Paradise Lost....

Literately, I’m pretty ignorant. Despite having Forlorn of Thee as the name of my blog, I had very little idea where it came from nor its significance.

Big thank you to someone very special for enlightening me and more than that, for encouraging me to actually read the works of John Milton. It’s a twelve book epic about Heaven and Hell, the battles waged and the corruption of Adam and Eve in paradise.

This chapter is after they've eaten the fruit…

(Adam to Eve)

Whom thus afflicted when sad Eve beheld, Desolate where she sat, approaching nigh, Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed: But her with stern regard he thus repelled. Out of my sight, thou Serpent! ... ...But for thee I had persisted happy; had not thy pride And wandering vanity, when least was safe, Rejected my forewarning, and disdained Not to be trusted; longing to be seen,

(Eve to Adam )

He added not, and from her turned; but Eve, Not so repulsed, with tears that ceased not flowing And tresses all disordered, at his feet Fell humble; and, embracing them, besought His peace, and thus proceeded in her plaint. Forsake me not thus, Adam! witness Heaven What love sincere, and reverence in my heart I bear thee, and unweeting have offended, Unhappily deceived! Thy suppliant I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not, Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid, Thy counsel, in this uttermost distress, My only strength and stay: Forlorn of thee, Whither shall I betake me, where subsist? While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps, Between us two let there be peace;

(Together reconciled…)

She ended weeping; and her lowly plight, Immoveable, till peace obtained from fault Acknowledged and deplored, in Adam wrought Commiseration: Soon his heart relented Towards her, his life so late, and sole delight, Now at his feet submissive in distress; Creature so fair his reconcilement seeking, His counsel, whom she had displeased, his aid: As one disarmed, his anger all he lost, And thus with peaceful words upraised her soon. But rise;--let us no more contend, nor blame Each other, blamed enough elsewhere; To whom thus Eve, recovering heart, replied. Adam, by sad experiment I know How little weight my words with thee can find, Found so erroneous; thence by just event Found so unfortunate: Nevertheless, Restored by thee, vile as I am, to place Of new acceptance, hopeful to regain Thy love, the sole contentment of my heart Living or dying, from thee I will not hide

When I was away...

Sydney was lashed by some pretty severe storms. Flights were disrupted, many homes were without power and hail the size of cricket balls fell. Fortunately, I got off lightly and the garden is still in fairly good shape.

The hydrangeas were still hanging on.
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The lemons weren't all over the floor.

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Lost quite a few chilles, but there should still be enough come February.
Damn.. I'm hot :p

Been a while...

Thank goodness it’s Friday. Well, not really. Dislike weekends, the chores are depressing. Cleaning, shopping, blah blah.

Next weekend, sneaking off to Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, for a bit of R&R. Rented a house, feet up, Chardonnay in hand doing absolutely nothing...

Two observations from down under:

NEARLY a third of Australian men do not wash their hands when they use public toilets, according to a recent survey.

So be afraid, very afraid when you meet an Aussie bloke (saw the CEO of a well know company, take a leak and walk straight of the john… ewww!)


REPRODUCTIVE donors will be able to demand their sperm or eggs only go to certain religious, ethnic or cultural groups or be reserved for heterosexual couples under government legislation pass in NSW this week.

If I’ve made a donation to the Red Cross or whoever, can I demand that the aid not go to certain individuals.

What do you think?

Should donors have the right to choose the recipient of their sperm/ egg?
	Yes
	No
	There shouldn't be any donors
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BOB'S CARD TRICK

Something silly for Friday....... thank you Kathy



Bob's Card Trick. Performed by: YOU !!
Pick one of the following cards. Don 't click on it; just keep it in your head.

scroll down when you have your card,

Think about your card for 20 seconds in front of Bob
BOB will attempt to read your mind!

Scroll down after 20 Seconds

































The Great Bob Has Removed Your Card!

Right or Left

Warning: The moving GIF may not work if animation is disabled in your browser :(

I love this one (stolen from News Corp)

The Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS uses logic detail oriented facts rule words and language present and past math and science can comprehend knowing acknowledges order/pattern perception knows object name reality based forms strategies practical safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS uses feeling "big picture" oriented imagination rules symbols and images present and future philosophy & religion can "get it" (i.e. meaning) believes appreciates spatial perception knows object function fantasy based presents possibilities impetuous risk taking

So which side are you?

Bonnie and Roy and Clyde...

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born 1910, to a poor family. Father died when she was four and was raised in poverty by her mother. Bonnie was an excellent student in school where she excelled in creative writing and even gave introductory speeches for local politicians. She was intelligent, personable, strong willed and attractive.

