Walsingham

Two Pints said it best: "Homophobia is gay"

I don't think I mentioend it, but I just finished a duo of books by Jeff Long: The Descent and Deeper Some of the most genuinely horrifying stuff I've read in a long long time. My threshold may be weakening, or my imagination may be better stocked with horror, but I loved this. I totally recommend the books, especially now they're going to be available second hand. Give them a shot. A book I'm more ambivalent about is House to House, a tale of urban fighting in Fallujah ghost written for /by former Staff Sergeant David Bellavia. It's a cracking read, but for that precise reason I'm suspicious of its truthfulness. I think some reviewers liked it more than I because it contains many nuggets of colour about soldiers under fire which my reading of history renders redundant. I'd recommend it mainly to anyone who is anti-coalition.

Woke to find my head unusually muzzy. The heating is on, but it's sunny. I had a long dream last night about my family. My siblings were trying to explain themselves, but I flew to another country. Damn fine idea, if you ask me.

Leaving aside my frothing animosity towards that aphorism*, I still can't agree. There's a tonne of government regulation of business. Indeed, one reason why so many businesses headquarter in the Uk is because investors and management are reassured by our regulations. I don't see it as at all inconsistent to say that what we need is more safeguards. As a systems theorist I 'know' (Skyttner, 2000) that any high energy system can only exist in two states: 1. artificially regulated 2. in a state of natural chaotic flux (think the world's oceans) The former carries a significant burden, because controlling any high energy system requires (this is my opinion now) a higher degree of skill or energy than the system it is controlling. This creates an effective upper limit on what you can apply the technique to. By that logic the latter sounds great, yes? Unfortunately the latter, by its chaotic nature has a tendency to go into cycles, which in the weather system we would recognise as hurricanes etc. Boom and bust is in this thesis the equivalent in economics. I've lost my train of thought, but I ought to be working, anyway *My pet hate is 'the best is the enemy of the good'. So ****ing what? All that tell sme is that I'd better be the best because the good is going to have its arse kicked.

I've been looiking at the pictures and a thought occurred to me. 'Peaceful protest' is the middle class football hooliganism. An excuse to get violent and confrontational, look tough, and maybe shoe a copper. I don't believe these so-called 'anarchists' are any better than that.

I made an impassioned plea to a relatively senior person that the solution to the economic crisis was being mishandled due to public outrage. And that, logically, what we should do as a society is hang a bout twenty senior bankers from lamp-posts. Sucks to be them, but it would get the rage off our chests, and we could move on with clear heads. I personally like Cameron. I don't trust his fething party. But then maybe he'll do to Thatcher's Tory party what Blair did to Kinnock's Labour?

My favourite intel tidbit is that the 'anarchists' are highly organised. They have coordinated disguises. They stockpile weapons and armour. They timetable targets. It's not quite as profound irony as pro-lifers killing people. But it's getting there. I agree that it is crap that violent people get the coverage. But I am ar more pleased by the notion that some of these woolly-headed cretins will see at least some real blood and anger. On both sides.

I'm playing Far Cry 2 and I make a very sly assassination shot with a silenced weapon from a crafty rooftop. Unfortunately I neglect to realise that the rooftop is going to be surrounded by irate goons. I spend a nervous minute or two peering cautiously over the edge, eventually finding ALL the goons (about fifteen) clustered around something on the ground which has their undivided attention. They don't see me, so I throw a frag in. It lands and there's a lone and quiet exclamation of "whuh?" followed by a thud, and body parts go bloody everywhere. I cheerfully climed off the rooftop, to get shot in the head by one goon who was obviously too smart or too cowardly or too mselly to stand with the others. Actually, that isn't a great story, but I've typed it up now.

For the love of all that's good and holy. And me. Don't stop drinking. Don't blame booze for the behaviour of a few bastards. My mum has been on the point of giving up and dying. I went out for some lovely beer and now I'm happy as a lamb. Well, that and the roast chicken I made earlier.

Surely the colossal **** up of the last six months just proves no-one is at the tiller? I lost all possible respect for these fools when Russell Brand showed up at the protest at the bank of England.

I think the most important thing is that I've just discovered the Daily Mash, thanks to this thread. As good as the Onion, if not better.

Am re-watching BG series 3 while doing circuits. best misheard quote ever: "Some kind of... bacon. Left by humans like you."

Darth InSidious gives a pretty good summary, as far as it goes. I do think that the main problem is the three terms. I'm not advocating some stupid law against three terms, but we as voters ought to give the wheel a serious spin every third term. Having the same people at the top isolated from reality for too long invariably leads to weirdness. Personally, my main feeling is a Chestertonian fear of leadership without any heart. BTW, wasn't Washington a Tory?

- Gordon Brown fails to do anything substantial about regulating the City - Lord Myners approves a golden pension deal to Fred Goodwin - The government spends more money on a campaign to tell people to eat less because it makes you fat and stuff, than on our entire public research budget - Jacqui Smith promises to put more people in jail for low category drugs, without making any new jails - Peter ****ing Mandelson (his official title) returns to Parliament as a 'heavy hitter'. Just what the **** is going on with our government? I know I'm not the only Brit here by any means. Is it just me? Am I REALLY going to have to break the habit of a lifetime and vote Tory?

I read this morning that the policing cost of the G20 will be around 8 million. Am I the only person who has considered the useless fethers doing a cyber-conference instead? Or is there too much danger of the pics leaking?

The BBC are rebroadcasting their awesome series of stories from India. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jh5gt The link is to teh first episode. I really can't recommend it highly enough, bUT HERE IS A PICTURE TO GET YOU SOME IDEA.

Maybe they meant 300 hours including the time taken to accept the farcical ending?

Inspired by this thread in pnp I thought we should have one for computer games. The idea occurred to me yesterday as I was playing Half-life 2. A completely new critter game leaping at me causing me to whirl around in shock. By pure luck I reflexively fired the shotgun and let it eat buckshot salad with instant death. "Hah!" I cried in triumph, stepped backwards, and fell to my gristly demise as I plummeted off the edge of the building.

Far Cry 2 currently trumps everything by havinga bug which causes not just one, not just a few, but every single save game you've ever made to suddenly become corrupt. I quite like this, as it makes completing the game a race against randomness.

I don't think sluggo should be a narc. I think he should join the US postal investigation service. Those guys have incredible powers. I may have already mentioned this. It's like no-one minds because they're 'just the post office'.

My favourite is number 9. I think the best part of all this is we could go drinking with gorillas. I wonder if they like curry?

Up betimes and to my Lord Sandwich's house, there to look over the Admiralty books... Wait, no that was yesterday. Four hundred years ago.

I began today in an unexpected fashion by having my bank make me laugh like a drain. Apparently Barclays feel their superb service warrants an increase in my monthly charges. Never mind the fact that I've recently had some huge spats with them over a manner of issues (from their financing of the Burmese junta to their moronic fraud detection system), or the fact that I'm a lucrative customer for them... no. So, with genuine pleasure I will be taking my business elsewhere. A genuine pleasure only flawed in that it did not come earlier.

_Worms_?

I think attempting a beard when you aren't up to it is a sign of disturbed thoughts. I know it was when I tried. But I woke up to my error suddenly after a party. I was failing to score totally and it dawned on me that I looked like a peach dipped in pubic hair.