Phar Lap was poisoned

It's official: Phar Lap was poisoned - Horseracing - Sport - smh.com.au

but I read it as his own trainer and a remedy meant to help the horse

Must stop watching Fawlty Towers etc

Bump in the night's no joke - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

A man who laughed too hard at a comedian on TV ended up being pepper sprayed at his home by UK police and spending the night naked in a cell.

Chris Cocker, 36, from Blackburn, laughed so hard while watching BBC TV's Have I Got News For You that he fell off the sofa, the BBC reported.

A neighbour in the flat below heard the thud and called police.

"I fell off the settee in hysterics and hit the floor and got myself up and started carrying on watching the telly and the next thing I know there was a knock on the door," Mr Cocker said.

The knock was from police officers, but Mr Cocker was not happy to see them and refused to co-operate."The bit where I lost it the most was when I shut the door and the policeman had stuck his foot in the doorway and was refusing to let me shut my own front door," he said.

Police then pepper-sprayed Mr Cocker, bundled him into a police van and took him to a police station where he said he was stripped naked and made to spend a night in a jail cell, the BBC said.Lancashire Police said the officers used the pepper spray after fearing for their safety when Mr Cocker became aggressive.

Coffee is really a health food

Coffee drinkers safe from early death | The Daily Telegraph

Ramses II by Christiane Desroches Noblecourt

Ramses II : an illustrated biography by Christiane
Desroches Noblecourt
1996 - English language edition 2007.
The illustrations are magnificent.

I read this re my interest in Chronology - and posted this to Yahoo list on NC

I thought some dates that "the preeminent specist
on Ramses II" per jacket blurb provides might be
of interest.

Horemheb 1327-1295
(an illustration immediately alongside that text
says "reigned 1333-1306" I cannot understand that
as in text she goes on to say died 1295)

1295 Ramses son of Seti and Tuya would have been
in fifth year and would have seen crowning of Ram I

Seti takes 7 year old Ram II on expedition into
Canaan and Ram I makes Seti co-regent and then
dies just under 2 years after Horemheb with whom
he shared the rule.

Year 7-8 of Seti a peace treaty with Muwatallis
and in the ensuing time of peace Seti makes Ram II
co-regent

Year 14-15 of Seti when nearly 50 he dies and Ram
II just turned 25

Fifth year of Ram II when 30 his second Syrian
expedition and Battle of Kadesh

69th year when 92 he dies in 1213 - she discusses
up to 14th Jubilee celebrations.

Perhaps her opinion of events and years of reign
help discussions

--------
Christiane tries to discuss placing Exodus at time
of Ram II and suggests year 7 when he and
Imenherkhepeshef (eldest son) were on a dual
punitive expedition into Edom and Moab. "Clues
though are few and far between". (I'd agree with
that I just cannot see Ram II the Great as Pharaoh
of Exodus)

Much discussion in book on eldest changing name
later as Imen... disappears from the record. Of
course if he was the first born at the time of
Exodus then he was not around ......

What I have just read - May 2008

8 Jun 2008 S831180005 Fighting techniques of the Medieval world equipment, combat skills, and tactics / Bennett, Matthew. Renew

8 Jun 2008 S755447000 Genesis of the Pharaohs : dramatic new discoveries that rewrite the origins of a / Wilkinson, Toby. Renew

10 Jun 2008 S867675001 The Black swan : the impact of the highly improbable / Nassim Nicholas Taleb. / Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. Renew

