,12:47 p.m., Friday, August 24, 2001
And they tell me GCSEs aren't getting easier... *sigh*

OK, this kid might be a genuis, but to pass a GCSE at the age of five, when most kids do them at 16? That's impressive.

Anyway, I'm off now. Have a good weekend.

And one thought to leave you with...

...orange is the colour of my revolution...

,11:53 a.m., Friday, August 24, 2001
For my UK readers (if there are any): details of the new car registration details that start from 1 September.

,05:19 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2001
Oh and one last thing before I really do go this time. I brought in the magazine I mentioned earlier in the week. Here's what it says....

"The average woman skimps on skincare. With a spend of less than £5 a week on beauty buys, including staples such as soap and shampoo, it's surprising her skin's in such good shape."

Okaaaayyyyy. I have better things to spend my money on. Guess I'll just be one of those people who repulses people when they look at her. But it then goes on to recommend La Prairie moisturiser. "Yes, it's wildly expensive - £71 for the cellular day cream - but it's brilliant and has a high concentration of pure ingredients. It's not all water and glycerine like some cheap creams."

If creams made up of water and glycerine work, what's the point in wasting your money on something like this?

Courtesy of the Universal Currency converter, this is $102. A third of your rebate. Just think what you could do with this money.

I refer you to my earlier entry, because it makes me sick.

,04:54 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2001
Well if anyone else has been wondering what happened to the Hunger Site and its neighbours, I just found out. GreaterGood went bust.

According to their website and a recent story on Wired, they hope to be coming back soon, but I'm not holding my breath. It's such a shame though - such a simple, good idea, and it's fallen prey to to dot-com bust like all the crap out there.

,03:54 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2001
Just a few more:

Comparative reasons for men and women smoking.

If you skim through this article and this one you'd be forgiven for thinking boys' GCSE results (the qualifications you get at 16) had suddenly got hugely better. In the real world, the gender gap has gone from 9.2% to - *gasp* - 8.9%. That's 0.3%. Granted, boys still do better in Biology and Physics, but other than that, girls are well ahead. And I do think it's a problem that has to be addressed, but not at the expense of girls. Both sexes should be encouraged to do better. This article is better.

And parent should encourage their children to be more active. Maybe even set a good example? What a revolutionary new idea... *sigh*

,03:51 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2001
I've been meaning to go through this for ages and comment on it all. But when it comes down to it, it's all interesting and mostly well written stuff that makes you think and you should go and read it all.

,04:36 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2001
Last one today, I promise. I just want to get rid of all the bookmarked stuff.
Gwyneth Paltrow making comments about fat suits.
Of course, my major problem is that I don't understand why, if you want a fat actor, you don't just employ a fat actor rather than putting a thin one through all the hassle of putting on a fat suit. (and yes, I did read the article, but why have to see someone as thin to see them as beautiful?) She does seem to have gone through the experience of being shunned for being fat, the fact that it's nigh on impossible to find flattering clothes unless you're average at the very largest.
But I bet she won't be out there fighting prejudices once this film is forgotten about.

,04:31 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2001
This was the article I mentioned that I was looking for yesterday about police recruitment and women. The proportion of women in the police force needs to nearly treble - from 16% to 44% - to reflect the proportion of women in the general workforce.
I hope they really do.

,04:29 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2001
I've not finished reading this article about androgynous names, but so far it seems interesting.

,04:06 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2001
I found this article ages ago, thought 'that's interesting' and then forgot about it. But I remembered it yesterday and dug it out.
Basically, walnuts reduce the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream without affecting the general level of fat in the bloodstream. All well and good, you think. You even notice that none of the volunteers gained any weight during the trial, even when eating their normal diet supplemented with the walnuts, and think that even though this should not bother people, that it might reassure those bothered about their weight to know that they won't put on weight.
But then at the bottom of the article a quote from Colette Kelly, a nutrition scientist from the British Nutrition Foundation, has to wreck it all by stressing that 'anyone following the diet should take care over their fat intakes'. And why? Because, according to the article, 'walnuts are high in fats and that people should try to replace saturated fats, such as butter, cakes and pastries, with the nuts'.
Well, yes. This seems self evident. Saturated fats are not so good for you as monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated. But apparently "People must remember that they are high in fat and that can lead to increasing calorie levels.
"It is probably a matter of substituting walnuts for saturated fats."
Surely those who have diets with large amounts of butter, cakes and pastries, are the ones who could gain most by supplementing their diets with walnuts? In the trail, none of the volunteers gained weight, but their cholesterol levels fell by up to 50%.
It seems self evident that cutting saturated fats from the diet is a good idea. Similarly that eating walnuts is a good idea. But why should one preclude the other? It seems to me that eating the 'unhealthy' food as well as the walnuts is better than eating the 'unhealthy' food with no walnuts. Just seems like further proof that thin and unhealthy is more important to most people than fat and healthy.

,02:03 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2001
Finally got round to getting a counter for my pita. I have no idea how many people really read it, where they come from, anything. It'll be interesting to find out.

,10:59 a.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2001
There's a new journal entry up from Monday.

