Amazing Art and Craft Links.

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs):
Art in Your Pocket.
Small Canvases.

Book-Making, Altered Books:
Altered Board Book Tutorial
Altered Book Arts
Altered Books
Altered Books Gallery
Altered Books webcam
Altered Book Workshop
Hand Bookbinding.
The Highcroft Lifebook Project.
ISABA
Make a Mini Altered Book
Shoe-string Publishing
Tera Leigh Altered Books

How-tos:
Handmade Background Stamp Tutorial.
Lisa Vollrath How-To Articles (loads, on all sorts of subjects).
Make Your Own Craft Supplies
Try It! Tutorials

Images:
Free Video Clips from the BBC
Free Watercolour Backgrounds.
Google Image Search.
Image Transfers.
Public Domain Images.
typoGenerator
Vintage Resources.

Inspiration:
Anonyrrie
art-e-zine
Caro's Lines
The Crafty Girl
Creative Collage
Found Art
INKEDblog
Mixed Media Memoirs
My Topography
Planet Sark
Teesha's Handbound Journals

Miscellaneous:
Etsy.com - buy and sell all things handmade.
Pencil Carving Gallery.

Papercrafts:
Collage Techniques
Make Paper Toys!

Stamping:
Stamp-a-Dream video demos.

Thread:
Learn to Knit free online videos.
How To Use A Knitting Spool (or French Knitting, or a Knitting Nancy)
String Art Designs.

Updated 19/2/06

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Technorati tags: Art; craft; incurable_hippie; inspiration; art techniques; creativity.

Vicious Videos, Stop the War.

Video footage has been released, showing British troops battering four young Iraqi men. It is really awful, as is the glee in the voice of the man who filmed the attacks.

Tony Blair has said,

"we take seriously any allegations of mistreatment, and those will be investigated very fully indeed."

He also said that the "overwhelming majority" of British troops stationed in Iraq behave properly, doing "a great job for our country and the wider world."

But what does that mean? When we train people to kill and maim other people, to aim bombs and guns at the Other (colour, race, religion, sex...), how can we ever be surprised when things like this happen?

Why is it ok for these soldiers to point a gun and shoot on one occasion, and not ok for them to to kick on another? Why is it ok for them to drop a bomb on a house, and not ok for them to film it and laugh?

The government needs to see that when you have an army following their orders and attacking a country, you can't then have any kind of moral superiority when events like this happen.

What these soldiers did on this video was appalling, absolutely reprehensible. But what right has Tony Blair to criticise them when he's sanctioned and ordered that they commit mass, mass murder in the same country, against the same people?

Riverbend gives a harrowing report of a raid she experienced in Baghdad a few days ago, in her relatives' house. It is terrifying, and an example of the government-approved army actions.

When you train men to kill, they may well kill. When you train them to be vicious, they may well be vicious. You can't draw some kind of imaginary line in the sand, separating the OK killings and the NOT-OK killings, or the OK acts of vicious violence and the NOT-OK acts of vicious violence.

Stop the war now!

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Technorati tags: anti-war; Iraq; incurable_hippie; peace anti-violence;.

Lately, I am mostly:

Listening to:

• Feist - Let It Die


• Rai

Crying about:

• Missing my Dad


• The state of the world


• Being in pain

Laughing at:

• Radio 4 comedy


• My own ridiculousness

Reading:

• No More Clutter - Sue Kay


• Dear Dr. Stopes: Sex in the 1920's - Ruth Hall

Visiting:

• Sheffield Indymedia


• Vociferate


• White Dot


• GreasyPalm


• PostSecret


• Mixed Media Memoirs


• MoneySavingExpert


• Last.fm / audioscrobbler

Getting pissed off at:

• Violence every-bloody-where


• Men running the world


• Depression ruining things as usual


• My new doctor being an idiot

Bored of:

• Being depressed


• Weekends


• Weekdays

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Technorati tags: lists; incurable_hippie.

Chilli Challenge...

Yesterday I planted 6 strawberry seedlings. This afternoon I have planted chilli, coriander, and various herb seeds, to germinate.

I am very excited - and also scared in case they all die. I have kept a houseplant alive for well over a year now (a personal record!) and not only is it still alive, it is about 10 times its original size (no exaggeration!) so I thought it was time to attempt to brave some foody plants.

If, in 6 or so months, I can eat one of my own home-grown strawberries, it will make me immensely happy! If I kill all the plants I will have lessons to learn.

I already know that I need to earn the lesson of 'balance' - like, do things gradually. Six seedlings and many types of seeds in one weekend could probably have been better done over a period of weeks. But no, the all-or-nothing parts of me are still fairly prevalent, though I'm better than I used to be.

Info:
• How to Grow Strawberry Plants.


• Growing chilli.


• Growing herbs.

You must see Top Ten Reasons Americans like their Cars so Big chez alas. You really, really must.

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Technorati tags: strawberries; herbs; incurable_hippie; houseplants; anti-car; growing fruit.

Book Fairy, Artist Trading Card.

100_0949
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

An ATC, made for the Book Fairy who sent me four amazing books yesterday.
(More of my ATCs here).

A night of insomnia meant I completed it, and learned to quill, too. It also means I feel rough, can't go to the Incapacity Benefit protest, and am in a vague daze of blurriness. Ah well.

Unfortunately for her, Z has been having similar lack-of-sleep issues. There must be something in the water.

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Technorati tags: ATCs; Artist Trading Cards; incurable_hippie; fairy; insomnia; sleep; papercraft.

Word Beads: Variety; Doze; Technical; Polar; Fossil.

The fossil-hunters arrived with their array of detector machines, identification manuals and technical information. The news of the recent find had clearly spread quickly amongst this strange community.

The scurrying calmed and soon these men worked individually, systematically, examining the variety of rocks, stones, shells, driftwood in the area.

Some talked quietly of a recent polar expedition, while one had brought a dog which, clearly used to this dull inactivity with its owner, dozed calmly in the dawning sun.


Word Beads.

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Technorati tags: word beads; incurable_hippie.

Demise of Radio 4 UK Theme. Disaster or Damn Good Idea?