Yet we have to ask ourselves, why she associated herself with this bunch of losers. At fifteen, she married Roy Thornton and after four years they separated but never divorced. BTW Bonnie was wearing Thornton's wedding ring when she died. Thornton was sentenced to five years in prison and was gunned down in 1937 during an escape attempt.

In 1930 Bonnie Parker met Clyde Barrow in January at a friend's house in Dallas. When they met, both were smitten immediately and most believe Bonnie joined Clyde because she was in love. She remained loyal to him till they day they died violently...

Bad choices, bad decisions…mmm... we've all met that type.

Source: Wiki, Dilbert

Christina's World

Seldom do I pay much attention to paintings. Not exactly cultured and probably can’t tell the difference between a Monet or a Renoir. But once in a while, by some coincidence, I’m drawn to some work of art and curiosity sets in…

The above is a painting is titled “Christina's World”. It is not another painting of a pretty girl rolling around in an open field.

It is a painting by Andrew Wyeth of Christina Olson. Christina was born in 1893 and died in 1968. She lived most of her life with her brother in that house on the hill. Christina suffered from an undiagnosed muscular deterioration that paralysed her lower body.

*She is depicted dragging herself across the field picking flowers. How do you feel….pity?

She needed no pity! This disability did not stop her and she excelled in many skills including sewing, sailing, and even horse riding. When she was 19, Christina met and fell in love with a young man who was studying at Harvard. They were together for five years, that was before he said “She can row a boat, climb a tree, harness a horse, and drive a carriage. She outshines me in everything!”

He then went off and married another young woman.

*PostScript

Wikipedia mentions that Christina was "dragging herself across the ground to pick flowers from her garden." This is incorrect. Christina was in fact dragging herself back up from the cemetery, where her parents were buried.

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The end is nigh

Book of Revelations, the latest discovery of a letter written by Sir Isaac Newton who believes the world will end by 2060? The same Isaac who together with Da Vinci was a Grand Master in the Priory of Sion (so asserts Dan Brown). Unfortunately…no, nothing that exciting!

I’m referring to the “Depression”. Haven’t seen one of these for ages. An exclusive club of Bankers (with a capital “B”) attended a cocktail function in Switzerland and while nibbling on canap�s and sipping champagne concluded that:

1. we’ve all blown our credit card limits ~ duh;
2. we’re paying too much for that HOUSE; and
3. the driver of the flashiest car on the Road to Oblivion (oops, I mean Road in the Orient) is on Learner plates ~wow

Thanks for the warning guys (and yes they are mostly blokes). What’s the solution?? Cut back on our expenditure, save a little more. A self-fulfilling prophesy, if there ever was one, so when we’re all not spending nor investing, the downward cycle begins. The end is near…

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A very good friend recently pointed out the dangers of chatting on Social networks and blogging, especially if one posts from work. Social networks include MySpace, Friendster, Tribe.net and many others, blogs include Blogspot, Livejournal, Wordpress etc. (Yes, I am on Tribe and of course I blog and have a profile in LinkedIn too).

The anonymous and informal nature of these sites tend to encourage us to make remarks we wouldn’t do in real life and this may create a real problem for employers especially when ones views does not coincide with the “Mission” of the boss. You shouldn’t really be espousing the benefits of being a vegan when working for the butcher eh?

As a result, employers are starting to monitoring internet usage. Matter of interest, noted the site with the highest hits in our office, an online dating site called RSVP.com.au, and most of us here are married ;-]

What your parents never told you...

In these days when money is everything and Versace and Gucci are necessities, it is odd to find that it's the carpenters, tilers and painters who get the wink, while bankers, lawyers, accountants and psychiatrists get the cold shoulder.

The survey of 950 people by a career networking site found you are more likely to get a date if you work with your hands and in a trade than if you are a professional.

Maybe because it’s so damn hard to get a good plumber when you need one.

Professions in order of desirability

1. Carpenter
2. Tiler
3. Painter
4. Builder
5. Plumber
6. Banker
7. Doctor
8. Lawyer
9. Accountant
10. Psychiatrist

Too complicated, don't understand the stem cell debate, boring...blah...blah...

Controversy abounds down-under with the “Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Amendment Bill 2007” going through the State Parliament. If passed, therapeutic cloning will be legal. It's not about bringing back King Tut (well, not at the moment anyway.)

Archbishop Barry Hickey in Perth is under fire for saying Catholic politicians supporting stem cell research should be refused holy communion and be excommunicated...

