Walking home from college for lunch, I saw a squirrel run across the road in exactly the same spot as the one I discovered dead yesterday. I thought this was coincidental until I saw the squirrel briefly pause beside that of the utterly flattened one.
It's as if the run-over squirrel stood in the way of the forces of economics and was deliberately flattened... almost as if drivers have some sort of grudge against it, its body is still sprawled over the tarmac - seeing something that used to be alive that flat seems unnatural and disturbing. Perhaps those bloody humans have annoyingly socialised me, but leaving a dead body where it died seems somehow disrespectful to the squirrel - even if it is "only" a squirrel.
Friday 30 September 2005
We Won't Be Needing Those Lenin Statues Anymore
Friday is like a coin. On one side there's an image... and on the other a picture of The Queen. Psychology and Liz have something in common - I don't like them (and Psychology claiming to be a science makes me laugh). I look forward to the afternoon, though, because I have John teaching Politics.
Thursday 29 September 2005
Crushed by the Wheels of Mechanisation
I noticed at lunch whilst going back to college that there was something run-over on the road. Not a pleasant sight. Some morbid fascination made me stop to look at it up-close on the way home.
What I had initially thought was a seagull (somewhat notorious for exploding, supposedly from eating tipex chips), then a rather large rat, turned out to be a grey squirrel, quite common around this area with a surprising amount of other wildlife in the early morning.
The flies were scurrying all over it - which might explain why there were so many wasps around earlier. What you really notice when you get close to the squirrel's furry little body, is how red flesh is. From the way it had been squashed it was stuck between lying on its back, with limbs fanning out, and lying on its left-hand side. If you think the sight of a squirrel's mouth opened and spilling its brains out is disgusting, you really do not want to see how its bloody spine snapped and pierced the skin between the shoulder blades at an angle, jutting out by around 3cm.
I suppose it's a damn sight better than being one of 100 cats to have died in a fecal-carpeted house and have been stuffed between the walls and under the floor.
[226]
What I had initially thought was a seagull (somewhat notorious for exploding, supposedly from eating tipex chips), then a rather large rat, turned out to be a grey squirrel, quite common around this area with a surprising amount of other wildlife in the early morning.
The flies were scurrying all over it - which might explain why there were so many wasps around earlier. What you really notice when you get close to the squirrel's furry little body, is how red flesh is. From the way it had been squashed it was stuck between lying on its back, with limbs fanning out, and lying on its left-hand side. If you think the sight of a squirrel's mouth opened and spilling its brains out is disgusting, you really do not want to see how its bloody spine snapped and pierced the skin between the shoulder blades at an angle, jutting out by around 3cm.
I suppose it's a damn sight better than being one of 100 cats to have died in a fecal-carpeted house and have been stuffed between the walls and under the floor.
[226]
Tuesday 27 September 2005
Wireless
Oh, dear. I have a backlog of rants to post now that my wireless broadband is finally working.
I hope to get my point-by-point assasination of laymen's criticisms of Marxism up by the weekend and responses to anything I hear politicians say on the Jeremy Vine show.
Anyway, I should probably add some prose to my 1000 word essay which currently consists of bullet points (it was due for Friday - I thought it was an in-class assessment! :@)
I hope to get my point-by-point assasination of laymen's criticisms of Marxism up by the weekend and responses to anything I hear politicians say on the Jeremy Vine show.
Anyway, I should probably add some prose to my 1000 word essay which currently consists of bullet points (it was due for Friday - I thought it was an in-class assessment! :@)
Monday 19 September 2005
The Hollow Men
Oh, the tragedy of having to bear the local TV news...
Jack McConnel is mingling with the unwashed and some politicians are making speeches in the Scottish Parliament. None of it happens to CHANGE anything.
I also happened to be listening to John Reid (Defence Minister) on Jeremy Vine's lunchtime show on Radio 2. It concerned this, and for all Reid rebutted the arguments that the occupation forces have no Plan B, he never actually said anything.
My college class has been studying Marxism in Politics, and we seen how change can only come through the economic base - the media, education, law, parliament - all the superstructure is controlled by the bourgeoisie. Whether voting for the vaguely leftist Labour Party or the SWP or SSP - neither can evoke change like owning the modes of production ourselves.