As a chronic insomniac I know the routine well. At 1am, after Sailing By, the Shipping Forecast and the national anthem, BBC Radio 4 closes for the night and changes into BBC World Service for four and a half hours. Then at 5.30am, Radio Four re-opens, with the UK Theme - a medley of folk songs from the four regions of Britain - and goes on to start the day.

While I have slight nostalgic attachments, occasionally, to the aforementioned UK theme, it usually fills me with horror. It either serves to just rub in the fact that it's 5.30am and I'm still not asleep, or it means that any early morning waking (typical in depression, apparently) is particularly bad.

Either way, if I hear the UK Theme it means I've not slept, or I've slept really, really badly.

And to add insult to injury, the piccolo solo within the theme is really out of tune which, as someone who used to be a reasonably good flautist, is irritating and annoying.

So when, earlier this week, I woke before the theme, heard it, heard Farming Today, and was listening to the Today programme, and the screen on my digital radio told me that at 8.20am the controller of Radio 4 was going to be interviewed about his decision to scrap the UK Theme, I was quite excited.

Revenge on the evil waker-upper and symbol of appalling sleep! Ha! (Surely if the theme is abolished, so will insomnia be...?)

So, sure enough I was still awake at 8.20am. Beginning the discussion with an interview with the widow of Fritz Spiegl, the composer of the theme, was certainly an emotive start, but the interview which followed explained that the theme was 33 years old, somewhat dated, and because it lasts over 5 minutes, they thought that that time could be much better spent with news, and a look forward to what was happening that day.

I do admit a certain sad nostalgia by this point, at the prospect of the 5.30 herald being spoken word rather than duuuh duh duh duh duh daa, but overall my joy at the very living symbol of sleep deprivation being abolished overrode any vague sadness.

So, imagine my surprise when a friend sent me a link to savetheradio4theme.co.uk. They have a petition, apparently signed by over 6000 people. The theme's demise was even brought up in Parliament yesterday!

Now, I am an avid Radio 4 listener. Anyone who knows radio 4 knows that this is a kind of identity thing in many ways. But I also am glad that April will be the last time I should hear that herald of dawn and misery. I can love the station, but hate the theme.

And the fact that many of those who are campaigning to keep the theme, are doing so on the basis of Gordon Brown's splurging about patriotism and nationalism being marvellous, just makes me even more shaky.

So, I love radio 4, I resist most change there, but let the UK theme go. Let me have future insomnia nights without hearing an out of tune drunken sailor, or sickly Danny Boy, or any of the other pieces that make up the almost-6-minutes of let's rub in how badly she's slept. Please!

However, scrapping Home Truths too... now that's another matter.

9.38am - Edited to add: You can hear the Radio 4 UK Theme online, by clicking here. That bloody piccolo!

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Technorati tags: BBC Radio 4; UK Theme; incurable_hippie; petition; radio.

Information Release: Sheffield Welfare Action Network.

NB I am publishing this essentially as I received it, to publicise the protest. I will write my own post on the Disability Benefits attacks as soon as possible.

Sheffield/Nation Wide Protest against the Incapacity Benefit Proposals.

Saturday 4 February, 1.00pm

Town Hall, Sheffield

Bring homemade placards, etc

there wll be speakers and some music, etc...

And

Call for simultaneous peaceful protests across the UK,

The Gov’t has finally announced what its plans are for
incapacity benefit and claimants and in SWAN’s view,
it is very very draconian and unpleasant. The changes
are the biggest in welfare for over sixty years(see
below), we are calling on all decent and caring
people, claimants, campaigners, activists, faith
groups, churches, individuals to support our call and
peacefully protest in your locality


It’s going to get even tougher

There is to be an even tougher and brutal regime for
most on incapacity benefit (IB) (it is extremely
difficult to claim IB now.) Benefits will be cut by
over 25.00 and will only rise when a claimant looks
for work, there will be even more stringent medical
assessments and tougher requirements to seek work or
lose benefit. Employment advisers will be placed in
G.P’s surgeries to ‘spy’ on the sick. Swan is already
hearing from a number of disabled people who are
terrified of these changes, they are saying that the
‘disability benefits‘regime is almost unbearable now’,
and how can it be worse!

>From the Guardian

‘'New claimants will face a tougher entry route and
more demanding tests on the benefit, renamed the
employment and support allowance.

Responses to the reforms

Already reactions are coming in: Macmillan Cancer
Relief feared "workfare-style compulsion" for sick and
disabled people, saying ‘it had already had to
intervene to stop chemotherapy patients and those with
a terminal diagnosis being called to work interviews’.
Of course, people should have help when and if they
are ready to go back to work, but what about the
Employer, are they ready for this? SWAN will also ask
why are the reforms ‘target led’ with the aim of
getting one million back into work? If the reforms are
so good , why does there have to be sanctions and
co-ercion? This approach will mean many many thousands
of the most vulnerable in our society who simply
cannot work will face such co-ercion and harrassment.
Further, where are all these jobs going to come from?
unemployment is now rising and employers themselves
admit they discriminate against people with
disabilities. The figures the Govt gives are
disengenous as well, fraud in IB is neglible (around
2% according to the DWP) and a large number of people
who could claim (for example those with terminal
illness) do not even know they are eligible! Having
work advisers in G.P surgeries will put added pressure
on sick people and one can argue it will compromise
the GP/patients relationship and is an infringement of
civil liberties.

SWAN will campaign vigorously against these reforms
and calls on all allies, friends, etc to do the same.
Finally, those who would call diasabled people:
scroungers, ‘leadswingers, etc, realise that 'these
people' are not others, different, from outer
space,they are us and one day, certainly as you age,
it could be you.

Resources:

excellent balanced summary of the changes here.

Disability Alliance, challenging the myths.

Sheffield Welfare Action Network.

swansheffield@yahoo.co.uk.

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Technorati tags: incapacity benefit; disability; incurable_hippie; poverty.

I'm working on it...

I want to write about the scary Incapacity Benefit proposals. I want to write a review of Life Stripped Bare: My Year Trying To Live Ethically by a Guardian journalist, Leo Hickman. I want to write about the cool day with Z on our 2nd Anniversary. I want to write about the evils of excess packaging (having received 3 items of post this morning in plastic-wrapped bags). I want want want.

