Empress Nasi Goreng’s Neighborhood

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I am scared of squirrels.   Irrational I know and I'm annoyed at myself for being afraid of such a cute looking little thing. 
I'd never seen a "real" squirrel until my first day here and when I saw them I raved over their sweet little faces and bushy twitching tails. 

My second day here I met a kamikaze squirrel.  Instead of running away from me it ran straight at me and stamping feet and noise did not deter it.    It only stopped when I ran away and then, looking over my shoulder,  I swear I saw it smile. 

This fear is especially pathetic as I come from the land of more than a few of the world's top 10 deadliest snakes, the small Funnel Web Spider and the Blue Ringed Octopus. I have a healthy respect for these but am not particularly terrified of them.

But squirrels...  I give way to even if it means walking onto the roadway; I give wide berth to trees where I spot a squirrel and I never stand still in a park!

We don't have any squirrels in our little yard;  I suspect because of all the pepper (chili) plants we have around but yesterday I noticed a neighbour is actively encouraging them ....   I would never be able to leave the house if this was at my front door!

This little girl was having a feast.  Of course this was taken from well back on the sidewalk! 

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Vox friends & readers:

I feel very bittersweet announcing that I'm another person jumping ship: I'm moving Books, the Universe, and Everything over to Wordpress.

My main three reasons for leaving Vox are:
1. The requirement for people to register to leave comments.
2. The inability to control how much of each post gets published in the RSS feed. (I hate that RSS subscribers can't see my full posts.)
3. The lack of formatting and style control.

As long as my Vox friends are still interested, I will be posting links on Vox whenever I have new posts on Wordpress. You can comment on Vox, or on Wordpress - whatever you prefer.  

Additionally, if you'd like to stay up to date on my posts, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow Books, the Universe & Everything on Facebook. (Links to new posts will appear in your news feed.)

My new Wordpress blog is located here:
http://www.booksuniverseeverything.com/

I have moved all 407 posts from Vox over to Wordpress - and each post links back to the original post on Vox to read the comments.

And while this definitely isn't goodbye, I just want to take a moment to thank all my Vox neighbors. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and to read your wonderful blogs. I look forward to continuing to read & comment on my Neighborhood page, and will do so as long as there are posts there to read. 

I'm excited for Books, the Universe, and Everything's new home, but I'm sad to leave Vox as well. I hope that my neighbors on Vox will continue to follow me at my new location.
 

Links to my first Wordpress posts:
-October's Polysyllabic Spree
-New Home & Book Giveaway

La fleur et le papillon :

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Festival interceltique Août 2009 :
Seuls quelques badauds errent encore sur l'esplanade, le calme revient progressivement sur le quai des Indes.
Demain le festival 2009 sera clos.

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From Wired:

COOKIE!!!

Cookie Monster is no doubt the least good-for-you part of Sesame Street but it was always my favorite. And then there’s Oscar the Grouch, who’s already been the subject of a Geek Dad post.

One of us.

Likely the Cookie Monster is the favorite of many others too, since Google placed him on their homepage to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary, which is Tuesday, November 10, as new segments will begin airing on PBS stations.

Elmo on Google

There are preview clips available at the official website linked above but, be warned, there is video that turns on instantly, so if you’re not in the mood for Ernie, you might want to hit the mute button.

Realizing Sesame Street is 40 years old is a bit of a shock to me, because having watched it as a kid, it  reminds me that I’m old, or at least growing older.

But in addition to my own memories of the show, I also have memories of watching the show with my kids, which, in a way, marked my turning point into true adulthood.

Though the kids are currently of the age where they wouldn’t be caught dead admitting they loved anything about Sesame Street,  I did pry from my teenage daughter an admission that, yes, she watched and that, yes, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch were her favorites.

My twins also had a couple of favorites that I wanted to recommend. The first, Sesame Songs: Sing Yourself Silly, is great from an early age and still makes me smile today. I used the video when my kids were overtired but refused to nap. It mellowed them out and allow me some peace for a little while. The second, Elmo Saves Christmas, is more recent, and especially good for the Christmas holiday, if you don’t have it.

I like this movie because it tells kids why you can’t have Christmas every day.The kids liked it because they were entertained by Santa, reindeer, and Elmo and they didn’t mind the lesson with it.

Which, come to think of it, is Sesame Street in a nutshell.

Which character is your favorite?

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/11/sesame-street-celebrates-40th-anniversary-with-premiere-on-november-10th/

I admit to being a Denise Austin fan. Even though she never shuts up. And she always lies. But you get used to that. I now know that when she says

just one more

She doesn't really mean just one more. She means just that one more then a few more after that.

