Only in America

Yet another gun created tragedy. Only in America could this lunacy happen. Apparently both guns used were held illegally. Neither were held securely.

Obviously the Loonies of the  'Arm A Toddler'  NRA, will come out with the usual tripe; 'guns don't kill people.. etc.' Yes, true until you put into the equation such things as; a complete lack of training, no control over thousands of illegal weapons and ammunition, the fact that the many lackwits that have guns have absolutely no idea what the weapon will do to a human being. Perhaps the worst thing is that, to quote "is the feeling of invulnerability and power a gun gives".

We were trained to use the old SLR. They makes a right bloody mess of a person. We were shown films and images of this mess. We were made to understand all the responsibilities of weapon handling. This took a lot of time, and therefore, money.

Obviously if you can just go into a shop, buy a gun, and walk out with no training, a disaster is certain to happen. I cannot see the NRA or anyone in America enforcing training. I cannot see how arming everyone would improve things, imagine having to train all those teachers to handle weapons that they do not want to handle?

Ok, I think our gun laws went too far the wrong way. I actually almost liked target shooting (I was a good shot though) and our laws have done nothing to reduce illegally held arms. But to be honest I would prefer no one to have weapons who didn't need them to do their job. Farmers/gamekeepers to remove vermin etc... Not sure about those that shoot game though.

Sir Patrick Moore

R.I.P.

A list

Well blow me down. Phillip Schofield gave the PM a list of supposed paedophiles. A list gleaned from that most reliable of  source: The internet. Almost as reliable as the tabloid media.
 Now just imagine, your name is on that list. Not you, but some other bloke with the same name. Now, he and you are innocent. (in law at least, until proven guilty) But your name is on the list. In Stalin's Russia, or Hitler's Germany, a name on a list could spell a long spell in the gulag, or worse. Here, you have more to fear from the ill educated lack wits who cannot tell the difference between paedophiles and paediatrics. Even worse, even if only one person so named is proven guilty of something, then all the others will be cheerfully tarred with the same brush. Just because their names appeared on the same bit of paper.

This puts it so much better than I do...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100188769/burn-them-burn-the-funny-looking-the-strange-the-loners-they-might-be-paedos-all-of-them/

Well, I am pleasantly surprised.

Not being very cultural, finding new music and all that, is a bit behind me. I don't have a record collection, as such.  Pink Floyd, Genesis, Marillion, Yes, and that is about it. The rest is BBC Radio 2! However, whilst browsing ICHC (I can has cheeseburger? http://www.cheezburger.com/) in 'WIN' I found a track by Lindsey Stirling. Blimey I wish I could play any musical instrument that well. I can't even  play a  recorder, not even a tape one.

Another talented bunch are Blackbeard' tea Party. http://www.blackbeardsteaparty.com/  they busk around and have even visited the capital of sunny Flatshire.  Hope they come back soon. I would rather stand in the rain listening to them than being dragged around the shops. 
         

Wind Farms

I am in two minds about these wind farm thingies.The same argument can be put for solar Photo voltaic panels too.

On one hand, if you take them at their face value; they are fairly efficient, they don't produce pollution, they are not that ugly, especially compared to huge cooling towers and plumes of smoke. They don't smell, and birds do not fly into them and die.
 Solar PV, are not efficient enough as yet. Not at UK latitudes anyway. I don't care what the 'greenies' say. The manufacture of PV panels uses more power than the panels will produce in their usable life time (current state of the art). Unless you need to power a satellite, which can be in sunlight 24/7 (nearly) if in the correct orbit. In the UK, however, that's not happening.

On the other hand; if you take the energy used to manufacture wind farms, energy wise, they almost certainly will not 'pay' for themselves Unless they last for years without failure. Which they won't. Failutes will be commmon Manufacturing them does cause pollution.Repairing them does too. In the wrong places, they are pig ugly. And because they have movement, they stand out. You can get used to a big ugly building, they stay put. But something as dynamic as a wind farm?

