Halloween and vale Camilla

Today is Halloween which is not celebrated in Australia. My human said that he did see Lola who guards the entrance at K-Mart dressed as a witch with a bucket of lollies.

I think it would be fun to play cat tricks.

My dear kitty friend and spiritual cat sister, Camilla from Palm Coast, Florida USA passed away on 27 October. This year has not been a good year for my older kitty friends and I am devastated and at a loss. When I informed my human he cried and cried (he was also very fond of her).

Camilla was a wonderful and smart cat. I am honoured to have been her friend. She will be so missed. Rest well Camilla, and enjoy your wings.

Camilla's family also celebrated the birth on 25 October of a newborn boy called Jack. Congratulations to the family.

Camilla enjoyed travelling on a plane





with Shamus her doggy brother

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My human came home from work very early today in the afternoon and my other human also came to visit me before he departed. Not only that, I also ate my dinner very early, twice. And I had a bit of cheese this morning and afternoon. Woohoo!

National School Chaplaincy Program

Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced a $90 million program over three years to fund chaplains in schools to provide grief counselling and spiritual guidance to students.

To this, I have a quote:

Section 116 of the Australian Constitution

Commonwealth not to legislate in respect of religion

The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

Australia is a secular state. What this government is doing is 'Christianising' young people by stealth. Grief counselling can be provided by counsellors with psychology training. It is not the role of the state to fund spiritual guidance as that should be a private matter between the individual, their parents and their church, temple, mosque etc.

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I ate my dinner tonight. My human is celebrating.

Vegemite update

My human emailed the FDA asking about the Vegemite ban. This is the response:
The controversy centers on folate, an ingredient in Vegemite.
Under US regulations, folate can be added only to breads and cereals.
"One of the Vitamin B components (in Vegemite) is folate," "In and of itself, it's not a violation. If they're adding folate to it, boosting it up, technically it would be a violation.
"But the FDA has not targeted it and I don't think we intend to target Vegemite simply because of that."

Jeannine Ertter-Prego
Senior Consumer Affairs Specialist
Office of Food Safety, Defense and Outreach Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

A direct quote from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spokesman Mike Herndon.

See - Herald Sun of 25 October 2006

The sigh of relief from the many Australian expats in the US is just about audible across the Pacific.

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I had a very good day today. My other human who used to live here came over in the afternoon to visit me and gave me lots of cuddles and a nice brush of my fur. Later on, Devi then Nell and Declan came over. I laid on Nell and Declan's lap for a little while too. Then the humans had baked chicken (in a soy, marmalade and preserved lemon marinade) with mashed potato and broccoli. Then they had a lemon tart which my other human had made earlier in the afternoon.

I didn't feel like eating tonight. I am still full from yesterday.

vampires and zombies don't exist... or do they?

We have a lot of vampire and zombie movies at my house. And the entire Anne Rice collection of books starting with Interview with a Vampire, then some more.

Now an academic, Costas Efthimiou, a physics professor at the University of Central Florida, has decided to publicly decree that vampires, zombies and even ghosts cannot exist.

See - Sci-Tech Today of 27 October 2006

Efthimiou takes out the calculator to prove that if a vampire sucked one person's blood each month -- turning each victim into an equally hungry vampire -- after a couple of years there would be no people left, just vampires. He started his calculations with just one vampire and 537 million humans on Jan. 1, 1600 and shows that the human population would be down to zero by July 1602.

Hello? That doesn't disprove the existence of vampires. What about blood banks, or little drinks? Animal blood? Efthimiou also makes the assumption that each victim gets turned into another vampire. Not so, according to all the movies and books out there.

Be afraid, be very afraid...

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I convinced my human to make today a do nothing day, except of course when he hung out the washing and let me check out my realm.

I also ate lots today. I didn't feel like breakfast but by dinner time I was starving and had three helpings. Why my human's happiness is premised on whether I have consumed a meal is beyond my comprehension.

random footy pic

round 12, 2006 - Shermo, off the left foot

Paris Syndrome

Japanese tourists do have romantic notions of Paris. Why else would some develop psychosis when the reality of Paris doesn't quite meet their expectations?

See - Reuters

Maybe they could be prescribed a reality check.

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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I had a better day today with my eating. I had chicken for breakfast and some small pieces of cheese.

