Shake the Bottle, Wake the Malvino.

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/

thinking... "Two weeks to Croatia!"

I have no idea why.



Ok, so it's Monday, but I'm a student for 2 more weeks and teachnically every day's the same.

An extraordinarily pretty girl smiled at me as I was riding through Datchett. I nearly fell of the motorcycle, hurrah for summer!

A baby Vashti poked her tongue out at me from the back of a car, Spitting image, just 4 or 5. I poked my tongue back out at her but had a full face helmet on and couldn't think of any appropriate hand gestures before the lights changes and I left her far behind.

I decided to write a classic children's book. One that will help them understand the concept of death, and not to fear it as the unknown but to enjoy life as it comes.

http://www.myconfinedspace.com/?attachment_id=29972

“We do not want governments to take actions that they would not have taken had we known why they were taking them. But this means that we have to know what the governments are doing and why independently of what they want us to know"

This is the kind of thing I'm up against in unravelling the tangled minds of Political Science theorists.

edit: Holy cockjobbies captain! Submission isn't until Monday 21st, I have BAGS of time!

THEY'RE ALL SO YOUNG!

and my tutor made fun of my beard, although then complimented me on not having the usual straggly article sported by the younglings.

Where will the barely moustachioed ex-tyrant flee to in order to live out his days in happy retirement?

I have no poll function, but if I did I'd ask you bet in BANZAI! fashion from:

Paraguay - Popular with the Nazis, or was that Uruguay?
Switzerland - Neutral country, and if he does have a small boatload of money there he'll be able to live in comfort.
Saudi Arabia - Worked for Idi Amin, probably not much fun though if he has to convert to Islam.
St. Helena - He can spend his days playing bowls in the Bishop's lawn and trying to avoid having landcrabs nip his toes (not a euphemism, it's a nice bowling green).
Hawaii - The Marcoses found a warm welcome there, but then they had raped their country to invest in US business for personal gain, so Reagan was more kindly disposed to them that Bush Baby will be to a man who just raped his country for the sake of it. Besides, the shirts wouldn't really suit him.
Britain - Probably be grudgingly welcome due to being in danger at home (and if Adolf Hitler flew in today we'd send a limo anyway), wouldn't be out of place among the MCC members at Lords.

Bet Now!

I love the Magnificent Seven, it's one of the best remakes of all time. It's hard to say which is better, it or the Seven Samurai. Personally I'd have to say that I think they're equal but different.

If it were a good time for it to be remade again, where would you set it? I think I'd put it in Sierra Leone/Libera/region and have the 7 as mercenaries who've fought in the region and finally had enough, which may be why I'll never be a film producer.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/

It works off Google maps, or Multimap or something, so you can can map a route anywhere in the world, not just the US of A.

edit: ow ow ow ow ow! Guess any exercise is going to be lighter than normal this week (hopefully not longer), and limited to those things that don't need any sort of grip.

I've dislocated my finger again. Last knuckle on the middle finger of my left hand. Last time (10 years ago) the finger ended up straight, with the nail facing wrong way. This time it just skewed off and resembled a golf club. It went back in easy enough, and I carried on playing because it was blizzarding anyhow and everything was numb, but now it hurts, and I have no serious plainkillers or illegal drugs to hand. Any young ladies available to come and kiss it better? Virtual sympathy is welcome (I promise no photos unless it looks really tasty later in the week).

http://www.minijuegos.com/juegos/jugar.php?id=6399

It's guitarhero, that you can do at work (if you have headphones and a screen that the boss can't see)

On the list of things that make you feel manly, fixing a motorcycle should rate quite highly, if it's not already. I changed the clutch lever yesterday morning, easy job, you undo a bolt, take the wire out of the old lever, put the wire in the new lever (which you pre-greased liberally with thick black goo), put the bolt back in, fiddle with the adjustment bits until the slack in the wire is all sorted. It's not much different from the brakes on a pushbike.

Then you go off to play rugby and rejoin your team (having missed the last game, the one where they were thrashed and lost the top spot on the league table because you weren't there), and you comfortably walk all over the opposition 43-7. Happy manly days of manliness :)