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Shock... Horror...

Wolfie has a new Avatar!

How could He DO this to us, How COULD He?

After ALL the Publicity Shots...
The Documentary...
The Motion Picture...
The Cartoon Series...
The Rock Concerts...
the Nude Photo Shoot...

It... It's just not Fair!

We'll be ruined!

* calls Lawyer!

***

Happy New Year Everyone!

Wolfie!

The Big Question

What is usually soft, but gets hard when you play with it?

The Answer

Wolfie!

The Future

A Friend sent Me this Today, Had to Laugh.

A very self-important college freshman attending a recent football game, took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation."You grew up in a different world, actually an almost primitive one,"the student said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear. "The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon, our space ships have visited Mars. We have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with DSL, bsp; light-speedprocessing ...and," pausing to take another drink of beer. The Senior took advantage of the break in the student's litany and said,"You're right, son. We didn't have those things when we were young.....so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit, what are you doing for the next generation?" The applause was resounding...

Those sick people on Secondlife

A few nights ago I met a lovely Gentleman who came into ABC Island as a fox. We started talking and I soon discovered that He is sick. He has a combination of cardiomyopathy and emphysema and is stuck at home, which I can say from experience, can be a bit of a cow.

Many people who have spared the time to sit and talk with me, have told me stories of their bodies failing them, having terrible accidents and undergoing serious operations.

I've found that this is a common story with many Secondlife users, who for whatever reason, cannot leave their homes.

E-mails and Skype are not enough to trigger off the same feelings that people who use Secondlife have. With a webcam, you're looking at a face... all the time... it's like staring at someone constantly, and Skype doesn't allow you to meet people in the same way that Secondlife does.

I'm not bagging Skype or any other internet program, I use them myself daily, but Secondlife offers an experience, where we can be together and do things together in a group situation, while chatting. It offers a real depth which we cannot get via other programs.

For those of us who use Secondlife daily, it has become a vital element in our lives which we'd really hate to lose.

Wolfie!

A little help goes a long way

A lovely story from Secondlife came My way last night.

I've been helping around ABC Island since it started, and that includes helping people who are just starting out in this, at times, confusing space.

Often, Once they've got an understanding of various basic functions of the software and start to become aware of the possibilities within Secondlife, they're more likely to stay in world.

Many months ago, I found an Avatar on ABC Island who was just starting out, She was still in her basic female avatar. I decided to stop and talk to Her, To show Her around the Island and offer Her any help.

She then found Her niche in-world, and really took to Secondlife.

I hadn't heard from Her for quite some time, but very early this morning, She contacted Me out of the blue to say that She'd just become a Linden!

A Linden is one of the Employees of Linden Labs, who work in-world.

She'd gone all the way to the top in a really short space of time which is really remarkable, Her talents must be quite exceptional.

Anyway this was terrific news.

She thanked Me for, in effect, getting Her a job She loves, and is more than keen to help the people and the Islands in which She began her journey.

What that shows me is that just a little help, at the right time, can go a very long way. So whether you're in Secondlife or Real Life, don't forget to give someone a helping hand.

Sometimes it can make all the difference.

Wolfie!

People complain too much

Wolfie!

Clean Feed ISP Filtering

Those of you who sent letters to Senator Conroy or Kevin Rudd about Australian Internet Censorship may have recieved a letter in reply, if not, here's a copy of the letter in full. http://machinegunkeyboard.com/conroy/

The seed

I thought of this while walking Katie in this lovely sunshine We have today in Melbourne.

When I was in Grade five at Primary School, Our Teacher, Mr Regan, Who I remember had a big, dark handlebar moustache as it was the 70's and He loved his cricket. Asked a few of us boys to help him with something.

On His desk was one of those primitive old cassette decks, like that one seen in "Life on Mars" [UK Version], and He wanted us to read something from a sheet of paper, in the voice of an ABC Announcer.

Now in those days, The typical ABC voice was very plumby and English. Australians still had a problem with seeing themselves as they were, and in a way I think that continues as many try to imitate the American voice these days.

However I'm not against "speaking proper" on the radio.

It may be hard to imagine today, as for the most part, the radio signal is clean and crisp, at least in city areas.

But in years gone by, and I'm thinking of the World War II era, Radio was often fairly poor. So if you were an announcer, you had to speak as perfectly as you could so that people way out in the county who may be pressing their ear up against the radio trying to hear you, could get the latest news.

Anyway, there were a line of boys waiting to try their luck, but each one tried and failed.

Then it was My turn.

At that age, I didn't know much about the world, but I did know how ABC announcers spoke, and was, to My Teacher's delight, able to do a reasonable job of imitation.

That may have been one of the first things I ever did "right" at school, and seeing the Teacher's big smile may have been the catalyst which made me want to be on Radio years later.

I did originally dream of being a TV Cameraman, but then I thought that I might get stuck filming hours of sports, which I find incredibly dull, instead of fun programs like The Curiosity Show or Cartoon Corner [Later "Hey Hey it's Saturday].

Though I still love photography and video, and am always weighted down with at least one camera when I go out.

While filming our Doco, Marko called me a "Media Sl**" and I laughed, I suppose I am at that.

Wolfie!

BTW: Have a Wonderful Christmas, and a Safe and Happy New Year.

No Clean Feed

ABC Admin

Hi Everyone.

I'd like to talk about how I personally feel about ABC Island and being an Admin.

It's something I really enjoy being a part of and I certainly feel that the Island could be used for more than what it is.

On several occasions we've had discussions on what We could do with the Island and that's fine, I'd like us to talk as often as possible... but the problem is that after such talks, very little gets done.

It's partly because we have to consider that if we come up with a plan, can we actually follow it through? and often the core group of people cannot.

Simpler builds are better, especially something that feels familiar... but even then, not everything will work.

I thought that a beach area down below might help improve the open space we have, I thought an amusement ride may help, but it just didn't suit the spot, so I removed it.

Gary flattened the land for us and suggested a country area like the one we built (all of us, thankyou!) but the land is the wrong colour, so even if we go through with it, I'm not sure it would ever look right unless I resort to megaprims, which we can texture ourselves.

And that's another thing, there are restrictions placed on us by Secondlife and ABC which present hurdles.

The Island belongs to ABC first and foremost, and We must try to stick with what they wanted.

I got the feeling that they were trying to dissociate the Island from the rest of ABC and I'm sure everyone picked up on that, and we all agree that is a mistake.
The Island needs to be associated with the parent, It should promote it's radio and TV services, and also the new online services.

Thanks to the Island being there, people from all over the world have discovered Triple J and Classic FM and tune in regularly to listen.

It's still a real shame we don't have streaming music there, that would help the island a lot. The failure there does not lie with ABC, so don't blame them. It was a misunderstanding of how the software functions.

We need that issue sorted out.

All I want to do is keep the Island running well and try to please as many people as I can, obviously I can't please everyone, nobody can, and so I have encountered opposition. All I feel I can do there is just keep moving.

If people don't like one build, perhaps they'll like the next, that is about all I can hope for.

I'm not the uber-builder, and cannot create miracles. I'm "just me", a people person, and am trying to keep the mood light and happy.

I'm always grateful for help from those who are great builders and scripers, these people help us get over the line, Especially Simon, Jon, CC and Gumby who have incredible skills and have helped when we've been seriously stuck.
Rails has been great too, and the newer members have pitched in with a great deal of effort and energy, I'm glad to see it.

We've been through a huge argument in the past, and it didn't get anyone anywhere, I don't want that to happen again and will not be drawn into situations in future where tempers flare and feelings get hurt, after all, aren't we ABC *Friends* ?

If something pleases you then please come and give us a hand, if it doesn't then just hold your tongue, you may really go for the next idea, which may even be one of your own, ideas will keep the Island looking fresh and new.

I have discovered that starting a build, rather than simply talking about it can set off a chain reaction where others add bits and pieces, it was lovely to see the township come together like it did, thanks to all those who helped.

I'd love to see something really amazing there, perhaps a futuristic build, which has a lot of interactive elements, humour and fun, something easy to navigate, and with streaming music and live performers.

Something which will bring more people to the Island we love most.

This will be difficult to achieve, but certainly not impossible.

Each one of us in the Admin team seem to specialise in something that they're most comfortable with... whether it's building, scripting, entertainment, management, security or helping new people around. I value all of this effort highly and congratulate you all for doing your best.

You really make the Island worth going to each day.