Really, wind farms are a stop gap. Not a panacea for profligate energy usage. And without some form of energy storage, barley any use as a local source. Think about it, the wind is howling around the house. It's 03:00. You are in bed, asleep, in your gas fired centrally heated home. The only electricity being consumed is by the standby functions on the TV etc..( but as a good 'greeny' you have turned them off). Unless you have electric storage heaters, you are getting nothing from these things. Ok, other businesses could be using the total output from them, all well and good. But then what happens on a flat calm?

Batteries are not practical as energy storage. The state of the art is improving, but is still not good enough for a really practical car, let alone a house. Of course, you can get around that with money. Huge batteries are available. Purchase a used SSK, remove batteries and use. However, the batteries don't have a long use life, need regular, highly skilled (If not skilled, just remove the 's') maintenance. And are incredibly none green to make.

So what we really need is a constant, reliable, power supply. Well, that isn't happening until fusion power comes on line.

Ok, if you want to run your Nintendo, Playstation, what have you, you will have to go nuclear. Yep, Nuclear. For those that do not understand nuclear power, and have a computer with intertubes, use it to do a bit of research. Don't be thick and believe what others tell you, make your own mind up. There is NO excuse for ignorance. Here is a pointer- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor . Not perhaps the answer, but better than wind farms. Or is it?

KA114

Google it, you will not regret it.

Belief

I am totally puzzled as to why a 'belief' trumps a fact.


Now I expect that you, dear reader, will be familiar with such diverse words as; wapentake, resurgence, honesty...

In nuclear physics, the tiny words (if you like) of the particle zoo maybe a mystery to you, and me too, up to a point, and yet we can carry out experiments at home that confirm that our world is stranger than we think.The double slit experiment, for example, showing diffraction, can be carried out on your own kitchen table. Any flat surface will do. Particles or waves?
Atoms are made of mainly nothing, and yet we can touch things, alter our environment, sit down. Type on a keyboard, modulate pressure waves to make sound, see wavelengths at around 400–790 THz ! You can perceive sound from nearly 20Hz to 20 Khz  (that is if you haven't  been stupid enough to expose ones hearing to sounds so loud as to permanently damage your hearing). This doesn't take much to damage, trust me. I used to work with Firestreak air to air M> s, most of my contemporarys lost their high frequency  hearing due to the air turbine generator noise of M> s under test. Those who think they are 'cool' with their car audio thumping out loud beats, are screwing their  hearing up. Which of course , will make them turn it up more... And then the NHS pays for their stupidity. But of course, the NHS doesn't pay for their care, we do. We pay for the NHS. Taxpayers. *Note*, Taxpayers pay for the NHS. We pay for the police too. But I bet that taxpayers receive less, and a poorer service than those that do not.
   We had the misfortune to visit the local A&E recently. A family of absolute awfulness, whom we have the pleasure of maintaining  with our taxes, had the run or the place. Demanding this that and the other. For amusement, they were having wheelchair races around A&E. As most of them were smoking, (Including barely teenagers)  and it wasn't raining, they were outside. Thank fuck. Their 'rights', in their minds obviously trumped everyone else's. Fortunately, for us, our youngest only had a sprained ankle. Not a break. And we left after excellent service and patience from the staff. We left with relief,  they were stuck there dealing with the scum, who pay nothing in voluntarily contribution. No, tax on tobacco does not count as a voluntary payment. The 'illness' of their poorly family member was indeed smoking related, COPD was mentioned. Now I had a friend die of COPD due mainly to smoking. And a sad loss too, she worked until she could  not. She knew what caused it, and blamed no one else but her own stupidity for her condition. Dignity she knew. These, however, knew nothing of dignity, or of waiting lists, or of triage.

   This is a bit of an aside from my first thoughts of the evening. Apparently, a bunch of god botherers  have taken it into their tiny heads that killing someone because possibly, someone else has made a mockery of something that never existed, would bring peace. Or some shit.  Now I know there is, and never was and never will be a 'super being', unless of course we evolve into it. Look around you, do you think we will? Really, no. Thought not. There is no god, allah,  buddha. Just us. Actually, Buddha probably did exist, as did Jesus, I know at least one Jesus. And he drinks more alcohol than I do.

