Desktops, Direct Action, Disturbing Feedback

My brother sent me to Tony Blair's Desktop which is totally interactive and well worth exploring for ten minutes. It's very clever.

Wednesday 22nd September is to be World Carfree Day. They have some quite fabulous direct action ideas. It got my brain ticking anyway.

The 90% for 90% campaign idea is brilliant. It is action to reduce the ridiculously expensive public transport costs. The same site also has a list of Fifty Ideas for Actions on Climate Change. I have also found a very comprehensive guide to protesting road building.

Raar.

I've just come across one of the more obscure ebay feedback comments I've come across.

As described and well packaged. Ate the sweets but not the blades.

Mmm. I guess that's good.

I also like,

You can overpay me again next time if you wish.

Velveteen - Meme

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog or journal.
5. Now go to page 67.
6. Find the third line from the bottom of that page.
7. Post that line in your blog or journal.
8. Write a blog entry based on either or both of these phrases, or any word contained within them.
9. Post the blog or journal entry along with these
instructions.
10. Invite people to guess what book they are from.

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Page 23, 5th sentence: It may have been known that Blanche was lonely, but having never known company other than her mother's, she did not notice it.

Page 67, 3rd line from bottom: velvet, soft and smooth, but not effeminate. It's too

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Velvet takes me to velveteen, which takes me to the Velveteen Rabbit.

There's a blog called the Velveteen Rabbi too, by someone who insists she is actually not a rabbi!

People are breeding actual velveteen lops, though of course as they are alive (I can't say real after just re-reading the original children's story).

There are anime lyrics for a song called Velveteen, and Lenny Kravitz lyrics also.

There are study ideas, a musical, a selection of e-cards, velveteen fabric care and a strange account of being a Velveteen Mother.

I leave you with a recipe for Black Velveteen.
Ingredients:

• 12 oz Stout
• 4 oz Hard Cider

Instructions:Pour both ingredients into a large beer mug, and serve.

Mmmm mebbe.

Word Beads: Motel; Emasculate; Communicant; East; Mud.

From WordBeads.

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From the motel window she saw the procession. 20 or 30 young Communicants traipsing in girl/boy pairs to Mass. The somewhat emasculated young boys resisting the urge to roll in the mud and instead looking up in awe at the stunning east window in the strange old building which, for now, was doubling as a Church.

Everybody loves surfin'.

I've been blog-surfing. Starting off with my links to the right and following their links then their links and, well, often ending up back where I started.

Found some fabulous moments worth sharing though.

Some fantabulous news clippings.

And oh myyyyyyyy, Spiderman camps it up.... I've been watching it for hours :))

the common man led me to the rather hilarious is my little baby going to be gay? They also have a store where, amongst other things, you can buy a What Would Jesus Do? thong, a rather fabulous collection of cards and postcards and truly creepy Bible verse gear.

Which reminds me... there was a radio discussion about the US presidential elections earlier. A woman talked about the 3 Gs of big issues. Guns, God and Gays. I was so excited! I'm a G!!!! (Clue: neither a gun nor God).

Street Memes has some great ideas. For some reason it has made me think of sociology lectures on globalisation. How the world has got a lot bigger and a lot smaller. Like in my city I can eat Chinese, Kurdish, Japanese, North American, whatever... so the whole world in my city. So the world is smaller. But also things from here are elsewhere making my city bigger... and that applies to everything. Anyway, I'm not saying globalisation is a good thing... just that this idea of the same graffiti appearing in cities and towns all over the world is quite amazing.

These cats hate you. Yes they do.

Presidential Pronunciation

Dooey at Infected Papercut is one of my favourite bloggers. She writes fabulously, and always has a great link or two.

A man playing with his balls is a fantastic link from there which I just followed :)

But here, Dooey's audioblogging entry is great.

She talks about what a poor public speaker the dubya creature is. Illustrated with extracts from speeches which is has famously, and not so famously, fucked up.

You kinda giggle when you're listening to it, but in a doleful way. Cos it would be funny on a bloopers type show. It's not so funny coming from the most powerful man on earth. That makes it scary.

