Today’s Open Thread is hosted by all of these delightful otters.
[by Han N on flickr]
And, if you haven’t had your fill of otters yet, check out these drawings at bluebison.net (via Chally).
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a good book (or a bad one)? Anything in the news that you’d like to discuss? What have you created lately? Commiserations, felicitations, temptations, contemplations, speculations?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
It’s a lovely sunny crisp day here in Sydney. I really should get out for a walk.
Behold, the vanguard of the future. Humanity?s obsolescence has already arrived, and the post-human future will inevitably be? transfeline.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Of2HU3LGdbo?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent
(My latest blog rant is mockery of some futurist and transhumanist silliness that came to my notice.)
Since the latest hiatus, apparently HaT no longer likes smart quotes, ellipses, or characters with accents and stuff? Am I allowed to exclaim in dismay, “Waaaaah?!…”
(My name is Xanthe, not Xanth. The diaresis was there to indicate the e isn’t silent, just like the e in Bronte.)
It must be something to do with the lastest WordPress upgrade, Xanthë.
But I was able to do the diaresis just then, hm. Shall I edit your name in your latest comments so that it displays correctly?
Ah no – it displays properly in the backend, but then screws it up on the front. Shall have to investigate.
Apparently blog was set to UTF-7 by tech support. Have changed to UTF-8 – let us see.
Xanthë Xanthë Xanthë
Woot!
LOL I saw that video on Manboobz (did you post it or did someone else, Xanthe?) the other day. Should have known it was the mighty Max-Arthur riding that roomba!
I’ve found out my *&^%$# knee doesn’t just have a small tear in the meniscus, it’s got a middling-size fissure in the wossname, the cartilage at the top of the tibia. So now my osteo’s lining me up to see a sports doctor/surgeon. Not looking forward to how this might hit the hip pocket, since I’ve no idea whether Medicare or my private insurance will cover it.
http://theinsecureaustralian.tumblr.com/post/48994966954/after-learning-my-flight-was-detained-4-hours-i
Testing…testing…is this working yet….?
Hurray! Sorry about that everyone, but I tried several times to post this morning and it wasn’t working.
Thanks for the poem, Mindy.
Të?tîñ?… yes Viv, if you wouldn’t mind putting the ë back on that post — not that I’m really that fussy, but I really could do without being mistaken for a Piers Anthony fan. :-p
Kittehserf: I’d encountered Roomba cat some years ago, so it was in the back of my mind that there ought to be a more fulsome YT video than the little snippet that was made into the animated gif, so to use a well-worn cliché, I let my fingers do the walking… sure enough, the video was on the texasgirly1979 (Helen’s Pets). Max-Arthur rides again!
Xanthe, the first of texasgirly1979’s videos I saw was the one of Max-Arthur riding the roomba around the loo and slapping poor Sharky in the chops every time he went past. I’ve looked at a heap since and am totally enchanted by that furred and feathered family. 😀
Love, love, love that poem. Thanks Mindy.
And here is one of my cats this morning:
Image description: grey and white short-hair cat rolls in ecstasy in the sun, her belly facing up, her head thrown back
It is an absolutely delightful day in Sydney.
Came across the poem on Twitter last night, sorry forgot who retweeted it. It is rather lovely isn’t it.
Nice video pointing out the many Facebook privacy issues:
Why I Love the New Facebook Timeline (Whitney Avalon)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/GwK1Cw6U-Ts?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent
The onions I just sliced are slow-cooking and in about 10 minutes I’ll turn the heat up so they can get caramelizing. About an hour after that, we’ll be having authentic French Onion soup.
Ooh ooh, are you going to have those little grilled cheese toasts with it?
Also any idea why my posts are now showing up with the Gravatar logo when afaik I don’t have a Gravatar account?
With a schoolchild comes entirely new things to have nightmares about. After my first two weeks of experiencing school holidays, and desperate for a day’s work, I just now discover that there are two staff development days before they go back on Wednesday.
@angharad it has in tiny writing ‘no gravatar’ written across it. Why I don’t know.
@Orlando, yeah taking the kids to work with me tomorrow and Tuesday. As long as I can get them to be quiet during the teleconference I should be okay. I’m doomed. Not sure why it is two days this term but I hope that means we get one back somewhere along the line.
angharad, yes I’m just about to put the old french bread into the oven to dry out just enough to be crisp and float on top of the soup in the ramekins. Then comes the grating of the swiss cheese and parmesan and the slicing of the Jarlsberg 🙂
re the default gravatar – that is my super-duper special coding just for HaT – if you want a different pic to show then just register a gravatar at gravatar.com
Orlando and Mindy – I’m most thankful my kids are in the tertiary education system now.
It’s been Soup Week here, too, with the somewhat cooler weather. We’ve just finished a big pot of lentil, tomato ‘n’ root vegetable soup, and tonight we’re moving on to butternut with parmesan. Yummo.
Oh my giddy aunt. The hideous ACL, whose main website is acl.org.au, apparently let one of their other domains which they had registered slip through their fingers owing to non-renewal, and so… let’s just say australianchristianlobby.org has had a little bit of a revamp.
*purrrrrr* =^..^=
We’ve been eating broccolli and carrot soup all week, which it was just as well that I made, as we both came down with the flu this weekend, and spent it lying feeling sorry for ourselves and watching Game of Thrones. Easily reheatable and nutritious soup was just the thing.
Erin Pizzey did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. Furrfu.
Jo, love the photo of your kitty! It’s a beautiful day here in Melbourne, too.
Xanthe, I saw the article on ACL via Manboobz – love it love it love it!
*snort* http://i.imgur.com/utD9y10.gif
Tonight, completely out of the blue, I found myself having a conversation with Mr11 about abortion. In the course of said conversation I was explaining the idea of pro-choice vs anti-choice and that to be anti-choice was to deny women their right to reproductive freedom. His response to that was “and if someone did that they wouldn’t be a feminist” in a tone that very clearly marked this as a major failing. I think I might be doing something right.