<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868</id><updated>2009-11-13T20:20:20.837+13:00</updated><title type='text'>The life and times of Burton</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>196</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-1460768878376245215</id><published>2009-11-11T21:45:00.007+13:00</published><updated>2009-11-11T22:11:53.504+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Reminscing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Confessions'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Movies'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bizarre'/><title type='text'>Mary Poppins. Hide your children</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Svp_cmZ8q9I/AAAAAAAABTM/xiNr_L-KPSo/s1600-h/mary+poppins+horror.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402770832306777042" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Svp_cmZ8q9I/AAAAAAAABTM/xiNr_L-KPSo/s320/mary+poppins+horror.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; I've never seen Mary Poppins in its entirety. Parts of it have always given me the creeps.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps it's is because of the not so subtle (down right scary) imagery hidden throughout the movie. Don't be deceived by it's cute Disney musical facade with the ever so innocent Mary (fresh from singing in the Swiss alps).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pure evil I say.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You doubt me? Watch the original trailer if you dare.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*Shudder*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2T5_0AGdFic&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2T5_0AGdFic&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-1460768878376245215?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/1460768878376245215/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=1460768878376245215' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1460768878376245215'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1460768878376245215'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/11/mary-poppins-hide-your-children.html' title='Mary Poppins. Hide your children'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Svp_cmZ8q9I/AAAAAAAABTM/xiNr_L-KPSo/s72-c/mary+poppins+horror.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-5394999251264960450</id><published>2009-11-10T12:00:00.012+13:00</published><updated>2009-11-10T17:13:34.164+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Reminscing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Rays'/><title type='text'>Giant devil fish, rays and panic attacks</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvjbgcI7xLI/AAAAAAAABTE/2pfmmI6KIBc/s1600-h/giant+mantaray.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402309103386870962" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvjbgcI7xLI/AAAAAAAABTE/2pfmmI6KIBc/s320/giant+mantaray.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvjbBCRfQVI/AAAAAAAABS8/0bGbhePYFRc/s1600-h/giant+manta.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated by rays... PaislyeJade has been terrified by them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She remembers an obviously doctored photo in an old local surf shop of an areal view of a dingy dwarfed by the shadow of a giant manta swimming beneath it. The imagery that fuels nightmares.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In our early years of marriage we had a couple of too-close-for-comfort encounters with rays.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We were having a leisurely snorkel one afternoon at a picture-perfect inlet and I came across one rather large ray basking beside a rocky outcrop. I pointed it out to PJ and couldn't believe her courage as she she swam right up to it. It wasn't until it started looking very threatening, did PJ then proceed to have a panic attack. Courage didn't motivate her to get close up and personal with the ray that day... her mask was so fogged up that she couldn't see it, until she was almost kissing it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On another fateful Monday morning, we had only just started a classic surf session when I noticed that the sandy floor a couple of meters below us was quite literally covered with rays. What they were doing I cannot say... basking, spawning? But it was a little unnerving. Why oh why did I point them out to an oblivious PJ? Panic attack no.2.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Alright, so we all know that rays are harmless beautiful creatures. A reassuring fact sure enough, until its believability is shattered when Google reveals pieces of trivia like...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Simon Pierce of Queensland University's School of Biological Sciences said there were no accurate records of stingray deaths, but estimated there had been about 30 worldwide in recent years."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And of course we can't forget the late great Hunter of Crocodiles... by crikey.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ever wanted to know how big these suckers get?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Hawaii Association for Marine Education and Research, Inc. website claims that the largest manta species 'Manta Birostris' can have a wingspan of 9.1 meters.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Maybe the photo in the surf shop was real after all.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-5394999251264960450?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/5394999251264960450/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=5394999251264960450' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/5394999251264960450'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/5394999251264960450'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/11/giant-devil-fish-and-other-scary-rays.html' title='Giant devil fish, rays and panic attacks'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvjbgcI7xLI/AAAAAAAABTE/2pfmmI6KIBc/s72-c/giant+mantaray.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-224585629463911715</id><published>2009-11-05T20:00:00.004+13:00</published><updated>2009-11-05T20:23:03.687+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Rabbits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humour'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>Save the fluffy bunny!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvJ7GyqzcsI/AAAAAAAABSk/hg6vhNuRm7s/s1600-h/bunny.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400514259781382850" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvJ7GyqzcsI/AAAAAAAABSk/hg6vhNuRm7s/s320/bunny.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;I remember dissecting a rabbit at high school... while my friend fainted. Good memories.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now a couple of decades later, at approx 8:01pm I stumbled upon a fluffy bunny in desperate need of life-saving surgery... with only a minute to operate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Talk about pressure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The story has a happy ending (after three attempts). House would have been proud.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Click &lt;a href="http://www.10mg.nl/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to operate on fluffy bunny too ;-) &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-224585629463911715?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/224585629463911715/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=224585629463911715' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/224585629463911715'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/224585629463911715'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/11/1-minute-to-save-fluffy-bunny.html' title='Save the fluffy bunny!'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvJ7GyqzcsI/AAAAAAAABSk/hg6vhNuRm7s/s72-c/bunny.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-2592270184937946785</id><published>2009-11-04T21:37:00.009+13:00</published><updated>2009-11-04T22:44:37.792+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Conspiracies Movies'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dolphins'/><title type='text'>Flipper meets The Bourne Identity</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvFDi2A4zyI/AAAAAAAABSc/S24vjgSl85E/s1600-h/cove.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400171694087786274" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvFDi2A4zyI/AAAAAAAABSc/S24vjgSl85E/s320/cove.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Before I begin on the topic at hand, please accept my humble apologies for not blogging in weeks. Family, Ministry, Renovations and having to single-handedly keep the flannelgraph site stocked with reviews (not so subtle hint ;-) is keeping me rather busy these days. But, and dare I say it... the Life and Times of Burton has a new lease of life! and a fresh makeover too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway. The International Film Festival is coming to town next week, and while most arty-farty films should be avoided like the plague, every once in a while one appears that actually looks intriguing enough to be worth the price of a ticket.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm thinking 'The Cove' is one of those films.