We are wishing all our family and friends and everyone else a Merry Christmas from Down Under. Santa Claus was kind to us as I hope he was to everyone else. We enjoyed our Christmas Day with Aussie family. Now it's Boxing Day here and we are planning an afternoon at the beach after a lunch of prawns and crayfish!
Here's the Google image we are seeing Down Under. Yesterday we had the string of lights but not the kangaroo and joey. That was added today. I'm sure the Northern Hemisphere is not getting a kangaroo on their Google home page. So I thought you'd enjoy seeing ours. If Google adds anything to the image in the next few days, I'll update.
The Waifs' Vikki Simpson has been named Overall Grand Prize winner in the 2006 USA Songwriting Competition for her song, Bridal Train. The song tells the story of Vikki's grandmother who married a "Yankee sailor" and at the US Navy's expense broaded the Bridal Train from Perth to Sydney then on by ship to San Franciso to be reunited with her husband. The grand prize money was $US50,000.
Want to send the ISS crew a Holiday greeting? You can do it here by choosing a postcard, writing a message, and sending your message to the crew.
"Miss Potter", a film which relates the life story of Beatrix Potter who wrote "The Tales of Peter Rabbit" and 22 other children's books, will be released in the US in January. The movie stars Renee Zellweger as Miss Potter and Ewan McGregor as Norman Warne, the man who took her art and writing seriously and published her in 1902. Potter was an amazing watercolorist, observing the animals she owned and writing the fanciful stories based on their behaviors. Along with Peter Rabbit, she also created Squirrel Nutkin, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and Mrs. Tiggywinkle. She was a woman in a man's world, but she broke through the barriers set for her with her talent and her tenacity.
Residents in the Italian alpine village of Viganella solved an ancient problem with the help of a giant mirror. The small town’s unique valley location causes them to experience near darkness all winter long, with neighboring cliffs blocking the sun during daylight hours. The lack of both sun and warmth has long exacted a toll on daily life in the village; some have even abandoned the village completely for warmer abodes.
NASA Chief Michael Griffin has seven degrees: a bachelor's, five master's, and a PhD. In addition he's a certified flight instructor.
Here's a recipe for Stuffed Rock Cornish Hens that could easily substitute for the Christmas turkey. 
Exactly 6 days ago, Aussie and I were in front of the computer screen watching Discovery lift off the pad, lighting up the night sky. We've been to the Cape for a daytime launch and Aussie saw a nighttime launch, standing on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale about 200 miles from the Cape. It's quite chancy to catch a launch. Our first try ended in disappointment so we tried again the next year and after a delay of one day, we saw the shuttle lift-off. We weren't close in, but when they lit the candle under the shuttle, the ground shook and the sky roared. It was amazing to be there, but in truth you get a much better view from your TV set.
Jeff Bagwell formally retired from the Houston Astros Friday. He belongs in the Hall of Fame and will become eligible in 2011. 
Australia's first jet airliner, a Boeing 707, returned home today to become part of the Qantas Founders Outback Museum at Longreach. Originally named the City of Canberra, the four-engine plane will join a Boeing 747 and Douglas DC3 at the museum, which celebrates the airline's history and early aviation.
Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped walkway and glass-bottom observation deck that will jut from the canyon's lip 4,000 feet above the Colorado River, is a project of a struggling Indian tribe. The Hualapai hope to lure Grand Canyon National Park visitors to this section of the park where the tribe resides. The $30 million Skywalk is set to open in March 2007.
If you love a good story, you'll love the podcasts from This American Life. Ira Glass of WBEZ, Chicago National Public Radio, is the host. He describes his program like this:
In May '06 David Plotz of Slate.com started Blogging the Bible, chapter by chapter, starting with Genesis. He is up to 2Kings. He uses everyday language and keeps the philosophical stuff to a bare minimum. He stated his goal for the project as: I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. 
Ella Grace has acquired her first words: socks, sit, da, wash. When she says "wash", she rolls her hands together.
Our son bought a little Rubicon a year ago. Nothing fancy but it had potential.
Sad news from Victoria today where bush fires threaten the Chalet atop Mt. Buffalo. According to fire crews, it's a matter of when, not if, the fires will reach the chalet. A resort farther down the mountain has been completely destroyed. The chalet was the site of a conference Aussie and I attended several years ago. It's a grand old place with huge fireplaces in every public room, a lovely dining room, and those old-fashioned rooms like you see in old movies with antique furniture and footed tubs and lace curtains. What a loss!
