... ARE UTTER BAR-STUDS. Whose bright idea was it to make an advert for them based on the Magical Trevor song? I've only seen the bloody thing twice and now I can't stop going round the house going:

Everyone loves Magical Trevor
Cos the tricks that he does are ever so clever...

It's almost as bad as badgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadgerbadger mushroom mushroom... But still nothing like the Little Red Monkey:

I wish I could work up the level of righteous anger Charlie Brooker has in his column today. I really do. And he's (at least partially) right, when he says

The politicians have finally shut us out of their game for good and we have nowhere left to turn. We're not part of their world any more. We don't even speak the same language. We're the ants in their garden. The bacteria in their stools. They have nothing but contempt for us. They snivel and lie and duck questions on torture - on torture, for Christ's sake - while demanding we respect their authority. They monitor our every belch and fart, and insist it's all for our own good.

...although I suspect it only applies to politicians who have power, or some prospect of it. I am uncomfortably reminded of Our Glorious Leader's behaviour towards the Lower Orders at conference: I don't think any one party has immunity to this syndrome. But I think we have less of it than the other two main parties, if only because our MPs have higher satisfaction ratings, which must mean that they pay SOME attention to their constituents.

The thing is, it's hard to work up righteous anger when you've got Simon and Garfunkel in your head. Thanks to the First Lady, I can't stop singing this:



And thus, the best I can manage is a sort of weary, folkish melancholia when faced with the truth about our political system. So will a summer of weary melancholia and folk songs do, Charlie? You can rage if you like...

Because I am all blogged out after the Carnival, and I still have this stinking cold, and my brain says NOOOOOOOOOOO to seriousness, I am doing a meme. I think this is fairly likely to end up long and rambling, and may end up having shocking revelations in it.

Association Meme: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

puddingcat gave me:

1. James May.
   
   I have always watched Top Gear. I remember it having Noel Edmonds on it. I remember Clarkson as a young upstart. I remember Kate Humble in a huge great Humvee-type thing. I used to love Quentin Willson. When they cancelled it I was a bit miffed, and I was really chuffed when they brought it back... but even though I love new TG, there are bits of the old TG I miss. I miss the inclusiveness of it. I miss the silliness of it - not in the huge, over-the-top silly of the Clarkson, but in the gentle, eccentric, English silly.
   
   James is the closest to that vibe you get in the new show.
   
   And he's a geek, and he loves old toys, and Proper Beer, and is willing to try new things, and is happy to not follow the crowd, and he keeps his tools in alphabetical order although the rest of his house is a tip. He's clearly the only one of the three of them with an ounce of sense. And I LOVED Big Ideas. I love men who can geek about science.


2. Hammer Horror.
   
   Hammer Horror films are awesome! And yet, a lot of the archetypal Hammer Horror films, or at least the films that everyone thinks of as Hammer, aren't. They are Amicus or Tigon or any of a number of other small British production houses. Or even American, if you think of the Corman/Price/Poe films.
   
   I love them all. I have loved them since I was tiny. I saw Taste the Blood of Dracula which had been taped by one of my brothers from the Friday night horror slot as a small child, and then made my dad tape Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires for me, and then whatever was on the week after, and the week after, and the week after that...
   
   I'm not so fond of modern horror films. They tend to rely too much on jumpy scares, and not having proper scripts, and things. Slasher movies are vaguely interesting - after all, I love Agatha Christie and PD James, too, and Slasher films are basically whodunnits - and I love the Nightmare on Elm Street series, mainly because they are so silly - but I can't be bothered with the vast majority of modern horrors. Show me a DVD box that says "made in 1973 on a budget of 20p and a bit of chewing gum", though, and I'll crawl over broken glass to watch it. Especially if it has Christopher Lee in it. Or dear old Vinny P.


3. Alan Rickman.
   
   The first thing I saw Alan in was Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Which I love, despite it having the worst Robin in history, because it still has Mike McShane and Brian Blessed and improbable Morgan Freeman and ZOMG Alan is amazing in it. Seriously, is there a person in existence who DOESN'T shout out "you cheating bastard!!" when Costner stabs him? George SO should have taken him in that fight...
   
