Expat@Large

Power Of Prayer (Thought Mediated Reality can bite me)

Wed, 14 May 2008 23:17:36 GMT

"I'm a bit distracted, darling sister," I said on the phone last night. "I can't find the bloody charger for my camera battery!" I was trying to fit 12 days of clothes into my 5 day suitcase and it wasn't going to work, without or without the added space taken up by the missing charger. The big suitacase is an el-Cheapo brand (i.e. not Samsonite) and is crapaceously difficult to close and lock. I'd been on the phone and email trying to sort out my Libyan...

Cairo Australian Embassy, Ya Gotta Love 'Em!

Wed, 14 May 2008 23:12:10 GMT

They do a translation service and passport stamping on the spot for Libyan requirements. Minimal bureacracy. "Gisya passport, mate..." scribble scribble... "there ya go, mate! No probs, eh?" Problem solved, except how to pay the taxi driver to get back to the hotel. In this 37degree heat I ain't walking! E@L

To Libya Or Not To Libya

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:05:15 GMT

I'm supposed to be going to Egypt tonight. To stay there for three days and then go to Libya, stay there for three days and then come home via Cairo. Only I was planning on staying in Cairo for an extra three days to see the pyramids and the Cairo museum, and have coffee at some place recommended by Savannah. ~~~ We were only informed on Friday afternoon (not "reminded" as the email said) that I need an Arabic translation of the front page of my passport to get...

CSS Is A Shit To Sort Out

Sun, 11 May 2008 22:01:09 GMT
Now that I have recovered my FTP software (i.e. paid for it, I'm no cheapskate!), I can edit my site again. I decided to place the left side-panel on the single comment page, just to further slow down the site for all of you. Basically, I wanted it so that people who went to a specific entry from their RSS feed would get the same experience as those who log-on the main page. Lucky them. While I was doing that, I found a heap of errors in my Cascading Style Sheet... well, Dreamweaver...

E@L's Do Nothing Saturday

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:36:38 GMT
As E@L's mojo is at an all-time low and he has no sex-life at all, what is there to blog about? His --- Sporting Life (the painful reminders of): The carapace grows ineluctably over the metmorphosing body of E@L, awoken from a sleep of unquiet dreams, feels as stiff as an insect. All sort of birds had been fleeing at the approach of his limping, aching dream-body as he tries to toss (ow!), tries to turn (ouch!) in his sleep. Eagles , albatrosses, birdies of...

Burma Cyclone - Some Advice

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:19:11 GMT
Everyone is criticising the Burma regime over the delay at getting aid and assistance sorted after the devestation and massive death toll, but who CAN work things out quickly and effectively in such overwhelming circumstances? However, one thing to be sure of: don't ask the Americans to help - look at the way FEMA and the Fed Govt they stuffed around after Hurricane Katrina. (From an ABC Radio [Australia] talkback.) E@L

2 "Meme"s

Wed, 07 May 2008 08:08:13 GMT
My blogging has sunk to these depths... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From Savmarshmama: Put your iPod (or iRiver) on shuffle (unless it is an early version iPod, one that doesn't have shuffle) and press next for each question. Write down the song that's playing as an answer. 1) How would you describe yourself? Are You In? - Incubus. (No laughter please, no woman has ever said this to me!) 2)...

The E@L And The Ant

Sat, 03 May 2008 00:21:26 GMT

The captain opened the mouth of the sack; it looked as if it contained garden loam or chemical manure, but he put his arm in and brought out a handful of what seemed to be coffee grounds and let this trickle into his other hand; they were dead ants, a soft red-black sand of dead ants all rolled up in tight little balls, reduced to spots in which one could no longer distinguish the head from the legs. They gave out a pungent acid smell. In the house there were...

Missing Fingertip Grows Media Support System

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:54:08 GMT
The Pixie Dust story in which the guy probably made a fortune from selling to gullible journalists and editors is nicely debunked by the excellent Ben Goodacre at Bad Science. This isn't a genuinely significant medical event - the bloke has reconstituted a coupla millimetres of tissue, max, including what looks like a pin-hole fistula - it's all quite normal. Hardly an entire FINGER. Check the photo again, all...

Irreligious Intolerance

Thu, 01 May 2008 20:08:46 GMT
An atheist claims religious harrassment in the US Army... (from Creepy) It's like the old line about the Pilgrim Fathers - they left Europe to seek the religious freedom to be as narrowminded and intolerant as they damn well could be! To me, it's just another reminder how different things are in The...