What Am I reading and watching

14 Jun 2008	S885707000	Family tree magazine : Vol. 24, No. 6, Apr 2008. /
14 Jun 2008	S856048004	Inspector Rex. Series 7 [videorecording] : a cop's best friend / writers Peter H / Hajek, Peter.
14 Jun 2008	S838530004	Jericho / writer, Stewart Harcourt ; director, Nicholas Renton. / Harcourt, Stewart.
14 Jun 2008	S818370009	The life aquatic with Steve Zissou / written, produced and directed by Wes Ander / Anderson, Wes.
14 Jun 2008	S817517006	Together / directed by Chen Kaige. / Chen, Kaige, 1952-
28 Jun 2008	S860627009	Coffee basics : a quick and easy guide / by Kevin Knox and Julie Sheldon Huffake / Knox, Kevin.
28 Jun 2008	S866714009	Inside Hamas : the untold story of militants, martyrs and spies / Zaki Chehab. / Chehab, Zaki.
28 Jun 2008	S877649004	Still lost in translation : more misadventures in English abroad / Charlie Croke / Croker, Charlie, 1966-
28 Jun 2008	S800419004	The mighty Hood. / Bradford, Ernle.
28 Jun 2008	S868051004	Wikis for dummies / by Dan Woods and Peter Thoeny ; foreword by Ward Cunningham. / Woods, Dan, 1960-

Motya : unearthing a lost civilization. by Gaia Servadio

Motya : unearthing a lost civilization. by Gaia Servadio


Gaia is an Italian journalist who wrote for L'Ora who bravely tackled the Mafia . Her book is about her personal trips to Motya. A Punic city destroyed by the Greeks on an islet off Sicily with a sea covered road connected to the main land. Her story covers Joseph Whitaker who inherited a wine firm trading in Marsala - a very heavy dessert wine. Joseph purchased Motya and started digging for Carthaginian remains as well as collecting and stuffing birds. The family had some trouble with the mafia and the fascists . A rambling book but very interesting on the British running businesses in Sicily.


Gaia has a theory that the Carthaginians practised sacrifice of first born children because young women had to become temple prostitutes and when they married the father was not always clear. No wonder the Bible condemns the Canaanites.

Farewell: Charlton Heston

Actor Charlton Heston has died | The Daily Telegraph

Charlton Heston dies - Film - Entertainment - smh.com.au

Charlton Heston's key movies - Film - Entertainment - smh.com.au

Charlton Heston Takes Some of Sci-Fi's Best Lines to the Grave | The Underwire from Wired.com  What a titan - all those images I have of him in all those roles.  Just thinking of one - Ben Hur - in chains and he takes a drink from a man and we realise it is the Lord.   Now he is not lending his power to NRA - can America now do something about guns  

Chicken Laksa

In Wok
400g chicken breast diced
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
4 minutes
toss in 1/2 cup carrot in strips
1/2 cup capsicum strips
2 minutes

add
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup shallots sliced
1 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
1 teaspoon meongrass in jar
3 teaspoons massaman curry paste
1 teaspoon tumeric
2 teaspoon chicken stock powder
1 cup water
1 teaspoon coconut essence
1 1/2 cups Singapore noodles

MIX WELL

Combine
1 of 375 ml evaporated light milk
1 tablespoon cornflour
add to dish

Simmer 5 minutes
Serve

FROM    "Annette Sym Too Good to be True"

Blueberry flapjacks

Batter
1 can blueberries save juice for sauce
2 egg whites - avoid yolks 6 g fat -

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup self raising
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
cooking spray

Sauce
Juice and 1 tablespoon cornflour
keep stirring on medium heat

BATTER
Beat egg whites and sugar add essence and milk
fold flour until combined
fold berries

spray oil in pan
pour in a round shape and cook 2 minutes 

PM off on Overseas Trip

before he left I heard the PM say that he expected to have important discussions with the PRESIDENT OF THE USA. He would have his photo taken with him. Our country will be taking a much stronger place in world affairs and could be expected to stick our noses into all manner of things. We will of course tell everyone what they should do to fix their global warming.





Rudd defends timing of marathon trip | The Daily Telegraph

I wonder what crisis will occur next week that Julia will somehow waffle through.


First Day

Rudd's troop withdrawal leaves Bush alone on Iraq - National - smh.com.au

Well I agree sure is time to pull troops out - what with the Iraq government starting a civil war in Basra. But I hardly think the number of troops really would be noticed and won't we be
leaving some as security for our diplomats etc. Glad to see we are still there to help the Afgahnis.

