She has had her moments of glory. This is on the Simonside Hills. Out of sight behind her is a sharp little scramble over some rocks. 
Monday, 1 May 2006
Never let it be said.....
She has had her moments of glory. This is on the Simonside Hills. Out of sight behind her is a sharp little scramble over some rocks.
No toking in the guest bedroom please
I am a little intrigued about the finding of cannabis in Dr Reid’s residence. End story is that there was a very small amount, it was in a guest bedroom and was aged.
My main query is about the actual find. It seems it was found by a police dog. My direct experience of police dogs is somewhat aged. I can fully understand a dog trained to detect explosives being taken to the home of a high risk minister. It is most unusual for an explosives-detection dog to be able to act in a drug detection role. So, I am driven to think it was a drug dog that found it. So – what made the police think there was anything to be served by deploying a drug dog?
As an ancillary. Dr Reid earns a fair wage. One would expect he employs cleaning staff. So, how was a quantity of any foreign matter left for so long in a drawer in guest accommodation? As he is a Scot, I would expect him to demand a higher standard of workmanship than is suggested here.
Whilst his liking for cigarettes and alcohol – now controlled – is well known, there has never been a whisper of whacky baccy even in undergrad years. Given the state in which his Party currently finds itself – just as well eh?
My main query is about the actual find. It seems it was found by a police dog. My direct experience of police dogs is somewhat aged. I can fully understand a dog trained to detect explosives being taken to the home of a high risk minister. It is most unusual for an explosives-detection dog to be able to act in a drug detection role. So, I am driven to think it was a drug dog that found it. So – what made the police think there was anything to be served by deploying a drug dog?
As an ancillary. Dr Reid earns a fair wage. One would expect he employs cleaning staff. So, how was a quantity of any foreign matter left for so long in a drawer in guest accommodation? As he is a Scot, I would expect him to demand a higher standard of workmanship than is suggested here.
Whilst his liking for cigarettes and alcohol – now controlled – is well known, there has never been a whisper of whacky baccy even in undergrad years. Given the state in which his Party currently finds itself – just as well eh?
Yoi - Chihuahua
I am a dog person. I like dogs. They seem to like me. We understand each other down at very basic level right up to complex matters.
What I have never really understood is "Why Chuhuiahua?" Just what were they put here to do? What is their role and function? Then I came across this. The concept of feral draught excluders is one I find very funny.
I mentioned I didn't know there was a city named Chihuahua. Probably not, because apparently it's a state. Oops. Then L. went on to say that Chihuahuas are from there. Makes sense, right?
Then she told me there are wild packs of Chihuahuas that live in the hills in caves.
I pondered this. In my mind's eye, I was visualizing wild packs of rat dogs terrorizing old Mexican ladies wearing black lace veils over their gray hair. Old men waving specially-shaped guitars in anger at town hall meetings held near a church with an adobe steeple and belfry repenting the day some idiot decided the feral Chihuahuas should be a protected species. Osama Bin Ladin sharing a meager crust of bread with his only cave-dwelling friend, a wild Chihuahua named Jose Ricardo Gonzalez III.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
TAKE THIS TEXT OUT AND REPLACE WITH GUEST BLOG
May First
"Call me early for I'm to be Queen of The May"
Not with today's weather you're not.
I'm a sucker for conspiracy theories. Not the actual theory itself but in digging back and seeing where the so called 'facts' originate. There is a Yorkshire Lass who is adding to one about the 7th July bombings. One of the victims wounded in that incident has a good basis for the possibility of a link between race riots way back and the London incident. Yorky has a link to this woman. Go follow it and read back a bit. The wounded Rachael relates a rape she suffered. One severe trauma in a life is bad enough but this girl claims two.
Sunday, 30 April 2006
3 Shags
Max Clifford has signed up to represent the media interests of Prezza's second mistress. Seen here in the hot tub at one of his palatial official residencies.
When I was a child ...
I have written before about my conviction that I was an undiagnosed sufferer from Asperger Syndrome. Undiagnosed because it is a condition that had not been identified when I was a kid.
Although there is no single feature that all people with Asperger syndrome share, difficulties with social behavior are nearly universal and are perhaps the most important criteria that define the condition. People with Asperger syndrome lack the natural ability to see the subtexts of social interaction (sometimes resulting in well-meaning remarks that may offend and so on, finding it hard to know what is "acceptable") and also tend to lack the ability to broadcast their own emotional state.
Non-autistics, often called neurotypicals, are able to gather a host of information about other people's cognitive and emotional states based on clues gleaned from the environment and the other person's facial expression and body language, but people with Asperger syndrome have an impairment in this ability, sometimes called mind-blindness. To be mind-blind is to find it difficult or even impossible to figure out things a person implies but does not say directly (more colloquially, to "read between the lines"). This is not because they cannot imagine the answer but because they cannot choose between the possibilities; the mind-blind person cannot reliably gather enough information to do so or does not know how to interpret the information that they do gather.
Children in the late 1930 and 40s had a very clearly defined position in society. Mainly summed up as ‘seen but not heard’. Oversight came not just from parents and teachers but from any adult who felt that a child was exceeding the very narrow bounds of proper behaviour. Corporeal punishment by parents and teachers was quite common. Being isolated from other children and their activities and sent to one’s room was common. I was regarded as a naughty child; mainly for conduct such as one would expect from someone with the problems I have described above. It was made very clear to me that certain actions were quite intolerable. The ‘proper’ way to behave was drummed into me. This ‘treatment’ was carried on when I joined the Army. I was conditioned to be like the other guys. Any unusual trait was jumped upon and brought punishment. The Army was good at discipline by this method and I learned what was and what was not appropriate.
I now know that my condition was not cured but was suppressed.
What seems to be happening in my old age is that the syndrome is again rearing its head. Where I would have stopped and thought about a remark or action, I now react quite impulsively. Within the last ten days or so, I have had a serious falling-out with the host of a forum over something that 99.99% of people would consider insignificant. I responded in a manner more assassination than explanation to someone who wrote me what I thought was a overly-critical email. I was in a Comet store killing time by looking at the latest household wonders when an assistant asked me if I was being ‘looked after’. I knew very well what she meant but chose to reply as if she were suggesting I had lost my carer and would start licking windows at any moment. It is not just that I am getting to be a crusty and curmudgeonly old man; it is regression.
I must do something about this. The traits of AS are even less acceptable in these days of political correctness where even the truth must be suborned.
Although there is no single feature that all people with Asperger syndrome share, difficulties with social behavior are nearly universal and are perhaps the most important criteria that define the condition. People with Asperger syndrome lack the natural ability to see the subtexts of social interaction (sometimes resulting in well-meaning remarks that may offend and so on, finding it hard to know what is "acceptable") and also tend to lack the ability to broadcast their own emotional state.
Non-autistics, often called neurotypicals, are able to gather a host of information about other people's cognitive and emotional states based on clues gleaned from the environment and the other person's facial expression and body language, but people with Asperger syndrome have an impairment in this ability, sometimes called mind-blindness. To be mind-blind is to find it difficult or even impossible to figure out things a person implies but does not say directly (more colloquially, to "read between the lines"). This is not because they cannot imagine the answer but because they cannot choose between the possibilities; the mind-blind person cannot reliably gather enough information to do so or does not know how to interpret the information that they do gather.
Children in the late 1930 and 40s had a very clearly defined position in society. Mainly summed up as ‘seen but not heard’. Oversight came not just from parents and teachers but from any adult who felt that a child was exceeding the very narrow bounds of proper behaviour. Corporeal punishment by parents and teachers was quite common. Being isolated from other children and their activities and sent to one’s room was common. I was regarded as a naughty child; mainly for conduct such as one would expect from someone with the problems I have described above. It was made very clear to me that certain actions were quite intolerable. The ‘proper’ way to behave was drummed into me. This ‘treatment’ was carried on when I joined the Army. I was conditioned to be like the other guys. Any unusual trait was jumped upon and brought punishment. The Army was good at discipline by this method and I learned what was and what was not appropriate.