Watch this space. You never know.

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Technorati tags: intentions; incurable_hippie.

Save the Whale(s)!

There is a whale in central London. I thought it was a cute story until one report said they thought the whale had swum there, to shallow waters, to die. I was surprised at how inconscienably sad that made me :-(.

Northern Bottlenose Whale.

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Technorati tags: whale; Thames; incurable_hippie; London.

Do You Fancy Changing the World Today?

Try these:

Tell the truth about torture, Mr President.

Feeding Minds Petition.

Ask Australia to Ratify Kyoto Now!.

Tell Gordon Brown he was wrong.

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Technorati tags: campaigns; take action; incurable_hippie.

From My Email.

From Friends of the Earth:

With spring on the way, now is the time to start thinking about whether to buy new plants for your garden or balcony. Investigate the Postcode Plants Database to find out which plants are local to your area before you make any purchases. These will encourage local wildlife, and will be better suited to local conditions, so will need less maintenance than exotic species. Visit http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/postcode-plants/

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Technorati tags: gardening; wildlife; incurable_hippie; local.

Registering the Damage.

So what on earth is going on with this Ruth Kelly / sex offenders register(s) / teachers stuff?

What I have learned is:

1. There is a register, separate from the Sex Offenders Register, known as List 99, which contains a list of people who must never work with children.


2. One man has been working in a school, despite being on the Sex Offenders Register, having been cautioned for looking at child pornography.


3. A 'caution' means he admitted to doing it.


4. Another man who has been convicted of sex with a minor, got a job in a school.


5. There has even been a case where someone who is on (the aforementioned) List 99, who has been approved, (seemingly) personally by Ruth Kelly, to work in a school nonetheless.


6. A man who has convictions for abusing young boys, has been allowed to work in an all-girls' school.


7. The whole world has gone mad
.

So, being on the Sex Offenders Register does not automatically preclude someone from working in a school, but being on List 99 does.

Except that it doesn't, clearly. It only stops you if you don't get personal approval from the Education Minister to work with children despite history of convictions or abuse. And it seems she is reasonably willing to do that - two cases I have heard about, at least.

Now, I am not naive enough to be under any illusion that if people who have convictions of sexually abusing children are not allowed to work in schools, then all children are safe.

Firstly, you don't need to have a conviction to abuse children, or to be a danger to them.

Secondly, child sex abusers are often drawn to professions which will bring them into contact with children, so schools are probably a fairly high risk place to be in those terms.

And thirdly, the vast majority of abuse happens within the home. Kids are at risk from their parents, relatives, friends, babysitters etc., in the very place they live.

However doesn't it seem, well, sensible to actively stop people who have either been convicted of, or have admitted to offences of sexual abuse against children from working in a school?

Well, yes it does.

On a side note, hippie blog seems to be the number one search result for what programmes will there be on the telly on friday nights in march. Should anyone else manage to find me through those search terms, I can safely say, I have no idea. Gah!

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Technorati tags: school; child abuse; incurable_hippie; search results; UK government.

The world is a scary place.

Firstly, someone is making jewellery out of Barbie body parts. They are very scary.

Secondly, 1990 was 16 years ago. Sixteen years ago. That is very scary.

Thirdly, clowns. Nuff said.

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Technorati tags: scary; Barbie; incurable_hippie; clowns; jewellery; time.

Directions.

1. Start at London Heathrow.
2. Negotiate queues and bag checks.
3. Catch flight from London Heathrow to Dallas Fort
Worth Airport.
4. Hire car at Dallas Fort Worth Airport.
5. Start going toward the "Airport Exit" on
"International Parkway South" - follow for 0.2 miles.
6. Bear left onto the highway toward "Terminal East
Parking" – follow for 0.3 miles
7. Bear left onto "International Parkway North" toward
"North Airport Exit" - follow for 2.9 miles
8. Take the "Highway 114 west" exit toward "Fort Worth"
- follow for 29.2 miles
9. Then continue on "US 287 north" - follow for 91.1
miles
10. "US 287 north" becomes "Interstate-44 east" -
follow for 0.7 miles
11. Take left fork onto "US-287 north" toward "Vernon"
- follow for 104.0 miles
12. "US 287 north" becomes "Avenue F (US-287)" - follow
for 2.8 miles
13. Continue to follow "US 287 north" - follow for
104.9 miles
14. Take left ramp onto "Interstate 40 west" toward
"Dumas" follow for 7.8 miles
15. Take "Exit 70" onto "US 60 east" toward "Dumas"
follow for 0.5 miles
16. Take the "Buchanan Street" exit toward
"Dumas/Pampa" - follow for 1.7 miles
17. Turn right onto "Old Route 66 (Interstate 40)" -
follow for 0.1miles
18. Arrive at the centre of "Amarillo, Texas"

Now that's the way to fucking Amarillo.
SO CAN EVERYONE STOP SINGING IT NOW?!

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Technorati tags: amarillo; funny; incurable_hippie; travel.

Psycho-babble or Psychic Healing?

Today's Guardian has an interesting article on therapy. It conveys well the ambivalence that many people have about whether it is the feel-good cure-all as promised by many, or a complete con which will £cost you dear and make you feel rather worse.

I have the same dilemmas too, but I am becoming more and more cynical. I have seen too many people go into therapy because they are struggling with an issue, and end up in years of therapy with a series of therapists, by which time the therapy is all about how much the previous therapists have fucked them up. Therapy breeds therapy?!

I hope that doesn't sound dismissive, because that's how I mean to sound, not at all. It's too, too true, unfortunately.

In the good old days (?!) of first wave feminism, it was said that Feminism's aim is to make itself redundant. I think that way of therapy. I do believe that therapists should be working with clients, with the aim of not seeing them any more, at some point. But so many therapists seem to breed and encourage certain levels of dependence on themselves.

Of course, they are making a living doing this - if someone is paying your mortgage, it's hard to actively try to lose that income - but ethics should be paramount, not secondary to a therapist's finances.