One last thing. Sometimes I'm asked "Is this what ABC wants?"
As far as I'm concerned, Abi is the boss and I'll take whatever She says to be the answer to that. She's the team Captain, what She says is final.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a great new year.

Wolfie!

My least favourite internet

I really love the opportunity to stay in touch with people online, whether they're across town or half way around the planet.

However I have found no use for so-called social networks, your Facebook, Grouply, Myspace.

Frankly I find them an irritation, they're of no practical use at all that I could see.

And now Grouply has started sending out random e-mails about goings on, which annoys me because I unsubbed from this "service" as soon as I got the e-mail letting me know that I'd soon be getting e-mails.

Some have said Grouply is phishing and other nasty things, I don't really believe that, but it's still annoying.

I don't feel I'm really in contact with anyone on Facebook etc, there's so much blandness there... "So-and_so wants to be your friend" ahh right, who are they? I have no idea, but sure, why not.... *friended* and nothing after that.

I compare this with Secondlife where I can don a headset and actually speak to people [though not always clearly] and have entire, actual conversations, with people about actual stuff in their lives which I can remember and think about later.

The anonymous heads of facebook don't cause me to think about them before I go to sleep.

One of the big hits for me this year is blogspot, it's better than any other blog I've tried. Mostly because the technology doesn't get in the way of ones creative writing.

I've tried a few other blogs and found them a hassle to use, I'm not even fond of the famous livejournal which although I signed up for, took an almost instant disliking to and left it.

Blogspot is a definite winner for me.

Wolfie!

Horse's Head

While walking Katie this Arvo, She spotted something odd on the other side of the street, which turned out to be a concrete horse's head. It looked like something that had broken off a statue. and someone had put it out in the street, possibly for collection.

We walked over to have a closer look.

It turned out that Katie was slightly afraid of it, but curious enough to try and give it a tentative sniff here and there, nose extended fully, and ready to run if the scary thing took a nip at her.

I let her sniff it till She was happy, then we got on with our walk.

I'll be doing the Christmas Rockit tonight and that will be that till January.

Wolfie!

ABC Island - An E-mail to FABC NSW Inc

The volunteers in Secondlife have been running ABC's Island in Secondlife, because we have mostly been ignored by ABC themselves.

I am not talking about the core group who began the project, as they
understand what it's all about.

I feel the ones who knock the project from inside ABC, have not even bothered to come in and say hello.

For a network which is promoting it's online content. it is sad that
some say we've failed, when they know little or nothing about secondlife.

Here is a space, where there's a real sense of community spirit and
friendship. It's hardly costing the ABC anything to run, a couple of
hundred bucks per month maximum.

After paying that, the volunters who strongly believe in the creative,
community, entertainment and educational possibilities, work freely to keep it going, as we see real worth in the project.

So what does ABC get out of it?

People from all over the world come to visit, and they've discovered
the joys of Triple-J, Radio National, and ABC Classic FM.

We've handed brand new listeners to the ABC from all over the World,
and the response, when it came up in conversation has always been
positive.

It has allowed listeners the chance to hear how things are done in Australia.

Some have said they were glad to listen in, particularly during the
US elections as the broadcasts were not tainted like they were "back home".

I want to give ABC Innovation and Gary Hayes a pat on the back for a
job well done, and for believing in a project who's only fault is that
it's 2008 and not 2018, when I think most people will have a virtual
prescence somewhere.

A huge raspberry to the technophobes, you're the ones holding everyone back, and a danger to those of us progressive enough to try something with real merit.

To anyone reading this, I know you all have concerns about the older
media, like Radio National, but we are worried about losing our favourite Virtual Island too.

The community which developed on ABC Island is very passionate about ABC Island, and we'll do everything we can to keep it going.

All I'd like from readers is simply for you come in and say Hello,
and see the island for yourselves, then make up your own minds.

Admin are generally around, especially in the evenings, and are always glad to help anyone who pops in.

Remember, this is not considered a game, but a place to talk to genuine
people about anything they like.

So make a cuppa and join us for a chat.

I am often available in the afternoons or evenings on google talk as
wolfiedj if you would like any help at all.

The Rains

Hi Everyone.

It's been an interesting week for Me.

Marko, came down from Brissy to see Me, and that was great.
It's always nice to have His company.

He bought over the DVD Shelley sent him of the deleted scenes from the doco. I wasn't worried about making the doco, it was a lot of fun to make, but I was really iffy about seeing myself on screen, but I need not have worried because it looked great... in fact the deleted scenes were lots of fun, We laughed a fair bit.

It's a real shame that didn't make the final cut, but there's only so much you can stuff into an hour show.

We went to the city together and I rushed around like mad trying to shop for everyone, and got a bit more than half the stuff I wanted, which wasn't bad. But I got really tired and caught the taxi home.

Marko was down for MidFur, and He was unsure if he wanted to stay or not, but in the end He did, so I went home by Myself in the taxi.

Wondering how it went.

It's been raining ever since I was in the city, it's amazing, I haven't seen it rain like this for a very very long time. The ground has had a wonderful soak, and I've noticed our doors are shutting properly again. When the area dries out, the house tends to distort slightly and the doors need a really good push to close.

Katie is doing well and My neighbour said that She wasn't crying while I was out, so that's a positive thing.

Abi, The owner of ABC Island, created a new group for me called "ABC Events Deputy" which allows me to create notices for the ABC Group, This is a great extra to have... Everyone knows I give good notice ;)

Seriously though, Sometimes none of the ABC crew were around to do it for us, and since I'm around pretty often, then if someone has something on, I can do it. It should help the Island run a bit more smoothly.

Abi also boosted Arty up to Officer, The odd thing is, I thought He was already. Still, I'm very happy to see him in this position, That will also help a lot.

The strategy right now is to remove as much of the outdated stuff as possible, to keep the Island looking fresh and new.

We're creating the Hot Aussie Christmas scene, which may yet double as a new meeting place since we've found that it's one of those spaces that people like to sit and chat... could this be the new cafe?

Thanks to everyone who helped set it up, including Katisha, Juko, Juanita, and Abi. Everyone is welcome to help... You don't have to be Australian you know. ;)

Rockit will be on next Friday at the usual time, but it will be our Christmas special. I'm usually running late when writing it, but I promise, all going well, that "Santa Claws" will get there in time.

Thanks to Rails for help with the new Admin notecard giver, I didn't realise that the old one stored up the notecards for later, so there were about eighty in there, Oh Man! The new one will send feedback to me and I can share that with the group via notices [ABC Admin].

Is that the lot?

Well if not, I can add more later ;)

Wolfie!

Sony

Sony plans to have a virtual world of it's own soon, and so do other companies. However I think that some just don't get it. The avatars are generally all human, with a choice of sex, skin and hair colour, height, clothing and that's about it.

They're touting the places they're creating as having a higher graphics quality, but unless I can be who I want to be, a furry in this case, I wouldn't use their product.

Worse still, some of the characters look like Bratz knockoffs, that might go down well with ten year olds, but does very little for the older crowd, who want to be tall, sexy and fully equipped.

Wolfie!

Spicks and Specks - Rocky Horror

That closing scene with Richard O'Brian AKA "Riff-Raff".

Anxiety Driven

I've got probs with Katie, She loves me far too much, and according to Her, I shouldn't be far from her at all times... Which would be great if I lived in a tribe and could have my dog with me at all times, but I don't... and so there's places doggies can't go. and doggies also need to remain home to look after the place while We're out.

I went to the doctor yesterday, and worried more about what Katie would do by herself, than of anything which might be wrong with Me.

When I returned, Katie was already trying to get out the front window. She'd slid it open and was pushing through.

To get this far, She had to get in a tight corner, pull my curtains down, and shred them, break my outdoor christmas lights cable, unplug all the plugs from my powerboard, break the coax cable going from my antenna to my PC and completely ruin the flywire screen on my window.

The third flywire screen she's broken so far.

This can't go on.

Today I'm getting her something called Homeo Pet, and am hoping it works because I need to go to the City with Marko at the end of this week, and I may be meeting Shelley a few days later.

I've never struck this sort of thing before.

While My other dogs had been saddened when I went out, at least they'd settle down inside the house and sleep till We returned.

Syncronicity

I put some veggies in the oven tonight and set a timer for 30mins.
Carrot, Potato, Sweet Potato... grated some butter on the top... yes *grated*, I'd forgotten to take the butter out of the freezer, so it was rock hard.

The reason I set the timer for a mere 30mins is because when the timer goes off, I put my pre-cooked [at the supermarket] chicken into the oven so it's nice and hot when the veggies are done 30mins later.