I now know that my condition was not cured but was suppressed.
What seems to be happening in my old age is that the syndrome is again rearing its head. Where I would have stopped and thought about a remark or action, I now react quite impulsively. Within the last ten days or so, I have had a serious falling-out with the host of a forum over something that 99.99% of people would consider insignificant. I responded in a manner more assassination than explanation to someone who wrote me what I thought was a overly-critical email. I was in a Comet store killing time by looking at the latest household wonders when an assistant asked me if I was being ‘looked after’. I knew very well what she meant but chose to reply as if she were suggesting I had lost my carer and would start licking windows at any moment. It is not just that I am getting to be a crusty and curmudgeonly old man; it is regression.
I must do something about this. The traits of AS are even less acceptable in these days of political correctness where even the truth must be suborned.
Saturday, 29 April 2006
Fertile fields
Our drive round today passed many fields with the new crop of lambs. These ranged from some obviously a week or so old to others in the grass being licked into shape by proud Mum.Pointy nose dog and I were looking through a fence at a farm where we buy their meat. Just sizing up my dinner to come! Sable knows that all forms of livestock are off limits but this lamb was clearly curious and came towards us. The angle makes it difficult to show but it was for all the world as if the damn thing was pointing at us like a bird dog. Maybe a new breed - North Northumberland shorthaired sheep?
Happy days are here again
Nice day so we were looking for somewhere to visit. New. Ended up at Fenton Grange which is a field centre. They are due to open a Birds of Prey Centre tomorrow but such is our charm that we had a guided preview. Most of the birds are rescue animals. Well displayed in open shelters. DEFRA had to stick their oar in over the main cages and insisted on use of very fine mesh screens. Something to do with avian flue precautions but it makes the birds almost invisible. The size of the mesh is such they must fear mosquite flue to be next. The keeper is a local bloke from near to Duns and originally hailed from a village s0me 5 miles from Norma's ancestral home so it was chatter chatter chatter all the while. Couldn't hear the birds!
We rounded the outing out with a trip down to Rothbury for a "Just for old times sake" walk in the Simonside Hills. The countryside is looking its usual wonderful self. Enjoyed. Pointy nosed dog had much exercise with loads of water sports thrown in so she was happy as well.
We here seem to know how demands for Englishstan are coming along. My guest has gathered together quite a bit of information that shows just how insidious this has been.
The right to go
I have not found myself drawn into the euthenasia debate. My own mind is very clear that I will not tolerate any situation where I lose a major part of my independence. I will not live plugged into a 13 amp electrical outlet. Some may say that at that stage I will not have the freedom of choice. My dependents know what I wish. If a assisted death is not available, there is always the DIY option. That is the reason I keep an eye on developments. Whilst I support the general idea of choice in the timing and manner of one's death, I do think that there is a danger of it being made too widely available. There will be many who, for reasons good or otherwise, wish to depart. That situation may be permanent or passing. That is why I think it is important to keep some control over the mechanisms of death by this route.
Winter drawers on said the salesman
The beliefs of another culture are supposed to be out of bounds to comment. There must be circumstances where this convention is abandoned. Take this report from today's Daily Telegraph. Just how many of us could imagine anywhere in the world where the sale of womens' undergarments was controlled at the point of sale by men. Some may say that they have no need to imagine it as it is something that will never bother them either way. But this situation exists in a country with a large influence in world affairs and we need to know that they are at a different level of development to ourselves and many others in the world community. Something along the lines of "Would you buy a used car from this man?"
It is hailed as a major step forward for women's emancipation in Saudi Arabia: in the coming weeks they will enjoy the right to buy lingerie from female shop assistants.
This may be a far cry from bra-burning feminism but in Saudi Arabia the notion of buying one's brassiere from a woman is nothing short of revolutionary.
A new decree requiring shop owners to hire female staff to sell undergarments illustrates the cautious liberalisation the kingdom is undergoing - and how far it has yet to travel.
Friday, 28 April 2006
Aah!
Call me a suspicious old cynic but this news strikes me as an attempt to take some of the heat off 2 Shags, Skippy Hewitt and the Bat Eared Bustard. The residual sympathy for Mo will lead a lot of people to be receptive to the idea that her husband is getting a life back after his loss. The suggestion that he is doing this with Ms Short heightens public interest - who? her? didn't think she was like that? etc.
As a certified cynic, I also feel that the 2 Shags news was meant to come under the shield of a "good day to publish bad news" scenario. Let the cat out of the bag whilst all eyes were on Noddy and Skippy.
In a nutshell.
Whilst there is much valid criticism of our media, now and again, jusy occasionally, one of them comes up with something good. This is the case with this excerpt:
A significant proportion of past or present cabinet ministers
have some sort of misdeed attached to them. Take your pick:
Blair and his freebies; Blunkett and the Kimberly Quinn affair;
Mandelson and the mortgage application and Hinduja brothers
affair; Jowell and the Berlusconi cash; Hoon and burying bad
news; Hewitt and the GP pay fuck-up plus other NHS mismanagement.
There are other, lesser misjudgements almost too numerous to
mention: Lord Derry and his wallpaper; Lord Levy and tax; the
mysterious case of Alan Milburn spontaneously deciding to spend
more time with his family. Even relative newcomer Ruth Kelly was
quickly in trouble over the paedos-in-schools cock-up. Worse
still, she's a member of creepy Opus Dei...
As scandals go, none of the above are as nakedly salacious as the
Profumo affair or Jeremy Thorpe being charged with murder. But
it's the sheer number that's amazing. If the cabinet *was* a
normal office, of, say, 20 people, ten of them would be having
extramarital affairs, five would be fiddling their expenses, two
of them wouldn't have a fucking clue how to do their job, two
would be congenital liars and one of them would be a
Scientologist. Maybe this is what's meant by UK plc.
Basic politics
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Much has been written and said about the way in which senior Ministers have been acting. This is from someone who has good cause to be a tad harsh as a bomb victim and as a rape victim (all that in one life) but who makes her point with great clarity
Question for our times
Is it child abuse to be brought up as the offspring of a politician?
Why?
- You would be pilloried at school as every new scandal is broken in the press
- You have no parental concept of right and wrong
- You have no concept of truth or lies
- You have no concept of honest or dishonesty
- You would be dragged out on photo shoots whenever the parents were in need of votes or sympathy
Bloggers beware!!
The speed at which blogging has grown means that Rules have not been formally introduced. More like Topsy I suppose. The sense of freedom in broadcasting one's opinions to the world has occasionally been too intoxicating and problems have arisen where employers have found problems in the comments of their employees. Here in UK we recently had a loss of some journals when the Metropolitian Police served warning of action against police officers who were a tad critical.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
I think these are wise words. I see them as common sense rather than Rules. But then, maybe it is because I was employed by some very devious and unpleasant people?
Thursday, 27 April 2006
Energy resources
Everyone wants to be a comedian
The recent headlines about the Da Vinci code court case left me cold. I'd read the book and did not see anything wonderful about it. Maybe because I have a weird sort of religious faith anyway. Whatever.
So, whether the work was original or not interested me not at all. However, it seems that the Judgement handed down by the man in the horsehair wig contains its own coded message. I think this is a rather neat idea. What if others follow suit? Will we get something where a judge refutes his finding by some code only discernable after his death?
Whilst being only "somewhat" interested in the judgement, my rage is running high about a tale of dog abandonment. I think I might say things that I would later regret (and that is saying something for me!), I'll leave you to read it for yourself. I learned a new phrase the other day "lower than whale shit". So soon, I've found a reason to use it.