I guess I get mixed up when I think that these people (hopefully) chose this profession due to a desire to help people. In order to continue their work, they require a certain amount of misery to be around. And yet because of their original motivations to get the job, they want to help people feel less miserable. But do they ever question, on one of those days when the month lasts longer than the money, whether they really want to encourage a client to become independent and live without their input?

And that's not to mention those who go into therapy due to a desire to control, not help, or who develop this desire as they work. Abusive and unethical therapists are, it seems, not that hard to find.

I dunno. Sometimes I'm very up on therapy, other times very down. I'm currently cynical and that will come across here. If I wrote about the same article in a few months, who knows what my take would be. It's a complicated issue, and therapy itself is incredibly intense and powerful, provoking strong emotions, both positive and negative.

In the past week, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has received about 10,000 inquiries
[...]
The recent publication of Shouldn't I Be Feeling Better by Now?, a collection of people's experiences in analysis, has reignited the 'cure or con' debate. It claims that about one in four clients either deteriorates in treatment or shows no signs of recovery.
Virginia Ironside, one of Britain's best-known agony aunts, revealed that she had spent £54,000 and hundreds of hours on the couch. Her conclusion? Therapy is fraud. 'I became sucked into the destructively seductive world, always hoping I might find understanding and peace through knowing myself better,' she wrote. 'But I can't help feeling angry at being manipulated when I was at my most vulnerable into investing so much money and time in therapists who, truthfully, only made me feel worse.' (More here...).

I have to admit that none of my views will have been helped from the unconscious messages burned into my brain when I spent several hours helping in a mailout advertising a talk by a psychotherapist. You know when you see a word written down a lot and it starts to look weird? I was packing thousands of envelopes telling people about a psycho-the-rapist. Again and again and again. Get Freud going on that one!

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Technorati tags: therapy; psychotherapy; incurable_hippie; misery; ethics.

Cranberries.

100_0934
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

A few days ago I bought some fresh cranberries, as I had never eaten them before.

Yuckkk.

I thought they were so bitter because they were rock hard, so I left them a few days to ripen. They are now soft and really, really bitter.

REALLY bitter.

It's a shame because occasionally, behind the bitterness, I can taste a nice taste, but the eewwwkkk thing overwhelms everything.

On those TV shows where people send in funny home videos, there were often babies sucking a lemon then doing classic facial expressions. I felt very much like one of those babies.

Just goes to show that just because you like the juice of a fruit, does not necessarily mean you will like the fruit itself.

Very pretty, but yuck.

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Technorati tags: cranberries; fruit; incurable_hippie; yuck.

Alcohol, Coke and Oil.

I'm not a huge fan of the Liberal Democrats, but I'm finding myself sympathetic towards Charles Kennedy.

He admitted to having a 'drink problem', that he has been receiving treatment and hasn't drunk for two months now. There had been increasing calls for him to step down, with unconfirmed rumours of his alcoholism, and then yesterday he made The Statement - his coming out, if you will.

There have been comments about him having made this statement to get the sympathy vote of those who were going to have the power to vote for him, or not, in a leadership election. There are also comments about his having denied being an alcoholic in the past, and thus he has been proven to have lied. There has also been lots of nastiness about whether an alcoholic can possibly run a political party.

Lembit Opik was on the radio a few minutes ago and actually spoke some sense. By which I mean, of course, that he articulated things I had been thinking since CK's statement yesterday ;-).

Firstly, I really don't think he did this for any kind of Sympathy Vote. He sounded pretty wrecked when he was talking, and in the pictures I saw of him on the front pages of today's papers, he looked awful. I think he was simply forced into this admission, with growing threats that if he didn't make the statement, then somebody else would.

It reminded me of all those people (celebs and such) who have had to come out as being lesbian, gay or bisexual because if they didn't, then one of the tabloids would do so for them. Between a rock and a hard place.

Secondly, in terms of his having lied then yes, he lied about his drinking to reporters. Who wouldn't? Not least because one huge characteristic of addictions and addictive behaviour is an incredible ability to disguise what you are doing, in order to be able to continue doing it. Another characteristic of addictions is denial - both being in denial yourself, and denying that there's a problem to other people.

So yes, he lied about his drinking, but that was because he was being asked about it by journalists (who are the last people you would want to make such an admission to), his addictive behaviour required him to deny the problem so it could continue, and because even if he has been seeking help for the problem (and therefore not in denial to himself), that still doesn't mean that he would want all and sundry to know about it.

On the third point, whether an alcoholic can run a political party, all I can think is, 'Well, he has been doing, so clearly yes, an alcoholic can'. I think the thing is that it wasn't Charles Kennedy the alcoholic running the party, but the Charles Kennedy, of whom alcoholism is one feature.

Some people with addictions, illnesses or disabilities are able to function on on incredibly high level. Others cannot function at all. The fact of being an alcoholic in itself should not preclude someone from holding high position (however it really should preclude them from driving or similar).

I understand that in 5 minutes, a number of the Lib Dem shadow cabinet are going to make a statement that they will all resign by Monday if Charles K hasn't resigned himself.

Why? It's getting unnecessarily nasty, as far as I can tell. Charles has proposed a leadership election, in which he will stand. Is that not enough?

Like I say, I'm not a Lib Dem supporter. Nor indeed especially a Charles Kennedy supporter. I just think this whole situation sucks. It makes me very uncomfortable and it's just unpleasant.

Anyhoo, let's move on - it's g0og1ebom8 time!

Coke, Coca-cola - info here.
Also, Exxonmobil, Exxonmobil, Exxonmobil, Exxonmobil. Ha!

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Technorati tags: Charles Kennedy; Liberal Democrats; incurable_hippie; alcoholism; addiction; googlebomb; exxonmobil; coke.

Favourite Subversive Material of the Moment!

My current favourite flyer:

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My current favourite song, discovered on the second Peace Not War CD, can be heard here.

George Bush is an Islamic Fundamentalist.