Over here, we kinda have the opposite problem. I think Blair is, if anything, perhaps too good a public speaker. He spouts shit, but in a convincing way. I can't hear him without hearing intense insincerity and manipulation, but I have heard it said that he is good. And I guess he must be, given the sillily high numbers who have voted for him in the last general elections.

I'd have hoped, you see, that Bush being so bad at speeches, would be a good thing, and mean that people would see the light and never vote for him again. But it doesn't seem to be working that way. BBC Radio 4 even reported that his faux-pas-filled speeches actually endear him to many Americans, who see him as more like them. I really think that those people who think that could do with some self-esteem workshops. You're better than him, whoever you are!

I don't know what the answer is. Two big leaders, one as good as the other is bad at speech-giving.

Whatever will get Bush out is good. And Dooey is doing her bit :)

Randomosity: return, games, tomatoes and cathedrals...

I'm back. Audio Blogging is damn cool though!

I'd like to say I'm back because I fixed my computer and found my glasses. In fact I'm back because I tricked my computer into believing it was never broken in the first place, and I found an old pair of specs which make things only marginally less blurry, but my face doesn't feel quite so naked.

The Invisible Mouse Cursor Game is, according to b3ta, "fiendishly difficult". According to me, tis fiendishly difficult too.

Tomatina Photos look initially like some sort of bloody massacre, but it's a huge, huge tomato fight in Bunol, in Spain, with 20,000 participants.

One of yesterday's news items was that the Queen's organist has been jailed for child sexual abuse. It is as horrific and sick a story as they all are.

But then the comments of Judge Jonathan Playford actually did take my breath away (as witnessed by the person I was on the phone to when I heard it on the radio). So yeah, Mr Judge said:

It's bad enough that you could misuse your position as choirmaster and organist, it's really that much worse, that much more deplorable and offensive to the public that you should at least in some instances actually make use of one of our great cathedrals to perpetrate your crimes.

[Cough Splutter] WHaT?! The fact that it happened in a great Cathedral is somehow worse than it happened at all? That it could have ruined a kid's life, left them chronically depressed and mistrusting, just for a start? That it happened in a beautiful building is worse than that? Fuck off!

And people wonder why people don't come forward to the police and legal system about rape and sexual abuse.

Early Morning Awakening with Radio 4

Why oh why am I awake?
It's the UK Theme for goodness sake!
I really should still be asleep,
Covered with my duvet in a heap.

Dead to the world, dreaming away
Not listening to Farming Today.
John Humphrys just mentioned toilet paper
It's making me more and more awaker!

It's hours before I should wake up -
I fumble for the coffee cup.
With a cigarette I should be fine
Though I do regret those glasses of wine.

I should be asleep, in the land of nod
Not listening to thoughts and prayers to God.
The news is on - the world's a disaster
They seem to be talking faster and faster.

I'll lie back down, attempt to doze
Before my irritation grows.
And if it is to be my fate
I'll stay asleep beyond half past eight.

---

I wrote that in almost-sleep, as I had no memory of writing it until I found it tonight. But it was written, it seems, between 5.30am and 6.15am or so this morning!

Incidentally, in the middle of typing the poem out, I got totally and completely sidetracked listening to The Blunder Clips. The one near the bottom with the ever-professional Charlotte Green is especially worth a listen :))

google, gmail. poodles, PMs and protests.

If you go to google.co.uk and type in poodle and do a UK only search, you will like the first result that comes up.

I feel very proud to have played a part in it ;)

Speaking of google, incurable hippie is way too high in their results for rude pippa. What could they be suggesting?! ;)

People are still very much campaigning for Naseh to stay, which I talked about a few days ago. There are daily demonstrations. It is thought Naseh has just a matter of days left.

Incidentally, does anyone want a gmail invite? I've been in on the beta testing since May and have a couple more invites going. If you do, leave me a comment to this entry and I'll see what I can do, but it's worth checking back here in a few days anyway.

Gmail is pretty damn fab.

My Links Map. Coolness. 

Listings and Listings (Films and Buildings).

I actually momentarily stopped breathing when I read number 2 in the list of Top Ten Pro-Catholic Movies. How can you say such a thing about the totally wondrous Sound of Music?? And no, I'm not joking! My Sound of Music adoration is a very serious matter!