So, whether the work was original or not interested me not at all. However, it seems that the Judgement handed down by the man in the horsehair wig contains its own coded message. I think this is a rather neat idea. What if others follow suit? Will we get something where a judge refutes his finding by some code only discernable after his death?
Whilst being only "somewhat" interested in the judgement, my rage is running high about a tale of dog abandonment. I think I might say things that I would later regret (and that is saying something for me!), I'll leave you to read it for yourself. I learned a new phrase the other day "lower than whale shit". So soon, I've found a reason to use it.
A sea of calm......
Having in my own way come into occasional contact with The Public I know well just how awkward and frustrating they can be. Sometimes, that can be due to the stress they find themselves suffering. Luckily, I did not have to bear them as a constant part of my daily working life. I drew attention the other day to a guy who works in a emergency despatch room.
My guest here offers further insight to just what fun it can be!!
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Go read about him. Give thanks you have just a normally rotten job.
Pokey stitch in time
Today is one of the Great Handicraft Days. Fortnightly, vast quantities of material and mechanical resources gather at a little hut in the middle of nowhere and the Ladies of Leisure stitch and cut and plan quilts. Special arrangements are made locally to provide the electricity for Tea Making. Extra traffic police are drafted in to cope with the exodus when Ladies decamp at the end of the session. Over-stimulated at the wheel of their funny little cars, the country lanes become veritable death traps. Why do little old ladies buy cars that so much resemble invalid chairs? The whole thing is such a blast that they get together to do it again on Saturday. Just to stave off the boredom, a different venue is selected.
The tone of my comments may suggest that I have little patience with this enterprise. Such perceptive readers I have!
If you find yourself with a limitd amount of time to cut through the media hype (or, as in my case),little patience with the twisted agenda they have, you might want to cut to the chase and read Melanie. She has not got around to 2 Shags yet but she will.
Wednesday, 26 April 2006
Resources
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Given the sort oif hash that Skippy Hewitt makes of anything connected with health, I thought I'd better share this with you.
Panic - who me?
Changes to the image
I reported a couple of days ago on the saga of changing my hair colour. Having rectified the situation by getting my hair cut like a bouncer, I can now get amusement out of the misfortunes of others. Hence, this Guest Blog.
Deja bloody vu
Served by the waiter
Why can these politicians not keep their zips done up?
Apart from my opinion that for the money they get, we should expect their full attention all of the time there is the doubt it throws upon their integrity. In addition - and I'm contributing to it in my small way - there will be a media frenzy over something that is dead and buried. His consideration for his wife seems to have dipped from the days when he fixed a car ride for 200 yards so she would not spoil her hair. Now he has got her tearing it out.
This seems to nominate itself.
Tuesday, 25 April 2006
You dancing? Who is asking? I'm asking. I'm dancing
My days of being on the pull are a long (very long long) way in the past. It was a simple matter of making sure one had already made up ones mind on when and where and then asking the girl concerned. Being presentable helped. If she wanted the date - she said yes. If not - it was time to move onto another of the many fish in the sea.
My guest blogger makes it all seem somewhat akin to the machinations needed to get a majority vote in the UN. Judge for yourself if she is just too picky.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
See what the waitress is having.
My guest blogger makes it all seem somewhat akin to the machinations needed to get a majority vote in the UN. Judge for yourself if she is just too picky.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
See what the waitress is having.
My Kate
I've said it here before but it is now very clear that all the old misery-guts who wrote this girl off were totally out of their minds.She kept her head down and got on with cleaning up her image in the very best way - by rehabilitating herself in her profession just by being professional. Not a whisper has been heard of her failing to perform where and when wanted. No prima-donna demands (can you hear me Naomi?). Just doing what she does so well. Drawing peoples' eyes.
Please release me, let me go
Where will it all end I ask. Noddy's friend Big Ears keeps breaking wind through his mouth with announcements about new initiatives and measures to reduce crime or, as he would no doubt put it, "the unnecessary fear of crime". Then he has to make an admission like this
More than 1,000 foreign prisoners who should have been consideredfor deportation at the end of their sentences were freed with no action
being taken, Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted.
The offenders included three murderers and nine rapists, Home Office
figures showed. Mr Clarke apologised for the failure and conceded that
some of the public would be angered by the oversight.
I especially like the bit about "some of the public might be angered". Might - indeed. If I were related to someone killed by these escapees or had been raped by one of them, I'd be quite 'angered' by the oversight.
I'm also angered by the low percentage of positive actions they have got from the few so far traced. Doubtless, at the time, great play was made of the "recommended for deportation" sanction. More gas escaping from the bowels of our crime fighting supremo.
Complaint
Appropos of nothing really. I am a bit bored and just wanted to play with Photoshop.Sorry to have taken up your time but, hey! I did say it was MY world
Please improve!
I hope my brand-new template is not to be a waste of time and effort. Posting to Blogger yesterday was - for me - a pain in the butt end. I lost two compositions altogether - just wandered off into the ether and got eaten by Mysterons I suppose. Others got to - where - somewhere? They showed up in Dashboard but not anywhere for public viewing.
Concern for the template arises because I have a very short fuse when it comes to things that do not work. Of course, nothing from Blogger. Seems the last outages they deem worthy of mentioning are ones that might have impinged on Charles Dickens posting but nothing about yesterday.
This comes from someone commenting on new traffic laws. Not something that would normally cause much of a flicker in our household. Until one gets to the suggestion regarding multi-storage car parks. The legislation here is one that, members of my family will attest, comes from me quite frequently
Monday, 24 April 2006
Medical notes (In confidence)
Today's Guestblogs are selected against the farcical statement from Skippy Hewitt that we have never had a better NHS. Obviously, she has just dropped in from the planet Zarg and hasn't a clue about her subject. I do not see there will ever be any solution to the NHS problem. We spend vast sums on fertility treatment for women of 50. When that works, we spend yet more money seeing if we can get yummy mummies at 60. We pull babies through at 28 weeks. Having accomplished that, we try for viable births at 25 weeks. The pressures of medical work mean that no one wants to give up and say "Enough is enough". Some people will have to forego paternity, some premature births will not survive. Death is a reality.
How To Hold Back Tears
Joey is twelve. No, wait, fifteen. His face is twelve. His neck, scarred from pepper spray, is a bitter eighteen. His abdomen, with a line from a stab wound, is a harsh twenty-five. I guess it averages out. Okay then, fifteen it is.
Joey is the third minor I see by myself today at a well-child checkup in Fremont; his parents are working. I’m starting to get the hang of it—medical history is quick, social history is long and involved. Tells me his grandmother had just passed away and his one-year old daughter—yes, daughter—was sick in the hospital with pneumonia. (I double-check his age, yes, he’s 15.)
Our dramas in UK
The UK National Health Service (NHS) is going to be cutting about 15,000 to 20,000 healthcare jobs this year in an attempt to reduce the deficit of £1bn. Government officials are, of course, saying that patient care will not be compromised. But, most healthcare workers like Dr. Greg Hopkinson disagrees.
Ladies who care
BERLIN (Reuters) - German prostitutes are signing up for a career change, training to become nurses to tend to the country's aging population or working phones as tele-marketers.
Thirty prostitutes have enlisted in a church-funded project in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia and more are on a waiting list, project coordinator Gisela Zohren said.
"Competition in prostitution is fierce and the days when one could make a decent living out of it are long gone, especially once you hit the thirties," Zohren said.
She said prostitutes' fees had hit rock bottom and they were well suited to jobs on offer in the retraining program.
"After years of prostitution, they know how to listen, look after people and are savvy in selling over the phone," she said.
Experts in the care industry for the aged also welcomed the initiative. (Ed note - And, of course, they will not have concerns about 'inappropriate touching') I'm not too sure how nurses might see this "Too old and raddled to earn your keep as a working girl. Come and be a nurse" is a harsh recruitment come-on
Sunday, 23 April 2006
Please can I have...
