Pride and Twitterverse

I've twittered a link to this already (as is only right) but just in case any of you manage to miss that either on Twitter or Facebook I feel it is imperative that I share this thing of beauty here on my blog as well.

Thanks to a link in Tigtog's regular feature Femmostroppo Reader I found my way to Under the Mad Hat where I have been privileged to read her creation entitled Pride and Twitterverse.

Some favourite snippets:

MrsB:
A Mr Bingley--worth 50,000 followers a year--has joined Twitter! He's brought a friend, Mr Darcy--worth 100,000 followers a year! Pls RT

....

LizzyB:
@CharlotteL Of course. I’ll even visit you on Facebook but promise me I won’t have to read Mr Collins’ blog.

....

LizzyB:
Am taking a social networking webinar paid for by my Aunt & Uncle. Hope to learn lots.

LizzyB:
@JaneB Get this! We have to review Darcy’s blog. He has the most beautiful template I’ve ever seen.

Go, read the whole thing!

Why it's more than a week!

As I brought up my poor neglected blog to contemplate perhaps, possibly, perchance actually posting something, into my head popped "it's more than a week!" instantly followed by an inner recitation of the following*:

Emmeline
Has not been seen
For more than a week. She slipped between
The two tall trees at the end of the green...
We all went after her. "Emmeline!"

All the way through to:

Where have you been?
Why it's more than a week!" And Emmeline
Said, "Sillies, I went to see the Queen.
She says my hands are purfickly clean!"

Now, my hands are indeed purfickly clean but I can't claim to have seen the Queen recently - or indeed ever, not that I harbour any such ambitions being inclined to the view that Australia really ought to detach itself from the British monarchy if only we can work out a way to do so without completely stuffing up our system of government...but I digress - rather I have been expending all my blogging mojo on building a blog for the school P&C (here).

Anyway, if you're another person who finds their life being narrated by involuntary poetry, or are prone to occasional public recitations, you might like to peruse this post over on In a Strange Land, I'm enjoying the discussion happening there.

Meanwhile I shall try to cease being Bisy and promise to be Backson.

*It's Before Tea by A. A. Milne, instead of music earworms I get poetry earworms.

Quick Hit: The Gruen Transfer

In tonight's episode of The Gruen Transfer the challenge for the segment titled The Pitch, in which "two of the advertising industry's finest agencies are pitted against each other and challenged with selling the unsellable", was as follows:

"We live in a country and culture obsessed with thinness. Every day and in every way, plus-sized people are made to feel inferior. Ostracised. Ridiculed. Humiliated. Yet the truth is, more Australians are overweight than skinny. We want a campaign that will end Shape Discrimination, that will make people who can't squeeze into model-size clothes feel better."

One of the ads submitted was deemed by the ABC to be not suitable for broadcast but fortunately The Gruen folks were able to make it and an in-depth panel discussion about the ad available on-line. The ad, the panel discussion and the comments on the site are all well worth a viewing, you'll find them here: The Foundry's Anti-discrimination Ad.

I found the ad that did air pretty damn offensive. I do understand why the ABC chose not to air The Foundry's ad and there are problems with the execution of the idea, but what an idea! I'm way too tired and inarticulate to do any proper analysis but I'm very much looking forward to the discussions that I'm sure will be coming on a number of my favourite blogs.

Twitterable recipes

In a moment of silliness last night I challenged my fellow Twits to produce recipes that could be squished in to 140 characters (well, 133 actually, given that we're hash-tagging them #recipe).

So far we have:
From me:

• mimbles: Wrap pork fillet w/ proscuitto, put on bed of sliced red apple & onion, drizzle w/ olive oil, season with black pepper & sage, bake #recipe
  7 minutes ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
• mimbles: Brown 500g mince , 1 onion chopped + garlic - lots; add 800g tinned tomatoes, basil & oregano, 40g tomato paste, serve w/ pasta #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
• mimbles: Core apple, fill w/ sultanas, honey, butter. Wrap in foil. Bake till apple is soft. Top with cream/ice cream. #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
• mimbles: 2c s.r. flour, 1 pinch salt, rub in 2 tblspn butter, add 1 cup milk, knead gently, cut in rounds, brush w/ milk, bake 220°C ~ 10 min #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet

From Ariane:

0 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see them.

