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Sunday, July 19, 2020

The Paw Thing

The human desire to alter mood will always be with us and no amount of effort will eradicate it.  


One more time, then… with continued apologies to Pierre Ranger (and kind permission from Pete Baker)… [It’s a tradition, we know… – Ed]  Indeed!  And with Alaphilippe in yellow again!  Play La Marseillaise!


Kids' fable exposes illogic of proposed JobSeeker change

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg's argument that the JobSeeker allowance needs to be reduced otherwise people will lose the incentive to get a job reminds me of a popular children's story by Paul Jennings ("Job support needed to dodge economic cliff", July 3). The Paw Thing tells the story of a cat called Singenpoo, owned by a parsimonious chicken shop owner Major Mac. Singenpoo's job is to reduce a plague of mice in the chicken shop. Unfortunately, there are so many mice that Singenpoo has no chance and Major Mac decides the best way to make her catch mice is to reduce her food. Of course, this only makes Singenpoo weaker and the poor thing caught even fewer mice. Funnily enough, the year three children to whom I read this story always seem to understand the false economy and futility of Major Mac's plan. 


The Many Adventures of Singenpoo

 The complicated world of sex: the same things that can be magical and mind-blowing for some may stir up fear, shame, and even trauma for others. These emotions can make it difficult to ask questions, clear up misconceptions, and bust up weird mistruths about something most people don’t even feel comfortable talking about to begin with. 


How Bree Newsome Bass took down the Confederate flag from a SC state house flagpole in 2015. "She had never climbed anything more than a tree as a kid or a rope in gym class. So she took a few days off to learn from the Greenpeace activist."


What bird are you most like? I'm a red-tailed hawk! "You understand strategy, and sometimes work with a partner, but overall most of the time you are happy to be alone."


Some WFH content for you: The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time. (And as you might have guessed, an anagramic entry takes the number "one" spot.)


An account of what international travel to Australia is like right now (incl. a Covid test and mandatory 14-day, government-funded quarantine upon arrival).


The NFL team in Washington DC is dropping the racist "Redskins" name and logo.


Our government's inept response to the pandemic has rendered American passports worthless. "In the absence of a humane government, America is now ruled by COVID-19. Welcome to the Plague States of America."


Australian photographer Claire Takacs recorded some of England’s most beautiful gardens this spring when their doors were closed to the public
GARDENS

Visit world-fame ous gardens – virtually

Award-winning photographer Claire Takacs gives an online tour of her lush “dreamscapes
Czech our the Garden at Yetholme




Let's Do

Song by Eartha Kitt
Lyrics
Birds do it, Bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Lets do it
Lets fall in love
In Spain the best upper sets do it
Lithuanians and lets do it
Lets do it
Lets fall in love
The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it
Not to mention the Finns
Folks in Siam do it
Think of Siamese twins from Argentines
Without means do it
People say in Boston beans do it
Let's do it
Let's fall in love
Romantic sponges they say do it
Oysters down in oyster bay do it
Lets do it
Lets fall in love
Cold Cape Cod clams against their wish do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Lets do it
Lets fall in love
Electric eels I might add do it
Though it shocks them
I know
Why ask if shall do it
in shallow shoals
English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Lets do it
Lets fall in love (x2)
Lets