I often sit and dream about the brain-power behind the Internet. The programmers who dream up the software and make it all work. The way in which they can set things up to take account of different operating systems. Thwarting the efforts of the black-hats who try - with, it must be admitted, equal craft, to try and do all sorts of naughties. Mind you, to me, even the simple act of running a spell checker seems magic.
What I would like to see is some sign that we are fighting back. Why is there nothing really positive to deal with those who seize upon my email address and those of others with such ease? How come they can make a profit selling them at not much per thousand to others who send out many thousands of spam emails and again make money?
What I would like to have is some sort of deal where I can reverse the tables. Cause the bad guys some trouble and aggro. Seize upon his filthy spam and track it back to the machine of the sender. Then, some thousands of volts would follow the trail and cook-out the errant p.c. If a white-hat cannot do it, introduce me to one of the other sort.
My guest blogger here is having trouble. Bet he would like something bigger and better as a counter-measure to the sort of trouble the brainless are causing him. Read on....
One might expect that someone whose job surely involves dealing with stress, would be fairly relaxed about the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. This guy is possibly the exception that proves the point. I certainly understand his annoyance; I've had to moderate my own comments following targetting by the sort of morons he describes here
Is my prick showing?
I never cease to be amazed at people. Look what the new trend is in having patterns pricked onto your skin.
Teenagers have already popularized tattoos with their favorite sports team names, and even the occasional Nike swoosh. Enterprising companies, of course, have taken notice. Dunkin' Donuts has paid students to wear temporary tattoos of its logo on their heads, for an estimated $50 to $100. Reebok tried the same thing at the Boston Marathon, paying 100 runners to wear temporary tattoos. Caught up in the spirit of things, another 1,000 participants wore them for free.
Not that stupid? Please!
The next stop, of course, was permanent tattoos. And sure enough, there are now at least two people who have "GoldenPalace .com" imprinted on their foreheads in thick, black letters. Forevermore. One is a Canadian with the nickname "The Human Pincushion." Not a big stretch there. But the other is a single mom in her 30s from Bountiful, Utah, who went ahead with the skin billboard -- even after the tattoo artist spent seven hours trying to talk her out of it -- for $10,000.
I think we're on the brink of a full-fledged fad here. It won't be long before people are baring more "skinvertisement" than skin.
Skeptical? Let me see if I can anticipate your arguments.
1. People aren't that hard up for money.
To which I say: Please.
2. People aren't that stupid.
To which I say: Please!
The thing about tattoos is that people rarely have just one. When you've already collected the rose, the Celtic cross, the Chinese symbol for "chaos," the barbed wire ankle wrap and "Ricky rocks my world," why not throw in a "United Economy Plus" if it means a little mad money for you?
There are plenty of brand names that teens would wear for free, too: Abercrombie & Fitch, iPod, Coca-Cola Blak. Something like "7-Eleven Introduces the P'EatZZa Sandwich: $3.69 While Supplies Last" might be a tougher sell, but if it'll pay the car insurance, why not?
The old guard will be outraged that today's youth is cynical, selling out, and spelling "Budweiser" wrong. Celebrities will step up and sport tattoos advertising their upcoming movie releases ("Snakes on a Plane 2: Hisssstory Repeats Itself").
Tattoos will finally have a little shock value again.
Blast from the past
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Just ben thinking about my old labrador Sheba. Realised that she was a blogger as she kept a journal when we were on holiday. Purpose of this was to enable the kids who had not come on the holiday catch up on her doings. What follows is one day in April 1991.We are most surely going to have a very wet week ahead. The weather yesterday and today has been really perfect with bright sunshine and just a hint of a breeze. They have tried this trick before of getting us sunburnt on the first couple of days and then washing everything out in the rest of the week. The journey up was easy enough although there was a lot of other traffic. People going to the Harrogate flower show make the road works between Wetherby and Harrogate worse.
We had planned to have lunch and a swim at Linton but the place was too crowded - both for the pub and for the river. We went on to the church and I had my usual swim there. He had lunch at the pub in Litton and then we came on here. She arrived about ten minutes after we got the keys and opened up. Not a lot seems to have changed since we were last here and that is nice to see in these days when memories are vandalised behind one's back.
The hillside behind us has a flock of sheep and newborn lambs. -At least, what passes for a flock up here. It is nothing like a Kent flock but there again the hillside is not like a Kent hillside either! We have heard pheasants calling and they have seen them from the upstairs lounge window. Usual cussedness; the sills are too high for me to see over so 1 had to content myself with pushing them and whining as they watched. I have not had to resort to this level to attract attention for a long while.
They went off in the evening and I was left on guard with his sweaty cap. When they came back they were on about the bikers they met and the Harley Davidson food processors. One thing I have discovered is that I have to be very careful when they offer a blocking up here. The whole place is so wide open that one could end up doing God knows how many miles just to get round a block. I have found a way down into the river at the bottom of the garden and 1 showed her how clever I was at scrambling down into it when all she thought was that I was doing a garden cheek. They keep my towels on the radiators up here and it is nice to come in to a warm towelling, I've only been here five or so hours and already we have three towels drying so the legs should soon be back on form.
Let's not get too serious
A wealth playboy met a beautiful young girl in an exclusive lounge. He took her to his lavish apartment where he soon discovered she was not a tramp, but was well groomed and apparently very intelligent. Hoping to get her into bed he began showing her his collection of expensive paintings, first editions by famous authors and offered her a glass of wine.
He asked whether she preferred Port or Sherry and she said, "Oh, Sherry by all means. To me it's the nectar of the gods. Just looking at it in a crystal-clear decanter fills me with a glorious sense of anticipation. When the stopper is removed and the gorgeous liquid is poured into my glass, I inhale the enchanting aroma and I'm lifted on the wings of ecstasy. It seems as though I'm about to drink a magic potion and my whole being begins to glow. The sound of a thousand violins being softly played fills my ears and I'm transported into another world.
"On the other hand, Port makes me fart"
St. George. Who's he then?
Our patrol saint of England seems to be going into decline. There are very few organised events. Quite a few of them are clebrations in pubs which are as much marketing and sales opportunity as traditional.Whilst nationalism in Wales and Scotland is on the up, poor old George is faced with multi-culturism in his land. Where he once rode out to slay dragons and rescue maidens, people are looking for obscure interpretations of action that might, maybe, just possibly be seen as offensive to some extremist hothead looking hard for something about which to express a warped opinion and demand special recognition.
No sweat though. It's been tried before and failed. The opposition this time is stronger and the road to recovery will be longer.
My guest today is a bit of a plain speaker. Nothing wrong with that.
Saturday, 22 April 2006
Words come true
The original of this narrative poem was thought to have been written by a D.W. Nash around 1870, the time of the Franco-Prussian War which resulted in a crushing defeat for the French; the poem was full of foreboding about the future. In the 1918 edition, a new foreword suggested that those fears were justified and that the events of 1870 gave rise to World War I. Much of that prophecy is worthy of thought in 1995 - from the wavering of Altar and Crown, to the derision of words such as "honour" and "truth", and to the possible lack of wisdom to "yield to foreigners", for which read the EC. More about it at this guys blog.
This comes from a very slim volume I seem to have had for quite a while. Certainly, I had read it long before the Hunting with Dogs saga was raised so it is a valid forecast there. The following verses are but selected extracts that seem to chime with what we are going through now.
Then round he turned his horse's head
And shook his bridle free,
When he was struck by an aged fox
That sat beneath a tree.
He raised his eye in glad surprise,
That huntsman keen and bold;
But there was in that fox's look
That made his blood run cold.
He raised his hand to touch his horn,
And shout a "Tally-ho"
But mastered by that fox's eye,
His lips refused to blow.
