Shake the Bottle, Wake the Malvino.

Alfred Tennyson, Lord Tennyson

Crossing the Bar

SUNSET and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness or farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

So apparently the Black Crowes have been suing Gretchen Wilson for stealing their song, Jealous again, or just commenting that she's copied them, or maybe just pointing out their influence, who knows?

Here's her song.



Yeah, they have a strong case if they are actually involved and it's not just lawyers doing what lawyers do, but it's still a good song.

How's your weekend going?

Stolen from kelemvor

"If you saw ME in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for? Post this in your own journal after replying and see what crimes are you accused of."

Hazel Blears may not be the blogger's favorite just now, but she does have a very valid point about career politicians.

It's entirely possible that over the next couple of decades we could have ordinary people sidelined completely from politics (even the unions and grassroots members seem to have little say these days), setting up the kind of ruling elite that's damaged the US so very much.

It's a Tuesday, it's also the day Bush leaves the Whitehouse (barring war and the imposition of martial law).

Anyone got a plan to meet up and do something stupid around Parliament?

Hurrah!

On the way to work I thought of all kinds of things to write about, from Obama's assassination to the change having taken place over the last 8 years, not over the last 8 hours (why is history always taught around the people and events and not the processes?)

Anyhow, now I can't be bothered. Time will tell, and Bush still has his legacy to create, so we can expect something monumental before January (invasion of Venzuela?). I think Obama will have a huge test early on too, like Bush faced with the downed spyplane in China, that'll be interesting, my money's on Venezuela again to push him a little and see how he responds.

(bet it's less than a week before someone, [possibly McCain himself] says the election was thrown deliberately for progress, for the USA, for history, and for the chance of becoming a post-modern country).

Want ISO 9001:2000 (soon to be 2004)? Book me as a consultant for only £500 a day!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/7695225.stm

"A Dorset family were not allowed on a Ryanair flight because one of them had a "well thumbed" passport which check-in staff claimed was a security risk."

So, I won't be visiting Norn Ireland with them then, mine is probably worse than his. What kind of security risk is a middle class father travelling with his wife and kids to Barcelona anyhow?

but not enough money to get to Norn Ireland.

What can I do with my time?

Tuesday started at 40,000 feet somewhere over Africa, I think I was asleep at the time. Virgin’s food is noticeably better than American Airlines’ and they serve Johnny Walker Red. Bonus.
( This is where it starts to get wordy, and after this it's friends only too )

For Helen and anyone else bored, I'll serialise this in several parts. I started by keeping a brief diary, then got more verbose as time went on. It was written mostly for two of my colleagues who will do similar trips and havn't travelled a great deal, but I hope you like it!

( Monday )

I'm back from Malawi, with 7,000 or so words of diary (and 3000 more of meeting writeups) that I won't post here, if you really want to read about the trip ask me on MSN and I'll forward it over. It's not terribly exciting stuff, I spent more of the week in meetings, preparing for them, waiting for them, travelling to them, or flying (with sleep and food inbetween). I did get a day off to lounge by the pool, but didn't take any pictures to speak of.

Some of you know I smashed my bike up on Friday night, before going out on Saturday and hammering our rivals once more to get the season off to a flying "played 2 - won two". I'm fine, car was fine, bike is almost certainly written off completely.

The weekend failed dramatically at getting a replacement bike, or getting the old one looked at, so I've just been out and bought a new one, completely different but also pretty (and brand new, three years warranty etc. which should make it worth the money). A Derbi Cross City 125, in red, because red ones go faster.

Tomorrow I should have had all the paperwork sorted out and will pick it up on the way to work and post pictures, hurrah!

(shame to lose the Intruder, but then, she wasn't that practical and if the insurance pay out, as they should, it's for the best. I'll be able to get a more useful bike for longer distances and keep the new Derbi for hassle-free commuting and standby).

Also, I should be moving into a flat closer to work and rugby this week, hurrah again!

It's excellent, don't get me wrong. But is anyone else ever annoyed that there's an interesting-sounding article that you can only watch online? Wouldn't it be better if this was backed up with a text article saying the same thing for those who can't view video for whatever reason?

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/5072.htm

I deal with these people, they're disorganised as all hell but get the job done somehow.

In lieu of wordyness. Work goes well, and busy. The rain needs to stop though.

I went with this look:

( Read more... )

Today I did things, not much, but stuff. First I went to Uni and got psychoanalysed for someone's dissertation research. I'm a freak. I knew that.

Then I got a very sharp early 90s haircut, which fits rather badly with my beard, which is currently large and bushy and somewhat longer than my new sharp haircut. Tomorrow night most of it is being shaved off in favour of a Merve Hughes/Hulk Hogan style horseshoe tash, or possibly a Lemmy. Not decided yet.

All in all I've been pretty lazy since my last exam on Friday. How are you all?

Handwringing all over the interwebs and papers today, about how it's not football's fault. It's apparently the fault of a small minority of those who aren't real fans, the fault of the pubs for serving alcohol all day, the fault of the police not to keep them all apart, the fault of the council for having gthe big screen fail, the fault of everyone and everything except football.

The fact is that it is football's fault. Where football goes, fan violence follows, the two are inexctricably linked.

There has never been a rugby riot, nor cricket, yet they get fans just as large and just as partisan. Cardiff just hosted Milennium Magic, a Rugby league superweekend. 60,000 fans had a great weekend of sport without smashing the place up, or pissing and vomiting over everything. The fans of neither sport need physically segregating in order to physically prevent them from fighting. "It's the fault of the bars being open all day" I hear. Nonsense, at rugby and cricket matches the stadiums have bars that are open throughout, the fans drink just as much and get just as drunk.

Football's players are shitty role models for our kids, being primarily inarticulate and uneducated yobs. It's a game almost entirely devoid of sportsmanship, with cheating encouraged by the managers (who themselves scream and shout and throw tantrums like little children), rife with diving and feigning excruciating injury in order to gain penalties or the opposition sent off. On top of all this, it's not even a sport anymore, it's a business.

The only rational conclusion is to outlaw professional football.

Feels like Friday.

"What remains is for the Burmese government to allow the international community to help its people. It should be a simple matter. It is not a matter of politics. This is a matter of a humanitarian crisis" said Dr. Rice.

http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN07284609

This echos José Serrano, Democratic Representative for NY, who said "The decision to help people should not have any political calculations attached... The tragedy is that people's lives are at stake and they cannot seem to just accept the help."

The difference is that Serrano was talking about the Bush administration's refusal to accept the offer of immediate supply to the region of 1,600 medics, field hospitals and 83 tons of medical supplies from Cuba in the wake of hurricane Katrina. Scott McClellan (the Whitehouse spokesman of the time) said “When it comes to Cuba, we have one message for Fidel Castro: He needs to offer the people of Cuba their freedom.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9311876/