I've also realised that my thoughts section isn't working at all - none of the pages will open - and I can't work out why. I suppose the revamp just got that little more urgent....

,11:31 a.m., Tuesday, August 21, 2001
I'm beginning to want to bring back my thoughts section. It's still there, but I've not updated it in months, and I've not done anything to it since I got my new version of the site so I think the frames are probably messing it up. But the last entry from yesterday is more than fleeting. I don't want it to be lost in between the updates and the stuff that doesn't matter. I want people to be able to find it when they're looking for my views on things that matter. I want to challenge them. To challenge you.

I wanted to look up one story this morning on the BBC News site that I'd heard on the news this morning, about police recruitment and encouraging women to consider the police force as a career option. I couldn't find it, but I found five news stories I want to post and comment on, not to mention the one from yesterday that I didn't have time to post, the two from my daily email alert from the daily papers, the one I found weeks ago and I started thinking about seriously this morning....

So much is going on out there. So much that needs to be changed. So much that people don't notice if you don't bring it to their attention. And so little time.

,03:03 p.m., Monday, August 20, 2001
This article is really interesting.

The main thrust of the article is that from an early age, girls get less physical exercise than boys. But Professor Neil Armstrong (director of the Children's Health and Exercise Research Centre at Exeter University) is quoted as saying that girls are discouraged from a very early age from self sufficiency and exercise - "There is evidence that if two babies are crawling on the floor, the girl baby is much more likely to be picked up than the boy baby."

The problem is that the article then goes on to state that he is of the opinion that many girls are put off physical activity by seemingly trivial things such as a dislike of getting hot and sweaty, and of gym kit.

When we are conditioned from such an early age, as demonstrated by his earlier comment, is this really surprising? Getting hot and sweaty isn't seen as ladylike, and female teenagers (and now tweenagers) are expected to be ladylike and presentable. And gym kit? I don't know if it's changed much since I was at school - I'll have to ask my sister - but we used to have to wear a shirt royal blue pleated skirt and 'gym knickers' underneath - sometimes without the skirt, depending on the activity.

Hear the word. KNICKERS. It's not something you're going to be proud to let the world see at that age, feeling vunerable and unsure. It's something you'll be scared of letting the boys see. And they were the most uncomfortable, unflattering clothes in the universe. If these girls feel bad about themselves, exercise is going to have negative connotations and they are not going to rush to take part. And this is just reinforced by the fact that parents are more concerned about girls riding bikes, etc, in public places. A sign of the times maybe, but not one that is going to help in the long run, on many levels.

Anyway. I also thought it was interesting, but not surprising, that underprivileged kids get more exercise. In my experience, their parents are less likely to be able to drive them to school (no matter how worried said parents are about safety, are less likely to let their children sit in their rooms all day watching videos and going on the internet.

,02:21 p.m., Monday, August 20, 2001
I'm a strong supporter of euthanasia, so I was glad to hear about the latest challenge to the law. Dianne Pretty suffers from motor neurone disease and her condition has deteriorated to the point where she is unable to do anything for herself. The Director of Public Prosecutions has refused to rule out the possbility that her husband will be prosecuted if he helps her to commit suicide. She is arguing that her quality of life is so low that to stop her from committing suicide (with the threat of legal action against her husband for carrying out her wishes) is inhuman and degrading treatment.

I don't think she will win her case, as this would set a legal precedent that the government will be unwilling to set, but I hope that her case brings about a change in the law so that this kind of situation need not be so painful in future.

,02:06 p.m., Monday, August 20, 2001
Feeling very frustrated today. There's so much I want to do and say and write and so very little time to say it.

I've discovered the Eve magazine website. Eve is the only glossy women's magazine that I can read without getting paranoid about myself, about Paul, about everything I am and everything I do. It's still not exactly a model of feminism, but it's better than the competition by far. But their new issue offended me... the article isn't online, but their second tip in a list of "21 Ways To Be Smarter Than Average" was some kind of beauty product (can't remember which, will bring it in tomorrow but I think it might have been Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream). Here's the email I just sent them....

"Smarter than average would be to realise that women spend a scary proportion of their salaries on clothes, makeup, beauty products - far more than men spend on comparable items - and start to consider whether this is the place we really want our hard-earned money to go? After all, all the big cosmetics and beauty products companies do is reinforce the myth that we women need to look like this all the time. I'd far rather spend my money educating myself, doing courses in self defence and car maintenance so that next time I end up with a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere I can change it myself and not be scared that I'll be attacked while I wait for the mechanic to turn up.

And if it means my skin has a few more wrinkles than it might have done otherwise, then hey! At least I can show that I've lived.

I dare you to print this in your next magazine - go on, risk annoying the ad-men! You're a strong magazine, I just think it's a shame you fall for this propaganda."

,10:18 a.m., Monday, August 20, 2001
I'm back. Had a wonderful weekend, marred mainly by the flat tyre my car had when I tried to leave Paul's yesterday evening. I had to get his housemate John to change it for me and stand looking helpless. I'll add a car maintenance course to the self defence one I think.