For he was grim and gaunt of limb,
With age all silvered o'er;
He might have been an arctic fox
Escaped from Greenland's shore.
"Huntsman" he said - a sudden thrill
Through all the listeners ran,
To hear a creature of the wood
Speak like a Christian man -
"Last of my race, to me' tis given
The future to unfold,
To speak the words which never yet
Spake fox of mortal mould.
"Then print my words upon your heart
And stamp them on your brain,
That you to others may impart
My prophecy again.
"Strong life is yours in manhood's prime,
Your cheek with heat is red;
Time has not laid his finger yet
In earnest on your head.
"But ere your limbs are bent with age,
And ere yours locks are grey,
The sport that you have loved so well
Shall long have passed away.
"Too well I know, by wisdom taught
The existence of my race
O'er all wide England's green domain
Is bound up with the Chase.
"Better in early youth and strength
The race for life to run,
Than poisoned like the noxious rat,
Or slain by felon gun.
"Better by wily sleight and turn
The eager hound to foil,
Than slaughtered by each baser churl
Who yet shall till the soil.
"For not upon these hills alone
The doom of sport shall fall;
O'er the broad face of England creeps
The shadow on the wall.
"The years roll on: old manors change,
Old customs lose their sway;
New fashions rule; the grandsire's garb
Moves ridicule to-day.
"Base churls shall mock the mighty names
Writ on the roll of time;
Religion shall be held a jest,
And loyalty a crime.
"No word of prayer, no hymn of praise
Sound in the village school;
The people's education
Utilitarians rule.
"In England's ancient pulpits
Lay orators shall preach
New creeds, and free religions
Self made apostles teach.
"The peasants to their daily tasks
In surly silence fall;
No kindly hospitalities
In farmhouse nor in hall.
"Nor harvest feast nor Christmas tide
Shall farm or manor hold;
Science alone can plenty give,
The only God is gold.
"The homes where love and peace should dwell
Fierce politics shall vex,
And unsexed woman strive to prove
Herself the coarser sex.
Trade shall be held the only good
And gain the sole device;
The statesman's maxim shall be peace,
and peace at any price.
"Her army and her navy
Britain shall cast aside;
Soldiers and ships are costly things,
Defence an empty pride.
Following these dire forecasts however, is a note of triumph as reason returns.
Old England's sons shall raise again
The Alter and the Crown.
"Rejoicing seas shall welcome
Their mistress once again;
Once more the banner of St George
Shall rule upon the main.
"The blood of the invader
Her pastures shall manure,
His bones unburied on her fields
For monuments to endure.
"Again in hall and homestead,
Shall joy and peace be seen,
And smiling children raise again
The maypole on the green.
"Again the hospitable board
Shall groan with Christmas cheer,
And mutual service bind again
The peasant and the peer.
"Again the smiling hedgerow
Shall field from field divide;
Again among the woodlands
The scarlet troop shall ride."
Look back in sadness
I was going to make a Welsh joke here but that would be a bit obvious. How can one imagine Taffy getting so demonstrative?
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
This created a lot of attention at the time. Would we be so quick to condemn if it were said now? What was that about prophets and honour in their own country?
Friday, 21 April 2006
Short shrift
Well, a haircut cured most of the hair problem. What is left looks OK. I don't think I'll do a repeat 'solution' as the dye grows out though!
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Google is getting big, very big. Maybe, even, very very big. But not, it seems, big enough to really do as it wants. April 21, 2006 7:41 AM PDT
Google flap: Doodle dos and don'ts
Once again, bloggers are in an uproar over copyright issues.
This time the hubbub surrounds one of Google's "doodles," the little drawings the search engine uses to replace its logo on special occasions. On Thursday, Google put up a doodle in honor of artist Joan Miro's birthday.
But representatives for the artist's family were not impressed, saying Google had not asked permission to reuse several copyright images of his work. Google has since taken down the doodle, although the company said it does not believe it infringed on copyright.
Predictably, bloggers were shocked and appalled at the complaint. Whether the whole matter could have been avoided if Google had simply asked for permission first is unknown.
Blog community response:
"Google just wanted to celebrate the surrealist artist's birthday with a tribute--and one would guess they have enough lawyers to defend an obviously noninfringing work. But hey, no problem--someone else can go defend creative rights."
--ValleyWag
"That's a shame, since the logo is clearly designed to pay tribute, and is a great, noncommercial way of exposing hundreds of millions of people to Miro's work. Of course, the news story probably got them even more publicity, so maybe this was a smart move."
--InsideGoogle
"Stories about patents stifling innovation have become pretty common. It's unfortunate that some are abusing the copyright system to prevent the world from being a more beautiful, visually interesting place."
--Techdirt
Don't sit facing a mirror
Seems there is never a dull moment in the life of pensioners!
Viewers of my Profile picture will see that the skin of my head is shared with hair. Whilst this is shorn in the fashion of a cockney crook, all is well but as it grows out, it is a bird of a different colour. Bits are white - which is OK but other areas look that shade of grey one sees on the coller of old men who like the company of small boys. I decided enough was enough and got myself some hair dye. That in itself is a whole day's outing. There is the all at once solution in various shades from blonde to Afro black. Alternatively, there are products that allow one to deal with the grey over a period of time. This, to me, is a joke. Bad enough to face the looks of a sudden one-off job but what about dealing with a situation where it seems as if the Dorian Gray picture has gone into reverse?
The instructions are very simple. One of the few instances where the maker acknowledges that the end user may not be the full shilling in the comprehension stakes. Nice large print. Copious photographs. Stages all numbered from 1 to 4.
So howm given all this, did it go so wrong? I now have neither white or fiddler grey but I do look like Ronald Reagan on a bad hair day. In addition, some of the dye seems to have stained the skin so I will have to deal with the youth soliciting drugs from the African guy. I'm practising my "Do I look bovvered?" responses to comments but I foresee a hard couple of days.
Linking into my guest blog - perhaps I will have to make sure I do npot sit facing towards a mirror?
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
We have all laughed at the spiritual excesses of the Islamic religion presented by the fanatics who seek to show thier followers that they have influence over our Government. This however, has got to take the biscuit,
Jail toilets face away from Mecca
Facilities in a prison are being built so Muslim inmates do not have to face Mecca while sitting on the toilet.
The Home Office said two new toilet blocks are being installed as part of a refurbishment at Brixton jail in south London.
Faith leaders had told prison bosses it was unacceptable for Muslim inmates to face Mecca while using the toilet.
"The refurbishment has been carried out with due consideration for all faiths", a Home Office spokeswoman said.
"Following consultation with faith leaders within the prison, various small adjustments were made to ensure the faith issues of all prisoners are taken into account."
She added: "The money spent did not affect the overall cost of the refurbishment programme."
Without being gross, I would have thought that to sit FACING Mecca was the least offensive posture> Turning them round means that their ..........., Get my point?
Thursday, 20 April 2006
No jokes please
 Ananova: |
|
| Tailor-made condoms |
Individually tailored condoms that are anatomically designed to fit each penis perfectly are going on sale in Germany.
Businessman Oliver Gothe, 36, is behind the Cologne-based company Lebenslust (Lust for Life), which has invented a system to make personalised prophylactics.
Using a machine that measures each member to produce a unique 3D computer image, Gothe then lets his customers choose the thickness of the condom and add extra details.
Gothe said: "These condoms will fit so well you will hardly notice you are wearing one. We can make them wafer thin or fist thick and 'engrave' them with your signature wrapped around the base."
The service will cost around £600 for a "large but an as yet unspecified number" but Gothe insists the price is worth it as his condoms are comfier and safer.
I wonder how much he charges just to use "a machine that measures each member to produce a unique 3D computer image"? I tend to question his statement that a "fist thick" condom will be more comfortable. Possibly more comfortable than a traffic cone but even that must depend if one is a giver or a receiver.
