Sam Harris wants to do research on your braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains. If you're either a Christian or an atheist, then click here and help Sam compare our branes. Some of the questions are applicable to non-Christian religions, but some of them aren't. Some of them are clearly control questions which any reasonable person, religious or no, would answer in a certain way...

Anyway, go, click, take surveys, have fun.

Lots of people have linked to this today, in which it is made out that Cameron is the sexiest of the three party leaders, but nobody mentions which questions were asked. However, it seems fairly obvious to me that it was the old classic Bag, Shag or Crag. So, dear f-list, once again I seek your opinions.

Which of the three party leaders would you Bag (marry/mate with for life), which would you Shag, and which would you Crag (throw off a cliff)

Poll #1187280 Bag, Shag, or Crag
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

Bag, Shag or Crag?

Does this view have any bearing on how you are likely to vote?

Me, I say Bag Cameron, because he's rich, and you can shag around behind his back. Shag Clegg, because in a field of three ugly ducklings he's the prettiest, and Crag Brown. Oh, and, the first person to bring up my old nightmare gets a severe ticking off!

Each of the three main parties has its own approach to gender balance.

The Tories have no rule book, preferring to do things the way we do our constitution in this country. They want a better gender balance, or claim they do, but they don't have a set policy on it. Advantages to this approach include flexibility. Disadvantages include a total lack of transparency or predictability.

The Labour do all-women shortlists. Advantages of this approach? You quickly increase the number of women in power, and thus approach balance at speed. Disadvantages include... well, we all know my views on positive discrimination, don't we? The resentment it causes and the counter-productivity of it, etc.

The Lib Dems insist that all shortlists must be at least one third male and one third female. Advantages of this approach are that it avoids a lot of the pitfalls of positive discrimination, yet makes sure that both sexes are represented in all lists. Disadvantages are that (as usual for Lib Dems) it can be a bit complicated to administer.

Poll #1187202 Gender Balance
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Which Party do you think has the best approach?

Brian Paddick's election diary has been edited and published by the Hate on Sunday. Typically for the Hate there are a couple of errors - the most important one being all over his Facebook profile:

Yesterday
Brian was campaigning in Crewe on Saturday - never give up, never surrender! (11:51am)
May 11
Brian was campaigning in Crewe on Saturday - who said I was giving up politics?! (5:21pm)

However, it has prompted an interesting thread on LDV. Some Lib Dems are offended by the fact that Brian hasn't exactly heaped praise on the party (he's given ammunition to the Evil Dale, you see - and no, I'm not linking to that tosser). I found the article quite endearing. Brian shows himself to have a sense of humour, and also shows up many of the flaws in how the party does things. Hopefully we can learn from them.

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My lovely fiancé has an update on the Johnny Vegas situation. Whether or not he wins this libel action, the main result of this will be that everybody will get to hear about his horrid, unfunny, sexist "performance", and unless (perhaps even if) the girl comes out in unmitigated support of him, it will be a disaster for his career. I really think he's shot himself in the foot here, especially given that the Grauniad's lawyers are no stranger to the odd libel case.

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Speaking of my lovely fiancé: I showed him this link, and he picked lots and lots of holes in it. I'd quite like him to do it publicly, though.

See this? This is a gauntlet. See me throw it down... ;)

They don't seem to think so over at Lib Dem Voice (see their sidebar), so who am I to argue?

Poll #1186464 Predicted Election Results
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

What do you think the result will be at the next UK General Election?

How screwed do you think we all are if your predicted result occurs?

My personal, rather pessimistic view (fed by entries like this on PB)? Labour have completely alienated their core vote, whilst at the same time being incompetent enough to also alienate the swing voters who usually hold the decisive power. Core Labour voters won't be able to bring themselves to vote Tory due to tribal loyalty, so they just won't turn out to vote at all. Meanwhile, the swing voters will have no qualms about voting Tory to give Labour a kicking, and won't vote Lib Dem because Liberals all just sit on the fence and I would vote for them because they're cute and fluffy, but it's a wasted vote, innit.