It reminds me of a daydream I had some time ago in sixth year English, in which I imagined the workers of IBM had taken control of the factory and were running it themselves (since another round of layoffs had occurred at the time). My only stumbling point was wondering why they hadn't done so already. They want to keep their jobs, but the union does not fight. The unions are complicit.
I don't even hear the politicians anymore, just as I don't notice the hum of the mains supply.
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Jack McConnel is mingling with the unwashed and some politicians are making speeches in the Scottish Parliament. None of it happens to CHANGE anything.
I also happened to be listening to John Reid (Defence Minister) on Jeremy Vine's lunchtime show on Radio 2. It concerned this, and for all Reid rebutted the arguments that the occupation forces have no Plan B, he never actually said anything.
My college class has been studying Marxism in Politics, and we seen how change can only come through the economic base - the media, education, law, parliament - all the superstructure is controlled by the bourgeoisie. Whether voting for the vaguely leftist Labour Party or the SWP or SSP - neither can evoke change like owning the modes of production ourselves.
It reminds me of a daydream I had some time ago in sixth year English, in which I imagined the workers of IBM had taken control of the factory and were running it themselves (since another round of layoffs had occurred at the time). My only stumbling point was wondering why they hadn't done so already. They want to keep their jobs, but the union does not fight. The unions are complicit.
I don't even hear the politicians anymore, just as I don't notice the hum of the mains supply.
[229]
Mad Harry: The Road Warrior
I'm glad our Royal overlords are having a great time. I don't know about everyone else, but I love to get my motorbike out and blast across the family farm. Oh no, wait - I live in an urban hellhole.
Obviously you can tell how utterly happy I am that funds, used to sustain Harry's down to earth life are not being used, say, to cure cancer or something equally untabloid.
Obviously you can tell how utterly happy I am that funds, used to sustain Harry's down to earth life are not being used, say, to cure cancer or something equally untabloid.
Harry is seen wearing red, white and black biker gloves, a grey T-shirt and wristbands, and with strategically-placed dirt on his forehead and chin - put there by one of Testino's assistants.
"We had this idea - instead of making sort of fake photos - for me to be who I am," the prince said.
To be who you are? The strategic dirt prince? I prefered it when he was wearing a Afrika Freikorps uniform, so much more entertaining.
Friday 16 September 2005
Respect
Kids today are always banging on about how you have to earn their respect. Well I agree, but maybe the contingent of wee pricks that insist on dropping their litter all over the street ought to start giving the environment some fucking respect.
The environment cannot earn your respect. Your respect is prerequisite to the continued function of our environment. Fail to respect it and you will see the consequences, wether they be natural or artificial.
The environment cannot earn your respect. Your respect is prerequisite to the continued function of our environment. Fail to respect it and you will see the consequences, wether they be natural or artificial.
Daft/Draft
An hour and a half writing a 1000 word Psychology essay. I'm only at ~250 and I'm bored to death. Hopefully the fact that I did a draft at all will appease the Ann, my Psych lecturer.
For all that I prefer the sciences precisely because they avoid all the random disorganised philosophising, Psychology, having prided itself on using the scientific method, still seems utterly factionalised into a myriad of groups all with proof of Theory X that can't be proven.
Is is not inevitable that applying the scientific method to something as FUBAR as the human mind, in all it's random flashes of thought, won't work? It's like trying to find a pattern in a truly random system. This is another thing about the human mind.
We have a greater capacity for finding patterns than we do in finding statistical probabilities. 'Whoah! One of my lottery numbers came up! I'll put more money on next time!' No, you idiot (that's why it's called the Idiot Tax), it does not mean that number, nor anything else you believe you have worked-out, will reappear that next time, nor will any of the numbers you can think of will appear exactly as expected in the lifetime of the universe. Am I communicating my point here? Earth being pulled out of orbit by a Near Earth Asteroid is more likely (statistically, I'm not exaggerating here) than you winning the lottery. If you want to support charities, give them your money in the first place, as if it makes a difference (and you won't do it because there is no incentive for you, except self-satisfaction).
What a horrible species you are.
[290]
For all that I prefer the sciences precisely because they avoid all the random disorganised philosophising, Psychology, having prided itself on using the scientific method, still seems utterly factionalised into a myriad of groups all with proof of Theory X that can't be proven.
