Today’s otters come courtesy of my new bloggy love, Zooborns. These baby small-clawed otters live at the Bronx Zoo.
And a bonus clip from Emmit Otter’s Jug Band: Barbeque. [Lyrics.]
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Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. What did you do this year – the good, the bad, or the ugly? What do you think is coming your way next year? How do you think the world will look in the last week of 2009? How do you hope it will look?
Categories: fun & hobbies, Life, Meta
Hoyden About Town 
Good lord, they are illegally cute. I wanted pelicans and a giraffe for Christmas, but otters might go to top of the list next year!
OK, back to lurking as cataclysmic and I are having a ninja battle on the next delurking day. Are you reading, cataclysmic? Are ya, are ya? 😉
I’m going to Yum Cha today! 😀
Not Yum Cha, but I suddenly have a hankering for the pork noodles at the legendary BBQ King in Chinatown (Sydney version). Luckily I’m going to see Public Enemy in town tonight so I need only delay gratification for … eight or so hours. Mmmmmporknoodlemmmm.
I am currebtly trying to work out how to watch .VOB files. Grrrr.
I just read something again that I first read about a year ago, and wish that more people online would read (including some of my clients):
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way (note the disclaimer)
I particularly enjoyed the section on RTFM and STFW: How To Tell You’ve Seriously Screwed Up
Anyone read this in The Age today?
The article doesn’t say if it’s a widespread practice, but reports on the custom of giving Viagra pills to Afghan warlords in exchange for military intelligence.
“Meh” I thought, before realising that the intelligence officers were basically sanctioning rape. The one mention of women in the article was equally disturbing:
Afghanistan is already one of the worst places in the world for equality, and now American officials are obliquely bartering women’s bodies.
In other things that have annoyed me, they had on the radio this morning “How to live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget”. They had a complete banker waffling on about saving money by making your own lunch and going on holiday in your own country. Patronising git.
I wanted to call up and tell them my story of the last year, living on Centrelink payments and trying to study full-time. Give them some tips about how to avoid ticket collectors when you couldn’t afford train fares and how to ask for $19.98 cash out at shops instead of $20, to save the tiny remnants in your bank account (because they have to give you $20 anyway. You can save a dollar or two a month this way.)
After living in that kind of impoverishment, the slight inconveniences faced by the middle-class just annoy me.
My biggest Christmas success was the heavy cloak I bought for my Dad. He has always wanted a cloak, but would never think of buying it for himself. He almost had an emotion when he saw it (being English, this is an achievement). What was everyone else’s best gifts given?
Yes Amazing Kim, I just posted on ‘the Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. Rape is endemic in Afghanistan, so one wonders what effect US-sponsored viagra to warlords will have on women and children in a country that affords limited to no rights when it comes to sexual assault. I can only hope that viagra truly is the very last option operatives use, there being so many other, more worthy assistance that can be provided as per the article.
I had a pretty exhausting year. Coming to the end, I find myself mentally exhausted. I had such a lot of feminist thought to blog about and explore and develop in myself, but I’m finding now I can barely string together an argument. A bit too much study, perhaps? I bought all these great books concerning feminism and literary criticism this year and I’m too out of it to concentrate on any of them enough to do them justice. I think I had a pretty good year nevertheless. I’m ready to move on with a number of exciting changes coming through. I think I will spend the next few days cleaning and seeing friends. I’m actually going to the theatre to see a play I’ve wanted to see for a couple of years, which is quite exciting! I wish you Hoydens and Hoydenizens all the best for the year.
I’m afraid I have nothing to add about Viagra except I’m horrified.
The Amazing Kim, I’ve yet to see any of my Christmas-celebrating friends and give them their presents. My neighbour popped around today and gave me a marvellous book about artefacts from ancient cultures by one of my favourite historians, Pamela Bradley. It is a truly gorgeous book and I am very pleased.
Watching a year in politics retrospective, they ended up with the Bush having shoes chucked at him incident, and I mused to my beloved – “there must be a Flash game online for that by now”. And there is.
Hello. My name is Inigo Skywalker.
via Bad Astronomy
Being the festive season, it was good timing that the radio this morning had a program about various methods of disposing bodies. Apparently “Natural earth” burials are the next big thing in the funeral industry – where bodies are buried in shrouds about 3 feet down and a tree is planted on top. Very worthwhile and all, but the idea of an entire forest munching on people’s corpses gives me the heebie-jeebies. What if the trees get a taste for human flesh?
Is anyone else finding the blog is jerky on upload, or is it only my machine?
Anyway, I just discovered that I missed the New Humanist magazine’s series of Advent podcasts from assorted freethinkers & skeptics this year. Next year I shall have to pay attention from the beginning of December.
Hey! Congratulations to Kate Harding and Al Iverson on tying the knot in Vegas! Yesterday (if I’m reading the Facebook updates right).
Woot!
Today I posted about the shooting of Leeneisha Edwards. I had a post read to go yesterday that somehow got erased. I assumed that by the time I got my post up it would be all over the blogosphere and what did I see but silence. I am pretty angry to be honest. Here is yet another transwoman of color who is a victim of violence (in Memphis to boot) and the so-called progressive blogs have nothing to say about this. The story appears on some trans blogs but otherwise it seems that it has been decided that this a non issue. TWOC are subject to the highest rate of violence in the trans community and they are ignored by the mainstream media just like their cisgendered WOC sisters. Despite all of the rhetoric about post racism and gender neutrality events like this continue to happen with little or no commentay. The black community has been silent, the feminist community has been silent. These are the two groups that are supposed to care the most. I am positively ill at this point. At what point do we decide that all bodies matter?
@ Renee:
I just read about Leeneisha Edwards about an hour ago. The harassment and abuse of TWOC in Memphis seems to be so blatant, and yet, as you say, there is near-silence.
Otters! Otters!!!!!
I love Otterday. I have pics of Otters I must upload for you.
I finally lost it on the big baby at work who apparently can’t do half his job because he’s trying to “stick it to the boss” by leaving me a bunch of stuff to do at night because it STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE, and I feel bad for not feeling bad.
Then I quit. Because between him and Racist-Sexist-Jerk (I have suddenly forgotten which blogs don’t mind cussing and which do, so Jerk is Sekrit Code) I am FED UP.
Bring on 2009. Woo hoo!
Your cow orker sounds like a giant douche. And we love appropriate cussing almost as much as we love otters. Please do upload!
Yayes! Fucknecks all around! *giggle*
They are Otters in the Zoo at Perth, but I think they were from Canada, which I found funny. I don’t think in all the years I’ve lived here I’d seen an Otter in Real Life except at the Zoo in Perth.
Photos will go up before the New Year.
*waves at everyone* Apparently randing at HaT put me in a better mood and now I hate less people. 🙂
Hi all–crazy busy times at the Bene house and job of late, and so I’ve been too drained to do much but poke at my new DS and not quite have enough words for my outrage. Check my Twitter for more daily stuff until I find my language again.
cold weather, holidays…soul sapping.
Sorry to hear about bad crazy busy times, Anna and Bene.
For those hanging out for bloggy goodness while many writers are taking a break, Jon Swift has put up his Best Blog Posts of 2008 (chosen by the bloggers themselves). Plenty there to get your teeth into.
Yayes, more to read while killing time. Work is boring! 🙂
At mine, we’re having a discussion about Museums and it’s gotten very exciting. But that may just be me. 🙂
Anna’s last blog post..Museums, Money, and the Maritimes: A Sad Sad Lack Of Sable Island Ponies
Anna, I did that research into public transport accessibility a little while ago, if you recall: http://zeroatthebone.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/an-overview-of-accessible-public-transport/