Anyway, I sat down in front of the tv and some movie and "channel surfed", there wasn't much to interest me but there was a movie called "Heist" on nine, so I stopped there... it's not my thing, but it's a little bit interesting somehow.

In one scene, there's a robbery in a jewel shop.

And they used a timer like mine to tell them when to leave the shop before the cops got there.

The funny thing was that at the same time theirs went off, so did mine!

Very strange.

Sunday bloody Sunday

I hate sundays, they're boring... all that's on telly are repeats of Red Dwarf, possibly the most boring science-fiction program ever, with a laugh track to try to suggest that bits of it are actually funny.

I heated up a chicken pie and made coffee from a jar of moccona which only had half a teaspoon left, so I added half a teaspoon of the de-caf version which I had plenty of.

Tasted ok, but if it should cause the universe to implode, sorry in advance, it's all my fault.

Wolfie!

Flush 'n Clean

I was dreaming that I was flushing my clothes down the toilet.

The reason was that it was a pay cleaning service where you flush
your clothes down the toilet, and a few days later this van comes
along and delivers your clothes.

They were all folded up and neat, all spotless and smelling fresh.

But in the dream I was wondering how they know My clothes from everyone elses and I couldn't work that out at all.

Wolfie!

Sakkano said: I hope they smelled clean, I'd shove in a king-sized comforter.

Validate Yourself

Go on, make yourself happy in minutes, you won't regret it.

Wolfie!

Environmental crush

I'm often annoyed by the way We argue about the Environment... We apparently should use flourescent bulbs because the population is expanding and therefore we need to use less power, They tell us that We should use less water, so there's more for the larger population to use... The idiots, don't they realise that the only environmental problem is *the larger population* ?

The answer to everything is not using power efficient bulbs, or driving a fuel efficient car, no, the answer is to *not breed*.

But what do the Government do?
They give three grand to people as an incentive when a child is born... but they tax the people still using plastic bags when they go shopping.

Perhaps the most stupid idea is that we need more people in the future to look after "an aging population", so... are these kids that we have to produce, somehow never going to age themselves? Will the Government want to make sure they pop out two or three kids when they're able?

There's worry over water running out, and while people are madly buying rainwater tanks, there are others badgering the Government to dig more dams, which we wouldn't need if we didn't have the *expanding population*.

To save the planet, don't breed! It really is that simple.


Want to be happy? Don't have Kids. Say's Professor [The West Australian Newspaper]

Children "Bad for Planet" [Sunday Times]

Deciding to not have kids, is fine.

I have My Friends, and my Pets and that's plenty.
I have fewer bills, and I probably have a lot less worry than your average Dad who's tied down with children.

Having kids might be fine for some people, but I feel there's a real peer pressure out there to produce. Those who decide not to breed are sneered upon by those who do, but are they happier than I am? Probably not.

Finally, I've seen people go all mushy over a little pink thing that smells and cries a lot, I'd far rather have a puppy.

Wolfie!

Katie's Progress

Katie scared me a couple of days ago.

I thought I'd get some lunch, and opened a can of braised steak and onions, zapped that in the micro and toasted some bread. It's horrid stuff, I buy it purely as a standby... probably not anymore though. anyway, I had it all on the table and suddenly realised Katie wasn't around.

So I checked My bedroom, where She normally lays, Her bed is in there too, but She wasn't there... So I checked the usual spots, nothing.

I went out the front and looked, but She wasn't there either.

I began to panic.

The gate wasn't secured, though it wasn't open either.
I had become lazy during the one day that She wasn't here.
The first thing I do is secure the gate, I began to feel very bad about this.

I thought I heard a dog yelp, There's a highway near us and it seemed like it came from there.

I ran out to the backyard and called, She wasn't there either.

Now I was extremely worried.

I ran to the front again, calling her name loudly.
Looking up and down te street, I could see no sign of Her.

Then I ran out the back again.

I decided to check the sideway, since She had started going there lately.

That's when I found Her.

She had dug a massive ditch and was laying in it, it was as deep as Her own body and She was perfectly comfortable there... But I didn't want her getting all dirty, especially with the recent stitches on her belly.

I tried to call her out, but She just turned around and went "Umph" as if to say "I'm comfy here, go away and leave me alone".

Now you can't do much with a malamute if they choose not to obey you, I would have tried tempting her with food, but She wasn't eating much. so I went to the kitchen and got some water in a cup and pitched it in her face.

Not the nicest thing to do, but it works if a baby holds it's breath, Mum read this in a magazine years back and tried it on my Nephew... it works, especially if it's very cold water. so I was hoping that it would get Her out of the hole.

I tried this three times, on the third go, She got up... but remained standing there.

Then I remembered Her lead... So I got it and jangled it, and She came inside.

So I told her how naughty She was and all that. ;)

Today is Saturday and I've been out Shopping with Yvonne. When I got home, Katie was starting to talk. Malamutes will sort of woo-woo at you, Benny was famous for it... starting off with a few words and then letting rip with a full big bass howl.

I used to call Benny "My Sub-Woofer" because of his deep voice.

Katie was always silent, far too shy to sing a note, except for if I leave the house and She becomes anxious.

But today, She wanted me to howl too, So I did, and for the first time ever, She joined in.

So that was lovely.

She's incredibly clingy right now, spending most of her time as close to me as possible.

This morning I woke to find her body pressed close to My bed, She was literally just inches away from me.

Wolfie!

Doco Progress

Shelley was on SL today and said that sound effects and music were being added to the program, and a narrators voice.

She told me that the film is very close to being finished and that I should have the DVD of it shortly.

She also wants to film Rockit in two weeks time for her webpage, not for the doco.

The documentary is due to go to air around March on SBS in Australia, and will most likely be seen on stations around the World after that.

Wolfie!

Katie Update

Katie is Home, She looks bright and happy.

She went from room to room to make sure everything was right, then sat down with me and had a cuddle, and is now resting peacefully.

The vet told me that She was close, Her uterus looked like some sort of huge German sausage, and was close to bursting.

I have antibiotics to give Her, quite a large bag full.

But She's well, and resting... normal anyway since it's quite a warm day and Malamutes tend to rest when the weather is like this.

Wolfie!

The little people

I was looking at this page of wonderful pictures of little people.

And the second one down gave me an idea.

While building a house, and I'd quite like one which suits a fantasy theme, you could build a sort of gnomes house into the wall, then go around and look for tiny replicas of things in op-shops or make them yourself.

Add a few tiny lights to simulate a fireplace and candles.

You get the idea.

Then finish it by closing it off with a removeable wooden panel with a mouse hole as the only viewing source, so that you have to get right down low to see in there and see how it's all setup, I think something like this would be lovely.

Wolfie!

Katie

Katie hasn't been well lately, so I took her to the vet last week and they discovered that She had a broken tooth, which was probably pretty painful.

However there was another concern... I won't tell you the gory stuff but we were concerned that she had pyometra, a potentially deadly disease in female animals.

Imagine appendicitis but in the womb, rather than the appendix.
The trouble with this disease is that it's difficult to diagnose unless x-rays or ultrasounds are done or it's revealed during an operation.

Although She has been off Her food, She has been happy to see people and go for walks, which gave the impression that She was better than She was.

I had Katie booked in for an Operation at Williamstown Vet today after 9am. The idea was to have her spayed and to fix the tooth at the same time.

When they opened her, they found that She did indeed have pyometra, it was so bad that had she gone a few more days, She may have died.

Two vets worked on Her, and I'm told that She had difficulties while under anesthetic.

But She came out of the anesthetic and appears to be doing well.

She's going to remain at the vet overnight with a drip.

I've warned the Vet that She's very anxious when She's away from me but have been reassured that She's still on some fairly good dope so probably won't be too concerned.

I've never had an entire female dog so I wasn't sure about what was normal or what, and that includes humans too... I have a serious lack of knowledge of female anatomy and the problems which can occur.

I'm glad that I'm male, things are a lot easier that way.

BTW: The operation on the tooth was delayed due to finding the much more serious problem.

Wolfie!

Bricked out

If there's one word I'd filter from Stubleupon if I could, It's "Lego".
I swear, if I see one... more... lego... anything...

Wolfie!

Liquorice Pizza

Five bucks was what I got for pocketmoney in the 80s, and as funny as that sounds, it really wasn't bad. You see, I was into music, in a big way.

I'd constantly look out for new stuff. I'd watch "Sounds" on Channel Seven, "Countdown"
on ABC, "Rock around the World" on SBS, "Wavelength" on... Nine? "Wonder World"... Yes Simon did play the odd video or two.

