To all my American friends, I wish you a Happy and Peaceful Thanksgiving.
‘A few Zzzzzs’
November 25, 2009
Climate change data manipulation
Thousands of documents stolen from the University of East Anglia in the UK appear to show that climate change data has been manipulated, on both sides of the Atlantic, in order to strengthen the case that global warming is the result of human activity. According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, data actually shows that global temperatures are declining. The article says:
“In one email Professor Phil Jones, director of the University’s respected Climatic Research Unit, referred to a ‘trick’ he applied to raw data to ‘hide the decline’ in global temperatures.”
Another article quotes extracts of email exchanges, clearly never intended to be seen by the public:
From: Kevin Trenberth (US National Center for Atmospheric Research). To: Michael Mann (Pennsylvania State University). Oct 12, 2009
“The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t… Our observing system is inadequate”
Prof Trenberth appears to accept a key argument of global warming sceptics – that there is no evidence temperatures have increased over the past 10 years.
And …
From: Phil Jones. To: Many. March 11, 2003
“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”
Prof Jones appears to be lobbying for the dismissal of the editor of Climate Research, a scientific journal that published papers downplaying climate change.
And maybe the most telling…
From Phil Jones. To: Michael Mann (Pennsylvania State University). Date: May 29, 2008
“Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise.”
Climate change sceptics tried to use Freedom of Information laws to obtain raw climate data submitted to an IPCC report known as AR4. The scientists did not want their email exchanges about the data to be made public.
……………………..
There are now calls for a public inquiry over data manipulation claims.
I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on this. If you’ve been visiting here a while, you probably already have a good idea of how I feel about it.
November 21, 2009
True Blood
We’re hooked on the series ’True Blood’ in our house but I’m even more enamoured of those opening titles. At a time when many programme makers have forsaken opening credits as we used to know them in favour of a few lines slotted over the first moments of drama footage, True Blood has stuck with the traditional approach. It’s a phenomenal piece of work, a montage that beautifully sets the mood for what is ahead – raw, unnerving, spooky and surreal. Not surprisingly it was nominated for the ‘Outstanding Main Title Design’ award at this year’s Creative Art Emmys but astonishingly, I think, was pipped at the post by the title sequence to ‘United States of Tara’. I don’t know this series and maybe if I did I’d be influenced to graciously accept that True Blood had lost out to the superior piece of work. As it is, I’ve looked at the winner and I have to say [~yawn~] yeah, it’s OK. It’s an interesting piece of animation but where’s the mood, the pizazz and (to sound like an ‘Artiste’ luvvie), the sheer drama? What do you think?
Sorry, but for reasons I don’t understand, the video for United States of Tara sometimes plays with an advert at the start – ever so slightly irritating.
November 20, 2009
The longest journey
It wasn’t ever planned this way but every winter, prompted I suppose by the long dark evenings, I used to embark on a craft project – normally embroidery or crochet. This week we’ve been lashed by horrible gales, with pelting rain pounding endlessly against the windowpanes and as going out is not really an option, I’ve sorely felt the lack of something creative to be working with in my hands.
Since April of 2003 I’ve had to learn to rely on my left hand and for an intrinsically right-handed person that has brought a series of frustrations. My once beautiful writing (coincidentally, compared by someone to embroidery) is no more, and though friends kindly say that my left-handed scrawl is better than their day to day writing, it’s no comfort to me because I simply don’t derive the pleasure I once did in writing personal notes, birthday cards and crumbs, even the weekly shopping list. Holding a crochet hook has become difficult, a needle and thread virtually impossible on my right-hand side and, more than that, concentrating on a complicated cross stitch, needlepoint or straight embroidery chart seems to frazzle my brain because I get tired so quickly and make silly and frustrating mistakes.
Well no more. I’ve often joked that my bloody-mindedness has been a saving grace in my stroke recovery. Initially I was unable to hold a camera and the fine movement of twitching one finger to press the shutter button was all but impossible. Of all the creative things I did pre-stroke however, I knew that photography was going to be the simplest to get back to. I’m 80% of the way there now – still sometimes struggling with that simple shutter movement and always, always more shaky than before. Thank the Lord therefore (and those clever manufacturers) for ‘image stabilisation’, handy tripods and an ever-helpful and loving husband who is always willing to act as camera assistant and even, sometimes, as improvised camera equipment – providing shade and holding me tight to keep me steady.
I don’t like to be beaten and with the rain once again keeping me inside, today I started to look at simple cross-stitch kits on the web. Realistically I’m going to have to sew with my left hand as holding a needle in my right is 
currently, quite frankly, a non-starter. However, if I can successfully read a chart, translate it to fabric and complete the task, it’s going to set me on a similar path to my photography – I will improve, given time. I think I’m going to either order this kit (to make a little cross-stitch fronted needle case) or look for something similar locally. It should be quick, simple, and at the end of it all provide something pretty and useful to either keep, or give away. If I plug away at it, who knows? One day – I may graduate back to attempting this.
I’m also going to start practising writing again. I’ve given up on this so many times before because the concentration required to hold and move a pen with my mostly paralysed right hand has, in all seriousness, quickly given me a headache – it has been far easier to simply give up and rely on my left. That too is going to change. I’m going to start short sessions of right-hand writing – the relevant word there being ’short‘. If I do this little and often, like a child learning to write, I’m hoping that one day I can get back to full right-handed writing and if I can do that, well, maybe, just maybe I’ll have enough mobility in my fingers to think about getting back to playing the piano. The creative me is crying out to be released again and although it’s going to be a long journey, I owe it to myself to give it another try.
November 19, 2009
The Corner Store v. The Man
I haven’t been able to face the weekly ‘bun fight’ at our big supermarket in town so for maybe the last month/6 weeks I’ve shopped instead closer to home at our local farm and village shops.
‘Village shop’ makes it sound so cute, doesn’t it? I bet that gives you the impression of a charming little building, ivy clad, bay fronted with multi-paned glass, window boxes dripping with pretty pink geraniums and sky blue lobelia, and inside awaits the smiling postmistress and her husband, ready to help you with your order.
Our village store may once have been as described here but alas, no more. A few years ago, like almost every other small village shop here it was absorbed by The Borg, known more usually as ‘Spar’. Spar, in case you’re not from around these ‘ere parts, is now a major European convenience store retailer, begun 70+ years ago in The Netherlands.
When this chain first started absorbing our local shops into ‘The Cube’ there was a public outcry here because, like all small communities, we don’t like change and we especially don’t like change when it is instigated by people who are not ‘from here’. (People who are not from here are to be regarded with deep suspicion because they must want something and it’s bound to be to our detriment).
In my usual way of seeing both sides of the coin, I wasn’t one of those who screamed and shouted when Spar appeared in our midst. The fact of the matter is that the corner shop that is closest to us was, in the old days, a smelly little hole with rotting vegetables on the racks and inconvenient business hours. Worked late at the office and wanted to grab a frozen pizza on the way home? If it was past 7 o’clock you’d be all out of luck. Wanted to bake a quiche on a Sunday afternoon and you needed some eggs? Hard cheese (or no cheese) because the shop was only open until midday. Yet, and here’s the clincher, if we allow all of these small, independent traders to disappear we really are at the mercy of big chains. Certainly, I’ve come across instances of asking why ’such-and-such’ isn’t sold, only to be told that it’s not what the local community wants. Oh really? Who decides what we want? If you only offer us one thing then we will only buy one thing.
My local farm shop is a shining example of how small, independent traders can play the Big Guys at their own game. By opening long hours and offering high quality, fresh produce they have been able to move from selling just fruit and vegetables to offering fine wines imported direct from small wineries in France, to fresh meat from a local specialist butcher, to things like flavoured oils and unusual cheeses that you would normally only find in a delicatessen. The point is however, that has only happened because they work extremely hard and most independent traders have not been willing to do that.
OK, so why on earth am I pontificating about small traders versus large chains? It’s my random brain at work. Believe it or not, it’s because I noticed yesterday that my all-cotton tee shirts are suddenly developing small holes and I think I know the culprit: ‘Persil’ biological washing powder. This happened years ago with Persil and I went through every scenario of wondering whether we as a family were catching our clothes on sharp objects, or was it something maybe to do with my washing machine? In the end I tried swapping washing powder and found that the problem was solved. I’d forgotten all about this but because our village shop (a ‘Spar’) only sell Persil, that is what I have been buying. Lo and behold – holey tee shirts (Batman). This morning I’m hot footing it into town to the BIG supermarket to buy a different powder, before my tees are turned to lace. That’s assuming they have a choice available, because if they were to opt, for their convenience, to only sell Persil then I guess we’d all be stuffed, now wouldn’t we?