I have been very spoilt the last few days with visitors. Bobby and Neil came over tonight for a simple lamb chop and mash dinner (no lamb for me, but I did eat my chicken) and to watch The Hills have Eyes remake. It was a horrid film, but I got to lay on Bobby's lap for ages.

global corners

Since when did spheres have corners?

When someone says or writes 'four corners of the globe', where exactly are these corners?

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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I didn't feel like eating my chicken this morning. But when my human made his sandwich for lunch with leftover steak (sliced thinly) with horseradish, sliced cucumber and cold mashed p0tato, I insisted on my share. So I ate a few small morsels.

This afternoon, Jack's human Malgosia came over to visit (Jack is a dog). Then Nina's human Deb Deb came over (Nina is a Russian Blue). I enjoyed sitting on their laps and eating some corn chips and a bit of cheese.

After they left, I had a small amount of my chicken for dinner, but not enough to keep my human happy. Unfortunately I don't think I will be given beef again as my human had to clean my butt tonight. Oh dear.

Bizet

Oh my goodness, I haven't written about a composer for a long time.

So I'm going to write about Georges Bizet. He was born on 25 October 1838 (happy birthday) and died on 3 June 1875 (he was quite young).



Bizet's best known opera is Carmen. Most people know Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre which is also known as the Toreador song, and the Habanera.

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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I didn't feel well today. I stayed in bed when my human got up, but did get up after he had his shower. I didn't feel like eating and went back to sleep on the couch in my round soft basket-bed.

This evening, Emily came over for a T-bone steak dinner. I didn't even get excited smelling beef cooking, though I enjoyed lying on Emily's lap while she and my human watched Tripping Over on TV (which is a British-Australian co-production). Just not hungry.

I hope I feel better tomorrow.

Whales - part 4

Commercial whaling has been banned since 1985, even though Japan kills whales and pretends that it is for 'scientific research'.

Iceland decided they'd resume commercial whaling, violating the ban. Their first victim was an endangered Fin whale.

See - BBC News


Hvalfjordur, Iceland

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Nothing much happened today unless you count napping and eating.

The 1956 Hungarian Uprising

50 years ago, Hungary very nearly shook off the yoke of communist rule and Soviet influence.

On 23 October 1956, a bunch of students started a demonstration which eventually turned into a nationwide uprising. The government fell. It was a revolution, but eventually was crushed by Soviet forces.


Hungarians inspecting a captured tank


Soviet tanks returning to Budapest

A month later at the Melbourne Olympics, a water polo match between the USSR and Hungary turned into a grudge match, which the Hungarian side won.


Ervin Zador

See - Wikipedia (a good and well referenced entry)

Many Hungarians fled and became refugees. 14,000 came to live in Australia.

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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My human stayed home with me today. Woohoo! He had worked up enough hours to take today off work. Unfortunately he spent most of the day doing chores such as cleaning the floor and tidying up.

Thankfully he decided to join me for a quick power cat nap on the couch at midday (around 40 minutes). Also great was the nice long brush of my fur.

the Vegemite scandal

The US FDA has banned Vegemite imports to the US. Never mind that it is made by Kraft which is an American company.

This is an absolute outrage. There are now kitties and humans throughout the US being deprived.

I love my bits of vegemite on toast, but only when my human has it for breakfast and he cuts off pieces for me.

I call upon all who read this to write to the FDA and demand an explanation from them.

Link to send a message - FDA


me with a Jar of Vegemite

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was a really strange day. Early this morning, Couscous' human Anaree came over and my human left with her. Then my human came home in the mid afternoon with Merlin's humans Kim and Jordan who stayed only for a few minutes.

It seems my human went on a walk. When he came back he laid on the couch and then fell asleep cuddling me. Perfect.

water water everywhere...

Water, water every where
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water every where,
Ne any drop to drink.

The passage is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 - 25 July 1834) in Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

The Rime is one of the best ballads. You can read the rest - here.

Here is another cool passage -
The Ice was here, the Ice was there,
The Ice was all around:
It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd--
Like noises of a swound.

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Oh dear, this morning after I did my poo, my human had to clean my fur again, so that means no more steak. Not only that, just as I returned inside I also hocked up a fur ball.

I went outside briefly when my human hung out the washing this morning. It has also been a cold day (cloudy and around 17 degrees Celsius), so I convinced my human to keep warm with me on the couch. It was great as we also had an afternoon nap.