George Bush is an Islamic fundamentalist, obviously
Trained by Al Qaeda in the heart of Texas to fight for the faithful army
He's now in the process of uniting the rest of the world against the good old U S of A
The land of the free will come crashing down if he has his way

It's the only explanation, old Bushy boy is an Islamic Fundamentalist
He's three quarters the way through his plan already and no-one's even noticed
That must be a damn-fine Al Qaeda training camp they've got down there in Texas (Yee ha!)
Getting him to pretend he's as thick as pig-shit was a stroke of pure bloody genius

Yeah, George Bush is an Islamic fundamentalist, obviously
Trained by Al Qaeda in the heart of Texas to fight for the faithful army
He's now in the process of uniting the rest of the world against the good old U S of A
The land of the free will come crashing down if he has his way, trust me

He's presided over and has been involved with one of the worst financial disasters of a generation
Every move he makes seems to be directly against the interests of his nation, haven't you noticed?
He's used the media to increase the social insulation of an already fairly bland population, since the McCarthy days
And now he's declared war on Islam just to increase the consternation

As far as I can see there's only one explanation
George Bush is an Islamic fundamentalist, obviously

These days on the street you hear all kind of interesting conspiracy theories cos no-one knows what the fuck's going on, we're all looking for explanations
The most interesting one I heard the other day was that the West was controlled by genuine democracies that actually represent the will of their populations
Only the one about the aliens, the anti-Christ and the Freemasons is more laughable. Ha ha ha ha.

I think my theory is much more plasible, let me tell you about it, it goes like this,
George Bush is an Islamic fundamentalist, obviously
It really is the only explanation I can see
For his truly anti-American foreign policy.

Now, at this point, I would ask you all to sing along with the chorus, normally. If it wasn't for the fact that there are cameras on the premises and the CIA might be requisitioning the tapes at any time. So I recommend that at under all circumstances, catchy though this numbers is, you do not sing along, you do not even smile. I recommend the most you do is tap your feet. But you do that at your own risk.

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Technorati tags: anti-car; anti-Bush; incurable_hippie; anti-war.

Illustration Friday: Flavour.

100_0491
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Illustration Friday. Flavour (which has a U in it!).

From Sheffield Fayre, August 2005.

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Technorati tags: vegetables; Illustration Friday; incurable_hippie; photography.

Quick GMail update.

I posted this the other day. I now have some good news! There is a way of filling the 'to:' fields from a contacts list on gmail, finally!

I just found this:

How do I send a message to multiple contacts?
To send one message to a list of contact recipients, follow these steps:

1. Click 'Contacts' along the left side of any Google Mail page.
2. Tick the box next to each contact you would like to include.
3. Click 'Compose.'

However, they do also say,

The more spam you mark, the better our system will get at weeding out those annoying messages.

so who knows...

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Technorati tags: gmail; spam; incurable_hippie.

Blog Mentoring Project: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia.

A friend referred me to netsquared.org where I read about the Blog Mentoring Project. It is described thus:

Interested in developing the worldwide blogosphere? Like working with young people?We are looking for bloggers from around the world to be a blogging mentor for 1 week sometime in February, March, April or May 2006.The project, Young Caucasus Women, is a group blog for young women from the Caucasus region (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). The young women will be given a topic to blog on each week, although they are welcome to blog on any topic throughout the week.We need bloggers to blog on a specific topic on Sunday, hence inspiring the young women's blog entries. The topic and week need to be determined at least month in advance.Then throughout the week, the adult mentor blogger would need to comment on the young women's blog postings.THAT'S IT - simple, yet a project with a lot of impact.You don't need any background in the region. Just be culturally sensitive, have a topic that would be of interest to international young women and have a blog. We'd love to have English language bloggers from around the world.

Background:
There are almost NO blogs written by national individuals living IN-COUNTRY in the Caucasus. Generally blogs are written by ex-pats or diasporas. The students participating in this project are high school aged foreign exchange students currently in the US. The hope is that they will continue blogging once they return home in the summer of 2006.

The immediate aims of the project are:
To highlight the similarities and learn about the differences between young women in these neighboring countries.
To promote citizen journalism in developing countries as an alternative to mainstream media.
To promote weblogs as a method of democratic expression.
To expose young women to journalism and technology.

Interested or know someone who is? Contact katy (at) katypearce (dot) org for more information.

That's as much as I know about it, but I'm definitely interested and have emailed Katy Pearce at that address. It sounds a fantastic idea, a really interesting and definitely worthwhile project.

Getting young women's voices heard is so vital and I can't wait to hear what these young women have to say!

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Technorati tags: blog mentoring project; women; incurable_hippie; blogging.

Gmail Groan, Menstrual Moan.

I love gmail. I had an account very close to the beginning, and the storage space, the threaded mails, and labelling system are all great.

Two things are bugging me though.

Firstly, if you want to send a mail, there doesn't seem to be any way to bring up your address book and select addresses from there. Instead you have to basically go into the 'to' box and type a, then select any email addresses you want which begin with A, then type b, select any email addresses you want which begin with B and so on. Slow and irritating!

And secondly, the spam control seems to be becoming poorer by the day. At first it was a little over-zealous, and I regularly had to check the spam folder for mails from various friends. Nowadays it is missing tonnes and tonnes of spam.

Now, I understand that spammers are (occasionally) clever and that there will always be new spam or different spam which will slip through the net. But honestly, if I have to tell them one more time that those 12 mails entitled The Ultimate Online Pharmaceutical or that series called Penis Launcher are, yes, spam, I will go mad.

I have been marking the Pharmaceutical messages as spam for weeks now, and yet they still, without fail, land in my inbox. Why? Why?!

I know that some spam will be unexpected and well-disguised, but for goddess' sake, if yahoogroups have already marked it spam, then it is probably spam; if I have marked it as spam every day for 6 weeks, then it is probably spam; if it is advertising a dating site with some rather exceptionally lurid adverts, then it is probably spam. I could go on and on.

Surely it is supposed to learn from what you put into the spam folder, especially things you put in repeatedly.

Raar. (Incidentally, I have many gmail invites going - if you let me know your email address I'll send you one.)

And, all the above moaning is superceded by me moaning about the incredible amount of pain I am in today. It's particularly bad despite some rather heavy-duty painkillers, and I am being comforted by a lovely wheat bag and some not-insignificant complaining to self.