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While I do think our clean, green 'save the whales and kill those who don't' philosophy has gone overboard (heh - unintentional pun), I do think the slaughter of 23,000 dolphins a year, and selling their often contaminated flesh to unsuspecting citizens is something to take notice of.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At least watch the trailer... &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="597" height="297" id="_4962294813" data="http://www.thecovemovie.com/flowplayer/flowplayer-3.1.1.swf?0.6929119319061819" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.thecovemovie.com/flowplayer/flowplayer-3.1.1.swf?0.6929119319061819" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value='config={"clip":{"url":"http://bitcast-b.bitgravity.com/thecovemovie/TheCoveTrailer640x360566.flv"},"playlist":[{"url":"http://bitcast-b.bitgravity.com/thecovemovie/TheCoveTrailer640x360566.flv"}]}' /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-2592270184937946785?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/2592270184937946785/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=2592270184937946785' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2592270184937946785'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2592270184937946785'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/11/flipper-meets-bourne-identity.html' title='Flipper meets The Bourne Identity'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SvFDi2A4zyI/AAAAAAAABSc/S24vjgSl85E/s72-c/cove.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-2681896125487459902</id><published>2009-10-17T13:15:00.002+13:00</published><updated>2009-10-17T13:19:01.826+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fascinating'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Faith'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Studies'/><title type='text'>Halloween revisited</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/StkNOPO6igI/AAAAAAAABQ8/lFwOQP8tl3M/s1600-h/halloween.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393356567011297794" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/StkNOPO6igI/AAAAAAAABQ8/lFwOQP8tl3M/s320/halloween.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Yep, it's that time of the year again, when young Jimmy pleads with his mum to buy him that blood-splattered-glow-in-the-dark meat cleaver on display in the toy store's window.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Halloween is 2 weeks away, and once again I'm concerned at the amount of parents encouraging their kids to participate in a celebration which has its roots in pagan devil worship.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I wonder, as Mary delights in how cute her 5-year-old daughter looks in her which's hat and broomstick, does she have any idea what that broomstick was originally used for?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Probably not.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've spent the morning revising the Halloween origins study. It is now up to date, and relevant.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Click &lt;a href="http://www.christianrenewal.org.nz/renewalyouth/halloween.pdf"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to view the PDF.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please read it through, and even if you don't agree, you will understand it's origins.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God bless.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-2681896125487459902?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/2681896125487459902/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=2681896125487459902' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2681896125487459902'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2681896125487459902'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/10/halloween-revisited.html' title='Halloween revisited'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/StkNOPO6igI/AAAAAAAABQ8/lFwOQP8tl3M/s72-c/halloween.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-916508323988589317</id><published>2009-10-16T10:17:00.009+13:00</published><updated>2009-10-16T10:34:42.846+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>When your head is bigger than your pelvis...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SteUJfQRxJI/AAAAAAAABQ0/ngNb0tnyCcw/s1600-h/Image1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392941969528964242" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SteUJfQRxJI/AAAAAAAABQ0/ngNb0tnyCcw/s320/Image1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;PaisleyJade&lt;/span&gt; showed me this &lt;a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&amp;amp;objectid=10603424"&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; (related to the above image) in the NZ Herald this morning .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The image to the left is a digitally enhanced photo of &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;Filipa&lt;/span&gt; Hamilton (real-life on the right), A former Ralph Lauren model who has recently been fired &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected"&gt;because&lt;/span&gt; she is 'too fat'.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I pulled the following from a sermon I preached in '07 about this very thing. Sorry, can't recall the &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected"&gt;original&lt;/span&gt; source...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to technology, often not even the models themselves can compare to their portfolios. Increasingly, photos for print are enhanced and perfected to an astonishing degree. Not only are moles, big pores, acne and subtle facial hair erased from already pretty faces, but &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;retouchers&lt;/span&gt; are routinely asked by editors and advertisers to enlarge eyes, trim normal-size ears, fill in hairlines, straighten teeth and lengthen the already-narrow necks, waists and legs of 18-year-old beauties. "We're always stretching the models' legs and slimming their thighs," says a photo &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;retoucher&lt;/span&gt; who works for a high-end Manhattan agency. In some cases, hands, feet and even legs are replaced in photos when the subject’s parts don’t add up to a perfect whole.&lt;br /&gt;“Sometimes I feel a little like Frankenstein,” says the &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;retoucher&lt;/span&gt;, who would only speak anonymously because of the potential for professional backlash. The irony, she adds, is that the models and actresses pictured have usually already been through hours of hair styling and makeup—including body makeup—to remove the slightest blemish. Yes, you heard that right, even after all of that, a 5-foot-10, 110-pound model still does not have legs that are long or skinny enough to suit some advertisers and fashion editors.&lt;br /&gt;One might argue that photo alteration has been around for eons, but what is new is the industry shift from film to digital media about four years ago. Now it's easier, faster and more routine to clean up and “perfect” faces and figures. The doctored images are now so &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected"&gt;believable&lt;/span&gt; that our eyes are becoming too accustomed to them. "The result is a culture of kids who are believing that unrealistic images are real and normal.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Makes you think doesn't it?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OXf8fr0Kp3Q&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OXf8fr0Kp3Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-916508323988589317?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/916508323988589317/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=916508323988589317' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/916508323988589317'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/916508323988589317'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/10/you-know-somethings-up-when-your-head.html' title='When your head is bigger than your pelvis...'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SteUJfQRxJI/AAAAAAAABQ0/ngNb0tnyCcw/s72-c/Image1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-1179267896916576655</id><published>2009-10-06T17:01:00.009+13:00</published><updated>2009-10-06T20:26:28.202+13:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lists'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Friends'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humour'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Whangarei'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cryptozoology'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='New Zealand'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bigfoot'/><title type='text'>The Mair Park Bigfoot pays off</title><content type='html'>&lt;p align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SsrmuAc-TfI/AAAAAAAABQY/GiAmJi2keRE/s1600-h/books.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389373582172114418" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SsrmuAc-TfI/AAAAAAAABQY/GiAmJi2keRE/s320/books.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Many moons ago while surfing Amazon's Listmanias I came across an author by the name of Jeremy Robinson. To cut a long story short, he was running a viral video contest to promote his new book, Pulse. I bribed my good buddy &lt;a href="http://wassupwithlesmondj.blogspot.com/"&gt;Lesmondj&lt;/a&gt; into spending a Saturday afternoon in the bush and what eventuated was two versions of the now infamous Bigfoot attack video (over 10,000 hits now on Metacafe and YouTube).