It's stuff "Mr Rudd said sparing "working families" the full brunt of the global financial crisis was the uppermost reason for his two-and-a-half weeks of talks with the world's most senior business, political and economic leaders." What is this Working families that he talks about - does he mean he excludes a lot of the population.

I did like "Dr Nelson and others were engaging in "short-term political point scoring", he said."
Wow is he above criticism

Richard Widmark, Actor, Dies at 93 - New York Times

Richard Widmark, Actor, Dies at 93 - New York Times

Richard Widmark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Forgive me Richard this amazed me - I just did not know you were still around. Then I read on Wiki that he was never on a talk show - last film was 1991 - so no wonder he dropped from view

To me he was the greatest villain I ever saw. He just oozed badness.
But then he could also be a most noble hero.
His classic films were in the late 1940 into 50s


Great picture of him as psychopathic killer from 1947 “Kiss of Death”. Yes and that's Victor Mature behind Richard.

The intensity was always there - "The Bedford Incident" said so much about the Cold War stupidity of vessels running around with WMD

And this says a lot about the man:
Widmark was married to his first wife, writer Jean Hazlewood, for almost 55 years, from April 5, 1942 until her death on March 2, 1997

Emily Perry dies at 101

Humphries pays tribute to 'Madge' | The Daily Telegraph
"Barry Humphries realised immediately Emily Perry was a star."
I loved Madge Allsop - she was the best straight "man" I've ever seen and as Barry says he tried to make her laugh. It seems she was 80 when she first played Madge - amazing.

Recently we saw Barry on the last Michael Parkinson and it was right Dame Edna was there at the last he brought tears to my eyes on many Parkinson - the Gloria Swanson (was Gloria confused about Dame Edna?) - Barry and the Russian Salad in that brown paper bag on the aeroplane.

Ah Madge wasn't on those shows - perhaps she was home laughing - Thanks Emily

Plastic Bags

Plastic bags join endangered list - Environment - smh.com.au
Garrett who can do a tourist trip to Antarctica is now proposing to ban Plastic Bags or impose a levy on using them. Inference is that the article is talking about the ones that supermarkets "give" us with our groceries. years ago stores had a rack with old cardboard boxes and we struggled to find ones to fit our shopping. USA stores always "gave " nice big solid paper bags but here the stores decided plastic was cheap. Presumably these are now costing.

But what is position on the plastic bags we buy in the stores - big bags for the rubbish bin - little bags for freezers etc? Are these different because we pay directly for them?

Currently we use the shopping plastic bags for our rubbish - in future should we place the rotten stuff directly in the Otto and make it more smelly?

Bunnings I would presume stopped plastic bags as a cost saving for themselves. And I must say their prices are much better than the BBC stores that used to be in the same premises.

The supermarkets continue to confuse us on prices - rollback ie buy two - a ridiculous 4c off fuel. Or spend at high prices in the petrol station and get another 2c . Spent over $200 in Woolworths at Carlingford the other day and still got ONE only docket for 4c off. And let's see where are the Woolworths petrol stations - one north of Thornleigh -one down Epping Road - none at Carlingford. 4c off 40 litres - not even a coffee. What does it cost for them to run this ???

And they worry about the cost of plastic bags!!

Watch out Kevin's back

Frankly I was wondering what was happening - all the hype about Work around the clock and then he disappeared and Julia did all the talking. Well SMH has all the news

Get set for Kevin08, Australia: PM's back, best you look busy - National

I was also shocked to see an aircraft land in Antarctica and off step Garrett. Talk about Stunts. perhaps he was there looking after the whales. Now this sending a ship to keep an eye on the Japanese whaling fleet - checking for what? Are the Japanese doing anything that is actually illegal. Is what Greenpeace doing legal?

Is Internet Banking safe - Is Facebook safe - Phishing

I am amazed that I get so much spam that are fake notes from financial institutions. As I use Thunderbird -with text only I immediately see that the links to banks are fake. In HTML these notes would look fair dinkum. I get notes from all manner of "fake" banks - and also PayPal and eBay. None from the company themselves.

