Today I plan to have a highly productive day. How will I manage this I hear you cry. I took the day off work. My first task was to sleep in until noon. I feel that I did an excellent job of this. My next task is to eat a large and unhealthy lunch. I plan to follow this up with buying comics and DVDs. This may not seem like a productive day to you but it beats a normal day in the office (‘work posing’ as John has just put it).
Ok. Thiink postive. Joy and happiness all around. It is only Monday. Deep breaths. Mantra chanting. Deep breaths. Oh F*ck it, it is Monday and there is nothing to be done about it.
After leisurely perusing the papers on Sunday and taking a big trek up to Arthurs Seat, my momentum going into the weekdays is non-existent. Oh well, what can a pauper do? Condoleeza Rice did the rounds yesterday on the American talk shows stating unequivocally that no matter how many people protested over the weekend it would not make one difference to the showdown with Iraq. Good to see democracy in action.
The other most important news story of the weekend was that Mike Tyson has gotten half of his face tattooed. This is not a joke! He stated it was an “African Tribal Thing”. What a dumbass.
Definition:
“work posing” – The act of going to work and acting as though one was working, e.g. like my job, Ian’s, Mr. Frost’s and many other people.
I don’t know if the congestion charge is the best way to do it, but at least someone has had the gus to take on the car lobby and try to stop the gridlock that is town driving.
Scientists have investigated the protein that creates movement in sperm and ova. The protein, dynein, expands and contracts in a way likened to a piston and drives the sperm’s tail. This is the sort of thing that, if harnessed, could be used to power nanomachines.
Star wars fans would have made ‘Jedi’ Britain’s 4th largest faith ahead of sikhism, if the census takers had recognised it as a seperate religion. More than 390,000 people claimed to be followers of fictional Jedi master Yoda. An e-mail campaign wrongly stated that it 10,000 people said they were Jedi, it would be recognised as a religion. In the end, the Jedi were categorised as atheists. So will there be a return of the Jedi?
Command & Conquer: Generals is out, and my C&C addiction means I will be getting it after the house move. But I feel I should also give Global Power a go as well. I’ve been saying I wanted a wargame with proper logistics for a while, and this might just be it.
Well, we hit Leeds. And Leeds hit back, I’m still feeling a bit groggy. I’ve now been on two Hen nights and no Stag nights (I managed to miss James’ by being a bit crap about answering emails).
Sadly it got dark too early for me to take many pics, and there were quite a few things to shoot too, but I have a few. I didn’t burn through film in the club like I did on my birthday, either. We were barred from one pub and a club because Brian was wearing trainers. A shame, but generally the sort of place that has a dress code is full of the sort of people I’d happily avoid anyway. With three of us crashing in the hotel room it became a little like the fireside scene from Blazing Saddles with the combined effects of Guinnes, lager, curry, pasta and spirits working their magic.
Right, I have to scan some pictures in, then do a big back up so I can install Office XP without fear of catastrophe.
Well excitement for me! I ended up saying meeting Tony Blair on the steps of the Hilton Caledonian in Edinburgh yesterday!!! Yeppo, it was me! I said hello, he said hello, it was like a big party! I must admit to being in a small state of shock because in person he doesn’t look like such a pathetic wimp. It’s true, in real life he actually looks a bit like the devil and has much more stature. Gotta admit, he does look like the type of chap you could actually sit down and share a coffee with. I mean, try to imagine sitting down with the quiet man, Mr. Duncan Smith, you would want to top yourself after two minutes of shitty conversation.
War, ugh, what is it good for? Well, absolutely not the economy or world peace! The NY Times this morning points out that America does require at least another Month to get the troops to the frontline, although a bombing capaign could be launched in the first of March. The other point they make is that the US is reluctant to go it alone and may be able to use the monthly Mr. Blix reporting as a way to build a trend of total non-compliance which seems to be a good ploy. How many times does Mr. Blix have to come back to the Secruity Council saying more could be done before the world representatives are backed into a corner?
About the war protests today. Even my brother is going to London to march for the antiwar sentiment. I applaud all those people going and if you think you don’t have democracy here, remember that in New York City today, the protesters have been denied a permit to March, are only allowed on sidewalks (kerb to you limies) for a rally, and the police have encapsulated the protesters into an area that only holds 10,000 people rather than the 100,000+ coming. Makes you wonder about all the hype surrouding freedom and democracy…..Check out this article providing an American viewpoint to how important the London protest is as it could deny Tony Blair concensus in his own country…
And just to make you laugh at those twits at Salon:
“SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14 (AP) � The Salon Media Group, the online magazine publisher, warned today that it might not survive beyond this month if it cannot raise more money to pay its rent and other bills.The company, based in San Francisco, painted a grim financial picture in a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Things are so bad, Salon said, that it stopped paying the rent for its headquarters in December, prompting the landlord to issue a demand last month for a $200,000 payment.”
Well, Well, Well. NationStates continues to be a prime activity for me these days and my republic is a happy, joyous land of 40 million people.
This is pretty funny. I have found an English to 12 year old AOLer translator. Quite a good joke.
