Owner: OzLady's Ramblings URL:http://www.ozlady.com Join Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:03:52 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog by an Australian Lady who is passionate about logistics, the web, reading and hand drumming. An eclectic collection of technical how-tos, blog information, personal opinions, scattered with drumming posts and jokes, this blog is a walk through the Site statistics:Click here
Building Memories on Memory Lane 2007-09-18 03:42:08 Memory Lane is usually for reliving old memories, however I recently had the pleasure of experiencing Singaporean music legends for the first time in a wash of nostalgic bee-bops and doo-waps.
I did not know half the songs except through retro radio stations and bad karaoke nights, which I must say is probably my loss. The most amazing performer was Riem de Wolff, who just buzzed the stage with his professionalism and showmanship - just WOW! He sang Sukiyaki, which is probably the one that stuck in my head the most, but other showtunes were also abound and like I said - WOW!
Local legends that appeared included:
Patricia Pestana (Asia.s Connie Francis)
Riem de Wolff (Blue Diamonds)
Vernon Cornelius (The Quests)
Tan Soo Khoon (a local MP)
The last on that list - Mr Tan Soo Khoon - was a little surprising considering Singapore’s reputation for having uptight politicians (politicians are known ‘affectionately’ as pollies in Australia), and this guy really “let hi Read more:Building
, Memory
Attention All Drummers 2007-09-18 02:22:31 I’m moving the files… note the links below.
Drum Stuff on Ning
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Flat out like a lizard drinking 2007-09-18 02:17:23 I’m about to be audited for the umpteenth time this year, and frankly I’m flat out (which I’m told is an expression that comes from the Aussie ‘Flat out like a lizard drinking’).
I’m going for a summary of some things that I’ve noted lately, so here goes.
Information on Australian Reptiles
This goes here as it is an interesting Podcast that I have listened to since I read Down Under by Bill Bryson. The book was an interesting read that gave me an insight into the joys of my own country, as well as its embarrassing history - all peppered with a healthy dose of fear of the fauna (Bill’s, not mine, having grown up with it). The Podcast had interesting information about the more slithering, deadly kind that is resident in the big island down under.
Drumming recordings are being moved off this blog
If you are one of my drumming classmates, then you will find that I will no longer be posting rhythms here. I have decided to use Ning - what is a
My Moth Has a Name! 2007-09-16 09:14:12 I posted a few pictures and a YouTube movie about a moth that was on our car one morning, and now I know what it is! Thanks to the comment on the video, this is a:
Oleander Hawk-moth Daphnis nerii
Thank you and gotta love the web!
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iGoogle, therefore iVote 2007-09-14 03:05:25 To a lot of you this may not matter, however for the Aussies among us it may be worth noting that this year’s federal election is subject to Google analysis and support.
For those of you who have a Google or Gmail account, you may or may not be aware that you can create your own home page through a service called iGoogle. You can add blog feeds, your Gmail email account so you can see email from the same page that you are reviewing your daily feeds… More information on iGoogle here.
As part of this service, the Google Australia team has set up a page of links and analysis features around the 2007 Australian Election that allows you to get a feed of news regarding your electorate, to compare election trends (the environment, or the economy, for example), latest YouTube videos (yes, all major parties are represented on YouTube), and this wealth of information appears to be supported by most of the parties. Yaaaay! (:p)
It’s kinda sad when the web is being used for evil
Call Me Mummy Big Bucks 2007-09-13 09:26:12 It’s all just theory, I know that, however there is a link on my page that states how much my blog is worth. It’s probably not much compared to others, especially given how busy I’ve been lately, however I was surprised that in 3 months the supposed “value” of my blog had increased so dramatically (32%)!
I have been adding content, visiting and being visited more over the last three months compared with the year before that, and this calculation is based on linking and popularity with other bloggers (you can read more about it here). Well done, me!
But I’m dying to know - how much is your blog worth?