Is is not inevitable that applying the scientific method to something as FUBAR as the human mind, in all it's random flashes of thought, won't work? It's like trying to find a pattern in a truly random system. This is another thing about the human mind.
We have a greater capacity for finding patterns than we do in finding statistical probabilities. 'Whoah! One of my lottery numbers came up! I'll put more money on next time!' No, you idiot (that's why it's called the Idiot Tax), it does not mean that number, nor anything else you believe you have worked-out, will reappear that next time, nor will any of the numbers you can think of will appear exactly as expected in the lifetime of the universe. Am I communicating my point here? Earth being pulled out of orbit by a Near Earth Asteroid is more likely (statistically, I'm not exaggerating here) than you winning the lottery. If you want to support charities, give them your money in the first place, as if it makes a difference (and you won't do it because there is no incentive for you, except self-satisfaction).
What a horrible species you are.
[290]
Thursday 15 September 2005
The Knowingly Exploited
Another compelling Sociology class this morning. We've started on Conflict Theories, though we started Marxism last Friday in Politics (where I excelled :D), so it's triply old-hat for me.
We were talking about whether we thought Communism would be a good thing - everyone said yes. Then the lecturer asked some rhetorical suggestive questions (eg, Wouldn't people just not bother working?) and suddenly everyone has awakened to the idea that it would really be boring. These people can't think for themselves. Being the resident Marxist (among my duties for tomorrow's Politics class is to print off copies of The manifesto), I must tear their arguments apart through quoting their very own words as evidence against their positions.
For example; 'People feel uncomfortable on benefits because they feel as if they aren't contributing to society' and when discussing motivation in Communism, 'People don't need the money so they won't bother working'. What?
You're saying capitalism is about advancing society and your argument against Marxism is that there isn't a monetary incentive. Monetary incentive IS why you have shitty jobs! Are you under the illusion it's because you're helping society? You're killing it at an accelerating pace.
You truly are under False Consciousness even when you claimed not to be at the start of the class.
[227]
We were talking about whether we thought Communism would be a good thing - everyone said yes. Then the lecturer asked some rhetorical suggestive questions (eg, Wouldn't people just not bother working?) and suddenly everyone has awakened to the idea that it would really be boring. These people can't think for themselves. Being the resident Marxist (among my duties for tomorrow's Politics class is to print off copies of The manifesto), I must tear their arguments apart through quoting their very own words as evidence against their positions.
For example; 'People feel uncomfortable on benefits because they feel as if they aren't contributing to society' and when discussing motivation in Communism, 'People don't need the money so they won't bother working'. What?
You're saying capitalism is about advancing society and your argument against Marxism is that there isn't a monetary incentive. Monetary incentive IS why you have shitty jobs! Are you under the illusion it's because you're helping society? You're killing it at an accelerating pace.
You truly are under False Consciousness even when you claimed not to be at the start of the class.
[227]
Monday 12 September 2005
Stunted Growth
This is frontpage on The Herald today.
That politicians would put their own jobs ahead of the wellbeing of those they rule over is hardly a revelation, but nonetheless appalling.
For 31 years, Westminster has trumpeted that Scotland would never survive on its own and that there was certainly not enough oil to tide it over. By 1980, Scotland should have been on-par with Norway and Stizerland - those are two of the best places to live in the world. By contrast, Scotland is one of the worst small states in Europe.
As a sidenote to this political rant, like the schizophrenic I am: doesn't Yulia Tymoshenko have lovely hair?
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That politicians would put their own jobs ahead of the wellbeing of those they rule over is hardly a revelation, but nonetheless appalling.
For 31 years, Westminster has trumpeted that Scotland would never survive on its own and that there was certainly not enough oil to tide it over. By 1980, Scotland should have been on-par with Norway and Stizerland - those are two of the best places to live in the world. By contrast, Scotland is one of the worst small states in Europe.
"Some countries discovered oil and made the desert bloom. We discovered oil and created, in too many places, an industrial desert." - Kenny MacAskillThe SNP, advocating a petrol-fund, puts the lost revenue at £200bn. Kenny MacAskill said that Scottish North Sea oil "would have transformed Scotland economically, socially and politically." What do we have now? Abandoned factories, ghettoid housing estates, and social decay.
"With oil at only $45 a barrel there is still at least a trillion pounds worth of oil left in the North Sea, at $62 a barrel there's 1.5 trillion pounds worth of oil."Thank you Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Thatcho, John Major, and Tony Bliar.