The shuttle Atlantis has been moved into the massive Kennedy Space Center assembly building (pictured) where it will be attached to a fuel tank and twin booster rockets in preparation for launch next month. The flight marks NASA's return to assembly of the International Space Station following the 2003 Columbia accident.
The London version of Monopoly is swapping its iconic bank notes for debit cards and replacing the dog and iron playing counters with a burger and a mobile phone in a bid to catch up with the times. The changes also include an increase in property prices, rocketing rents, and a change in the London addresses printed around the board. The new version of the game, called Monopoly Here and Now Electronic Banking, comes with a little machine that transfers money from one player's bank card to another.
According to a recent article on the ABC (Australia) website, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby Shiloh Nouvel will have her own figure at the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in New York. She will be the first baby ever given the honour and will be joining more than 200 celebrities portrayed in wax statues. The statue of Shiloh will feature her mom's the pouty lips and delicate features and "will lie peacefully inside a woven bassinet" in her "very own African-themed nursery," near figures of her parents, the museum said in a statement. "The nursery - painted a pale yellow - also includes jungle-themed curtains, a whimsical chandelier, a white changing table and giant stuffed animals. Soft African lullabies will be played in the background, and guests can pose for a 'family photo'with the three figures," said the museum, which promises to send $US1 per photo to the UN children's fund UNICEF. Jolie has been a United Nations goodwill ambassador for several years.
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According to this article, smokers struggling to kick the habit may soon be able to dispense with nicotine patches and chewing gum, in favour of a simple injection. The nicotine vaccine works to block the pleasurable effects of smoking from reaching the brain and reduces the withdrawal symptoms of giving up smoking. It is currently being trialed in the United States. Researchers say, "What this does is it keeps nicotine out of the brain altogether, and in that way keeps a smoker from finding it rewarding to smoke. The vaccine should also reduce the severe withdrawal symptoms of giving up smoking.
"We had just been wondering whether the cabin we're building is getting too expensive, and then this falls out of the sky," Bjørn Herigstad said with a laugh.
I believe our Nic is pregnant! This would explain so much, including why she married the short guy, tears at the wedding (hormone upheaval), shopping at Target (lt), plus this photo of her obvious bump with pokey navel.
An innovative radio telescope made up of square tiles instead of conventional dish antennas will be built in outback Western Australia to study what switched on the first stars.
If you have the time, listen to the Dan Klass podcast, The Bitterest Pill. And start with #59: Get Her Some Crackers. He's a stay-at-home dad and his two-year-old daughter is awake while he's trying to be interviewed at home on his podcast by an English chick who is doing an article on podcasting. The two-year-old rules the day! The child's need for cheese and crackers while dad is otherwise occupied is hilarious!
Our Sandy is 42! She was wonderful in The Lakehouse, but how much longer can she play the ingenue? I love Sandy, probably because she loves Texas. Can she graduate to the next roles awaiting her talent? Time will tell...
Since Discovery has docked with the International Space Station, it's a good time to check the almanac page at the Sky and Telescope site to see if there are any ISS/Discovery fly-overs in your skies. Simply put in your location (even the zip code will work in the US and Canada) and the almanac will give you the dates, times, duration, appearing and disappearing coordinates, and maximum elevation of the passes. The docking will continue until July 14th.
Here's a list of the Top 100 downloaded books from Project Gutenberg.Space Shuttle Discovery fired its engines just after 7 a.m. EDT beginning its final approach with the International Space Station. Discovery, which launched Tuesday afternoon to begin STS-121, is scheduled to dock with the station at 10:52 a.m. EDT today.
STS-121 will deliver supplies and equipment to the station. Much of the cargo is located in the Italian-built Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module. The STS-121 crew will also conduct at least two spacewalks while docked to the orbital outpost. During the excursions, the crew will demonstrate techniques for inspecting and protecting the shuttle’s thermal protection system.
Also, arriving with STS-121 is European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter. He will become Expedition 13’s third crew member. His arrival will return the station’s crew complement to three for the first time since Expedition 6 left in May 2003.
