I've probably already told most of you who read this, but my wife and I have started up our own self-indulgent webcomic basec on our cat, Bella. The result can be seen here:

www.bellacomic.com

We update on Monday and Thursdays, and welcome all readers/comments/discussions.

...but still not smoking. That made no sense.

As I have mentioned, I stopped smoking at the start of Lent. With the joys of Lenten once more gone for the year, I haven't restarted smoking. This, I am assured, is a "good thing". I'm still undecided on the matter, but I have taken an interest in other people who are quitting smoking, or who say they want to quit smoking.

On the SA forums at the moment there's a "Let's all quit smoking!" thread chock full of people who say they're trying, and others giving wonderful advice.
Y'know what? 95% of that thread is pure bullshit. They're nothing more than a bunch of wussy self-serving enablers in there.

"OHHH I want to quit but it's so haaaaaaaard" "OH GOSH, IS IT EVER. I HAVE QUIT 75 TIMES, BUT I HAVE BEEN SMOKING FOR ALMOST 18 MONTHS NOW, AND I AM SOOOOO ADDICTED" wahh wahh fucking wah.

Obviously none of these people actually want to quit. It's not fucking hard. I don't even want to quit and I have. If you are going to quit, you stop smoking. You don't look for excuses. You don't replace one addiction with another. You don't say you've quit then start smoking a week later. Cigarettes are not heroin. They do not have that kind of total mind and body addiction. They give a light buzz while slowly destroying your respitory system. You stop smoking and within a few days your brain will stop craving the nicotine, and a while after that you will stop the psychological craving to have a smoke. And even if you keep having that craving, if you are actually going to stop smoking, you don't smoke at that point.

This seems to be the hard point, and this is why we have TV shows full of people reassuring themselves that quitting is hard, and you shouldn't feel bad because it didn't work the first time. You should buy this gum, or this patch, or do this hypnosis course, or read this book, or get this inhaler...

The business of quitting smoking, while smaller, is just as much of a business as the business of smoking. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you a lozenge.

OK, so I'm halfway through day three of HELL um, being smoke-free.

Anyone know how long it will take till I stop thinking about smoking every second of the day?

I know Storm will bitch at me over this, but I really can't take much more of this. Three days in a row over 110F (43C+) and tomorrow's "cool change" will drop us down to 35C (95F).

I MOVED TO MELBOURNE FOR THE COOLER WEATHER. WHERE IS THIS ALLEGED COOLER WEATHER!

So listening to some music while working and the Safety Dance came on. I'm saddened that I've never been in the middle of a spontaneous dance routine backed by Safety Dance or My Sharona.

I think I watched too many early 90's movies growing up.

NZ man sentenced after claiming to have been raped by a wombat

A New Zealand man who claimed to have been left speaking Australian after being raped by a wombat has been sentenced to 75 hours community service. Arthur Ross Cradock, a 48-year-old orchard worker, admitted in the Nelson District Court yesterday to the charge of using a phone for a fictitious purpose, after calling police with the message, “I’ve been raped by a wombat”.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer told the court that on the afternoon of February 11 Cradock called the police communications centre, threatening to “smash the filth” if they arrived at his home that night.
When asked if he had an emergency, he replied “yes”, Mr Stringer said.
On a second subsequent call to the communications centre, Cradock told police he was being raped by a wombat at his Motueka address, and sought their immediate help.
He called police again soon after, and gave his full name, saying he wanted to withdraw the complaint.
“I’ll retract the rape complaint from the wombat, because he’s pulled out,” Cradock told the operator at the communications centre, who had no idea what he was talking about, Mr Stringer said.
“Apart from speaking Australian now, I’m pretty all right you know, I didn’t hurt my bum at all,” Cradock then told the operator.
Mr Stringer said alcohol had played a big part in Cradock’s life. However, defence lawyer Michael Vesty said alcohol was not a problem that day.
Judge Richard Russell said he was not quite sure what motivated Cradock to make those statements to the police.
In sentencing, he warned Cradock not to do it again.

Enter the Make Ur Lolcat Famous Contest

The blanket was a gift from my Mum to Anne for her birthday.

I have no idea why I felt the need to turn it into a lolcat, I really don't.

"There sure are a lot of names for just brown in here"

Oh colourblindness :(

http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/stowaway-kitten-takes-us-plane-ride-in-a-suitcase/2008/01/23/1201024931317.html

Stowaway kitten takes US plane ride in a suitcase
January 23, 2008 - 6:27AM

A kitten survived a plane trip halfway across the United States after accidentally ending up in a suitcase, a newspaper reported today.

Seth Levy's suitcase, in which 10-month-old tabby Gracie Mae stowed away, was mistakenly picked up by the wrong person after a 2.5 hour plane trip from Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Dallas-Fort Worth airport in Texas.

But the man who took the suitcase called the kitten's Florida home and spoke to Levy's wife, Kelly, of Palm Beach Gardens, and agreed to hold the cat until her husband could pick it up, the Sun-Sentinel newspaper said.

"Hi, you're not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas. And I accidentally picked up your husband's luggage, and when I opened the luggage a cat jumped out," Levy recalled the man telling her on the phone.

Reuters

For once I'm not referencing a Hello Kitty item to Malcolm

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/17/hello-kitty-ar-15-assault-rifle-makes-you-wish-it-was-photoshopp/

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Wizard/Cleric (2nd/2nd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-14

Constitution-12

Intelligence-17

Wisdom-14

Charisma-12


Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Primary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus</a></b> (e-mail)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

He'll save every one of us

A recent study that was highlighted in Australian papers (can't find an Australian link, but here's one from NZ http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4267430a7144.html ) has shown an alarming tendancy for men no to wash their hands after going to the restroom.

Surely not! I thought after reading the article. That's one of the basic hygiene functions. Well, thanks to the after-effects of a rather tasty dinner last night, I spent a period in the men's room at work this morning. And what did I find? While I was in there, three other people came through and used the rest room. Only one of them washed their hands after going.

Come on people. If you do something disgusting like that, you forfeit your right to use any shared areas after. I don't want to make a cup of coffee in the kitchen after one of you disease carrying filthmongers. Hell, to get out of the bathroom I have to open two doors - the same two that you creeps touched after not washing your hands.

No wonder I'm sick at the moment.

Urgh

Stolen shamelessly from Weer'd Beard...

As the few of you who read this thing will no doubt have noticed, there's been a few updates recently from Wombats on Parade, my attempt at a "serious" blog.

I've been reading various newspapers for years, and some of my favourite parts of the paper have always been the OpEd pieces - Opinions and Editorials, and Wombats on Parade is my attempt at utilising the same sort of writing style to create a quasi-political blog of my own.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the same sorts of resources or sources as the major news outlets, instead I just write opinion pieces on what I've read or heard or seen on the news that day or recently. It's more an exercise in writing than an actual attempt at making stinging political commentary, and as such I'm trying to keep my own political biases out of it.

The reason for this post is to ask if any of you are reading what I write, and if so what you'd like to see on the blog? Of course whatever goes up there will also get posted on here, so you won't need to change your reading habits (if anybody actually reads this crap anyway) but if I do have people interested in reading what I write, tell me what you want to see?

Do you want more Australian stories? External observations on US & International news? Environmental observations from someone with a scientific background in the field, technical and technological pieces? Industry observations? Bad jokes? Tell me and I'll try and write it.