Now this excellent article tells me that people do respond to these emails.
Is internet banking safe? - Security - Technology - smh.com.au
Do have a read some helpful stuff re online banking.

Then other ways of getting your VITAL details - at sites like Facebook
BBC NEWS | Technology | Cyber thieves target social sites

And beware pages that want your password in Facebook - check URL is still facebook
Phishing For Facebook

Oh and if a note I trust arrives in TB and I want to see in html I have installed the addon
ShowHTML and one click and all looks good.

SearchWP and Google search

Georges-Etienne Legendre - SearchWP
is a aid to searching from the Firefox search box - it puts your search words available in the search results. They will be listed on the toolbar so you can click to find each word in the pages. Also you can click a highlight button to get them in colour.

Georges-Etienne Legendre - SearchBox Sync
SearchWP only works if you use the Firefox search box - if you use say Google search direct well install Sync.

I did not want google toolbar as it clutters up the browser with features I find hard to see the point of. I do have Google desktop and use the taskbar search box so Sync is most useful.

Both addons work for other search engines

Assignants

In essence bring back the assignants


A History of Money: From Ad 800 - Google Book Search

The French Revolution

Genetically Modified - help

yesterday on SBS a very frightening doco on Monsanto and GM crops and their attempt to patent pigs. What I understood was Monsanto supply GM feed and this puts certain genes into pigs. If your pigs have these genes then you MUST pay a licence fee. A German farmer was DNA testing pigs in Germany and showing that pigs already naturally had these genes. He was hoping that Monsanto did not have the patent granted.

The program was also making the point that having GM crops on a farm next door could mean that your crops would get contaminated and then you should be paying a license fee.
And then we don't know what effect these GM crops have on us or animals. Farmers were saying their herds had serious fertility drops.

And now the next day in NSW and Victoria

State drops ban on GM canola crop - Environment - smh.com.au

Best I can say is stop using food with Canola present

Final Election Thoughts

A chance to rebuild, after a decade of moral erosion - yes of course an article by Paul Keating.

In which amongst a lot of other nonsense - he says

"He (John Howard) also trod on the reasonable constitutional progression to an Australian republic, even when the proposal I championed had everything about it that the Liberal Party could accept. A president appointed by both houses of Parliament; meaning by both major parties, while leaving the reserve powers with the new head of state as the Liberals had always wanted. The price of Howard conniving in its defeat probably means we will ultimately end up with an elected head of state, completely changing the representative nature of power and of the prime ministership and of the cabinet."

Sorry Paul the people clearly showed that if there was to be a Republic that they wanted to elect the President not leave it to the pollies. That is why the Republic push failed.

-------

Back to Kevin - I really find offensive the Ad - I will stay the Limit - whereas Howard will hand over to Costello - so where is your choice. Well we know the choice - it is Howard followed by Costello - no secret.

In 1991 I went to India for six weeks - when I left Hawke was PM - when I returned Keating had pushed him out.

I had no news in India and I was shocked. What choice did the people have there? I fail to see the issue Kevin! How do we know the ALP won't do it again?

---------

The dumb fake brochure stunt of course is nasty for John. And he has disowned it several times. At the Press Club on TV today I was pleased to hear journalists groaning when yet another "respected" reported asked a question on an issue that had been done to death.

A big thank you to John Howard for being my local MP for so many years and PM since 1996. Looking right back you impressed me when you took such prompt action on personal gun control.

Many Blessings for Saturday


Friday night - I'm watching Bob Carr saying all the things he thinks that John did wrong - and this from the man that gave us the lousy tollways and then walked off the job. Did he tell us he was going to leave the job at the previous election. Did the Labor premiers in Victoria and Queensland give notice at the election that they would retire young. Come on Labor John is saying he will retire so stop the NEGATIVE nonsense.


Why has Kevin shot himself in the foot over the change the constitution to recognise our indigenous people?