I have removed the tagboard as not many people were actually using it, and I felt it was a tad redundant when there was the comments option under each post anyway (which, also rarely gets used, but hey, you can't say I am not open to feedback) ...besides which, it was taking up too much screen real estate, I have instead placed Stephen Downe's referrer script box on the sidebar, to show where any recent visitors have come from...just because I could.
Anyhow, I have been at work this morning, and it was fine. I nursed a 97 year old woman who didn't look a day over 70, with wit, cognitive and physiological health still with her, which is always great to see. It is ironic that in my years of nursing, I find that gerenterological changes will often leave a human being with either sound physical health, but failing mentation...or a sound mind in a failing body. Thankfully this lady was an exception to this. Of course, a nurse's perspective and experiences of other people's health (or lack of it) is not representative of real world demographics, because of the nature of our work, we of course deal with mainly unwell people...so it is easy for a nurse to start to think that everyone will eventually get sick, get cancer, have an aneurysm or whatever - thankfully that just isn't true!  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   16:16        Say What?  

  Stephen Downes and Learning Objects
Boy this man is interesting to read/experience/learn from...I have just had a look at some of the interesting information/discussion/ideas about the forms of learning and the new phenomenon of the web, weblogs etc. at Stephen's site...anyone who has ever attempted to learn something (that's everyone folks) or attempted to teach anything (I'm pretty sure that would be almost everyone too) may find this stuff extremely interesting. For example:


...read more about Stephen's Web here ...really really interesting. Of course I had considered the various ways the web and new technologies could influence learning and education, but Stephen and others like him get into this subject deep! I'm not sure how all this ties in with Frank's mantra about "Information is not knowledge, Knowlege is not wisdom" etc...but I really like how thinking about these things stimulates the old brain cells!  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   23:55        Say What?  

  Daleks   imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   15:35        Say What?  

  0715 HRS and Bleary Eyed
Apart from being woken up every two hours by the children last night (they tag-teamed, who knows why...) I got up at 0600 HRS with the good-looking one, who had to go to work, to take the bins down to the end of the road for that great western tradition of getting rid of the waste products we produce with wild abandon to somewhere else where we don't have to think about what happens with them. In other words, our garbage becomes S.E.P. (someone else's problem) We better hope that one day (maybe soon) these byproducts of our rampant consumerism doesn't become very much EVERYONE"S PROBLEM! So what is Punk doing to reduce his waste production?...hmmm, well I do try to buy stuff that doesn't have too much packaging, or individually wrapped itsy-bitsy pieces...but I MUST do more...  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   07:25        Say What?  

  Hi Stu! That's all...hope you had a great day! *heh heh heh*  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   22:55        Say What?  

  Blogger is a positive force in this world!
Maybe I am idealistic, naive or just plain looney, but I think that perhaps if everyone could share their thoughts and fears and hopes (or their semi-incoherent ramblings like yours truly) as they can with blogger, then we may all see that there is a common thread of humanity, wonderful, funny, sad, mad and occasionally bad, that joins us all.....and perhaps take time to be nicer to people we meet in TRW. To clarify, I don't really think people are on the whole nasty or mean to each other in their daily lives, in my personal experience 99.9% of people (o.k. maybe 98%) I have ever interacted with are on the whole very good and generous people, but we are all human and sometimes forget the little courtesies in life! I have not (in my admittedly short) past history of blog-surfing, found one negative site yet, in a lot of cases I have found people generously sharing their knowledge and helping others in lots of varied ways (for example Meg's blog at Mandarin design) Then there are the many others who simply share their thoughts, letting us all know we are not so different after all, and yet uniquely different enough to make this world an amazingly interesting place to live on...and well, I don't know...can't we all try and get along? (ok, so maybe I'm trippin' - I don't care...you've got to hope for something)
P.S. Just a funny side note...The BLOGGER spell checker (wonderful tool btw Blogger-People, thanks!) does not recognise the words "Blogger" or "Blog" ~ I'm sure most dictionaries will quite soon!
Peace, Love and mungbeans!  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   06:26        Say What?  

