If you have some time, and enjoy being transported away from your current room for a few moments, check out the rest of Bartek Pogoda's Flickr collection. Beautiful.

When you realise the world is lying to you...

what do you trust?

It's funny. Recently I found out that what I smell may not be what you smell. I have had this checked out and I know the reason for it. Until very recently I've actually been unaware of this. But, now suddenly I'm aware. Now suddenly I understand. And now that I know, I don't trust my own sense.

Now that I know that I may not be smelling something correct, I doubt myself.

I know it's very amusing. I smell sweet flowers, you smell something damp or wet. Now, I feel like I have to ask "Can you smell that? Does it smell like x to you?"

And sometimes I can't ask. Like tonight. I'm alone in my room and I can smell perfume. It's very distinct. Like someone is next to me. The window is open. It's just been raining outside and I'm wondering if it's the rain that smells like sweet perfume. I sit up and think to myself, what if it's smoke and I can't smell it. I reassure myself that I know what smoke smells like. But it's that stupid doubt that I never had before now that bugs me.

The past week I've been laughing about this mostly. But not tonight.

Wanderlust.

I can't help shake this feeling that I've been sitting in my tiny still pond for a few months and there's this big fresh lake on the other side just out of reach. Sadly, what I'm really lacking is patience. I want adventure NOW.

I'm actually already teetering on the edge of my next big challenge. The plans are in motion and I've been heading towards it for a couple of months now, but with each day passing it still doesn't seem to be getting any closer. I know it will. I know I only have 3 months more to wait. I also know it's going to be a good challenge for me.

I've been thinking about what I would like to do in the mean time. I've got heaps of dreams ideas. So what are my big 3 wanderlust destinations at the moment?

	Where: Diving the Silfra trench, Iceland. Why: The geology fascinates me. Diving in the crack between two super continents (Europe and America) would be amazing.
	Where: Trekking to the summit of Mt Blanc, France. Why: What a challenge. I've wanted to scale this peak for a little while now.
	Where: MotoGP Jerez, Spain Why: The finest motorcycles in the world. Plus it's at the bottom of Spain and close to Morocco, a place I've not been.

Wednesday haiku

Summer rain hits my cheek.
Smile creeps up my spotty face.
Dinners in my bag.

Well, there's a first time for everything...

Picture this: 8am Monday morning. Muzbot with his shirt off dancing on the dance floor at Arc.

Well, that scene played out as a very big weekend drew to a close.

And to today's advertising puzzle...

Below is a print ad for a chain of Fitness Clubs. What's your take on what the image below is all about?

Do you face book?

It's a great little internet application... if used correctly and within its purpose.
Or, are you one of those people that chase werewolves, bite zombies, hatch eggs, aquariums, gardens, secret crush links, "send this to 5 friends or your world will cave in" chain mail crap and have a collection of faces you really don't know... well, you might need to be a little careful.

Think about this from Wired this week:

Some Facebook users checking their accounts Wednesday found odd postings of messages on their "wall" from one of their friends, saying: "lol i can't believe these pics got posted.... it's going to be BADDDD when her boyfriend sees these," followed by what looks like a genuine Facebook link.

But the link leads to a fake Facebook login page hosted on a Chinese .cn domain. The fake page actually logs the victims into Facebook, but also keeps a copy of their user names and passwords.

You wouldn't even know your details were stolen because some tricky little code has also logged you back into Facebook. Ok, so that one might catch out some less than savvy users. Are you savvy? Do you add silly applications without checking them out? Maybe you have some little Facebook add-on like "someone thinks your hot" or "someone has a crush on you..."

As detailed by Fortinet, Zango is being distributed via "Secret Crush," an application that tells Facebook members that one of their friends has a crush on them and then leads users through a series of screens to find out more information. At one point, users are told that they must provide the names of five friends to continue.

Finally, Facebook members are taken to a page where they can download a "crush calculator" that's bundled with Zango's ad-serving software, which trails people as they surf the Web and serves them pop-up ads. That last page discloses that Zango will serve users ads based on the pages they visit online.

Here's my take... I've started researching these things. I added one to my Facebook and have been testing it. Some people really don't have any idea what information they're giving away for free.

As a manager of a team of developers, we've been looking closely at Facebook and developing some little Facebook applications for work which we will soon release online. Did you know that by adding just one of these little applications you'll be letting us in on a few little secrets? Oh, and we'll also know about your friends too.

Something is very wrong here...

but I don't think I should complain. Do you think there is such a thing as "smell blindness"?