As this entry explains, I have endometriosis, a horrible disease of chronic pain which, especially on days like today, is incredibly disabling and, as the book I read recently kept repeating, is incurable. Joy.

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Technorati tags: gmail; spam hate; incurable_hippie; wheat bags; endometriosis.

Christmas: done. Boxing Day: almost.

I spent a nice, chilled Christmas with Z and her insane cat...



We made a roast meal, we played with paper and glue, we listened to a lot of radio and music, we laughed a lot, I cried a bit, and we gave and received cool gifts.

We also got matching socks :D

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Technorati tags: christmas; cats; incurable_hippie; xmas.

Yuletide Wishes! Tongue-in-Cheek?!

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all; plus, a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally-accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of the other cultures whose contributions have helped make our society great, without regards to the race, creed, colour, religious or sexual preference of the wishes.
(Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her / himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit).

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Technorati tags: Christmas; greetings; incurable_hippie; rel="tag">PC.

Stumbling Over Stumbling.

I've only just stumbled upon StumbleUpon, which is proving to be a joy. I'm not sure whether you need Firefox for it to work.

Anyway, here are some of tonight's StumbleUpon gems:

• The Official God FAQ


• ))


• Niagara Falls


• Drum Machine - Flash


• Optical Illusions


• Staring at the Bee


• Crazy Rabbit


• Create your Own Personal Kaleidoscope


• Icon War

More funky animations here.

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Technorati tags: animations; illusions; incurable_hippie; firefox; stumbleupon; links.

Buses and Bereavement, Fares and Fathers, Transport and Tantrums.

A campaign has been building lately in Sheffield, protesting the massive increase in bus fares and the cuts in routes. We Want Our Buses Back have held demonstrations and lobbied the City Council.

A recent campaign update from them included the following interesting information:

New figures show that the government is set to miss its own targets for increasing bus passenger travel. Only in London, where there is some degree of regulation, have bus numbers increased. In Yorkshire, there has been a fall of 9%.

Hardly surprising, when in South Yorkshire, the main private operators First have cut services and raised fares (by 36% since last year!).

The only numbers going up are First’s profits! Their South Yorkshire division is the most profitable in the First Bus Group and the fifth most profitable bus company in the whole country with a 17.9% profit rate of return.

This blatant profiteering has led both the Passenger Transport Executive and the Sheffield City Council to pass motions of no confidence in First’s bosses. Even the Tory councillor (remember Thatcher de-regulated the buses in 1987) spoke in favour of regulation!

But local Labour politicians say they can’t do anything until 2009.

Presenting a 5,000 name petition, WWOBB speaker Calvin Payne told the council meeting, “We can’t wait four more years. No-one will be able to afford to go on a bus by then, that’s if there’s still any running.” A packed public gallery (including media students covering this issue) heard Calvin call on the council to organise a city referendum to get a mandate to go to the government to demand the powers and the funding to bring the buses back into public control and ownership.

He cited the public ballot WWOBB had conducted showing 75% in favour of council regulation of routes, timetables and fares, and 87% support for public transport to be brought back into public ownership. Only 3 people voted to keep things as they are.

With rumours of more service cuts in January, “We Want Our Buses Back!” plans to step up its campaign against First’s bosses and increase pressure on the Labour council to make a stand.

LATEST: Stagecoach, owned by notorious anti –union Brian Souter, has bought out Yorkshire Traction bus company based in Barnsley. Traction owned Terrier buses that run in Sheffield so now these are owned by Stagecoach as well as the Supertram (which they bought for £2million after £240million of public investment!).

And incidentally, Brian Souter (mentioned there) also ran the homophobic 'Keep the Clause' campaign in Scotland, an attempt to keep the evil Section 28 in law. A fantastic poster that I spotted in 2003 and kept the link to says it all really. Here.

I rely on the local buses and trams. I don't have, or want, a car. One of the joys of city living is the great public transport provision that at least should, in theory, exist.

Because I am disabled I have a pass which entitles me to cheaper bus and tram fares, and I am so glad of this lately as I see other people get onto buses where I get on, and going to where I am going, and paying seemingly more and more and more.

I'm not sure what this campaign can achieve, but the votes of no confidence seem to me that they must be significant steps forward. First are behaving appallingly and really should not be allowed to continue in this way.

The days of the 'Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire' and 2p bus fares seem long, long gone.

[(Edited at 9.24pm to add): Even the Sheffield Star is on the case - it must be bad!. (End edit).]

In other news, I posted my last batch of Xmess cards yesterday. I have already had 2 emails and 2 texts from people I hadn't heard from in ages, and to whom I sent cards because I don't want to lose touch with them. Hearing their news has given me a warm fuzzy feeling. Lots of nice words about Dad, too, which is simultaneously lovely and unbearably painful. It's six weeks since he died and I just want to cry all the time. I still find it incredibly hard to believe that he's really gone, and gone forever.

Hearing people say such nice things about him is so nice, so validating, and so important to me - that people remember him, and remember him well. It also reminds me of what a fab guy we've all lost. Not that I really need reminding, but yanno.

The toddler tantrum urges are still around - maybe if I actually had one the urges would pass, but I doubt it!

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Technorati tags: public transport; campaigns; incurable_hippie; grief.

Enquiring Minds Want to Know.

Yorkshire lass talks well about why she, as a survivor of the London bombs in July, wants and needs a Public Inquiry into what happened, and how she feels about the Government refusing to do one.
Rachel says,

Reasons why you might want to demand an independent public enquiry...
You use public transport, and you want to know if anything could be learned to make your journeys safer in future.
You were involved on July 7th and you have useful feedback about the response to the bombings and the aftermath to share.
You think the Government are hiding something.
You don't think the Government are hiding anything, and it would be good to get that in the open and refute the naysayers .
You are fed up with conspiracy theories.
You have heard conspiracy theories and you'd like to see them answered.
It was the biggest terror attack we've had on our soil, 52 people were killed, and it was 4 British 4 men who did it, so you think that should be investigated in public.
You want to know more about how 4 young British men became suicide bombers.
You think that as the public were attacked, and continue to be targets, answering their questions publicly seems fair and is the right thing to do
You are not sure whether answers will come out of it, or anything will change, but you'd like to try and think that is the democratic thing to do.
You were against the war in Iraq and you think the Government are trying to avoid the spectre being raised that Iraq upped the risk of the UK being attacked.
You supported the war in Iraq and you'd like to prove that had nothing to do with July 7th.
You feel that if survivors and bereaved are asking for it, you'd like to support their request
You have questions that remain unanswered.
You have other reasons - or want to state your thoughts in the comments box below...