Sports

Well, I for one hate all, yes hate all, spectator 'sports' . I honestly do not give a single solitary damn about the current meeja fest.. I don't like the fact that so much public money was spent so pointlessly. I hate the fact that so many take it as read that because they like something, so does everyone else. All that money pissed away on what is in reality a big party. Ok whatever floats your boat, but don't come to me with your hangover. I would have preferred perhaps; fighting cancer, or maybe Alzheimer's  disease,  third world poverty, HIV, something useful like nuclear fusion. But no, it has to be on sport , so damned frivolous.

Don't get me wrong, if you like to kick a ball about (for example), fine, it's good for you to get exercise, but if you want funds for kit, say, dig into your own pockets, form a club. The public purse should not be used to pay for sport. I want my money to go to those who actually deserve it. As far as I can see, the most pointless people on the planet are professional 'sports persons',  professional god botherers, and politicians. If the whole lot were shot, no one would really notice. Well, maybe their NoK, but no one else.

On a similar vein, I notice that certain companies are 'sponsoring' the current crap going on in London. These companies are not privately owned,  but are owned by us TAX payers. Ie; you and me. Whether we want to or not, our cash is being wasted on something we did not choose. For example; Lloyds are giving our money away sponsoring something I would be embarrassed to be involved with. I have had my money saved with this bunch of shysters for years, they then fuck up so monstrously and have to be bailed out, not only by me, as a customer, but by you and me as a taxpayers. And for some reason, it's ok for them to give OUR money away? Well Mr Lloyds. Goodbye, I will be taking my money else where. Maybe the 'Bank of Dave' is a better bet.     

Puzzled

It's a mystery to me, the games commenced...

Apparently, global warming is caused by human activity, so, anything  that can be described as a frivolous addition to the CO2 levels it the atmosphere should be stamped on. So you greeny smokers of recreational pharmaceuticals, you should be first to be shot. With a reusable arrow ( and a yew bow ) of course. The current Olympic nonsense would, of course be classed as frivolous, as would any 'professional' sporting activity. Good bye ball kickers and your pointless hangers on.

The reality is totally different though. Human recorded history only covers a tiny fraction of one percent of the existence of our planet, which is about 4.3 billion years old. Yes, 4.3 BILLION years, get over it god botherers, the bible is wrong. Again. As usual. The temperature world wide has varied a lot over that time, from the whole planet being totally free of ice to an almost complete covering of snow and ice in the coldest months. In fact, fact lovers, not so long ago, where I am now sitting was a warm, shallow sea, that eventually laid down enough limestone to create Flatshire!

War on drugs.

    Apparently, there has been a war on drugs. Well, it doesn't seem to be very effective does it? Are there any winners? No. Losers? Yes.

    Our 'leaders' have no idea what 'recreational' pharmaceuticals do to the average (sub human, easily led) person. They, our 'leaders' can afford the finest snort and the finest medical care that our money can provide. Every one else is stuck with an NHS overloaded with druggies, self inflicted wounds, and alcoholics. Try taking your youngest daughter to A&E on a Monday evening. (fortunately it was just a sprain). The good news was the waiting fuckwit family all smoked, so they were outside, even the youngest, about 13, was tabbing away. The oldest, who looked to be in her 80's, though I suspect she was only in her 50's, was off her head on some drug or other. She appeared to be the reason they were all there.

Anyway, back to the main thread.
     Drugs. Well, I have to admit to a tad of hypocrisy at this juncture, I suspect I am a borderline alcoholic. I like to drink alcohol, and I used to smoke tobacco. Since I stopped smoking, I have developed a hatred for the stench of tobacco. On the other hand, I have never used any other drugs. Nor would I be tempted. The thought of loosing control permanently, has no appeal to me. It's bad enough having incompetent politicians without a rebellious brain.
    To me, there seems to be a 'black and white' (other skin tones are available) with drugs. Ok, there is a bit of a grey when it comes to a medical matters, but when it comes to 'recreational' matters, it seems to be clear. Don't. Fucking your brain up is, of course, your prerogative, until such time as you damage someone else, either by your action, or worse inaction. Remember, whoever you are, there are people who care for you, there are people who depend on you. You are responsible to those persons.
   There are parasites out there that care naught for you or yours. They want your bodies, or money, preferably the latter, as it is more easily negotiable. Users are losers.