……………………………………………………………..
By the way, if you’ve noticed holes suddenly appearing in your laundry, this may be for a few reasons (I know because I have obviously done some research on this). If you’ve encountered this problem, you may want to wander on over to my page at Voix Douce which explains it all.
November 17, 2009
Strong letter to follow
What is wrong with people do you think? Why do so many ‘Trolls’ exist? If we met them in the street, would we know that they had some personality disorder? That they had failed to take their medication that day? That they were close to a full mental breakdown? Or do they in fact work in our offices, at the next desk to us? Fine by day, completely bonkers the moment they get in front of that keyboard at night? Is it stress, do you think? The sheer pressure of modern life? That really they’re apparently normal, coping with life, but inside they’re a seething mass of rage, a maelstrom of mad, disjointed thoughts? Ready to snap? Go ‘postal’ if just one more small obstacle gets in their way? What do you think?…because I’m genuinely intrigued.
I received a series of emails recently via another website that I run – and the person sending them (named ‘Christopher’) screamed and yelled at me in the !! LARGEST! POSSIBLE! TYPE! !! (Yes, it was the usual Troll format – embellished with plenty of emboldening and exclamation marks). They ‘informed’ me of various inaccuracies in the information on a single page of my site. Seriously, it was as though I was confronted with a screaming toddler in a terrible tantrum, writhing on my living room floor. I toyed with whether to respond at all because if this person is a genuine nutter I really don’t need to be dealing with that right now. Then I thought that I should afford him the benefit of the doubt and I responded as below (only, as it seemed appropriate, I also did so in the largest possible type):
I acknowledge receipt of your emails. Do you use some special kind of keyboard that only allows you to type a few words at a time? I only ask because I wondered why it was necessary to send me a whole series of short notes.
I shall assume that you have some kind of disability or physical impairment and that you are not, in fact, being so rude as to yell at me – hence the very large text of my response here.
If you look again at my site you will see that I clearly state on the ‘Home’ page that it is a hobby site of mine. It also clearly states that it was last updated in August of 2008. Maybe I should have put all that in larger type and in capital letters, so that people such as yourself would be able to see and therefore understand that, as a hobby site, I don’t always have the time to keep the information contained therein right up to date.
~~~~~~~
Yes I did get a response. Why d’you ask? I’ve cut and pasted it, ‘as is’ here:
Well, at least you replied, now spend time getting your HOBBY up to date.
Yes I do have a disability, thanks you for mocking it!
Angelcel to Christopher:
Christopher – me too. Which is why I find it difficult to keep up with my hobby and why I found your emails unnecessarily abrasive in tone.
He’s gone away, for the time being. Maybe he’s just taking time to re-group and then attack me again. What I’m hoping, however, is that our little exchange will make him think twice in future before blustering into someone’s home, spitting venom like some kind of Benzedrine puff adder.
The internet seems to have encouraged this kind of behaviour. Most of us still don’t resort to yelling and screaming at one another in the street at the drop of a hat (thank goodness), so the closest equivalent to this is probably nuisance phone calls, which are also, thankfully, a rarity. Yet the prevalence of Trolls on the internet seems to be on the increase. Why?
You’ll have gathered by now that, yes, he annoyed me, but that I’m also a very old-fashioned type of a girl, still fondly holding on to the idea that if we all treat each other as we would like to be treated then the world can and will be a better place. My husband, on the other hand, who deals with rude numbskulls way too often in everyday business, takes a slightly different approach. I have to tell you that when I showed him the series of original emails he was quite adamant that if I felt the need to respond at all then the best wording would be:
Fuck Off. Strong letter to follow.
His approach does have the merit of simplicity. Maybe he has a point.
November 16, 2009
I Comment, Therefore I Am
OK so here’s a brand new idea from the talented Unknown Mami. All of us make comments elsewhere in blogland and sometimes they’re so blindingly brilliant that it seems a shame that they will be buried, lost and forgotten in the merest blink of an eye. Well, why not show a little of your utter brilliance by joining in ‘I Comment, Therefore I Am’? Gather together those memorable comments in a draft post during the week and then post them on your blog on a Monday. Don’t forget to link back to Unknown Mami.