   * cough *
   
   Anyway. Alan. Alan is awesome. He's fantastic in Dogma. His Snape turned JKR's greasy geekboy that we are supposed to hate* into a sex God, and gave me the internet pseudonym I still have in lots of places. Oh yes, and he's on The List. In fact, The List started off as The Alan Rickman List.**


4. Circulus!
   
   LOL Circulus are simultaneously the worst and the best band ever. They are one of those things which are fabulous precisely because they are so improbably bad, like lots of hammer Horror films. The lead singer (and lead lute!) looks like a Geography teacher and they write songs with titles like Power to the Pixies. I mean, look at them! They seem to have gone very quiet since That Difficult Second Album, and the last time I saw them live (with puddingcat) they appeared to have lost their lady singer, which is a shame.
   
   I think the reason Jenny associates them with me is that when we went to see them we arrived somewhat early, got rather tipsy on Kreik, played pool incredibly badly, and got chatted up by two members of the support band, Gentleman's Pistols (who I also very much recommend, for those into time travel with their music, except that Gentleman's Pistols are more 1972, when Circulus are 1472.) Seriously, GP are worth seeing for the singer alone, who has a beard that would make Andrew Hickey green with envy. You could hide a whole nest of badgers, and probably lots of mushrooms and a snake in it.


5. Alice Cooper.
   
   Alice is... I actually find it quite difficult to talk about Alice, because I think I sound like a complete pillock when I geek about him. And somehow it's more acceptable to geek about Hammer Horror films or Alan Rickman than it is about Alice... And yet... Alice is the guy who other bands pinch ideas off and make incredible successes out of them. Like Kiss, with the make up. Like Michael frigging Jackson, with the Vincent Price voice over and the theatricality. Alice is extraordinarily literate, creative, prolific, talented, and has the wickedest sense of humour in rock. Alice is not afraid to take the piss out of himself. He's perceptive and intelligent, and can capture complex concepts in throwaway, singalong rock songs like nobody else. He does love songs and war songs and politics songs and silly songs and serious songs and rebellion songs. He does albums full of pop cheese, and proggy concept albums. He covered SunArise by Rolf Harris, FFS, more than twenty years before anyone else even thought of Rolf as cool and Glastonbury headliner material! The man is a God.
   
   If you think Poison and School's Out are the only songs he did, you need some serious re-education (neither of those is even in my top 100 Alice songs). If you think he hasn't done anything worth listening to since 1974 then you missed out on Go to Hell and The Song That Didn't Rhyme and You're My Temptation and Burning Our Bed and literally hundreds of other great songs... He's a man who can write songs you can hum to your mother about necrophilia, and make a Christian allegory that CS Lewis would be proud of and cast himself as the devil in it.
   
   And now I want to turn the lights off and listen to Love it to Death and I can't because I haven't got the turntable plugged in. :(

---

* no, don't get me started on some of the messages sent out by HP. Really, don't.

** Most of you will know that Mat and I are non-exclusive, and both rate somewhere between 2 and 3 on the Kinsey scale. The Alan Rickman List is a list of people whom, should the unlikely event ever arise, neither of us is allowed to do anything with unless the other is present. With Alan, I think it's his voice. I don't think there are any other men on the list. None that I can recall, anyway. The others that are springing to mind are Shami Chakrabarti, Sue Perkins, and everyone's favourite GILF Annette Crosbie. This are meaning I get Steve Harris all to myself YAY ;)

I am seriously considering going to sleep before midnight. Why? Because tomorrow I journey forth to Marsden. You see, Marsden has this thing for Imbolc, and tomorrow is... well... The Fire Circus Skills Workshop.

>:D



Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!

Furthermore:



>:D

Today being thirteenth night (what? We run on Goth Time!) we took the tree down tonight. This was facilitated somewhat by the arrival of the Christmas present from Claire in York (well done Royal Mail, did you bring it by Oxcart?), which was a copy of We Wish You a Metal Christmas. Obviously this was the perfect soundtrack for taking down the tree, and Small Person approved particularly of Alice Cooper's version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and the very noisy Deck the Halls. Mat and I were more amused by - You may say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpaw, we believe - and there was much giggling and a bit of headbanging while we dismantled the tree.

We now have (whisper it, for it will not last) a mostly tidy living room. The TV has a motley population of ne'er do wells on top of it, including Pratchett!Death, a Sea Devil, a Zygon, and Boris Karloff; the shelves are full of Doctor Who DVDs; and my lava lamp which I got for my 18th from cousin Jude is flowing nicely. I am sitting on the sofa to type this, and I feel like we have accomplished something together, as a family.

It's little moments like this that make life worth living.

(for those of you wondering, I managed to cadge a lift home from work, and thus didn't even have to pay for a taxi! Thanks Sammi!)

Spent last night reading reviews of Wii games to find ones that might be suitable for both self and the Small Person - which mainly involved shouting at the screen not every five year old girl is interested in being a Disney fucking princess!!!! - and found a couple, which have been put on the amazon wishlist (For those who are bound to ask, here are my list and Small Person's list). One of the most promising ones appears to be this. Unfortunately, due to reading about that game before going to sleep, when I woke up this morning I had this song in my head:



And now it won't shift. Woe. DAMN JOO BURT BACHARACH!!!

I wonder if we can get Tony to show it at this year's FFW? Although, to be fair, the prospect of Wrath of Khan on the big screen would have me crawling over broken glass to get there whatever else he shows...

So, today is the fifth of November, and a bonfire has been lit under world politics. Whatever happens, we are living in a very different world today than we were yesterday, and there is a mood of happiness and hope abroad, but it seems so fragile. Lets not let it die, people.



And wasn't it incredible,
So beautiful and above all,
Just to see the fuse get lit this time,
To light a real bonfire for all time.

What a beautiful day indeed. Can we keep this going? Yes, we can.

---

Dear Mr Obama,

Congratulations! There is a glorious mood of happiness in the world today, and I thank you (and the people who voted for you) for that. You have a huge amount of work ahead of you, and you carry the hopes and dreams of vast numbers of people in your hands. You offered us all hope; hope for change, hope for equality, hope for liberty. Hopes embodied in the message that has been going round the world all week: Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run; Obama is running so our children can fly! Please, please don't dash those hopes.

We're all counting on you, sir. It's going to be very hard for you. But if you pull it off, if you're not the crashing disappointment that some people fear you will be, then your country and the world will be a much better place. I think, I hope, that you can do it. Your place in history is already assured as the first black American to hold the presidency of the USA. I hope that you are remembered as a great president, and not as a man who betrayed his promise.

yours in hope,

Miss SB

---

Dear People of the United States,

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for restoring my faith in you as leaders of the free world. You guys rock.

Please don't assassinate him. Please.

much love

Miss SB

---

Dear People of California, Arizona and Florida,

What the FUCK? How can so many of you want to take George's marriage away from him? STOP IT! If people love each other, they should be able to marry if they want to. If Prop 8 and its equivalents in other states are passed, history will not look kindly upon what you have done today.

Your country has, today, voted for happy and progressive change. Quite a lot of you guys have too. Please let it be the majority.

yours in trepidation,

Miss SB

I pay no attention whatsoever to the charts, so when I saw this entry on Duncan Borrowman's blog I had to go and look it up to be certain, but it's true! The Accadacca are at number one! This is the second thing to bring a smile to my face all day, what with being in bed ill and poorly and space-brained as I am. The first thing to bring a smile to my face was this, which was emailed to me by the lovely stephmog. In light of recent discussion of statistics and the scientific method, I am amused to see scientific proof (for an early Victorian definition of scientific proof ;)) that beer is not only more nutritious than tea, but MORALLY healthier too! Ladies, if you drink tea you are sure to end up as a prostitute!

---

I suspect Charlotte didn't realise she was starting a meme when she wrote this, but since it's been picked up by other people: Four things I really care about and why

I'm going to make this harder for myself by not allowing myself to pick any of the things that Charlotte has already chosen. Also, please note that due to my ill-in-bedness there might be some ill-thought-outness going on here.

1, My family. Not just my immediate family - Mat, Hol, Mum and Dad, my brothers - but my extended family. And my family is very extended - from my high-powered cousin in Canada to the Lib Dem councillor in Eaglescliffe they all provide me with a context and a richness that I am very lucky to have. I think of a lot of you guys as family, too - people like caseytalk and puddingcat who are not afraid to tell me I'm wrong and give me fresh intellectual perspectives; and people like ginasketch and innerbrat without whose emotional wisdom I would be a much poorer person; also people like sovietkiki and muffin_nuffin who give me hope for the future of the human race with their youth and enthusiasm.