If you also think that there should be an Inquiry into the 7th July bombings, sign here.

I actually can't think of a reason not to have an Inquiry... :-/

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Technorati tags: London bombings; petitions; incurable_hippie; UK government.

Self Evident by Ani Difranco

It was about two and a half years ago that I first got the then newly released Peace Not War CD.

Track 1 on CD1 was like nothing I had ever heard before. Over 9 minutes of Ani DiFranco, talking, singing, communicating incredibly about 9/11, the Bush government, the state of America, the state of the world, and the threats and acts of war being carried out.

It is sung live and the reactions of the audience are incredible. They appear shocked, stunned, absolutely invigorated and delighted with this incredible song.

The track is also on Ani Difranco's album, So Much Shouting So Much Laughter, though I'm not sure if it's the same version.

I have loved all of Ani DiFranco's music that I have heard, but Self Evident is just one of those pieces of absolute genius which stands out a long, long way from even her usual level of genius!

Also, in researching this track I have discovered that there is a Peace Not War Vol.2 CD out, which I have already ordered!

You can listen to the track here, but you really should just buy the thing!

Self Evident, Ani Difranco
yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything i've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and i'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq

el salvador

here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall

and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline?!

it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train?

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Technorati tags: Ani Difranco; peace not war; incurable_hippie; music; anti-war; feminist.

Music, Poems and Comedy.

The Guardian runs a weekly Topical Haiku competition, which I have occasionally entered. A Haiku, if you don't know, is a very specific form of poetry, usually of three lines in which the first and third lines have 5 syllables each, and the second line has 7 syllables.

My favourite (as heard on the radio a few days ago), has to be one by John Cooper Clarke, which goes as follows,

Writing a poem
In seventeen syllables
Is very diffic.

This week's 15 Minute Musical was absolute genius. The opera of David Blunketto,

The tragic story of a proud and principled man who was tempted, corrupted and ruined.

Listen here, if you know what's good for you!

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Technorati tags: BBC Radio 4; haiku; incurable_hippie; comedy; musical.

Ha ha. Or not. What do you think?

Ok, 'blonde' jokes are just not funny. The thought that you can make huge assumptions and presumptions about a woman's intelligence by the colour of her hair is just offensive and rude and, well, stupid. I mean, look at this one for instance. Grrr.

[evil grin...;-)]

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Technorati tags: joke; joke meme; incurable_hippie; hair colour.

One good turn leads to another and another and another.

Church Action on Poverty is one of the (unfortunately) seemingly rare Christian charities which really uses its power and influence for the good. Like Christian Aid, it seems to use its money and position to help people, rather than to lobby government and campaign in the media for the elimination of gay people / single mothers / anyone of any other religion (delete as appropriate).

Today I got an email from Church Action on Poverty which I acted on. Firstly, it was asking us to contact the Home Secretary about the destitution of asylum seekers. Secondly, for everyone who does so a corporate sponsor will donate 10p to Church Action on Poverty! So two positive results from sending an e-card!

They said,

Help end the unnecessary destitution of those seeking asylum this Christmas by sending an e-card and raising funds at the same time. It will only cost you 2 clicks.
In this rich and welcoming country of ours we now have people seeking asylum who are destitute, homeless, or living on food parcels. Many of these people are “living ghosts” that no one knows about.

These problems would be eradicated if those seeking asylum were allowed to sustain themselves and contribute to wider society through paid work, bringing skilled people into our legal economy.

Please send an e-card to the Home Secretary, asking him uphold the UN Declaration of Human Rights and change the policies that are making people destitute.

Every time you send a postcard 10p will be donated to Church Action on Poverty by a corporate sponsor.

Then, after doing that I was also able to send an e-card to the Minister for Children, about protecting children who have been affected by domestic violence, and on sending that, women's aid get a donation of 10p for each e-card sent.

Marvellous! And as last week's Link of the Week was Artful Journey. This week, from the link down the right sidebar, it is One Good Turn!

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Technorati tags: poverty; domestic violence; incurable_hippie; e-campaigning.

Illustration Friday: Surprise!

(Click image to enlarge)



Illustration Friday.

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; cartoon; incurable_hippie; lesbian.

The Curious Incident of the Racist Dog...

Not long ago I was waiting at a bus stop. There was one woman and her two children walking up the hill opposite me, and another woman and her two dogs walking down the hill opposite me. As they were approaching each other, the woman with the dogs crossed over to my side of the road.

I didn't think anything of it, until she whispered to me, conspiratorially, 'I had to cross over, he' (she indicated the huge dog), 'doesn't like Somalis'.

I looked back over the road at the woman and her kids. She could be from Somalia, she equally might not have been, but what the hell kind of dog could identify country of origin, and then discriminate on that basis?!

I was so bewildered that I couldn't, and didn't, say a word. The dog-owner carried on talking to me. I was presuming that she was projecting her own racism onto this dog, but she went on to tell me how he (the dog...) was fine with people of any other nationality, it was just Somalis he didn't like, and she had to cross over the road because he'd growl and bite their clothes, and she didn't want him to scare them.

She confided that she thought it was something to do with 'their' robes, that the dog didn't like.

She carried on nattering to me as she continued along her way, and I stood at the bus stop entirely struck dumb with the utter bizareness of what had happened.

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(See also, Pippa Reviews... The News Quiz.)

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Technorati tags: dogs; racism; incurable_hippie; weird.

David, Diesel, Gay, Greasy.