Recently I was on a train and sat behind this chick who I thought smelled so sweet and very much like Frangipani. The other night Dave, Judo and I were coming back from the Meat and Wine Co and I could smell frangipani in Judo's car. Judo said that he had recently had the car cleaned so I thought that the smell was from some fragrance the cleaners may have put in the car. This smell, to me was strong. Very strong. But, both Judo and Dave couldn't smell it. I seriously thought they were just pulling my leg and pretending they couldn't smell it. We got out of the car, the smell went... until I got upstairs and sat at my computer. "I can still smell frangipani, Dave. Can you?" No.

I couldn't quite pinpoint where the smell was coming from, but as I bent down to take off my shoes I got a distinct whiff of frangipani again. This re-occurring smell was driving me insane... The next morning, as I went to put my shoes on for the walk to work, there it was. Frangipani. I'm now suspecting it's my shoes. My running shoes. My sweaty, rain soaked joggers were smelling sweet. How wrong is that?! I'm now convinced that my smell receptors have gone nuts.

Yesterday walking home past a construction site I got a distinct smell of chocolate coated honeycomb. Guess what it was... A big heap of excavated clay and soil. Dirt. Coffee still smells like coffee. Pepper still smells like pepper, but some smells don't smell like they SHOULD.

To finally test my theory that I've suddenly become "smell blind" (or mad) I walked up the the frangipani tree in my front yard and took a big sniff. What did I smell? Nothin'. Neutral. No sweet frangipani. Ah well, I guess it I should be happy that the flowers didn't smell like stinky shoes.

I'm loving this right now...

This is my fave tune at the moment. This song sends my mind to places that I sometimes never want to visit, and other times, well, it's just where I am.



The video origami is pretty impressive too.

- - - - - - - -

One of these things first
Artist: Nick Drake
I could have been a sailor, could have been a cook
A real live lover, could have been a book.
I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.
I could be
Here and now
I would be, I should be
But how?
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.

I could have been your pillar, could have been your door
I could have stayed beside you, could have stayed for more.
Could have been your statue, could have been your friend,
A whole long lifetime could have been the end.
I could be yours so true
I would be, I should be through and through
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.

I could have been a whistle, could have been a flute
A real live giver, could have been a boot.
I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.
I could be even here
I would be, I should be so near
I could have been
One of these things first
I could have been
One of these things first.

This Geocaching game sux...

or, more to the point, I suck at it.

In theory it sounds like great fun:

It's a global treasure hunt where you register online to play, login, read the clues, add the GPS location into your GPS, put on your walking shoes and head outside into the world and discover interesting places and history all over the land... and ultimately, find the Geocache and log your visit.

Dave and I went out a few weekends ago on a walk to find some of the local Nth Sydney Geocaches. Did we find any? Bzzzzt. NO. We did the same thing yesterday and even went to try and find the ones we hadn't found previously. I'm so crapat it. It really annoys me when I read the comments by others who have found these things and they say "Easy find, my 10th for the day!" or "I stood back and there it was, an easy find". Maybe I'm just not geeky enough for this game.

But as with all Geocaching outings I did find something. I've found parks and places that I never knew existed. Some of them are tiny little gems tucked away in the urban mass. One like the above. This is Sawmiller's Reserve. It even has a ship wreck on it's banks. This spot is very beautiful. There's a "tree house" structure for kids and you can even bring the dogs. And what a view. "A nice spot for a get-together" I thought.

Hmmm... So, here's my plan: I'm going to open up my birthday invitation to all bloggers and readers to come along to meet up and have a picnic on Australia day. Details will follow.

Countdown?

My header will change every day for the next 20 days.

Here's a great link:
http://www.panoramas.dk/New-Year-2008/index.html
Check out Sydney. It was a beautiful night.

I'd never want to come across as preachy, but...

it would be great if every household would watch at least one episode of this show:
Carbon Cops.

I've really debated with myself about posting this, but I'm one of those people who think. This TV show really is fascinating and is actually useful TV. It's frank.

The episode tonight showed how one household had reduced their emissions by just over 50%*. Over a year, this saved them close to $200 a week. They were a family of 4 adults. Ok, sure they were very excessive (5 refrigerators!), but in principle, they were like my family and each one of them individually was like me... a consumer.

This world I live in has many problems. Many that seem so distant to me. If you heed some advice about this stuff, then you really will make a difference. A difference to what? That's a question that only you can answer... if you think about it too.


*note: I calculated my personal carbon emissions earlier last year and this is not new to me, it is interesting to me. I just would love others to take a moment to think or just be aware of this too. Have you? I'm inviting comments on this and for you to share with me your thoughts.

Preachy blog over, normal blogging will return soon.