I'd also listen to the radio.

Then I'd write down all the songs I wanted and try to convince Dad to take me to one of several record shops, and hope, really hope that the record was in. but more often it wasn't, because it was too new and the people at the shop hadn't heard of it... though they would in a few weeks when it caught on, which it often did.

I tended to be weeks and sometimes months ahead of the average music fan, something I was quite proud of.

My record collection really grew.

Though I had many more singles because... I could get three for that five bucks early on, while an Album cost sonsiderably more and probably only have one or two tracks that I actually wanted. It was a fairly rare case when I bought an album.

Then CDs started to appear, and naturally I couldn't wait to get one.

The first time I heard one was at The School of Audio Engineering in Inkerman Street St. Kilda. One of the students, I think, Bought one of the really large players in.
They were about as big as a VCR, and heavy too, and worth a couple of grand.

Connected to it was a very nice amp, and a couple of really nice studio speakers.

They were playing Joni Mitchell on it, She was strumming the guitar and singing about paving paradise and oh how clear it was, like she was in the room with us.

They also had Thriller, and that was stunning. In all honesty I think Thriller sounded better than any other CD I eventually bought home.

My first CD player was bought for me unexpectedly, while on holiday at Tweed Heads.
The very first portable CD player, The Sony D-50, one of my favourite things and although it was repaired, it still works.

I couldn't wait to try it at the Motel we were staying at, but I had no headphones and it had no speakers... those were sold seperately. ARRGGHHHHH!!!

I had bought Jean Michel Jarre's "Equinox" from a record shop nearby and could only watch it spinning inside the machine.

At home I had already assembled a small collection, Madonnas first album, Thriller and The Eurythmics "Touch" Album.

When I got home, the first thing I did was grab my bud headphones from my walkman and put Thriller on... I still remember how it was to listen to that amazing door creak sound at the end of Thriller.

My Neice and Nephew were desperate to try out the new toy too.

It had taken me a few weeks of saving up, My pocket money had increased somewhat since the early days so it didn't take long to save for this disc.

I desperately wanted to look at it, it was my first CD ever... so once it was payed for, I tore off the plastic and battled with the wierd plastic cover which I didn't understand how to open, and there inside, as we were going up the escalators, was the most amazing looking thing, full of rainbows.

My Vinyl was suddenly old hat, and though I still loved it, I tried not to buy as much, the CDs were just too good.

But the problem was that they just didn't sell CD singles then... Well they did in the US but not here. And as I said, I prefered singles over albums.

If a band had more than three hits, I'd go for the CD... a rough guide anyway.

But due to my DJing at 3-RIM-FM in Melton, I had to keep buying vinyl singles, but that was ok.

CD singles did begin to appear, and once they took hold, I stopped buying vinyl completely.

The transistion wasn't too difficult, CD singles were actually the same as 12" singles, which I'd started buying instead of 7" singles, whenever possible.

Anyway, I ended up with quite a large collection of CDs.

These days there are mp3s, and while they don't sound anywhere near as good as CDs did, and I think they're certainly more environmentally friendly... there's no love.

They're just files on a computer, which is dead boring.

There was quite a lot of love for CDs, but I think what made it go stale was the crappy little cases, and the bit of flimsy paper inside instead of the wonderful huge album covers we had earlier... and the fact they were stuck on every other magazine and also ended up as junk mail in my letterbox.

Discs were worse than Tribbles
While I had liked them, they were just everywhere now and seemed more like nuisance value... but yes, I still value the real ones with the good stuff on them.

Vinyl had all the love, I had to treat each record like a baby, to preserve it's sound and stop it getting scratched, having a heart attack if I ever dropped one, and it was a definate no-go-zone for my Neice.

And I had quite a few collectors items, coloured vinyl, rare releases etc.

I still have every one of them, and yet, no record player at all.

Wolfie!

Internet Censorship

Internet Censorship is apparently coming to an Aussie ISP near you.

I'd like to see a National Day of Discontent happen.

On that day, the ISP CEO would appear on TV with a CD, The one the government has sent out with the filtering software on it... but if that's not how the software arrives, if there's software at all, then
any old disc could be used for the protest.

The CEO declares to the media that "We will not be filtering our ISP"
and goes on to say why the program will not work, and that customers would be upset and so on.

Then he symbolically microwaves the disc
[with safety measures taken into consideration].

Would you enjoy that?

By the way Mr Rudd, As a person who voted for you, I'd really prefer you to forget about dumb things like this, then grow some balls and tell the Japanese exactly where they can stick their whaling practices.

Wolfie!

Marko's house was hit hard this week by the Brisbane storms, he got a bit of flooding in the room on the ground floor and has lost power and internet, but their house is fairly safe otherwise.

He told me that Shelley has sent him a DVD of deleted scenes, so I guess this means the doco is almost completed.

Hooray!

Wolfie!

Dopey

Today I had a phonecall from my Neighbour, She told me her dog had dug a hole and was in my yard... Well, She's a nice pup so it didn't really matter. Katie went out and played with Her a little bit.

My Neighbour said "You wouldn't believe it but I've locked myself out of the house" Well, She's done this a few times before, So I could believe it.

Anyway I went back inside.

And My phone goes again... It was Her again.

She wanted to know if I had any headache tablets, I said that I did, and asked her if the Herron brand I had was ok?, She said they were so I took two capsules out and a glass of water.

Anyway about 20mins later, I decided to take Katie out, Katie still isn't all that well.

My Neighbour is out the front now, Someone came around and let her out.

We spoke for a while and I went out into the street with Katie.

My Neighbour across the street, a detective, just pulled up and got out of His car, and my Neighbour yells out "Oh... Thanks for the Heroin!"

Wolfie!

Ron Paul

I came across this photo of a clearly dejected Man, Ron Paul, The other candidate that many around the world probably never even heard about.

How does it make you feel?

Wolfie!

The good old days

We had no new fangled plasma screens, we had tubes and they were in black and white and the programs were better quality than todays crap, now shut your gob and eat your broccolli.

That Birth Certificate

A friend of mine sent me something that is worth considering and I want to share it with you... but please, before you rant back at me, hear me out.

Here's the story:

Supreme Court Justice David Souter's Clerk informed Philip J. Berg,
the lawyer who brought the case against Obama, that his petition for an injunction to stay the November 4th election was denied, but the Clerk also required the defendants to respond to the Writ of Certiorari (which requires the concurrence of four Justices) by December 1. At that time, Mr. Obama must present to the Court an authentic birth certificate, after which Mr. Berg will respond.

If Obama fails to do that, it is sure to inspire the skepticism of the Justices, who are unaccustomed to being defied. They will have to decide what to do about a president-elect who refuses to prove his natural-born citizenship.

"I can see a unanimous Court (en banc) decertifying the election if Obama refuses to produce his birth certificate, " says Raymond S. Kraft, an attorney and writer.

"They cannot do otherwise without abandoning all credibility as guardians of the Constitution. Even the most liberal justices, however loathe they may to do this, still consider themselves guardians of the Constitution.

The Court is very jealous of its power - even over presidents, even over presidents-elect. "

Also remember that on December 13, the Electoral College meets to casts its votes. If it has been determined that Mr. Obama is an illegal alien and therefore ineligible to become President of the United States , the Electors will be duty-bound to honor the Constitution.

That's it, Yeah it's all rather dodgy isn't it?
Instead of chucking this into the bin where it belongs, let's examine it.

Firstly, The incompetence... Let's entertain the idea that Obama is an Alien.

Could those responsible for checking out credibility of both contenders be so incompetent in allowing someone to run for office even when they should not be allowed to do so?

Possibly, and how will that look to the rest of the planet when it seems that the US which is considered [mainly by Americans] to be the greatest country on earth, fails in the democratic process which it tries to sell to the rest of the world?

The credibility of the US in the last eight years has gone completely out the window, does the world really need to see the US lose what little it has left?

Secondly, If it's proven, What then?

Well a lot of people, a *lot of people* are going to be very annoyed, and that's putting it mildly. It wasn't just the US who wanted change, but the whole planet.

In an Australian poll, 70% said they'd vote for Obama. If you're American and are mystified by this, You need to remember who got us into a war which we weren't supposed to have. A lot of people..... A *lot of people* are still very cranky with the Republicans.

Though this could indeed be over a Birth Certificate, I feel that most people will make up their mind over why this has come up... White Supremists? Sore Loser Republicans, Racism, The list goes on.

