Scattered thoughts

Ben and I watched the series finale of Doctor Who earlier, but obviously have not really discussed it online yet, in deference to those who have for some reason or another not been able to watch it yet. However, the BBC seemingly have no such restraint as they have managed to completely spoiler the episode for anyone who has not seen it yet.

First (and please don't click on these links unless you've seen it or don't care cos I don't want angry complaints on my journal ;)), they point out key plot points in their Ticker across the top of the front page of the news website. Secondly on the front page of the "Entertainment section" they pretty much give away the entire plot in the headline and summary. Then if you actually go in to the article the whole ending is laid bare as well as or better than any spoiler or summary site on the internet could.

Nice job BBC ;) I wonder how many angry people will get in contact to complain.

Watching the news today I'm shocked that the economy hasn't completely collapsed. As The Daily Mash said this morning: "STOCKBROKERS are preparing for a third day of running around and waving their hands in the air, shouting 'nooooooooooooooooooo!!!'."

The amount of doom and gloom has been amusing, but possibly because right now I have nothing to lose. In a fantastic scheduling coincidence, True Movies has the whole of this afternoon taken up with The Day The Bubble Burst, a film about the 1929 Stock Market crash. Seems rather apt ;)

On the local news there was no Kaddy doing the weather to keep the boys amused and hanging onto every second of the bulletin, instead, there was Michael Fish with a rather strange (but cool) tank top with weather symbols covering his nipples. I don't think benc will think it a good enough substitute.

( Michael Fish's Jumper )

My new meds are kicking in now, and instead of feeling very fuzzy, dizzy and somewhat stoned while also sleeping for about 18 hours each day I woke up before midday (a first since Saturday) and have felt relatively with it. A pity I have to up the dose tonight when I expect the aforementioned side effects to come back. At least I know they won't continue forever. On the upside, I am now sleeping through the night :)

Spent friday night playing GH1, 2 and 3 at Adam's house. There was also curry eaten. I'm much better at GH than I was the last time we had such an evening, which resulted in me being practically banned from playing on medium. Damn! I'll just have to get really good at Hard then ;) Pity hard is *so* hard. I'm stuck on the Kaiju Megadome set, so I've started on Expert to see if it will help me along with the last of the hard lot.

I've recently uploaded some new icons, which include some Third Watch ones (a series I'm very into at the moment) and the one I'm using today, the Epstein-Barr virus (also mononucleosis or Glandular Fever) which I had a few years back and ben got me for Christmas :)

( Which old language am I? )

Several years ago (possibly when my age was still single digits!) I was given a book of poetry by my Auntie Lee for Christmas (or a Birthday) called "Where the Sidewalk Ends". It had some lovely poems in, many of which I am still very fond of.

I don't often think of them, but today on irc, someone mentioned this story on the BBC news in which "A counterfeiter who produced fake £1 coins with an estimated total value of £14m, has been jailed for five years." Apparently "at one stage he was making 10,000 to 12,000 coins per day and was paid about £2,000 in cash a week by the two men.". This seemed silly to the person who first posted it into irc as "selling 60,000 pound coins for just £2000 doesn't seem like a good deal", and that is what made me think of the poem.

I've decided to share it with you all, for your amusement :)

Smart
by Shel Silverstein

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!

And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes -- I guess he don't know
That three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head--
Too proud of me to speak!

In other news, my hand is much better, as in much less owie. Ben and I took off last night's dressing and inspected it and it hasn't blistered, though in the worst place the skin doesn't look as healthy as it might. We've applied some antiseptic burn cream and redressed it and though it's still quite tender, it's not nearly as bad as it was. I'm leaving it open tonight so that it can air and then dressing it again tomorrow morning so it's protected while I do daytime stuff. Looks like I dodged a bullet there :) Once again, yay for cold water (lots of) and the first aid kit from the car :D

Christmas shopping tomorrow, and then we can relax for 10 days as stuff will have been done. Hurrah! :D

So after the new London 2012 logo was announced the BBC invited people to send in their ideas. Please look at number 5. It will be noted that they clearly chose someone who has never seen Goatse.cx (sfw wikipedia link) to moderate the pictures. Either that or the editor is having a huge giggle.

In case the picture gets removed I have saved it to my website (screenshot of the page on BBC here and produce it below:



The explanation that goes with it states Sean Stayte: "Here is my design for the Olympic logo. It is very simple and so memorable. The hands represent Britain pulling together to reveal the Olympics."

*giggle* Hands Britain pulling together my arse :P

That's made my day :D

Edit: They did remove it. Just as well I took the screenshot then :D

University in separate pay offer.

At least someone is trying to do something.

Given the story on the BBC website yesterday, and the Breakfast News this morning about a student's rent costing more than his loan (before his fees are factored in I believe...) I really shouldn't have been surprised that the BBC have opened up a Have Your Say discussion on the issue.

What always makes interesting reading here are the reader's recommended comments [think something like /.'s threshold system] on any matter on this site and reading the most popular one so far has made me very angry and frustrated.

Mr Roy Jones from Manchester has had the most reccommendations for his comments which run thus: "Poor students!! Many of whom's parents are filthy rich, many students spend 95% of their time socialising, most get higher than average paid jobs etc. The students in my area (Manchester University) are always drunk and anti-social, littering and trashing their rented accomadation and causing a nuisance to neighbours. If whinging students cleared their own act up perhaps people would have more empathy even taking into account student's general wealthy background and likely wealthy future."

Grr. It's certainly not the case of most of those people I went to University with and not the case of Phil who is there now. Incidentally his loan barely covers his rent and fees (well done Greenwich). I only really got through Uni cos of my part time job. I couldn't have afforded it otherwise. I worked two summers, which was the only way to pay Uni what I owed them from my first year when I couldn't afford my fees and rent because my LEA cocked up my assessment. Let's not even mention my maxed out student overdraft.

Does Mr Roy Jones' comment really reflect how people see students? Wealthy, anti-social and likely to be more wealthy in the future? What planet do they live on?

Now I'm upset and angry. People clearly just don't understand.

X-posted to ukc and canterbunnies

aww :( I read this story earlier and really touched me. Glad he had the chance to marry his partner before he died - wish he had had longer - maybe made it to after christmas. Glad people granted them early liscence :) Common sense.

Did we learn the lessons of Auschwitz?

Most people are having a fairly reasoned debate or contribution.

Then from Nathaniel, Houston, Texas, USA we get:

"Have we learnt the lessons of Auschwitz? Depends on who "we" are. America had to twice go across the Atlantic to stop smaller genocides taking place in Europe after WW 2 (Bosnia and Kosovo). America also stepped in to stop Saddam Hussein, a dictator who gassed people and sent them to mass graves. So I would say America has most definitely learned from Auschwitz. Now as for whether or not "we" the Europeans have learned the lessons of Auschwitz, that's another story. Europeans sat idly by as Milosevic's thugs massacred Bosnians and Kosovars. Europeans drew absurd colonial boundaries in the third world, and then lifted nary a finger when the tribes they stuck together within these boundaries began to massacre one another. So if the question is have "we" learnt the lessons of Auschwitz, one needs to consider who is meant by "we" before answering."

Do "we" think he voted for Bush then?

It's all over for Jack Maynard then ;)

Wedding was brilliant. Claire looked so beautiful, and Ben Tanner so handsome....neither of them could have looked happier I'm sure. More links will be added later, but mine are here.

Somewhat belatedly, the hen night pics are here. :)