Electronic Scribblings

Merlot!

The wine that is - you see I am a tad... pleasently plastered. Work has been a bit shit today - a real case of 'I shouldn't have said that to that person, who took it personally'. Sigh.

However I bring you links to stuff I am reading on the web, and stuff I am trying to read:

http://www.gurus.com/dougdeb/politics/209.html - Red Family, Blue Family - an essay about what Doug Muder thinks about how american people view their country (as family type thingies) and how this affects their politics. It is actually intersting and I think it is more than america, but also more than politics - a lot is about world views, and do you feel that you are beholden and hence part of a whole to which you owe fealty, and in turn has a hands off sort of paternalistic attitude, or are you the sort that choses who you are with and hence it is a commune type affair with a benevolant head.

So many modern people feel the latter - so many fundamental groups however feel the former - and by modern I do not mean 'better', but just that ... ok, maybe I am putting some sort of judgement value on it, but I suspect I am in the Liberal / Nurturant Family / Modern / Commune tribe sector (in fact I am, quite certainly) and not in the other. I can pretend I think I understand the interdependant Obligation family model, but am not really integrated into such a group.

.... OK complete distraction as I flipped to check something out. It is a bad time for my favorite TV show presenters.

Stever Irwin died and now Richard Hammond is badly hurt & critical.

I give up. Today is not cooperating.

News bites

What's past is prologue (Canada): Adoptees and birth parents find hope in controversial law

Vegitative patient 'communicates' "We see this as a proof of principle: we have found a way to show that a patient is aware when existing clinical methods have been unable to provide that information."

 

Nepalese Women gain key rights, amoungst others, the proposed law would give full citizenship to children born to Nepalese mothers. ~ Interesting idea, that you can be born in a country, to a citizen of that country but not yourself be granted citizenship.

Oh, and anyone who doesn't know about Bletchley Park  - back of the history class! OK, maybe not. It was mostly dismantled after WW2, but not fully decomissioned until 1987. In fact it's wartime history didn't begin to emerge until the 70's, when the wartime information was declassified. However I am going tomorrow to see the British Turing Bombe - it isn't fully commissioned, but... Wow!

Kitties!!!!

Main coon kittens via webcam!! http://chafervalley.dyndns.org/

YouTube! Monkeys

What we are

YouTube! video titled A short movie about what we are.

OK, I would not notmally promote videos but this is too funny, and worse, too true.

 

The Ladies Loos

The Ladies' Loos: From Plumbing to Plucking, a Practical Guide for Girls

Cool - this is out soon! Sadly Amazon don't have a cover picture but the publishers do: http://www.thefridayproject.co.uk/books/loos/

 

Updated 18-Oct-06: Now they do :)

 

Random update

How much do we really know about WWII - oh, we know the main bits that we were taught in history class or learn from family or newspapers/online but there is a lot we don't - stuff that falls between the cracks, that no one thinks to say or even thinks about and hence just doesn't cross our radars.

Today's pondering was brought to you by the BBC Photo esssay on Africa's WW2 Veterans - hmmm, well yes, it is obvious that black african's probably fought in the war - we had Afro-american soldiers, we had Sikh's and others from the Indian sub-continent.... but have you ever thought about it?

"From Ceylon we left for Burma via India. From Burma we went to Japan," Tarambwa Kutsanza recalled. "They gave us rum and cigarettes."

But in many parts of africa these soldiers are considered collaborators with the collonial rulers.

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In other news, I hope to record this:

Star Wars: Shortened!

Sky Movies 6: Sunday, September 10 2006 (20:30 - 21:00)

Abridged performance, condensing the plots of all six sci-fi films into 20 minutes
Runtime: 30 minutes

Looks amusing!

 

 

Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter, has died

Apparently a stingray barb hit him in the chest and pierced his heart.

My first thoughts were that at least his cheeky crocs & snakes were not to blame.

It isn't clear if his wife knows yet - Terrie is in Tasmania.

QotD: Three-Day Weekend!

What are your plans for the holiday weekend?

I am in the UK, and it is not a holiday weekend for me. However I have got Monday off :)

Last weekend WAS a Bank Holiday in the UK however, Late August Bank Holiday.

What is it that the US celebrate? Or is it just a generic holiday?

If real people looked like manga...

...we would look like this (or at least some).

Home!

I will be dealing with photo's soon - and have promised to have some sort of photo account, I mentioned Flikr or here, not that they know Vox, and a couple were unsure of blogs, but hey :) I intend to corrupt!

 

I have been to a number of places, and seen a number of things, and failed to do others. I shall try be rational and do a 'Wot I did on my HOlidaY's by Me, aged 39 1/2 Years OLd!' (Spelling & capitalisation intended).