As a sidenote to this political rant, like the schizophrenic I am: doesn't Yulia Tymoshenko have lovely hair?
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Wednesday 7 September 2005
Mute
If you happen to be unfortunately watching commercial television channels, mute the TV when the adverts come on. I've been doing this for some months now.
In my first year of secondary school, many years ago now, our Music teacher demonstrated the importance of sound - or more precisely, music. He showed us a typical Tom & Jerry cartoon except he turned the TV around so there was no picture, then vice-versa. This showed that not everything can be conveyed by image alone, some information, perhaps critical, is thus conveyed in audio.
By not listening to adverts, I don't have to hear about the shite they're trying to sell me. Again, this is why I advocate Media Studies. Don't listen, but watch what you pick up without the distracting branded sentences (where every second word is trademarked, see anything written by Micro$oft®).
[146]
In my first year of secondary school, many years ago now, our Music teacher demonstrated the importance of sound - or more precisely, music. He showed us a typical Tom & Jerry cartoon except he turned the TV around so there was no picture, then vice-versa. This showed that not everything can be conveyed by image alone, some information, perhaps critical, is thus conveyed in audio.
By not listening to adverts, I don't have to hear about the shite they're trying to sell me. Again, this is why I advocate Media Studies. Don't listen, but watch what you pick up without the distracting branded sentences (where every second word is trademarked, see anything written by Micro$oft®).
[146]
Culpability
I'm very disinterested in domestic news, being an internationalist (I think I'll change my BBC News edition to World), but I noticed an article about the Hatfield rail crash.
Railtrack, the company that owned the rail system, was charged with Corporate Manslaughter. However, this week the charges were dropped because "The judge found that there was no evidence to support the prosecution case that performance or profit was placed before safety in Corbett's case."
I'm sorry, I forgot that capitalism cared about people. Exactly what would cause a company to ignore a problem for two years if it wasn't about cost? Did they do it so as not to inconvenience commuters? Did they do it for the good of the people that died?
"Jonathan Goldberg QC, for Jeffries [an executive], told the court it would be unfair to make the five men scapegoats in the "blame culture of modern-day Britain"
So do we just sweep aside justified blame because some Americanised arseholes are out for money? Oh wait, out for money...
I am sick of people who proclaim "Oh, communism is all good in theory..." - What fucking good did privatising the railways do? They blindly defend the companies that will one day kill them. Are you listening smokers?
[214]
Railtrack, the company that owned the rail system, was charged with Corporate Manslaughter. However, this week the charges were dropped because "The judge found that there was no evidence to support the prosecution case that performance or profit was placed before safety in Corbett's case."
I'm sorry, I forgot that capitalism cared about people. Exactly what would cause a company to ignore a problem for two years if it wasn't about cost? Did they do it so as not to inconvenience commuters? Did they do it for the good of the people that died?
"Jonathan Goldberg QC, for Jeffries [an executive], told the court it would be unfair to make the five men scapegoats in the "blame culture of modern-day Britain"
So do we just sweep aside justified blame because some Americanised arseholes are out for money? Oh wait, out for money...
I am sick of people who proclaim "Oh, communism is all good in theory..." - What fucking good did privatising the railways do? They blindly defend the companies that will one day kill them. Are you listening smokers?
[214]
NS: TPC Delegate Election
I pass the baton to another... at least there was an election this time :P
Hopefully with USK immigration bringing new active players to the region, there might be more than two candidates standing for election.
Looking back on my delegacy (I'm leaving the good material for the update to my memoirs), it was, as the first, fucked up by circumstance. Did I acheive my aims?: Yes, the only one not implemented was the prefecture setup which I hope to get done through the R&A committee (If I was to pass the buck, I cite the Hypercube abandoning his post and deciding to work in the Story thread).
But the election has just finished and I pass the reigns to fellow blogger, Paranoidm.
[125]
Hopefully with USK immigration bringing new active players to the region, there might be more than two candidates standing for election.
Looking back on my delegacy (I'm leaving the good material for the update to my memoirs), it was, as the first, fucked up by circumstance. Did I acheive my aims?: Yes, the only one not implemented was the prefecture setup which I hope to get done through the R&A committee (If I was to pass the buck, I cite the Hypercube abandoning his post and deciding to work in the Story thread).
