I meant to do this the other day but somehow never got around to it. Taken from Richard. The idea is to type a letter into the address bar of your browser and take the first url that comes up in the history.

John mentioned this at lunch today, and Mushroom posted about it also. Unfortunately I missed the show :(

Last night on the ABC, they apparently listed Australia's Top 100 Favourite Books, as voted by viewers. Below is the list, with the ones I've read highlighted bold.

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
2. Pride and Prejuidice by Jane Austen
3. The Bible (Various Contributors)
4. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
6. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Book 5) by J. K. Rowling
7. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
8. The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
=9. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
=9. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
10. A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey

And the rest of the top 100 are:

11. Dirt Music by Tim Winton
12. 800 Horseman by Col Stringer
13. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
14. Zhaun Falun by Li Hongzhi
15. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (Book 3) by J.K. Rowling
16. Captain Underpants And The Invasion Of The Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space by Dav Pilkey
17. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
18. The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
19. The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame
20. The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
21. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
22. Magician by Raymond E. Feist
23. Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt
24. Dune (Dune Chronicles) by Frank Herbert
25. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
26. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
27. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
28. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
29. 'Fighting' McKenzie Anzac Chaplain by Col Stringer
30. Deltora Quest Series by Emily Rodda
31. Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden
32. Perfume: The Story Of A Murder by Patrick Suskind
33. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
34. The Ancient Future Trilogy by Traci Harding
35. The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
=36. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling
=36. The Power Of One by Bryce Courenay
37. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
39. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
40. Anne Of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
41. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
42. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
43. Persuasion by Jane Austen
44. Ice Station by Matthew Reilly
45. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
46. Life Of Pi by Yann Martel
47. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
48. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
49. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
50. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
51. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
52. Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
53. Rage by Steve Gerlach
54. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
55. The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer-Bradley
56. Cafe Scheherazade by Arnold Zable
57. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
58. Jessica by Bryce Courtenay
59. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (Book 2) by J. K. Rowling
60. The Fortunes Of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson
61. My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
62. War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy
63. Wild Swans by Jung Chang
64. Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
65. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
66. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
67. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
68. Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden
69. The Riders by Tim Winton
70. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
71. Angela's Ashes by Frank Mccourt
72. The Age Of Reason by Thomas Paine
73. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
74. Middlemarch by George Eliot
75. Emma by Jane Austen
76. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
77. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
78. Matilda by Roald Dahl
79. Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
80. On The Road by Jack Kerouac
81. The Bfg by Roald Dahl
82. Animal Farm by George Orwell
83. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
84. A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving
85. Boyz Rule by Phil Kettle
86. Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly
87. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
88. Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
89. Watership Down by Richard Adams
90. The Thorn Birds by Colleen Mccullough
91. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
92. Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milne
93. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) by J. K. Rowling
94. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
95. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
96. Heart Of Darkness by Conrad
97. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
98. Goosebumps by R. L Stine
99. The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay
=100. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
=100. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

not that many actually. But then I never was into reading much. I haven't even *heard* of half of them! Funny that all five Harry Potter books made the top 100 .. :)

FQ1: Which entry in your blog is your favorite so far and why is that?
Don't think I really have a favourite. One that I probably put the most effort into was Creative Cockroach Control

FQ2: Which entry in your blog has gotten you the most attention and why do you think that is?
Definitely my Aqua One AR-620T Support Forum. It wasn't originally called that, but people kept coming to it after a couple of people posted looking for information on this particular fish tank, and it snowballed from there. It's the only forum on the web dedicated to discussion of this particular aquarium model.