If someone nullifies Obamas chance in The White House, and I for one would not like to be that person. The Dynamics of that mountain crashing down will be unbelievable.

It would make "great television"... for those of us, not in the US.

Well, The fair thing would be to hold the elections again,
and I'm certain everyone would agree that this would be Hell, plain and simple.

Some might say since the Democrats stuffed up, so The Republicans should take their "Rightful place".

McCain could probably do the job... Though He'd need to drop that flakey Mrs Palin, Who I think, Even to most Republicans was about as popular as a roll of sandpaper in an outback dunny.

The World, gave a collective sigh of relief when eight years of the Republican rule was over, and especially when Palin was shipped back to Alaska, Hopefully, never to be seen again.

It's too many cans of Whoop-Ass... It ain't worth it.

A fitting end to a lengthy court battle, bigger than O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson combined, with Obama winning, would be to see The Man sell Alaska, Lock, Stock and Barrel back to the Russians.

This would allow Sarah to see the old country up close, just like She always claimed She could.

Now I don't think I write nearly as well as My Mate Tedd *Dips me lid* But I would be a bad journalist indeed if I didn't check around and see what others have to say.

Here's Snopes take on the situation
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp

And here's a site with a scan of the certificate in question, of course, it "could" be photoshopped. ;)

Wolfie! [taking the entire thing with a grain of salt]

The Irish O'Bama

Here's a great new song by Hardy Drew and The Nancy Boys.
"There's No One as Irish as Barrack O'Bama!"



[Audio has gone out of sync at youtubes end]

Getting smaller

Feeling hungry, I reached for a box of Arnott's Savory Shapes, an old favourite.
But discovered that they're about 3/4 the size they originally were!

So they're now tiny shapes, and the company is probably hoping nobody notices.

Either that or I've developed fat fingers.

Wolfie!

Alice V2.0

Habits

I read a fair few blogs as I'm sure you do, and have noticed a strange habit which some people have.

It's to do with those who comment, mostly it's fairly normal stuff, I agree, I don't, extra info, a few nongs... that sort of thing.

But there is often one person who types something like "Wow, Read this amazing story:" and then they copy and paste the entire thing into their reply.

What do they hope to achieve by doing this?

Does it not occur to these people that since we're at that very page, that it's extremely likely we've already read the post?

You know, some species like deer for example are fortunate enough to have creatures who like to eat them, thinning out the herd, knocking off all the sick and, I presume, stupid ones.

The Human race doesn't have that luxury, so we have to put up with the stupid.

Wolfie!

Naked

I'd booked a dog wash for Katie today, and the guy was late... there was no phonecall from him to say why he was late or if he wasn't coming at all.

But then he turned up.

He said "Sorry I'm late but something weird happened".

Well this could be interesting.

"I was driving along" He continued, "And then I saw this completely naked woman walking alongside the road, so I stopped and asked if She was OK because... Maybe She was on drugs or maybe She'd been raped and dumped there... You never know... But all She said was "Why don't you just turn around and look the other way like everyone else" So, I wasn't sure what to do, So I called the police and waited for them to arrive."

And that's it, no further info on that one.

Wolfie!

World Reaction

Palin 2012

After the speech John McCain gave at the very end, The camera zoomed onto Sarah Palin and The announcer said something like "She might be going for President in 2012".

Well I think anyone who heard that must have fallen over backwards laughing, there's no way anyone's going to accept Sarah as President.

I for one would love to see a Female President, That would be as great an occasion as seeing the first black man, though I don't feel we should keep raising Obama's colour as he's so much more than just the colour of his skin.

But Sarah has nothing more to offer but her womanhood, She's... Brainless, a complete tool, and nobody outside America could have possibly taken her seriously.

Her awful plans to "Drill Drill Drill" Her weird obsession with witchcraft, Her not keeping up with world affairs... When Obama said he'd read something, He stated which publication he read it in, every single time, But when Sarah was questioned, She said "Pfft, I read all of 'em"... Well plainly She didn't.

And the most dangerous thing she said was that The US was at war with "Iraq and Iran" when clearly that's not true, though I wonder how long it would have taken before the Republicans again rode out with their six shooters to invade another country?.

There would, of course be voters for her, simple, backwards rednecks who "believe"[believe can be a very dangerous word] anything that comes out of a republican mouth. too much faith and religion and calling to "Jay-sus", decrying stem-cell reseach as evil, heads full of racism and hatred of gays while the thing they hold the most sacred, their bible, tells them to "love thy neighbour".

Insistence that stupid things happened, Like Humans and Dinosaurs co-habited the world which can't be much older than 4000 odd years when plainly the place is much older than that. When I was younger and more naive, I thought that getting two of every animal on a boat was plausible, but that was when I only knew basic species. When you can only think of dogs, cats, horses, cows, elephants and a few others then yeah, easy enough... but we know better now, there's thousands of species and to put them all in a ruddy big boat is impossible, and imagine all the crap... unless God stuck a dirty great cork up each animals clacker.

These people are fearful of Muslim extremists when they're equally as extreme and dangerous as any would be terrorist. Religion and guns are a terrifying mix... and hell yeah, don't they just lurve their boom sticks?

The world could see why the party who lost was such a poor choice, what a dreadful show it was to watch... the public supporters, those utter freaks looking into news cameras and saying "We don't want a president called O-Bah-mah" hoping to somehow glue it to "Osama" without thinking for a moment about the multitude of crazy Americans named William, Richard and Ted who were sent to the chair for horrendous crimes, and they weren't Muslims, that's for bloody sure.

How glad I am that they lost so magnificently, and as a chaser, how nice it was to hear that FOX behaved like it was choking on a cow.

Wolfie!

Ray Martin slams commercial TV

The New Day

Hi Folks, I've just woken up in a new day, free of Dubya and his Pals, and it feels great.

I'm still feeling a bit flakey because I haven't been up long, and have had no breakfast.

I was going to have a party at Eragon last night, but there were a lot of parties happening, so there wasn't much point having another, plus my DJ software was on the blink and Jaggpro, who may have been coming, was booked on such short notice and I was told that he had technical probs and couldn't get online.

So I went to the kitchen and cooked myself a nice summery tea, I tried chicken burgers for the first time, but they were a bit rich for me, so I shared one with Katie, My Malamute.

I don't think I'll be buying them in future.

When I got back on Secondlife, there were very few people there for some reason, which suited me quite well, after the euphoria, it was nice to just settle down and chat with Katisha.

Then just after midnight I logged out, early for me.

I feel like a nice cuppa tea.

Wolfie!

To America with Love

To My American Friends, Through all the Lies from the Republicans
and the worry about Racism, You have done The World proud and elected the RIGHT Man for the Job.

To America, Welcome back to Planet Earth!

A lot of love and friendship.

Proudly Signed.

Wolfie!

Tim Minchin's Peace Anthem for Palestine

The Greatest American President

This guy offers hope for the whole world, and restored respect from the other nations of the world to the US. Watch him talk, Powerful stuff... Go Obama, Go!

Australia "Barracks for Obama"

Wolfie!



* A Play on words, "Barrack" means "Rooting for" in Australia.
[Yes, I know it's spelt differently]

I will correct him on one thing, There's no such thing as "Clean coal" though,
Both Obama and McCain have spoken of that.

To the crazy ones

I don't normally go around lifting stuff from other pages, but I saw this and thought it was well worth sharing:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things.

Original post

Wolfie!

Real Alien

Wait, Wait... This one's definately real

My Mother

On the 31st of October 2006. I watched My beautiful Mother die in front of My eyes.

It was around 3:30 in the afternoon. Being Male I have the gift of forgetting dates, and the day Dad died has been forgotten, though I know it was around ANZAC Day.

Halloween is nothing I support being Australian, but now it sticks out like a sore thumb each year, as much as I'd like to forget, I can't.

The year before She died, She helped me through my cancer treatments, She kept vigil beside me... I blame myself for her demise as the kind of stress a Mother would feel, watching her child go through that, must have been extremely hard on her.

But I fought against the cancer so that She would not see me die, as so many of her family had been taken away from her, I would not die, I remained alive for her sake.

I would not have done this without her.

I love you Mum, and always will.

Your Son.

Fantasy Leader

Hi All.

You might wonder why I'm pushing Obama even though I'm Australian. Well America really hasn't had a good and proper President for some time now... that and, unfortunately, What happens to the US happens to everyone else.