How do you know when politicians are ...........
Two guests in one day?
Yes, why not. It's a big house. Besides, I like political comment.Recently read a speech by Tony Blair on Iraq where every sentence was a lie. With George Bush of course, it is impossible to remember a sentence he has ever said that contained any truth. There's an old joke - how do you know when a politician is lying? When they have their mouth open.
When I was seven my beloved grandfather died. My grandmother wrote me a letter I have always kept. The core of it was this 'Hoping in all your life to come, you will try and live your life according to your Grandad's standard of honour. Remember to never touch strong drink and never lie about anything whatever the provocation might be. Do all you can in trying to help others and always remember that right always triumphs over wrong.' He was a good man, Charles Young, a 'gentleman to his bootstraps' as my grandmother also said. A lot of talk about honesty in politics lately. One reason is that governments in recent years have become more and more ideological, more and more determined to push a policy irrespective of the facts - the Iraq war springs to mind, and global warming, and tax cuts for the rich, and social security policy, and voting fraud and .... As a result, when it comes to communicating with the public about what is being done they can't produce the real reasons, the public almost certainly won't like them, and so the truth must be bent. And this is the other process going on. Not so much outright lies, necessarily, sometimes these come back to haunt you, but spin. Politicians have become expert in recent years at giving words new meanings, of phrasing things in ways that can have two meanings, and of commanding those around them not to tell them the facts so they can deny later ever knowing what was going on.
I have heard commentators defending this ducking and weaving and playing fast and loose with the truth as just the way it has to be in politics. People like me, believing in being honest, are presented as naive for thinking it can be different. But why should politics be different to everyday life? Do you deliberately mislead your friends? If you are a nurse or teacher or a farmer or in business, do you deliberately withhold information, or tell lies to your patients or students or clients or customers? Maybe I should send a copy of my grandmother's letter to all current politicians and aspiring ones. But surely they also had grandparents who brought them up to tell the truth? Was there not a grandmother DeLay, a grandfather Cheney? Did Rumsfeld's grandparents teach him nothing? Where do these people get their morals and values from?
And how do I rate against my grandad's measure? Well, not 100% I'm afraid. I do like a drink or two.
Cancelled Visits
Today was to have been Adventure Day 06. I had been thinking about a trip to the Yorkshire Dales. No reason; just a return to a place where many happy memories lie. However, as the start of the day is damp and misty, the Adventure has been called off. Little point in saying, "Remember the day I almost ran up that bloody big hill?" when the view is as misty as the recollection. It will be done though. Just a case of getting inclination matched with pain-free hip and weather for long views. I had been looking forward to showing Sable some of Sheba's favourite and comparing her reaction. What would have been superb would have been a reenactment of the cavalry charge into the ducks just as the serious camera-man had them lined up to his satisfaction. Way back then I almost rolled into the river with laughter so Lord knows where I would end up if we could do it again.
My guest blog also concerns a visit that was cancelled. By DIY rather than weather though.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Whilst I have to admit that my performing minor surgery on #1 son with a Swiss Army penknife may have influenced his reaction to pain and a preference for DIY medicine, I do not think that his medical treatment ever matched this account. However, if it did - I apologise.He had gone and gotten Rob's set of tiny drill bits and drilled though his own fingernail. The blood had spurted out and was, by all accounts, very cool. And most importantly his finger didn't hurt anymore. He said he knew that if I brought him to the ER that they would insist on giving him some sort of shot for the pain and he didn't want that. Ah yes, a shot of lidocaine would be much, much more frightening than having a drill taken to your fingernail.
Wednesday, 19 April 2006
OMG
Teach me to do damned stupid tests just for a laugh
What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com
What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com
Memories of a 20-pinter
Maybe need to explain this title. A "20-pinter" is a measure used by the brutal and licentious soldiery to define the amount of drink that needs to be consumed before a female looks drop-dead gorgeous.The scale runs out at 20 pints. Beyond that, there is a serious likelyhood of death intervening.
I'm sure she is a nice girl though!
Thing is, she is such a big girl that she has killed my divider and Guest Blog heading. However, the intent can still go even if the presentation is not normal.
The guest blog was going to be appropriate anyway. This is a lady who is quite adventerous in her diet. Certainly this is something that will not figure in our Jamies Cook Book For Schoolkids.
Tuesday, 18 April 2006
A sort of cartoon incident
There is a article that might help to understand the hoo-ha about those cartoons, I felt that what the newspaper was trying to do was demonstrate just the sort of trouble contributers might face. This comes from the horse's mouth of a Islamic media man.
I used to work for the people who publish Arab News. I can truly confirm the points he makes as to the atmosphere.
Fawaz TurkiSaturday, April 15, 2006;
I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.
It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely in the European and American media, including this paper. What mattered was that I had committed one of the three cardinal sins an Arab journalist must avoid when working for the Arab press: I criticized the government.The other two? Bringing up Islam as an issue and criticizing, by name, political leaders in the Arab or Islamic world for their brazen excesses, dismal failures and blatant abuses
Upton Park - 2 stops short of Barking
The flat seems quiet today. The feeling of new life from the week-end is fading. The dog keeps looking up and around as if she can sense the ghosts of our visitors.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
As someone who had quite a few members of my mother's side of the family living in Barking, I sort of grew up there alongside almost-Cockney aunts and uncles and old friends of same. One of the pubs where I conducted my romantic bits was there also. Although it was not Alf Garnett land, it was close. So, I was sad to see the claims of a Labourite (friends of the common people eh?) government as to how an election might pan out. However, seems I am not the only one.I couldn't help linking my experience on Sunday with some of the stuff in the weekend papers about the BNP - it was sad to see a Posh Lady in the cabinet talk about how the likes of Barking have changed as if she'd only just realised it, and you have to wonder what's wrong with our education system when people grow up that stupid to think that voting for a bunch of Nazis is acceptable.
.
Because here was a world that's about to disappear - that old white working class community, the one that drinks together, looks after each other - under threat from economic forces and other factors. Did these old folk really want a world in which their children and grandchildren couldn't afford to live in the town there were brought up in? Did anyone ask them if they wanted to see the fabric of their home town change totally within a decade? Of course not. Will anyone campaigning in the local council elections recognise this? No. Their fears will go unchallenged, helping the wicked lies cooked up by the far-right spread.
So it can't be a surprise when they end up turning to a bunch of fruitcakes and nasty bastards who can put on a better show of "listening" than anyone else. Think it couldn't happen here? In Ireland, Sinn Fein uses the same tactics and is now a serious political force as well as the friends of terrorists. Voting for Nazis is never, ever acceptable - but it hardly takes a degree in politics to realise why people are being pushed into their embrace
Butch Cassidy rides again!
Never mind Fuego. Butch lives to ride again. Hands are nicely low down. Good stirrup position. Perhaps he is a natural?See what I said about the horse?
Joining the Club
It was not all fun and games on that visit you know. Liberty had to undergo indoctrination to the feared Quilters web.
Parentage
Don't know how many of you saw the TV interviews of parents of the officer latest to be killed in Iraq. The father is a Brigadier but, even taking this into account, they show tremendous fortitude quite different to the images of a shattered life one normally sees. This is a poem that has been attached to a forum
And though you be done to death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;
If you played your part in the world of men,
Why, the Critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he's slow or spry,
It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts,
But only, how did you die?
Differing interests
This is interesting - well, to me anyway. It scopes out the posting volumes per day by content.
Whilst we may have had a parochial interest in the events of 7/7, elsewhere seemingly mundane events attracted the same volume of postings. Thinking back to the tsunami of the London bombing posts, who would have thought that a Intel version of Mac would come close to that degree of interest.