I wasn't entirely sure why Schindler's List was number 9 in the Top Ten Pro-Catholic Movies. I don't remember any particular Catholicism within it, but it could just be my memory.

Priest is number 2 on the list of Top Ten Anti-Catholic Movies, as chosen by a panel of judges. I have seen this film a few times and it is a hugely moving and powerful portrayal of one man's agonies. The Magdalene Sisters is also on the anti-Catholic list.

I really wish people would think before ranting and raving about how awful and offensive the mere existence of certain buildings are - particularly if they are, ahem, grotesque.

People do feel very strongly on both sides of the arguments about places like Park Hill flats in Sheffield, but it is, frankly, just plain rude to talk about people's homes in the ways that people talk about Parkhill.

To emphasise my point, I leave you with Conservative councillor Anne Smith who said Park Hill should be flattened, ground up, and used to resurface the M1.

Word Beads: Orator; Tamper; Prejudice; Alginate; Spend.

from Word Beads.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to string those words together with other words of your choosing to fashion into a sentence, several sentences, a paragraph, several paragraphs, a poem, or even a short story.

Have fun.

The role of a modern day orator is to be informative and entertaining. S/he can surprise her audience if s/he tampers with their prejudices, while leaving them wondering how much of the speech should be taken with a pinch of alginate. If we are to spend time and money nowadays on orators, they should be worth our time and money.

kayaks and other things

It seems that John Prescott rescued a kayaker who had fallen from his boat. How scary for the poor bloke. No, not JP, but the poor sod who woke up from his trauma to be faced with the deputy PM. [Shudder]

This is fantabulous. And not dissimilar to opening a tub of fish food to find 8 billion pharoah ants circling it so adeptly that the food flakes were moving. Yeuch.

Keep checking Sheffield Indymedia for updates on Naseh's situation and campaign.

Please do something.

I am so ashamed of my government.

Naseh Jabar Ghafor has sewn his lips together 37 days ago to protest that he has been told he must return to Iraq - where he saw his brother and father murdered, and his mother and sister are missing.

He knows he will be killed if he is returned to Iraq, and has made the unbearable decision that dying through hunger strike is, for want of a much better word, preferable.

There is going to be a round-the-clock picket line outside immigration offices at Aspect Court, in Pond Street, Sheffield, from Monday at 11am. I hope lots and lots of people are there.

Local people are spending time with Naseh too, making sure he is never alone, and it is thought he is dying. One woman doing this is Jean Woods, who said

"This man's ordeal makes me hang my head in shame for being British. I wouldn't leave a dog in the condition he is in - lying starving to death on a dirty floor.

"I don't think he understands much English but I've been sitting with him and stroking his hand, which I hope shows him I care," she said. "I've even written to the Queen about it. But I feel so helpless - it's breaking my heart but I don't know what else to do."

I just want to cry.

At the War Memorial this afternoon I witnessed a Service with ex-servicemen who had been prisoners of war in Japan until the war ended there 59 years ago. It made me want to cry too, wondering how we can declare some things awful if they are in the past, and yet ok or even honourable if they are in the present.

So please, think about what you can do. Come down to the protest tomorrow. Join Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers (CDAS). Write to David Blunkett, or your MP.

Just do something. Please.

blah n all that

Richard Madeley does it again...

Listen, mate, I can use that word about myself, but you can't, ok? Even if you do think of yourself as a bit of a heteroflexible.

I don't know quite why I laughed so much at this story, but I did ;)

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Following from OBJECT UK

Lads Mags: Front AFFRONT

Men's Magazine 'FRONT'. Cover features a bound, gagged blond on all fours

Get active

Go to your supermarket and ask them why they are selling this!
Sign our 'on the top shelf' petition. Details from ido@object.org.uk

Gail spoke to a Front rep who said this image was empowering and that the woman had earned a whole £100. He also said since there is no regulation they use whatever images they can get away with.

"I even had the police in at Tesco's and I marched into every other street in my Highstreet. This is not sold as adult material, it is not age-restricted. So it is ok for 10 year olds to buy it?"

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Abortion Rights - Stop the GAG

Abortion Rights are challenging the Regan/Bush global gag on abortion.

The Gag stops any voluntary group that receives USA funds (or using other non USA funds) from 'promoting' abortion in any way (providing abortion services, lobbying, counselling or information).

The effect globally has been devastating

Contact Abortion Rights now@
http://www.abortionrights.org.uk

It's as if they are trying to wipe abortion out of the dictionary

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Mo - latest lads mag 'babe'

Mo Mowlem is now Zoo's Agony aunt
We have written to her (c/o Zoo as no other contact address can be found) asking her why?
We will keep you updated with her (no doubt edited) response !

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ASA - Ann Summers

Ann Summers ads to be pre-vetted, after its van ads of g-stringed & bra (and stilletoed?) woman on horse with caption 'ride a cock hoarse'

It was stated this was ad, with nursery rhyme connotations, was offensive and inappropriate in front of children.

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Hotel workers call for porn ban

Norwegian hotel workers call for adult movies ban in guest rooms because they are being accosted by randy (sometimes naked) guests

full story
here

"oh but surely the media and porn can't possibly influence people's behaviour and attitudes"

[Measuring Geraniums] [Continued Unnoticed]:

They are anagrams of each other.

Hearing Joan Bakewell say bling bling is disturbing. It's like hearing your gran swearing or something.

I've never paid much attention to Concrete Cow on the radio before, but tonight's show made me laugh out loud several times :))

Incidentally, Judy Finnigan, a motivational speaker?!

A rapist has won £7 million on the National Lottery. He is serving a life sentence and bought the ticket while on weekend release. Women and rape crisis organisations are calling for the money to be given to rape crisis projects, and I couldn't agree more. (No Pity. No Shame. No Silence.).

Melted Warning... 

Misheard Addresses, Missing Letters, Massive Responses

Listening to Converting Britain earlier, I was amused to learn that Billy Graham frequently told people that they could write to him at Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and he once received a letter addressed to

Billy Graham, Many Apples, Many Sodas.

It arrived though!

It reminds me of Countdown, who apparently once received a letter addressed to

One From the Top and Five from Anywhere Else, England.

Hehe!

On a more glum, note, The Guardian has not deigned to print a single reader's response to the awful Cut it out, please article it printed last week. However, it has at least printed a response from one of its own columnists, Nick Johnstone.

This is an upset and angry response, quite rightly, by someone who has previously self harmed who seems equally outraged and bewildered by these comments (almost) unashamedly coming from the mouth of a doctor in an inner-city NHS hospital.

I am glad that The Guardian has published this response, but I am still left wondering where the complete silence on the undoubtedly considerable number of readers' responses is from.

The Telegraph, however, did print some readers' letters. I never thought the Telegraph would score points over the Guardian, but maybe they have this time?

And yeah, read this.

I'm a survivor of sexual violence.
No Pity. No Shame. No Silence.

The most stunning thing is the comments after comments after comments. So, so many people. I'm not amazed by the sheer numbers who have survived sexual violence, but rather the sheer number of people who have been prompted to state that openly, some for the first time. My head is spinning.

No Pity. No Shame. No Silence.

Musical meme (weird taste in tunes)

Swiped from deconstruct.me.uk.

Open Winamp/XMMS/iTunes.
Put all of your music on random.
List the first 25 songs that appear, no matter how embarrassing.


1. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Nina Simone
2. Rise Up - Skunk Anansie
3. Ticket to Ride - The Beatles
4. Laid - James
5. Mysteries - Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man
6. The Mind of Love - kd lang
7. Ain't Got No - I Got Life - Nina Simone
8. Mad World - Gary Jules
9. Strangers - Portishead
10. Paperback Writer - The Beatles
11. Roads - Portishead
12. La Bagre... - Cerys Matthews
13. Arglwydd Dyma - Cerys Matthews
14. So It Shall Be - k.d. lang
15. Positively Somewhere - Melanie C
16. Mainstream - Thea Gilmore
17. J'ai Zappe - Lara Fabian
18. Ls Brune - Louise Attaque
19. I Can Dream - Skunk Anansie
20. My Immortal - Evanescence
21. Haunted - Evanescence
22. Vrbana Bridge - Jill Sobule
23. Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
24. True Love Waits - Radiohead
25. Self Evident - Ani Difranco

I went to Birmingham on Saturday