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I’ve been Tagged! 2007-09-13 07:19:51 I was tagged by Craver. He has asked me questions from Cuckoo regarding the topic : What Does Blogging Mean to Me!
Rules of this tag:
Name the person with link who tagged you.
Complete the questionnaire without changing the questions.
Tag 6 or more people.
Q1. Are you happy/ satisfied with your blog, with its content and look? I’m loving Wordpress - I host my own blog and I love to fiddle with the options and layout. I’m the sort that likes to take a layout, make it my own, tweak and fiddle until it’s something that denotes my home on the web. Wordpress allows me to customise, add countless widgets, do funky things with the code (like recognise my visitors - I didn’t write that one, but it’s waaay coooool!
Q2. Does your family know about your blog? Yes, some of them - and I overheard DH say that of all the people (read: REAL LIVE PEOPLE that he knows in the flesh) he knows who blog, mine is the best *blush*. He has to say that as he’s my husband, b Read more:Tagged
Quakers and Shakers 2007-09-13 05:09:26 We have had six earthquakes in the region today, eight in the last 24 hours… two of these could be felt from our building - the one last night at 7.40pm caused our teacher to cancel the class.
I’m sure there was no harm, however I would have hated to have been the teacher standing in front of the students as the classroom wobbled! Sheesh.
More information from the National Environment Agency in Singapore.
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Desolate Flight 2007-09-29 00:51:37 I was at the airport late one night waiting for DH to arrive from some destination (the name of which escapes me at the moment), and his flight was delayed. I decided to come in and sit in the air-conditioning while I waited as it would take too long to drive home and back again. I brought with me a good book and was reading when I noticed how desolate the place looks when there is no one around.
Then a family arrived and their daughter stood at the glass, looking in at the baggage collection.
Don’t you think that this lone figure makes it look even more desolate?
Apologies for quality of picture, however I shot this on my mobile phone.
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Hanging Flowers - Bizarre Singapore Life 2007-09-28 04:38:58 It’s the third time I’ve sat in this bar, and it’s such an intriguing bar that I have to explain the concept behind it.
It’s a karaoke bar, of sorts.
Most of us know what a karaoke bar is, however what you may not be aware of is that in South East Asia (and even some other parts of Asia), there are generally two types of karaoke bar: one where you sing into a microphone, and one where she sings into your microphone (provided you are male & equipped with the appropriate hardware).
This particular Karaoke Bar is a third type, and brings fact to a previous rumour that I had heard and assumed was fiction - a practice called hanging flowers.
There is nothing lewd about this practice. There is no need to avert your eyes.
These ladies are brought in (recruited) from overseas, generally from China, and are professional singers. They come on a worker’s pass and they pay a fee to the ‘house’ (the bar) for providing a venue for them to sing, and they Read more:Hanging
, Flowers
, Bizarre
, Singapore
Housekeeping Tip 2007-09-27 09:44:51 I have to say that sometimes I am so in-sync with Debbie - I hate housework and the last thing I want to do coming home from work is cook. Fortunately I have a wonderful mother-in-law who helps with the kids, and a wonder mum who sent me the following advice.
Always keep several get well cards on the mantel….. so if unexpected guests arrive, they will think you’ve been sick and unable to clean .
Here’s a Happy Mother’s Day, every day!
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Fuzzy Elephant 2007-09-25 07:36:36
We stayed in a very cool two-bedroom suite in Bangkok last week, and in each of the bathrooms was a fella like the photo above!
Very cute. It’s actually two towels. I’ll put a video together to show you how it’s done.
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Stocktake… Images for your Bloggin’ Pleasure! 2007-09-25 00:02:05 Those that have visited my blog before have seen links to resources for images and photos in the form of the post Click-Pics-Quick-Fix. Today we continue in that theme and I bring you the highlights from that and the 30+ Background and Stock Image Sites from Mashable.