Things I'd like to see:

Education: Start teaching real science in schools, not that creationism nonsense. that's available in a church which you can go to on a sunday if you wish. An Athiest leader is too much to hope for at this point, but "lord willing" it will happen in time.

Stem Cells: This breakthrough technology could really help very sick people get better, sure some of it uses embryos, but they're finding that other cells can be made to do amazing things too... a world without MS, Diabetes, Parkinsons and Alzheimer's would be great.

Environment: Someone who recognises there is global warming and has a plan to deal with it, and respects endangered species... these gun toting freaks shouldn't be allowed to be leaders. And a genuine search for alternative energy would be great.

Population: Someone who says "There's to many people and if we want to save the world, what's going to save us is not low wattage bulbs, but having less kids" that's a tough one, but it's going to need to be said at some point... I wonder which politician will have the balls to do so?

Marriage: A person ought to have the legal right to marry who they like, whether they're from different countries, religions, have a different skin colour or are the same sex. It's *their* life, and they should have the right to be happy. Years ago people worried and cried over people from other religions wanting to marry, in the same way as some people are carrying on about gay marriages today. Love is a wonderful thing, it might not be the kind of thing you'd go for, but that doesn't mean others can't be allowed to be happy. get over the gay thing and let people be themselves.

Guns: I hate them... fine for farmers who might need them, and cops and people in the forces... but not for the rest of us, I have no gun and I'm glad of it.

Birth: Sometimes tradition is just a habit done over generations and has little reason behind it... That's why I questionthis thing about Presidents having to be born in the US, why? what does it matter? To me, The person I'd choose to run my country has to have all the right policies on the table before I elect them and whether they're Australian, American, Dutch, Scotch, African, Black, White, Red, Pink with Purple spots, Male, Female, Hermaphrodite, Human Hybrid or Alien wouldn't matter to me in the slightest. Imagine you have the person who could be the best leader for your country that you've ever seen, a real stunner... but oh no, they weren't born here so they're out... So let's vote for the Republican again, cause like, at least, they're "Normal folk".

I hope Obama [or even Nader] wins this time, so the US can have a leader who isn't a laughing stock... You know if the Republicans win, it'll ruin everything, as nobody outside America will take them seriously.

People who think Obama will cook Americas goose aren't thinking about the rest of the planet, you might lap up everything the republicans say, when they tell you a basketball is actually a cube, and you nod and tell those "dumb democrats" that "basketballs are cubes, because Aunty Sixtoes told me that's how it is" well good for you... but the rest of the world "ain't gonna buy it". We may have got tricked into a false war last time, but it's not going to happen any more. You vote Republican and watch as the world turns it's back on you, it's not going to be pretty.

A recent poll in Australia showed 70% of Aussies would vote for Obama, and heck, I know I would, without hesitation... even after a friend sent me all the most vile, republican junk about "the other side" over the last six months or so.

Thanks to all that, it's given me a much healthier disrespect for any Republican swamp mutant.

I would feel embarrassed for any world leader who had to talk turkey with Palin, I know how I'd feel "Oh here comes the Americans, quick, hide under the table" That's not right, you need a leader who knows what he or she is talking about and Palin just doesn't.

What I find astonishing is How Americans elected a complete twit, not once, but twice.. but what really rubs salt into the wound is that the guy who lost, went away and won a freaking Nobel Prize. They elected a complete dumbfuck twice, and could have had someone worthy of a Nobel Prize, I'm stunned by that.

I'd like to see America regain it's pride after so long in the wilderness, and if it does, I reckon a lot of world leaders are going to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Check this out, Thanks Nankeen.
Wolfie!

It's da Toytles

What can you say?

I Like Pie

The T-Shirt which was inspired by Triple-Js "The Race Race" A satirical show on the US Elections by The Chasers, is available now in Secondlife from: https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=989857

However they are free under the RSS sign on ABC Island and if you IM me and say "pretty please" then you'll get a free set that way too... Aren't I a nice Wolfy, yes I am, Yes I am, Ohhh yes I am... *tummyrubs*.

Listen to "The Race Race" Podcast here.

Wolfie!

John Cleese on the US Election

Breeding

I am one of those people who have long since decided not to have kids, I don't see why I need them, afterall, the human race is a plague of it's own. Had I been an endangered species, I would have had a solid reason for going ahead with the whole dating and mating routine, but in this world, it's been ruined due to over-breeding there's billions and billions of people, why make any more? there's no point to it.

Sometimes I ponder the situation and sometimes I get upset about it, but I realise that 90% of my worries are based on cultural expectations, peer pressure, that you must find someone to marry and add to the pudding club and the clock is ticking and all of that.

The rest is instinct.

My instinct is just a wild animal, and it's feelings are quite valid, and most of the time it's listened too, especially when hungry, sleepy or needs to water a tree.

Sometimes it whines for a mate, and fatherhood, and I say "No", so it blubbers away in the corner. poor dear, it's not it's fault, I love that part of myself so I can't be cruel to it.

What evens things out though is a Saturday morning trip to the supermarket, where parents bring along their kids, who throw tanties [tantrums].

The song of the supermarket has a melody of middle of the road rock, and a chorus which screams "BUT I WANT IT!!!".

Included within this song is a true diva, a little girl who performs epic tanties, The kind of tanties so grand that if there were tanties at the Olympics, She would get gold everytime. Her tanties are so prodigious that even Veruca Salt would feel like a rank amateur.

That's when I tell My sad, little puppy of an instinct "See That?... Hear That?... That's why".

Then my instinct remembers how quiet it likes things to be, it's sleepy time and it's food, and realises that it doesn't want kids as much as it thought.

Years back I told my Mother that I didn't like babies, in fact I really really don't like them at all. She was horrified, I think she thought everyone liked babies.

My Dad said "Ahh it's a different matter when it's your own" and I replied by saying that there was no chance of that happening.

If I could have some soft, fuzzy being which didn't have a voice as loud as a chainsaw and "that smell" then I think I could have raised it.

My Dad bought home a penguin once, yes a real one, it appeared to be lost, so he bought it home... Yes it was probably the wrong thing to do, but anyway.... it stank of fish, one of my least favourite smells, and yet I would have still taken care of it, even to the point of getting myself smelling fishy, but babies "gross me out".

I think Dad remained optimistic that one day I'd find someone, settle down and have kids, but My Mother let me be as I am... We'd often talk about marriage breakdowns and everything going wrong, it's a risk, a massive risk for anyone to take. She was always concerned about the kids in those relationships and also, surprisingly, How the Man often comes out worse for it.

She would say "Don't have kids, You've got your whole life to enjoy, go out and do everything you wanted".

You see, Mum dearly wanted to be a nurse, but when My Sister and I came along, that threw a spanner in the works for her.

She didn't regret having me, we were extremely close, but I was sad that She had missed out on a lot because of me.

There's enough people on the planet, heed my Mum's words, go out there and enjoy yourself, why take risks due to peer pressure?

Wolfie!

Do you read me?

If you do, there's a link down the right side somewhere which you can click on and be known as a follower [which sounds a but scary in some ways].

Anyway, if you follow me, I'll promise not to come over to your place and dance naked on your front lawn and eat your cat, at least not unless you want me to.

Wolfie!

Change

Ladies and Gents, We in Australia, had a leader who was just lapping up everything George Bush said, We got involved in Iraq because of it too. Our Prime Minister was also very short sighted on environmental issues.

We voted for Change.

The first week our new Prime Minister took over, He signed the Kyoto agreement and did the things the former leader should have done, but did not.

I believe we made the right choice.

Do it America, Vote for Change, you won't regret it.

Wolfie!

Skyhooks

They say that education is a very worthwhile thing, and I agree. But sometimes getting that education does more harm than good.

I was bullied everyday, and became scared of people, and withdrew inside myself. I wouldn't have said boo to anyone.

In the evenings I'd come home and stay with Mum and Dad who I loved very much, and would listen to my records and the radio, I'd stay home, I'd only go to the park to walk my dog, steering clear of the other kids who gave me a hard time.

This was a very dark hole I was in, and yet, I was quite happy to have the few friends I did have, and the closeness of my family.

If it hadn't been for that love I had at home, I think I would have gone completely mad.

The funny thing was that what I wanted most was to be a Radio Announcer, a DJ.
Me, who would barely talk to anyone, was quite happy with the idea of getting behind a microphone and talking to the world.

So, I ended up going to a Radio School in Melbourne after leaving High School.
I was afraid to talk to my classmates, I really liked them, but was just so ground down that it was horribly difficult for me.