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We won by a landslide, the closest (and only) opponent trailing by 9000ish hits (but who's counting) and I was delighted to recieve the promised books last week.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A massive THANKYOU to Jeremy Robinson for the very generous prize (and for forking out mega moolah for the postage). Please check out his site &lt;a href="http://www.jeremyrobinsononline.com/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And for all those dying to know how the movie magic was created, here is some Bigfoot Attack Footage trivia...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. No, the Bigfoot wasn't real. There was more than one concerned person thinking the footage was authentic. Lesmondj and I must have the mean acting skills (and girls dig guys who have skills...).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. The entire attack scene was done on the first take... with an imagined Bigfoot, yes imagined, not real.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. &lt;a href="http://perplexual.blogspot.com/"&gt;Jon Dylan&lt;/a&gt; used his computer hacking skills to overlay the Bigfoot sound effects (purchased from Itunes for $1.79).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4. Apparently, the Bigfoot growls sound identical to a real Bigfoot, as one reader commented (as she deals with them on a daily basis - seriously).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5. The Mair Park Ghost legend is mostly &lt;a href="http://www.symondrake.com/2009/06/mair-park-ghost-footage.html"&gt;true&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6. On the short version, Yes, the blood was real... from my nose. Don't ask.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7. The rotting bone at the cave's entrance (tedious version) was stolen from my dog.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;8. Lesmondj spent the majority of the attack scene voluntarily lying in a puddle of water. The mark of a true friend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;9. There was no script.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;View the short (and exhilirating) version below:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed height="345" name="Metacafe_3033851" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/3033851/footage_of_bigfoot_attack.swf" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3033851/footage_of_bigfoot_attack/"&gt;Footage of Bigfoot Attack?&lt;/a&gt; - &lt;a href="http://www.metacafe.com/"&gt;Click here for more blooper videos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;View the long (but informative) version below:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PlvfHFO1zjQ&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PlvfHFO1zjQ&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-1179267896916576655?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/1179267896916576655/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=1179267896916576655' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1179267896916576655'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1179267896916576655'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/10/mair-park-bigfoot-pays-off.html' title='The Mair Park Bigfoot pays off'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SsrmuAc-TfI/AAAAAAAABQY/GiAmJi2keRE/s72-c/books.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-819120771552203840</id><published>2009-09-18T08:44:00.004+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-18T09:26:21.108+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Faith'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Book Reviews'/><title type='text'>Behind The Shack</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrKo6OZVKmI/AAAAAAAABQI/Ia3HFnUE3Vk/s1600-h/theshack.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382550222911384162" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrKo6OZVKmI/AAAAAAAABQI/Ia3HFnUE3Vk/s320/theshack.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;The Shack was a story written for my six children, with no thought or intention to publish. It is as much a surprise to me as to anyone else that I am now an ‘author’. &lt;/em&gt;(William P. Young)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last night I finished reading The Shack (You can read my &lt;a href="http://www.flannelgraph.org/2009/09/shack.html"&gt;review&lt;/a&gt; over at &lt;a href="http://www.flannelgraph.org/"&gt;flannelgraph&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently (September 2009), The Shack is #2 on the NY Times bestselling paperbacks list. It debuted at #1 in mid 2008 and stayed at the top spot for 36 weeks. It has sold over 7 million copies and counting, and people are ranking it among Christan literary masterpieces like Pilgrim's Progress.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wow.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What not many people realise, is how the book became popular...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;William P. Young wrote a story about his journey with God for his children. He gave it to his close friends to read, who all thought that the story was too significant not to publish. Problem was that no Christian publisher would take it on, saying it was 'too controversial', and no secular company would publish it due to it being 'too Christian'. What did Young's friends do? They started their own publishing company of course! &lt;a href="http://www.windblownmedia.com/"&gt;Windblown Media &lt;/a&gt;was launched and $300 was spent marketing the book. Over 7 million copies later, the rest is now history.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Imagine the joy of Young and his friends (and their wonder of God). Imagine the tears of every publisher that turned down the rights to the book. Imagine the millions of lives this book has impacted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you haven't already read this book (whether you have a faith in God or not), please do... it could quite possibly change your perspective of life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(If you want to read more of the story behind The Shack, please visit William P. Young's &lt;a href="http://www.windrumors.com/"&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt;.) &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-819120771552203840?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/819120771552203840/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=819120771552203840' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/819120771552203840'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/819120771552203840'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/behind-shack.html' title='Behind The Shack'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrKo6OZVKmI/AAAAAAAABQI/Ia3HFnUE3Vk/s72-c/theshack.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-7304616306160850732</id><published>2009-09-17T13:11:00.011+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-17T13:38:16.286+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Reminscing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Giant Squid'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Movies'/><title type='text'>The Goonies and the illusive Giant Octopus</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrGRE3VcHcI/AAAAAAAABP4/zsGRkuUuWmM/s1600-h/octopus.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382242542443830722" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrGRE3VcHcI/AAAAAAAABP4/zsGRkuUuWmM/s320/octopus.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;In relation to a recent Facebook thread, I couldn't help but take 5 minutes out of my afternoon to write a quick post about the mysterious Goonies Octopus scene.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Back in the day (1985 to be precise), Goonies paraphernalia came out months before the release date here in NZ. The ever popular (at the time) Goonies Bubblegum Cards contained a couple of shots of the Giant Octopus scene. So, if you were anything like I was in '85 (and still am), I couldn't contain my excitement as I awaited the movie to start. The movie started and ended, there was no sign of the awesome giant octopus, I was gutted and it tarnished my view of the movie forever.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To rub salt in my wounds, at the film's conclusion, when Data (the same kid who was in Temple of Doom) is talking to the reporters, he says: "...Yeah, and the part with the octopus was really scary!"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I could have cried.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now, thanks to the magic of Youtube, let me reveal to you, the deleted Giant Octopus scene in all it's glory. 29 years later all I have to say (once again) is... "Meh."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PLqpxpvgVsg&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PLqpxpvgVsg&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-7304616306160850732?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/7304616306160850732/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=7304616306160850732' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7304616306160850732'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7304616306160850732'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/goonies-and-illusive-giant-octopus.html' title='The Goonies and the illusive Giant Octopus'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrGRE3VcHcI/AAAAAAAABP4/zsGRkuUuWmM/s72-c/octopus.