In addition to the above post that detailed photos that are free or royalty-free*, the new link includes downloadable background patterns and some of these are super-funky and suitable for the background wallpaper for your desktop or your blog.
My three (3) favourites in the background images department include:
Kollermedia.at
Pixel Patterns/Kaliber10k
SquidFingers
In addition to the background images, stock photography links include:
FreeFoto.com
FreePhotoBank
Free Range
Morgue File
*Free vs Royalty-Free
Free we all know - you don’t have to pay for the photos, but when you download and use, you need to take note of any attributes that you might have to give to the owner (perhaps name and a link back to their Read more:Images
Spam - How Do You Fry It? 2007-09-24 06:43:57 This is the figure that I have for one month’s worth of spam. Fortunately Gmail does a fantastic job so that I don’t see most of it.
There are a few tools out there to assist in keeping spam from our mailboxes… my questions to you are how many spam messages do you get, what do you use, and is it effective?
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Comment Management 2007-10-02 04:24:09 Cuckoo’s post on comment management is a timely one, as I have just been considering this for my blog. For those that are using Wordpress, there is a handy plugin that you can use to assist in this, which allows you to view comments to all posts in-line, and to respond to them from the same page.
I’ve included a screenshot of this below.
The plugin can be downloaded from the Wordpress plugins page at Better Comment
s Manager for Wordpress.
This only works, however on an individual site. If you need to manage comments across multiple sites, I would suggest that you have the site email you every time there is a comment, and if you use something like Gmail, then you can apply a label to each individual email automatically when it comes in, using Filters. I usually have these skip the inbox, and then once a week I have my Gmail calendar send me a reminder to go and check all the emails that have been sorted using the ‘comments-blog’ label. I then delete the email w Read more:Management
Sleep Diagnosis 2007-10-02 03:31:53 I love listening to the BBC - a sure-fire sign that I’m getting old - and I stumbled across their sleep section.
As part of their Science and Nature section, they have sleep tools that will:
Generate a personal sleep profile
Help identify sleep problems and give you sleep advice (and give you a 2-page report - or at least I got a 2 page report)
Test your memory and responses in order to diagnose tiredness
Very cool and not too time consuming. Go to the BBC Sleep
page before ZZzzzzzzzzz….
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Singlish: Ang Mo (Who Am I?) 2007-10-01 18:38:39 I am an Ang Mo. DH often reminds me about this when he nags me to hurry up - “Hey, Ang Mo!!!”
The Coxford Singlish Dictionary defines an Ang Mo as follows:
Hokkien for ‘red-hair’. A pejorative term used to describe Caucasians
Let’s look at this definition:
Red hair
While not all Ang Mos have red hair, it is true that all those with natural red hair, must be an ang mo (aka. Caucasian). There is some discussion about this term being used because of the Scots that were apparently in the region a few hundred years ago.
Pejorative: having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force
Now I have spoken to a number of Singaporeans and they state that Ang Mo is not a derogatory term, but apparently to the hard core Singlish speaker it is. I’ve not personally encountered anyone who uses it that way, however I don’t speak Hokkein. At the same time, an insult only has power if you acknowledge the insult, and most Singaporeans I’ve met u
A penny for your thoughts! 2007-10-01 17:47:41 A young Scottish lad and lass were sitting on a low stone wall, holding hands, gazing out over the loch.
For several minutes they sat silently, then finally the girl looked at the boy and said, “A penny for your thoughts
, Angus. “Well, uh, I was thinkin’… perhaps it’s aboot time for a wee kiss.”
The girl blushed, then leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Then he blushed.
The two turned once again to gaze out over the loch.
Minutes passed, then the girl spoke again. “Another penny for your
thoughts, Angus.”
“Well, uh I was thinkin’… perhaps its noo aboot time for a wee cuddle.”
The girl blushed, then leaned over and cuddled him for a few seconds. Then he blushed.
Then the two turned once again to gaze out over the loch.