My human cooked another steak for dinner and I begged and carried on, but he said no. Not happy.

random footy pic

Daniel Bradshaw taking a mark in the pack in round 13, 2003

censorship and totalitarianism

A healthy democracy allows dissent and the expression of alternate political views.

A dictatorship suppresses dissent and jails dissidents.

A totalitarian regime of a one-party state recently banned an international economic magazine because it criticised the regime.

According to this country, the media should play no part in the internal politics of a country.

You can read all about it - here

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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The fresh fish dinner from last night didn't agree with me and I didn't feel like eating this morning. My human also had to clean my butt after I went this morning. Dang, no more fresh fish.

I was back to cooked chicken for dinner which I ate tonight. Then my human decided to have an early evening nap, so I cuddled up to him. He woke up just in time as we nearly missed the return of Smallville. And typically of the networks in Australia, it continued the rest of season four - Onyx and Spirit.

My human also cooked a steak for dinner, which I haven't smelt for a long time, so I begged and carried on whining and crying until he relented and gave me a few small pieces.

the latest celebrity fad

The latest celebrity fad

Could it be a new brand of fancy bottled water?

Is it a religious cult which demands payment of a lot of money that only celebrities can afford?

Is it jumping on the environment bandwagon without making a personal effort to practice what they preach?

No, the latest fad is having/adopting an African child.

The celebrity world has come a long way since 'We are the world' by USA for Africa, and 'Do they know it's Christmas?' by Band Aid just over 20 years ago.

Singing songs and raising money for Ethiopian famine relief is one thing, giving birth to your own child in Namibia is another thing, and so on.

Adopting a poor African child to live in the lap of luxury. Now that is really helping and should make a huge difference.


the rich white celebrity says: "this one doesn't quite match my curtains"

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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I didn't eat yesterday or this morning, so my human decided to go to the markets after work to get me a treat.

Did he get a bargain for me. He told me that the fish tails (the tail end of a fish without the actual tail) was going for $14.99 a kilo, so he picked two that he knew were coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus), a grouper. After he had got it weighed, the shop owner made a fuss and removed the other tails and put them in with the fillets at $34.99 a kilo. Of course, my human acted dumb. He knows good fish when he sees it. So he bought good fish at a good price.

So tonight I had poached fresh fish for dinner. Woohoo!

Pyramid of Peace

I've previously written about interesting buildings.

The Pyramid of Peace which opened last month in the Republic of Kazakhstan is quite astounding. It was designed by Foster + Partners (who are well know for their 'gherkin' in London, and the top of the Reichstag in Berlin).

The pyramid is 62 metres high with a base of 62 metres by 62 metres.

See - Foster + Partners - Palace of Peace and Reconciliation (for pics)

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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This morning I tried to get my human to stay home with me. I wanted him to play chase or ball with me, but he decided to go to work anyway.

Tonight, Emily came over for lamb curry and I had lots of lap time with her.

I didn't feel like dinner tonight, but I've eaten lots over the last two days.

Arrest of Leader of Al-Gebra Movement

For Immediate Release
October 17 , 2006

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

Director Mueller Announces Arrest of Leader of Al-Gebra Movement

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, today announced the arrest of a man alleged to be the leader of the Al-Gebra Movement.

The man, who has not been identified, worked as a public school teacher and was arrested at JFK airport as he attempted to board a flight.

He was found to have in his possession a ruler, protractor, set square, slide rule, and a calculator, items clearly identifying the man's involvement with Al-Gebra. He has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-Gebra is a problem for us," Director Mueller said.

"It desires solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes it goes off on tangents in a search of absolute values.

"It uses secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to itself as 'unknown' but we have determined that the organisation belongs to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

"As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ' There are 3 sides to every triangle.' "

When President Bush was informed of the arrest, he said, "If God had wanted us to have better Weapons of Math Instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."

# # #

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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My human came home from work an hour earlier today. I thought that meant an early dinner, but no. My human had to cook the chicken legs first. So I had to wait. How rude and disorganised.

World Food Day

Today was World Food Day, so I was expecting a big feast for dinner of all my favourite foods:
- chicken
- rare rump steak
- rare roast lamb
- ham
- cheese
- bacon
- potato chips
- vegemite on toast

Unfortunately, my human corrected my misconception of World Food Day and all I had for dinner was chicken, but I was hungry and ate a double portion. He also gave me a bit of his bacon from his dinner, but I was too full to have another. Sneaky feeding me first before he cooked bacon. Just as well I had bits of cheese and ham this morning.