   So, what to do? As far as I can see, there are two courses:
   Legalise all 'recreational' drugs. Make them available from Boots, Newmark, Loyds, etc. Tax them the same as fuel, tobacco, alcohol. Regulate until their eyes water. Ensure that all supplies are pure and sold at prices that any person can afford. Remove the 'special' cachet, and make them naff and boring.
   Make any illegal drug dealing/use a capital offence with immediate execution. No appeal.

   Both methods would take huge political bravery. Either will work in the long term, neither will be cheaper than the other, but either will be cheaper in monetary, and in humanitarian, terms than the current lack of method.

Either method would  remove the power from many criminals. Ok, we will still be stuck with the elected ones, but I didn't expect perfection. Just some protection for the terminally thick and gullible.

Disgusted. Again.

I took the liberty of cutting and pasting this from the Forces Reunited Newsletter:




"After the lacklustre coverage of the Diamond Jubilee, the BBC has now insulted the Veteran's of WW2 Bomber Command, their Families and the Fundraisers who raised over 6 Million Pounds, by not showing the unveiling of the long awaited Memorial.


Instead "Auntie" will be showing repeats or Tennis, great if your a Sports fan, but surely the loss of 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew, and commemorating them and all who served in Bomber Command should be higher on the TV Listings, a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.


Perhaps not paying our TV Licence fees might just give them a Jolt, after all can they really jail a Non Fee payer when they can't even jail hardened criminals!


Or we can do something British, we can write to Auntie and let them know exactly how we feel.

You can email those in the know at the BBC and share your thoughts:

Mark Thompson, BBC director-general
Email: mark.thompson@bbc.co.uk

Helen Boaden, head of BBC news
Email: helenboaden.complaints@bbc.co.uk

Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman, BBC Trust
Email: michael.lyons@bbc.co.uk "



I am steadily getting more and more fed up with all of the 'mainstream' meeja. By reading various blogs, then watching/listening to the 'news' I appear to be living in at least two different worlds. One a fairly depressing reality, the other an even more depressing  work of, well, propaganda.

Competence

I was intrigued by an editorial in EPE (http://www.epemag3.com/) . He states that; none of our current bunch of 'leaders' have any technological skills. No scientists , no physicists, chemists, in fact no one that would have any appreciation of the practical world we now live in. Not it's pitfalls, nor  it's true potential... On an other blog, last year, it was noted than at  the memorial service at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day, not one of our 'leaders' had any medals. None. Zip. Not even a Blue Peter badge.

And you wonder why we appear to be led by clueless lackwits?

Numbties

It's a funny old world, and no mistake.

I like to fill out on line surveys. I don't do them so much because I think my input is vital to the owners of certain cosmetics companies, but more in the questions they ask. Today, I did a survey for YouGov. They asked some very interesting questions, mainly to do with Human Rights. One of the questions was pertaining to 'free' speech. Ie: Do you think that without the Human Rights act I would not have free speech? Well. Fuck me. Free speech eh? Well, Mr YouGov, we do NOT have free speech. As an atheist British White, I have considerably less free speech than say, a Coloured Godbotherer. Funny old thing, their precious religious beleifs in a none existent sky pixie, trumps any rational thought what so ever. To the point that it appears to be acceptable for them to murder anyone who disagrees with them, and yet they become all defensive and, well, precious, if you point out to them that they are basing their lives on a pack of complete and utter cobblers. Sorry, when you die, that's it. Nothing. No one has ever come back irrespective of that bollocks that is the bible. I don't trust what was published in the tabloids yesterday, even though the authors were writing in their own language, supposedly first hand. Let alone something that was passed down word-of-mouth through numerous iterations, language changes and not alone, different perceptions.(Most intentional, I am certain FFS, if I were re translating the bible, it would be more believable and have less sex in it. Oh? You haven't read it then?)