2, Equality. Without equality, you can't have liberty. What's the point of liberty for a privileged few? It's all right for those few, but the rest of us will be fucked. My personal version of equality is that individuals should be judged on their actions and capabilities, and not the irrelevant stuff. Obviously, there is a case by case element to this - being female is not relevant to one's capabilities as a politician, but you rather need to be female if you are applying for a job as a page 3 girl. Similarly, being muslim matters not one jot if you want to be a cricket umpire, but it might hamper you from working in a brewery.

3, The BBC. Yeah, I know. But radio four is the pulse of life for me. I know what time it is by what is on the radio without having to look at the clock. And where would I be without Question Time, Top Gear, Doctor Who? Where would I be without those precious, priceless times sat watching Star Trek with my dad as a child? I'd be a very different person. I watch very little TV these days, and I wouldn't miss any of the commercial TV or radio channels. But if the BBC was gone, there would be a gaping void in my life.

4, The internet. I care about the internet for selfish reasons because of what it has brought me - my fiance for one - but also for selfless reasons because of what it has brought wider society. It has brought us a voice. In the years before the internet, to have a column that reached as many people as this blog does involved either having enough money to self-publish, or being given the opportunity by someone already in power. Now, because of the internet, the free exchange of ideas is so much easier. Yes, there are flamewars and trolling and nastiness. But there is also free and frank discussion, and democratisation, and power to the people. Tim Berners-Lee? I salute you.

For the first time since Christmas I find myself Matless and alone. He's off to That London for a web optimisation seminar, and will be stopping two nights with Millennium and his daddies. It's an odd feeling. Tonight won't be so bad, because Shrubby and I will be able to have a girly night and watch lots of Star Trek and eat cookies together, but tomorrow will be a bit of a trial, I think.

* pokes alexwilcock *

You look after him. I don't want him coming home with no tales of drunken debauchery! ;) Also, if you guys need a crash space for Yorkshire regional, we're only half an hour or so away from Sheffield by car. Although knowing how organised you two are you've probably already booked a hotel...

Anyway, although the house feels oddly empty, I'm sure I will survive. If all else fails, there's always gin.

---

There are rumours going around that Vince may be called to number 11. Obviously I think this would be a sterling plan (note to James Graham: you're not the only one who can do terrible puns :P) - good for Vince, good for the country, and probably good for the party too, with some caveats about doing this for the country and not for Labour, since ordinary folks would see what talent we Lib Dems have in our ranks in a concrete way. It's a win-win situation. And that's why, despite the fact that (to use Duncan's marvellous phrase) we are what the experts call 'IN DEEP SHIT' and quite clearly the only person with a paddle is Vince, Gordon Brown is never going to go for it. Sadly.

---

Go Dave Grohl!

---

Anton Vowl picks holes in Gordon's strategy for dealing with the economic crisis.

---

Zombie Darwin wants to see Lord Drayson holding his cock, but he's not prepared to pay much money for the privilege. What? It says so in the title!

I'm listening to Feedback on Radio 4. They just played Evan Davies' finest hour again, in full, and two nice long comments from listeners about how awesome it was to hear George Osbourne skewered like that.

Win, radio 4. Epic win.

---

Speaking of Epic Win, Stephen Gillan has posted an Ambitious Aquatic Analogy of British Politics on Lib Dem Voice. It's awesome. All together now? We all live in a yellow submarine...

* cackle *

---

arvindn has a great post about why LJ is awesome, and why it has so far failed...

---

I made the Golden Dozen again. Go me!

I have taken to taking a memory stick in to work and putting it on random play all. This has quite often resulted in various of the regulars singiang along or drumming on the bar. My taste in music fits well with forty-something bikers. And I range from the Beatles to Black Sabbath, and from Flanders and Swann to Blue, so it's pretty eclectic. Sometimes, though, a track can cause a rather gigglesome reaction (for instance, I had forgotten quite how much swearing Song For The Dumped by Ben Folds Five has in it...)

Tonight's cause for amusement was Supercharger Heaven by White Zombie.