FQ3: Which entry in your blog do you feel was overlooked and why should people have read it?
I am still astounded that anyone reads about my boring little life at all, although I did drop a not so subtle hint one time that wasn't responded to :)

FQ Reveal: Which entry in your blog do you think is most indicative of who you are and what makes it so?
Dunno. I have censored the worst of my rants and self wallowing. One of my worst rants on how people easily piss me off is Completely Pissed Off

Disaster one nearly happened at the old SNASM clan Christmas bbq thingie. They all decided to play Munchkin before lunch, which at the moment is a symbol to me of how few friends I have, and that even then ones I do have I don't get to play games with. You see they all play it often enough to know the rules and what all the cards are, but I have played it about twice in my life, and then years apart, so I just can't play. Nearly lost it, and retired to the computer room for a while to recover. Aside from that, the day was fantastic, and much food was eaten by all. I even managed to get "Lavender's Blue" right repeatedly on the keyboard, which I've been struggling with for weeks. The scary thing is, I've played some of the songs in the book so often that I'm starting to remember the pieces by feel, and can play a couple of them without the music. I guess kids can do that a lot more easily, and it truly is a case of practise makes perfect, or at least better.

Disaster two had nothing to do with me - kaos karked it in a heap, so I have no mail at the moment :( And I hadn't downloaded my mail since the 1st of December, so if they can't get the disks back I'll have lost three days of mail - doh!!

It's been a week since this Friday Q topic came out, and I keep pondering over it wondering what to answer for it. Why are Friday Q questions so hard Dave?? :) They take too much *thinking* about ;)

FQ1: What's your favorite ending to a movie or play?
Maybe not my favourite, but one that comes to mind is the end of the *original* Return of the Jedi, where there's the shot of Anakin, Yoda and Ben Kenobi, and the camera rises into the forest to the sound of a choral climax which turns into the John Williams' Star Wars theme which always brings a tear to my eye. The "special edition" remix mucked this up and it's not quite the same anymore.

FQ2: What's your favorite ending to a song or musical?
Again, maybe not my favourite but one that comes to mind, was the end to the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat musical stage show, where David Dickson was hoisted up into the rafters with his rainbow coat trailing out behind him

FQ3: What's your favorite ending to a book or graphic novel?
I loved the twist in Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban

FQ MEMORIAL: What would be your favorite ending to your life?
Probably to die peacefully (and painlessly) in my sleep. I'd probably be about 60-65, at the end of my useful use-by date, and before getting too old to be able to take care of myself.

FQ1: Who is your one favorite author and why is their work so appealing to you?
Roald Dahl. Not really sure why. Just kinda silly in a lot of ways, and his grownups stories are kinda spooky too.

FQ2: What are your two favorite literary subjects and why is reading about them interesting to you?
I like reading about science stuff. Science fiction is pretty good too.

FQ3: What are your three favorite books and why are each of them special to you?

1. Star Trek VI by J.M. Dillard - only book I ever read at least three times before the Harry Potter books. I like the character development and how I can picture the movie so well from it.
   
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling - my favourite of the Harry Potter books, and funnily enough the only one where the bad guy isn't specifically out to get Harry.
   
3. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - quite a bit better than the movie, it held me fascinated for the day and a half I sat down to read it, the moment I finished my mid-year exams in second year uni. It still has some of the fundamental flaws of the movie (like who'd leave a game park with three people manning it for an entire weekend??), but the book and the chain of events that surrounded it were fundamental to the very existence of this website, my job, my friends, this house, pretty much everything about my life at the moment is the way it is because of that book.
   

FQ Author: If you had to write a book, what genre of book would you pen (mystery, romance, science fiction, biography, etc.) and what would it be about?
Probably a science fiction story. Although the only book I've ever written (a project for Year 8 english) was mostly an adventure with a teenager and a couple of kids shipwrecked on a Pacific Island with bird smugglers.

Seems somehow appropriate that the topic be Historical, since the topic is now historical, to the tune of two weeks...! (has it been that long, yikes!)

FQ1: If you were able to visit any time period in the past, when would it be? What is it about this particular point in history that appeals to you?
It might be cool to visit Biblical times. I also always thought it'd be cool to travel the world before tourism really took off and cluttered everything up. Seeing Europe before the wars and acid rain would have been great.

