,01:36 p.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
That's it for this week, I suppose. I've got a dentists appointment soon, and stuff to do first. But I seem to have posted so much this week that you should have plenty to keep you occupied.

I'm on leave on Monday, so see you Tuesday. Have a marvellous weekend!

,01:16 p.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
Not sure why anyone else would find this interesting, but as a throwback to my Linguistics days, I loved it.

,01:05 p.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
Causing evolution is costing us billions of dollars a year. But we can fight it by taking antibiotics properly, avoiding use of herbicides, and PASSING ON THE NEWS.

,12:58 p.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
If you ever plan on having children with a bloke who smokes dope, please read this and take note. Yes, I do believe that maternal smoking during pregnancy is more of a risk factor, but all the risks you can cut down on are good.

,11:53 a.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
Remember all the posts I made a while ago about Zimbabwe and the situation there with farms being seized? A deal has been reached. I just hope everyone sticks to it.

,11:26 a.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
So Christianity is on the verge of dying out in the UK. Can't say I'm surprised. When people look around, they see Northern Ireland, where someone threw a bomb at a group of children trying to walk to school in the name of religion. They see priests being convicted of abusing small children. They see a Catholic church that tells them that even a new born baby is a sinner and that using contraception is wrong, evangelical churches that seem to think that if you're not having moments of reigious ecstacy or being healed or out there converting all your friends you're doing something wrong, a protestant church that doesn't really seem to be very much of anything. When it comes down to it, the two most important commandments, the ones you are supposed to live by, are 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind' and 'love your neighbour as yourself'. I can understand wanting to meet up and talk to your friends about that, but sitting in church on a Sunday morning, singing hymns without really listening, praying without thinking? What's the point?

I know that to some of you out there, it's more than that. And I respect that. But you have to admit that's not how it is to most people. Christianity needs a rethink. All denominations need to go back the the roots and decide what's really important. Otherwise the church in this country will die out.

,11:00 a.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
Colleen's discussion boards have started to take off since she moved. Pop in and join in the conversation!!

,09:46 a.m., Friday, September 7, 2001
I'm being cagey again. Not telling you everything that's going on. Even the relevant stuff. But I'm scared of jinxing myself. And I'm a little paranoid about being watched.

I'll tell you soon enough. As soon as I'm ready. Or as soon as there's something to tell. Promise.

,03:35 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
I'm one of the people who thinks smacking should be banned a la Sweden and similar countries. But I think that the way Scotland wants to do it is wrong. The only reason I would smack a child is if they were under the age of around one, and were doing something dangerous. Once they were old enough to understand an explanation, they don't get smacked any more, because to do so is to indulge your fear or your anger at the expense of the child. So I think banning smacking for children aged under three is the wrong way round.
I'm willing to listen to alternative viewpoints if anyone has them though - leave them in my guestbook or email me....

,02:29 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
This is one of the streets I lived on when I was a student. And this is where my parents used to live. Both dead on.

,02:17 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
OK, the New Scientist is keeping me amused today.
Paint the moon isn't going to work.
I used to be dead impressed by Katen Winslett's 'no diet' stance. Now she's insulting scientists. Still, it's nice that she didn't turn down the role because of its lack of glamour, I suppose....
As if getting our kids addicted to video games wasn't bad enough, now they want to do it to our cats....
Did you ever need instructions on how to cut bread?
And I've been waiting for this study for years.

,01:16 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
I took this test and got 7 out of 10. Failed on questions 3, 7 and 10. So there you go.

,01:08 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
You know what I hate? I hate when I get half way through a really enthusiastic entry without noticing that the advert at the bottom isn't fully loaded and half way through I get taken to an error screen that loses my entry. Bah.

Anyway. I'll start again. I heard about this on the news this morning and although I wasn't convinced at the time that there can be a universally funny joke, Meg has proved me wrong with the following joke which I haven't heard for years and can barely repeat for laughing:

Q. What's orange and sounds like a parrot?
A. A carrot

Hilarious. Its only near rival is the 'what's brown and sticky' joke which was repeated in Mike's room every night (literally) of my first year in Henderson Hall. But not even that comes close.

A stick, by the way.

,12:55 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
I got my Amnesty International trading catalogue last night. It's got Christmas cards and glasses and Amnesty tops and a plastic bag holder and just so many things that I want, and yet can't afford. Even on the tenuous link that it's basically giving money to charity, except that you get stuff back for doing it. It's not fair....

,12:49 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
This just sounds like one of those ideas that people think are wonderful for three seconds (I thought it sounded like a bad idea straight away, but hey) and then they start to think and realise that it's not going to solve anything, it's not going to make people behave any better, it's not going to mean there are more staff to deal with this kind of thing, you can't get a valid plea from someone who's drunk.... I'd be surprised if it wasn't somehow contravening people's human rights, although I'm not sure exactly how.

,12:36 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2001
I ran this morning.
Just for a few minutes. I'm not really capable of any more. So unfit. But I've been thinking about it for days. Thinking that a little exercise and fresh air in the morning would be good for me. Thinking, but scared to actually do.
So this morning I just did it. Pulled on my leggings and t shirt as soon as I got out of bed. Tied my trainers and let myself out of the flat, quietly. And I ran round the block. Didn't make it all the way, but I wasn't far off. I was honestly surprised at how far I got before I stopped to walk the rest of the way.
The air and the movement felt good. Felt like my body was awake again.
So I'm going to do it again tomorrow.