Anyway, World Food Day is observed by member countries of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) to raise awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger.

See - FAO World Food Day

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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I've already mentioned what I ate today. Nothing else is important.

Saturn by Cassini-Huygens

Nine years ago (on 15 October 1997), a spacecraft comprising the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe was launched from Cape Canaveral bound for Saturn.

On 1 July 2004, Cassini arrived at Saturn. On 24 December 2004, the Huygens probe detached from Cassini and lands on the moon Titan on 14 January 2005.

Just a few days ago, NASA reported that Saturn's moons may be creating new rings:
Cassini scientists are on the trail of the missing moons of Saturn. A recent observation by the spacecraft leads them to believe that they will find the moons near newly discovered rings around the planet.

During an unprecedented opportunity, with the sun poised behind Saturn, Cassini scientists discovered two new rings and confirmed the presence of two others. The new rings are associated with one or more small moons and share their orbits with the moons, while scientists suspect a moon is lurking near a third ring.

You can read more - here


Saturn's rings


Saturn's rings enhanced

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was another great day. My human wanted to do chores, but I convinced him to stay with me on the couch. We watched Cabin Fever which was kinda scarey.

Afterwards, I thought my human would have a nap together with me, but no, he decided to clean the floor. In between, he did give me a big brush though which was great.

Tonight, I ate lots of cooked chicken for dinner, so my human is a little relieved.

Tonight, we are also watching Operatunity Oz on TV.

Kofi Annan tells his successor to have fun

In his remarks in the United Nations General Assembly on the appointment of Mr Ban Ki-moon as the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan said to Mr Ban,
...As you ready yourself to take over, I wish you both strength and courage. You will need those attributes but, equally, you will need a healthy sense of humour -- which I know you possess in abundance. So don’t forget to have fun along the way...

See -
SG/SM/10683
GA/10515



Hmmm... let's hope that Mr Ban can diffuse the North Korean situation with his sense of humour and Kim Jong Il laughs at his jokes.

For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was a great day, although I have been on a hunger strike all day. I am tired of chicken.

After waiting patiently, I had some time outside when my human hung out the washing. My human carried me back inside though, as he claimed it was too warm for me to stay outside.

In the early afternoon Devi came over and went out with my human. They came back soon after and my human bought me a new water bowl for the deck. I tried to sit on Devi's lap but surprised her with my stealth and she screamed, so I went out to my deck to sulk. Meanwhile she and my human drank beer and ate potato chips. Hmmppphhhh...

After she left, my human and I had a great late afternoon nap on the couch.

Iron Chef is a very silly show. Why is the Japanese talking dubbed over? Why is the result always in favour of an iron chef? Why have a 'competition' when the end result is rigged?

Friday 13th... October, also Borat's birthday

Today was Friday the thirteenth. Woo! Scarey.

Today was also the 35th birthday of Sacha Baron Cohen, a British comedian who has upset the government of Kazakhstan by his alter ego Borat Sagdiyev ('born' 30 July 1979), a 'Kazakh journalist' with his new film Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

I wonder if the Kazakh government has sent him a birthday card and if so, what it said. What a scarey thought!


Borat in Paris.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was another warm day (but not as warm as yesterday) so my human kept the blinds down to keep out the heat. Indications are that the summer coming up will be a long, hot and dry one.

My human was a little late home from work today so when he came through the door, I meowed and meowed at him to express my displeasure.

It's also Friday night, and we have no visitors so I'm just going to nap.

random footy pic

Vossy should have kept his eye on the ball

spam or ham, and vale Barney

A can of spam costs $3.21 (200g tin from the supermarket)


A ham bone costs $2 (with plenty of ham still left on it from the delicatessen at the markets)


Which do you think my human prefers to buy (for me) every week? Okay, he does use a fair bit of it in his sandwich for his work lunch.

I found out that Barney the Great Dane from the house behind us passed away yesterday afternoon. His kidney had failed so the vet helped him to cross the rainbow bridge . Barney was an old dog at 12, which is really old for a Great Dane (though he had a small amount of another breed in him).

