Daily archives: December 10, 2010


links for 2010-12-10

  • Corporations do not share our priorities. They are hive organisms constructed out of teeming workers who join or leave the collective: those who participate within it subordinate their goals to that of the collective, which pursues the three corporate objectives of growth, profitability, and pain avoidance. (The sources of pain a corporate organism seeks to avoid are lawsuits, prosecution, and a drop in shareholder value.)
    (tags: politics scifi)
  • Manchester students' rag. Originally part of News in a Nutshell.

    Manchester University students' Shrove Tuesday procession in aid of local hospitals. Various shots of students in fancy dress parading down crowd lined streets on foot and on carnival floats. Amongst the costumes are undertakers, convicts and headless ghosts!

    (tags: Manchester Rag)
  • Full titles read: "Shrove Tuesday Rag – Merry students gather fine "harvest" for the Hospitals."

    Manchester.

    M/S of the Mayor making a speech on the steps of a building; M/S of a crowd of university students in fancy dress cheering. M/S of a large man (dressed in a kind of Buster Brown costume of a white shirt, black shorts and ankle socks) walking arm in arm with a man in drag under an arch of frying pans, held aloft by students dressed as chefs and carrying collection boxes. Several more costumed students follow.

    M/S panning across a line of students, tossing pancakes with their frying pans plus any other implements at hand – a rake, an umbrella; a large crowd watches. C/U of 'Buster Brown' with a lovely young girl in a cloche hat; while she talks he edges nearer then kisses her – a big smacker on the cheek! Great shot for illustrating the 'crazy' late '20s. She wags her finger at him.

    (tags: Manchester Rag)
  • Title: "The Rag of Rags. Manchester students gather record sum for hospitals in Annual Shrove Tuesday 'Rag'."

    Various high angled shots of a parade of students in fancy dress coming up a crowd lined street; some ride horses, others are on trucks, people look out of the windows of a tram that is stuck in the middle of the crowds. The students are dressed as clowns, harlequins and pirates, some throw flour bombs into the crowds. M/S of a group of students in fancy dress on the back of a truck, a large sign hangs above them reading – 'Have you got your colour blind test?' M/S of a group of students dressed as pirates; they wave their wooden cutlasses at the camera. M/S of a group of students dressed as monks; they toss fake pancakes in frying pans.

    (tags: Manchester Rag)
  • Item title reads – 1,500 students take part in annual merry Shrovetide "rag" in aid of hospitals. Manchester.

    M/S as male students in short skirts and jumpers perform a dance routine with other men. C/U of a cameraman filming them. L/S of crowds watching the students who are in various forms of fancy dress. M/S's of them cooking and tossing pancakes. M/S of a man dressed as a little girl, he presents a large bouquet of flowers to another man. M/S as floats parade through the town, one has a banner saying 'Vulgar Boatmen all alms on deck' another 'disarmament boat', people throw money at them. M/S as more floats pass by.

    (tags: Manchester Rag)
  • Full title reads: "Manchester. 1,5000 Students – take part in merry annual Shrovetide 'rag' in aid of Hospitals."

    Students, many in fancy dress costumes, ride along the streets of Manchester in parade of decorated lorries. They are raising money for charity.

    (tags: Manchester Rag)

Return of the OK Cafe

A new Okasional Cafe has opened in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, after an absence of 8 years. I visited a few of the original Okasional Cafes back in the ’90s and early ’00s because I was involved in Critical Mass and the airport campaigners. It’s nice to know they’re back but, as it’s only going to be open for another week, I may not get to visit it.