After a while, she again said, “Another penny for your thoughts, Angus.”
“Well, uh I was thinkin’… perhaps its aboot time you let me pewt ma hand on yer leg.&
Gmail, Meet Vista 2007-10-01 01:39:20 I have a client who’s struggling to configure Gmail
with Windows Vista
mail because the authentication required uses different ports and secure authentication (SSL). I’m posting this link here as a bookmark for myself, as well as a service so that if any others have the problem, they can hopefully find it in less time than it took me.
How To:Configure Gmail in Windows Mail
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Singapore, say it isn’t so… 2007-09-30 22:37:11 A Melbourne newspaper - The Age - has published an article on the Singapore
government’s funding of Burma’s military junta (PDF).
From the article…
But there is a group of government businessmen-technocrats in Singapore who will also be closely monitoring the brutality in Rangoon. And, were they so inclined, their influence could go a long way to limiting the misery being inflicted on Burma’s 54 million people.
Collectively known as “Singapore Inc”, they gather around the $A150 billion state-owned investment house Temasek Holdings, controlled by a member of the ruling Lee family.
If Singapore wields this sort of influence, please use it for good!
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This one’s for John 2007-09-30 09:42:09 John, I found the article! Click on the image to view larger versions [All Sizes in Flickr].
For everyone else, the article above was published after I wrote an email to John stating that I had asked around and was not aware of there being any McRefugees in Singapore. The article above was published within about two weeks of me writing the email. See below.
I was asking around, and in Singapore and Malaysia the 24-hour MacDonald’s is a pretty new concept, so insofar as attracting McRefugees they haven’t as yet.
I only know of about 3 x 24 hour McDonalds restaurants in Singapore, and none in Malaysia (although now that I think of it, one possibility springs to mind, but given that ATMs close at 11.30pm in Malaysia, I still doubt it).
We are dealing with the rich-poor gap getting bigger here… with most of the poor holding on by their fingernails.
The recent economic crises that we have gone through here (there have been 3 consecutive recessions over the past 10 years
Drumming Up A Storm 2007-10-16 07:13:33 For those that are not aware, I do African hand drumming as a hobby. I play (or, rather, have been learning to play) the djembe…
As well as the dununs (also called djun djuns).
I haven’t been learning the dununs for as long as the djembe (or as consistently)… in a way I’m just picking them up (not literally) - I play for the Monday night class in my drum school (Lila Drums) and piece together the different parts as I go! Actually, once I get over the arm ache from my lack of technique, as well as the difficulties I have in coordinating my left hand separately to my right hand (I am sooo right handed), I’m having some fun in improvising, which is something I just can’t seem to do with the djembe. It’s totally bizarre!
A few weeks ago we were having a practice session - without the teacher (oooooh) - and I even played a rhythm across two of the dununs (the danumba and the kenkeni), something which I have often admired when watching the Lila D Read more:Drumming
, Storm
World Blog Action Day 2007-10-14 11:50:38 Well it’s the 15th and the day has finally arrived where all those that have committed to blogging for world Blog Action
Day are posting their items about the environment.
I had a tough time deciding what to write about, as there is so much that needs to be done.
I thought about writing about the lack of recycling for households in Singapore.
I thought about crying out against all the plastic bags that are used in Singapore with the practice of people insisting on double bagging so-called ‘heavy’ items (eg. a 2 litre bottle of washing detergent is considered heavy), to the point where 70% of the bags that they carry out of the store are double bagged (using two plastic bags instead of one).
Then I thought of a project that I can start with today - which is to find a way to solar power my PCs and reduce my electricity bill and my carbon footprint.
First, however, some information on carbon footprinting… Wikipedia has the following definition:
Carbon footprint is Read more:World
Organisation Tip: Bags With A Purpose 2007-10-13 11:10:03 Today I did some organising, as evidenced by my previous post, and one of the things that I worked out was that I had a number of re-usable fabric bags - the type that a lot of stores are encouraging you to buy and use to reduce the number of plastic bags being consumed around the planet. I decided that I could use these to sort out a number of my activities which require me to cart around materials.