• shonias: Wrap fish fillet in proscuitto, wrap all in puff pastry. Bake 200C til pastry is brown. #recipe
  9 minutes ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
• shonias: Sliced tomato, basil leaves, sliced bocconcini. Lay out tomato, then basil then bocc. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. #recipe
  about 10 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
• shonias: Watermelon, rockmelon, honeydew - balled. White onion finely sliced. Mix onion and melons for a few hours. Add cream before serving. #recipe
  about 12 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet
• mimbles: RT @shonias: 1/2c butter 1c br sugar 1c coconut 2c oats. Melt butter. Mix with all. Press in tin. Cook 20min at 180. Cut while hot. #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet

And from Zuckerbaby:

• ZuckerBaby: Cook spaghetti. Melt marg, olive oil, add minced garlic & chilli, saute, toss with spaghetti & some pasta water, add salt, pepper. #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet
• ZuckerBaby: Peel oranges, slice into rings, alternate with marg & brown sugar. Wrap in foil. Bake til marg & butter melt. Pour over icecream. #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet
• ZuckerBaby: 2 frozen bananas;1/4c soymilk;1/4tsp vanilla: mash til smooth;.5c choc;1TS marg;2TS maple syrup;1/4c soymilk: melt, pour on bananas #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet
• ZuckerBaby: 3/4c marg;.5c icing sgr;1.5c flr;.5c crnflr;1/3c cocoa: form balls, squish, bake 140C; 1/3c marg;3/4 icing sgr;1/4c cocoa, mix, ice #recipe
  about 23 hours ago from web · Reply · View Tweet

Wonder how far we can go with this...

Sports carnivals make me think of poetry

It's cross country carnival time tomorrow for my kids. Consequently David has a bad cold (every. single. year. he manages this, it's a talent I tell you), Caitlin is busily making props for cheering while stressing out about the fact that she is slow despite her teacher's assurances that small people are always the fast ones, and Tom has gone very quiet. I hated cross country running, my kids hate it and every year I struggle to toe the line of supporting the school and telling them they should join in. In point of fact I've got so bad at doing so, that when Caitlin said tonight that she didn't want to run, I answered "Well, no one can make you."

My dad wrote a poem when he was 15 that was published in his school magazine (back in 1960), it pops into my head whenever there's a sports carnival on. The poem is about a cat named Tortoiseshell Tom. It's quite long so I'm just going to share the first verse and the bit that applies here.

Tortoiseshell Tom was a tiresome cat
His head was large and his body was fat
But none of his fellows would stop for a chat
For Tortoiseshell Tom was a tiresome cat

...

At avoiding sport Thomas excelled
To such an extent he was almost expelled
For going home early without permission
Just to study and do some revision.

In Thomas' eyes sport was useless
It rendered you injured and sometimes toothless
And a dental appointment was one good reason
To get out of sport whatever the season.

...

I've always identified very strongly with Thomas (except for the being tiresome bit).

In the morning I will be packing lunch and a thermos, hauling out a folding chair and heading off to watch my kids not run in the cross country. At least there'll be good company, all the parents and grandparents sit around having a picnic day while the kids are tortured.

Soup!

When the weather turns cooler and the fridge is full of veggies that really need to be eaten what else is there to do but cook soup? So out came the big pot for the stove, and the crockpot too, and I got to chopping veggies.

Vegetable and barley soup

For this one I used 4 onions, 4 teaspoons of minced garlic, half a bunch of celery - cooked in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for a few minutes - then 4 parsnips, 4 carrots, a swede, 800g can of crushed tomatoes, 2.5L of beef style veggie stock (Massel cubes), a sploosh or two of soy sauce, 3-4 bay leaves and 1 cup of barley - simmered till the barley was tender - then I added 3 zucchinis and some mushrooms.

Pumpkin soup

The pumpkin soup has 3 onions, 1/4 head of cauliflower, a whole butternut pumpkin, 2L of chicken style veggie stock and a generous sprinkling of black pepper and nutmeg all chucked into the crockpot and cooked on high for 6 hours before attacking it with a stab mixer. I know it has turned out right when the spoon stands up in it!

12th Down Under Feminists Carnival

The 12th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up, this month it's hosted by Chally at Zero at the Bone. Little old me is in there again this month - aw shucks :) - and as usual there's a cornucopia of antipodean feminist blogging to explore and savour.

And there's cake too!

Blogging Against Disablism Day

Today was Blogging Against Disablism Day. Click that link and it will take you to a post at Diary of a Goldfish collating links to posts by many, many bloggers all addressing issues of disability discrimination and the experience of being disabled. I didn't have anything to offer by way of writing for this event so I'm reading and learning instead. Perhaps you'll join me?