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-2074017433887228090</id><published>2009-09-16T20:51:00.003+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-16T21:38:22.903+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cryptozoology'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Weird NZ'/><title type='text'>NZ's very own giant man-eating bird</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrCxMyLxRuI/AAAAAAAABPw/TReP6WYMrZQ/s1600-h/eagle.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381996387895428834" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrCxMyLxRuI/AAAAAAAABPw/TReP6WYMrZQ/s320/eagle.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Those of us with a fascination for cryptozoology will be familiar with Americas 'Thunderbird' (giant man-eating) bird legend. Well, wouldn't you know... I Came across an extremely interesting article in this week's NZ Herald about New Zealand's very own man-eating bird with a 3-meter wingspan and talons as big as tiger's claws that terrorised the early Maori.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now if that's not worthy of a blog post, I don't know what is.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Maori Legend of the giant man-eating bird, Te Hokioi, is a legend no more. It is now believed by scientists to be the Haast's Eagle that was discovered in swamp deposits by Sir Julius von Haast in the 1870s.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Haast's eagle has until now, always been thought to be a scavenger because its bill was similar to a vulture's, but a re-examination of skeletons using today's technology shows it could easily deliver a killing blow as it dived at speeds of up to 80kph.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"They were certainly capable of swooping down and taking a child... and had the ability to not only strike with their talons but to close the talons and put them through quite solid objects such as a pelvis. It was designed as a killing machine." says Paul Scofield, the curator of vertebrate zoology at the Canterbury Museum.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The eagle's main prey would have been Moa, flightless birds which grew to as much as 250kg and 2.5 metres tall. Tragically, it is believed that once the Moa were exterminated by humans, the giant man-eater simply died out also.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Read the original article &lt;a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&amp;amp;objectid=10597177"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-2074017433887228090?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/2074017433887228090/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=2074017433887228090' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2074017433887228090'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2074017433887228090'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/nzs-very-own-giant-man-eating-bird.html' title='NZ&apos;s very own giant man-eating bird'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SrCxMyLxRuI/AAAAAAAABPw/TReP6WYMrZQ/s72-c/eagle.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-2010505948267081746</id><published>2009-09-12T21:13:00.006+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-12T21:26:30.748+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dogs'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Home and Family'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Whippets'/><title type='text'>Whippets 101</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqtm-XgpODI/AAAAAAAABPI/paByAaRHF8s/s1600-h/sleeping+whippet.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380507401473046578" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqtm-XgpODI/AAAAAAAABPI/paByAaRHF8s/s320/sleeping+whippet.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;As I look at sleeping beauty in her favourite (and prohibited) napping spot, I can't help but forgive her for all the &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-corrected"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/narnia-and-me.html"&gt;shenanigans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; she puts me through.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yep. Whoever it was that coined the phrase "Dogs are a man's best friend' must have owned a Whippet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Check out the clip below... it was one of the contributing factors in our decision to buy Narnia.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WHWJvZ6n4iA&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WHWJvZ6n4iA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-2010505948267081746?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/2010505948267081746/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=2010505948267081746' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2010505948267081746'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/2010505948267081746'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/whippets-101.html' title='Whippets 101'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqtm-XgpODI/AAAAAAAABPI/paByAaRHF8s/s72-c/sleeping+whippet.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-7402875551034358579</id><published>2009-09-11T23:48:00.004+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-11T23:59:30.775+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Reminscing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Life'/><title type='text'>Flashback Friday</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqo7TQeo_sI/AAAAAAAABOk/d1VtCGg1_rE/s1600-h/grifter.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380177906874515138" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqo7TQeo_sI/AAAAAAAABOk/d1VtCGg1_rE/s320/grifter.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;It is 11:52pm and I'm sitting at the computer half asleep. A couple of minutes ago I was snuggled up in bed and &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;Paisleyjade&lt;/span&gt; asked me if I had written a blog-post today. I hadn't, so here I am. Sleepy, cold and half-naked. The things we do for fame.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway. The above pic was taken in early-mid 80s. and there are several things very wrong with it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. The stubbies&lt;br /&gt;2. The shirt tucked into the stubbies&lt;br /&gt;3. The bowl cut&lt;br /&gt;4. The buck teeth&lt;br /&gt;5. The bike bell&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can you spot anymore?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Burton.&lt;br /&gt;Over and out.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-7402875551034358579?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/7402875551034358579/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=7402875551034358579' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7402875551034358579'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7402875551034358579'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/flashback-friday.html' title='Flashback Friday'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqo7TQeo_sI/AAAAAAAABOk/d1VtCGg1_rE/s72-c/grifter.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-7939868616412689099</id><published>2009-09-10T19:23:00.012+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-10T20:11:55.216+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='DIY'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Home and Family'/><title type='text'>old dunga house doer upper skills</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253588006314541218" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SOh-dQChgKI/AAAAAAAAAoY/QHR5UofRbIM/s320/napoleon.jpg" /&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;One of my heroes once said... "Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills... You know, like nunchuck skills, bow-hunting skills, computer hacking skills..."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let me present you with before and after shots of our humble but happy bathroom...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;BEFORE&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqisUugjUbI/AAAAAAAABOE/cgeWHOoISF4/s1600-h/bathroom_before_2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379739226975982002" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqisUugjUbI/AAAAAAAABOE/cgeWHOoISF4/s320/bathroom_before_2.jpg" /&gt; &lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;AFTER&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqisUMvN09I/AAAAAAAABN8/4xZzbFn-vrI/s1600-h/bathroom_after_2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379739217910682578" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqisUMvN09I/AAAAAAAABN8/4xZzbFn-vrI/s320/bathroom_after_2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;BEFORE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqisTxsrzTI/AAAAAAAABN0/6E3VwWIQ3pI/s1600-h/bathroom_before_1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379739210652306738" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqisTxsrzTI/AAAAAAAABN0/6E3VwWIQ3pI/s320/bathroom_before_1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; AFTER&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqitf2rB8gI/AAAAAAAABOM/vy87ue_FWMY/s1600-h/bathroom_after_1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379740517657604610" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sqitf2rB8gI/AAAAAAAABOM/vy87ue_FWMY/s320/bathroom_after_1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Honey, does old-dunga-house-doer-upper-skills count?