But the election has just finished and I pass the reigns to fellow blogger, Paranoidm.
[125]
Tuesday 6 September 2005
25 Years
Bloody hell. 5 hours at maximum time compression to get to Neptune with the Leonov in Orbiter (in simulated years - 25.4)... I thought it took a while to get to Jupiter (mostly because I left outside the launch window). Of course, for the simulated occupants of the Leonov who have just aerobraked into orbit, life as a pancake on the back wall will go on.
Monday 5 September 2005
1:4:9
I was reading the Seven Days pullout of The Sunday Herald last night, and two articles were particularly interesting; One and Two. The latter chimed with the book I'm currently reading: 2010 by Arthur C Clarke (although I've already read 2061 and 3001 since I saw the two films).
In case you haven't figured out what 2001 was about, if I say intelligent design do you get it? You remember when the ape touched the monolith? The future of humanity had been directed by the monolith; and when humans reached the moon, the waiting monolith signalled this to its creators.
So a problem arises... obviously, this is artificial selection - a science. But intelligent design, thus far, is psuedoscience. The current intelligent design movement in the New World is a backdoor creationist movement, but Alien intervention is surely not religious (unless some stupid humans saw stuff come down from the sky they couldn't explain, wrote it down and some other idiots translated it through 5 different languages centuries later - fucking typical).
Ponder this.
[176]
In case you haven't figured out what 2001 was about, if I say intelligent design do you get it? You remember when the ape touched the monolith? The future of humanity had been directed by the monolith; and when humans reached the moon, the waiting monolith signalled this to its creators.
So a problem arises... obviously, this is artificial selection - a science. But intelligent design, thus far, is psuedoscience. The current intelligent design movement in the New World is a backdoor creationist movement, but Alien intervention is surely not religious (unless some stupid humans saw stuff come down from the sky they couldn't explain, wrote it down and some other idiots translated it through 5 different languages centuries later - fucking typical).
Ponder this.
[176]
Sunday 4 September 2005
NS: Francoist Thought
Most of Francoist Thought is on par with Jiang Zemin's Three Represents - Plenty of words, lacking in meaning. The rest is an interesting adaptation of Conflict Theory (Marxism) into NationStates - something which I had been trying to do for over a year.
However, the PRP is, as I have observed, a classic totalitarian state - though, less so than its NPO predecessor.
However, the PRP is, as I have observed, a classic totalitarian state - though, less so than its NPO predecessor.
Thursday 1 September 2005
Decadence
Hmm. September 1st and the Polish Campaign... makes me laugh for some reason. Perhaps it's because I defeated the SuddenStrike demo using blitzkrieg tactics...
Anyway, we were discussing perspectives in Sociology today and, frankly, we hate what society has become. We were asked to describe our view of society today with one word - in Leninist fashion, I said 'decadent'.
This was something I was going to post yesterday, that there are two subjects that I would make compulsory at some stage in secondary schools - namely, Media Studies and Sociology. Media so that the mindless drones will stop buying packaged life, and Sociology so the kids (NEDs/Chavs) might start giving a shit before they go round tearing the place up.
Off on a tangent, that bint that did the Sky One programme claiming 'Chavs' were a cultural asset is doing a programme entitled 'Reality TV is Good for You'. Neither of those programmes did anything like approach the issue from an unbiased starting point or make use of the Scientific Method. So, as I wrote in my diatribe against the pope, fuck off.
I think I'll hit publish now.
[191]
Anyway, we were discussing perspectives in Sociology today and, frankly, we hate what society has become. We were asked to describe our view of society today with one word - in Leninist fashion, I said 'decadent'.
This was something I was going to post yesterday, that there are two subjects that I would make compulsory at some stage in secondary schools - namely, Media Studies and Sociology. Media so that the mindless drones will stop buying packaged life, and Sociology so the kids (NEDs/Chavs) might start giving a shit before they go round tearing the place up.
Off on a tangent, that bint that did the Sky One programme claiming 'Chavs' were a cultural asset is doing a programme entitled 'Reality TV is Good for You'. Neither of those programmes did anything like approach the issue from an unbiased starting point or make use of the Scientific Method. So, as I wrote in my diatribe against the pope, fuck off.
I think I'll hit publish now.
[191]
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