tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187542102024-06-03T12:06:04.504+10:00Seeing life from a different angle.elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1141178931777012162006-03-01T12:59:00.000+11:002006-03-01T16:36:38.690+11:00

... and see if it doesn't increase my visibilty. Y'see, I'm been working on a project with a male co-worker, and despite that fact that we've pretty much split the design work and I've done the lion's share of the coding (while he was equally busy with database and hardware configuration), people keep approaching him to talk about the work. I don't mind when they talk to him about the database

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com82tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1140325540349325182006-02-19T16:00:00.000+11:002006-02-22T15:32:04.650+11:00

It's that time of year again, and the oak trees in Canberra are dropping their acorns. I crunch them while walking across the back patio. Occasionally I slip on the roly-poly hard round objects that dig uncomfortably into my bare feet. Oaks are only one of Australia's many imports, and, despite my inconvenience, one of the less pernicious ones.The first year I moved here I thought the local oaks

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1139309761972861452006-02-07T21:11:00.000+11:002006-02-09T00:38:57.553+11:00

A couple of items have caught my attention recently and I wanted to share them.First, a new online friend, Adam Philips, whose flash animation cartoons are wonderful. His character, Bitey of Brackenwood, has been winning prizes. Well deserved, too!Second, we saw Henry Rollins' spoken word tour the other night. I've seen him a number of times over the year, and what always impresses and

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1136592673265960202006-01-07T11:00:00.000+11:002006-01-07T11:15:33.100+11:00

Shane pointed me to a couple of live journal articles, which are very funny.A disturbing thought about "intelligent design"So, I was just telling my parents about my Octopus/Inteligent Design theory...

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1136591309989545472006-01-07T10:41:00.000+11:002006-01-07T11:14:11.196+11:00

I was being too politic yesterday when I wrote "I don't know what to say about Ariel Sharon". I actually have this to say: for many years I considered him a war criminal and a hard-liner who stood in the way of peace. I don't think we can rewrite a man's life just because his policies may have changed in the 11th hour.I'm convinced that any moves on Sharon's part towards peace (or, towards

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1136517151932984292006-01-06T14:01:00.000+11:002006-01-06T14:52:19.300+11:00

I really don't know what to say about Ariel Sharon and his declining health. I don't have much of anything to add to the already extensive discussion on Israeli / Palestine. Personally, I support having two free democratic societies, side by side, supporting one another, helping each other, old emnities buried. Nothing else makes sense. And I'm frustrated that it seems such a lo-o-o-ng way

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1136285322885151162006-01-03T21:20:00.000+11:002006-01-03T21:48:42.933+11:00

"Pirates Cause Global Warming". According to Pasta-farians (see Wikipedia on Flying Spaghetti Monsterism), Global warming and other natural disasters are a direct consequence of the decline in the numbers of pirates since the 1800s. Similarly, The Sydney Morning Herald printed an article today claiming that:Having an abortion as a young woman raises the risk of developing later mental health

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1136097504021799042006-01-01T17:31:00.000+11:002006-01-01T18:00:31.620+11:00

The temperature outdoors reached 40 about an hour ago today, and with high winds, this means extreme fire danger. I thought the winds would bring a surcease to the heat, but rather than delivering a thunderstorm, they simply increase the change of random lightning. There is now a total fire ban in Canberra. We haven't yet heard any news about local bushfires, but we can smell them. The sunlight

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1136078103773712502006-01-01T09:58:00.000+11:002006-01-01T19:31:20.950+11:00

Last night when we went to bed (4:39 AM, 1 January, 2006, Australian Eastern Daylight Time, GMT+11), the house had finally cooled down to a civilised 27 degrees. This morning, four hours later, it's back up to an uncomfortable 28 (80 and 82 F, for those who haven't shifted to metric). I'm struck by my subjectivity; that not only is such a slight difference even perceptable, but it can completely

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1134803044996318172005-12-17T17:56:00.000+11:002005-12-18T11:15:32.653+11:00

Non-political postLife is fragile. I am moved by any reminder that the "affairs of men" will eventually wash away and all that will be left is what there was before us (caveat: unless we destroy it all first. I hang on to the vaguely comforting notion that we are the fragile ones and Gaia will eventually generate new life everywhere we've left a niche.) Our sense of self-importance is always

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1134533742701515872005-12-14T13:41:00.000+11:002005-12-15T01:06:59.660+11:00

(This is my response to some of the comments on my friend Chris Clarke's blog, where Chris published a poem and people debated the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the former Crip game leader cum Nobel peace Prize nominee.) I've noticed this before with executions: the media will show "both sides" of the debate and invariably include relatives of the victim(s) expressing their belief that

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1134441506931233942005-12-13T13:26:00.000+11:002005-12-13T18:16:36.570+11:00

Another day, another race-related incident in Sydney's Cronulla beach community. On Sunday, locals, fed up with gangs of young Lebanese men ("Lebs") invading their beaches, insulting their girls and omigod beating up their lifeguards, fought back. They took to the beach, cooked up some snags, opened some bottles of brew, waved the flag and had a party. The skinheads showed up. And violence

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1134165203226060202005-12-10T07:35:00.000+11:002005-12-11T01:53:11.556+11:00

You know those people who blame mass media for our cultural ills? I'm referring to those who blame drug abuse, teen murder sprees, etc etc on today's movies, music or video games. I'm willing to compromise: I won't blame these important issues on anyone's vision or artistic expression (meaning: music, movies, even video games). However, I'm more than happy to blame advertisement:I've just