So, David Cameron has won the Tory leadership vote. Yaawwwwwn... But that's the UK Politics alert of the day out of the way. It was actually the top news story at 5pm, clearly more important than 100 people dying in Iran after a plane crashed into a block of flats.

I am annoyed at Robbie Williams. Apparently he has accepted substantial libel damages over claims that he is secretly homosexual. It reminds me of Jason Donovan suing The Face in 1992 over similar claims.

I mean, it is nothing to do with me whether either, both or neither of them are (or ever have been!) gay, but is it such an awful slur on their character that they have to sue people to stop them thinking or saying they are? It comes across as dreadfully heterosexist and downright offensive. It is not an insult, guys, if someone thinks you're gay. It probably just means you're cool ;-) (Ok that last bit's not true).

Diesel have launched an insensitive and highly inappropriate advertising campaign. See mediawatch for details.

There is now a new hippie 'link of the week' - click on the image down on the right to see it.

Also, see Pippa Reviews... GreasyPalm!

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Technorati tags: gay; homophobia; incurable_hippie; UK Politics; greasypalm.

Art, Africa and Acts of Law.

There was a quotation I read the other day, which entirely summed up my own insecurities and feelings about art...

Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid.
Jules Feiffer

I am getting better at crafty things - I'm quite the card-making star nowadays - and I draw daft cartoons, but actual a.r.t. - too scary. I feel like if I even tried, it would make people think that I was stupid enough to think I was any good at it. Like, even to try would be arrogant self-delusion.

Mmm, I clearly feel good about myself today! ;-)

In other, less self-obsessed news:

Britain criticised for accepting Nigerian debt repayments.

The British government has drawn sharp criticism from development charities for taking a debt repayment from Nigeria which dwarfs the UK's entire annual aid budget for the African continent.

[...]

Charity Jubilee Debt Campaign says the payments mean the G7 will receive more in six months from Nigeria than the 2005 Gleneagles G8 deal will provide to poor countries in a decade. The G8 is the G7 plus Russia. Trisha Rogers, Jubilee's director, said: "It is obscene for G7 countries to take billions of dollars from one of the poorest countries on earth. In particular this means the UK will take from Nigeria almost exactly twice as much as it is giving in aid to the whole of Africa in 2005." She urged Britain, which chairs the G7, to take the lead in refusing to accept the payments. (Read more...)

I hate this stupid government more each day. And I learn from red one that today's budget consisted of the following terrifying £number...

"Since September 11th we have doubled the budget for national security. Today we are making available an additional £135 million for security and counter-terrorism. And for the armed forces for Iraq, Afghanistan and other international obligations an additional £580 million."

Can't help but wonder if that's got anything to do with the Nigeria story above... or the other million cuts going on and being proposed lately.

And thanks to Crippled Monkey weblog, I hear,

Today sees another important date in the progression of the Disability Discrimination Act, as people with cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis will now get protection from discrimination, effectively from the point of diagnosis.

.
As I understand it, until now people were only protected from disability discrimination in the law once they were actively being disabled by an illness, so it was actually not illegal to sack someone who had just been diagnosed with HIV, or cancer, as long as they weren't ill yet. There is lots of information on this at Point of Diagnosis and I think that this is a very positive move.

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Technorati tags: art; third world debt; incurable_hippie; Nigeria; budget; anti-war; disability rights.

Illustration Friday: Blue.

Illustration Friday. Original photo. Gimp.

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Technorati tags: Illustration Friday; blue; incurable_hippie; photography; fountains; gimp; Sheffield.

Photo Friday: Experimental

100_0869d
Originally uploaded by incurable_hippie.

Morris dancers at the Victorian Christmas Market at Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield today.

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Original photo.
Other Victorian Christmas Market photos.

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Photo Friday.

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Technorati tags: Photo Friday; photography; incurable_hippie; experimental.

Rape Prevention Advice - Could be Triggering.

Periodically I will get an email forward about how, as a woman, I can stop myself getting raped.

Apparently if I wear my hair in a ponytail, or don't keep my outside shrubbery trimmed, or leave my drink unattended, allow people to intrude into my personal space or - heaven forbid - don't carry an umbrella then, frankly, if I get raped I have only myself to blame.

And the sometimes-weekly emails telling me all of the above tips (and more) will serve as a constant reminder to how stupid I was when I overfilled my arms with packages or I wore those damn dungarees.

So basically, emails like those are absolute bollocks. If you are raped it is nothing to do with your hair, your skirt length, your job, your response to being asked directions, or the state of your fucking shrubbery. Seriously.

And that's not even approaching the fact that the vast, vast majority of rapes are committed in a woman's home, by someone she knows.

Following is an angry, and very appropriate subversion of those awful emails, which I read chez Nella. I can only applaud and nod vigorously.

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape.
Women should learn self-defense. Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark. Women shouldn't have long hair and women shouldn't wear short skirts. Women shouldn't leave drinks unattended. Fuck, they shouldn't dare to get drunk at all.

Instead of that bullshit, how about:

If a woman is drunk, don't rape her.
If a woman is walking alone at night, don't rape her.
If a women is drugged and unconscious, don't rape her.
If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don't rape her.
If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don't rape her.
If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you're still hung up on, don't rape her.
If a woman is asleep in her bed, don't rape her.
If a woman is asleep in your bed, don't rape her.
If a woman is doing her laundry, don't rape her.
If a woman is in a coma, don't rape her.
If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don't rape her.
If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don't rape her.

If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don't rape her.
If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don't rape her.
If your step-daughter is watching tv, don't rape her.
If you break into a house and find a woman there, don't rape her.
If your friend thinks it's okay to rape someone, tell him it's not, and that he's not your friend.

If your "friend" tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.
If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there's an unconscious woman upstairs and It's your turn, don't rape her, call the police and tell the guy he's a rapist.

Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it's not okay to rape someone.

Don't tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.
Don't imply that she could have avoided it if she'd only done/not done x.
Don't imply that it's in any way her fault.
Don't let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he "got some" with the drunk girl.
Don't perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.

If you agree, repost it. It's that important.

There are also great musings about this at I Blame the Patriarchy, by the way.

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Technorati tags: anti-rape; feminism; incurable_hippie; personal safety.