One evening the class went to 3XY, a very popular rock music station in those days.
Our teacher was proudly showing us the wonders of Stereo AM which was a way that the AM stations were trying to keep up with FM, which didn't really work.

Anyway we passed the other studio and Shirley Strachan, ex-lead singer of Skyhooks, came out to say Hi to our teacher, who was also a DJ at the station.

I froze, I'm not sure why, Shirl seemed to be a warm and friendly chap, and was happy to just stand and talk to us before having to go back into the studio and continue his show... But as much as I wanted to, I just couldn't relax and chat.

I've been kicking my backside about this ever since, but it was caused because of the time I spent with bullies at high school.

Years and years later, Shirl died in a chopper crash.
and the regret crept back.

However, I opened up, it took a very long time to repair the damage. I am still very shy and still keep to myself, but I will talk with people and really open up to them. I regret that I didn't feel like this in my teens, when it mattered.

I know there are kids out there who are genuinely suffering because of bullies, but please listen to me before you do something awful.

School seems to last forever, but it doesn't.
It soon ends, and those who make you feel as low as you can go, begin to drift away.

Some will go to jail, or die of an overdose... but I hope, I really do hope that many
wake up and change, and I think they do. The kids I knew as bullies have grown and could have married and are raising families, and I'm certain that if I met some of them, that there might be a measure of guilt on their part.

And if they said sorry, I'd accept their appology. what's the point of holding onto anger or sadness? what good is it?

Anyway, they go away, and although your personal growth was stunted for such a long time, suddenly it blooms. and you will find that everything is so much better.

You will find acceptance, it just takes time and there are people who will listen to you and will help you.

If I had my time over again, I would wag school almost daily, and go and try to find a place where I'd fit in and felt valuable and useful to someone, it would have done my spirit a heck of a lot of good.

Education is a wonderful thing, but when being educated is daily torture, you're better off without it.

You can educate yourself if you're determined to do so, in fact you will learn more out of school than in it, provided you read well, visit interesting places, keep up with world events, and keep that brain working.

Don't let the bastards get you down.

Wolfie!

“Eres mucho gato"

Perhaps the best read I've had in quite a while,
I'd like to share it with you.

What happens when you wake up and find your cat growling in anger on your bed?

Here's the story

Wolfie!

Weird

Once in a while, weird stuff happens to us, but we usually just ignore it and move on, a shame because stuff like that is interesting and worth talking about.

While walking Katie a few days ago, I heard a distant droning sound, like a distant jet in the sky, or trains horns or a ship at sea.

But the odd thing was, it was music, weird creepy music... the sort of thing you hear as a lonely woman walks through a house at night, breathing heavily, and wondering if someone is in the home with her.

At times it sounded composed and constructed, at other times nothing more than a kid poking keys on a keyboard.

The music was loud, not near me, but it must have been to carry on the wind like it did.

I wondered if someone had rigged up some super sound system which could be heard from New Zealand?

I have no idea what it was, it only played for ten minutes or so, and stopped.

Wolfie!

I'm Back

Due to a password problem, I got myself locked out, which is why I've been strangely quiet.

For whatever reason, the cookie monster decided to visit my computer and ate some of my passwords, at least I think something like that happened.

The big problem was that the verification e-mails were sent to the company I was with while I was still on dialup, so that made things a lot more difficult.

Happily though it's all been resolved and I have access to Rockit, ABC Island and of course Wolfie's World too. *phew*

So dear readers, your wolf is back, and desperately in need of a tummy rub.

Wolfie!

Deep Forest

For perhaps the first time, I was unhappy with the direction the doco was taking.

Looking back, I don't like the thing where I meet Alf in the furry supermarket, maybe to have gone there with him later would be ok, but not meeting him there.

The forest though is the big problem.

It's just completely wrong.

Yeah it looks pretty but it's wrong.

We have Eragon for our personal get togethers and parties, the island is a part of us, it's a part of how we like to imagine ourselves. and some of us felt that for the doco, we were plopped in a strange forest and made out that we were some sort of odd fairyfolk. and that is how it will come across to the viewer.

The pub has always been my home, and everyone identifies the Kookaburra with me.

Furthermore, although we're furries, many of our friends are not.

There has never been any segregation on our part and there never will be.

Every one of my rezdays [which included a fake one or two, due to circumstances beyond our control] involved the entire community, just as people in real life would have friends who come from all sorts of different lifestyles.

And every rezday, christmas and new year celebration has always taken place at the pub.

I honestly hated the forest scenes, I could barely move and had to be teleported around... I think my computer is slowing off anyway lately.

Another thing to remember is that I rarely ever go further from ABC and Eragon, mainly because I'm very happy at both islands and that's where I want to stay... I would not go off having parties elsewhere... although if Quad, CC, Shai, Horse and Ted asked me to one of their places and had a party there for me, that'd be ok too.

Eragon is so central to the plot, it's my home in secondlife and should be mentioned more often.

As frustrating as it sounds, I'd really like Mixin to drop the forest scenes and to re-try something at the pub again, to keep the forest scenes as fillers if need be but not to call it my rezday.


Wolfie!

Less blonde, More stupid

I have something for all you blonde women who are tired of being the butt of people's jokes. Next time someone tells a Blonde Joke, Take The Woofers advice, Just say "But Sarah Palin's a Brunette".

Wolfie!

The Emperor's New Tucker ( nouveau crappo )

I still have the flu, and I suppose I'm feeling a bit grumpy, so let your wolfy have his grump, please.

I was thinking about food, restaurant food... which is something I'm usually happy with unless they go all wanky and offer food that probably shouldn't be eaten.

I dispise the dish which has a frilly, decorated whatsit in the centre, while dribbled around the edge is a ring of yellow crap that could be chicken vomit for all I know.

If you're anything like me, it feels like your tummy has fallen out around seven.

Your Wolfy gets like that a lot and was worse as a teenager, who damn well needed a pile of food on his plate which could hide an inflated footy.

Nothing pleases me more than to be seated at a pub and get a lovely, whopping great, Chicken Parma... With Veggies, not overdone thanks, and a proper lemon squash... not Solo or any of that, Yes I know it's impossible to get these days, but I can hope and I can remember.

But there people out there who will pay more for fish eggs and quail [roasted sparrow]

* Yes I realise it's not actual sparrow, but is there much of a difference, I mean, once you've sucked the pea sized bit of meat off, is there any point arguing?

So in future, if any of you have the idea to take me to a restaurant for the evening, I won't be a happy lad if the food is too posh.

Wolfie!

Orangina

This one needs posting as it was created by the Team which Shelley's Sister Kylie works with, both Sisters are heavily into media.

This is the Orangina ad, with the furries, which I think most of you have probably seen by now.

Music is "I like it like that" which was available as a CD before the ad was made. so, you can buy it if you like it.

Orangina, Full Version.


This is The Making of...


Wolfie!

Christmas Crackling

Tonight on "Enough Rope" George Miller who made Mad Max and Babe was interviewed, and it reminded me of when I saw Babe, with My Parents... We loved it.

It was Christmas and We sat around My Sister's loaded dinner table, Oh yes, She'd put on a very good spread, She was always great with the main courses while Mum was best with cakes and trifles and things of that nature.

That Christmas stuck in my mind because of the talk and the food.

Babe, The first movie, had been released about a month earlier, and so, families will often talk about the latest film.

The main course was pork, roasted in the kettle BBQ

"I liked it when Babe did such and such... can I have some of that?"

"Yeah, I nearly cried when Babe said "I want my Mummy"... This is great crackle"

"Anyone want more crackle?"

I felt like I was watching this thing that was invisible to others, but obvious to me, it was like being inside some kind of TV comedy

Even though I Identify myself as The Werewolf, I am not a meat lover. I barely have any, some chicken on the weekend, maybe a few turkey slices, the odd meat pie and pasta sauce, but far less than the average person consumes... or would like to consume, since meat is so expensive these days.

Meat is something that just disagrees with me, on several levels and I think it's little more than laziness which keeps me from going vegetarian.

Mum was the same, I took after Her, She was not having any pork either.

It has always amazed me that although we can be so close and loving to our pets, that we can close our eyes to other creatures and eat them without a second thought.

Quite often I buy lamb shanks for my dog, and I do think about the lamb and there's guilt there, but my dog needs to be fed too.

A few weeks back, I was with Shelley and Jamie, and was given a vegetarian meal, and was more than happy to have that.

Wolfie!

Republicans

I just got this from a Republican friend:

*****

This pretty much puts things in their proper perspective!

