I'm watching the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy with my boys. I really love the Babel Fish. I then thought about the book I just finished and I'm sure that Michael Crichton must be a Douglas Adams fan!

The Babel Fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy not from its carrier, but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.

The Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

4:09:21 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Random • TV

I took my big boys - Antony and Billy - shopping today. A few more DVDs added to the collection.

Now, to introduce them to the joys of  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on DVD.

[listening to: Come On Eileen - Save Ferris ]
3:18:27 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Yesterday we went to a Christmas Concert at Emma Arrigo's school. It was a tremendous production.  Emma was a camel.

Following the show, presentations were made. Emma got an award. An award in Kindergarden! Amazing. The award was a book with a certificate recognizing her achievement.

Well Done Emma

[listening to: Orange Crush - REM ]
3:11:07 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

"Six Feet" Star Delivers! (E! Online). E! Online - Six Feet Under star Rachel Griffiths was on cloud nine after giving birth this weekend. [Yahoo! News - Most Viewed]

Congratulations to Rachel and Andrew!! Welcome to parenthood!

And Hello Baby Banjo

[listening to: Special Ones - george ]
11:33:37 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Friends

I turned the TV on this morning and saw a segment on the "Today Show".  They ran a segment originally produced by CBS about the Star Wars Kid:

A kid alone with a video camera waving a golfball retriever, like a Jedi warrior. A private moment of clumsy 10th grade innocence until four classmates put the tape on the Internet.

Today, as CBS News Correspondent Bob McNamara reports, this 15-year-old small town Canadian is known to tens of millions planet-wide as the "Star Wars Kid."  [more]

[listening to: (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley ]
10:17:46 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Friends • My Hobbies • My Interests • My Organization • My Profession • Random • TV

I've been dealing with a incident that has happened to my family this week. It relates to a serious problem that is rife within our schools - bullying.

My son Antony has Asperger's Syndrome. As a result, he is a constant target for the bullys at his school. The scenario is always the same - these boys taunt him to the point that he cracks and retaliates. The retaliation is always exaggerated, which causes the overall situation to escalate and the outcome is pretty predicatable - parents are called, boys are chastised, teachers shrug their sholders , principals turn a blind eye and the bullys live to taunt another day. Not good.

This week it got ugly. I am not able to go into details, as I suspect there may be legal implications - but bottom line the bullys continue to get away with their behaviour and their victims continue to suffer. And the school pretends as if it isn't happening. And to top it all off, the parents of the bullys are blissfully ignorant of the fact that their little precious are actually ugly bullys.  This is the real shame of it all.

Maybe websites like these can help:

• Bullying, No Way!
• anti-bullying
• Bully Busters
• Dealing with Bullying
• Addressing Bullying Behaviour
• Beyond Bullying
• Bully Sandpit

But what I see in these websites is that this is a REAL Problem. It's been around for a long time and there doesnt seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel.

I would much prefer writing stuff like this that's my boy!, than speaking out about bullys, but it's gotta stop.

[listening to: rave goodbye - Paul Mac ]
8:42:05 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Here's a recent photo of Emma. Isn't she gorgeous!

She's quite the little lady - she is in kindergarden at PLC, and we know that she came second in the recent swimming carnival - have a read of Emma comes second! for more info and photos.  Emma loves going to school. Apparently she is running a business with all her friends - they trade gumnuts for the special power that they make from the riverbed at the school. Commerce starts early when you go to PLC!   ROTFL

Emma like's barbie, disney princesses, music, movies, and playing minesweeper flags with her dad.

[listening to: Strawberry Kisses - Nicki Webster ]
12:08:30 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

A recent photo of my wild boy Bricey.

He turns 4 on January 20, 2004. Yes he was a millenium baby. I call him my own y2k bug.  The kids call him the tornado - because he whirls in, makes a mess and then disappears just as quickly.

He loves Batman, Bob the Builder, trucks and cones. He really likes cones

[listening to: Wiggly Safari - The Wiggles ]
11:45:06 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Took all four kids (Antony,Billy,Emma,Brice) to a sneak preview of Elf this morning. It's a cute movie, with some pretty funny moments.

The reviews are ok:

• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• Guardian/Observer
• James Berardinelli's ReelViews
• Rotten Tomatoes - Reviews from the Nation's Top Critics

[listening to: Winter Wonderland - Peggy Lee ]
12:34:39 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

"England have beaten Australia 20-17 in a thrilling Rugby World Cup final before a capacity crowd at Sydney's Telstra Stadium tonight" [more]

[listening to: Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes ]
10:59:27 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Random

England wins in last minute of extra time. Final Scores -- England 20 to Australia 17

[listening to: We Are The Champions - Queen ]
10:27:20 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Random

Billy had his school concert on Friday.

He plays the trumpet in the concert band.

The band play 4 pieces.

Bill was a star!

Photo gallery of the night online now

[listening to: I Want It All - Queen ]
10:20:13 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Antony updating DVD Collection

This inspired me to write a story  - List of DVDs Owned

[listening to: Brick - Ben Folds Five ]
8:51:15 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

It's my birthday today. I turn 40.

My first birthday email

----- Original Message -----

From: "ClubNova" <nova969fm@listenerclub.com>

To: "Frank Arrigo"

Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 12:00 AM

Subject: Hap hap happy Birthday!

Hap Hap Happy Birthday, Frank!

You thought you could keep it quiet, didn't you!!  We hope you have a really nice day....and thanks for listening!

[listening to: ABBA - Thank You For The Music ]
12:30:07 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Random

Big Event on Sunday. Santa came to our local shopping village.

The kids were so excited.

So were their parents!

Lots of photos were taken!

Gosh, Christmas is almost here - 38 days until Christmas Eve!

[listening to: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town/White Christmas - Jimmy McGriff ]
10:52:36 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Emma had her swimming carnival at school today.

She was in 2 events - the 15m freestyle kick board and the 15m backstroke kickboard.

She came 2nd!

She is the first of my children to ever place in a swimming race --- what a champ.

I have a slide show available, and will post the videos soon.

[listening to: We Are The Champions - Queen ]
9:56:58 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Another PXT - this time of Rita's daughter Louisa eating an ice-cream.

She is so cute!!

[listening to: Man of Constant Sorrow - Dan Tyminski ]
2:31:07 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

My XDA doesnt support MMS, so i had to download the photo from a vodafone site

Here's a happy family lunch time shot

[listening to: Your Zowie Face - Nelson Riddle ]
11:15:47 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Finally worked out the way Radio handles shortcuts - check this out: Antony, Billy,Emma,Brice

Frank use your next time!!!

[listening to: Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley ]
9:33:56 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

I went to see the final part of the trilogy last night with my two big boys - Antony & Billy.

I think that the folks from Slate gets it pretty right

Everything which has
a beginning has an end,
sadly, thankfully.

10:01:53 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

Having fun with a bunch of tools to work with photos. in particular the "myPictures" tool and the assetmanager tool

and which photo do I use to test this - well me of course!

10:42:13 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests