Raithe

Righty-ho, as I mentioned the other day I'm currently trying to work on a research paper over the death and aftermath of Pablo Escobar using whatever open sources I can find... Now it's been awhile since I was a student who had to do regular proper research. I thought I'd take a stab at digging up related news articles of the events, but I've kind of noticed that pretty much all the newspapers don't let you search stories that are prior to 2001 (or I'm missing something really obvious). So I'm looking for any advice on the best places to go to track down such things.. before I actually try hitting the central library and seeing how their stacks of old newspapers are stored.. Since we seem to have so many studenty types here I thought people might be able to offer some suggestions.

Well it does list him as a "former marine" doesn't it.. so we have no idea if he was some prat who got thrown out or what... And to be well.. kind of fair.. he was selling them to Iran, who were then selling things on to the Taliban.. But yeah, it's not that big a logical leap to see where that sort of weapons smuggling could end up. ... and I just can't read the name "Taliban" these days without hearing that Weird Al song in my head.

I'm not sure if it's an action game or an rpg.. I will say however that it's always played like a Space Opera game.. And actually, while I'm not sure how rpg'ish ME3 is from those E3 trailers.. the action doesn't look too bad.

Ah, but they have a new version in the pipeworks. With hm, Karl Urban as Dredd if I recall my movie news correctly. Edit: Yes, indeed a late winter 2011 release. And I find it doubly amusing that Karl Urban is the actor who loathes wearing helmets. Ever since his Rider of Rohan days he continually tries to get any potential helmet off his head in movies..

One that always amused me was "monopoly" to refer to attractive girls you suddenly realise were not the appropriate age. Developed due to the twin universities in the city producing large amounts of pretty girls in skimpy summerwear. Which while enjoyable has the watchful eye balancing out the number of all girl schools in the area.. so whenever there was some form of half-term or so, you could never be sure if the attractive girl was another university student or some under-age girl dressed up just like the legal-age students. Also the way that a lot of nightclubs in a student heavy town don't always check id on pretty girls. There's something very disconcerting about meeting a lass in a club, drinking , sharing a few dances and then she casually mentions something about studying for her GCSE's... Hence "that girl is monopoly" - Do not pass go, do not collect 200 quid, go directly to jail.

Quote for the day : "So how's life treating you?" "Like it caught me sleeping with its wife." Tis being a somewhat grey, wet and miserable seeming day... My sister's home sick, and I took the puppy outside for some exercise, kept a careful eye on the grass to avoid any mess..and subsequently didn't notice that he'd taken a dump on the pavement which I managed to step in. Poking around on some wiki and google searches. Pondering the best approach to hunt down some decade+ old newspaper articles. Minor headache being a little distracting but not too much bother. Think I need to treat myself to a new mouse mat as well... hm, which reminds me I need to do some banking related activities at some point...

What, the BeeGees don't make you want to strut?

How much does our perception of romance and love come from story, myths, tv and trashy novels?

Homeowner Forcloses on Bank

I'm not sure if its because I'm tired or what.. but I keep fading out on what day it is. One minute I think its friday... then I'm thinking it's sunday... Still, going for a nice traditional fish and chips for ease of food tonight and seeing if I can shake some semblance of mental cognizance back into order.

Or go for the really classic..

And just how often do you get to put "shenanigans" in a sentence? I bet that's made your day just for that alone.. Well , my thought was actually that it might be easier to find a point where that core personality was established if said personality is that extreme. And its likely to be more documented in such cases. Which could then provide you with a basis for when to look at "normal" kids. With the way kids tend to cluster into cliques and social pressure to conform to groups.. it could be hard to identify specific personality traits as opposed to that general behaving according to peer pressure.

Hm, going to contrast normal childhood development with the likes of that "youngest hired killer" article? I mean, one thoughtline could be looking at those sorts of "abnormal" personalities of known and documented criminal/killers of young age and any open source material on that.. That might give you a whole "from whats known about them they were locked in this type of core personality by x age" to explore. But could probably be really depressing when you look at things like the worlds youngest serial killer and the like.. But that probably wouldn't be much help for the general "healthy" kids view...

Well one of those long drawn out nights of no real sleep..then managed some doze for a couple of hours around 6ish or so this morning. Tis a brightly sunny day.. which in my condition of kind of conscious actually comes across more as glaring then pleasant.. Pondering on when to get a thorough read through of "Killing Pablo" in... Did snap of an email to the US State Department in the vein of "I'm doing a research paper, can you send me information on x subject matter" so I'm actually curious if I'll hear anything back from that while I'm poking around with google-fu skills over the next week or so. Have the small problem that when the family were looking through some paperwork to redo the car's insurance.. we suddenly realised it's MOT was out of date.. by a month..and no-one had realised that.. It's these kinds of things..and the silly growth of expense of it all that make me glad I don't drive.

I'd almost suggest hanging an "Innocent" card on your chest, and handing out questionaires and sweeties to kids at some primary / middle schools.. but that might get you classed as a little bit creepy and suspicious... Amid that vast contact network I gather there won't be any child psychologists you could hit up.... hm, any professional shrinks that might know the best career related journals that might be available with related articles? The random thought line does have that people identify who they are early, but the whole process of growing up constantly evolves that identity. So when you say "definite" are you meaning just the "core" part of that personality, or when kids become teenagers/adults and no longer really change in that same sense?

Recent interview with Volition producer Greg Donovan where he talks about Saints Row The Third.. "We thought why give the players a baseball bat when you can make it a giant sex toy to beat people up with?" So I think we can say they're keeping to that element of being a bit silly with it...

Hm, two days away from the pc.. I got home , found an nvidia driver update that needed installing.. and then noticed that my C drive was showing 205Gigs free space... When before I left on my travels it had been around 111 Gigs of free space... and I can't find a bleeding thing thats missing from it at the moment.. It's making me a little bit paranoid.... Still, the weather is pleasant so I shall see what the day brings..

I did see someone do some form of post-graduate theology studies.. Star Trek as a Modern Religion (or something to that effect). Considering how the "cult-like" behaviour of fans, the wearing of costumes, the adoption of Star Trek philosophies, the "worship" of episodes, and the convention gatherings actually meets all the requirements of any old-time religion...

Enjoyed two days of train travel.. got home with a nice splurge of headache kicking in. So that called for a fresh cup of tea, some digestives and a paracetamol. Pondering on going with the flat, round things for dinner tonight (otherwise known as Pizza). Hm, and now I've got what's basically a research paper to write over the next couple of weeks concerning the death of Pablo Escobar and the US State Departments reaction to it. But before I start "proper" research into it... Anyone here work for the State Department? Or a Columbian Drug Cartel?

The joys of a bank holiday monday.. Tis being quite windy and I've managed to clear out a batch of laundry. Going to take a moment to catch up with the Doctor Who episode from the weekend while enjoying a fresh cup of tea. Hm, juggling time.. have to go pick up some train tickets I've got booked, and ponder on preparations for a potential job interview later this week. And I'm guessing that since it's one of those three-day weekends, I seem to have been struck by a slight envy/jealousy mix over someone concerning the stresses of work/family/kids/loving wife they have. Which is a little strange, but I'm sure it'll fade away soon.

Puttering around, enjoying the absence of the dogs to look after, contemplating the need to get a new battery for my mother's mobility scooter (which are bloody expensive by the way) and generally letting the weekend wash past me. Its a bank holiday tomorrow .. nearly forgot that, planning to head in to pick up some train tickets for a series of journeys I have to make in the week. Although I have to admit the ryhme or reason they organise some of these rail routes and prices seems beyond me at times. Idly poking around at some Exalted books and sketching out random ideas to exercise some general creativity, and giving some thought to doing some silly violence in Saints Row 2 in a bit. Although first, I think a fresh cup of tea.. and a digestive biscuit is called for.

I have to admit, it's an odd balance. On the one hand I can see that it doesn't always heighten the story effectively and could have been lost.. but on the other, it actually makes the world as a whole more believable and adds depth to the various other characters encountered. Call me crazy, but I enjoyed reading them.. they certainly didn't have the draggy over-detailed feel that I get in LoTR But then I'm one of those guys that can sit down for a solid chunk of time and read a book in one go. Not get stuck puttering in and out a few chapters at a time over the course of several weeks. Which I think certainly affects my perception of what I do read. Heh, although I do have fond memories of one half-term when I was a kid, curling up in the airing cupboard with a copy of Shogun over several days.

Tried GTA IV again..but couldn't bring myself to focus on it. So instead, I'm starting a new run through on Saints Row 2 just for the sillyness.

Having read the wheel of time series several times, I have no worries, I can read anything... Ah, but I've read all the Wheel of Time so far, and actually enjoyed that with no problem..

Same here. Haven't seen the TV show yet, but it was the only title I recognised in the airport book store I enjoyed the first book.. the second was entertaining but nothing brilliant. And then somewhere around the third or fourth book I just hit a wall and couldn't read anymore of that series.. Maybe one of these days I'll make another attempt, but eh..