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Bobby came over tonight for a lamb curry dinner. It is nice to have a visitor, even though briefly, as I do get bored with my human's lap sometimes. But don't tell him I said that.

coconut

Falling coconuts kill more people than shark attacks.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Emily came over tonight, but very briefly for dinner which she cooked, a frittata made with potatoes, pumpkin, bacon and asparagus. Thankfully I got some lap time with her.

Peter Norman

One of the strongest and most influential images of the 20th century is that of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, who gave a black power salute at the medal podium during the playing of 'Star Spangled Banner' to draw the world's attention to the treatment of black Americans in the US.



The third person, white and an Australian was Peter Norman who had come second in the 200 metre sprint sadly died last week on 3 October.

Peter Norman's funeral was held yesterday and Tommie Smith and John Carlos were there, reunited for the last time, as his pall-bearers.



Most people don't know the part that Peter Norman played in history. They should.

See links
- Sydney Morning Herald 10 October 2006
- Sydney Morning Herald 4 October 2006
- Black Athlete 5 October 2006
- Athletics Australia 4 October 2006
- San Jose State University Spartan Daily of 5 October 2006 (both Smith and Carlos were students here)

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Although the weather has been warming up, the nights have still been cool, so I have been going under the covers at bed time for a a 10 minute cuddle before sleeping on top of the covers.

Today was another boring day.

another magpie

another bird friend of my human's near his work

cure for Mondayitis

Mondayitis is an affliction which affects many workers worldwide as they head back to work after a weekend.

Now there is a cure.

Professor Leon Lack from Flinders University (in Adelaide, Australia) who is the head of the Sleep Research Laboratory presented a study to the Australasian Sleep Association.

According to Prof Lack, the cure is NOT to sleep in on the weekend.

See also news report - The Age

I knew that. I try to stop my human from sleeping in on the weekends, otherwise my breakfast is late.

Better to have power naps in the afternoon, which we do.

And Prof Lack agrees with me:
The benefits of brief naps

We have now compared the relative benefits on alertness and performance following afternoon naps of varying lengths (0.5 minutes, 1.5 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min). The ultra brief sleeps up to 5 minutes produced very little improvements. However, 10 minutes of sleep was followed by improvements in all alertness and performance measures soon after the nap that lasted for up to 2-3 hours. Following the longer sleeps of 20 and 30 minutes there was some impairment of alertness immediately after the naps, known as sleep inertia, with some improvement emerging an hour after the longer naps, but not better than the 10 minute nap. It appears that the “power nap” now has scientific support.

Humans have so much to learn from us cats.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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My human left me again today, so it must be Monday.

I enjoy sitting on the kitchen floor while my human makes his work lunch in the mornings. This morning he gave me a few small pieces of cheese, and then some ham off the bone. All this was in addition to my usual breakfast of chicken.

I think I'll just enjoy lots of lap time tonight.

veil attacks

First it was France a few years ago, now the UK is engaging in a debate about whether Muslim women should wear the veil.

British politician Jack Straw, a former foreign secretary, suggested that the wearing of the full veil hinders community relations. He prefers Muslim women meeting with him to uncover their faces.

Good for him, if the women comply.

However, he should not have made such a public issue out of it.

There is no legal dress code in the UK. Mr Straw does not ask Sikh men to remove their turbans.

Of course it is up to the individual to decide what they wear. If the general community is apprehensive when they see woman covered up, then they fear what they don't understand, and the unfamiliar.

Work needs to be done by the Muslim community in helping the wider community to understand, and to dispel myths.

What is totally unnecessary is for this to turn into a public debate. After all, it's not as if the UK is going to ban Muslim women from wearing the veil, so what was the point in bringing it up as an issue in the first place?

All Mr Straw has done is flame Islamaphobia and given the rednecks an opportunity to go and attack Muslim women.

All this does is further marginalise a minority, which is the exact opposite of the intention of raising the issue in the first place.

For those hate-mongers out there, if they keep calling someone of 'middle eastern appearance' a terrorist, that person may just one day turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy because they were driven to it by all the hateful attacks.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was another good day. My human had intended to do a lot of chores, but I stopped him. We had two wonderful early afternoon naps together, first on one couch, and then on another couch. Woohoo!

Then he decided he'd better clean the floor. In the middle of that chore, he gave me a big long brush of my fur. Then he used the vacuum cleaner on my fur to remove the loose fur. Ha! I am not scared of the vacuum cleaner. In fact, it was quite nice.

carjacking... by a dog

Australian newspapers have reported a carjacking by a dog named Chevy.