Responsibility

As an adult, I like to think that I am big enough, and ugly enough to make decisions that affect my own life without interference from people who have no idea. For example, as a lone worker, I have to make decisions about what is reasonable to carry out my job, if I slavishly follow the 'elfin safety' rules, I could end up in a situation where I could actually be killed by the safety equipment I am meant to wear. I know this sounds bizarre, but a fall harness will kill you (rather unpleasantly) if you are left to hang in it for more than 15 min. A straight fall may also kill, almost certainly injure, but in either case I will not be left hanging to die slowly. This is MY choice. I would cheerfully sign a 'blood' chit and absolve anyone else from responsibility. In day to day life, we all make decisions that affect ourselves and others around us. Some are even life or death; driving, for instance. If you cause an incident, you may actually be held responsible, even forced to accept responsibility. Except, of course you won't. Unless you do something spectacular, like falling asleep at the wheel and causing multiple deaths on a railway, any old nonsense can be offered up in mitigation. A drug addict who steals, uses their addiction as the excuse for, not the cause of, their crimes. Religious nutters can immolate themselves and many around them, but it's not their fault, they are only doing god's will. Only, of course they are not, I mean, if god is so all powerful, surely a bit of smiting is not beyond it's power. Obvious really, no god, no smiting. And our 'leaders' cheerfully abet this, even enforce it. More and more, our individual responsibility is being eroded and we see it as a good thing. However, it isn't. More and more our personal honour  is being devalued. We are incapable of making correct decisions, apparently.

Perceptions

I have often wondered why people are drawn to certain professions. For instance, a Veterinary practitioner has a long and very difficult  training course to pass before they are let loose on poorly animals. Doctors and Nurses do too. Not on poorly animals, but then again, have you seen a casualty department on a Saturday night? Now I know the financial rewards may be quite substantial in some cases, but I bet that isn't the main reason (initially anyway) that one would choose that sort of profession. I wanted to be a vet, well sort of. I knew our local vet quite well, his practise was well thought of . I even helped (well, I like to think that I did) on a couple of occasions. From this I realised that I am squeamish. I found this out by sitting on a cow, holding her rumen in during a 'C' section. It wasn't something I was prepared to do on a day to day basis, and the cow didn't like the idea either. I can understand why you may like to join the Armed forces. The training is the best in the world. The Esprit-de-Corps is something no other profession can provide. The down side is that people try to get you killed. Which brings me to today's point. Politicians. Why would a competent person ever consider being a politician? If you like the job you trained for, and are capable of carrying it out well and, I suppose, be suitably remunerated for it, you would stick with it. Which make me think that most politicians must have been incompetent in their original chosen fields.
    When I was younger, I used to think that our 'leaders' must have either some special ability, or be so much cleverer than the average person. They must be able to do all that I can do, plus more. But now I realise that this cannot be true. Many people I know are extremely good at their jobs, Conscientious  to a fault, and yet their futures are in the hands of an elected numbty who's only concern is being re-elected onto the gravy train. He has no idea of the value of anything. But he knows the cost of all. In as much as it affects his salary. The council needs to save X pounds. If he sacked himself, the savings would; a, be met, and b; be immediate. But he is too indispensable for that. And yet he takes his full holiday quota with no problems, and the place doesn't stop without him. The section that I deal with, on the other hand, is supposed to be manned 24/7, even a few minutes missed due to a fire alarm, say, can be a disaster for some poor member of the public. Even and up to the loss of life. But that's ok if you are a politician.

Annoyed

There's been another stabbing. The victim has died. Foreigners killing each other again. They come here to avoid 'persecution', usually 'persecution' from their own country's police force, (apparently, it's illegal to sell drugs, run prostitution rings in their own countries, but ok here), so to avoid 'persecution' from their own legally appointed officers, they come here. They know if they use the 'persecution' card, they will be able to claim all sorts of things that we, as fully paid up citizens, could never claim. They also can play the 'ethnic' card; 'No speaky inglish' when it suits them. This makes the human rights people immediately take their side.They can do NO wrong. Some how, they have become victims. Except they are not. They are more cynical than our politicians, even more cynical than religious leaders.
For the life of me, I cannot understand why we tolerate a fraction of what we do. I now that we British have always supported the underdog, and been proud of our idea of 'fair play'. But it's time that we defended these actions by not tolerating the abuse of them.