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-7939868616412689099?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/7939868616412689099/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=7939868616412689099' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7939868616412689099'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7939868616412689099'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/bathroom-makeover-before-and-after.html' title='old dunga house doer upper skills'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SOh-dQChgKI/AAAAAAAAAoY/QHR5UofRbIM/s72-c/napoleon.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-4457032327064691748</id><published>2009-09-09T20:33:00.006+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-09T21:03:30.183+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Friends'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>...like I change my underwear</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqdvMG4_9ZI/AAAAAAAABNk/w_7J7B5_RgQ/s1600-h/boxer+briefs.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379390533716145554" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqdvMG4_9ZI/AAAAAAAABNk/w_7J7B5_RgQ/s320/boxer+briefs.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Welcome to my new and improved blog. You like? I tend to grow tired of my blog layout at least once a year, and on a whim today I changed it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My wife says I change my mind like I change my underwear. I disagree... I change my undies everyday (sometimes twice). She wonders why I keep changing a perfectly good-looking blog. I guess I get bored easily... seeing the same layout everyday (sometimes twice). Besides, I enjoy the process of upgrading, learning new stuff, change etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Problem is, you can't please everyone, and I have already received conflicting comments. For example... "Great layout!" and "Blue looks cheap, I liked your old one better". Hmmmmm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, I put it out to you, my blog friends, to decide. Please post a comment and let me know if you like it or not, and why.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I may be tempted to change my mind... like I change my underwear.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-4457032327064691748?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/4457032327064691748/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=4457032327064691748' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/4457032327064691748'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/4457032327064691748'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/like-i-change-my-underwear.html' title='...like I change my underwear'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqdvMG4_9ZI/AAAAAAAABNk/w_7J7B5_RgQ/s72-c/boxer+briefs.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-777229510716593510</id><published>2009-09-08T19:37:00.010+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-08T20:27:19.397+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lists'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dogs'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humour'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Home and Family'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Whippets'/><title type='text'>Narnia and Me</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqYS1WpgB3I/AAAAAAAABNI/SDIrT-f8m6E/s1600-h/narnia+whippet+2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379007512762648434" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqYS1WpgB3I/AAAAAAAABNI/SDIrT-f8m6E/s320/narnia+whippet+2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqYR9jbIsVI/AAAAAAAABNA/0ddRNSebca4/s1600-h/narnia+whippet.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;Our Whippet puppy, Narnia, is 7 months old. Although I love her to bits, sometimes I really do wonder if it's worth it. Let me give you a run down on the finer points of life with a Whippet...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. Narnia was created by God to bring embarrassment to an otherwise happy life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. Narnia has almost an acre to herself but insists on visiting the neighbour's properties and inviting herself into their houses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. Narnia get super-excited, jumpy and licky when she meets people who hate dogs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4. Narnia can sit, lie down, speak, shake hands, and come on command... but only if she sees a treat in my hand, and then only when she feels like it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5. Narnia is just now coming to terms with toilet training.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6. Narnia is in love with our cat Barney.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7. Narnia will jump on the sofa, stand an inch away from my ear, and bark until I play with her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;8. Narnia is a firm believer in the age-old addage, "If it can be chewed, it will be, or I will die trying."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;9. Narnia enjoys a bone in the sunshine, tied to the clothesline, until she gets bored and then she will bark continuously until she is brought inside.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;10. Narnia's shenanigans have prompted a visit from the SPCA, and a visit from a disgruntled neighbour.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don't think there is another human being alive who relates to 'Marley and Me' more than me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GtAEAfLzMGE&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GtAEAfLzMGE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-777229510716593510?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/777229510716593510/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=777229510716593510' title='9 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/777229510716593510'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/777229510716593510'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/narnia-and-me.html' title='Narnia and Me'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqYS1WpgB3I/AAAAAAAABNI/SDIrT-f8m6E/s72-c/narnia+whippet+2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>9</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-1443481164322519561</id><published>2009-09-07T19:53:00.003+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-07T19:54:22.772+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Astronomy'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fascinating'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Faith'/><title type='text'>B1509: The Hand Of God</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqSnUWEE5pI/AAAAAAAABM4/uSBbMpj4m5I/s1600-h/handofgod.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378607822949115538" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqSnUWEE5pI/AAAAAAAABM4/uSBbMpj4m5I/s320/handofgod.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; The 'Hand of God' taken by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Satellite. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p align="justify"&gt;A 13 mile wide pulsar known as PSR B1509-58 (B1509) is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="justify"&gt;B1509 makes one full rotation every 1/7 of a second. Think about that for a second. An immensely heavy star neutron star, 15 miles wide, spinning 7 times a second. Crazy. It's magnetic field is estimated to be 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth's. Double Crazy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.&lt;/em&gt; (Romans 1:20 NLT)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”&lt;/em&gt; (Psalm 15:1 NLT)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Click &lt;a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/PSR_B1509-58_full.jpg"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; for a very large image of the Hand Of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-1443481164322519561?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/1443481164322519561/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=1443481164322519561' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1443481164322519561'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1443481164322519561'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/b1509-hand-of-god.html' title='B1509: The Hand Of God'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqSnUWEE5pI/AAAAAAAABM4/uSBbMpj4m5I/s72-c/handofgod.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-8759146423283722421</id><published>2009-09-06T21:09:00.006+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-06T22:43:38.555+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humour'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Home and Family'/><title type='text'>The mobile phone and the poo explosion</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqOPWWBSzfI/AAAAAAAABMo/exfCL9m9BoQ/s1600-h/plunger.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378299994041404914" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqOPWWBSzfI/AAAAAAAABMo/exfCL9m9BoQ/s320/plunger.