Chevy is a Staffordshire bull terrier (they can be mean sometimes) who hopped into a shopper's car at a suburban shopping centre and refused to leave.

Police apprehended the offender and detained him at the police station before transferring him to the pound awaiting bail by his owner.

I think Chevy just wanted a ride home after getting lost.

See - The Age of 7 October 2006

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was great day. I went outside briefly when my human hung out the washing. Then I convinced him that the rest of the day should be a 'do nothing' day, so that's what we did. Well, aside from a nice afternoon nap together on the couch.

Star Trek - 40 years of props

Christie's is currently auctioning off 40 years of Star Trek props, costumes etc.

Hmmm.... I wonder if the dilithium crystal driven warp drive is on the list.

See - Christie's

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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There was this bird sitting on the side gate this morning. It was a honey eater of sorts I think. Anyway, the bird and my human were carrying on some conversation. All I heard was - 'so have you started building your nest?' - 'arr arr' - 'what are you up to?' - 'arr arr'. Seriously, the bird was talking back to my human.

I don't know who was crazier, the bird or Dr Doolittle. My human can only speak cat, and dog. But bird? More like cuckoo!

Aside from that, not much excitement today. We are a little sad that our football club captain announced today that he is hanging up his boots. You're a legend Vossy.

October 5th in Portugal

It was Republic day in Portugal today, to mark the October 5th Revolution in 1910 when the monarchy was overthrown.

I'm surprised that my human isn't indulging in one of his favourite sweets, pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts). My human reckons the best ever tarts are from Pasteis de Belem (bakery) in Lisbon, eaten warm straight out of the oven.

Links
- CS Monitor
- The Age (with recipe)

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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What a boring day today was. No custard tarts either.

paranoia in the USA

If you speak another language, not English, at an American airport (cat meows are exempt), don't.

You might get detained and questioned.

A passenger at Seattle's Sea-Tac airport was reported as suspicious because he spoke Tamil on his cell phone.

The off-duty airline employee who reported him is an idiot. Tamil sounds nothing like Arabic. And in any case, not all Arabic speakers are terrorists.

See - Seattle Post-Intelligencer of 2 October 2006

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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When my human returned home from work, Neil also came over, but only for a few minutes. He approved of the furniture re-arrangement.

Emily came over this evening. Woohoo! It was for a noodle dinner. She is a noodle addict. I spent some time on her lap which was great.

creeps, hypocrites and hate-mongers

The scandal about US Republican Congressman Mark Foley shouldn't be surprising.

Conservative politicians who campaign on family and traditional values are usually hiding something.

Foley was chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, and directly sponsored some 15 different bills aimed at protecting young people from harm. What a hypocrite.

Makes you wonder also about what those really vocal hate groups, especially the homophobic bible-bashing ones, are really trying to hide.

As for that Pastor Becky Fischer who brainwashes young children at the "Kids on Fire" Bible camps with her hate-mongering "This is war! Are you part of it or not?"; two words - CHILD ABUSE. It sounds like a terrorist training camp.

Religious and political conservatives are truly truly EVIL.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Today was another work day so my human left me for the day. Hmmppphhhh! Thankfully I was fed immediately on my human's return home from work.

He has this propensity to ask me how my day was as soon as he gets home. Hello? Stuck at home all day napping. It's not like I had invited all the neighbourhood cats over for a party.

Gandhi Jayanti

Today was Gandhi Jayanti to mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948).



Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King demonstrated that it is possible to affect change (for good) using non-violent means.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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My human was home with me today, a Monday. He even slept in until 9.15am despite my gentle reminder meows about breakfast. It seems we had a public holiday for Labour Day (commemorating the union struggle for the eight hour working day).

We had a great afternoon nap together on the couch. Then my human decided to clean the oven. I think he had planned to do other chores but I convinced him to stay with me on the couch.

random footy pic

Shermo - round 22

space smells

Space tourist Anousheh Ansari reckons (outer) space smells like burned almond cookie.

It would have been a worry if she had said space smells like a wet dog.

*For more kitty thoughts, check out Camilla and think well wishes for her.

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Not much to report today. I did have a nice daytime nap with my human on the couch, that is, until he got up to do chores. Apart from that, not much excitement today.