Poll #1268214 Pub Music
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which is Funnier?

Still no dogsitter that's viable. Mat is ill. His germs have REALLY good timing: they have made him lethargic and useless and unresponsive at EXACTLY the right time; at the moment it's looking like NEITHER of us will be going to conference. Which is going to be a joy for poor old Emma, who is expecting both of us to work...

Still, rather than wailing and gnashing my teeth, I thought it would be better to distract myself by writing a post. It may be somewhat random though. The first item is a clue as to why:

(via addyit - vid link here)

---

And then there is what has become known among Lib Dem Bloggers as Mat's Musical Meme, because even though it's been going round LJ for months, Mat's is the only LJ they read ;)

Answer the questions with the titles of songs by one band/artist. Invite your readership to guess the band.

1) Are you male or female? Poison Girl
2) Describe yourself. Beyond Redemption
3) What do people feel when they're around you? Heartache Every Moment
4) How would you describe your previous relationship? Killing Loneliness
5) Describe your current relationship? Our Diabolikal Rapture
6) Where would you want to be now? Gone With the Sin
7) How do you feel about love? Drunk on Shadows
8) What's your life like? Sleepwalking Past Hope
9) What would you ask for if you only had one wish? Please Don't Let It Go
10) Say something wise. It's All Tears

---

Speaking of Lib Dems, am grateful to James Graham for reminding me of the one thing Jo Crispy-Strips DIDN'T say about the new Lib Dem website which is cool and laudable: YAY Creative Commons! We've got one up on the government, just by understanding the concept.

---

I wonder when the rest of us will learn that Americans don't like being told how to vote? Not anytime soon, it seems.

---

Via purplecthulhu, The Kingsnorth protesters are acquitted under a "lesser of two evils" defence. This could be an interesting precedent...

---

Via puddingcat: comment and I'll give you a letter, list ten things you LOVE which begin with that letter, then post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own. puddingcat gave me a C.

1, Cake.
2, Canines.
3, Captain Slow.
4, Cthulhu.
5, Classic Who.
6, Crappy Old Horror Films.
7, Crappy old Sci-fi films.
8, Crackpot schemes.
9, Cynicism.
10, Cock.

I think those are all pretty self-explanatory... Oh well. Life goes on. Best be off to work.

If anyone remains who is unsure of Ros Scott's AWESOMENESS: she likes Alice Cooper. If not in general, then at least for playing Guitar Hero. ETA: this might have inspired a slightly rash email...

The Wilson Sisters who form the backbone of Heart, however, are not enamoured of the Republicans using one of their songs. Their guitarist Roger Fisher takes a more practical approach: Fisher said he strongly endorsed the Democratic ticket, and would donate a portion of royalties he receives from the Republicans' airing of "Barracuda" to the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. "With my contribution to Obama's campaign, the Republicans are now supporting Obama," he said. There's something fitting about that.

Via strangefrontier and puddingcat, Metallica's biggest hit in LOLcat form. I am not a big fan of LOLcats, finding most of them supremely unamusing. But this? This is class.

Via Mitch Benn: a musical interlude at the Republican National Convention:



And if music be the food of love... Via LDV comes the news that some Tories take the idea of enterprise so seriously that they'll even put a price on shagging themselves and their wives. I would have no problem with this whatsoever, if they weren't 1, charging money for it, which is illegal and 2, espousing traditional Tory Family Values for everyone else while practising bipolyprostitution behind closed doors.

Don't be ashamed of your bipoly leanings, Tory folks! There's nothing wrong with a good threesome! Accept the fact that the nuclear family is only one of the many options for people to live legitimate and happy lives in, and we'll ALL get on much better!

You can click through to the Entertainment Week article here.

First up on the excitement scale is page 4 of the article: NEW TREK! OMGWTFBBQYAAAAAAAAY! Is it bad that I think Kirk is quite hot there? I really want to see this now. And Zach looks WAY better as Spock than he did as Sylar.

Then comes Dollhouse (pp. 5 and 6). I like Eliza Dushku, and am still undecided as to whether to be excited or worried about this. Dr. Horrible is leaning me towards worried, if I'm honest.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III starts at page 13. I still haven't managed to get a hold of The Black Dossier, and thus am woefully behind on this series, but if it's anything like as good as I and II it'll be knicker-wettingly excellent.