It's been a while since I wrote anything. Not that I haven't got anything to rant about, but I find that once I have talked something through to myself, I cannot seem to summon up the effort to write it down. It is almost as if I have already written it down once, and don't wish to repeat myself.

Where do we stand now?

I have a cunning plan, why don't we privatise our government? After all, if we are going to have privatised police services. Why not?

Another one bites the dust.

Whitney Houston has found that 'recreational' drugs are not good for you. Unlike many, I am not going to say I shall miss her great talent, for to  be honest, I haven't given her a thought in many a year. What it does do to prove is no matter how 'talented' you may be, drugs and drink (aka; personal problems) can be messily terminal. It also proves that money doesn't confer wisdom.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Radio)

I forgot how good this was.

I wonder what Douglas would make of the world now?

42?

An Apology

I have to apologise for my appalling driving today. For some reason, I had difficulty judging distances, and worse, my observation was terrible. I normally have excellent spacial awareness, but today, I would have missed a pink elephant. Actually I would probably not have missed it, but would have have run into it.

Saturday

We are funny things, we hairless monkeys. Well Ok, apes. In the last 48 hours, our county town has had a couple of rapes, at least one violent assault that wasn't a rape, some bike thefts. There were probably many other crimes reported or otherwise. Ok, you may wonder where I am going with this. Now rape is an evil crime, I think all of us can agree. So, is an arranged marriage rape? As an atheist, I would say yes. The problem that  arises here is the one of consent. The 'victim' may well feel duty bound to acquiesce, but never the less, even if she does not, the outcome for her will be just the same. Ergo, she acquiesces. Therefore no crime, except the obvious moral one. Now, to me, a real man would never, ever, accept this. Only someone misled by either; alcohol or religion would.
The funny thing is the assault. One of the local tossers was apparently gobbing off at someone in the street, they took umbrage and left him laid out on the pavement. We spent some time trying to find the assailant, but we didn't get a good description at first, and so failed to find him. The most amusing thing about this is that tomorrow we will almost certainly be searching for the victim, because he will be a; pissed, b; shoplifting, and finally, c; assaulting someone. Of course, after all this, even if all the scrotes are caught, and then proven guilty, we know nothing meaningful will be done to them. Rapists should be well hung. By their parts. From a tree.

Tuesday

   Somebody thought that Tuesday needed washing. It's been widdling it down all day. Now it's foggy. Now for you thickies out there, driving with your fog lights on in the dark; Turn the damned things OFF. If you don't know why you shouldn't use them at night, you really shouldn't be allowed to drive at any time.
   Big story today seems to be the proposed changes to the Welfare System. It transpires that some 'families' are receiving in excess of £30,000 per year. This is more that me and the Boss bring in, and nearly as much as our daughters would spend if we let them. Now it really puzzles me, claims are made that it will hurt children and the disabled. Firstly, no one will wilfully withhold support for the genuinely disabled. And I doubt for a minute that any genuine disabled persons will mind being asked to prove their disability. Obviously autism and similar disability must be taken into account. As for hurting children, I suppose them not getting the latest iPad, Nintendo, and what have you, and watching/playing them on a 56" 3D TV will be a bit of a wrench. It 'll be worse for those parents that think that the child benefits are for their fags, drugs and booze. I am thoroughly fed up of paying for parasites who's only occupation seems to be to breed more and more.