I've been doing the Fat Blasting Yoga dvd. Its pretty strenuous. And just when you think its over she brings out the stability ball and does another 15 minutes.

When I first started doing it a few weeks ago my legs would be wobbling and shaking from the effort but now I'm pretty good. My thighs feel like they're packed with cement actually. Jem was feeling them the other night and said I'll be able to crack coconuts with them. Which I guess could come in handy someday.

And I've lost 5 kilos which is also pretty handy. 4 more to go. But my aim is really firmness. I want to firm up all those bits that start going soft after 40. You know where they are. Triceps, back fat over the bra, thighs, well lots of places really.

And I made this magnet a couple of years ago when I was trying to lose weight and I think its time to put it back on the fridge to help the cause. Because she's 52 and looks pretty damn fine. And firm. Thats my aim. To be fitter at 50 than ever before. So I have 5 years up my sleeve.

Denise-austin

Fumes

How's this for an elegant put down of the current plan by the Victorian government to base our future on "Clean Coal" technology.

It has been submitted to a few papers, by Noel, to see if it gets a run.

I'll also be writing a piece myself over the cheapest option for our aging coal plants in the next day or two.

Nice work Noel. Blogging should be your next career advancement. No Editors to get past!!

_Business Opportunity_!

Following the successful promotion of the "Clean Coal" technology study to the Victorian Government, "Oxymorons Inc" is now seeking interested parties to join with us in Phase 2 of the project.

This vertically integrated Phase 2 will be titled "Dry Water".

Our basic business model is to capture and dehydrate the huge water surpluses in the nation's northern river systems, using (of course) solar energy.

We will then refine and package the product in cardboard boxes which can readily be transported by air, rail or road (at minor cost) to Victoria’s brown coal plants It is then just a simple matter of adding tap water to reconstitute and apply the resource.

As a further revenue stream, surplus ‘Dry Water” packages could be sold to the State’s . drought-affected areas.

Applicants with some technical capacities could be useful, but essential skills required will include the abilities to write successful Government grant applications, and to lobby vigorously the progress of same.

N.L.Matthews

Festival interceltique 2009 :
Les artistes acadiens venus à Lorient pour le festival 2009 jouaient tous les jours de 14H30 à 2 Heures du matin dans le pavillon de l'Acadie.Voici une liste non exhaustive des groupes présents :  La Virée, Ode à l'Acadie, Tradition, Dominique Dupuis et le duo formé de Stephen Leblanc et Remi Arsenault ainsi que quelques extraits Youtube pour saisir l'ambiance qui régnait en ce lieu qui attire entre 60.000 à 70.000 visiteurs durant les dix jours du festival.

pavillon acadie (2009) Tradition "appel aux bretons"

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Pavillon Acadie 2009 (Jour 1)

PAVILLON ACADIE (2009) TRADITION

J'ai également sélectionné quelques liens si vous voulez en savoir davantage.

  An tour tan
Au sujet de la musique acadienne : voir ce lien

Mes impressions :
Les musiciens revisitent les airs québécois et parlent avec humour de la vie quotidienne et de leurs relations avec leurs voisins anglophones. Ils sont "of course" parfaitement bilingues et s'expriment également en anglais dans quelques chansons. Leur musique est participative, elle  crée du swing dans le pavillon donc le plancher de bois tremble sous les pieds. Il y a de la chaleur et beaucoup d'énergie qui chauffe un public à l'unisson avec les musiciens.

Je vous suggère de vous imprégner de cette musique vibrante et joyeuse. On estime que durant le festival soixante à soixante dix mille spectateurs sont entrés dans le pavillon de l'Acadie c'est dire s'ils sont appréciés par le public lorientais. Tellement appréciés qu'ils sont présents au festival interceltique pour la cinquième année consécutive.

Les raisons d'un tel succès selon mon point de vue :
Leur chansons parlent de la vie quotidienne avec beaucoup d'humour et de poésie. Les expressions fleurent bon le vieux français celui qu'ils ont conservé depuis le 18e siècle alors que nous français l'avons perdu. Les chansons expriment les valeurs traditionnelles qui mélangent racines, terroir, authenticité, vie sociale et amour. Et puis leur musique est un melting pot de musique écossaise, irlandaise et de folk américain.

Les chanteurs occupent la scène en permanence, ne laissant aucun répit aux public. Leur répertoire est d'une richesse incroyable. La musique est souvent participative en interaction avec le public : Illustration par l'image.

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