Cardinal George Pell in Sydney, has warned of consequences from the church if Catholic politicians supported the Bill...

Minister Nathan Rees called Pell “a serial boofhead...” (yup an eloquent and articulate pollie)

What’s the fuss all about? It all about embryonic stem cell creation and therapeutic cloning. There are many types of stem cells but embryonic stem cell is causing the concern. Embryonic stem cells are the most flexible, the plasticine or play dough of stem cells, as they can easily be made to change into something else.

As an example, Genghis drinks too much and his liver is a little worse for wear......

We take an egg and fertilise it...

The DNA is then removed and Genghis' DNA inserted..

About 5 days later the egg becomes a Blastocyst (an early stage embryo).

From this Blastocyst, one of the little balls is extracted (called an inner cell mass)...

From inside this ball, stem cells are sucked out...

and placed in a plastic laboratory culture dish and encouraged to grow into new liver tissue...

...to be transplanted back into Genghis so he can enjoy a couple more years of booze.

The million dollar question NOW is...... whether a 5 day old egg is a young human being, and taking it apart for its stem cells is just not right.

In FUTURE, dare we even consider the unimaginable, returning the egg (with Genghis' DNA) back into the womb. Have your say...

Should we support embryonic stem cell creation and therapeutic cloning?
	It's murder...Stop!
	Lab-created embryos are only microscopic balls of cells. If lives can be saved, let's rock!
	Return of the Mummy. No thanks!
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No more Mommy's boy

Some research from the University of Warwick in England shows that straight women just cannot read maps. The research, suggests that not only are straight women worse at map reading than straight males, they are also outperformed by bisexual men, gay men, gay women and bisexual women - in that order.



However, an even more interesting observation…. “begins in the womb….. prenatal hormonal differences like the presence of testosterone or oestrogen in the womb, affects how your brain develops ... whether you get a male brain or a female brain (with map reading ability or otherwise)….the same hormones play a role in determining whether we get a ‘heterosexual brain’ or a ‘homosexual’ one.”

So, here it is, in black and white…
Read More

1. Women can’t read maps
2. Homosexuality is a result of nature and genetics, not some moral corruption or wickedness (About time for the faithful to redefine “Sin” huh?)

Beauty and the ... er Beauty

A 20-year-old dancer from Japan was crowned Miss Universe 2007 in Mexico, marking only the second time her country has won the world beauty title.

Dressed in a black, red and purple Japanese-style gown, Riyo Mori nervously grabbed the hands of first runner-up, Natalia Guimaraes of Brazil, just before the winner was announced. Then she threw her hands up and covered her mouth, overcome with emotion.

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Meanwhile, a million miles away in the Thai resort city of Pattaya, (Miss/ Mister) Thanyarat Jirapatpakorn (centre) poses with runners-up Parawee Chapakorn (left) and Pimchanok Hongsopa after winning the Miss Tiffany's Universe transsexual beauty pageant.

Who gets your vote?
	Jirapatpakorn (Miss Tiffany's Universe transsexual)
	Riyo Mori (Miss Universe 2007)
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How old is old enough ?

We’ve all been following the sad story of Madeleine McCann who disappeared from a hotel room while on holiday with her family in Portugal.

Yesterday, a three-year-old, Trista Foley and a two-year-old friend walked between 2-3km from the house where they were staying in Western Australia, before being found about 200m from the ocean. The children had spent more than 24 hours lost in thick bushland.

Is that responsible parenting? What were the parents thinking? At what age can parents say, yup the kids are old enough to be left alone?

Have you ever dashed out for a loaf of bread, a bottle of milk or run to the neighbours for something?

Recall walking my ten year old to school, 300 meters from where we lived, while my neighbour’s eight year old walked by himself. Still pick up my 18 year old daughter from the station, after evening lectures… overprotective or sensible?

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On related subject do you support the death penalty for pedophiles?

"THE idea of executing child rapists, even when there in no loss of life, is gaining traction. Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for a pedophile, and the governor of Texas is soon to sign into law legislation to that effect."

Read More

Is it only men who view internet porn ?

Read an article on internet porn and how it's "The new marriage-wrecker.... How the technology has created what some call an addiction."

It's not the marriage-wrecker bit that interested me but the statement that said "An increasing number of men appear to be hooked, and the women in their lives are flailing about in unhappiness, self-doubt and self-blame."

Some food for thought....

Is it only men that view porn, and the women who are suffering?
If this statement is true, why ? (Is it in men’s genes, opportunity (eg. broadband at work), not getting enough sex.)

Do women view porn?