So - I needed to label each of the bags, and I decided to use art foam. This is the thin, art foam that you often use in children’s projects.
I have taken a photo of the other materials I used in the project.
The purpose of this post isn’t strictly the bags, as while I was putting the bags together, another feline member of my family decided that they were going to get involved in clean up day and got stuck in the bag!
Have I mentioned that he’s nuts about bags? Although it’s usually the plastic variety! Try keeping Stamford away from plastic bags in the middle of a Read more:Purpose
Constant Supervision 2007-10-13 01:30:20 Today I am sorting through a bunch of my things - I haven’t had a weekend to myself in a looooong time, and decided that I was going to try and de-clutter my study.
I was sorting out some of the receipts and bits of paper that inevitably accumulate in my bags, and our littlest cat decided that I needed some supervision.
Unfortunately that supervision was to occur from inside the very bags I was in the process of organising!
Pets keep your blood pressure down, apparently!! LOL
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Busy with Blogs 2007-10-11 07:36:10 There hasn’t been much on my site lately, as I have been busy (a) in training all week, (b) catching up on work (c) working on content for another, old blog and (d) launching a new blog.
Resting Nite - Raptures Alight is a photographic tribute blog I started at 3am some morning a couple of weeks ago. Resting Nite is an anagram of Interesting.
Flickr, the photo site, has a whole section which it labels as having ‘interestingness‘, and I am always trolling over these pages… so I decided to put together a collection of interesting photos that I like and can record as I explore!
I settled on this anagram as I do indeed need a resting nite!
Some of my favourites to date have been:
- www: wet wide web
- Climbing the way to the top
- Bristle Brush (my own, but I really like this shot)
- Lit Up
I hope you enjoy this site as much as I do.
Some of the things that I hope to have on this site as it grows includes:
Blog Carnival
(a weekly contribution from readers on pho Read more:Blogs
New Screen Tools - Rule of Thumb 2007-10-11 07:17:55 My site has been thumbed…
There is a web site that will create screen or full page shots of your web site while you wait. Thumb
alizr is useful if you want to keep a record of your site, or perhaps print it off for friends that *gasp* don’t have access to the internet.
I find the full-page shot quite useful as the alternative is to page together screen shots taken as I scroll down a web page… which is time consuming and means that I have to piece together all the different captures.
It also means that I can email a picture of my web site for those that are comfortable with email but do not surf the web (aka my Dad).
I hope someone finds this useful!
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And Another Scottish Joke… 2007-10-10 23:25:45 In the Northern Highlands, an impatient farmer knocked at the door of neighboring farmhouse. The daughter of the house answered.
“Is your father in ? ” asked the neighbor.
“No. ” said the daughter. ” He’s at the Inverness farmers market. If it’s the services of the red Ayrshire bull you want, the cost is $50.00″
“No it’s not that” said the neighbor.
” Well. ” said the daughter. ” If it’s the Galloway belted bull you want, it’s $40.”
“No, it’s not that. ” said the neighbor.
” How about the small Highland bull?” said the daughter. ” The service of that bull is only $30.”
The neighbor rudely interrupted the daughter. ” That’s not what I’ve come about. Your brother Sandy has made my daughter Fiona pregnant. My wife and I want to know what your father proposes to do about it.”
” Oh, well.” said the daughter. &rdqu Read more:Scottish
And Another Scottish Joke… 2007-10-07 19:15:34 Donald McPherson, a very tight man, was looking for a gift for a friend. Everything was too expensive except for a glass that was broken, which he could buy for almost nothing. He asked the store to send it, hoping his friend would think it had been broken in transit. In due time, he received a reply. ” Thanks for the vase.” it read. ” It was thoughtful of you to wrap each piece separately.”
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