Quote of the Day

I find it fucking sad that a cartoon squirrel has more sympathy for the humans beings affected here than the actual people reporting it!
Foamy, Neurotically Yours, Hurricane Katrina Special Report

no No NO!

I've been pretty blasé about the slow erosion of our civil liberties in the UK over the last few months. When I heard that the government had granted itself the right to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely without charging them with anything concrete (dreadfully inconvenient to have your charges successfully contested, don't you know), I was a little disturbed, but shrugged it off as paranoia. After the transport network attack on 7^th July just past, the right to search individuals without warrant or probable suspicion was granted to the Metropolitan Police operating on the network. I read this as a short-lived attempt at heightened visibility to avert accusations of indifference, and kept moving. Except when being stopped to have my bags searched, of course.

And now an innocent suggestion by ACPOS comes to my attention. Its appeal to the common-sense notion of justice - the same common-sense that dictates the removal of dissidents from the country irrespective of their right to free speech - makes it likely that it'll slip under the radar of the civil rights groups and result in a toehold on the plinth of totalitarianism - establishment of guilt without trial. It's a lovely notion that, if Simon Harris had been on the offenders list (assuming he is, in fact, responsible for Rory Blackhall's death), he would, by some miracle of temporal displacement, have been apprehended before he was due in court and therefore before Rory was killed, but it's pure fantasy.

Whether Simon Harris is guilty of any of these charges or not, putting in motion events that can reasonably only take place after guilt is established beyond doubt would have made no difference in this instance and would be unlikely to make a difference in any conceivable instance. What it would be, however, is a clear transgression of one of the central tenets of the modern justice system - that one is innocent until one is proven guilty. Charging someone with a crime is not enough.

Quod erat demonstrandum

The Metro (a free daily circulation available in UK metro centres, hence the name) has been running a series of letters and responses on the GCSE grades (achieved by end-of-secondary students), culminating - for me - in this wonderful submission today:

Am I Illiterate and Inumerate because of my A grades, in maths and english? Stop slagging off people who have worked hard at getting their results and support those who will, wether you like it or not be the future of this country? (sic)

Mwaaaahahahahaha!

Vibrators go interactive

I recently tripped across this internet rabbit (NWS!) while innocently browsing, and made a sweaty mental note for future gifting. Now, someone's gone one better and done exactly what we were discussing last weekend. The best thing is, we can all play. Orgasms for everyone!

PS. It's effectively Nokia-locked, proving Nokia's superiority (to me) once again.

DIY blues

I was raised in an androcentric culture that espoused quiet competence in all matters DIY, at least among the (ruling) male gender. Imagine the stress and anxiety this causes in those of us, like me, who are born with 5 thumbs on each hand and the practical sense of a suicidal lemming. A constant sense of disappointment in my profound lack of manual ability has conditioned my dislike to a Pavlovian degree; the mere mention of a picture to be mounted or a crack to be plastered over is enough to engender a cold sweat, weak knees and blurry vision as the terror rises.

Needless to say, repairs around the house tend to get postponed until we can absolutely endure no longer and, even then, I don't so much tackle them as approach them obliquely and try to take them by surprise (mine, not theirs). In a sneak DIY blitz yesterday, I

• spent an hour in B&Q gathering equipment,
• mounted Zara's sword on its display pedestal,
• mounted the display pedetsal on our living room wall,
• replaced the broken bracket for Zara's cupboard rail and replaced the rail,
• prepared the curtain rail socket in our living room with a cunning admixture of rawl plug and No More Nails for remounting of the rail,
• and attempted to disassemble the toilet seat to replace the fittings, which have rusted badly (so badly, in fact, that I stripped the threads trying to unscrew them - will need to replace the entire seat now)

I feel I have fulfilled my 'manliness' quota for another 6 months, giving me time to quell the shaking before my next episode.

Retort

I do so love Nemi.

How stunning is this?