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;Yesterday's post reminded me of a fateful day in 2006 while living in our very first house.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Prologue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Daddy's little princess decided to send daddy's phone on a marvelous adventure into the wonderful world of waterland.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 1: What if?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It all started a couple of days before when, one moment I had my mobile phone, and the next minute I didn't. That, in itself is not unusual at all for me, because I misplace things all the time. What was strange was that after hours of searching in our very small house, the phone remained elusive. I came to the conclusion that it had been abducted by the same aliens that had stolen everything else that I have lost and never found again. That was until our toilet decided to have the mother of all blockages, and I began to wonder "What if...".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 2: Evacuated&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes indeed. The toilet was blocked so bad that absolutely no water would flush, and no amount of plunging would unstop it. The family had to be evacuated (as is usual procedure for civil emergencies), and I spent the next day excavating the back yard in an attempt to find the drain pipe.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 3: Drainman&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I employed the services of an elderly (but very experienced) drainman, who assured me there was no pipe in existence that couldn't be unblocked with his 'contraption'. This contraption was a highly modified high pressure hose which worked its way up/or down blocked drain-pipes blasting (and therefore dislodging) every thing daring to stand in its way. All seemed to be going according to plan, until the contraption met with a very solid immovable object (phone-shaped if you will) which had lodged itself in the pipe, effectively halting a week's worth of poo and paper.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 4: Fire in the hole!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The drainman, realising that his reputation was on the line now, determined that no blockage would get the better of him. He proceeded to break a hole in the pipe's wall, and with the contraption at full throttle at one end, attempted to dislodge the blockage with his bare-hands at the other. Very bad idea.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 5: Oh ...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I never did see what caused the blockage as it was well and truly 'flushed away' in the deluge that ensued... What I did see however (and I'm sure it was in slow-motion), was the drainman coming face to face with his adversary in explosive fashion, quite literally. If ever there was a wrong time to be in a wrong place... it was where the drainman was. I only wish I had a video-recorder.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 6: ...Happy Day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Have you ever had one of those precious moments in life when, although you know you shouldn't, you laugh at another person's expense, and it makes your day? This was one of those times. It was almost worth all the trouble.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chapter 7: Hardly ever after&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The drainman, with his vast years of experience said that blockage was consistent with the mobile-phone-flushed-down-the-toilet-by-a-toddler hypothesis. Before he went home to wash up, I asked him if he ever got sick. He replied... hardly ever.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Epilogue&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;850,000 phones meet death by toilet yearly in the UK. &lt;a href="http://www.wirelessinfo.com/"&gt;http://www.wirelessinfo.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-8759146423283722421?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/8759146423283722421/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=8759146423283722421' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/8759146423283722421'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/8759146423283722421'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/mobile-phone-and-poo-explosion.html' title='The mobile phone and the poo explosion'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqOPWWBSzfI/AAAAAAAABMo/exfCL9m9BoQ/s72-c/plunger.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-7974742950556713251</id><published>2009-09-05T20:41:00.006+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-05T21:47:03.942+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Home and Family'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bizarre'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cryptozoology'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>What's really lurking down the plughole</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqIrPOztmDI/AAAAAAAABMg/CPbbk1oflH0/s1600-h/sewer+monster.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377908445706819634" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqIrPOztmDI/AAAAAAAABMg/CPbbk1oflH0/s320/sewer+monster.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; I had to unblock the bathroom sink the other evening... joy. With the help of a crochet hook borrowed from &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;&lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.kristydrake.blogspot.com/"&gt;PaisleyJade&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; (yes, they really are good for something), I was able to pull out what I can only describe as a &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;&lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;greeny&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;&lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected"&gt;slimy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, smelly, hairy, stringy goop that had to be seen to be believed. What caused it? Who knows... who wants to know? Which got me thinking...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Does anyone really know what lurks in the pipes under our houses? One recent discovery has been aptly titled 'The sewer monster' (see clip below).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TcKpx2DxGwY&amp;amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TcKpx2DxGwY&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They are saying that the monster is nothing more than masses of &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;&lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;Tubifex&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; worms... but I say that is &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;very&lt;/span&gt; debatable. If you watch the monster closely, you will notice that it has what looks like a membrane enveloping it, unlike worms, and it is above the water, unlike worms, and it retreats from light as one organism, unlike worms (see clip below).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zn9kh7MaFQQ&amp;amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zn9kh7MaFQQ&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To conclude, I wonder if what I pulled up out of the plughole was a decomposing 'sewer monster'? My advice is don't get too close to the plughole next time you brush your teeth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(Why am I thinking about the &lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;&lt;span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error"&gt;facehugger&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; from Alien right now?) &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-7974742950556713251?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/7974742950556713251/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=7974742950556713251' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7974742950556713251'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7974742950556713251'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/whats-really-lurking-down-plughole.html' title='What&apos;s really lurking down the plughole'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqIrPOztmDI/AAAAAAAABMg/CPbbk1oflH0/s72-c/sewer+monster.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-245094219035630154</id><published>2009-09-04T10:39:00.005+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-04T11:06:21.265+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lawn Tractors'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>The world's fastest Indian Murray</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqBKjrSnn5I/AAAAAAAABMY/rg9MkoUdTNI/s1600-h/fastestlawnmower.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377379931857067922" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqBKjrSnn5I/AAAAAAAABMY/rg9MkoUdTNI/s320/fastestlawnmower.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Welcome to the third and hopefully final installment of the Murray lawn tractor trilogy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you have been following my posts, you would have, by now, been educated in the finer points of Murray lawn tractors, specifically Racer-Murray and Monster-Murray.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And now, let me introduce you to... Speed-Demon Murray.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you have ever wondered, as I have, how fast a lawn tractor can go (with stock engine... the record is a whopping 130 km/h!