When Harry Met a Knucklehead

Harry Shearer gets out the shears and shaves a few inches off Newt Gingrich’s knuckles. And head. Or something.

The Jesus Bird

The Comb-crested Jacana, according to the very knowledgeable and perfectly-talkative guide on the South Alligator River in Kakadoo National Park (part of the Yellow Waters cruise), has the longest feet, per bird size, of any bird in the world. Allows in to "walk on water."

The Comb-crested Jacana [check out the illustrations circa 1800 by John Gould], also known as the Lotusbird, has a red fleshy forehead comb, a black crown, back and breast and brown wings. The belly, face and throat are white, and there is a faint yellow tinge around the eye and throat. Both sexes are similar in appearance, but the female is larger than the male, and slightly brighter in colour.

At a distance, the Comb-crested Jacana appears to have the ability to walk on water. In fact, it is walking on floating plants. Its extremely long toes help it to spread its body weight over a larger area. In flight, the long legs and toes trail behind the body.

Kangaroos. Boxing.

This is just too cool. I just registered with YouTube so I can put some video from Australia up. I took this is Canberra in mid-October. I had gotten up at my usual Australian waking time of 5:30 and gone for a walk. This is right in the center of town. I saw my first two kangaroos, in the wild (zoos just aren't the thing), munching grass at a high school not far from the Australian War Memorial.

I was ecstatic.

And they did a show for me. Unbelievable. The buggers even seemed to stop and wait until I had my camera ready. Check it out.

Bottomfeeders on Tradebit

My CD Bottomfeeders is available at CDBaby, and they've sent it out to so far 26 online music distributors. iTunes has had it for some time, and I just found out that Tradebit now has it up. Looks pretty simple. You can even use PayPal.

A bargain at a buck a song download. Perfect for the holidays. (Just found out the entire album is available on this page.)

Katia and Kylie Mac: The Podcast

I got a notice a while back from a couple new computer radioheads in Paris letting me know that they had used a song of mine for the teaser for their upcoming podcast. They are now up and running. And they've used the song as their theme song:

k&k podcast : Katia and Kyliemac, an Australian and an American living in Paris, podcast about the expat life and how they eat Oreos.

(Thanks to Little Thom for the great song we've used as our theme tune!)

Thanks Katia! Thanks Kylie!

You can subscribe to their show on iTunes and various pod places at the above link and here at the Podsafe Music Network, which is where they found me.

South Africa to the Fore

An example for the world.

S Africa approves same-sex unions

South Africa's parliament has voted to legalise same-sex weddings - the first African country to approve such unions.
The controversial Civil Union bill was passed by 230 votes to 41.

...

The ruling was based on the constitution, which was the first in the world specifically to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual preference.

Photos by the Sea

Sculpture by the Sea in the east Sydney suburbs is a truly enjoyable, makes you happy to be alive kinda event. A few kilometers of wind-sculpted sandstone beachfront (Tamarama to Bondi) with cleverly (and not-so-cleverly) installed sculpture, some on a grand scale, appearing along the way. People seemed to arrive in a good mood and it got better through the day. Many thanks to Christine's sis Shannon and her Kevin for taking us there.

Extra coolness: Kodak, the major sponsor of the 17-day—and free—event, had booths set up along the way where you could, if you had a digital camera (we got one the day before the trip) get three free prints and enter one into a photo contest. I entered this one:



It was one of the five finalists for the day and I'm now in the running for the grand prize (camera and cash). How cool is that?

Lots more photos coming, flora and fauna.

UPDATE: I didn't win. Bastards.

Back From Australia

Saltwater crocodile on the South Alligator River in Kakadoo National Park.

I was in a boat.

It was still a little freaky.