Public Address - Busytown (Home)

Weekender | Oct 12, 2007 15:54

Now you've all finished wringing out your silver-fern-emblazoned hankies, you'll be wanting some light reading for the weekend, preferably nothing to do with balls. I spent my handful of kid-free hours this week knocking out more Iceland stories over at Babble, so do pop over and have a look. Thrilling exploits, all of 'em. Baby takes a shower. Brother puts a few more miles on the scooter. We discover the handsomest nappies you ever saw. And dairy products! Coming next week: big brother drives a car, and we get wet the Icelandic way.

Next, not so much reading as listening. If you have a soft spot for Douglas Adams in his original, audio incarnation - and who doesn't thrill to the twanging, swirling theme tune of the original Hitchhiker's Guide radio series - you might be interested in Radio 4's new adaptation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I'd love to hear it, but I'm buggered if I can get it to work properly on my Mac - let me know if you have better luck. (Requires Real Audio's Realplayer).

Perhaps you'd prefer a nice nap instead. Go for it. Among the many fascinating things I learned from this article: that lack of sleep makes you fat, and that every hour of sleep you don't get makes you a full school year dumber. Whoah.

And I should have linked to this next one months ago. Blogging. Everybody's doing it. Even yo' mama. Actually, even my mama, and my papa. They've been wandering the world for the last six months (check out the itinerary) and documenting their adventures - many of them involving wine - with lots of pictures and great humour. Welcome back to Aotearoa, Mum and Dad.

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It's not you, it's me | Oct 03, 2007 16:43

If things have been a little quiet around here, it's because I've been working on some other projects. One of which is now up over at Babble. I'll be dealing out stories from our Iceland trip in convenient bite-sized pieces over the next month - with pictures - like so many delicious licorice allsorts, for their Travels With Baby feature. Pop on over and have a look, and not just at my stuff - it's a cool site.

And while I'm in a linky sort of mood...

• Sing along to this excellent musical tribute to Iceland's war effort. You didn't know they had a war effort? Well now you do!
• Lolsecretz cunningly blends the genuine pathos of PostSecret with the comic bathos of Lolcats. (What next, LolNewYorkercartoons? Taken. OK then, somebody write some Lolberts.)
• Stephen Fry has a blog, although he prefers to call it a blessay. Good god, he's even more prolix than I am. But he knows more about iPhones.
• Apartment Therapy is feng shui for the rest of us. Drool over the house tours.
• Electric Boogaloo is one of my favourite blogs.
• Ms Ayun Halliday is back in the kitchen, trying to put food on her family.
• What is wrong with Hillary's laugh? No really, what? I know Halloween is just around the corner, but I don't hear a cackle, I hear a fine old chortle.
• I guess maybe Samantha Bee is right, and America isn't quite ready for a woman president...
• From here on out I will be pluralizing children with an s. Because it's good enough for the man president.
• An artists' collective created a secret apartment inside a shopping mall in downtown Providence. Apart from the small matter of plumbing, it's quite the groovy pad.
• Why settle for a rocking horse when you could have a rockin' horse-drawn chariot?

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Now, having led you on with funny bits, can we talk about Burma? My heart breaks for the country, once again. Ko Htike, who is based in England, has been posting frequent updates from people on the ground. See also Burmese Bloggers without Borders and The Irrawaddy.

What can we do? This donation site looks kosher to me. And simply keeping Burma in the news is a good thing.

This just in... If you are in Wellington this Saturday, come along to this event (there's even a Facebook group, Support the Monks protest in Burma).

A Day of International Action for a Free Burma
Free Aung San Suu Kyi & Support the Monks in Burma

Saturday 6th October, 12noon - 2pm, Civic Square, Wellington, New Zealand

This is the Wellington arm of an international vigil that's taking place in every major city in the world at 12 noon on Saturday 6th October.

It's not a protest, a march, a rally or a demonstration. It's a peaceful gathering to show support and solidarity for the Burmese monks, to gather support for a comprehensive arms embargo against the Burmese military, and to express our shock and sadness at what's happening in Burma right now.

This will be a multi-denominational event in support of our Buddhist friends. Everyone's invited to wear red to symbolise the colour of the monks' robes. There will also be red armbands and headbands available - you can tie them onto yourself or onto the nearest tree if you like. And it's happening rain or shine, so bring a red raincoat!

Speakers will include people from the Burmese community and Amnesty International. We'll be chanting with the monks, and MPs have been invited along too.

Help Out
If anyone wants to volunteer by helping with armbands, setting up on the day, driving a van-load of monks down from Auckland, playing music in the square, or anything else that's potentially helpful please contact yadana at paradise dot net dot nz.

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