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I could mow my lawn in less than a minute ;-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BWmozLhuuXo&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BWmozLhuuXo&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-245094219035630154?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/245094219035630154/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=245094219035630154' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/245094219035630154'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/245094219035630154'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/worlds-fastest-indian-murray.html' title='The world&apos;s fastest &lt;strike&gt;Indian&lt;/strike&gt; Murray'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SqBKjrSnn5I/AAAAAAAABMY/rg9MkoUdTNI/s72-c/fastestlawnmower.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-4369505127688779708</id><published>2009-09-03T10:08:00.008+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-03T20:29:04.435+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lawn Tractors'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>Meet Murray's BIG brother</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp98hOMRHoI/AAAAAAAABMQ/qTM4bVoOWdM/s1600-h/monster+murray.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377153390290738818" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp98hOMRHoI/AAAAAAAABMQ/qTM4bVoOWdM/s320/monster+murray.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Continuing on with my current 'Murray the retro lawn tractor" theme... I stumbled across the above pic of a pimped Monster Murray. Alriiiiight.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is something to be said about yanks and their obsession with taking anything with a piston and souping it up... even if it is the humble lawnmower.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You don't believe me? Check out: &lt;a href="http://www.xtrememowermayhem.com/"&gt;www.xtrememowermayhem.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stay tuned for Part 3 of my Murray trilogy tomorrow.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qlfo4rQPHi0&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qlfo4rQPHi0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-4369505127688779708?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/4369505127688779708/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=4369505127688779708' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/4369505127688779708'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/4369505127688779708'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/meet-murrays-big-brother.html' title='Meet Murray&apos;s BIG brother'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp98hOMRHoI/AAAAAAAABMQ/qTM4bVoOWdM/s72-c/monster+murray.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-4863695103343886867</id><published>2009-09-02T20:56:00.008+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-04T14:48:47.177+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Lawn Tractors'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Home and Family'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>Murray, the 80's lawn tractor</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp5E4WIZKLI/AAAAAAAABMI/m2Z-c843pOg/s1600-h/murraylawntractor.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376810739931097266" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp5E4WIZKLI/AAAAAAAABMI/m2Z-c843pOg/s320/murraylawntractor.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;We live on a 3/4 acre property, which has the potential to be pure awesomeness. The problem is this: big purely awesome property = big purely painful maintenance, and those of you who know me will testify that maintenance is definitely my middle name.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One reason why I decided to buy the property in the first place was that I saw a ride-on lawn mower (lawn-tractor) on Trademe for $400 Buy Now, and just couldn't pass up a bargain like that. Everyone knows that you need a big back yard to warrant buying a ride-on. Heh.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enter Murray.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Murray is my '84 red lawn tractor. He's seen a lot of action in his long lifetime, but alas, isn't the sprightly shiny red hot-rod he used to be. Almost every time he cuts the grass now, something breaks down or falls off, and due to my extreme lack of maintenance skills, I spend most of the mowing time, doing a Macgyver on Murray. Meh.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For example... Murray's battery is flat. In fact, I took the battery out a few weeks ago to get it charged but keep forgetting to borrow the charger from my dad-in-law. So I jump start Murray with the people-mover, but a spring-clip on the jumper lead is broken, and I forgot to mention, Murray's starter switch is long gone... To cut a long story short (too late), I have to hot-wire Murray with one hand and hold the jumper cable on the terminal with the other (not an easy feat).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Murray's drive belt came off 5 times today, and after the fifth jump start I got sick of the shenanigans and went off to the ride-on mower shop to buy a new belt.&lt;br /&gt;The man asked me what model lawn-tractor I had, and what year... I said 'Murray' and 'old'.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don't feel too sorry for Murray though. His future is very bright. One day when his grass-cutting days are over, he is going to have a new lease on life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lawn tractor racing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have just discovered that old Murray's are hugely popular in the US of A for hotting-up and racing. Yeehaar!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OKQ7G8MaryU&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OKQ7G8MaryU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-4863695103343886867?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/4863695103343886867/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=4863695103343886867' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/4863695103343886867'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/4863695103343886867'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/murray-80s-lawn-tractor.html' title='Murray, the 80&apos;s lawn tractor'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp5E4WIZKLI/AAAAAAAABMI/m2Z-c843pOg/s72-c/murraylawntractor.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-3075917991365811492</id><published>2009-09-01T23:44:00.006+12:00</published><updated>2009-09-02T10:40:00.389+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Humour'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Random'/><title type='text'>Post a day for the month of September</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp0NuDQ3CAI/AAAAAAAABLo/HHD6YrhAERw/s1600-h/apostaday.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376468614951405570" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp0NuDQ3CAI/AAAAAAAABLo/HHD6YrhAERw/s320/apostaday.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It's 11.49pm and PaisleyJade has been harassing me to start blogging regularly again. Well, blow me down, I'm gonna attempt a post-a-day-for-the-month-of-September (has a certain ring to it, don't you think?).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;11.52pm. Thinking, thinking... Eureka!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I hereby dedicate September's first post to the one and only &lt;a href="http://wassupwithlesmondj.blogspot.com/"&gt;LesmondJ&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(I'll think of something more intelligent to blog about tomorrow... 6 minutes away ;-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uSsqsC6H3U4&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uSsqsC6H3U4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-3075917991365811492?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/3075917991365811492/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=3075917991365811492' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/3075917991365811492'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/3075917991365811492'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/09/post-day-for-month-of-september.html' title='Post a day for the month of September'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/Sp0NuDQ3CAI/AAAAAAAABLo/HHD6YrhAERw/s72-c/apostaday.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-5795338020574304037</id><published>2009-08-18T09:17:00.013+12:00</published><updated>2009-08-18T13:46:28.426+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Conspiracy Theories'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fascinating'/><title type='text'>Google is the Antichrist</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonUQF0S32I/AAAAAAAABK4/kKodiik6ATE/s1600-h/google.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 185px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371057403520540514" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonUQF0S32I/AAAAAAAABK4/kKodiik6ATE/s320/google.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Now that I have your attention...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We have a sign on our church building that says 'Jesus is the answer', but I wonder if we unconsciously believe that 'Google is the answer'?