While I can hardly claim that my comments are the height of pithy wit, I think this is a great way to effectively highlight other people’s writing. I started gathering these late in the week so I’ve been going back through OPB’s (other peoples’ blogs) and here is a selection:
On Carma’s post ‘Call the Bitter Police’ covering the subject of ‘celebrity’ (the air brush she referred to is the ‘Temptu’ which you may know of …I still don’t).
I don’t know this air brush thing you mention…might a plant sprayer filled with makeup do the same thing do you think? 
Yeah I’m with you, celebrity nepotism makes me barf.
~~~~~
On Carma’s post ‘And I said It Wouldn’t Last’ documenting the end of a bromance involving a guy with a Hummer and many, many pairs of skates.
He was too busy to text a quick reply on Saturday? Very arrogant and how insulting. What a jerk.
Pooh to him and the Hummer…and the 10 pairs of skates he rolled in on!
~~~~~
Last one on Carma’s site …what can I say, she inspires me to better commenting … On her post ‘Oh Snickers!‘ where she told us of her son’s sneakiness in capturing the ‘phantom treat stealer’:
Haha…what made him suspect enemy action then?! Crumbs…stealing sweets from the kidillywinks…tsk tsk tsk.
~~~~~
Moving swiftly on… Jane at ‘They Call Me Jane’ often writes thought provoking blog posts. This week she wrote about how history will peceive George Bush, and in fact Barack Obama (whose support is currently wavering), in a post called ‘Before You Speak Walk A Mile In Their Shoes’. My comment…
I wonder whether those who are now so quickly disillusioned were more influenced to vote for him by that huge ‘tide of change’ thing that was going on, than by actually considering the politics, policies and implications. I’ve maintained for quite some time that whilst Bush may not go down as one of the best US Presidents, he almost certainly wasn’t as dumb as he was sometimes made to appear. Political decisions cannot be seen as black and white, there are always grey areas – pros and cons have to be weighed up (national + international interests + how much co-operation / opposition one can expect from other nations). The best any leader can do is to make an informed judgement (and let’s not forget that there is always a huge team of advisers in the background). It’s awfully easy to talk about a Utopian world of peace and harmony – and it’s definitely a vote grabber. It’s a whole lot harder to achieve it.
And finally…it was a sad week for blogland as we contemplated the loss of ‘The Vintage Kitten’ from our ranks. Mrs K is hanging up her white elbow length gloves and putting her mink stole into cold storage. How will we cope without the cocktails, the glam and the glitz? I was gutted…gutted I tell ya:
Oh no! Things won’t be the same in blogsphere without Mrs K.
I guess I’ll see you by the Flickr water fountain then …. (walks away with a trembling lower lip). 
13 November 2009 08:19
(See that date …I knew Friday the 13th was an unlucky day)!
I’ve commented in many more blogs of course and if I didn’t feature you this week, its simply because I thought that featuring too many would be overkill. There’s always next week….
November 13, 2009
Friday the Thirteenth
So it’s Friday the 13th. Da da daaaaah! Are you watching your step today? Avoiding travel? Staying in bed? If so you may be suffering from triskaidekaphobia – literally a phobia of Friday the 13th. According to the mighty ‘Wikki-Wah’ 17 – 21 million people in the United States suffer from triska… triksy … trippy….oooh whatever, and there is an estimated loss of $800 to $900 million in business revenue as a result. You may also be interested to know that although there are various independent references to both Friday and the number 13 being unlucky, this superstition only really came to the fore in the late 19th century. Aren’t we humans weird? It’s a date. On a calendar. Just numbers in the ongoing recording of our history.
Yes, well I can tell myself this logic, and yet a little primeval voice in my head tells me to avoid making any significant decisions on this day and certainly never to get on a plane. It’s not an altogether silly voice either – the last time I mocked superstition (in this instance by walking under a ladder and laughing at friends as they skirted around) I went and shrunk the (pigging) curtains in my college digs by taking them to the launderette. My friends and I spent the rest of the term with suitcases lined up around the windows in order to stop peeping toms looking in. Strangely enough, there were always cigarette butts outside our window so I think our clever scheme failed. I eventually had to own up to the ‘Big Cheese’ and fork out for replacement window drapes.