Unless there is a seismic change in the Labour party, I think the next election will be the Tories' 1997. I think we'll see a Tory landslide in terms of vote share, and a small majority in the commons. And I think we're all utterly fucked. Even if there is a seismic change, I think people think the Labour have been in power long enough... I hope for a hung parliament; but I don't think we'll get one.

Y'all may recall that I wrote to the Beeb about the article on The Sunday Show in which they unjustly described all Goths as neonazi satanists. I got a reply yesterday.

We were sorry to read that you felt that the item on Goths was inaccurate. We raised your concerns with Amanda Hancox, Series Producer of Sunday Life. She asked us to pass on the following:

The feature on the Sunday programme was commissioned following a significant rise in the number of desecrated Christian graves in France. Our reporter was told by the Miviledes, the French Government’s anti cult task force, that they had identified a sub group within the Goth Community in France who they believe were responsible for these attacks. This sub group was found to have been heavily influenced by Satanism and Neo-Nazism.

The reporter interviewed a young man who described himself as a Neo Satanist Goth and his experiences were heard in the feature. The other people interviewed were all recognised experts in this field and one in particular is consulted regularly by the French Police on crimes with religious overtones. All the statistics were provided by the Ministry of Youth from their recent report into youth culture.

The presenter made it very clear in his introduction that the feature was about the Goth Community in France and about ‘some’ Goths who were influenced by Satanism. The programme was very careful not to link the story in anyway either to the Goth Community in Britain, which is a very different culture to that in France, or to the death of Sophie Lancaster. As all the interviewees were French and the feature was linked to a very specific event in France, we didn’t think it would be necessary to remind listeners throughout the feature that we were not talking about the Goth community in Britain.

Amanda Hancox
Series Producer
Sunday

So, let me see if I have got this straight... SOME of the desecration of graves is THOUGHT to be committed by NeoNazi, Satanist Goths, whom you now admit are a subset of the French Goth community (and not the whole of it, as you made out in the report) but you think it's OK to have broadcast the unbalanced, sensationalised report because it was about FRENCH Goths, and it's OK to present one-sided half truths and prejudice as fact if it's about French people?

Oh. Dear.

... for not feeling up to going round to her house tonight.

What does one do when one is tired both physically and emotionally? Puts on a cheesy superhero movie. Luckily dear old LoveFilm sent us two this morning.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Fun. Not Shakespeare, but fun. I enjoyed it. Pity that after the panning it got from the critics they probably won't be making any more with that cast.
Spiderman 3? Awful, with some patches of merely bad, and three wasted villains, and a TOTALLY wasted Bruce Campbell. I was particularly disappointed not to see Venom's big long tongue. And is that the LONGEST FILM EVAR or what? The little girl selling JJJ the camera was cool though.

Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable; I have seen him on his bicycle; I have seen him buying vegetables...

(inspired by purplehez)

- anyone can vote, but nobody will see how you have voted.
- if you want to see the bar charts without answering the questions, hit submit poll without selecting an answer
- if you don't like beer you can read beer to mean the alcoholic beverage of your choice, even if you are insane and this is lager.

Poll #1185062 A scientific comparison of gender attitudes
Open to: All, results viewable to: None

I consider myself female, and I think...

I consider myself male, and I think...

I consider myself non-gendered or both genders, and I think...

Please, for the love of Bob and all that's unholy: kill whoever it was who did that Gentlemen Prefer Blondes graphic! I am EATING!!!

* green face *

So, Diane, Gordon is a God amongst men? Yes, this one.

YAY MICHAEL!!!!!! ILU Mr Portillo!

* happy dance *

The news of your voting in the Mayoral election goes down very well in this household!

Diane is being a bit mean to Michael tonight, too. Perhaps Mad Nad's stupidities have been annoying her? I know Diane is very much on my side on the abortion issue...

Hello, my name is Jennie, and I'm a This Week junkie! LOL Oooooh Michael is a tech geek. Damn, my swingometer is definitely heading Michaelwards this week. Especially given his comment on addiction. Everything in moderation, absolutely. Except This Week, obviously.

And to crown it all with such a glorious pun! YAY! And it's all over for another week... Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder indeed. Will have to drink more gin before next week's show, though, if Bruce Foreskin is on it...