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I must confess, that if I want to find out anything about anything... where do I go first?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Google.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In fact, anything I may want to do online, I can do through Google.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Email? Gmail.&lt;br /&gt;Advertising? Adwords.&lt;br /&gt;Make money? AdSense.&lt;br /&gt;Start a blog? Blogger.&lt;br /&gt;Shop? Froogle.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The examples are endless (click &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to see the full list of Google products).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It cannot be denied that Google has successfully infiltrated every aspect of our lives, and it's almost as if we have become dependant on Google as our IT surrogate mother and cannot live without her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Should we be concerned at how globally intrusive Google is becoming? Let's face it, if your local terrorist network is frequently using Google's free satellite imaging app. to accurately identify targets, then yes, you should be concerned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Does anyone else think that taking photos of every street in the western world is a little obsessive (and creepy)?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is there some sort of whacked out conspiracy happening right under our noses? Could Google be the affront for world domination? If I was an evil 'take over the world' kind of guy I would be taking Google very seriously. Check out the images below. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 254px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 230px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371056519843778018" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonTcp3VjeI/AAAAAAAABKw/TW08Klg0MOM/s320/one_dollar_triforce_thumb.jpg" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonTcFY199I/AAAAAAAABKo/A6nOlRTCb2A/s1600-h/earthday_thumb.png"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 98px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371056510052202450" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonTcFY199I/AAAAAAAABKo/A6nOlRTCb2A/s320/earthday_thumb.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonTbkLVtNI/AAAAAAAABKg/4O_lK5kZq58/s1600-h/tesla_triforce_thumb.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 114px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371056501137192146" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonTbkLVtNI/AAAAAAAABKg/4O_lK5kZq58/s320/tesla_triforce_thumb.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Indeed, the plot thickens.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(and just for the record... no, I don't think Google is the Antichrist).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-5795338020574304037?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/5795338020574304037/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=5795338020574304037' title='5 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/5795338020574304037'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/5795338020574304037'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/08/google-is-antichrist.html' title='Google is the Antichrist'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SonUQF0S32I/AAAAAAAABK4/kKodiik6ATE/s72-c/google.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>5</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-7927936970431333784</id><published>2009-07-13T11:58:00.011+12:00</published><updated>2009-07-13T14:53:17.116+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fascinating'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Faith'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Movies'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Earth'/><title type='text'>2012: The end is near</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SlqgEG4JM8I/AAAAAAAABJ4/z7doFMpmbvk/s1600-h/2012.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357770699136644034" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SlqgEG4JM8I/AAAAAAAABJ4/z7doFMpmbvk/s320/2012.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div align="justify"&gt;I simply cannot wait to see the upcoming movie '2012', coming to a big screen near you on November 13. I must say, although CGI drenched, the trailer looks absolutely awesome.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For those of you unfamiliar with the current cuffufle about the year 2012, let me enlighten you. Apparently, the ancient Mayan Calendar ends on December 21, 2012, marking an end of a 5,126-year era. That's it folks... and many people are quite literally freaking out that Dec 12, 2012 will indeed be doomsday (and in the meantime Columbia Pictures are using the opportunity to make a few bucks).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Do I believe the world will end in 2012? No way Jose. My reason? Because the Bible says quite specifically that no one knows when that day will be, not even God the Son (Jesus Christ), only God the Father (Matthew 24).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So I ask you... Do you place more faith in an old Mayan calendar, than in the infallible Word of God? Unfortunately, it would seem that many people do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Getting back to the end of the world... The Bible does tell us to be ready for that day... and I am hoping that if nothing else, this movie will make people think about what is important to them, about eternity, and if they are ready to meet their Maker.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Peace Out.&lt;object width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hz86TsGx3fc&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Hz86TsGx3fc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-7927936970431333784?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/7927936970431333784/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=7927936970431333784' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7927936970431333784'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/7927936970431333784'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/07/2012-end-is-near.html' title='2012: The end is near'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SlqgEG4JM8I/AAAAAAAABJ4/z7doFMpmbvk/s72-c/2012.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439804079216342868.post-1833394982538313542</id><published>2009-07-08T21:43:00.002+12:00</published><updated>2009-07-08T21:53:55.584+12:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Friends'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Whangarei'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bizarre'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cryptozoology'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Bigfoot'/><title type='text'>Authentic footage of Bigfoot attack?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SlRo4r4FayI/AAAAAAAABJY/41b6zcLdZoc/s1600-h/pulse.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356021179910286114" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SlRo4r4FayI/AAAAAAAABJY/41b6zcLdZoc/s320/pulse.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; A couple of weeks ago &lt;a href="http://www.wassupwithlesmondj.blogspot.com/"&gt;Lesmond&lt;/a&gt; and I entered a viral video contest promoting PULSE by &lt;a href="http://www.jeremyrobinsononline.com/"&gt;Jeremy Robinson&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although entertaining, the &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlvfHFO1zjQ"&gt;movie&lt;/a&gt; was far too long and I hate to say it... boring. Good news folks. I have re-edited it to a lean 1.15 minutes, and thanks to a blood-nose (don't ask), it now has an alternate ending (like special edition DVDs ;-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So PLEASE view the clip below and tell your friends about it as the more views it has, the better chance I have of winning. Thanks heaps!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed height="345" name="Metacafe_3033851" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="400" src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/3033851/footage_of_bigfoot_attack.swf" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:78%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3033851/footage_of_bigfoot_attack/"&gt;Footage of Bigfoot Attack?&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2439804079216342868-1833394982538313542?l=www.symondrake.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.symondrake.com/feeds/1833394982538313542/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2439804079216342868&amp;postID=1833394982538313542' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1833394982538313542'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2439804079216342868/posts/default/1833394982538313542'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.symondrake.com/2009/07/authentic-footage-of-bigfoot-attack.html' title='Authentic footage of Bigfoot attack?'/><author><name>Burton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/11021219239189722576</uri><email>symondrake@hotmail.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='00347938300140266167'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HZViIQ8z5JA/SlRo4r4FayI/AAAAAAAABJY/41b6zcLdZoc/s72-c/pulse.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>2</thr:total></entry></feed>