No, if you’re a triksy-diddly-phobic you won’t find me laughing at you. Once today is over however you can breathe a big sigh of relief. The next instance of this conjuction of unlucky day plus date doesn’t occur until August next year. That’s a whole 9 months in which to relax…except avoid those ladders… and those black cats…and that magpie ….and mind that salt…and that mirror…
November 12, 2009
Here’s an idea
What’s with this weather? What’s with my body? I’m freezing! Where are the curtains I ordered (in September)? I want my curtains so that I can shut out the weather. I want to cocoon myself in a centrally heated, thick (heavily interlined) curtained house. No, hang on. Scratch that. Actually I want to hibernate. Yes, that would be better. Why can’t humans hibernate? Avoid the cold and the damp altogether, avoid S.A.D. syndrome, avoid over-eating starch because it temporarily makes you feel better but leaves you feeling and looking like a little human butterball by the Spring.
Wake me up when it’s Spring, would you?
wondering what the future will bring 
November 23, 2009
I Comment, Therefore I Am
If you don’t have a clue what the heck I’m wibbling on about, the premise is incredibly simple: We all read other people’s blogs and sometimes are moved to leave comments that verge on the sublime. It’s such a shame when our pithy wit and wisdom so quickly disappears into the ethers, never to be seen again, so this is our chance to air those comments again! A re-visiting of the brilliance, if you will. In truth, for me it’s more about highlighting some good writing from some particularly good bloggers. So here goes, this is my selection this week:
On The Pretty Project’s blog (Day 85), extolling the unexpected virtues of a bar of Burt’s Bees Peppermint and Rosemary Soap:
“Heh..well now you know the magic of Burt’s Bees you have an interesting Christmas gift idea for adults there. You’ll smile in handing it over, knowing the magic that it weaves.” ;)
~~~~~
On Slamdunks ‘Blowing 50 Grand in 48 Hours’, describing a scheme to pay out money for returned firearms:
“Yes it does seem to be a well-intentioned but simplistic approach. If you carry a gun you’re unlikely to be tempted to hand it in for cash (except to buy another) because the reasons you had it in the first place are still there.”
~~~~~
On Helen’s page ‘feedingfamilyoffiveforfifty‘ where she described being caught in the wind and rain, accompanied by a cute sketch (er, the blog post had a sketch…not that she was standing in the rain with a cute sketch):
“Yes, brollies are fairly useless in anything but a ‘drop of the soft stuff’. Even then, I find the wind often blows the water around and under the canopy like I’m in the middle of a Whirlpool washing machine, and you should see what that does to my hair (or maybe you shouldn’t…it’s really not a pretty sight)!”
~~~~~
On The planet Harris blog’ in a piece entitled ‘Where do these celebrities keep coming from’ describing close encounters of the celebrity kind:
“I’ve met, or crossed paths with a few, my fave being Dudley Moore (waiting for a plane, so that was a ’sustained’ close encounter as my parents chatted to him). The subject of celebrity is one I keep meaning to write about so I can’t really tell you about my [amusing] brush with Sylvester Stalone just yet … or else I’d have to kill you!”
~~~~~
And then again on Steve’s ‘Planet Harris Blog’ on ‘Meet the Beetle’ (Steve has led an interesting life and yes, in this post he describes the time when he met a Beetle…of the human, as opposed to entomological kind)!
“Now a backstage pass to that gig is one I’d fight ya for!”
~~~~~
On Carma’s post ‘You may be wondering’ regarding a new piece of [old] gardening equipment, serendipitously discovered roadside:
“By the way he’s having to put his back into that I’d say your neighbour had mistakenly chucked out a valuable antique. It definitely looks to me like the pre Revolution model of the extremely popular Russian-built ‘Leaf Cleanskie’. They discontinued production after it was found that there was a problem with the motor emitting noxious fumes and that in fact a rake was much easier to use.”
~~~~~
That’s my little selection this week. Happy reading everyone.
5 Comments
Filed under Home, Media, web memorabilia
Tags: blog, comments, good, I comment therefore I am, re-visit, review, week, writers, writing