* shudder *

So, QT is on. Ming is talking. And my attention is completely elsewhere... This may or may not be due to Mister Mat making omelette and chips for supper behind me. I are droolin'...

Anyhoo, QT. There's Ming the Merciless Retired Glorious Leader; Boris Johnson's sister; Tarzan (who Mat tells me isn't a proper conservative because he actually bought furniture, instead of inheriting Chippendale from his family); some Labour twat and Piss Moron. The only one who has vaguely piqued any interest is Tarzan.

Oh, I'm so jaded... But why can't Ming be interesting? I know he's old hat, but he's a good politician, with good ideas, and I agree with him on lots of things... so why does he have such a soporific effect on me? Poor old Ming.

Blah. My heart isn't in this entry. My fiancé is making my omelette and chips, in his apron, and I can't concentrate. James Purnell is talking bollocks about cannabis now, and I don't want to try and concentrate on that. Service will resume, probably, for This Week in a bit.

Firstly, PHD Comics, as innerbrat says, sometimes gets so close to the bone that it hurts.

My ambition for right now? Be able to make the rent this month.

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This blog entry made me cry. I have friends who have been through this, who GO through this, every day. I don't think I could, and will continue to fight for their right not to have to. Greek islanders notwithstanding.

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Nadine Dorries is evil and must be stopped. When I discovered I was pregnant with shrublette, I was already 19 weeks. This was mostly because I didn't believe that I could be pregnant, given that I was religiously agnostically taking the contraceptive pill, and had a very, um, sporadic sex life with my then partner. If Dorries had her way, I would have had no choice at that stage (because, lets face it, getting the NHS to act in less than a week? NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN). I do not in any way regret the choice that I made, but am none the less glad that the choice was there.

Well, luckily there is a campaign going. Lets all support it, eh?

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freddiefraggles makes an interesting point about role models:

As discussed here, there aren't that many women role models for girls who might be interested in a career in technology or engineering. Goodness knows, in this day and age where parents can often be behind the times and like to nudge their children in the right direction, more prolific women in I.T. and engineering could be a good thing.

But I don't understand why girls need female role models. In anything. Why can't girls aspire to male role models? Why shouldn't I admire someone like Lance Armstrong or Brian May? Goodness knows there aren't better role models in their areas, male or female.

So why do people (the media, the general public) presume that girls and young women can only relate to and look up to other women for careers and their ambitions? Well, I believe it's because they're still discriminating, even if it's subconscious. Boys can only do techie jobs and building and must look up to male role models, and girls can only do caring jobs and office jobs and must look up to female role models. What a load of codswallop.

I agree wholeheartedly. I am particularly proud to have among my friends the glorious strangefrontier, who wrote to the famed misogynist Patrick Moore to thank him for inspiring her to become a scientist. :D

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Several people have recently blogged about the nonsensical and counterproductive No Platform stance which is given to the BNP, and the strange fruit (yes, I am aware of the connotations of this term, and it was chosen deliberately) it has borne on the GLA, including the alternately brilliant and infuriating Johann Hari.

I have been banging on about this for ages. Enforcing No Platform gives the BNP ammunition when they claim to be the voice of the disenfranchised. It gives them a mystique, and lets them look hard done by. Censorship never changes minds, but the light of day can. For one thing, it might help prevent idiocies like the two consecutive comments on the Hari article - one from an immigrant (has he actually READ the BNP's constitution?) and one from someone who claims to be an investment banker (has he looked at their "costed policies"?). Let Nick Griffin by skewered by Paxo. Properly. Like Michael Howard was. Let the BNP show themselves up for the tossers they are, and then see if anyone wants to vote for them, rather than lending them the mystique of oppression.

Also, can people stop calling them far right? They aren't right wing. They're old labour with added racism.

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This reminds me. Need to put the Creative Commons thing on here...

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News for Radio Four folk: the fustercluckery on Sunday was particularly counterproductive, given this interesting little snippet (thanks burkesworks!). Who would have suspected that large numbers of goths listen to radio four, apart from the poor producer who has had to sift through all the outraged emails this week... palecast has more on this.