,05:22 p.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2001
Got my daily news update email yesterday afternoon. Reading towards the bottom I saw this paragraph in an item talking about the football:
"Now as it happens, this weekend also saw the publication of a report by a leftwing think tank looking at how on earth you could persuade a right-wing island race with a distrust of foreigners [that's us, by the way], to vote for a single European currency."
And we are. I forget that this country is so bloody xenophobic and conservative. I sometimes forget why I fight, and what I'm fighting for. It's because the outcry when the British football team got a Swedish manager was ridiculous, one paper terming it thus:
"We've sold our birthright down the fjord to a nation of seven million skiers and hammer throwers who spend half their life in darkness."
I can do something about this, even if all I do is challenge people's views. It will make a difference. It has to.

,05:12 p.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2001
An interesting article suggesting that Americans think that innocent people being executed is a justifiable risk of the death penalty.

,05:10 p.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2001
Just what we need. Some more racial hatred stirred up by the football.

,04:52 p.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2001
I just ordered a keeper. Can't wait till it arrives!

,01:26 p.m., Wednesday, September 5, 2001
I want to write clearly and coolly about this, about how they should be ashamed to attack children in this way. But my gut reaction is to yell 'BASTARDS', to ask how they can sleep at night.

And I'm not biased. Anyone who can attack children like this is worthy of my hate, be they catholic (and I was brought up catholic) or protestant, loyalist or nationalist.

* added 1.35pm: Hate is a very strong word, and something I wrote in the heat of the moment. The whole situation stems from hatred, so feeding it is the worst thing we can do. I want to replace the word, but I'm not sure what would be a suitable word. Contempt is really no better.

I'll try and think of something.

,04:45 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
I just joined my first webring. Look, it's over there! How exciting.

,03:56 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Not convinced. It seems fairly even in the case of my secondary, even biased towards boys. I don't think they've taken the age consideration into account either - at my age, I think it's more even on the male/female ratios of internet usage. Anyway, what does 'more than half of the visitors to Friendsreunited.co.uk are women' really mean? 51%? *sigh*

And don't they think that attributing reasons for this is self-defeating, taking acknowledged facts and saying 'that's why' without really looking into it? It's certainly not true in my experience. The men and women I know seem to have a fairly even level of what's fair game for conversation and what's just going too far.

,03:38 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
This is really hard.

,02:15 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
"In this one street, where children become a focus of adult hatred, we see the problems of Northern Ireland stripped down to their terrible basics. Between politically consenting adults, disagreement is natural; violent disagreement can seem a mere logical extension of a political argument. But the embroilment of fearful young innocents – with terrifying moments that seem certain to affect them for the rest of their lives – goes far beyond what can be regarded as defensible by those of any political creed."

I realise that this article isn't actually trying to justify violent disagreement on political grounds. I realise that it's saying that aiming this kind of hatred at children is worse than aiming it at fellow adults. But I think that this viewpoint tends to blunt the impact that this kind of situation has on adult humans, supposedly rational and intelligent ones. It makes the violence and the hatred seem normal, justified. But in the real world they all have to live together, and the sooner they all realise that the better.

Anyway, it's an interesting article. Reminds me that tolerance of other people's viewpoints and beliefs is paramount in 99.9% of circumstances.

,01:39 p.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Why the UK should be proud that it doesn't have an identity card.

I've always thought that a purely voluntary card wouldn't be a bad idea. But the problem is that these things don't stay purely voluntary. Give it five years and even if it still wasn't a legal requirement *they* would make it so your life was a million times more difficult if you chose not to have one.

,11:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 4, 2001
I'm happy. I'm not comfortable, because I live 100 miles away from him and I'm sick of spending weekends travelling. But I'm happier than I've ever been before.

It does exist.

,04:05 p.m., Monday, September 3, 2001
In case anyone here cared about the football (or if you're American, SOCCER!!) on Saturday, I thought this article was interesting.

I wasn't. I was tired. I went to bed half way through and got up after it finished. But I have to admit to being impressed that Liverpool players got all the goals. Raar.

,03:23 p.m., Monday, September 3, 2001
I don't understand why there's an outcry when someone suggests that refugees coming to Britain should learn English, but that when we suggest that they should do voluntary work (because they aren't allowed to do paid work before their claims are processed) that's somehow OK.

Maybe the politicians hope that the locals will be glad that the someone who is helping their local community isn't them and stop hassling them, stop attacking them in the street.

Or maybe they just want to get everything they can out of these people before they send them back home.

I don't think these people should be forced to learn English as their first priority when they arrive. But I would have thought that the genuine ones would be eager to learn, in case they end up never being able to go back to their own countries and having to settle here permanently. Many of these are important, highly intelligent people. I can't imagine they're happy about having to sit round while their claims are processed in the first place, never mind settle for menial jobs for an insulting wage if they are allowed to stay just because they don't speak English.

Anyway. I found those articles here. There are a few more (and a few the same) here. Please read at least a little. And next time you hear someone bitching about refugees and asylum seekers - challenge them. Make them think again.

,02:35 p.m., Monday, September 3, 2001
I have to ask. VMW - or for that matter, anyone who knows me out there in the real world - please tell me if you're reading this. I'm not going to ask you not to, I just want to know.

,02:19 p.m., Monday, September 3, 2001
Colleen has finally got a proper home for her blog. And it's all marvellous - looking far better and even with a photo. Nice one!!