Subject: John McCain

Barack Obama has put out an ad that simple minded John McCain cannot use a computer.

Well guess what; Obama cannot land a jet plane on an aircraft carrier at night.

*****

I don't think Obama will be expected to use anything but Windows or MacOS, like the rest of us, and probably uses it frequently.

I don't think I can see McCain rocking up to work in the Whitehouse in a flaming jet, not that he'll be working there at all, with any luck.

"Dad, What's Republican mean?"

"Thick as, Son.... Thick... as..."


Wolfie!

The Disgruntled

I just recieved an e-mail from youtube which said that someone had replied to a video I made and posted quite a while ago.

Now I didn't understand how to edit in premiere then, so it was pretty much warts and all, ran too long and wasn't really the best video I'd done.

I watch youtube a fair bit, usually via stumble, and will often comment if something is really good. but if I see something I don't like, I'll simply move on, as I'm sure most people do.

This guy didn't like what I'd done, and wrote:

"I've just spent three minutes of MY LIFE watching That S**T"

He was watching youtube, I don't think he was donning his superman costume and just as he was about to leap out the window to thwart some evil genuis's plan to cover the world in a layer of fairy floss, suddenly had a compelling urge to play my video, and thus waste precious seconds.

I wrote back and told him that he'd also wasted about forty seconds replying... Which I allowed as he's obviously not the brightest bulb in the shop... and then deleted his comment which must have been there for a full five minutes.

Meanwhile layers of pink fairy floss spews out over New York, London, Paris, Munich while a cackling mad scientist wails in triumph.

Wolfie!

Piracy

Piracy is really really really really naughty, don't do it.
My parrot agrees.

Blender Defender

If you're a cat owner, you always have the problem of cats getting up on your table and sink, it's not nice and I try to stop it where possible... But cats don't listen, while you can train a dog to do the right thing, it's much harder to train a cat and they will often still steal things even if they're "trained".

Enter the Blender Defender, a strobe, something to switch on a blender... a sound that a cat hates, a webcam and there you go.

It works well.

Wolfie!

məˈʃiːnəmə

Machinima, that new animation technique where you use in-world characters to produce a film. I made a few, mostly to promote ABC Island, and here they are:

These were mostly tests, just to see what I could do.

I would like to make a proper ABC Island promo soon.

I hope you pay us a visit

Wolfie!

Banksy's Petshop

Banksy, The artist known for his stencilled grafitti on walls all around the world, has just opened this amazing petshop in New York which is filled with bizarre animatronic creatures, You have to see this, amazing stuff.

Click here to visit the site and watch the video

Wolfie!

Spank the Monkey

I don't think this is so bad, it's probably fairly realistic. Tarzan the Apeman, a big, strong, virile lad with lots of time on his hands... or something else... and geeze, those monkeys are at it all the time, Monkey see, Monkey Do.

Wolfie!

Rick Rolled, The best Yet

Here's John McCain being Rick Rolled by Obama, it's a very clever video which had a lot of work put into it, and it's very funny.



And yes I know, this isn't the Rockit blog, but... for those of you who don't know Rick Astley... Where have you been?... Here's "Never Gonna Give You Up" in full.

Wolfie!

O Come All Ye Faithful

This is a brilliant ad, and it's pretty obvious what it's for.


Wolfie!

Cowscanning

This one was filmed by a friend and edited by me.
The footage he gave me reminded me of 2001 (Movie), and so... this happened.

Wolfie!

Hunk of Meat

Shelley wanted to get video of Katie and I in a forest, well today we decided to try that, but things went a bit crap.

We went to Shelley's lovely home first and met Jamie, Her Partner who is doing the music for the doco, He's really cool.

The house is built into a steep hill, and so you have to literally climb some stairs to get to the ground floor, and then you go upstairs and you're in the lounge, then as you go through the kitchen, you realise you're on the same level as the backyard, so it's pretty strange to me, always having lived in a house without stairs and on very flat (boring) land. The windows look out onto lovely tall trees and ferns.

I took katie upstairs... Malamutes are a bit iffy about stairs but Katie negotiated those really well, When She was almost at the top, She met Shelley's little boy who is going through a Batman phase and was wearing a mask... Katie took fright and went
to turn and go back downstairs.

We weren't at the house very long, as there was filming to be done.

So we all piled into the car and went to an area of forest with some interesting trees, and we had to climb a steep bank to get there, katie did it easily.

Once in there, Shelley got her camera ready to film as Katie sniffed at a scent, next thing she pushed the pine needles away and found a really rank piece of meat.

She picked this up and dumped it to the side and prepared to dig in.

I freaked and thought that it may have been a bait, as a lot of them are used in forests here.

I held her mouth open so that anything would fall out, and that nothing would get swallowed.

Shelley ran back to the car, and got the two litre bottle of water I'd bought with me
and when She returned, we washed Katie's mouth out, I don't think I've ever seen a dog gargle before.

I took Katie back to the car and Shelley phoned a local vet... we wanted to make sure... and Jamie collected the evidence.

A vet was phoned and so off we went.

When we got there, we met Chrissy the vet, a nice American woman, who inspected the meat and said that it wasn't a bait, but a large hunk of animal intestine... probably from a sheep or a cow.

It's likely some dog scrounged it from somewhere and buried it there for later.

Katie was fine, no drama.

Well that blew our filming plans, but you never know, we may try again later.

Shelley felt bad but it wasn't Her fault, dogs will be dogs, that's all there is to it.

Wolfie!

The Surgeon

I'll be seeing my Surgeon on the 24th of this month, wow it takes a long time to see these guys.

Going from previous experience, it will mostly be a chat about what can or can't be done, and I'm sure that a colonoscopy will be involved which will give us more info on what things are like up the Khyber Pass.

There will probably be another meeting with My GP or the Surgeon weeks after, which may involve getting setup for the surgery.

At the rate these things go, I'll be lucky if I can get this done by January but I can hope.

Wolfie!

An Animated Lifestyle

A friend of mine with the nickname "Captaincrunch Hax" wrote this article:

Apparently he wrote this after discovering a Journo within SL from one of the Aussie newspapers, may have written something nasty [as they do] about Secondlife... I have not read this yet but will get a copy soon.

Wolfie!

*******

There are some very interesting aspects of SecondLife that show us a lot about humanity, and how we (as a race) respond to new things, and how we drive to experience and benefit from them.

SecondLife is incredibly open for new building and experience, but is limited in a number of ways that are (for the most part) unavoidable.

In my view, the biggest limitation in SL is that the PEOPLE that use it, are limited in their understanding and perception of the virtual world by their requirement to view it through both their own world-view, and their understandings of reality.

This means that houses in SL have Kitchens, and bedrooms - I have even seen toilets in SL (and not just for the kinky)

Yes, a lot of SL is based around sex - and if that is what you are keyed to look for, you will see it everywhere.

SL is also:

- a place of communication (rather like the LINK list in many ways);

- a place of exploration

- a place to share hopes and dreams with others who think the same as you

- somewhere to meet people you would never otherwise meet

- a place you can create art, architecture, interfaces, imagery that are not possible in real life. (search for "npirl" - and trawl through some of the landmarks there)

You have to get off the beaten track - and, sometimes, talk to some scary avatars. these are from avatars I know

- that blue humanoid fox may actually be a research scientist,

- the pale be-winged androgene may be a Senior intellectual property lawyer,

- the brown bear may be a specialist in wooded-terrain fire-fighting

- the cute little fem in purple and green knee-socks (who yesterday was a boy) may be one of the leading pyrotechnics technicians in the US

- and the 8yo holding the teddybear just might run a large restaurant
chain in the US mid-west.

- the red demoness is just as likely to be a professor holding a chair in Sports Psychology as any thing else,

- and the steam-punk gentleman could just have been doing packet-switched networking when Vaxen and PDPs ruled the roost.

However, you have to talk to them to find any of this out.

I have over 20 years of professional experience in networked systems, and there are groups in SL where I am "the young whipper-snapper", where I talk (often in awe) with people who did wire-wrapped circuit-boards and a for whom "patching the system" involved a soldering iron, a CRO. and a length of wire.

I am continuously amazed, not by finding 40+, 50+ or even 60+ year olds, but when I come across the 20-somethings....

In summary - SecondLife - is like the rest of the Internet: it is a place in which you can blow down barriers that may otherwise exist, OR you can make barriers stronger than any that physically exist, admitting only those who agree with your views.

CaptainCrunch Hax [Posted with permission]
* I once met a 70 year old and someone else close to the same age, and why not?