Oh - and look at the number of posts. 50,000 per hour. Makes me look at my hit counter in a new light. Elsewhere, this chart announces that a new blog is created every second and more than 80% are still running after 3 months.
Awesome!
Whilst we may have had a parochial interest in the events of 7/7, elsewhere seemingly mundane events attracted the same volume of postings. Thinking back to the tsunami of the London bombing posts, who would have thought that a Intel version of Mac would come close to that degree of interest.
Oh - and look at the number of posts. 50,000 per hour. Makes me look at my hit counter in a new light. Elsewhere, this chart announces that a new blog is created every second and more than 80% are still running after 3 months.
Awesome!
I don't know exactly why or what makes this amusing to me but it has been haunting me since I first saw it about three hours ago. It is not often nowadays that cartoons have this 'stickability' with me. Just for that, the original poster gets a place in my guest blog spot. Welcome sir - please come in.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Here he is. The man who made me giggle - and has done many times. I think the Old Peoples' Home setting is great
Monday, 17 April 2006
My Dog and dirty doings.
Sable has been very funny whilst the kids were here. Obviously, having to take second place is scary for one who insists on 100% attention but she has gone to extremes to demonstrate how she feels. She kept a very close eye on them all the time. Any time she thought they were too involved with me, she forced herself into the group. Yesterday, Norma took her to the beach with Caroline and the children. Plot was to drop dog and visitors at one end and they would walk down to a pick-up at the other end. She went off quite happily but then realised she had no 'owner' with her. She came back. She was encouraged to go back to the kids and went but would not stay. She obviously thought she was being given away and was two paws into the rescue dog place. In the end, Norma had to do the walk with them but the dog still stayed close to her.
This morning, when they were off, they came to me for kisses and hugs. She saw this and jumped onto my lap and gave me a million kisses. All the while with her eyes towards the children to make sure they were taking it in.
So much for dumb animals! Huh
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Now, this is very spooky. Even if one can resist conspiracy theories - I read and enjoy them as fiction but avoid the tinfoil hat - this could be very serious if even partly true. The fact they are claimed to be using irregular forces that very recently targetted US Forces makes it all the more cynical. I wonder what is in it for them if they come out on the winning side?Are We There Yet?
by digby
Following up on my post from Friday highlighting Colonel Sam Gardiner's statement on CNN that the US already has troops in iran, I see (via robelicit at kos) that Dennis Kucinich has sent a letter to the president asking if such reports are true.
Gay Times
Not a lot of time right now for a personal bit. I'm hot on tracking something on Newsgator. If you are someone who reads a lot on the Internet, this is a Godsend. My Bookmarks page had got to almost two pages and was very cumbersome. My reader has made a heck of a lot of difference.
This is from a gay male contact site - don't ask how I got there! The - I suppose c.v. is a good as name as any - that this guy gives is not so very different to those from others on the site. It does not, however, reflect the sort of c.v. one sees (I see) at lesbian contact sites. Wonder why that is? He certainly reveals himself. It is just the language. Is it that I am more homophobic than I thought? Anyway - it's here because I doubt that many of us see this sort of thing. So - insight into another's world.Sometimes, I think that life is going by so fast. I wonder if I am taking time to smell the right type of flowers. I am so blessed with a healthy life, an amazing business, incredible parents, fantastic friends, and the mystries of what is next for me.
I am not your typical man.... I ask very little of those in my life, to be my friend/lover/partner/???? I do require absolute honesty. I live freely and freely give love to those who will be truthful to themselves.
Life is a cup, full of suprises, my cup got something I never thought it would. A wake up call that said it was time to get healthy; mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and become financially accountable. I have done just about everything I thought I needed to do to fill my gay cup and decorate it with things that don't really matter. Now I want people in my life who only put good things in my cup.
I believe we meet people for three things in life:
1. A Reason-that brief moment to make you realize that you are better off than most.
2. A Season-of time that taught you the lesson you didn't expect.
3. A Lifetime-of moments that make your heart skip a beat.
As for what I am looking for:
I don't know who he is yet but.... Someday the universe will have our paths connect and we will walk together for a lifetime. We will define our relationship to our liking. Sometimes the path will get very rocky and I might fall and he would pick me up and carry me to safer ground. Occationally I may have to step in front of him to show him the way and maybe carry him piggyback style. Who knows how it will all go? I welcome the day it all begins.
Feel free to say hello. I wish everyone health and happiness
Andrew
One more thought: I am HIV positive, and I meet many people who look at me with a look of disapproval, disappointment, or pity. Try not to assume someone got infected by sleeping around, or someone didn't want to take the time to play safe.
Educate yourself.
BE RESPONSIBLE to others.
And just because he is your new boyfriend and he says he is HIV neg. Doesn't mean it is telling the truth.
Many people are infected everyday. Knowledge is power. Ignorance is delusional bliss.
Easter come, Easter go
Today, grandchildren go home. I think they enjoyed themselves - at the very least, they will have been bored in new surroundings so that was a bonus. We've enjoyed having them here. It has caused us to put ourselves into 'entertaining guests' mode and that is always pleasant. We have seen things from a slightly different viewpoint and have had to think more about things we say and do which are an alteration of our now very ritualistic lives. Only thing is they have awful preferences in television viewing.
This deals with what happened in Argentina when the country achieved Freedom. Just a quote from a General on the 'liberating' side says it all. One of the generals of the Argentine army said to International Herald Tribune in 1977, "First we will kill terrorists. After that, we will kill collaborators. Later we will kill the supporters. And, finally, we will kill hesitant people." That was the climate of our time. That was our adolescence. Not all popular movements should be so-called
Sunday, 16 April 2006
What's wrong with this?
KrisKristofferson
I took myself down to the Tally Ho TavernTo buy me a bottle of beer.
And I sat me down by a tender young maiden,
Who's eyes were as dark as her hair.
And as I was searching from bottle to bottle,
For something un-foolish to say.
That silver tongued devil just slipped from the shadows,
And smilingly stole her away.
I said: "Hey, little girl, don't you know he's the devil.
"He's everything that I ain't.
"Hiding intentions of evil,
"Under the smile of a saint.
"All he's good for is getting in trouble,
"And shiftin' his share of the blame.
"And some people swear he's my double:
"And some even say we're the same.
"But the silver-tongued devil's got nothing to lose,
"I'll only live 'til I die.
"We take our own chances and pay our own dues,
"The silver tongued devil and I."
Like all the fair maidens who've laid down beside him,
She knew in her heart that he'd lied.
Nothin' that I could have said could have saved her,
No matter how hard that she tried.
'Cos she'll offer her charms to the darkness and danger,
Of somethin' that she's never known.
And open her arms at the smile of a stranger,
Who'll love her and leave her alone.
And you know, he's the devil.
He's everything that I ain't.
Hiding intentions of evil,
Under the smile of a saint.
All he's good for is getting in trouble,
And shiftin' his share of the blame.
And some people swear he's my double:
And some even say we're the same.
But the silver-tongued devil's got nothing to lose,
I'll only live 'til I die.
We take our own chances and pay our own dues,
Ah ha ha ha.
The silver tongued devil and I.
And some say that country music is rubbish!
Watchers of CSI beware
As someone who was asking questions in criminal investigations a long time ago, I am interested in the advances of forensic science. These have made the lives of investigators much easier. But - and isn't there always a But - they have made legal matters more complicated. Defence lawyers love having opportunities to cast reasonable doubt on evidence. With advances at the cutting edge, these opportunities are many. Maybe too complex for the jury made up of the average layman. I personally see little difference if the chances of a DNA match are that only one person in, say, six billion will match are reduced by defence work to one in six million. There will be other evidence.
Just don't believe all you see on the CSI series of TV shows.