The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still (pp. 18 and 19) is another where I'm expecting pants but harbouring sneaking hopes for brilliance. Remakes which are amazing (John Carpenter's The Thing, for example) are vastly outnumbered by remakes which are embarrassingly awful (The Wicker Man is springing inexorably to mind), but the remakes do often have the useful function of providing publicity for the originals...

DC Universe Online (p. 20) is Warcrack with Batman in, by the looks of it. This may well be the straw which breaks my bactrian back in getting me to put a toe in those waters. I wanna be in TwoFace's gang! Can I be a Henchgirl?

Drag Me To Hell looks VERY interesting to me. I like horror films. I like Sam Raini's films (yes, even Darkman). And colour me amazed, but it has two female leads, no male leads, and it looks like they are going to be mostly talking about Something Other Than Men. Go Sam! Good on you for passing the Bechdel Test with flying colours!

Ninja Assassin piqued my interest too. Long-haired half-naked blood-covered ninjas? What's not to like? I suspect several of you will be interested by the Turtlenator and Orson Scott Card stuff as well. Go read!

---

Also found on EW, an article celebrating Kirk/Spock slash. I agree with him that this is most excellent:



But also, that this is better, albeit veryveryvery NSFW:



FWIW, the commenter who states that Has Been is a great album is dead on too.

---

Lots of Uhmericins on my f-list have started posting reviews and reactions to The Dark Knight. Oh Cthulhu. I want to see this SO much. You guys are not helping.

So I'm plonked in front of Nick Cave Night, and I have tabs open of things I want to blog about - the smoking ban and the nhs and social biology and Top Gear - and all I can think about is how AWFUL Nick Cave looks with that stupid moustache and his refusal to admit that he's going bald.



I'm so judgemental.

neohippie posted this video:



... and I had to share it because... well, don't you think the mad dancing dude looks like lanky Lib Dem councillor Jon Ball? Well, except the lanky dancing dude is a better dancer, obviously... ;)

---

neohippie also mentioned that the above video gives her the same sort of warm fuzzy feeling like that "I love the whole world" Discovery Channel commercial, and that vid gives me the warm fuzzies too, so I'm going to repost it (link is here)



Apparently the sainted XKCD get the warm fuzzies from it too, since they have done their own version...

---

And speaking of things that give me the warm fuzzies, Amused Cynicism has reported something that makes me just want to go out and buy a Joss Stone album:

After the show a reporter asked her what she thinks of piracy, and people who download her songs off the Internet. Her response baffled the reporter, as she simply told him: “I think it’s great…” There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, the reporter probably expected to hear something else from her. “Great?,” he said.

“Yeah, I love it. I think it’s brilliant and I’ll tell you why,” Stone continued. “Music should be shared. [...] The only part about music that I dislike is the business that is attached to it. Now, if music is free, then there is no business, there is just music. So, I like it, I think that we should share.”

“It’s ok, if one person buys it, it’s totally cool, burn it up, share it with your friends, I don’t care. I don’t care how you hear it as long as you hear it. As long as you come to my show, and have a great time listening to the live show it’s totally cool. I don’t mind. I’m happy that they hear it.”

Stone went on to say that most artists have probably been “brainwashed” by the record labels, when they discourage their fans from downloading music. Of course, Stone is not the only artist who actually wants people to share their work. Last year rapper 50 Cent made some positive remarks about filesharing, and Nine Inch Nails take it even further, as they upload their music onto BitTorrent sites themselves.

We all know that artists who support filesharing benefit from it, and one day the music industry will wake up to that. But until that day, lets say a big hurrah for Joss and point and laugh at Kiss... And now I have the urge to listen to Steal This Song by Mitch Benn...

---

You know when people tell you that climate change is all made up so that we can be made to pay more taxes? And that the world has fluctuating temperatures anyway, and it's silly to think that man could affect it?

Show them this. Nice hard maths, how do I love thee.

---

One more very cool thing before we slip down the slope of depressingness: The facebook Nexus app. Someone on nwhyte's f-list says they might have the smarts to make this for LJ: I hope they do. Of course, the coolest thing about mine is that it looks like the mothership in LifeForce. YAY for Patrick Stewart made from blood!