  Why I couldn't connect and a bit about KILTS
Here we have a visual record of why I couldn't connect. To the left we have the broken telephone junction box...Physically ripped from it's moorings when the tree fell and clipped the power and telephone lines...I am just grateful no-one was near it when it fell. Another tree fell last night...Bigger than the first, but falling over our back fence and taking out another tree in it's path, no power lines or telephone wires involved this time...I am sort of over trees falling down at the moment, I tell you!
KILTS
Can anyone tell me exactly what it is about a man wearing a kilt that makes women (and sometimes men) want to check underneath to see if there is any underwear in situ, as it were? My better half and I went out last night and a couple of my work colleagues had a great delight in running their hands over my legs. Myself, being an insatiable attention seeker, of course loved every minute of it....Perhaps that's why I wore my kilt, because I knew it would generate that sort of interest. LOL. Luckily my wife is quite understanding and not the least bit jealous...She also likes perving on my legs...
(Actually I wore the Kilt because the theme for the night was "Up Your Kilt" in honour of our two fine Scottish doctors Martin & Tim who were leaving the department to move on to other things...)   imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   23:18        Say What?  

  Back online... Only some really high winds, I can't imagine what people who experience the likes of Isabel go through. Well, the nice telophony man came today and climbed his ladder a few times to reconnect our telephone line! Yippee! Logged onto my email server and found 120 ebots from Renderosity! Hell, I've only been offline 5 days! *chuckle* Anyway, I have managed to update the EARBUG ADVENTURE ? (click here to see it)...changed around the stop frame and roll-over effects of the bug and ear and stuff...you know, the things you do with flash when you can't connect online and fiddle about doing other things (like blog surfing and blog posting as well as Renderosity stuff) I also revamped the last "Latest Image" to reflect a more Matrix-type theme, as I just watched the first film again the other day...so there you go! akito ~ now that I'm back on, let me know what you want me to change re your links...thanks to you and dyo for your concern, I am nowhere near the hurricanes in the U.S.A. I live in Australia, where (in my part anyway) we have simply been having very high winds, as opposed to very scary hurricanes!
  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   16:24        Say What?  

  From work:
...checking in from work as a ruddy great tree took out our powerline and telephone line two nights ago. Power was finally reconnected at 0100hrs last night, but the telephone line (and hence internet access) wont be back up for another 48 - 60 hrs. I hope all are well, and staying clear of inclement weather and falling trees/flying debris!   imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   08:33        Say What?  

  Pirates! Just went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" very entertaining and quite funny too. Johnny Depp steals the show in his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow the dispossessed pirate who, whilst trying to reclaim his old ship "The Black Pearl" helps Orlando Bloom's character Will rescue the love of his life. Geoffrey Rush is particularly good in his role as the Evil Pirate Captain. Recommended viewing!  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   23:55        Say What?  

  round and round...   imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   16:36        Say What?  

  Yet another EARBUG ADVENTURE and I should go to bed in a minute...but I just wanted to share a silly thing I have played with today...I was getting a bit rusty with flash so I revisited it to put together another EARBUG ADVENTURE ? click here or the title of this post to see it...
You will need Flash Player 6 to view it, please wait a moment if you are on dial-up, while the swf file loads...so sit back be bemused and hopefully amused...and enjoy! (It is sort of interactive in a few silly ways) If anyone can think up a story to accompany this particular earbug scenario, feel free to pop it into the comments and I will add it to the earbug adventure page to give it a narrative flavour..
:-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   00:49        Say What?  

