vendredi 10 octobre 2003

Gripes from the blogroll "The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which the HIV virus can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk." Thus reported the Guardian, announcing a BBC TV documentary coming up on Sunday. Via Antipixel, which concludes it's time to abolish the Roman Catholic church. zzz "People are might start paying for songs on the iTunes Music StoreNapster because they think it's a good way to support musicians. But by giving musicians just a few cents from each sale, iTunesNapster destroys a huge opportunity. Instead of creating a system that gets virtually all of fans' money directly to artists--finally possible with the internet--iTunesNapster takes a big step backwards." A very clever "guess who?" spoof page at Downhill Battle shows why Roxio's resurrection of Napster looks like an extremely bad idea (via the J-Walk Blog). zzz "I always tell people my birthday is easy to remember: October 8. Like an octagon. Or an octapus. Very simple. Most people then say to themselves: 'Oh, yeah, very easy. 10/10. October 10th.' How they seem to make this logic jump, I'm not sure, but it still happens. So maybe he'll wake up tomorrow, give me a big hug, and say, 'Happy birthday baby!' If I'm really lucky, maybe I'll get another duck paperweight." In Odessa Street, a generous Lee has given The Boy till tomorrow to remember that yesterday was her birthday. There's no mention of what will happen if he doesn't. My own, a few days back, went almost universally unremarked, which was how I wanted it this year... zzz "When I read an 'erotic' story about a cheetah being pregnant it doesn't just churn my stomach it actually freezes my blood in my veins," says Zack, rather breathlessly. "Give me a sturdy axe and a direction and I would gladly cut a swath of destruction through all of the furries on the planet, reserving special chopping for those who weren't satisfied with simply sexualizing anthropomorphic animals. No, for the pregfurs no quick death, no quarter." And who can blame the 'Geist Editor' at Something Awful (no permalink to today's posts yet)? 'Pregfur' is indeed an absolutely revolting site of the day. Unless you're into that kind of thing... 9:34:29 PM  link   your views? [] Hopeless. And hopeful Two birds with one stone. The risible if predictable turn of political events in California has preoccupied many 'bloggers so much that I should not let it pass unmentioned here. In so doing, I can cater for those who might consider some of my past pix sexist. So here he is (or was): the Hulk. If that's not enough for you, the bigger original, with more, is to be found on the man's entertaining bio page at Rotten dot com, a site which largely keeps to its pledge "to present the viewer with a truly unpleasant experience". Rotten is good reading for those wanting more than slices of the Onion. Here's an extract from an item in the 'Today in Rotten History' column, for Oct. 10, 1780: "Over 48 hours, a slow-moving hurricane decimates Barbados, killing 4,326 (however according to the island's governor, 'fortunately few people of consequence were among the number')." Places like Rotten and, in a milder way, Disinformation would meet the second part of the Francis Formula for instant stress reduction, dispensed freely with the papers by the local newsvendor. "Breathing exercises," Francis suggests for Part I. "Yes, like in the days you used to practice yoga..." And for Part II, suggests our latter-day Thomas Hobbes: "Simply get used to the idea that the world is, always was and always will be a bloody mess, where things can only get worse and there's absolutely bugger all you can do about it. "You'll start feeling better straight away." Francis refuses to take up residence under my pillow and repeat this over and over as I sleep. I don't believe him anyway. Undoing residual faith in the finer aspects of human nature is not an overnight task. The message in today's flower for the Wildcat is far more in tune with my thinking. This one I unexpectedly found at a Japanese technology college for people with hearing or visual disabilities. The Cape Jasmine (or gardenia), which can bloom right through from May until October, comes from southern China. With glad tidings. No wonder it's one of the fair feline's favourites. And, like her, so much prettier than Mr Heavy Mettle. 6:05:16 PM  link   your views? []

nick b. 2007 do share, don't steal, please credit under artistic licence terms; contributing friends (pix, other work) retain their rights.