Running in America is a case where a woman alleges she was raped by a number of members of a sports team. It has raised considerable contraversy regarding DNA evidence. Someone who admits to being a militant feminist put a number of questions to experts in the DNA field. She has highlighted one of the responses as being - sorry to do this - seminal to the matter.
Simon Ford
Trained primarily in molecular biology and biochemistry, Dr. Ford is the Founder and President of Lexigen Science and Law Consultants, a firm that specializes in providing advice to lawyers about genetic evidence since 1988. He has personally reviewed the DNA evidence from thousands of criminal investigations and has conducted numerous workshops for agencies on the analysis of STR test results.Barry:For your information, I've not been following the reports of the Duke rape case allegations, all I know is that the incident allegedly involves multiple potential assailants, and that the initial DNA report failed to establish a link with any of the individuals tested from the Duke team — that's about all I know.
One important issue underlying the media coverage of a story like the Duke incident is that TV shows like CSI have raised unrealistic expectations in the general public of what forensic science, and specifically DNA testing, can do. People get the idea that you run a test, it takes just a few hours, and you get a definitive answer yes or no. In truth DNA testing takes much longer, can produce ambiguous results and has always got to be considered in the framework of the specific question asked and in the context of other biological tests, such as microscopic observation of cell types (for example sperm in a rape case) or serological tests for body fluids (such as semen). Also there are different types of DNA tests. Many labs start with the standard autosomal STR test on sex assault cases. This test looks at regions of DNA which differ from person-to-person and are scattered across the non-sex chromosomes. In some instances, for example samples which contains large amounts of (female) victim DNA, the assailant's DNA may get swamped out, and so the lab can use one of the Y-STR tests, which homes in on variable regions only found on the Y-chromosome (which men have and women do not). In cases of this type, the initial (autosomal) STR DNA report may fail to report a match with the suspect but a later Y-STR DNA report may incriminate. There can also be other simpler explanations for a negative initial report being followed by a later incriminating report, such as refining the choice of samples to test. I would not read too much into a negative report until the whole testing scenario has been completed.
With regard to your specific questions. I don't know much about testing for latex and detection of condom use. The question regarding mixtures is easiest to deal with. A mixed DNA profile will consist of the DNA profiles of the contributing individuals superimposed, one on top of another. It can be quite complex, because not all contributions are going to be in equal amounts, causing unevenness in the profile, and the DNA profiles of the individuals who contribute least to the mixture may well drop below detectable levels. So the first potential problem is that minor contributors may be missed. Beyond that though, it is still possible to answer the question as to whether a specific profile can be excluded as being a potential contributor to the mixed profile.
Once you have determined that a particular profile cannot be excluded the problem is how to express the significance of that observation; and this is were statistics comes in. The statistical calculations for mixture cases can be quite complicated. In single source cases labs often report stats in the trillions and quadrillions but in mixture cases the stats can be dramatically eroded — the more contributors, the less powerful the stats — it is not uncommon to see stats in the tens or hundreds in mixture cases. The presence of multiple contributors can erode the statistical power of the test to the point whereby, if there are enough contributors, the test really doesn't have any useful meaning any more. All the lab would be able to say is that there were a large number of contributors, but no further conclusions could be drawn.
Your two remaining questions are more difficult to answer, because they deal with DNA evidence without giving the context of the specific question being asked for that case or information about other biological testing. Every case is different and has its own nuances. With regard to DNA it all hinges on whether the specific allegations claimed by the victim are amenable to being proven right or wrong by DNA. If the claim is such that one would expect to see biological material and none is found, then sure it may be an indication of a false claim, but there are really so many other potential explanations, particularly when just dealing with the first round of DNA testing, such as issues like condom use, vasectomy, choice of test (autosomal STR v. Y-STR), choice of samples to test, many other things like this can all play a part.
Sorry I can't be more definitive, but I hope these comments help illustrate the difficult challenges that labs and attorneys face with regard to the real world usage of DNA evidence in criminal cases.
All the best,
Simon Ford
Time changes all things
Ok. Having the kids here proves it. Their visit before last - what, eighteen months ago, I led the charge up the sand dunes at Bamburgh and was King of the Castle. Out with them all day and still kept up with their antics - pressed at times but triumphant. Yesterday, there was no climbing required thank the Lord as I found myself lagging behind in just walking. Today, the bones and joints and muscles are all conspiring to tell me that my days as King of any Castle are over. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted. Thankfully, they are old enough to realise I'm old and not disinterested in what we do.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
This is very nice. Romantic. Heart warming. Uplifting. The date is 1 April 2005. Sadly, I see no mention of candle lighting in April 2006. No mention of any significant other. Looks as if things went to pot as they so often do in human relationships. Sad when things looked so perfect a year ago. Time has been at work here also.
April 01, 2005
Today
Today I lit a candle for you. It was the same one you lit for me exactly a year ago today.
I remember waiting in the airport, leaning against the column, thinking of our first kiss - the kiss I had yet to experience. I looked up in time to see you walking toward me, your hair slightly mussed, eyes looking a little sleepy. You stopped in front of me. You were smiling. You reached out and wrapped your arms around me, pulling me to you. I had to tilt my head back because you're so tall. Remember me telling you how much I like tall?
You looked into my eyes and then we kissed. It was a wet kiss, not unpleasantly wet, just wet. I melted. I'd waited so long, not realizing I'd been waiting.
That's the funny thing about you. I'd waited all my life to meet you and never even knew it until the moment we finally did.
So many things ended and began one year ago. The course of our lives changed, for ill or for good. Some may consider it all one big April Fools Day joke, but it isn't. It never has been.
We've danced our dances and cried our tears. We've laughed 'til our sides ached and we've exchanged angry words. We've kissed and made up. We've said hellos and goodbyes. How many times? Does it even matter? All I know is that I cherish the time spent with you, be it face-to-face, over the phone, or however we've had to make contact. I wouldn't trade this last year for anything.
Today I lit a candle for you. It was the same candle that you lit for me exactly one year ago today.
Here we go again
Well, look at this. New layout, new colours, new links, new toys. Still the same author though so maybe the old adage "different day, same shit" will apply.
The idea of having a Guest Blog is to try and force me to be 'creative' each and every day and not cheat by merely posting someone else's hard work and giving a link. I still get the option to showcase the work of those I admire, agree with, support or otherwise deem worthy of such publicity as this blog might give them. So, that is Intent & Purpose defined. Go now and wander about. Get touchy feely. Nothing is going to hurt you.
Credit for what I think is a damn fine template and attached bits goes to Gemmak. She has a button here. I recommend anyone wanting a design or update to anything existing visit with her. Most of what is here only originated in my stubborn head - without the slightest knowledge of what was possible and what was realistic. Gemmak (no - I don't know where the name came from; go ask her) not only told me very plainly when I was asking for the impossible but came up with the next best thing. I have to say that her next best thing was most often superior to my original.
TODAY'S GUEST BLOG
Just looking at what the robots are expected to accomplish prompts me to think, “Did all this initiative come from some decorated wheelie bins in Doctor Who?”
An anonymous reader writes "A European version of the DARPA Grand Challenge is being held in Germany next month. Instead of a race through the desert, the EU challenge is split into three events. Urban, non-urban, and landmine detection will be the 'courses', with multiple winners in each event. Interestingly Sebastian Thrun, winner of last year's Challenge, has been forbidden from taking part despite being a European citizen." From the article: "The trials will take place in and around Hammelburg, a mockup of a town used by the German military for training exercises. In the non-urban course the robots will have to contend with a one-kilometer route containing ditches, barbed wire fences, cattle guards, fires, narrow underpasses, and inclines of up to 40 degrees. The urban and landmine 500-meter trials will require the robots to negotiate doorways, stairs, partially collapsed buildings, and poor visibility from smoke or partial lighting. Along the way, they will also have to search for designated objects and report their findings back to base."
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