  Headaches I have a shocking headache tonight, and have been having some strange and disturbing dreams lately. I mean I normally have strange dreams...Go figure, but some I have had recently have been nightmares. I guess I'm just a tad tired or something...Or perhaps it has to do with some of the sad cases that have been coming through casualty lately...OD's, attempted suicides and people whose bodies are falling apart at a young age simply because they have been practicing a form of slow suicide by virtue of various heavy substance abuse for an extended period of time...Some of the worst substances are legal ones in the western world BTW, Alcohol and Nicotine...for example, we had a guy come in today who had had 10 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) admissions in the past....due to respiratory problems...but what I don't understand is that he knew he was a severe asthmatic and he was still smoking!! Maybe he wants to die young, I don't know......his X-Ray showed the chronic changes associated with obstructive pulmonary problems that you would normally expect to see in someone quite a bit older...but he was only 23. We didn't do too much for him as his main problem seemed to be anxiety and attitude today, his Sats were quite good on room air really, he was just behaving really weird...who knows what goes on in the minds of other people? A few Ventolin nebs later and he was discharging himself against medical advice.
addit:
Don't get me wrong...I am no angel myself, I used to smoke pot as my recreational substance of choice in the past. I just changed my attitude when I became a parent, as I wanted to be able to be a little bit more responsible in case I was ever required to be a sober and mature person by my kids (and my wife) if they ever really needed me to be...I think having children changes some people's behavioural patterns, some people don't change. I am still as big a dick-head, behave as insanely as I did and have as much fun (if not more) when I was a bit of a stoner, I am just not shackled to the inherent chemical changes that could detrimentally affect my conscious state, reasoning ability & motor skills etc. that needed time for my physiological processes to clear away!   imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   21:22        Say What?  

  The Ants vs the EarBug!! Thanks dyo, that is a cool javascript...I had to host it on my site (punkclown.com) as I don't have file space with blogspot (yet) to hold the ant gifs...the ants outnumber the bug, but the bug is bigger than them (and is most likely augmented by some sort of alien-bug nanotechnology and artificial insectile intelligence) Anyhow enough of my ravings...check it out here! or click this particular entries title...I will do a proper animation in Flash with "the bug" soon...I hope!
:-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   22:36        Say What?  

  Too tired to add much... at the moment, stayed up late last night watching "The Two Towers" - yes, again! ...and stuff like that...Spent an enjoyable hour or so replying to insults, bullshit and misinterpretations by a certain obtuse member at renderosity ~ lol...can you believe that it all started over a discussion about an image showing clitoral piercing, yep, that's right!...anyway this person just loves obfuscating things by making untrue statements, but I don't think he would ever admit being wrong even if his life depended on it! One thing I found most amusing is that this tosser actually accused me of taking myself too seriously...ROFLMAO, hell, I gave up doing that...oh, ermmm what time is it now?...oh, and I have been working on my images/artwork if I could call it that. New one up today, next I think I will go back to some traditional drawing (you know...pen, pencil and paper) and try anime or manga style.
;-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   16:29        Say What?  

  Anime Manga and the like... Thanks to my visitors in the tagboard interface, I have been thinking about Anime & Manga and wondering if I could actually do any decent artwork in that style? I shall explore that creative direction I think...at the moment I am still working on a new "Latest Image" image. Speaking of Manga and Anime, my experience is limited to "AKIRA", "The ANIMATRIX" and "SPIRITED AWAY"...not much experience, huh? ~ actually, now I think about it, when I was younger I used to watch AstroBoy, Prince Planet and Gigantor all the time, and loved those shows so I guess I was into early forms of this stuff before most of you were born!
*I was wondering - in such a diverse (and yet related) collection of animations such as those found in "The Animatrix" - which one do you like and why? (Please leave comments at the comments thingy below this entry if you are interested in partaking in this discussion) At first I really didn't like "World Record" but then, as I watched it a few times I found myself starting to really like it, probably for the same reasons I thought I didn't like it in the first place; the unusual and original graphic style utilised in the piece...it really is unique! I also liked "Beyond" probably because, as a kid (hell, as of right now) I would really have loved to find a place like that...my own little "glitch" in the matrix!
;-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   11:12        Say What?  