>:D

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And finally...

Which Leage Of Gentlemen Character are you?

You are most like Papa Lazarou! I'm not sure what this means, just stay away from me... Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Am making Mat watch the Fast Show. This might be slightly cruel of me, given that a lot of the jokes are visual, and he doesn't so much watch TV as have it on while he's on the computer. Thus, he misses lots of subtleties in... pretty much everything we watch, really.

Anyhoo:

Poll #1183753 The Fast Show
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

The Fast Show was:

.

So, one of my f-list has posted about this new site: Shag A Blogger.com. Mat's response to this is but I already AM! I haven't registered, preferring to find my sexual partners by more conventional means of meeting folk and such, and I am antsy about anything which creates an expectation of receiving sexual favours, but figured that there might be others on my f-list who might be interested in it, so am passing it on as a public service.

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Mat found a large manicure kit downstairs while doing some tidying. It appears to be full of bizarre implements of torture. Obviously, there are nail clippers (toe and finger), cuticle clippers, and curved nail scissors and a nail file. But there are weird unrecognisable things too.

What are the scissors with the round blobby ends for? There's a thin stick with a grippy bit in the middle, and one end is cylindrical and the other is pointy. Then there's the thing with two prongs that looks like it's designed for holding flies down so that you can pull their legs off...

Anyone shed any light on any of these?

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If you've ever considered signing up for online DVD rental, I recommend Lovefilm. Just sayin'. If you sign up using my referral link I get some freebies! Go on, go on go on go on!

http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/trailer.htm

On the one hand, they've recast Tommy Lee Jones's part as well as Michael Gough's. This is two for two, actors I love replaced by actors I am not hugely bothered by, although Caine does seem to be making a fair fist of Alfred.

On the other hand, Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker seems to take all the menace of Nicholson's interpretation, while ignoring the campy silly bits. I have longed for a dirty, horrible Joker for many years. The closer to the one in Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum: a Serious House on Serious Earth, the happier I will be. The Joker should not be comic relief. He's a mass murderer and shows no compunction for being such. What a pity Ledger passed away when his talent was just beginning to peak...

Is there going to be a little reprise role for Cillian Murphy' Scarecrow? Because he was gorgeous in Batman Begins....

Anyway, REALLY looking forward to this.

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In other news: Nightmare Playgrounds. I defy anyone not to feel sorry for the poor crocodile. Some of the others are more amusing though, especially the two polar bears hugging the giant phallus, or this Cthulhu.

New NiN album is completely free.

Apparently, to say thank you to all his loyal fans for their continued support, Trent says this one's on me. Don't forget the single too!

Bless his little cotton socks.

(x-posted personal journal, 6musicrockshow, theyorkshergob)

The Perceptual Differences of Students - purple_pen is frustrated that students seem unable to remember she's a Doctor, when they are quite able to remember that her male colleagues are Doctors. Evidence that perceptions of what women should be are more deeply ingrained in us all than we realise?

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Road Tax for Motorbikes - I've blogged about this before, but nobody seemed able to answer whether or not it was true, so this is a "just in case" measure. I don't think it's too much to ask that we simply get the same treatment as cagers car drivers. Via uk_bikers

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The Outlawing of Extreme Porn - I can understand outlawing pictures of actual illegal things, even though I think it's counterproductive. But I can't understand outlawing pictures of people pretending to do illegal things. It smacks of I don't like it, and therefore it ought to be banned. It's at this point I'd remind everyone of John Stuart Mill: The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. I don't like extreme porn. I don't find it titillating, and I don't want to look at it. But if other people do want to look at it, and nobody is hurt in the making of it, then I do not think it should be banned. I've heard enough tales of what goes on in the porn industry to think it ought to be better regulated to make sure that actresses and actors are consenting, and I also wish with all my heart that there was at least some porn that I didn't find dull and/or misogynistic and objectifying; but it seems to me that the solution to this is not to make porn even more shameful and restricted.

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The Realities of a Non-Monogamous Relationship - many people seem to think that if a person is in a non-monogamous relationship of some kind that they must necessarily be shagging about