FQ2: If you could meet any person from throughout history, who would that be? What makes them so special to you?
Jesus. He's my saviour.

FQ3: If you could reach through time and grab a piece of historical memorabilia, what artifact would you take and what would you do with it?
Gosh I dunno. Never thought about that one.

FQ QUANTUM LEAP: You have been given a one-time-only opportunity to travel back in time and interfere with history! Would you do it? Where would you go and what would you try to change?
I used to think about going back in time in my own life, like going back to primary school, and just laughing at Kerry Williams who was such a bitch to me, but then I thought what would I do with all my spare time without my computer and the internet. Sometimes I thought about going back to earlier points at school or uni or even work, but then I'd be wondering what I'd have to do in the same order to get to where I am now. Like I'd want to work where I am now, but to get there I'd need the history I had. But then I'd be frustrated having to do the desktop support which was necessary to be where I am now. I'd certainly avoid working at OzEmail, but then without that experience I may not have gotten to work at CIA. There's just too many dependencies to get right.. :) hrm don't think this is making much sense :) Going to back to being a student at uni would be a disaster though - especially if I was dropped mid session, I'd fail! lol

I also used to wonder if I could go back and stop certain disasters. The Challenger disaster was one I thought about years ago. But noone would believe a girl from Australia predicting something on the other side of the world. Until it happened of course. Even with recent things, I'd be hard pressed to convince anyone, given that I don't pay too much attention to news, and wouldn't be able to tell when certain things actually happened. hrm I'm still rambling.

But in answer to the question. If the opportunity was given to me I'd give it a go. Trying to prevent the World Trade Centre disaster might be a logical choice, because I'd know enough about the specifics of it to make some attempt at convincing people it was going to happen.

FQ1: Share an obscure movie or show and tell use why we should watch it.
hrm. I have a tendency to like mainstream stuff. Jerry Bruckheimer knows how to appeal to me :) And all my favourite movies aren't exactly obscure. A couple of Aussie ones that may not be well known overseas include Young Einstein and Strictly Ballroom. Great Australian flicks (ok Young Einstein may not have been exactly great, but it was beautifully silly).

FQ2: Share an obscure band or musical talent and tell us why we should listen to it.
Going with an Australian theme, my favourite Australian band of the late eighties was 1927. Pity they don't exist anymore, although I did see an ad recently with Eric Weideman in a where are they now situation.

FQ3: Share an obscure blog or web site and tell use why we should visit it.
How about Kirk's, just because it is relatively new to the blogsphere (and it's Australian :) )

FQ 15 Minutes: There will one day be an event in your life so big that it will drag you out of obscurity and make your name known to the entire world. Speculate on what it will be that brings you your 15 minutes of fame!
I've had my 15 minutes of fame. Closer to 45 in fact. I was on Romper Room in 1979 when I was five, and on Catch Phrase a couple of years ago. I've also been in the newspaper a couple of times.

Well according to the pedometer I did about 10000 steps today. But I don't believe it. Especially when probably a thousand of those "steps" were actually bumps on the road while I was driving. I think I need to paint it black too - then it might just look like a pager.

Was totally wasted at work today. Still haven't recovered from Sunday morning. Went home a bit early, but not nearly as early as I wanted to. Dell are trying to appease us with new hardware though which is kinda funny. I guess they must realise that they should never have sold us what they did knowing how we'd want to configure it. Now they're grovelling. Guess that's a good thing.

Other than that, life is boring.

I've never been so work-weary in my entire life. I've almost reached the end of my tether with the file server. If one more thing goes badly I honestly don't know what I'll do.

Get this. A 22 car accident, one person killed, the entire route north of the city blocked for hours, and the RTA give it an ORANGE ?!?!? I would have been thinking double red. Their site is often as useless as this.

I'm so tired. And trying to make a backup work. cry.