| Thursday 29th April 2004 20:31MDT | → 0 Comments |
Most likely going to be working two days over the bank holiday weekend, due to usual manic deadlines (i.e. end of next week). I’ll try to pick the two least sunniest.
It’s amazing the things you find out from reading Hansard which aren’t reported. From the House of Lord’s debate on Monday, Baroness Scotland answered a question about the UK’s attitude to torture and said, almost in passing:
… the common law approach to evidence which may have been obtained elsewhere through the use of torture
| Tuesday 27th April 2004 19:14MDT | → 0 Comments |
The rather special DVD Somnium arrived today. It’s a seven hour ambient album by Robert Rich. Apart from the initial menus it’s audio only. The way they made it is interesting too.
Richard ‘Would I lie?’ Littlejohn tries to get one up on Blair’s claim that the tabloids are peddling myths about the EU. He states in his latest column:
… especially the one about straight bananas. So, thanks to the ever-vigilant Christopher Booker, may I direct him to Commission Regulation No 2257/94
| Sunday 25th April 2004 19:15MDT | → 1 Comments |
Despite what the weather forecast claimed, it was a beautifully sunny day today too so I went for a more extensive wander around Pewley Down and the Chantries, taking some random pictures along the way. What struck were how the bluebells were out in force. Whole areas of the woods were plastered with them and a number of people I spoke to there (it was busy) commented on how nice it looked - which it did.
However, as it was hot, I became too tired to complete the plan which was to walk down to Chilworth, though I did do a panoramic shot looking down on the village (not in any social sense, of course). It’s another big file so not for dial-up dinosaurs.
| Friday 23rd April 2004 19:07MDT | → 0 Comments |
Mystery solved over bf not receiving emails. It looks like gay.com email throws away all messages originated from ntl’s SMTP server. Maybe they’ve had a rather nasty spam experience and decided drastic action was needed. Either way, it means I’ll have to email him directly from my UK Shells account, though I still intend to quiz gay.com postmaster about this.
DVD Player arrived today and I’m most chuffed with it. It’s completely silent and seems to have some rather nifty features (including something called ‘karaoke’, which I’ll give a wide berth to). My only grouse so far is the rather flimsy looking disc tray. I’ll just have to be gentle with it.
Logically, the idea of asking the people to vote on an updated EU constitution or not makes no sense, if they were to reject it the first time. After all, if they did vote ‘no’ you couldn’t tell why. Did they not like the whole document or just part of it? In the latter case, which parts? And why just those? Did that mean they really did accept the other parts? All this would make renegotiation impossible - exactly what would the Government renegotiate? They can hardly base it on the potentially conflicting opinions from the whole country?
That seems to suggest referenda are unsuitable for anything other than simple ‘all or nothing’ issues, which can’t include international treaties.
Discuss (using no more than one side of A4).
| Thursday 22nd April 2004 18:22MDT | → 0 Comments |
I wish recruitment consultants would get a clue. One called me today (first time in ages - the economy must be picking up) while I was at work. He asked me if I could talk - to which I said ‘no’, being only feet away from my boss. However he then proceeded to ask me questions about whether I was looking and what I would be interested in! Excuse me doofus, but I can’t talk now!. It took several monosyllabic responses to get rid of him.
As usual, The Sun is on top form when it comes to not recognising the glaring contradictions in it’s own arguments about the EU. In a recent editorial it says:
He [Tony Blair] accused his opponents of peddling myths… Mr Blair promises an honest and open debate on the most crucial issue to face this nation in decades. The Sun will make sure this happens.
promptly followed by:
… it is a flawed and devious document which forms the foundation for a federal superstate run from Brussels… the constitution would take power from this country and hand it to an unelected European elite.
So Blair accused his opponents of peddling myths? Looks like he was right. Heaven help us if this approach to ‘proper debate’ becomes more widely adopted beyond The Sun’s parallel universe.
| Wednesday 21st April 2004 19:23MDT | → 0 Comments |
I’ve had enough of the noisy (or rather screechy) motor on my DVD player and bought a new one: a Toshiba SD330E. It’s multi-region too so I may see if I can buy some cheap DVDs while in the US.
MEPs take on EU and US over air data deal. Yet another example of how the, otherwise greatly underestimated, European Parliament fights for the rights of citizens rather than government elites.
I suspect bf’s email has gone wrong again as he seems to be ignoring the things I ask him in my mails, like whether he received the $100 I sent. Most annoying.
| Monday 19th April 2004 21:39MDT | → 1 Comments |
Today it begins: TV Turnoff Week.
I’ve been asked whether I want to be the union rep, as the current guy is leaving. I don’t know. It would be an interesting experience but I’m the sort of person who gets angry at injustices and certainly don’t feel I have the necessary skills of diplomacy - I’d very quickly tell management what I thought of them and thus would negotiations come to an abrupt end.
Here’s something else I may find interesting - an Open University course I’m considering taking: Y157 (Understanding Society). It’s only ten points and a good way of seeing if certain aspects of social sciences appeal to me. If so it could lead to other things.
| Sunday 18th April 2004 20:26MDT | → 0 Comments |
Now it looks like Blair is going to hold a referendum on the EU constitution after all. I’m in two minds over this. One the one hand I’m in favour of such things, not only because I’m a great fan of increased democratic oversight but also in the (vain?) hope it’ll force Blair and his cronies to stop ‘politicing’ over the EU. That is, they should actually get off the f**king fence and take the lead in promoting the European Union and praise its achievements instead of keeping quiet and letting the media set the agenda or attacking various decisions because it’s good populist stuff (which is just so crap as such decisions are taken jointly, so there’s little weight in the claim of ‘foreigners telling is what to do’).
On the other hand, the right-wing press are going to go into overdrive and put out even more lies and distortions than before and it may well be this that sways the people. Maybe I should be criticising the public for not getting themselves informed. I bet if you asked ten people on the street a few simple questions on how the EU works most wouldn’t get any right.
I found this amusing in The Observer: they asked a number of people, some notable, what they thought of the proposed constitution. One said, amongst other things,:
The Convention on Human Rights is the best thing about the EU.
… which is nice, except that the Convention has nothing to do with the EU - it, and the associated court, are part of the Council of Europe which is a completely separate entity. Oh well.
Only today I bought Europe Recast: A History of European Union. Something else to read on the plane come June.
| Saturday 17th April 2004 11:01MDT | → 0 Comments |
Bf has a new plan - he wants to come and stay here for three months from November. Apparently his doctors have agreed to post a regular supply of his medicines (which I sincerely hope they won’t try to change just before he flies) and he can sub-let his apartment to someone at the University. Given the number of people who have been quitting the company recently, I just hope I still have a job by then. Otherwise it could be a very frugal Christmas.
On the plus side, at least I’ll eat well.
| Thursday 15th April 2004 23:32MDT | → 0 Comments |
Why is it that short weeks always feel longer? Maybe it was because product deliveries always seems to operate in hypertime.
On the subject of more tasty deliveries, I noticed Perfect Pizza have started doing online ordering. However, it doesn’t seem to be supported at my local store and, based on the claim on their main page:
Most of our stores offer online ordering
… I did a quick check of those that did. Taking the West Midlands as my sample (quite large and representitive I thought), I discovered that, out of the twenty stores supposedly in that area, only three have online ordering. Maybe I’ll stick to getting my e-pizza from Dominos (or at least I would if I wasn’t crash dieting).
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