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com77tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1134042945511851712005-12-08T21:28:00.000+11:002005-12-08T22:55:45.563+11:00

By this point in time, some of my friends have expressed their ambivalence about Singapore's hanging of Ngyuen tuong Van last week (he was convicted of heroin smuggling). Their argument is sound: they personally don't feel one way or the other about Nguyen himself, and they don't necessarily agree that Australia should interfere with Singapore's handling of the crime committed on their turf.And

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1133505729222970502005-12-02T17:35:00.000+11:002005-12-02T17:42:09.530+11:00

From Mike Niman's Republican Thanksgiving:[Republicans] in the Senate voting themselves, and the other 14 million people comprising America’s richest classes, a fat new $60 billion tax cut. This on top of the previous Bush tax cuts that, along with the astronomical costs of the Iraq war, have plunged the federal government into virtual bankruptcy.As has been the case since 1980 when George Bush

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132810190545124182005-11-30T20:15:00.000+11:002005-11-30T22:52:45.356+11:00

I've been reading about Peak Oil lately and I was considering the incredibly fast growth of technology over the past century completely due to this cheap, seemingly unlimited resource (which is quickly running out). At one time, the Energy Rate on Energy Invested (EROEI) for oil was 30:1. In other words, for the energy cost of 1 barrel, you could get 30 barrels back. That number is now down

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132810466818745772005-11-28T23:50:00.000+11:002005-11-29T01:14:15.780+11:00

I'm unhappy about the Australian ninemsn site's poll today: "Will you boycott Singapore to protest against Nguyen's execution?" One reason I was upset was that I don't want to think that Nguyen's upcoming death is a foregone conclusion. I'm hoping for an (albeit unlikely) eleventh hour reprieve. I was also upset because the no votes were more than twice the yes votes. Nguyen Tuong Van is an

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132810037695414342005-11-26T12:51:00.000+11:002005-11-28T18:46:35.256+11:00

This occured about a year ago, but I didn't hear about it until recently, and I find it worth talking about. By now, you've probably all heard about John Sylvester, the program director and morning personality on WTDY-AM in Madison, who, around a year ago, referred to Dr. Condoleeza Rice as "Aunt Jemima" (implying that Rice was chosen for the Secretary of State position because she'd be

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132641846750319962005-11-24T22:55:00.000+11:002005-11-28T19:32:35.076+11:00

There's a lot I want to say about racism, maybe too much. It gets really confusing, and it's such a broad topic. First thing, though, is this: racism - bad. Working on one's issues - good. Making a better world for people - good. Being honest about one's own internal attitudes, even when it's embarrassing or painful - that's good.For starters, I'm white (unless you're an Aryan, in which case

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132626027323691342005-11-22T13:02:00.000+11:002005-11-24T23:33:03.323+11:00

In an interesting paradoxical article in the NY Times, Dick Cheney is quoted thus:"I do not believe it is wrong to criticize the war on terror or any aspect thereof," Mr. Cheney said in an appearance before the American Enterprise Institute here. "Disagreements, arguments and debate are the essence of democracy, and none of us should want it any other way."The vice president said "energetic

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132571306338379192005-11-21T20:57:00.000+11:002005-11-30T15:13:21.416+11:00

A few friends asked me about my earlier post, A Quick Poem on Intelligent Design. In general, the evolution/creation/intelligent design debate has nuances that a lot of people aren't familiar with. Evolutionary theory is a passion of mine, and I was involved for several years in a number of online evolution/creation debates. I was the geek girl in nursery school, aged 4, who didn't want to be a

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com75tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132472453892497412005-11-20T18:30:00.000+11:002005-11-20T18:44:42.100+11:00

My dog's pretty cute. We had a Thanksgiving party yesterday, and after we all moved to the other end of the house and were hanging out, she started to act all antsy and attention-getty. We have a command, "show me", in which she leads us to what she's wanting us to pay attention to. So, I follow her back down to the rumpus room, where we've already done a bit of cleanup, including tossing

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132319957884354442005-11-18T21:49:00.000+11:002005-11-19T00:19:17.936+11:00

The first year we were here in Australia, we celebrated Thanksgiving, because, frankly, I like the holiday. It's a good opportunity to feast and to celebrate being with friends and family. Since there isn't a similar holiday in Australia, we decided to expand upon it, and to celebrate what is important in our lives and what we're grateful for. While this might be the original intent behind

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1131960348989021072005-11-17T23:45:00.000+11:002005-11-18T10:47:35.636+11:00

I lied to you. And I had told myself I wouldn't. I'm convinced that connectedness is one of the very few things in life that really matter. And honesty, complete honesty is the only way to get that type of connectedness. I grew up in a subculture (middle class) that avoided intimacy, but I thought that was behind me.And then in spite of all that, I got embarrassed and I didn't want to expose

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18754210.post-1132053808869809102005-11-15T22:55:00.000+11:002005-11-15T22:49:26.833+11:00

When I was a kid, we had a house. My dad, a CPA, paid for the mortgage over time. My mom went back to work when I was 8, and with the extra income, they paid for vacations, invested, saved to send their kids to school. As far as I can recall, there was never anything we really wanted that we couldn't afford.When I was 18, I moved out, and, passing up the opportunity to go to uni, I supported

elissafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16054208646061332910noreply@blogger.com0