One last note. Why not visit the official WhiteHouse site and get a glimpse of what truly is going on at www.whitehouse.org
I was musing over potential entries in future compilations of quotes and came up with- “You can judge a man by the quality of his enemies.” I’m not sure it’s quite right, or whether I’d even stand by it. And it sounded a bit familiar, Like something Churchill or Wilde would say. So I went searching for lists of quotes.
Wilde actually said- “A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.”
Churchill had – “I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.” Which is a far more eloquent version of my attempt. Oh well, I’ll try again later.
It seems that everyone wants to get into the act on threatening preemption. Now Japan is telling North Korea they will be attacked if they so much as fuel a missile.
Not only do the UN inspectors have to worry about Saddam’s boys shifting the evidence, it seems the CIA has been less than forthcoming. It’s almost as if they don’t want the inspections to be effective, because then it would be harder to argue against them. Hmmmm……
The dirty bomb scare this week was the product of an over active imagination.
via Stand Down
A war reporter who was there for Gulf War 1 reminds us what happens to the people on the receiving end of those cool precision bombing videos.
It seems the New Gulf War is being fought so that we have the right to kill the planet through excess consumption. Environment Minister Michael Meacher is to deliver a particularly gloomy address on the state of the planet at Newcastle University. I’m thinking of using droughts/ floods as plot points in Soldiers, though they won’t be the main focus as in Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling, where everyone is reduced to scratching a living between the storms.
The Mirror goes all Fark and Photoshoppy. And what’s even better is that it’ll wind up all those fundy Bush supporters with its gay overtones.
The move to force broadcasters to show more British films may sound good but you have have to take a look at the state of our movie industry. Whilst not quite dead, I think it’s fair to to say it’s in a persistent vegetative state. If the life support system of the Film Council and it’s lottery funding were switched off it would pass quietly away and frankly I’m not sure if I would miss it. Most of the successful “British” movies are in fact US funded. There are a few noticeable exceptions and things have improved a little since the criticism of lottery funding in 2001 but do we really need more films that no-one wants to watch? The answer to the slew of bad American movies shouldn’t be to force us to watch more bad British movies. Film Four (at one time a promising production company) was shut down due to it’s losses from movies that were part funded by the lottery. They thought that the lottery funding minimised their risks but if no-one wants to see the films you’re still going to lose money, it just takes a little longer for the company to colapase.
Nothing much happening today in the world. Although the New York Times reports an interesting survey regarding the American people and going to war. Despite Bush’s best efforts, a large majority of my fellow countrymen want to give the inspectors more time before making a resolution. Also in today�s NY Times, the lead article states that the US and Britain are going to ask the Security Council to state Saddam has not disarmed, e.g. America can lead the charge into Iraq without further approval. Interesting. Now the Washington Post has an interesting article about how schools in the DC area are stepping up the “duct tape”, or “gaffer” tape for you ignorant Limies, installations on school sites. Growing up the in the states my primary school dated back to the cold war days and we had a bomb shelter built into the basement, my question today is what was the f*ing point? In the days of a cold war we were talking several hundred nuclear bombs falling out of the sky onto you, meaning it makes sense for everyone to prepare for an attack, e.g. the odds aren’t in your favour. With the current terrorists, or lack of, the odds clearly do not dictate this current heightened state of preparedness for a nuclear or biological agent attack. Funny how things don’t change.
Business 2.0 has a great read on how McDonalds panders to anti-American feelings across the globe if it sells more burgers. Good for McDonalds. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In other business news, Smith and Wesson has come out with .50 calibre handgun! Way! Let’s see, when I go rob the convenience store now, the .50 calibre hand gun will not only make the clerk pee his pants but give me all the money without pressing the alarm button. Thanks Smith and Wesson! Meanwhile, GM, Ford and BMW are lining up, no really, to buy a flying car listed on ebay. Please let me know if you think the guy in the flying car is a complete dork.
During this period of illness, I have been amazed to be a civilian again. Going to the library everyday, reading books, talking to locals, enjoying the time off even if I can only stand up for about 20 minutes a go. In support of all things civilised, I bring you the link we all can relate to especially in these days of uncertainty. I command you to click here and watch! My goodness, there is a tear in my eye after witnessing that link. Sniff.
I haven’t visited the Onion in a while, but it is still a fantastically funny website. Some of you may not know this, but the Onion was originally a paper magazine started in the university town of Madison, Wisconsin. It then spread to Denver, Colorado, and a few other cities. I remember every week when it came out all of us would practically be pissing our pants with some of the stories. The Onion also contained the AV section that not only told what was happening in the city for the week, but reviewed music, books and TV as well. The best feature of the Onion AV section has to be Savage Love, a gay man dispensing sexual advice to all in his own peculiar way. This weeks commentary isn’t that good, but go through the history and there are loads of chuckles, not to mention some great advice on occasion. He has become the antithesis of Oprah and very successful. If easily offended, don’t follow his link.
So long and thanks for all the lutefisk.
Environment Minister Michael Meacher is to deliver a particularly gloomy address on the state of the planet at Newcastle University. I’m reminded of Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling, where everyone is reduced to scratching a living between the storms.
We need more and more people to remind us what war is really about.
I’m a hypocrite really. Other commitments (a friend’s Hen Night in fact) mean I’m not going to London tomorrow and, unless I stumble across a demonstration whilst I’m in town, I’m not going to stand up and be counted.