Spitting Into the Wind

For some unknown reason, I always imagined the tiny feet of these Chinese women to be minatures of normal feet. I just thought that the binding stopped them from growing. It was with some horror that I veiwed these images and realised the true extent of the torture these females endured, and to think that these feet were viewed as beautiful and desirable is beyond comprehension.

In the past, Chinese women’s feet were bound with metres of cloth to stop them from growing so that they would resemble a “three-inch golden lotus” at a time when normal big feet were considered alien to feudal virtues. The practice originated in the palace of the last king of the Latter Tang Dynasty (923-936 AD) and continued even when it was banned by the Manchuria who established the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In remote mountainous areas, women still had their feet bound even when the New China was founded in 1949.

By the time a girl turned three years old, all her toes but the first were broken. The practice would cause the soles of feet to bend in extreme concavity.

Foot binding was more than a fashion statement, it was a way of life for about one billion women as well as the men around them. It took much more than laws and protests to bring foot binding to an end. Foot binding had higher consequences, greater appeal, and is more desirable than any other practice women implemented to be beautiful in history. It cannot be seen as a simple fashion statement. It was part of the society, the roots being buried under many parts of Chinese culture. It had roots in making a woman more desirable, marriageability, and higher social status. Foot binding not only crippled the women who went through the process but as well, crippled women in China for centuries. Being crippled by foot binding, they had such a little role in the government. It was a custom that started out to define beauty but ended up defining the way the society was.

Posted at 9:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) |

We've had some rain lately, but far too little to break the drought. Dams are still empty, and the Murrumbidgee River is the lowest I've ever seen it.

With dry weather conditions continuing, more and more extreme water restrictions are being introduced. Here are some small and simple things you can do at home that can have a huge impact on the amount of water wasted everyday -

• Shorten your shower by a minute - or better still try to limit your shower to five minutes or less.
• Install water saving taps and showerheads.
• Fix leaking taps and toilets - Research has shown that an average of 8% (or more) of all home water use is wasted through leaks.
• Only wash full loads of laundry in your washing machine or dishes in your dishwasher - this will help save water and energy.
• Don't pre-rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher - if your dishwasher is clear it shouldn't need pre-rinsing.
• Turn the tap off while you brush your teeth and use a glass of water for rinsing.
• If you wash dishes by hand, do not leave the tap flowing - fill up the sink to wash.
• Use a broom, not a hose, to clean driveways, steps and footpaths.
• Wash your car with water from a bucket.
• Water garden plants and lawn during the coolest part of the day - normally between 6am - 10am or 6pm - 10pm.
• Use mulch around shrubs and garden plants to reduce evaporation from the soil surface.
• Use native plants in landscaping when possible - they require less care and less water.
• Cover your swimming pool when not in use to prevent evaporation.
• Adjust the lawn mower to a higher setting to provide natural ground shade and to promote water retention by the soil.

If we all did just one or two things to reduce our water use, we'll all benefit in the long term.

Posted at 10:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Forbes.com has released a list of the Top Celebrity Blogs

You might think that movie stars and pop musicians would jump at the chance to communicate directly with their fans. And indeed, many have tried keeping personal Web logs, or blogs. Unfortunately most of them--teen sensation du jour Avril Lavigne leaps to mind--don't stick with it long enough to make their blogs compelling reading.

But a few do it very well. The five bloggers we've selected here are gleaned from an already short list of famous people who post their personal writings on the Web. They are not all A-list celebs--mainly because we removed from consideration blogs that haven't been updated during the last month. And be warned: These blogs contain a fair amount of limousine-liberal posturing, especially on the war in Iraq. But celebrity bloggers still offer up enough tidbits to entertain fan and non-fan alike.
www.wilwheaton.net
www.moby.com/cms/viewalldiary.asp
www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/blog.asp
www.barbrastreisand.com/news_statements.html
davebarry.blogspot.com

There's lots of sites around with the latest celebrity gossip, but if you want to read "from their lips", here's a list to keep you happy for a long time. They're listed alphabetically for quick reference in case you have a favourite.

Posted at 2:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

While holidaying in Queensland last week I couldn't resist taking a shot of one of the local identities at a Club in Kirra. Apparently this little guy is a frequent visitor to the Club where my Dad goes each day for "Happy Hour", which lasts for 3 hours, and during that time they get quite a crowd.

