Thoughts are like fishes

The grass is always greener

For some reason the Facebook profile I set up for work gets more saucy friend requests than the one I actually use.

Poetry

This board changes you.

You can become light more stylish than whom.

Everyone accepts this fact.

You will also challenge early.

Flooded street

We had a downpour yesterday that put big puddles in our backyard, local park and at the end of our street.

This record

Great cover art. Obviously a very cool record.

Droughts and flooded drains

The park at the end of our street flooded today. While taking the kids to have a look, they were attracted to the snails that were making the most of the rain.

They liked the snails so much I joked to my partner that it was as if they'd never seen them before. She pointed out that they hadn't seen many snails, through drought and where we've been living.

The kids brought home snails and gave them names and thought they were pets.

Two tweets on the internet

These blue birds remind me of the Twitter logo, so the crocodile reminded me of the internet. Two tweets and you can be eaten.

Mock story

A mock story on a mocking news website?

Some more here

This photo is from my last locust plague, it was 2008. I was surprised when they first hatched because you could see a group of them hopping across the ground but not really identify what it was. Like the dirt was shifting in places.

This year's locusts started arriving in Leeton on the weekend. I was walking to the collect my newspapers when a bird dived on one near me.

Locust numbers have been increasing but nothing like the photograph below from BoingBoing.net

Join the dots

I'm wondering if my kids would recognise this as a telephone.

I suppose it still looks like one from an old movie.

Basin Plan graphic design

There doesn't seem to be a credit for the design of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority's first volume of the Basin Plan but I believe the graphic designer has done a remarkable job because the proposed Plan will tear stripes off regional communities. Just like what's shown on the cover.

Another curious review

Another fine fuck-up in Sydney Morning Herald's Spectrum section. Cee Lo's expression in the photo seems apt.

This was the last wordless album review I saw.

Under the boardwalk's spell

Had a walk around the National Botanic Gardens today. I've spent a lot of time there over the years, my mum loves it and my partner does too.

If you plan to take kids there, it's important to pack spare clothes. Last time we went my three-year old fell into a stream, today my toddler had barely left the car park when he tumbled into a pond.

One addition I noticed today was a bunch of water monitors, who posed for many photos.

Anyway, one of the things I was musing on while strolling through the rainforest on a raised platform is the appeal of boardwalks. I wondered if part of their appeal is the way they let you walk on water.

Playing a fairy

Sharkboy lost his first tooth today.

Tonight will be my first experience as a tooth fairy.

120 Days of Simon

Simon Gärdenfors is a Swedish cartoonist/rapper who undertakes to spend four months couch-surfing and document the result. It took maybe an hour to read and I really enjoyed 120 Days of Simon.

The graphic novel format suits the Kevin Smith-esque narrative. Gärdenfors' gonzo reporting is totally understated by the Astro Boy-style visuals though, it ain't for kids.

Geesed lightning

A visit to Mountford Park

The prolific Biffles

One of the bird hides at Fivebough Swamp has had a visit from Biffles, who is nothing but prolific in signing his name. Aside from these tags, there were a couple of black swans courting there today.

Car harp

During a weekend remembering my love of aeolian harps I was reminded of this awesome work by Lily Gottlieb-Mchale. Her website says the strings are miked and the sound is transmitted through the car radio.

First to 25,000 views

Would you believe that while I was in Cootamundra last weekend my video of an aeolian harp starting up clocked over 25,000 views? That's a personal milestone.

Basin Plan consultation in Griffith

My most popular photograph

Apparently this is the most popular photograph on my blogs.

I guess that around one thousand people have seen it.

It was part of my 2007 exhibition First Three Songs No Flash.

Sprang

Over the past fortnight or so this jasmine bush sprang into spring.

Shit surveillance

Big brother is watching poo!

Influenza

This week I've been suffering a remarkable strain of influenza.

Normally I wouldn't blog about sickness but the series of symptoms has been something else. Since I've seen people post about pills they've taken or meals they've eaten, I thought I should share this experience.

Previously my family had been sick with this 'flu and I'd been surprised at the varying complaints. There were temperatures ranging from cold shivers to hot sweats, headaches but also sore legs. Sure enough, I found myself unable to sleep because of pain in my thighs early on in the week.

I've been gobbling painkillers at close to the maximum dosages all week and staying in bed. Although, the latter hasn't been difficult because the fatigue is such that I can't stay upright for more than a few hours.

There's also been a head cold and a nagging cough, which weren't too bad at first but now a vice-like headache means they trigger a fairly intense pain throughout my skull.

I'm looking forward to it being over but it's been a helluva ride.

Wireless broadband is a joke

Despite being the fastest growing internet access technology according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), I reckon mobile wireless broadband is a joke.

You can see here the meagre three kilobytes per second my service was providing this morning for around four hours. I don't think it's fair to call anything less than 100kb/sec broadband, a figure I've only seen my service with Vodafone achieve at odd hours in the early morning.

I'd try Telstra but they're too expensive.

Sharkboy

Occy seems to be getting a second set of teeth popping up behind his baby teeth.

I imagine this could be his mutant superpower, shark-like rows of teeth. He'll be known in the X-Men for his dazzling and potentially deadly smile.

And the hours spent in the bathroom each night brushing and flossing.

Thoughts are like fishes

The grass is always greener

WTF Google News?

Poetry

Praying mantis

Pathology must be crap

Flooded street

Extra strong knob

Top 10 posts in 2010