Electronic Scribblings

Politics of Parties

This amused me: BBC Magazine The politics of birthday parties
"Balloons. Pass the parcel. And a slice of cake wrapped in a napkin. Even those who take this lo-fi approach to their child's party run into the minefield of who to invite - and who to leave off the guest list."

How many of us have been in the party dilemma of how to treat the boyfriend of a best friend or what to do when you are not invited or don't want to go to a party because X is there. And, yes, this is about children's parties. Still, some of the situations are so very recognisable (E-numbers vs Alcohol, Parent/child vs GF/BF). Kindergarten politics are never far away.

Are you easily offended?

There has been quite a lot recently about offensive ads.

Specifically the Heinz gay kiss

CitizenSugar posted "Are We All Just Too Easily Offended?" and linked to an article about Absolut Vodka's new ads that are/will be specifically directed to the Gay &/or Lesbian market. mmmm. You know you are going mainstream when companies think they can win more money by friending you than avoiding you

(I confess I liked their website ad which hopefully you can check out with minimum pain).

BBC Magazine: Weird science

Explosions. Bunsen burners. Adoring crowds in evening dress - or school uniform - eyes wide with wonderment. Can we recapture the excitement of science, asks historian Lisa Jardine.

"The occasion was one of the Institution's celebrated Friday evening discourses, a fashionable event for which those who attended were expected to don full evening dress, and which caused such congestion on Piccadilly that Albemarle Street, on which the Institution stands, had to be designated the first one-way street in London, to cope with the crush of carriages.

The Curies were the scientific stars of the moment: everyone in London wanted to meet them. In the packed theatre, eminent scientists rubbed shoulders with leading members of London's high society, craning their necks in anticipation."

Source

I love science, the magic and mystery that logic seems to explain yet, yet, the veil still lingers over so much. Modern quantum science closer to alchemy than many would like to know, biology still with so many questions to answer, so many questions to seek.

*sigh* Of course, I hated Chemistry but loved both Physics & Biology: the former hampered by my very poor maths and the latter my Uni subject.

To recapture the fascination would be wonderful :)

The Coffee HouseDebating today's environment

The Coffee House
Debating today's environment and possible solutions
Confused?

I like the cartoon that goes with this.

Getting versus staying pregnant

Hmmm, Interesting take on the situation.

Most people may have heard of the so called Pregnancy Pact in Gloucester, Mass. (USA) where (allegedly) a group of girls planned to get pregnant at the same time. Cue much talk about sex-education, social situation, contraceptive provision etc etc.

Nancy Gibbs (TIME) puts a different spin: Rather than a pact to GET pregnant was it a pact to STAY pregnant together? in other words, choose NOT to get an abortion and instead support each other through this?

You see it is quite difficult to get accurate figures for pregnancies: easy to get figures for BIRTHS. So, this increase in the town: is that in fact not an increase in GETTING pregnant but an increase in being willilng to stay pregnant?

ReVoxing Snowy: Y'know, George, I think you had it right.

Y'know, George, I think you had it right.

http://snowy938.vox.com/library/post/...

http://www.alternet.org/stories/89120/?page=entire George Carlin, American Radical By John Nichols, TheNation.com. Posted June 23, 2008. No one, not Obama, not Hillary Clinton and certainly not John McCain, caught the zeitgeist of the vanishing American dream so well as Carlin. I think it's the duty...

I want to read this properly this evening but have run out of lunch-hour so... Re-voxing Snowy.

Urban farming

BBC: Sowing the seeds of urban farming
Across the country, roof-top honey farms, window-box herb gardens and parkland vegetable patches are taking root.
And as food prices rise and the economic downturn bites, ways to grow your own, on your doorstep, are likely to become increasingly popular.

Unlikely to include me as my prime crop this year is (like last year) going to be blackberries from my brambles :)

however this contains links to other places that may be useful.

I do have herbs (sort of) out front and more lavender than I can ever do anything with!

I usually put as much as possible into my Rumtof but also just eat them, however would consider making Bramble Jelly as it looks simple enough.

Actually, as Rumtof is German for Rum Pot, mine should be a Vodkatof as I use Vodka instead. I also use primarily berries. hic! Making Triffle with the fruit and drinking the liquid is.. divine, but you shouldn't drive afterwards!

I think I have a new definition of cute!

more cat pictures

Just... Sqeee!

[Rabid cutesome baby talk to small fluffy animal has been censored to preserve your sanity]

Lavender Hedge

Proof that my lavender is in bloom :) this is just the bit hanging over the wall and onto the street

s320x240 Sat 21/06/2008 13:01 210620081916

Solstice greetings, the wheel of change turns

Today is the Summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and I am thinking about change.

Change in how you look at a deer is part of this. But also news, other blog posts: How do you change bad habits, how do you change what you do, how you care?

There is a huge feeling that Change may well be a good thing but ... but what are you willing to give up, to do to make that change happen? Probably not much. Oh, you will do the easy stuff, that doesn't really impact your life but gives you that little glow of Do-Gooder. Like recycling your glass (but only if your council comes & picks it up, or there is a convenient bottle bank).

On the other hand there are things that would really impact you personally that you may well say 'Well, I am going to choose to do what I want but feel that other's shouldn't make the same choice as if we all do the same thing that will be bad'. So we have increasing measles etc because fewer parents are comfortable with the MMR jab, thus reducing the herd immunity. So we have places in India where there are just 300 girls to every 1,000 boys among higher caste families. Oh, the last is illegal, of course. And contrasts with the previous quite nicely.

For an individual it is so easy to think you are doing only a little bad, a little damage. It isn't so important per person is it? but when it ads up....

What is a penny or cent worth? Not a lot. Anyone think of something you can buy with 1p or 1c?

...didn't think so.

How about if you scraped together 50?  700? Can you buy a couple of coffee's from Starbucks, with maybe a slice of something, and change for the tip jar? Or would you walk to the market, buy some own brand cheap stuff, and feed your family for another couple of days? Or buy organic fair trade stuff?

How about voting? about as useless some say as a penny. But if you have 700 you could tip the balance in an election, if you have 70,000 you could really change things....

Until you realise a lot of people are in favour of change for other people, but only want their own lives to get better, or at least not worse. Or that you are herding cats as everyone considers different things important and you are trying desperately to convince people that everyone needs to move in the same direction vaguely for society to have a chance at improving things.

How easy is it to recognise that what you want isn't what the world needs? That you may well be a unique snowflake but that you are just one amongst millions?

How do you inspire a desire for change?