  Piano plays in the background... as I type this entry. The back lawn (well the flat portion) has been mowed this afternoon, and I have shifted some dirt around...very benificial for my biceps according to the boss. It also helps prevent the development of a belly, which is always a danger now my metabolism has geared down a bit with age...*hehheh* I've gone back to basics and included a rollover code for my everwatchful eye, try it...actually there are a few things in this blog that are interactive if you play with them (well ok, maybe three...I don't know...) If you want a different interactive experience involving "art" and audio go here and play with the thingy under the title description. Anyhow thanks to SOBA and akito and Dean for leaving feedback. It's nice to know that I am not alone...(unless of course the solopists are right - see this link, it's down the bottom of the list) Bye! (or buy if you are a capitalist)
:-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   16:24        Say What?  

  The ever watchful eye...
The ever watchful eye is watching me now. It does not judge, it does not pass comment, it does nothing but watch over me...it is always there, always watching. It is the silent watcher. It watches silently, even. It is quietly watching, making no noise simultaneously and at the same time...yes, I am being very silly...It is watching me now, as I am being silly, but it does not care...it is all very strange, but then again, so is my life....
;-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   06:42        Say What?  

  Later that night... Boy am I worn out! Well, I had quite a lovely father's day really. I was presented with a beautiful drawing of me - stick arms, pot belly, balloon head with a small tuft of hair on top, yep, pretty accurate representation! This was framed in a lovely silver sprayed pasta encrusted masterpiece that I will always cherish (along with the drawing)...and a hand-made card with various details from my eldest one's brain about how she perceives me ~ Q: How old is your Dad? A: Two numbers I think Q: What is his favourite food? A: Lollies and Chocolate and nothing else! ( - they call that transference folks, I swear it doesn't apply to me!) The children also managed to get me a copy of The Fellowship of The Ring (the book) which I haven't read in AGES, but am pleased to start again, my interest being rekindled by Peter Jackson's wonderful epic film translations of Tolkein. My sister and brother-in-law popped over at lunchtime with my neices, and that was lovely too, and then we went to the parent's in law for Father's Day Dinner, where I of course ate too much! I'm going to bed now, to sleep the sleep of the fortunate. Good night all...
¦-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   23:05        Say What?  

  Fathers Day - It is father's day in Australia. I believe this ritual is held at other times of the year in different parts of the world. Perhaps other cultures besides the Western culture have similar types of rituals, but I must admit that my anthropological knowledge does not stretch that far. I find the whole idea bemusing I must say...like Mother's day and birthdays and the like, one may be deluded into having some great expectations that this day is going to be SPECIAL - I mean, after all...I'm a father (mother/birthday-type-person) aren't I? And then you wake up...after a "sleep in" if you are lucky enough to have a partner who will give you that grace...and the children are still fighting with each other, the tap still needs a new washer and the lawn still needs mowing etc etc...HEY! What happened? All these things are meant to magically disappear just for this day at least! It's FATHER'S DAY after all! Yeah...right! *chuckle* :-)>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   12:12        Say What?  

  Deano, Chloe & my ongoing weather updates...
Just got an email from my old friend Dean with a snapshot of a little dog named Chloe who looks very cute (see left). I personally still think doggies are eating and pooing machines, so would rather have a horse ~ well, you can ride a horse can't you? Anyway, the skies are dull, but occasionally the blue peeps through. I really really want warmer weather soon...PLEASE! (guess I'm just a sun-worshipper) Gotta go shopping now! More later...  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   10:58        Say What?  

  Thursday and the sun is shining someone has just driven down our lane and has no idea where they are going...three point turn in our driveway...back down the lane again...
wonderfully fine spring day. Shame I have to go to work in an hour...come to think of it, what am I doing here on the computer? I'm going out in the sunshine while I can! BYE!  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   11:50        Say What?  

  Welcome Spring through blurry eyes... Argggghhhh! It's way too early for me! Am I getting old or should I just get more sleep? (perchance to dream) Oh well, off to work.
:-0>  imprinted indelibly on your mind by   @   06:40        Say What?