---

The results are out for Henley. The Tories won, which is not a big surprise, with a lower turnout and a decreased number majority, but an increased percentage majority. Lib Dems increased their vote share slightly, but not appreciably. But the real story is in the lower orders. Labour came fifth. They lost their deposit. They were beaten by not only the greens, but the bastard nazi party.

As they say on PB, happy first anniversary, Gordon.

* bleak smile *

---

I don't know what I think about this article, except that lots of people should read it.

Despite the vast number of religions, nearly everyone in the world believes in the same things: the existence of a soul, an afterlife, miracles, and the divine creation of the universe. Recently psychologists doing research on the minds of infants have discovered two related facts that may account for this phenomenon. One: human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena. And two: this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry. Which leads to the question ...

Is God an Accident?

---

The full text of the Lords judgement on anonymous witnesses is here. I know what *I* think about this - I'm not against witnesses' identities being kept out of the press, but complete anonymity with no cross examining makes evidence very unreliable in my view... There must be some sort of happy medium? I mean, if the only evidence you can get is an anonymous witness, then that's surely not enough to convict?

Or am I old-fashioned in clinging to the idea that one should be innocent until proven guilty? More and more often these days it seems like I am...

---

Ready to get more depressing? There's a Romanian girl. When she was ten, she was raped by her uncle. She didn't find out she was pregnant until it was too late for her to have an abortion under Romanian law, so she wants to come here to have one. Surely nobody sane could object to this? She's ELEVEN, and she was RAPED!

Well, apparently there are people who object to it (check comment two on Unity's post on LC), and I am fully in agreement with innerbrat on their complete lack of sense and morals.

Forcing an eleven year old girl who was raped to carry an incestuous child to term is not protecting unborn children. It is child abuse. There's no other term which fits. It makes me feel sick to the stomach that people can even contemplate it.

---

It occurs to me that maybe I should have started this entry with the depressing stuff, and ended on the cool vids to cheer you up... Oh well. If you're depressed now, just scroll back up... ;)

F-list, I am posting to charge you with a Sacred Duty. If you love music, if you hold sonic entertainment dear, it is your task to download at least one illegal copy of a song a week, because if you don't, Kiss will release a new album (Hat tip - von_geisterhand).

If we get another Crazy Nights, I'm blaming you lot. Get downloading, now, before it's too late!

ETA: Best Google Ad EVAR on the notification emails for the comments on this post.

Whoever picks the music wanted to make me happy tonight. CHEEEEEESE Metal to the max! The Final Countdown by Europe followed by Alice's Elected? Rock on, BBC1!

Mitch Benn would like your help. The poor fella has the same problem I do: without a pressing deadline, I just can't make myself do ANYTHING. He wants us all to nag him, and become deadline enforcers. If you want to add his blog to your f-list, btw, LJ folks, it's syndicated along with updates to his website at mitchbenn_site

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Two from my lovely fiancé. Firstly, The Twat-o-tron. It automatically generates letters by taking quotes from actual contributions to the the BBC Have Your Say forums, complete with typos. Keep clicking new and you get a real flavour of the sort of contribution that makes me not read HYS any more, and keep in mind the oft-repeated mantra that the BBC has a liberal bias as you read.

Secondly, 25 Skills Every Mother Should Learn. Like matgb, I think this should be parent, rather than mother, but that's just nitpicking; it's a great post.

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Via strangefrontier, The Usbourne Book of the Future! Who else is disappointed that we don't actually live in a world like this, post 2000? Still, at least we're not in Mega City One/BritCit (yet), either...

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My my, I tried to hold you back but you were stronger... Mike Smithson wants us all to sing Abba to Nick Clegg.. Er, sorry. Mike Smithson thinks that if there's a Winchester by election (which there may well be, apparently) it could prove to be the Lib Dems' Waterloo. I have become a big fan of the posts on politicalbet_fd (although a lot of the comments could usefully be syndicated to the Twat-o-tron above) and find that Mike's poll analysis is usually second to none.

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Via cabalamat2 and chickenyoghurt, Labour's plan to lose any remaining voters it might have. Depressingly, this is probably very close to what they'd have to do to lose any more support than they already have.

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)