Tag: snarky platypus

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Distinctly personal reflections on 2007

Photograph of sunset over Enmore, 31 December 2007

As the sun sets on 2007 — literally, as I took the photo just before I sat down to write — it’s time to reflect on an astounding year. The Snarky Platypus will join ’Pong and me later, and (perhaps) help us put together some predictions for 2008.

This was a watershed year for me, for my household and business, and for Australia. Many of the changes happened late in the year, so we haven’t noticed the effects yet. But as 2008 unfolds I think we’ll look back and see that, yes, 2007 marked a change of direction.

Personally, my understanding of how I fit into my world (and yours) became much clearer.

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Damaged tail

Since the Weekly Poll was clearly in favour of publishing the “disturbing image”, here’s a photograph of Artemis’ tail injury. Yes, you have to follow the link since some people thought that “appropriate”.

The basic deal is that our beautiful cat was probably hit by a car. She ran, but the car’s tyre caught the hair on her tail and scalped a 20cm section. The photo shows what it looked like after the vet had shaved it back for inspection.

Since then, Artemis “failed to re-gain tail functionality”. The tail has been amputated. So, as I explain to friends, we now have 1.95 cats. Apparently this is quite a common injury for urban cats.

Artemis is coping remarkably well, and it was a neat piece of surgery (thanks Katherine!). The main trauma was that it all happened while ’Pong and I were in Bangkok. Thanks to the Snarky Platypus and my office manager Virginia Bridger for helping out while we were away.

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Lolcat Challenge

Photograph of cat Apollo rolling on the ground

Snarky Platypus, turn away now! This is a lolcat challenge for Nick Hodge. Nick, how quickly can you turn this image into a lolcat?

(Yeah, I know this is silly. But Nick, despite working for Microsoft, is a cool guy. He even sold me my first Mac back in 1985, he’s that much of a geek. We were chatting about lolcats in Perth, and I thought a challenge would be cool.)

[Update 5.20am: Nick has already created the image, see the comments! Anyone else want to have a go?]