Marko the Rat

I just wanted to reassure people that I am safely returned to Australia and once more in ristin's loving arms. I will post more later, but for now I am feeling under the weather.

Yes, after a long and arduous quest, savant_da_rat and I are in our room for AC. We are getting ready for the Rodent Party: It's going to be so great! We have rodent plush, rodent-themed board games, cheese and Rattus. But where is this wonderful party being held, I hear you ask?

The Rodent Party is being held from 7:00pm to 11:00pm on Thursday night in room 530 (the one right at the end of the hallway and down the stairs) in the Marriott Hotel (across the street from the Westin). Don't miss it!

I've been having lots of adventures during my exile from the internet, but I will have to tell you about those later. Right now I have a very important public service announcement.

Below is the sign you will be looking for at Anthrocon on Thursday night to find out where the Rodent Party is being held; I won't have the room number until we check-in. Please keep in mind, this is going to be at the Marriott, which is across the street from the Westin.

We will not be serving dinner, only snacks and refreshments (no booze, this is a dry party.) Please come by and meet up with your fellow rodents and chill out for a bit before the con craziness gets started. We'll have some cheesy boardgames too. Hope to see you there! :)

Also, Rattus will be making a special guest appearance, one of the very few personal appearances he will make during AC, so don't miss out!

Those who are so inclined are welcome to take a look at photos of my travels among the mountains near Denver, Colorado:



savant_da_rat challenged me to break the 10,000 feet barrier (not so difficult here as Denver is already 5,000 feet above sea level). On the first trip to Nederland I failed but the next day I went through the Eisenhower tunnel (and experienced snowing on exiting it) which is above 11,000 feet.

Were it to snow in Brisbane even during our deepest darkest winter, it would be a sure sign of the apocalypse. Not so in Denver. Even during summer you can find snow on the street.

Admittedly, this is the residue from a hail storm the night before (after having the summer sun on it for half a day o_O), but you can't expect Australians to make such fine distinctions. ;)

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I've been trying to channel Rattus as a separate personality, so I thought it was time I formalise the arrangement and give rattus_t_rat his own journal. I'm not really sure yet if I will also post reminders here when he makes a post or how I will handle this new split personality, but Rattus is sure to be cute and friendly so don't be shy about friending him.

It's been a hard few months for me, there's no denying. The worst of it was when Izza passed away last Friday. But I've cried for him, harder than I can remember, and I'm not here to share my private grief.

Instead it's my public joy I've come to celebrate. I'll be in America in less than 24 hours! As I've flagged before, I'm coming for Califur and then staying for Anthrocon. Two cons in one trip, but the biggest challenge will be my extended absence from Ristin. We'll stay in touch, as much as we can, but it won't be the same as holding him every night. Anyway, come say hello if you're going to either of those cons. I don't bite.

How right he is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuNA9bGy6x8

I took this photo of a kangaroo enjoying a cool Autumn evening against the backdrop of a wintry moon. I'd spent the previous 15 minutes laying with her, in my version of kangaroo rapture, just petting her softly.

(This entry could only possibly be of interest to librarians, so the rest of you can feel free to skip over it.)

I've been entering my collection of books into Delicious Library, and although I find many of the barcodes for my books are no longer valid (they must recycle the barcodes according a scheme best understood by whatever authority is responsible for barcodes) but I have been comforted knowing the ISBN has always been sacrosanct... until now. I'm shocked to find that by David Franklin, published by Baby Ice Dog Press in 2001 with ISBN 0646-41086-5 instead brings up , also by David Franklin and published by Baby Ice Dog Press in 2005. Close, but not the same.

Would any of the real librarians on my friends list be able to shed any light on this? Are publishers allowed to recycle ISBNs if they reprint a book as part of an anthology? I have seen reprintings share the same ISBN but never a whole new book.

I got the following message from YouTube:

Your video, Rattus's Exercise Video, may have audio content from The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang that is owned or licensed by UMG.

I was afraid this would happen, but I never found a song that suited the video half as well as that one. But I was bemused to see that it goes on to say that my video is blocked everywhere except in certain countries. I won't bore you with the whole list, but in addition to the Heard and McDonald Islands, it includes such copyright-hating countries as: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. In other words, the video is still available in pretty much every country that counts. (If you're in a country where this video is blocked, please let me know.)

The message goes on to say that "No action is required on your part." I'm inclined to agree. It does mean I get some annoying advertising on and around my video, but it's better than having it blocked entirely, yes?

Duncan the big green roo came up to Brisbane with Oz and Drake during his visit to Australia. They were kind enough to invite me out bowling in fursuit. As is usual when I'm fursuiting in public, I was a scared little rat beforehand but I had a good time once I started. And it was good to meet Duncan and say g'day.



Foxy has also put up a video here.

My work's office newsletter pulled up this tidbit from the 1 May 2006 edition of the Guardian: Internet culture spells doom for strait-laced orthographers

The Oxford English Corpus has found that "dozens of traditional phrases are now more commonly misspelled than rendered correctly in written English [on the internet]." Looking through the list, I find to my shame I am guilty of some of these infractions myself.

But I remain philosophical about it, as English is a living language that will keep evolving and changing for many decades to come. I only really rankle at manglings of English that don't make sense, like the greengrocer's apostrophe. I'm seeing more and more incorrect English creep into newspapers (who needs proofreaders when you have computers?) and while it annoys me it's important that I remind myself that am rapidly becoming the one guilty of misusing English, because I'm not keeping up with changes through common usage.

If, like me, you spent your formative years listening to 80s music, you might find Wolfie's Rockit blog worth snouting around from time to time. He picks out all sorts of classic misplaced hits from the era that you might have missed the first time around, or forgot that you loved. The blog is intended to support the Rockit show on Second Life, but it stands perfectly well in its own right for fans of retro music.

Typical Queensland weather--we get a rainwater tank to do our bit to help Brisbane through the drought. It's never emptied since we got it, but this is the first time I've seen it flood right up to the rim!

(Um, shouldn't the tank outlet drain the water before it gets that high?)

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The talented and punctual DaldDumboRat has done a tail twirl commission for me. She's been doing them recently and I decided to get one in a moment of whimsy. I don't really know what use I'll have for it yet but it is kind of cute.

Premiering a new icon, made from the delightful comic by the generous and talented zelox_quo.

It doesn't reflect how I feel right now, but I know good times are ahead and I need to be ready.

Courtesy of Wolfie, I thought I should let you rats know that there is a documentary on ABC's iView called Mark Lewis Season: Rat which is about "the remarkable and intelligent rats of New York [Of course, all rats are remarkable and intelligent--MML] and their ongoing conflict with another successful mammal, Man." This is by the director of Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (also available on iView), so it promises to be quirky and off beat.

Hurry! These documentaries will only be on iView for a limited time.

EDIT: We've seen it before. It's actually a tabloid-style hysteria piece with not much in the way of serious natural history that sets ristin off ranting about how much New Yorkers exaggerate. (I myself have great respect for New York and its inhabitants, though I am still slightly bewildered by it. I guess, in spite of my protestations, I'm really just a country rat at heart.) Also, iView is only available to Australians. Those who are very keen could try to find an Australian anonymous proxy so they can sneak in but proceed at your own risk. :/

Nobody has a recording of Foxtel's pay-per-view coverage of the 2009 Mardi Gras, do they?

Zelox did a charming comic of our visit. I felt privileged that we were the first furries he met in person. In spite of my cheeky title, both the night and the comic are SFW (though that may depend on your workplace):



In spite of his misgivings, he was a charming host throughout.