Category: Life

If you’ve ever played D&D, this short film is a must-see. link

Ever wondered what everyone *else* is seraching for on the web right now? link

It’s pretty scary what gets put on your computer while you’re not paying attention: link

Proof that there’s definitely something fundamentally wrong with the universe: link

The Pope has praised the Internet, but says it needs more regulating because of the nature of some of it’s more harmful bits (a few spring to mind immediately). Of greater interest (to me, anyway) is the suggestion that the church is looking around for a ‘patron saint’ of the Internet.
Annnd the nominations are:

• Isidor of Seville: (the shoe-in) an ‘an encyclopaedist of the Dark Ages’ credited with creating the world’s first database (EIPS)
• Paul, Archangel Gabriel and Anthony of Padua, supposedly because people turn to them when they have lost something, (ABCNews)
• San Pedro Regalado, a 15th-century global navigator who is believed to have appeared in two places at once (ABCNews)
• Rita of Cascia, Phillip the Apostle, Padre Pio (Ananova)

Sidenote: The Vatican website uses three servers, rumoured to be named Raphael, Gabriel and Michael

It’s only been a few weeks, but there are already a few interesting stories emerging to set the tone for Internet 2002:

• I thought I was getting more than my fair share of spam (junk e-mail) this year. Turns out there’s been a significant increase in the amount of useless email being channeled around the net. Appropriately, some idiot spammer is copping a pasting from the Internet spam-police, not so much because he sent his resume out to many people, but that he started threatening to sue anyone who complained that they didn’t want it. (Warning: link may contain strong language, adult concepts, violence, and traces of nuts)
• It seems that there’ve also been more than a few websites dropping off BONWAG in the previous weeks, for some reason. They all seem to have come from ‘edu’ addresses. Could it be that the student pioneers of all the interesting websites which were created in the mid-late 90s have all gone out into the Big Wide World at the end of their university degrees and had their web accounts switched off? Just a theory.

We unwrapped a belated Christmas present today; Ainslie took us all to Cirque du Soleil‘s performance of ‘Alegria’ in Perth. I’d been curious about the contents of those huge white tents on the foreshore for a few months now, and was amazed at how much that small space fits in.
The show itself was incredible – beautiful and brilliant: if you’re not familiar with the Circus; it’s a touring Canadian troupe which performs without animals: the show is mainly about the abilities of some well-trained performers: tightrope; strongman, trapeze, acrobats etc. There are also the clowns; who probably work on a slightly higher artistic level than throwing buckets of confetti into the audience – but when they do, it’s a work of art.
The website gives you a good idea of what it looks like (if you’re not familiar with ‘Comedia Dellarte’).
Caleb and Allanah thought it was pretty amazing: those people sure know how to use a swing! The whole ‘in-the-round’ experience was pretty unique, as well.
We hope this is one of those circus experiences the kids will remember for quite a few years.
(Cos’ that’s how long it’ll take for us to save up for the next one…!)

In the interests of scolarly research, here’s another web outing for those who this year continued the dual scotish tradition of singing Auld Lang Syne and then starting a right old row about what the words are, or what the whole thing actually means.

Have polished off three quarters of the Harry Potter series now, so I guess I’ll be ready when the kids start running at brick walls in the train station for no apparrent reason. Just don’t ask me to explain the rules of Quidditch.
And, as is my wont, I haven’t done it sequentially: Goblet of Fire (number 4), Philosopher’s Stone (number 1), and then Chamber of Secrets (number 2). Now reading ‘Prisoner of Azkhaban’, which aparrently got some dood kicked off a flight in America in the midst of all the secuirty scares after September 11. True story.

We hope everyone has had a great Christmas Day and is looking to settle into the new year.
We had a great time; Ainslie orchestrated a formidable Christmas feast for our three wise relatives from the east, while the kids enjoyed their presents and food – and watched Shrek twice.
We are so lucky. We heard about some of the disastrous situations in Sydney for Christmas; homes destroyed by bushfire and more of the same expected for the days ahead. Shades of 1994? (I remember that Christmas too well).
If you’d like to leave any Christmas wishes or notes for us, or the other Bonwaggers, sign on to the Message Board; it’s just been upgraded :-)