On Censorship

Although I don't agree with censorship in general. I will admit that keeping certain things away from children is a good thing. Obviously, children, as they grow up will find ways around your censors. If they don't, there is either something wrong with them, or worse, something wrong with you. The important thing is; when they find that they are being, or have been, prevented from seeing something, it is important that you can explain why you tried to protect them from it. Another time censoring things is beneficial, even crucial, is during a police investigation and subsequent court case. Occasions when the meeja have printed things without any thought except to their own coffers, have prejudiced sensitive cases. On other occasions when someone has been arrested, the meeja have run stories about the arrested person. When they were subsequently proven innocent, the meeja does nothing to recompense their victim, but just go on to ruin someone else's life.   Censorship in 'news' papers, or in the meeja in general is rife. Anyone with money can prevent stories being written about them, even if the stories are true. However, at the other end of the scale, papers can, and often do, make things up. If it you they are libeling and you are not loaded with money, you can safely say your reputation will be shot. Even if you put up a fight and win, the best you can expect is a retraction, printed upside down in 1 point, on the bottom of page 35. Or perhaps costs. Seriously out of pocket you will be.
Now as we know, the Americans (Well, not all of them) appear to want to censor the internet. Their excuse is Anti-Piracy. Well, I suspect that will be doomed to failure. America. Where people have guns, and strong views on the freedom of speech. I suspect, that if they got their way, it wouldn't be just Anti-Piracy, but electronic McCarthyism. No proof would be needed, nor proffered, for 'wrong' doing, they will cheerfully infringe other countries rights too. This will play nicely into the hands of other loony countries, removing even the faint opportunity of free speech of their beleaguered populace. 

Found Films

There was I, sitting in front of the TV with the remote controls! It wasn't even my birthday, but the girls had let me loose with the remote controls! Wheeee. But of course, at first glance there was nothing on. Nor at second. However, I stumbled across  The World's Fastest Indian . It was one of those films that makes you realise that the world isn't full of people being nasty to each other, or trying to get one up on someone. On a different tack, over the holiday period we found 'Stardust', a superb fairy story for adults. Based on the story by Neil Gaiman, it has excellent characters, beautiful filming. Well, we thought so anyway. I find it odd that the best films are the ones that you stumble upon without anticipation. Ok, I have even found that by going to the cinema, ( not that I have been for years, it's way too expensive. Shame really, because many films are only really good on a huge screen, with huge sound ) not actually knowing what the film was about does improve the experience. No hype, no anticipation.

Friday 13th. A mixed day.

One of those days. 13th. Friday. My job allows me to see things the general public never see. Things that, others see routinely. I am only a passive observer. Today I witnessed at least two lives spoiled in an avoidable RTC. The driver of the car is physically ok, the bike rider? Didn't look good, all the time until the ambulance took the rider away, there was no movement. I witnessed pissed up scum racially abusing people who were doing nothing wrong and showed incredible tolerance, by not retaliating. I would have retaliated in spades. The same scum were pissed up again today. We taxpayers pay for their awful lifestyle with benefits they do not deserve, their 'rights' trump everyone else's. They get arrested, but released without any meaningful punishment. If they get fined, they don't pay, a custodial sentence will never be handed down. We should bring back the stocks.

Comfort

It's a funny world. I wonder what makes you comfortable? Now for me, I cannot sit down without reading something. I much prefer to read than to watch TV. But some where in god's own county,  (if there was a god, which of course there isn't). There is a place to just sit in front of the fire, warming one's toes. A book isn't necessary, the flames are fascinating, never the same. Sparks. Different woods burn in a different way, oaks pick up a lot of sand, causes lots of sparks and minor explosions. Hearth rugs are full of holes. Hearth dogs tend to get singed, but it is so nice to lie there, and sleep, to dream, the rabbits are easier to catch, especially when you are old.

Time

My youngest daughter asked  me what the time was, so I told her it was the way we humans divide up the day into equal parts. This, she said, was not very helpful. It made me wonder too. I mean, what is time?  The way we measure time is so arbitrary. For instance, the year we are in, 2012, what does that actually mean? 2012 years since someone was born, or from when he died (only apparently he didn't die, so how would you start the calendar?). Well, no it isn't, the calendar has been changed a few times since then. And the best guess is that it is between at least 4 and 40 years out. For any system of measurement, it's that's not very accurate. The Roman calendar was even weirder, never did get my head around that one. In Saudia, it's 1433. Which probably accounts for a lot of things. Ok, so where would we count from? And does it matter? Well, as far as it goes, I suppose so long as we all agree on the start date, no worries, 2012 it is then.
As for time in the sense of seconds/minutes/hours, they are still arbitrary, but again we have 'agreed' on their duration, and use them to define other things. Even distances can be measured by time; In China I believe it is/was, distances were measured by time, this made it possible for the distance between two places be different, depending if you were travelling up hill or down. Which actually makes sense if you are travelling on foot.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time