‘Amazing Edible Art’ -extreme cake-decorating
April 6, 2009
Hi
Just found this blog post about masterpieces of cake decoration, on an Orble blog called ‘Zentertainment:
http://www.zentertainment.com.au/amazing-edible-art/
The dragon and Yoda are two of my favourites.
Poetry-writing exercises during April
April 5, 2009
Fyi & writing exercises
Found a month’s worth of poetry-writing exercises on the ‘Poets & Writers’ site, at: http://www.pw.org/content/poetry_challenge
The challenges/exercsies are part of a National Poetry Month campaign in US. KnopfDoubleday/Random House publisher is also e-publishing a free poem each day, taken from the vast resources of their backlog and recently-published collections. Got to: http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/?ref=poemaday_poetrynl and then to the poem-a-day newsletter space near top right of the page, for signing up for it.
fyi
Just found this site for an Australian business specialising in FairTrade coffee, so will try it some time: http://www.roastandpost.com.au/
The FairTrade range tends to be pretty limited in even the best supermarkets (though to be fair, it’s a big improvement on even 5 years ago) and I don’t always get to the Oxfam shop in Canberra’s CBD, so maybe ordering a sample pack of 4 coffees from online could be well worth it.
Mmmmm, fresh coffee… 🙂
Cup qualifier in Sydney: Australia 2, Uzbekistan 0
April 1, 2009
Great football news! Australia won their match against Uzbekistan 2-0! 🙂
Thanks guys! This result makes it a bit less difficult to keep going on qualifying process for the Cup in Sth Africa. Special thanks to Josh and Harry for the goals! And for Pim the coach and the goalie for keeping Uz. scoreless.
April newsletter of cartoonist Judy Horacek’s website.
March 31, 2009
Cartoons for April!
Judy H. says: “This month’s topic is ‘Time’. It will simply fly by when you visit the cartoons at http://www.horacek.com.au/topic.htm”
She’s a great cartoonist! If the Fruit Fits is a very witty collection (1999).
fyi, from The Times online edition
Just the sort of news Bill Bryson would love to read about -then mourn the passing of such classics:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article5970919.ece
Surnames like Cock, Daft, Smellie -been around in England for centuries but now being dropped out of the language, not just pushed down the list a bit.
TV: SBS doco on mummified shaman in Siberia
March 22, 2009
On SBS TV earlier this evening, the ‘Lost Worlds’ documentary called “The Mummy who came in from the cold” was about an archaeological dig in Yakoutia, a forgotten province of Eastern Siberia. The star feature of the program was the discovery of a mummified woman dressed in many different well-made garments with elaborate decorations…and bound with rope. Also, her hands had been sewn into sleeves of her top-layer coat and there was more jewellery in between layers of clothes.
Further research revealed the young woman had most likely been a powerful female shaman living approx. 250-300 years ago, among a wealthy tribe of people who made a living by farming horses and cattle. They had migrated from Central Asia about 1000 years before the shaman’s death. In addition to the horses and cattle, the tribe started to engage in the fur trade with the first Russian explorers and traders to find the area.
The chief archaeologist, forensic scientists and couple of key experts surmised she had died of “infectious pleurisy” (a lung disease), probably as a result of catching it from the Russian explorers -another example of a First Contact experience leading to disaster for a tribe. Initial suspicions about suicide proved to be unfounded and incompatible with the forensic evidence.
Despite the long time since the people nearly all died out and the added repression in the Communist era, many indigenous beliefs and fears about shamans were still strong in the nearest town. These beliefs, and an official line from Moscow that the local council had last say in such matters, created some initial serious difficulties for the dig crew. Luckily for the crew, a local respected elder was at the dig when some officials showed up to check out the situation, and problems were soon cleared up so the excavation and research could continue.
You can watch the episode online if you have Flash 9 installed and Javascript enabled. Go to: http://www.sbs.com.au/television
3 1/2-4 stars
The team at ‘Poets & Writers’ (US) magazine have put together their list of Top 10 Themes that – over more than 30 years of the Poets & Writers organisation taking queries and providing information – have become clear among all the questions that have been sent in. Looking at the list this morning, after reading some features in the current printed issue, I think it would be a reasonably similar list in Australia.
Go to: http://www.pw.org/top10_faq
World news relating to museums and artefacts
March 12, 2009
Online world news, 11-12/3/09
Attempts to set fire to Oslo museums fail.
Go to: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/12/2514188.htm?section=entertainment for the story.
Two main artefacts under threat were the ship ‘Fram’ used by polar explorer Roald Amundsen and the original ‘Kon-Tiki’ raft Thor Heyerdahl and his team used in their crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Neither ship was seriously damaged.
Scandinavia has suffered a significant increase in number of major culture -related crimes within the past decade, including the theft of Edvard Munch paintings, some recent thefts of large artworks of that had been in a Norwegian church since 16th century, and now these arson attempts. What is going on in Oslo?! In Scandinavia in general?
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