The club is also home to a family of Guinea Pigs that live in a hedge along the fence, and once a week, a friend of Dad's brings a bag of salad scraps as a treat for the family.

Posted at 10:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Better Homes & Gardens has a nifty tool you can use to experiment with your choice of paint colours, floor coverings, furniture and accessories.

There are several room designs to get started -- pick one that looks the most like your room and get to work customising patterns and colours.

To try Color-a-Room, you must first sign up at Better Homes and Gardens. I had a problem with the registration because the options are for US residents only. Make sure your postal code has 5 numbers and you'll have no problems registering.

You can save your designs as favourites, and choose which items in the room you'd like colourised to go with the rest of the colour scheme. A handy tool for anyone considering a makeover for the lounge or bedroom.

The hardest part about painting a room is simply getting started. Walls, trims and ceilings can be painted in a mind-boggling combination of colour schemes.

Even if you have a general idea about the colour palette you want, picking those just-right shades from a wall of hundreds of chips is hit or miss. Benjamin Moore's Color Makeover Program is a remarkable way to get free advice from the folks who stare at these colours all day.

Go to the site, upload some photos of your room, explain what (if any) ideas you have and within 10 business days a Benjamin Moore mix master will deliver a personalised packet with a recommendations and oversize paint chips.

Draw up a list and start writing down the basics � decide which items will stay, such as a lounge or a rug, and which elements you would like to change such as a wall colour or curtains. Next, determine a budget. Keep in mind those changes that will have the most impact for your dollar, such as paint, furnishings, and accessories. These simple changes can make a dramatic impact to a room.

Posted at 9:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

I moderate all my comments unless they are authenticated, then I am just notified about them. Today I received a comment from someone who just wanted to say "Hi". It is so refreshing to see a comment with no links, not even an email address, after all the trouble I've had with spam commenters on my weblogs. So hi to you too Panda. Incidentally, she said hi from the Big Brother page, probably the post with the most comments on this site.

Don't tell me people are doing online searches for Big Brother. I have to agree with one of the commenters and say I hate the show. At the time of the "incident" though, the internet was a-buzz, and I just had to add my 2 cents worth. People love that show or hate it. There's no middle ground.

I've found too, that leaving comments on other people's weblogs is a good way for them to leave a comment on yours. You can't be so totally rapt up in your own website that you don't get out there and have a look around. Weblogs are so varied, there's no two alike.

I have 10 weblogs that I currently post to. I try to post to them all at least once a week, and hopefully more often than that. Finding the time is usually the problem. What to write about is sometimes a problem too. I have a folder on my hard drive that I save snippets to if I find something interesting that I want to talk about when I'm cruising around the internet. I save the URLs of the site, and any relevant info in a text file, and when I'm stuck, I look in the folder. Perhaps that's when, you, the reader, think it's a pretty lame post. :)

Today I found an interesting little tool on the Main Menu page in Movable Type. Down the bottom of the page you can customise the page view, and one of the options is to arrange the blogs by recently updated. I've selected that, and now every time my MT opens to that page I can see at a glance which weblogs need attending to, and where I've most recently posted.

Posted at 5:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

Mark Bernstein wrote an article back in August, 2002 called 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web. It's one of the best articles I've read on the subject and as relevant today as it was nearly 4 years ago. These are the key points that I got from reading the story.

• Write for a reason, and know why you write.
• Write passionately about things that matter.
• Explain to us why it matters to you.
• Don�t tell us what happened: tell us why it matters.
• Don�t tell us your opinion: tell us why the question is important.
• Write honestly.
• Don�t hide, and don�t stop short.
• You need not write constantly, and you need not write long, but you must write often.
• Store topics, news items, entire articles for slow times.
• Don�t rush to replace a good design: you will grow bored with it long before your readers do.
• Read your work. Revise it. Omit unnecessary words.
• If you know your facts and have done your homework, you have a right to your opinion. State it clearly. Never waffle, whine, or weasel.
• Don�t be shy about linking to yourself: linking to your own work is a service, not self-promotion.
• Don�t take yourself too seriously.
• Don�t worry about those who disagree with you.

Now when I sit down to add my 2 cents worth to the blogosphere, I look at this list and try to add something of this to my writing. Well worth the read.

Posted at 10:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |