Latin and Ludicrosity

Billy has linked to my last post in which he especially liked the Latin phrase Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.

I, however, especially liked that his blog entry began, the best thing I've read...
...in the last 24 hours was over at the incurable hippie's page.... Yep, massage my ego, it'll always work!!

The bizarre tale of the boy who used internet to plot his own murder is indeed bizarre and poses many more questions than it answers...

He pretended to be the secret services to convince a slightly older boy to kill him as an initiation. He was stabbed and blamed muggers. It came out he had arranged it himself. Apparently he is the first person to ever be convicted of inciting their own murder.

But WHY?? That's what the article doesn't answer!

The BBC calls it outright a deliberate suicide attempt and claims that the boy who was stabbed (and incited the stabbing) was in love with the boy who stabbed him.

SZNews tells us more about the events which preceded the stabbing, which seem increasingly absurd the more I read:

Over a nine-month period before the attempted murder, John began presenting himself as a 16-year-old girl in search of a cyber relationship, then ¡°introduced¡± himself as the girl¡¯s step-brother. John and Mark then physically met, as did their parents, but in the chatroom John introduced increasingly far-fetched characters, including another boy who ¡°stalked¡± John and supposedly killed his girlfriend. Another of the characters was then fictitiously killed off, leaving only Mark, John and the stalker. Other characters emerged and were killed off, one even came back from the dead.

Other links also point out that the older boy was being offered sex as a reward, from the fictitious female recruiter for the secver service, as well as the gun, money, and meeting with the prime minister the Guardian reported.

Curiouser and curiouser... I suspect we will never know the full story, but involving someone else in your own suicide bid is too, too cruel.

There are 2 rules to being a success in life: 1. Never give out all the information.

Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
- "That which is said in Latin sounds profound."

In 1994,Los Angeles Police arrested a man for dressing up as the Grim Reaper - complete with scythe - and standing outside the windows of old peoples' homes and staring in.

In 1978, in between Manchester City winning one game and their next there had been 3 Popes.

A woman with a PhD can't change her name (such as when she gets married) without losing her PhD. Because it's awarded only to one name!

Where does your lap go when you stand up?

If all the cars in the UK were put end to end it would probably be a typical bank holiday.

Tmesis is the only word in English starting "tm" and means one word within another. Fanbloomintastic.

In a crash at Silverstone a driver called David Purley survived a deceleration from 108mph to 0 in 66cm (26 inches). He endured 179.8g (G-Force) and suffered from 29 fractures, 3 dislocations and six heart stoppages.

The best cure for seasickness, ever... Sit under a tree.

The term "devil's advocate" comes from the Roman Catholic church. When deciding if someone should be sainted, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view.

The human small intestine if straightened out and measured with a ruler would no longer work properly.

The phrase "It's not over until the fat lady sings" is actually a mis-quote. The correct phrase is "It's not over until the fat lady sinks" and has its origins in the game of billiards. The black eight ball was commonly referred to as the "fat lady" so no matter how bad the game was for a competitor it wasn't over until the "fat lady" sank.

panta Hellenici estin emoy is greek for "It's all Greek to me"

A cubic mile of fog is made up of less than a gallon of water

In an average lifetime there will be over 50 000 images of you on photos you'll never see.

if u didn't have a thumb the bottom of your butty would fall off

Did you know that dolphins are so intelligent that within only a few weeks of captivity they can train Americans to stand at the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

The reason it's so windy in this country is cos of those big windfarms all over the countryside. Total waste of electricity if you ask me...

The Simpsons are just drawings.

Pushing a fifty pence piece into plasticine then filling the imprint with water and freezing it creates ice fifites. These can then be usen in electricity meters and when the temperature rises hey presto the 'evidence' disappears.

I used to think my brain was my favourite part of my body... then I realised what was making me think that!

silly, true, false, all from I Want One of Those. Hehehehe.

Incidentally, if you're feeling rich - this pin clock is very, very cool!

Fabulous UK free stuff message board btw :)

Forwardtrack seems a really interesting project, with a growing beta petition. The idea is

designed to promote on-line activism. The system tracks and maps the diffusion of email forwards, political calls-to-action, and petitions. Our goal is to help people understand decentralized networks and see the power of "6 degrees of separation." ForwardTrack technology helps prove that one person can make a difference.

Unfortunately you need a US zip code to sign the Assault Weapons Ban petition so I can't participate in this test, but I will follow the project with much interest.

Stop deforestation and intimidation of local communities for palm oil - Email Deutsche Bank.

Bye for now :)

UKIP - BNP in Blazers? Joan Collins joins them...

Joan Collins, it seems, is supporting Kilroy and the scary UK Independence Party, which I have already discussed in those entries linked there.

Kilroy talks of Joan Collins as a role model for women (oh yeah, make up and fashion are, like, soooo liberating...) and such. He admits she has never bothered to vote before and he said he understood her views when she said in a national newspaper that she had nothing to discuss with a citizen of Slovakia after talking about the weather. Nice!

So, the Dynasty star is supporting the UKIP... A Guardian article today talks of the UKIP in terms of basically being a more upper class version of the racist BNP, and from what I know, this seems to be true.

The cover of UKIP's manifesto depicts three nappy-clad babies, adding: 'This is their country - make sure it stays that way.'

The influx of immigrants 'adds considerably to our problems, increasing social tensions', it adds: 'We cannot sustain this increase, which compares with a city the size of Cambridge coming into Britain every six months.'

and

Under the headline 'Immigration soaring' , a cartoon depicts 'overcrowded Britain', a shanty-town jumble of houses: across the sea, streams of eastern European immigrants pour into an entrance labelled 'Channel Funnel'. Inside, the leaflet adds: 'At last! A non-racist party that takes a firm line on immigration.'

These all come from today's Guardian which thankfully speaks some sense, in pointing out the inherent racism and xenophobia within the UKIP's policies and campaigns.

Like the BNP, it is unpalatable racism under a thin veil of acceptability (note the continued criticism of enforced political correctness from them both at times, as a really awful thing that stops people being truthful).

But Robert and Joan, Kilroy and Collins, seem to be endorsing it wholeheartedly, and with comments like Joan Collins' I do feel that my country - I am English - is losing a lot of what I grew up with what can you expect?

You know Joan, change is ok... it's good, even. I like the changes brought to this country by multiculturalism and I will support it all the way.

And given that Robert Kilroy-Silk apparently has a house in Spain, and Joan Collins lives in France, you do have to wonder what the hell they're talking about...

pay attention...

PARENTAL

ADVISORY

INCURABLE_HIPPIE CONTAINS EXPLICIT LYRICS

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

don't do patriotism...

I	Influential
N	Naive
C	Comical
U	Useful
R	Radiant
A	Arty
B	Brainy
L	Lively
E	Eccentric
-
H	Haunting
I	Innocent
P	Patriotic
P	Playful
I	Important
E	Explosive

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Patriotic?? I think not!

First job: teaching piano and flute
First screen name: fra95pjw
First funeral: Auntie Rene
First piercing/tattoo: ears when i was 16
First credit card: barclaycard when i was 18 or 19, at uni
First Kiss: hehehe
First one that mattered: hehehehehehe
First love: G.O. (wouldn't want her to google her name, as let's face it, we all do from time to time, and find herself here...!)
First enemy: the scary green woman on rod hull and emu
First big trip: rome age 7
First concert: lots of classical / orchestral ones always. otherwise, probably tansads in the mill at the pier age 16 or so
First musician you remember hearing in your house: jazz jazz jazz
Last car ride: erm...? taxi home from respite care?
Last kiss: last saturday
Last library book checked out: a book about endometriosis
Last movie watched: buena vista social club
Last beverage drank: pepsi max
Last food consumed: a co-op chocolate truffle
Last phone call: N, childhood friend :)
Last time showered: in respite care in the week. don't have a shower here.
Last CD played: beatles no 1s
Last annoyance: spam in my email
Last soda drank: pepsi max
Last ice cream eaten: it's been many years :( - ice cream makes me ill :((
Last time scolded: only by myself i think
Last website visited: becksydee's LJ where i got this from.

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Googlism for: hippie

hippie is watching you
hippie is not a matter of dress
hippie is someone who does not own anything
hippie is a matter of accepting a universal belief system that transcends the social
hippie is more about caring for others
hippie is arrested again
hippie is going to post a picture of himself
hippie is a c++ implementation of the famous alice
hippie is the best html editor i have used
hippie is overwriting itself
hippie is in het park 2
hippie is some one that respects the earth and doesn't harm but gives love
hippie is not confined to any age group
hippie is someone who believes in peace
hippie is not affliated with house the homeless or capitol area homeless
hippie is in the church' from intruding when retrieving 'the hippie is in the park' subjects could suppress facts associated
hippie is in the park
hippie is a program that simulates a natural conversation
hippie is an authorized ammp dealer
hippie is an html editor that allows users to create sophisticated html pages for their personal and business web pages site
hippie is not just long hair and the looks or acid
hippie is not just a teenage thing
hippie is near
hippie is also an end user
hippie is not just the way you look or dress
hippie is anyone whos adventurous and curious spirit is exceeded by thier open mind
hippie is "higher" than it is wide
hippie is connected to the following things
hippie is connected to because
hippie is for the open discussion of all matters relating to the hippie counterculture from the 60s to the present
hippie is a prototype of a nomadic information system
hippie is spinning
hippie is defined as a member of a loosely knit
hippie is ready for experimentation
hippie is not out to make a profit or to line our pockets donations may be tax deductible
hippie is a grass roots not for profit entity
hippie is a proud member of the
hippie is defeated your peace is dead hippie is defeated your love is dead nasty
hippie is like that?
hippie is the "retro hippie"
hippie is a total & hopeless romantic
hippie is "dr
hippie is likewise thoughtful
hippie is said to have been a drop
hippie is detrimental to the work that earth first
hippie is the same size as four hippie buddies
hippie is a 60?s themed umbrella complete with bell
hippie is a column featuring information and opinion on social
hippie is in the parade for narcotics trafficking
hippie is a matter of accepting a belief system which transcends the social
hippie is a text based html editor with a built in internet explorer preview pane
hippie is in the park the hippie is in the church the priest is in the
hippie is played by brandon dewilde
hippie is a modern day shaman
hippie is holding his cup of coffee up and studying it
hippie is
hippie is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites
hippie is nothing to be ashamed of
hippie is the next best thing and there are more drugs
hippie is a surprise star in bookstore sales
hippie is the only truly user
hippie is a fantastic html editor that shows you a real
hippie is/was
hippie is bad and they say that if you wear hippie clothes it means that you take drugs and that you smoke
hippie is just be
hippie is having no attachments
hippie is screaming
hippie is flying over the mountains when all of a sudden there is a
hippie is weggevlucht naar het strand
hippie is a phase of life

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There, you know a bit more about me now :)

ChainBlogging: Carnivores and Herbivores

I used to be vegetarian. I was for 11 years, followed by a 10 month stint as a vegan. And yes, I was one of those probably annoying militant varieties...

I was around 12 years old and creating a magazine as an English project at school, and many of my articles were around animal rights issues. The more information I found on these issues, the more horrified I was - around fur coats, animal testing for medical, household and cosmetic purposes, and the more I realised that I couldn't eat these things with a clear conscience any more.

Of course, organisations who focused around these issues were more than happy to provide me with emotive and horrifying photos of distressed and dead animals to prove their point ;)

But yeah, I stuck with it. Myself and a few friends remained veggie, others phased in and out of it, but apart from a brief-ish 6 month or so period of eating meat again after about 7 years, I stuck fiercely to not eating "anything that used to have a face" and defending myself in doing such.

I think I was worse as an early teen vegetarian, in terms of lecturing the people around me about the dead animals on their dinner plates, though undoubtedly some of this continued.

When I went to uni I found myself in the rare situation where I was surrounded by more vegetarians and vegans than I was meat-eaters, so it was certainly a norm to eat no meat, and I stopped even realising that it wasn't a majority sport.

Moving to France where the sheer amounts of blood which pour out of every burger reminds you of the fact that it used to be a living thing reaffirmed my original reasons for becoming veggie, and I returned to it with even increased gusto.

2 or 3 years later I read about the existence of something called a rape rack used on dairy farms, and my attention was also drawn to the facts that humans are the only mammal which drinks another species' milk, and indeed that cows' milk is designed for baby cows, not adult humans. Not to mention the hormones and antibiotics that non-organic cows' milk must be full of.

I just couldn't eat dairy products any more.

I did ten months as a vegan, and contrary to many people's experiences, I didn't find it difficult. I occasionally missed cheese, but really it was a non-issue. It was easy. The only problem was that my depression at the time meant that I wasn't planning my eating well, or varying my food intake enough.

I truly, honestly believe that it is possible to live well on a healthy vegan diet, however I also believe that it takes a lot more planning, preparation and thought than most diets. At that period in my life I had no energy to plan, prepare or even think about my diet, and while I was quite happy living on marmite on toast, and I do believe that marmite is the only natural way a vegan can get vitamin B12 naturally.

However, after 10 or so months of this, my body decided otherwise. One day, I was walking past the sandwich shop and noticed their sign saying they had hot chicken and stuffing sandwiches...

Months, or even years, of protein deficiency took over, and I had to have chicken. There was no choice or decision involved in any of this - I needed chicken like you might need water in a desert, and for weeks it was all I ate. I couldn't stop!

That was, what, 3 years ago maybe, and I still eat meat. Yep, dead animals, things that used to have faces, I eat it. I like to think that my 11-12 years of abstaining from previously living things saved a certain number of animals, so the karma of this won't be too bad, but to be honest, nowadays I enjoy it.

I do believe that I will turn vegetarian again - maybe even vegan. I did consider becoming a meat-eating vegan for a while - still eating meat but still kinda horrified by the idea of milk - but it never happened.

For now, I eat meat, I like it, and if I am going to be veggie again it shouldn't have to be a battle. Life is hard enough without creating my own obstacles.

I managed vegetarianism for a long period of time because I wanted to do it. If I'm only half-hearted now it wouldn't work out, it would feel punishing, and I'd resent it.

Apparently it's National Vegetarian Week right now...

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This is part of a chain of posts linked together by word association. The previous link in the chain was here. If you want to write another link here's what to do: Find a word, phrase or theme from this post to inspire your own and go and write it. It's that simple. Try not to write something that's similar to this post. That way the subject of the posts along the chain will vary. E.g. if I write about going to the doctor's, then don't talk about the last time you were ill, instead describe how you used to play Doctors and Nurses with the girl next door. Get the idea? Your post can be in any style you want. Copy this paragraph and tack it onto the end of your post, updating the link to point here, then leave a comment here that points to your new post.

Cartoons 

One of my favourite digital camera games... 

Me me me me me

I've been quiet for a few days. Partly general misery. Partly going into respite care. Partly having nothing to say about anything.

But I'm now out of respite care, still fairly miserable, but starting to have things to say again :)

Respite care is one of the few places I ever watch television. I can't get over how immensely more disturbing the news is with moving images. I lived for 25 or so years watching the news, then 18 months without has turned me into... well, I'm not sure what:

an oversensitive person? I don't think so... I mean, I am oversensitive, but I don't think it is inherently oversensitive to be upset at seeing films of dead bodies and bombs

a more easily shocked person? Maybe...

a less accepting of horrific things person? I like to think I was never accepting of horrific things, but maybe I'm now less accepting of witnessing them.

*Sigh*

I did some more card making yesterday. I really enjoyed it! And am as pleased as I ever would be with the results... I'm not that creative, but if I do this stuff for fun, when I'm in the mood, I find it relaxing, and it means I have 4, yes FOUR cards ready for any approaching birthdays or card-requiring activities.

I like pretty things :D

Who Gives a Shit?

London shortlisted for Olympic bid is what the radio news has been telling me all day.

Who gives a shit? This country seems to spend half its time trying to get shortlisted, an almost equal amount of time trying to get chosen, and a small (but essential) amount of time not ever being chosen, and then the whole rigmarole starts again.

I very much doubt we'll win the bid this time. We never do. We will waste £millions on pretty pictures and such and we won't be picked. And whether we do or not, I don't care. I don't think I know anyone who does.

And a man has been arrested for impersonating a police officer at Windsor Castle. Again, who gives a shit?

No members of the Royal Family were at the castle at the time and police say the pair, both in their 30s, did not breach security.

Ok, so not only do I not care, but it seems to be a non-story as well. There were no royals there (yawn), and this guy and a woman with him were in a public area... Why is this on the news?

And why are the royals so protected? What makes them any more important than me? Or you? Why?!

However, I do give a shit about the gay weddings stuff in Massachussetts. Here is a fabulous BBC photo report on the story, with a special appearance from the evil website people (note no link, don't want to encourage them).

A peace rally in Israel provokes some moving photographs too, and the Baghdad bomb attack photographs really show me more than I can deal with seeing.

Since I got rid of my television nearly 18 months ago, I feel the impact of visual images of such things much more strongly. Now that I get the vast majority of my news on the radio and am not bombarded daily with images of disasters, I find these types of images much more powerful and disturbing than I ever have before.

Protest photos are important, I think, to remind us that there are many millions of us who despair at the state of the world, and who are willing to shout, dance, cry, write and be all-roundly creative to change things. Photos from the Wall Must Fall demo last Saturday are inspiring and beautiful.

Not for the first time in his life, it seems Peter Tatchell was causing controversy. I have to admit to some sympathy for him on this one. Pretending that the Palestinian authorities are perfect is inappropriate if it's not true, and it is totally ok to stand up for Palestinians against their occupiers, while at the same time pointing out discrimination which occurs within its own communities. The two are not mutually exclusive or contradictory.

It's like there is sometimes an unspoken feeling within the anti-war communities that there must be no horror from anything done by Iraqis or Palestinians, say, because they are fighting the occupations of their territories / countries, and thus are justified. However, while I understand the reasoning and hatred and fear and bitterness behind any such actions, I still maintain the right to feel horrified at a man being beheaded, for instance.

It's all complicated. I know where they are coming from, and I support the determination for freedom, but I am essentially a pacifist and I want the fighting, all the fighting, to stop.

It hurts my soul.

Alarmed?? Yes!

Yes I am alarmed to look at my funky new list of referers to this blog and find that incurable hippie's comes 5th in the google results for "keep britain for the british"... argh! That was thanks to this entry in which I ranted about Kilroy standing as a UK Independence Party candidate in the forthcoming European elections.

I was secretly pleased to also come up on the results list of google searches for Charnock Richard Cycles which is the place of the best radio jingle ever, from my youth listening to Rock FM which I reminisced about in April. Awww.

I love being able to see my referrers just down there on the right hand side of the page. I think it will become a very interesting pastime!!

This Church of Critical Thinking entry about Catholicism and transubstantiation will make any Recovering Catholic smile and is informative for anyone who wants to have the "yes it is Jesus's actual body and blood, not just representative of it" stuff clarified.

It then goes on to look at the influence of the Catholic church on Amerikan politics, which is very, very interesting and contained stuff certainly new to me.

Mother Doesn't Want a Dog is a cute poem from Snowball which is worth a read, especially if, like me, your mum wouldn't allow you pets as a child!

I hadn't heard of Margaret Keane until recently, but I find her work totally absorbing. Both beautiful and disturbing, and I'm glad I was pointed in her direction.

An email update I just received has informed me that the (scary) Christian Institute are opposing a bill to ban smacking children. That's right, you read it correctly. They think hitting children is good, it seems. They are also complaining about the proposed civil partnership laws, allowing same-sex couples to register their partnerships, on the basis that siblings, and disabled people and their carers could not register theirs... Seems a bit spurious to me.

They give helpful examples, like:

A 60-year-old homosexual man picks up a 22-year-old in a gay bar. Shortly afterwards the 22-year-old moves in to the older man’s London home which has been in his family for generations. Within a month the two have entered into a civil partnership. The older man dies three months later and the 22-year-old inherits the home. Because of the partnership, he pays no inheritance tax.

What can you say to that then? Stone them! Stone them all!

And I'm sure they didn't intend the gay men cake decoration to be cute, but it really is!!

14/5 or 5/14 or just my birthday yesterday :)

Irene Stuber runs an incredible website at undelete.org all about undeleting women from his/herstory.

The Women of Achievement section of her website tells me some significant events around women's herstory which have occurred on May 14th, my birthday. I especially like that on May 14th 1918, the right to vote and stand for political office for all women of the Canadian Province was validated.

Another site tells me that Thomas Gainsborough and Cate Blanchett share my birthday, and elsewhere I find that the month of May is...

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

On May 7, 1990, President George Bush signed a proclamation declaring May to be Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, recognizing the first Japanese immigrants arriving in the United States on May 7, 1843.


• Better Hearing and Speech Month



• Better Sleep Month



• Egg Month (National)



• Mental Health Awareness Month



• Huntington's Disease Awareness Month



• Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month (World)



• Older Americans Month



• Physical Fitness & Sports Month (National, US)



• Teacher Appreciation Month



• Trauma Awareness Month (National)

though these, of course, are very US-centric.

And how can I not follow a link to Favo(u)rite resources for Catholic homeschoolers, which tells me that 14th May is the Feast of St. Matthias (d. 65) Apostle and Martyr, and birthday of Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686) German scientist.

I guess of all that I'm most inspired by Canadian women getting the vote, 59 years (I think!) before the date I was born.

I had a lovely day yesterday with friends and beer and the sun was shining :) I'm now 27...

Oly-hay Ible-bay

Oly-hay Ible-bay is the official title of The Bible in Pig Latin, which is worth a look or two.

And Britain's Favourite Flowers from the Guardian is a bit of eye candy which seems rarer and rarer in the days of more and more horror being recorded for posterity and shared. No links to that because I can't stand to see any more of it.

And if you want a proper giggle, try We Like tha Moon. Leaving it running through several times almost guarantees insanity.

Sorry it's not so inspired today. I am tired, stressed and miserable.

Independence, Insults and Inherent Idiocy

I was, for some reason, stunned to read thatKilroy will become a UK Independence Party candidate in the forthcoming elections.

The BBC gives a fair summary of the whole Kilroy issue, but basically, he was an MP in the Labour Party, then became a TV talk-show host, apparently to provide a British equivalent of Oprah...

He was on at 9am on a weekday and was the mainstay of morning viewing for kids on half term, and uni students. Mainly, though, cos the better TV hadn't started yet... If you wanted an early morning row, usually over street muggings and such, you tuned into BBC 1, until you either got insanely irritated, or until Trisha started at - I think - half past.

Kilroy was characterised by beginning with a mini speech by the man himself, a fairly in-depth story from one or two audience members, then a discussion, leading to anarchy in the audience of often over-60s. Though the programme may have usually started with a seemingly sympathetic look at someone's situation, it soon descended into right-wing diatribes, almost always against people on the dole, single mums, or drug users.

Incredibly moralistic, his meagre attempts to show himself as an objective interviewer proved futile as his own moral agenda became clearly visible.

Anyway, earlier this year, many grinned when he well and truly dropped himself in it by launching into an anti-Arab racist rant entitled, "We owe Arabs nothing".

I'm not going to reproduce it here, because that kind of attitude already has too much webspace, but you can imagine, I'm sure. Anyway, he got bollocked and eventually the BBC suspended the show.

Soooooo that was January this year, and now he's standing for the UK Independence Party it seems. I don't know much about this party, but what I know and what I read on their site tells me that they are essentially very anti-Europe, and full of the whole "keep britain for the british" stuff that I hate.

He sounds like, umm, an ideal candidate :-/

Racist fucker.

The Terrifying Tale of the Missing Beeps

I have to admit to a certain scepticism when my source informed me of the mysterious disappearance of the middle two beeps before the ten o'clock news. I challenged her certainty that it had been the middle two beeps specifically which were absent, suggesting that it was equally likely to have been, for instance, 1 and 3, say, which were missing.

However i was quickly reminded of her inherent superiority, on an intellectual plane, to not only myself but the majority of the thinking world. She patiently explained that there had been 2 beeps, then a gap, then the final 2.

My Nancy Drew-like sleuthing powers kicked in and i surmised that we were almost certainly dealing with a kidnapping. The most obvious suspects were, of course, the notorious Tory Rebel terrorist cell.

This was certainly a typical, though more hard-hitting than we are accustomed to from them, attempt to throw those liberal lefty radio 4 listeners right off course. The missing beeps, in combination with the recently broken quarter chimes on big ben, was clearly a tactic intended to scare the wishy washy world into submission.

And it was working.

I witnessed a grown man squaring his jaw as he had his long liberal locks shorn, a social worker leaving work early to go to the British Legion, and a well-known lefty campaigner joining... the Labour Party.

With such devastation around us within moments of the affront of the missing beeps, the Tory Rebel terrorist campaign was proving to be not only severe and heartless, but also effective. If we didn't find the beeps and restore them to their rightful slot before the 11 o'clock news all hell would, without a doubt, break loose.

Has to be seen - genius

Ok, I know I've only just posted and it's already all disjointed and now I'm adding something else under a separate entry and it's all very bad blogiquette, but I couldn't let you leave without readingthis amazing entry from The Church of Critical Thinking

Mish-Mash

The Infected Papercut led me to a list of 100 Mistakes for the President to Choose From, apparently in response to a press conference where dubya was asked to name a mistake he had made, and amazingly he couldn't.

There's nothing on there you won't have heard before, but it can be handy to have a whole lot of references on the one page.

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I started looking for short free online courses, and decided to list some random ones here. I was quite surprised by the variety (i.e. they're not all beginners' Spanish). However, don't expect too much. Many of these places offer a free introductory lesson in an attempt to then sell you the rest of the course, others are courses written to promote a product, and yet others are so surrounded by adverts it's hard to keep track of what you're supposed to be there to do.

There are a few, however, which seem to be there for the good of humankind, which can only be a good thing. However, I guess the 7 million free Bible study online courses I found would argue that they were there for that purpose... I have not listed those here incidentally!

Anyway, click away if there's anything that catches your fancy, just bear in mind my warnings above.

Free online photography courses

Free Education on the Internet

Free Online Courses from the University of Washington

Web Building Tutorials

A Jazz Improvisation Primer

Free online self help courses

Bookbinding, a tutorial

BBC Learning - Online Courses

Free Stop Panic Attacks course

Judaism and Vegetarianism

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Digital Camera and Digital Photography Courses

W3Schools - online web tutorials


Hmmm you always come across something you don't quite expect when you're doing an apparently straight-forward search...

And... did you ever want to download the internet?!

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Mixed bag today it seems...

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Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!
"May barbarians invade your personal
space!"
You are highly confrontational and possibly in a
bad mood. You would have sworn in this quiz,
if I had made it an option.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

---

Gay Bear


Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Sheep and Shit-Stirrers

I have finally got round to finding a photo of theHermit sheep 'Shrek' shorn of 6-year-old woolly fleece. Well, ok, that makes me sound proactive when in fact someone sent me the link, but, you know, I clicked on it.

The sheep in question looked totally different to how I'd imagined him, and I can kinda see myself emerging looking something like that after 6 years of self-imposed solitude as a hermit as well. All enclosed and protected by a huge ball of fuzz. So, so tempting.

It seems the government has had another marvellous idea - to charge failed asylum seekers for healthcare. Not only is this totally outrageous and denying the necessary health care many people need, but also I can't imagine the money saved would be anything other than negligible. I could actually even imagine that it could end up more expensive if they have to treat people as emergencies, when conditions which could have been easily managed earlier on have now become more dangerous or severe.

It's just racist shit, pure and simple. The government is trying to appeal to and placate the fascists (and Tories by showing how tough they are being on these scary foreigners, but in fact, the only reason asylum seekers have become a big issue here is because the government and the tabloids have made them that. It's a self-perpetuating situation which has led to the evil BNP gaining seats and credibility, and people getting tougher and tougher.

The facts are that asylum seekers are here to escape extreme situations in which they would be killed or tortured. They have left their homes, often their families, friends, possessions, jobs and communities to do this. They arrive elsewhere and are forced to live in poor housing, in abject poverty, and as if that was not all horrific enough, but then they also have to face bigotry, racism and fascist attitudes coming from the media, the government, and certain people around them.

I cling onto the hope that it is a minority of people who truly hold negative opinions about asylum seekers. But one big problem is that for anyone who is undecided or not so knowledgeable on the issues, the papers and government's attitudes and propaganda can easily push someone into believing that asylum seekers are people to be feared, to be hated, and to be "sent home" at all costs.

No borders!!

And, for the hamster feature of the day, check out this cool site I found where you can upload photos of your own hamsters and gerbils and you can find Pierrot / Nepenthe, Heidi and Clara.

Christianity, Cutting and Corn Dogs

When I come across a link entitled Weblog: Is Christianity to Blame for Teen Self-Mutilation?, it is the kind of thing I cannot often resist reading. When I then realise that the blog is written by Christianity Today I certainly cannot resist!

It is written in response to a Guardian article which turns out to be about self harm generally in young people, about the worryingly younger ages of children who are self harming, and such. The section about which the Christianity Today blog is referring to is as follows:

"Images of self-harm are all around us, particularly in religious iconography. Christianity is founded on the notion that Christ suffered for the world's sins and there have been sects which practiced self-flagellation and mutilation throughout history. Pain and the spilling of our own blood are seen as ways of cleansing ourselves. Likewise, when teenagers cut themselves they often say it is a release, a way of punishing themselves or others."

Now, while I would never say that Christianity or Catholicism have caused my self harm, for life is never so simplistic, I will say that the doctrine of punishing your body, of mind-pleasure being superior to bodily-pleasure, of overriding your body's needs, and of overriding pain for the sake of spiritual development, have all contributed to a state of mind in myself where self harm seems not only acceptable, but even kinda the best thing to do, with regards to a Catholic lifestyle.

Not logically, of course, but in that place where your head can take you, especially if that head is a Roman Catholic one.

But unfortunately, the above weblog's intelligent response to the debate was "Whatever" so I'm not much wiser on the other side of the argument.

"What does the Bible say about body piercing?" was an equally intriguing link, with almost laughable prescriptive and out-of-context quotations from Leviticus et al, and references to the evil background of body piercings and tattoos in (oooh) witchcraft and false religions (sic)...

Helpful comments such as, "Some even have this done on unspeakable parts of their bodies. These are abnormal and unnatural." and "Because the youth of our day are despising and rebelling against their parents this is very displeasing to the Lord as one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible is to honor our parents" really do not contribute much to the debate of the rights and wrongs of body piercing / adornment / whatever.

And is anyone surprised by this tirade of contradiction and woman-hating...?

"It is a different matter when women wear pierced earrings as a custom, without the rebellion and pride attached to it. However, this could even be wrong if women are filled with vanity and pride over their appearance. Remember God looks at our heart attitudes. In fact, the Bible speaks of a generation of women that will be alive at the coming of the Lord that will be judged severely for their flirting and their haughtiness."

I think not...

Unfortunately it is what we have come to expect from Christianity. I don't care what people do or don't believe in, but really, if you are going to have the backing of something influential (for right or wrong) like Christianity, use it for *good*. Use it to feed starving people or to banish oppression. Analysing the differences between pierced earrings in respectable women, compared to pierced earrings in women who are doing it to rebel, and condemning anyone and everyone over minutiae, just makes most people raise an eyebrow and walk on.

And, in the spirit of totally lowering the tone of intellectual discussion, meet corndog.

adopt your own virtual pet!

Consider the bandwagon truly leapt upon ;)

BBC - Ouch! - Columnists

As some of you know, I love BBC Ouch website - link at the side for instance, and I was just reading through the weekly newsletter and about to link to a fabulous article about Evil Mat wanting to take over Mat's interviews as an actor with journalists who ask stupid, offensive and just plain rude questions about his disability.

So yeah, I was about to do that and I was still working my way through the newsletter when I came across this bloglist on their site, listing blogs they found which look at disability issues, and bloody hell fire, there is little old me!!

Am I mad to be so totally excited?! Well, actually, we already know I'm mad, so I will just say...

I am so totally excited

He he he he he! And I really already had started this entry with the Evil Mat link before I'd got as far as the bloglist page!!!!!!

In any case, this is how they described my blog:

This UK blogger, who has a number of interesting entries on mental health topics (and has the good sense to link to Crippled Monkey), describes herself as a "mad, in debt, radical, angry, pacifist, warrior, flower-power chick ..."

Ok I will stop being so sycophantic and stuff now, just so totally excited!!

I also love radio 4 with an undoubtedly inappropriate passion. I love that the broken quarter bell of Big Ben is being treated, quite rightly, as the biggest crisis to hit Britain so far this century... What will the world be like now with a whole week of beeps instead of chimes at 6pm and midnight...?

Yesterday upon the stair

I met a man who wasn't there / he wasn't there again today / I wish I wish he'd go away

Hatred, Holiness and Hamsters

A SocietyGuardian article today tells of a CAB report that people with mental illness face widespread discrimination. This comes as no surprise, and the article and the report make depressing and not very surprising reading. On the one hand it's good to have statistics like these to back up arguments and make your point, on the other, of course it would be better if this was never the situation so statistics weren't necessary.

Holy Disorders is also an article well worth reading, comparing "modern" anorexia with the starvation and self injurious behaviours of female saints throughout history. And of course, race training for all mental health staff can only be a good idea. Follow it up with awareness of women's and LGB issues and we might start getting somewhere...

On what was supposed to be a *nicer* point, here are some photos of my hamsters. It was supposed to be a nicer point in a chilled, cute way. In fact it was stressful in a *you can't do tables in html using only instinct* way. I like things to be instinctual, hence being a music- and language-type. In any case, at some point I will actually learn how to do them and re-do the page. For now, hopefully their cuteness will take precedence over the crappy page layout, font, colours etc. etc. etc.

Hmmm...

Burlap, Blogs and Boredom

Billy "Smiles" Evans


I am a very sick little boy. My mother is typing this for me, because I can't. She is crying. Don't cry, Mommy! Mommy is always sad, but she says it's not my fault. I asked her if it was God's fault, but she didn't answer, and only started crying harder, so I don't ask her that anymore. The reason she is so sad is that I'm so sick. I was born without a body. It doesn't hurt, except when I go to sleep.
The doctors gave me an artificial body. My body is a burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors said that was the best they could do on account of us havin' no money or insurance. I would like to have a body transplant, but we need more money. Mommy doesn't work because she said employers don't hire crying people. I said, "Don't cry, Mommy," and she hugged my burlap body. Mommy always gives me hugs, even though she's allergic to burlap, and it chafes her real bad.

I hope you will help me. You can help me if you forward this e-mail. Dr. Johansen said if you foward this e-mail then Bill Gates will team up with AOL and do a survey with NASA. Then the astronauts will collect prayers from school children all over America and take them up to space so that the angels can hear them better. Then they will go to the Pope, and he will take up a collection in church and send the money to the doctors. The doctors could help me better then.

Maybe one day I will be able to play baseball. Or maybe just use my lungs and heart, when the doctors make them. The doctors said that every time you foward this letter, the astronauts can take another prayer to the angels. Please help me. Mommy is so sad, and I want a body. I don't want my leaves to rot before I turn 10.

If you don't foward this e-mail, that's OK. Mommy says you're a mean heartless person who doesn't care about a poor little boy with only a head. She says that she hopes that you stew in the raw pit of your own guilt-ridden stomach. What kind of wretched person are you that you can't take five lousy minutes to forward this to all your friends so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and then maybe help a poor, bodiless nine-year-old boy?

Please help me. This really sucks. I try to be happy but it's hard. I wish

I had a puppy. I wish I could hold a puppy.

Thank You.
Billy 'Smiles' Evans,
The boy with just a head.
And a burlap sack for a body.


This is about as good as subverting the perceived power of chain letters as anything I've ever come across! Go, burlap boy!

I want to link to some of my friends' LJs and blogs. There are some Open Diaries too but not sure if they're secret so I won't yet.

Anyway for now I give you...

/drum roll/

faintpraise, Becksydee, Shy_Fae and Snowball.

/applause/

When I get round to it I will add a links section to the right to blogs I like - the best ones tend to be the ones you get to through following links from links and more links. You find a gem and have no idea how you got there.

There are some really impressive photography ones for instance. And very good social and political commentary from all over. And funny stuff too, of course, I'm not totally boring and serious.

Optical Illusions are always good to fill a few minutes of boredom.

Degrees and DJs

I got an Aegrotat Degree. That is the first definition I have ever come across of them. Not that I've especially looked, mainly through the shame / denial of the whole thing.

I shouldn't be ashamed, they say, because not only is it a full degree, but they are very rarely awarded because it is rare that someone's work is at a good enough standard to have guaranteed that they would have passed had they sat the final exams.

Hmmm.

I hate chain letters. I hate chain letters. I received one today and am angry about it. Not the email kind - they're bad enough, but this was a real, paper chain letter, making me feel it has even more power.

Yeah I know it's a stupid piece of paper, but that's not how it feels.

I am currently having a not-so-mentally-healthy reminiscence over Red Rose Rock FM as it used to be called.

Weirdly, it seems that Adele from Big Brother is now a DJ on there.

I remember Mike Toolan but really I was looking for (just worked out his name) Paul Jordan who, according to Digital Spy Forum, dotJournalism, Emap and many others, is now MD of Rock FM, though MediaUK says he is Head of News. I'm guessing that's out of date.

The Digital Spy Forum also mentioned Claire Anderson and Kev Seed, both of whom I remember.

97.4 Red Rose Rock FM from the Rocking Church at St. Pauls Square, to the Tower Of Power at Winter Hill across the Great North West

More rock, less talk

Buy a bike, buy a bike, get down to Charnock Richard Cycles. Buy a bike!

We're rocking the north west!

Charnock Richard cycles doesn't seem to have a website, but it was certainly worth linking to the google search results, as every single link to it seems to mention the ad jingle!

I have no idea where I was intending to go with that, but all that googling has taken me way off the track of whatever it may have been.

Bush, Lush and Personality Disorders

I can't decide whether this Personality Disorders poem is cute or offensive...

The world and the news are too depressing currently to comment on, so I will leave you with my latest poem :))

Lush and Bush

If George W. Bush
Ever visited Lush
I just know he would chill out so much

Poor countries he'd feed
He'd legalise weed
Following the footsteps of the Dutch.

With each bar of soap
He'd increase our hope
For a world with no fighting or war

All fresh and organic
He'd be the mechanic
Of justice, equality for all.

He'd melt in the bath
Enjoying the aftermath
Of all of his spending and giving

With a smile in his eyes
Amidst bubbles he lies
Knowing he just improved someone's living.

So go on, Georgie B,
Buy a bath bomb or three,
And help make the world a nice place

A refreshing quick shower
You'll use all your power
And abolish the nuclear arms race.

by me

Ann Widdecombe - Agony Aunt Extraordinaire

Buck up!

Manchester

I spent yesterday in Manchester with an old friend (in length of time we've been friends, rather than her age) and was quite shocked to see Manchester city centre nowadays.

Lots of glass and such buildings - very modern, whatever that means, striking, and almost certainly built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games which were held there.

I also couldn't help but notice the sheer number of designer and exceedingly expensive shops around. This could have just been representative of the area we spent time in, though we were pretty central which could suggest this is how the whole of the shopping centre is. Selfridges was large and impressive, though almost frightening in prices, and it was not alone amongst an an incredible array of capitalist blatancy.

That's not to say I didn't have fun or indeed indulge in the shopping experience. I left Whittards with Almond Amaretto and Irish Cream flavoured instant coffees, and chocolate milkshake stuff, which I hope will go well with my soya milk supplies.

I also spent a little too much on purty things in Paperchase which is an incredible shop indeed, and I could easily spend a year's wages (if indeed I got wages) in.

I couldn't, however, imagine what Manchester City Centre is like for those souls who live in Manchester but, as will be the case for the majority, don't have the income to do their regular shopping in a centre like this. Sure, I spotted a Mk One and other such bargainous shops, but to be surrounded by such oppressive extravagence and indulgence must be somewhat depressing.

I got the inescapable idea that, in catering for the many visitors which Manchester must get, Commonwealth Games or not, they have perhaps lost sight of their city's residents' needs. It was a fabulous place to visit and see, but if I lived there, with the minimal income I have, I would find going into the city centre a thoroughly depressing experience as it highlighted how little I have and how much some have, the huge gap and unfairness implied within that.

It had been quite a while since I'd visited Manchester, and I would certainly go again, though most likely next time I would avoid the uncomfortable crowds which are so inevitable on Easter Saturday in school holidays.

Incidentally, this must be the first Easter ever when I seem to have managed to not buy a single Easter Egg. Impressive.

Arsenal vs. Man United

I'm sitting here watching the game
And if I'm honest, it's quite lame
Apart from when United scored
Mostly I've just been quite bored.

Finally the game has ended
Feigning interest now suspended
Man United, in the lead,
To the final now succeed.

Arsenal must be quite frustrated
Thoughts of victory all abated.
It's taken over the TV
And is of no interest to me.

Even now the game has finished
Debate and woes are not diminished
They will discuss it now for ages
And fill up all the sports back pages.

Under Attack - Welchia_ICMP_Scan

Each time I come online, norton informs me that there is an attempted intrusion against my machine from welchia_icmp_scan. This message board is one of only two links which result from a google search of welchia_icmp_scan. It doesn't even seem to be listed on the norton / symantec site.

Norton is identifying the culprit as being an easynet site, but I don't know how easily IP addresses can be faked, so I don't know... Though I have reported it to them and asked them to investigate.

I had no idea there would only be 2 links on this worm / attack / whatever, but was kinda relieved to read on this message board that others are having the same problem, though several on there are getting reports that their computer is *causing* the attack, not receiving it, so I'm still fairly lost.

Basically lots of speculation on there, in the absence of hard facts it's all that's available!

I can't help but feel somewhat victimised!

Does anyone have any info about this Welchia_ICMP_Scan attack business? Anyone??

Letters from America, self harm, SSRIs

Radio legend Cooke dies aged 95 is the BBC's report of this surprisingly sad news. I found the Letter from America dull and irritating, but now that Alistair Cooke (which I always thought was spelt Alistair Cook, and it really bugs me to get that kind of thing wrong) has died, I do feel sad. He was an institution really, and I guess it's the end of an era. And the beginning of incessant re-runs of the whole 56 years of letters :-S

Today it was also announced that there is to be an inquiry into self harm in young people in the UK. Apparently more people self harm in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, and women / girls are 7 times more likely to self injure than men / boys.

I think an official inquiry is long overdue and certainly to be welcomed, though I'm already not feeling entirely positive about it, and it was only launched today!

Firstly, their website is very much aimed at "professionals" rather than those of us who do self-harm, and thus have considerably more expertise on the subject. This, and the fact that it seems the panel seems that it will also be mainly made up of professionals, leaves me less than confident that this inquiry and its results and recommendations will be centred around US, those it is talking about!

The other thing I find troublesome about this inquiry is that it, as with every bloody other thing in the world (well, maybe not, but ya know...), is about under 25s. This ubiquitous assumption that on our 25th birthdays we mysteriously and abruptly stop hurting ourselves, stop wanting to attend or join groups, stop caring about certain campaigns, is totally invisiblising (?!) and invalidating to those of us who are (gasp) actually 26 or over.

It is hard enough to counter the myth that all those who self harm are teenagers, the implication being that it is a "phase" to "grow out of", but when the one and only inquiry on the subject in the history of ever, implicitly suggests that, it annoys me immensely.

My own take on self harm (or self injury, or self mutilation, or self abuse, or whichever of the multitude of things people call it) can be found on the PurplePippa website. Saves me ranting even more here ;)

The other big mental health news here in the UK is that doctors are feeling "forced" to prescribe anti-depressants due to a lack of alternatives available. A massive 80% of them feel they are giving out too many SSRIs because not enough help like counselling or therapy is available.

Disgusting situation. Referrals for help can take months or years and this is clearly inappropriate for people in acute crisis, which is when people would be most likely to consult their GP I would imagine. And the ironic (or disturbing?) thing is that if people received immediate support, I believe that in many cases the problems would be resolved fairly quickly, with having had someone to talk to and learn new coping strategies with. As it is, say it takes 2 years for an appointment, by this stage, what was initially a problem of, say, stress at work, or relationship breakdown, could well have become much more serious and long-term, due to having no help (other than not-so-pretty pills) for such a long time while in distress.

So, if money is the motive (which it damn well shouldn't be), see people within 2 weeks of referral, and there would be fewer people needing long-term support or help. I reckon.

Apologies for so much ranting today, just too many issues much too close to my heart.

Blunkett, babies and breasts

Despite its offensive headline, this article on UK Indymedia really takes this country's government to new extremes in weirdness and total, for want of a better word, outrageousness!

He wants to charge people who were wrongly convicted for crimes for their "bed and board" while in prison, as if they hadn't been wrongly convicted and locked up, they'd have been paying for them themselves...

Ok... is it not enough that these people had sometimes many years of freedom taken away from them, with no apology, compensation, anything, but now they are being charged for the privilege!

It is so, so blatantly ridiculous that I can't help but wonder if it's true. But all the indications are that it is... And the fact that the same issue is mentioned in this article suggests it is, sadly, true.

But yeah, using language which is so prejudiced against people with mental health problems can't be condoned.

Mark Thomas, however, can always be relied on to speak the truth ;) Well, he puts it pretty well here, talking about coca-cola, dasani and other such nonsense.

And, for the benefit of all those LIFE and SPUC folk, please read any or more of these 169 articles on how there is NO LINK between abortion and breast cancer. No link, no link, and yep, NO LINK!!

Ok, got that out of my system for now ;)

Google's results for poodle show Tony Bliar's biography now at number three!!!!

I'm wondering why Amazon's motto thing is "And you're done". They've even trademarked it. I don't know about you, but for me, if I say "I've been done" that generally means I've been ripped off...

Since I downloaded the Mouse Clocker tracking programme, my mouse has climbed the Empire State Building a surprising number of times. The only slight problem is that for it to track the distance your mouse moves, you have to run the programme, which I keep forgetting to do. I want it to start automatically. Maybe I'll mess around with the settings .

The world according to the BBC News is a disastrous, devastating place at the moment. I never know whether at some points the world is a worse place to live, or whether you / I just feel it more acutely at some points.

I watched Aimee and Jaguar a few nights ago. I was surprised when googling it to find quite a few negative reviews, as I found it an incredible film. Lesbian love story, Nazi Germany... it could have been corny, cheesy or overly romanticised. Oh no, it was harsh, real and desperate. The fact that Lilly and Felice had such a fucked-up relationship made it, for me, much more absorbing and much more to get into than the more typical falling-in-love without any complications Hollywood versions of such things. I smiled at some parts, sobbed at others, and certainly am glad I saw it.

Friends had said to me "oh it's really depressing, don't watch it until you feel strong in yourself" but I got to the point where firstly I never thought I'd ever feel strong again, and secondly, I realised that if I did, I wouldn't want to depress myself, so I just watched it anyway. And I'd recommend it to others, as long as they don't want a shiny-happy perfect glossy film. Ugh!

Anyway, once again for luck... Poodle

Operation Poodle

Operation Poodle is now in effect... Poodle

Send a Message of Hope to a Child

Send a message of hope to a child in an Australian immigration detention centre.

This is a totally easy and straight forward way to maybe bring a little smile to the face of someone who really, really, really needs one.

I'm going to do it, definitely. So quick and easy, but with a really positive result.

A devastating quote from the site:

The choices of these children are dangerously limited. Take this quote from a 12-year old girl in detention:

‘I am getting crazy, I cut my hand. I can't talk to my mother. I can't talk to anyone and I am very tired. There is no solution for me - I just have to commit suicide - there is no choice.'

With that kind of despair at age 12, it just goes to show how fucked up the system is. And of course it's not just in Australia that it's happening :(

Lose Weight the Anti Psychotic Way!

First of all you need a trip to your GP to procure some antipsychotic drugs. Hearing voices or believing you're the Queen of England can be an effective start.

Once you start taking them, expect to sleep for 16 hours a day with a total inability to wake or form a coherent sentence. After a few months, this may calm down, though on the other hand, it may not.

Olanzapine (Zyprexa) is a common first choice, and if you are lucky enough to be taking this one, you should gain your first few stone pretty damn quickly. Other anti psychotics will have the same effect, though maybe a little more slowly.

Adding an older or tricyclic-type antidepressant to your daily regime will increase both the speed and volume of weight gain. Mirtazapine (Zispin / Remeron) is a particularly effective choice.

Despite the depressing and debilitating side effects, you must remain on antipsychotic medication for 3 or 4 years. Ideally, change your drug periodically for maximum weight gain. My preferred order was Stelazine, or trifluoroperazine first, followed by Olanzapine (Zyprexa), Risperidone (Risperdal) and finally Quetiapine (Seroquel).

Now comes the weight loss bit!!!!

By now you should have gained approximately six stone.

The best medication to be on at this stage is Quetiapine (Seroquel), and here comes the fun bit...

You halve the medication. I did this in October and lost two stone in 5 weeks! A further stone and a half came off over the next 2 months.

Yeah, ok, so my weight loss stopped at 3.5 stone, and yeah ok I'm still several stone heavier than when I started on these scary cocktails, but hell, it makes ya feel good.

Or something.

Ummm...

Ok, ignore the whole thing, yeah?

======

Incidentally, this is one of the most accurate descriptions of how it feels to be stuck with psychiatric medications I've ever read! At least make them pretty!!

Profanity!

Profanity carved into Blair's Commons table was an article I came across which made me laugh almost as much as the homophobic senator's gay son marrying :))

Someone carved, well, a rude comment about Tony Blair into the table he uses in the Commons!!!!!

Furniture polishers saved the day...

Fan-bleedin-tastic!

Bigots, Bastards and Brides

This story gave me a much appreciated opportunity to Ho Ho Ho tonight.

Evil bigot works hard to prevent same sex marriage becoming legal. His son then happily marries his boyfriend. As I said, Ho Ho Ho!

That's not to say I'm the world's greatest supporter of same sex marriage - I'm not. I don't think that aping (apeing?) heterosexuality and its misogynist institutions is the best way forward for the LGB community. However, many want the rights and public commitment associated with marriage and who am I to prevent them?

And who knows, one day I may even be seduced by the idea of it!

Uncle Roy!

i've had jazz fm on for a few hours and they've just played some band music of a band with my great uncle in!!!!

i don't remember him much... i remember you had to keep feeding 2p coins into his tv for it to work. and a rope ladder to get to the attic.

good old uncle roy!

They're shit, they're inaccurate, and they're somehow addictive...

What am I talking about?

Quizzes like these...

You are Woodstock!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Don't worry, I won't annoyingly fill my blog with them, but sometimes you just have to share ;)

Abortion

We were looking round the Roman Catholic cathedral last week and I picked up a leaflet by Life (read: scary anti-abortionists) about Abortion and Rape.

I knew it would infuriate me and make me seethe, and indeed it did. They basically say that if you get pregnant after rape (which they say is very unlikely) then having an abortion will be more traumatic for you than carrying for 9 months and giving birth to a child whose biological father (read: bastard from hell) kinda ruined your life.

Sick fuckers.

Also, they go along with what SPUC used to brainwash us with at school... don't punish the child for its father's sins. Yeah that's all very well but what about its mother????

Incidentally, don't click on either of those links for fear of being disgusted by these people's sheer hatred of women.

Loaves and fishes, food and drink, and Delia...

I've always been intrigued by wine. Well, maybe not wine itself, but rather people who can look at shelves and shelves of bottles and pick out a good one, even one to "go well with" a particular meal. And I may be wrong, but I do think that actually most people can do this.

So why can't I? Did I miss that day at school?

I prefer red to white, Cabernet Merlot is particularly delicious, but equally, I'll gulp a glass of Lambrini if I'm thirsty or skint enough. Yeah I know, classy chick...

So anyway, today's Observer promises me somewhere to start when facing the wine aisle, with Top 25 Wine Truths which indeed give me some ideas, but I still don't feel especially knowledgeable. Oh well, I should enrol on a course...

The 'fat tax' issue seems to be totally ridiculous and kinda scary too. I'm sure if more of us had enough money to live on, we'd be able to afford healthier food anyway.

I want to get back into cooking. I have always loved cooking and until my life got too messed up I did it fairly regularly. Delia's site seems a good place to start. Tortilla looks tempting and, most importantly, cheap. And I used to love a good omelette. That's if I can ever get past the chocolate recipes section...

And to put food and drink in a more global perspective, the horrors of the death penalty are brought forward with this article about prisoners' last meals before they are killed. Depressing and twisted, particularly being refused a cigarette after Dubya apparently banned them on "health grounds".

Vagina Warrior

S from Rape Crisis is nominating me to be a Vagina Warrior!

The website says, amongst other things:

====
Although Vagina Warriors are highly original, they possess some general defining characteristics:
They are fierce, obsessed, can’t be stopped, driven.
They are no longer beholden to social customs or inhibited by taboos.
They are not afraid to be alone, not afraid to be ridiculed or attacked.
They are often willing to face anything for the safety and freedom of others.
They love to dance.
They are directed by vision, not ruled by ideology.
They are citizens of the world. They cherish humanity over nationhood.
They have a wicked sense of humor. A Palestinian activist told jokes to an Israeli soldier who pointed a machine gun at her as she tried to pass the checkpoints. She literally disarmed him with her humor.
Vagina Warriors know that compassion is the deepest form of memory.
They know that punishment does not make abusive people behave better. They know that it is more important to provide a space where the best can emerge rather than “teaching people a lesson.”
[...]
Vagina Warriors are done being victims. They know no one is coming to rescue them. They would not want to be rescued.
They have experienced their rage, depression, desire for revenge and they have transformed them through grieving and service. They have confronted the depth of their darkness. They live in their bodies.
They are community makers. They bring everyone in.
Vagina Warriors have a keen ability to live with ambiguity. They can hold two existing, opposite thoughts at the same time.
[...]
Vagina Warriors know that the process of healing from violence is long and happens in stages. They give what they need the most, and by giving this they heal and activate the wounded part inside.
Many Vagina Warriors work primarily on a grassroots level. Because what is done to women is often done in isolation and remains unreported, Vagina Warriors work to make the invisible seen. Mary in Chicago fights for the rights of Women of Color so that they are not disregarded or abused; Nighat risked stoning and public shaming in Pakistan by producing “The Vagina Monologues” in Islamabad so that the stories and passions of women would not go unheard; Esther insists that the hundreds of disappeared girls in Juarez are honored and not forgotten.

For native people, a warrior is one whose basic responsibility is to protect and preserve life. The struggle to end violence on this planet is a battle. Emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical. It requires every bit of our strength, our courage, our fierceness. It means speaking out when everyone says to be quiet. It means going the distance to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions. It means honoring the truth even if it means losing family, country, and friends. It means developing the spiritual muscle to enter and survive the grief that violence brings and, in that dangerous space of stunned unknowing, inviting the deeper wisdom.

Like Vaginas, Warriors are central to human existence, but they still remain largely unvalued and unseen. This year V-Day celebrates Vagina Warriors around the world, and by doing so we acknowledge these women and men and their work. In every community there are humble activists working every day, beat by beat to undo suffering. They sit by hospital beds, pass new laws, chant taboo words, write boring proposals, beg for money, demonstrate and hold vigils in the streets. They are our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our aunts, our grandmothers, and our best friends. Every woman has a warrior inside waiting to be born. In order to guarantee a world without violence, in a time of danger and escalating madness, we urge them to come out.

CELEBRATE VAGINA WARRIORS. LET THEM BE HONORED AND SEEN. LET MORE BE BORN.
====

It feels scary, but nice to be recognised like this.

I am a vagina warrior... I feel I need a theme tune ;)

Totally evil

Someone sent me a link to this BBC article about a shop selling coats made of hamster fur.

Since I was a teenager, any huge passion for animal rights has dwindled considerably, but I have three of these babies and the thought of killing 100 of them to make coats is just so awful :(

More Creature Comforts

While giggling quietly to Just a Minute on the BBC Radio Four website, I find myself feeling somewhat guilty for raving about the rodent pets, and completely ignoring the existence of the underwater kinds which also share my living space, though less noisily.

Zee is a goldfish. More specifically, a shubunkin. He seems to have an uncanny knack of surviving where no other fish can, given the considerable number of tank-mates he has had and lost. He (is it a he? who knows?) swims contentedly (I presume? who knows?) around his hexagonal tank amid plants (fake and real), and the air pump vibrates so noisily that he seems to survive on minimal oxygen, as the noise annoys me too much to have it on too often, or for too long.

Interaction with, and entertainment from goldfish is fairly untypical, though he recognises me when it is feeding time. He rather exists in his own hexagonal idyll, providing me with welcome relaxation when I watch him, for which I am grateful.

The other underwater creatures in this house are the intolerably dull sea monkeys. I was stunned to find multitudes of websites and message boards full of people marvelling about these bizarre life forms. Ok, so their ability to be born when they come into contact with water, after being freeze dried, is momentarily impressive, but from then on you are obliged to feed what are essentially little bugs swimming and shagging in a tub of water.

Some people rave about these things, give each a name, and there was even an article published in USA Today in which the author bemoans the death of three of hers (how did she notice?). I could name mine I suppose, if I could tell the difference between them, but they are so very, very dull that they rarely get called anything other than "boring" or "weird".

And yes, they have sex. And when they do it, they really go for it, sometimes shagging for over 24 hours. I did not know this until they started doing it, and I wondered for several days whether two pairs of them were somehow stuck together. Internet research (which led me to discover this incomprehensible adoration of sea monkeys by so many people) told me that they were indeed mating, and this can go on for some time. No baby boring things seem to have appeared yet though.

I know, you're thinking I'm an appalling pet owner, but seriously, they are too, too dull to merit any other kind of written treatment. I look after them well. I figure that inherent boring-ness was not enough to condemn them to certain death by starvation, so I follow the contradictory and confusing instructions on keeping them healthy, and will do for as long as they are swimming and shagging in the plastic tub.

Creatures

Pierrot, aka Nepenthe is bumbling around. Clara and Heidi are quiet for the first time in about 15 hours. Pierrot doesn't know what has hit this house since those two arrived. There seems to be such a huge difference between the two variations of the same species.

Pierrot is gorgeous - grey and white with huge heroin chic eyes. He's enormous (or is that just in comparison to the others?) and really his wheel is too small for him. Maybe that's why he's not on it much. Or is it just that he's lazy... I secretly hope it's the latter, since the energy of the other two puts me to shame.

"The other two", Heidi and Clara were supposed to be able to live happily together. Both female, and from the same litter, and as they're Russian dwarfs they are much more sociable than Syrians. But yeah, after about 3 days of Clara trying to rip Heidi's face off, I had to separate them.

Heidi got the better cage, due to her victimisation, though there are not and never have been any signs of her being traumatised by her previous treatment by her sister.

Clara got the smaller cage, but with a wheel, which she runs on incessantly. I read somewhere that when they're running on their wheel they really and truly believe they are running miles and miles and miles. I don't know whether that's nice or really, really sad.

Heidi's cage has three levels, with big springs and ladders going from floor to floor. She is essentially an acrobat and mostly hangs from one of the levels, spinning herself round and round and round. She eschews the ladders and either traverses from floor to floor via the springs, or more commonly, by climbing up the side of the cage and squeezing between the edge of the cage and the edge of the floor above.

People think hamsters are pets for kids, but for me they are cute, they are friendly (intermittently anyway), they are certainly entertaining, and they are, in a weird way, nice company.

If you agree with me on that point, I like you already.

If you think I'm sad, then you're reading the wrong blog, mate.

4.38am on a Sunday morning, listening to Classic Gold on my funky new DAB radio. IMing my girlfriend, smoking rollies, and creating my very own blog.

Have been downloading lots of random and free programmes tonight. Some useful (HTML editor for instance), some funky (a cool Lemon Jelly screensaver), and some downright daft (a programme which measures how far your mouse travels... as I type, it's gone 2897 inches, some 20 something % of the way up the Eiffel Tower).

About me? Mad, in debt, radical, angry, pacifist, warrior, flower-power chick...

Yeah I know, that says nothing and everything. Well that's me - nothing, and everything :)