About two hours after Discovery arrives, the hatches will open and the STS-121 crew will enter the station for the first time. STS-121 is currently scheduled to depart the space station on July 14 and land in Florida on the 16th.
STS-121 will be the first shuttle mission to visit the station since STS-114 left in August 2005.
Because this tigeress was born in captivity and nursed for four months by a pig at a zoo in Thailand, the piglets have thankfully lost their place in her food chain!
There is no rain in the guage in the Texas Hill Country. It's dry and there is very little prospect for rain in the near future. Add to that, the thermometer is registering in the upper 90's every day. So it's hot and it's dry and there's no relief in sight! 
Days after seeing "The Devil Wears Prada", I have finally hit on what was missing from that film. It had great acting, beautiful clothes, NYC locations, a wonderful supporting cast, but it didn't have a PLOT! I will say that Streep, a fav of mine, has never looked better and her performance was worth the price of the ticket.
OMG! Whether this is anorexia or not, who cares? Keira was my top choice for "most beautiful woman" until this photo. What has she done to her body? That's not sexy or even photogenic, it's sad! Please Keira, eat a burger!
While I understand the euphoria associated with the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings, I don't quite understand why the photo which was presented to the press as proof of the death was matted and framed.
An Australian couple in their 40s, Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan, smashed the world record for the highest BASE jump in history. (BASE is an acronym for Building, Antennae, Span, Earth and represents the fixed objects from which BASE jumps are made.) The pair climbed a near-vertical, 6604-meter Himalayan peak for 22 days then jumped from the peak and landed back at base camp in two minutes after "flying" down the peak wearing a "wing suit". The wing suit (pictured) mimics the flying style of a sugar glider. The pair reached speeds of 200kmh in their diagonal descent. Read their amazing story in the Sydney Morning Herald article. Heather Swan said the BASE jumping was the "fast track to enlightenment".
Over the weekend Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton was on hand to support Wills as he took part in a Gloucestershire polo match on a weekend off from his Sandhurst course. Kate who was impeccably turned out in a simple knee-length black dress looked the part of a princess-in-waiting down to perfection.
Read this article written by Jack Marx and published in the Sydney Morning Herald for some amazing insight into celebrity and particularly Russell Crowe's psyche. 
Hugh Jackman is confirmed to star opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming period epic, the yet-to-be titled pre-World War II film, co-written with Collateral's Stuart Beattie and The Pianist's Ronald Harwood, which is now scheduled to begin filming in February.
Charles Webb has written a follow-up novel to his original novel which was made into the film The Graduate. The book will revisit Ben Braddock and his now-wife Elaine ten years later, as they home school their two children in upstate New York. Also Mrs. Robinson is somehow featured in its story. At the present time, there is no plan to follow up the new book with a film. However, it's not impossible. Webb's last novel, New Cardiff, was adapted into the film Hope Springs.
Filmspotting is an excellent site for podcasts of movie reviews, criticisms, top 5 lists, marathons and everything else that is film experience. Chicagoans Adam Kempenaar and Sam Hallgren host the podcasts, recently presenting #102. I have downloaded all the past 100 and am having a great time "at the movies" while I walk, work and ride.
Roger Clemens agreed to terms Wednesday on a one-year deal with the Astros to come back for a 23rd season, or at least the remaining four months of the current season. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner ended his seven-month retirement by accepting a deal that will pay him approximately $14 million -- the pro-rated value of a $21 million seasonal contract -- to pitch for the Astros for the balance of the current season. Clemens' arrival couldn't come at a better time for the Astros, who are 8-14 in their last 22 games. Houston's offense has been inconsistent but the Astros are also in dire need of more pitching.
The 8.4m (28ft) Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a telescope which will be 50 times as powerful as other survey telescopes, will be built on a mountain in Chile. It will join the existing Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, on Cerro Pachon, an 2,640m (8,800ft) mountain peak in northern Chile. The telescope will scan the entire sky every three nights, and the observatory will be able to produce color movies of objects that change or move on rapid timescales. The decision to place the LSST on Cerro Pachon followed a two-year period of testing and analysis of the atmospheric conditions and quality of astronomical "seeing" at four sites in Chile, Mexico, and the Canary Islands. The LSST should be under construction by 2009 with a planned completion date in 2012.
